Let me put it this way: I didn't like the movie on a first viewing, mostly because the whole idea of Mary Pickford posing an an Indian lass was so absurd and so ridiculously phony - which is something that absolutely no-one would dispute. But what I didn't realize is that she was supposed to be a phony. This puts a new light on the matter, but it still doesn't explain why ALL the characters, and not even the Pickford character herself, don't tumble to this fact, nut simply take her white skin as no more than an oddity, rather than a revelation!
In addition to this somewhat unbelievable plot and its none too convincing Indian background, a secondary problem is that it is also burdened with a can't make up its mind audience appeal. What audience is it aiming at? What's it supposed to be? A comedy? A drama? A woman's picture? One for the kids? An adventure? A romance? A war drama? A missing heiress tale? A love story?
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Despite all the familiar clichés, the story makes little sense. The plot, such as it is, is full of holes and remains pretty unbelievable from first to last.
In addition to the somewhat tattered and unconvincing script, full of long-running and absolutely ridiculous co-incidences, the routine and rather clumsy direction is not only somewhat boring and irritatingly long-winded, but displays not a spark of imagination. The camera doesn't seem to move even a single inch. In fact, it seems to be bolted to the floor! All the players go through their long-winded business and make entrances and exits as if they were trapped on a theater stage! And some of them have no compunction about looking directly at the audience from time to time. At normal speed this is rather irritating, but at twice the speed, you don't really notice.
On the plus side, the Alpha DVD does improve immensely on all fronts if you run it at twice speed. At normal speed, the sub-titles seem to be held forever. At twice speed, all of them can still easily be read. Admittedly the characters are now moving with a slight jerk, but I emphasize the word, "slight". Personally, I'd rather they moved at a slightly abnormal speed than that they took forever to move from "A" to "B". And you can still read the sub-titles at least two or three times even at TWICE the picture's normal speed.
A great deal of money was obviously spent on the movie, and all of it is up there on the screen. So, all in all, I'm glad the movie is available on a quite good quality Alpha DVD.
In addition to this somewhat unbelievable plot and its none too convincing Indian background, a secondary problem is that it is also burdened with a can't make up its mind audience appeal. What audience is it aiming at? What's it supposed to be? A comedy? A drama? A woman's picture? One for the kids? An adventure? A romance? A war drama? A missing heiress tale? A love story?
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Despite all the familiar clichés, the story makes little sense. The plot, such as it is, is full of holes and remains pretty unbelievable from first to last.
In addition to the somewhat tattered and unconvincing script, full of long-running and absolutely ridiculous co-incidences, the routine and rather clumsy direction is not only somewhat boring and irritatingly long-winded, but displays not a spark of imagination. The camera doesn't seem to move even a single inch. In fact, it seems to be bolted to the floor! All the players go through their long-winded business and make entrances and exits as if they were trapped on a theater stage! And some of them have no compunction about looking directly at the audience from time to time. At normal speed this is rather irritating, but at twice the speed, you don't really notice.
On the plus side, the Alpha DVD does improve immensely on all fronts if you run it at twice speed. At normal speed, the sub-titles seem to be held forever. At twice speed, all of them can still easily be read. Admittedly the characters are now moving with a slight jerk, but I emphasize the word, "slight". Personally, I'd rather they moved at a slightly abnormal speed than that they took forever to move from "A" to "B". And you can still read the sub-titles at least two or three times even at TWICE the picture's normal speed.
A great deal of money was obviously spent on the movie, and all of it is up there on the screen. So, all in all, I'm glad the movie is available on a quite good quality Alpha DVD.