Wild Beauty (1927) watch online HD

I was thoroughly impressed with this film, even though the DVD copy I obtained came from a mail order company that has done nothing to restore their print. I hope someone with the means and time to do so will take an interest. WILD BEAUTY was a Universal Jewel production. The hero of the film. Bill Moran(Hugh Allan)is an infantryman in World War I. He rescues a white Thoroughbred mare from a hastily abandoned château that both the Germans and the Americans want. Bill takes "Valerie" back to the United States after the War and is vexed that a wild stallion (Rex) tries to steal her for his herd.

There is the usual plot wherein the hero's girlfriend is in some sort of trouble. This time the trouble is caused by her father, who is somewhat of a gambling fool. The villains of the story want his land really badly and are pretty sleazy in the means by which they trick him to try to get it. The wild stallion character is the fulcrum by which the story is spring-boarded. Unlike contemporary films with plots similar to this one (see American BLACK BEAUTY), the action is nonstop and the plotting is relatively free from contrivance. Producers and scriptwriters of modern family films would do well to study silent films because they could learn a thing or two about pacing.

Copyright 30 June 1927 by Universal Pictures Corp. U.S. release: 27 November 1927. 6 reels. 5,192 feet. 65 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: An American soldier rescues a thoroughbred filly from a French battlefield and brings her back to his Californian ranch.

COMMENT: Here's Hugh Allan from Dress Parade in a quite different role which he plays ably enough, though with little charisma. It's left to the pretty heroine, June Marlowe, character player, Scott Seaton, and villains, William Bailey and Jack Pratt, to hold up the human end of the acting, while "Rex" and "Valerie" steal all the limelight.

In fact, this is definitely a movie for horse lovers. The animals not only take center stage in the visuals, but are favored in the sub-titles as well. Would you believe that "Valerie" is used for more comedy relief than the movie's obligatory dumb but faithful retainer, Hayes Robinson?

Personally, I found all this pretty tepid stuff. Henry MacRae's direction displays disappointingly little of his customary flair. No tracking shots are used at all. Not a one! True, MacRae does make the most of his real locations, but this is a movie that cries out for tinting. No doubt original release prints were tinted, but we have to make do with a worn black-and-white DVD transfer.

Nonetheless, MacRae does contrive one agreeable surprise among all the usual and endlessly repetitive equine point-scoring when the climactic race suddenly leaves the Mills (California) track and turns into a cross-country free-for-all. Alas, this excursion ends rather tamely. (Available on DVD through Grapevine. Quality rating: 7 out of ten).