User Reviews

"Enoch Arden" is a re-working of director D.W. Griffith's previous "The Unchanging Sea". It is very strange that Mr. Griffith would re-work such a recent film; but, early silent films came and went very quickly. Even stranger, the film doesn't really improve on the earlier version. Here are the main differences: A "love triangle" is added; which ultimately has Ms. Arvidson marrying the other man, after her first husband is lost at sea. There are more children. And, instead of amnesia, our hero is stranded on a dessert island. The ending is quite different.

Lost is the image of the lonely wife staring out at the sea; the subsequent scene's poignancy, with Arvidson carrying her newborn, is not possible. The "Unchanging" element is gone. Robert Harron and Florence La Badie are good additional children, but they don't have a lot to do; and, the leads actors aren't as quite good in "Enoch Arden" as they were in "The Unchanging Sea".

A good film, but less was a little more.

****** Enoch Arden (6/12-15/11) D.W. Griffith ~ Wilfred Lucas, Linda Arvidson, Francis J. Grandon

The film "Enoch Arden" is based upon the Poem by Lord Tennyson. I watched part one and part two together in one thirty-three minute video. Part one essentially sets up part two which is the better of the two parts.

In part one Enoch (Wilfred Lucas) and Philip Ray (Francis J. Grandon) pursue the same woman: Annie Lee (Linda Arvidson). Philip had the lead, but in a moment of negligence Enoch swooped in and stole the prize.

Some years later Enoch had to go out sailing to earn his living. Annie and their two children sorrowfully saw him off. It was a scene right out of "The Unchanging Sea" (1910) about which the poet Charles Kingsley wrote: "For men must work and women must weep." Part 1 concludes with Enoch being shipwrecked while his wife and kids again went to shore to search for his return.

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'Enoch Arden' is similar in both story and location to Griffith's earlier 'The Unchanging Sea' - and a precursor to films like Sjostrom's 'Terje Vigen' or Zemecki's 'Cast Away' - a married man meets drama at sea and is thought to be dead, only to return home to find his wife newly married.

Just as in 'The Unchanging Sea', Griffith uses wonderful framing of the location to give the film a poetic feel, and the visuals are very nice. It is also notable for a mid-close up at one point of the male and female lead, something rare for the time, but unfortunately there is not enough of it, and instead of feeling the power of the drama, we are always kept at the observational arms length, and it becomes very boring. Without dialogue, ten minutes would have been more than enough for the story and the way it was told, but it runs for thirty.

Therefore I would highly recommend the other films mentioned over this one. 'The Unchanging Sea' by Griffith is just as poetic if not more, and it is shorter and much better paced. It is one of Griffith's best shorts. 'Enoch Arden' is not.

Ever since D.W. Griffith made "Enoch Arden" - a silent film in two parts, in 1911, Hollywood has been hooked on making movies with similar plots. Griffith was the first to put the story of Alfred Lord Tennyson's 1864 poem on film. His and the other silent films were the only ones to faithfully follow the bard's plot which is a tale of love, tragedy and sacrifice. All of the Hollywood adaptations in sound pictures have revised the story and made it into a comedy and romance. That doesn't mean they are bad. Rather, it is a plot that lends itself as much to comedy with happy endings for all, as well as to drama and sacrificial love. To some extent, the progression of films with this base plot may reflect a change as well in culture - of the 20th and now 21st centuries.

The base story is about a married man and father (Enoch Arden) who is lost at sea. After many years (10 years in the originals), his faithful and long-suffering wife accepts that he has perished, and so she marries again. But, after all this time, Enoch is rescued from the island he had survived on and returns home. This first film, Part I, of the two-part 1911 project by Griffith, ends just as Enoch is about to be rescued. Part II picks up from there. The original poem and the Part II film has Arden witnessing the new home and happy life of his wife and children. So, rather than break that up, he keeps his identity secret and goes away. It's a story of great sacrificial love.

Most of the actors in these earliest of the early films wouldn't be known by any movie fans by the mid-20th century. And the few who would be known would be only by family and friends. Out of a cast of 21 between both films, only four made it into sound pictures after 1929 - and mostly in uncredited roles for just a few years. Several had very early deaths due to accidents, disease and heart attacks. The lead who played Enoch Arden was Wilfred Lucas, the only one who had a solid film career continuing into sound pictures. He was in another 220 films before he died in 1940 at age 69. More than three-fourth of those were in uncredited roles. But Lucas also was a stage actor and a director and writer.

Griffith actually made a short version of Tennyson's poem before 1911. In 1908, he made an adaptation called "After Many Years." The only known remnant of that film is in the Library of Congress. But, the 1911 two-part "Enoch Arden" was a big success and very popular, and Hollywood (in the U.S. and abroad) has based a number of films on the plot since then. Three more silent versions were made - one in England, one in the U.S., and one in Australia.

But with sound pictures, variations on the plot would be made with the result of films that are mostly comedies or comedy-dramas. The first was a 1940 Columbia Pictures comedy, "Too Many Husbands," that starred Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray and Melvyn Douglas. But that same year, the bigger RKO studio made the first version that reversed the roles - with the woman being lost at sea and the husband remarrying or about to. "My Favorite Wife" became the most popular of all adaptations - yet well into the 21st century, starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick.

"Move Over, Darling" was a 1963 version, again with the woman being the lost one who returns. It starred Doris Day, James Garner and Polly Bergen. And, while not direct adaptations of "Enoch Arden," other Hollywood film plots were clearly inspired by it. The drama adventure, "Cast Away," of 2000 that stars Tom Hanks is one such example. And, it may reflect the modernistic change in culture. It devotes some time to the hero, Chuck Noland, in his struggle to survive on a remote island after his plane crashes in the ocean. But on his return after four years, he finds his fiancé had married and had a child, and he meets her husband. So, his character doesn't go quietly into the sunset. Rather than being happy for her life, this character is distraught as though he were betrayed. Quite a different take on life and attitude.

And, along the lines of the original adaptations, it was probable that someone would make a musical version. Columbia Pictures did that in 1955 with "Three for the Show." Musicals were still somewhat popular then, though beginning to fade in numbers. But this was a very good musical that showcased some great dancing by Betty Grable and Marge and Gower Champion. Jack Lemmon has the other male lead.

There probably will be more movies made in the future based on Tennyson's 1864 poem, or inspired by Griffith's early film version or any number of the subsequent variations and adaptations since then.