'49-'17

With a few twists and turns, the story unfolds easily, occasionally predictably. Good use of cinematic narration, the titles only representing dialog and transitions. Generous use of appropriate flashback scenes filling in the story. A few story threads left untied, but generally an amiable plot. Sometimes you wonder if the old Judge isn't half-mad.

The plot of "'49-'17" is as bad as its unfortunate title, and it betrays a poor sense of time. The action takes place primarily in modern times (1917) with flashbacks to the Gold Rush of 1849 (hence the title), with most of the main characters present in both eras. Unfortunately, the main characters (who were already adults in 1849) have only aged about forty years by 1917, whilst Peggy Bobbett (who was only an infant in 1849) looks to be only about twenty years old in 1917.

In 1849, J.R. Brand and his partner Bob Adams went prospecting in California, accompanied by Adams's wife Beatrice and their infant daughter Lorena. But Beatrice died and Lorena Adams disappeared. A few days later, near the mining camp of Nugget Notch, Brand strikes it rich in the goldfields. He feels obligated to share his new fortune with Adams, but is temporarily unable to do so.

Fade in to 1917. Brand has invested his own and Adams's wealth wisely, and he's now a respected retired judge. Nugget Notch is now a ghost town. Brand buys the town and populates it with the cast of a bankrupt wild-west show. Bankrolled by Brand, Nugget Notch is now a tourist attraction, recreating a sanitised version of Gold Rush days. The town attracts the attention of "Gentleman Jim" Raynor, a crooked gambler. (Raynor is played by Jean Hersholt, an actor who is still fondly remembered for his philanthropic activities offscreen, but who usually played slimy villains. In this film he plays one of his slimiest roles.)

Brand hopes to locate Lorena Adams (who must be an adult by now) so that he can give her the fortune which Brand feels belonged to her father. The infant Lorena was found by the homespun couple the Bobbetts, who named her Peggy and raised her as their own child. Peggy Bobbett has no memory of her past life as Lorena Adams. (Why don't they just call her Lorena Bobbett?)

Eventually, Raynor learns the truth about Lorena, and he blackmails the Bobbett family, threatening to expose their daughter Peggy's true identity. (It's not clear why they should seek to conceal this, especially as Lorena Adams is an heiress.) When the blackmail scam fails, Raynor decides to rob the town hall. The film degenerates into incoherent chases and showdowns.

I really wanted to like this film, but it makes no sense and has many lapses in logic ... not least the fact that the characters age inconsistently, and none of them age plausibly. The film looks as if it was shot without a script, and then the dialogue and intertitles were written afterwards in an attempt to create a storyline for the footage. In fact, many silent films (mostly bad ones) were created this way. Thar's not much gold in these hyar hills. Too bad.

I love silent films and have perhaps reviewed more than anyone. However, sometimes a silent is just bad--even if the print is pretty good. The plot for "49-17" is pretty stupid and the film never rises to the level of anything approaching good. Now I DO understand that films of the day were not as wonderfully written and executed a films just a decade later, but even for 1917, this is a pretty crappy film.

An old judge laments how he lost his daughter and wife many years the before--back in the "Gold Rush" days. It seems she got bored and ran off with his baby daughter. Ironically, he discovered gold soon after that and became rich--but still regrets losing them. After a very, very contrived portion involving the recreation of an old west town, the man responsible for breaking up his happy home returns and they have it out in a series of dastardly encounters. Whatever.

The bottom line is that the plot never seems convincing in the least and never makes much sense. You might not get that from my quick summary--but the film never becomes interesting, convincing or even worth your time. To top it off, it's bundled on DVD with "The Ocean Waif"--a highly deteriorated that lacks an ending--it disintegrated and you are just provided a written description of several HUGELY important climactic scenes! Save your money!

If you are familiar with San Diego's Balboa Park, you will want to watch the first half, at least, as the Botanical Building and Lily Pond are the setting for one scene.

102 years after its original release, I was impressed by this feature, that was tightly directed by talented Ruth Ann Baldwin. Based on "The Old West Per Contract", a short story written by William Wallace Hook (who wrote several science-fiction novels), the frame story is quite original: in 1917 a judge wants to revive his happy days as a gold prospector, during the gold rush of 1849, and orders his secretary to stage a fake Old West town where he can spend his last days. However, the following events are a string of common places usually found in the melodrama genre, spiced with lust and greed. Fortunately Baldwin handles the whole show with energy, stages many outdoor scenes, and adds a welcome dose of humor and villainous actions provided by Jean Hersholt as the baddie. I found interesting how life and death are treated in this film, compared to movies of these days. This has nothing to do with the movie, it is just a reflection of mine, after watching how the script avoids acts of extreme violence or killing the characters. It seems as if life had more value in those cinematic days, and I hope that we come back to reason and start respecting other people's lives. Watch it.