I love this movie so much

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Beautiful, moving film.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Victory (1919) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Axel Heyst (Jack Holt) lives on a deserted island where he prefers to be alone. One day he travels to town where he meets an abused woman (Seena Owen), takes pity on her and brings her back to his island. Soon her owner (Wallace Beery) sends three criminals after her. The main note here is that Lon Chaney plays one of the criminals and, as usual, he does a very nice job showing off that evil side. Holt, Owen and Beery also give fine performances, which is pretty much the only thing this film has going for it. There's some nice visuals and a nice looking erupting volcano but the story starts to drag in the middle. Directed by Maurice Tourneur.

I had to watch this movie three times before I finally started to catch the plot details, because it's just so beautiful to look at that I don't really care about the story. All of the Maurice Tourneur films I've seen are visually fascinating to one degree or another, but this one takes the cake, even over THE BLUE BIRD (which is admittedly a far different kind of movie). I can imagine Josef von Sternberg studying this movie for clues on how to create an exotic look out of papier mache and shadows. (Okay, that papier mache volcano looks pretty silly, but that's about the only major lapse I've noticed.) Griffith may have taught people how to edit, but I'm beginning to think Tourneur taught them how to compose the frame for depth effects and complex texture. The tinting is very beautiful, too, and I love the effect when Heyst blows out the lamp.But once I focused on the plot, I was impressed on how well-constructed it was. The story moves along at a smooth, smart pace, and the tension builds very nicely. This is a pretty generic thriller in many ways, with a generic romance at the heart of it, but it's put together so effortlessly and with such visual charm that it seems fresh. Still, the real dramatic motor is the bad boys, particularly Lon Chaney as the psychopathic but strangely good-natured Ricardo and Ben Deeley as the cold, creepy Mr. Jones (looking like he stepped out of a Fritz Lang movie). There's also a good twist in the history and brute plan of Bull Montana's Pedro. Seena Owen's role is underwritten, but her weary, vulnerable resolve is beginning to grow on me.Maybe this is where the movies start for me. Certainly it's the earliest movie to hold me entranced from stem to stern, although the German classics begin full-bore within a year of this. But there's still a lot more to see from the era.

Director Maurice Tourneur was one of the great pioneering filmmakers of the 1910s, and he ended the decade with one of his best: "Victory". His films are noted for their pictorial beauty. With the death of John van den Broek, René Guissart takes over the cinematography duties here. Clarence Brown, who worked as editor and assistant director on many of Tourneur's films, isn't credited here--he was beginning his own successful career as a director at about this time. Ben Carré, one of the best of early set designers, did work on this film, though.There are some impressive chiaroscuro effects here, as well as good use of tinting, in addition to Tourneur's trademark silhouettes. The film moves quickly, and the careful timing of the editing is visible in one scene where the cuts are in unison with gunfire. The film contains pictorial beauty, but also ferocity, which corresponds well with the film's narrative and intriguingly drawn characters. It climaxes in the film's volcanic dénouement.There's also a flashback in one scene, which is rather breezy; it setups Lon Chaney's character Ricardo, who narrates it, at the center of the film. There are several characters in this picture, each at some time pulling the narrative: Wallace Berry's character, who owns the hotel and tries to own Alma; the mistreated and fickle Alma herself, whose questionable loyalties turn the film's suspense on her; and even the protagonist who doesn't want to influence anything. Berry's nosey busybody, with the beard and glasses, the bestial physicality of Pedro, and the dark sunglasses and white suit of Mr. Jones make them visually intriguing characters, too--causing viewers to focus on them without the story having to.Heading all of that, however, is Chaney, whose feats in movie makeup invented the trade. Without credits, I wouldn't have known he played Ricardo. Chaney was also at the forefront of introducing cinematic acting, subtler than the theatrical and, more importantly, a fully convincing embodiment of a character. In that way, his character becomes the center of the film, and the rest of the characters unravel with the climactic events on his cue.Tourneur often adapted his pictures from literary sources, but using a novel by Joseph Conrad surely helped to make this one of his best works, as does Chaney. One of the things I like most about "Victory" is that it's more cinematic than some of his other films, although he referenced theatre in interesting and self-aware ways in such films as "The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England" (1914) and "The Blue Bird" (1918). "Victory" has both a consistent visual and cinematic style, in addition to the rarity (in Tourneur's films and in movies in general of the time) of intriguing characters convincingly and cinematically portrayed.

Minor Spoilers ahead. Maurice Troureur is one of the great directors of early cinema, and one of the least well known. He was particularly adept at creating atmosphere and composing his sets and shots (this skill is called "mise-en-scene"). Many of his films are lost and many others are simply unavailable except on bad bootleg VHS copies. "Victory," is an exception. The film, has many interesting elements, but one of the most interesting is how it foreshadows both film noir and Hitchcock. With deft touches of mise-en-scene, Tourneur, creates a steamy, sordid atmosphere in this creepy film. The three villains are perfectly cast. There is the cold emotionless intellectual criminal who kills as a means to an end (Ben Deeley), the strong brute, who has deep loyalties and deeper hatreds (Bull Montana), and finally the sadistic, killer who loves to see his victims squirm (Lon Chaney). The first shot of this charming threesome shows them looking down from the deck of a ship. The camera hangs on them, giving us time to study their personalities written so plainly on their faces. You won't see another scene like this until the 30's. Lon Chaney appears here in one of his early roles. This film was a bit of a break for Chaney. Prior to this, his roles were not as interesting, but in this film Tournour brought the best in him and from here on out he would develop his famous acting persona. The malevolent atmosphere and suspense builds in a way that is so Hitchcockian that you have to recheck the date of the film to decide who influenced whom. The lecherous, cowardly and vindictive innkeeper is perfectly played by Wallace Beery, but it is Lon Chaney who stands out as he sadistically plays mind games with anyone who has the misfortune to be around. You feel as if he might suddenly kill someone for no better reason than to improve his boredom. The other major player is Seena Owen. Largely forgotten today, probably because she made so few films. She shows herself to be a noir heroine that is easily the equal to Lon Chaney in this film. Beautiful, sensuous and knowing, the scenes between her and Chaney are priceless. In one, Chaney attempts to rape her. She successfully fights him off. As they look at each other from different parts of the room, panting from the fight, Chaney compliments her on being able to resist him. She smiles, as she adjusts her clothing, and thanks him for the compliment. A scene like that in 1919! You wouldn't see another to match it until the mid 1930's. Is it the first film noir? Did the film influence Hitchcock? Who can say? But one thing is certain, the film is well worth watching.