silentmoviefan Review of A Man There Was

A Man There Was (1917)

Hitler Loved It, and That's Just One of Its Problems!

[1/10 · 12 September 2012]

This film was terrible, terrible! As I said in my title, Adolf Hitler loved this film because it put the British in a very bad light. Among other things, Hitler was not known for his good taste! Yes, this film has other problems. First of all, its depressing! A guy (Virgen) gets food for his family, but is captured by the British and held prisoner for five years. When Virgen, on bended knee, tearfully explains what his skiff was doing in the water, the British laugh in his face. When he's finally released from prison, he comes home to see that his wife and child have starved to death. A bit later in the film, he goes out to rescue a yacht in trouble and sees that it's none other than the commander of the ship who imprisoned him five years earlier, along with his wife and baby. Herein lies another problem. It gets kind of fuzzy about whether or not Virgen ultimately rescues these people. You see someone else do that while Virgen is raging at them. Then there's the ending, which I will go ahead and tell you because I don't want you to waste your time on this turkey. Now, in the scene before the end, Terje is waving at these British people. I could have ended there (and gotten a "2" or "3" from me). But nooooooooooooooo! He dies and it shows his grave! Gee whiz! Again, I say, do yourself a favor and DO NOT watch this!