White Shadows (1924) User Reviews

Two Very Different Souls

[FerdinandVonGalitzien · 7/10 · 30 November 2012]

During the summer of 2012, the discovery of an incomplete copy ( 3 of 6 reels survived ) of "The White Shadow" (1924) by Herr Graham Cutts at the "New Zealand Film Archive", originated a great fuss around the world ( well, maybe not a GREAT fuss; it's well known that German counts like to exaggerate facts for the sake of silent films ). The excitement wasn't over the fact that another "lost" silent was found or that it was directed by Herr Cutts -Nein!l- the fuss was caused because Herr Alfred Hitchcock collaborated in this film as assistant director, editor, art director and scenarist.

Such lot of noise can be appreciated by this German count except for the mistake made by some in the long haired media (who previously paid no attention to silent films) who awarded the authorship of the film entirely to Herr Hitchcock, ignoring Herr Cutts, a major British director during the Silent Era and who was primarily responsible for the film.

"The White Shadow" is certainly a solid, very interesting film on its own, whatever Hitchcock's participation in the picture. It tells the story of twin sisters (both played by Frau Betty Compson ), two very different souls in character who share the same lover but end up with different fates. The two sisters are a study in contrasts: Frau Georgina is a responsible fraulein who stays at home with her parents on their estate while Frau Nancy is a wild girl who runs away from home to Paris where she smokes a lot and plays cards at a cabaret, "The Cat Who Laughs" ( it seems that there are many merriful animals in France... ). There is also around an American, Herr Robin Field ( Herr Clive Brook ) who meets and falls in love with Nancy on a boat when both are returning to England, although he later switches his affections to Georgina (without knowing who she really is).

It must be said that the drama and the atmosphere of the picture are certainly remarkable, and Frau Compson is excellent in her dual role. The careful art direction is also noteworthy (well, Herr Hitchcock does splendid work here), and Herr Cutts achieves an intense dramatic affect and throws in a dose of morality as well. The authorship of the film clearly belongs to Herr Cutts but, if one digresses for a moment and insists on finding some trace of Hitchcock in the overall work, there is a certain parallel between the impersonation in this film and Herr Hitchcock's "Vertigo" but this may be just the fancy of an old German count.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must play strip baccarat at "The Cat Who Laughs".

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

43 minutes of White Shadows

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 7/10 · 13 September 2013]

Blonde Nancy (returning home from Paris) and Robin (a young American seeing Europe) meet on a cruise returning to England, and make tentative plans to meet again. Nancy's home is a beautiful estate in Devon, filmed on elaborate Gothic interior sets designed by Hitchcock. Maurice Brent, her father, is happily an alcoholic.

After Robin decides to pay a visit to upbeat and carefree Nancy, she and her morose and serious (brunette) twin sister Georgina decide to have a laugh at his expense, and Georgina meets him that day, instead of Nancy. Dad isn't happy about their meetings at all, and tries to intervene. Nancy runs away. Her mother, Mrs. Brent quite literally dies when she hears the news. Light streaming down from rounded window onto Mrs. Brent's dead body slouched over in a chair is a good visual; was that Hitchcock's idea or director Graham Cutts? Beautiful, elaborate set designs and lighting, by Hitchcock, are the film's biggest asset, but film is interesting even without them. Twins switching places with each other, mistaken identities, one's death, and a Parisian cabaret with a creepy looking mascot called The Cat Who Laughs all distinguish this from a routine love triangle movie.

The opening and closing seconds of each of the three surviving reels of this are in a bad state, melted and shredded, from sitting in a film vault for the best part of a century, but restoration worked wonders for the remainder of the footage. Unfortunately, after approximately 40 minutes, the footage runs out, and the rest of the film remains still lost.

"It may be said that there are no such things as white shadows, but just as the sun casts a dark shadow, so does the soul cast its shadow of white, reflecting a purity that influences the lives upon whom the white shadows fall. - Selznik"

The Soulless Girl

[kidboots · 7/10 · 9 February 2015]

Clive Brook would have looked back very fondly on "The White Shadow" - even though by 1924 he had cemented his standing (with 30 films) as one of Britain's top film stars, it was the three films he made with Betty Compson when she came to England, that made Hollywood send for him and for the next few years he never looked back.

Alfred Hitchcock may have had a hand in this film but the director, Grahame Cutts, was pretty undistinguished except for the notorious "Cocaine"(1922) made at a time when a few drug scandals had made their way onto the front pages of some British newspapers. Clive Brook as an American was not any more hilarious than Betty Compson playing a wealthy British girl in this romantic drama of soul possession (but unfortunately that's all in the missing reels.

In fact Miss Compson plays twins - she is fun loving Nancy Brent returning home to Devon after finishing school and striking up a shipboard friendship with American Robin Field (Brook). There is a lot hinted at in the titles - Elizabeth, Nancy's mother, has marital woes to do with her husband's increasing dependence on alcohol. Robin, whose time seems to be his own, goes to Devon hoping to meet up with Nancy and he does but, just for a laugh, she sends her twin sister, Georgina, in her place and hides behind a tree to see the results. Behind Nancy's high spirits is a reckless abandon and a perverse pleasure in hurting the person who loves her best. She treats her father with contempt but she is still his favourite and when she runs away, he follows trying to find her - and both disappear.

The titles point out that Nancy is the soul-less one, Georgina has goodness enough for the two of them. When their mother dies, in a lovely shot as the sunlight streams through a church-like window, Georgina goes on a quest to London to find her missing sister. There she meets Robin who mistakes her for Nancy (in order to protect her sister's reputation she goes along with the ploy and pretends to be Nancy) but even though they both fall in love, he misses the fun and gaiety that the real Nancy had in abundance. Enter Louis Chadwick, Robin's friend. Henry Victor was just as much of an international actor as Brook, just not as big a star. His most famous role would be as "Hercules" in Tod Browning's "Freaks"(1932). Seeing him introduced as "Robin's young friend" is a stretch of incredibility as he looks at least 40!! Anyway, he is there to warn Robin about Nancy who he has seen frequenting the notorious Paris café "The Cat Who Laughs"!!

Yes, it is Nancy who now goes by the name of Cherry and has gone to the sordid Bohemian dive to sing, dance and gamble and now the old father makes his appearance as a vagrant who has lost all reason. He and his daughters (Georgina had overheard Louis talking and fled to Paris in the hope of finding her sister) meet but neither sister recognises the old tramp as their father. That's where the film ends and unfortunately it is in the missing reels that the meaning of the "white shadow" is discovered and the theme of soul possession becomes clear. As a complete film it may have been Grahame Cutts moment of cinema glory but as it is.....

Too incomplete to recommend.

[planktonrules · 25 November 2013]

This film is still incomplete--with only 3 of the original 6 reels being discovered recently in New Zealand. Yet despite this, Turner Classic Movies showed this partial film--mostly, I assume, because it's Alfred Hitchcock's first film. He was the assistant director, editor, set designer and and came up with the scenario.

When this film begins, you can see that that which remains still isn't in great shape in many places throughout the movie. Betty Compson plays dual roles--twin sisters, Nancy and Georgina. Nancy is wild and 'soulless' according to the film. Georgina is sweet and a homebody who lives with her alcoholic father and her mother on a country estate in England.

When Nancy comes to visit, she can't take the quietness and soon runs away. When this occurs, the script gets really, really silly. Her father chases after her and neither is seen of for a very long time. The mother dies and Georgina eventually meets up with one of Nancy's old boyfriends--who thinks she is Nancy. They fall in love.

At the same time, Nancy hangs out in Paris in a bohemian bar. One day, her now brain-addled father comes into the place and starts hanging out there--but neither recognizes the other. An old friend of the boyfriend who is back in England with Georgina sees Nancy drinking and carousing and he rushes back to England to tell the guy that his now fiancée is hanging out in a bar and acting crazy.

At this point, the third reel finishes and TCM describes in a few paragraphs what happens next. Believe me, it's confusing and stupid (not that the film already wasn't stupid and confusing). Apparently, Georgina wastes away and dies and her nice soul leaves her body and enters her wild sister--who then marries the nice man and settles down and lives happily ever after!! Huh? It takes three more reels to say this?! What you have is a very incomplete film with a plot that seems like it is more bad fan fiction than a credible movie. Unless you are insane about films (like me), I wouldn't bother with this one. Even if they one day find the other three reels, I'd still avoid this mess of a film.

Technical question

[mjb0123 · 6/10 · 30 June 2017]

Does anyone know if the scene where the actress who plays both twin sisters is the first of its kind?

They are both on scene together at the same time, I assume spliced together. Is this the first time this had been done on film? This is a technical achievement because it is hardly noticeable and a viewer cannot see the edits.

No sign of Hitchcock, and bad irrespective of that

[rmyers7 · 3/10 · 11 December 2012]

Much has been made recently about this film due to the recent rediscovery and restoration of a partial print, and the fact that the young Alfred Hitchcock was the AD.

Don't cry if you don't get around to seeing it. Betty Compsom came to England to make 'Woman to Woman' for Cutts. This was a success and 'The White Shadow' was hurriedly made to capitalize on this before her return to America. Even at the time, it was not well received. It's a shame that this rather than 'Woman to Woman' survived; it might have had more to show us.

The attractive, flirtatious 'Nancy' (Compson) meets Robin (Clive Brook -- looking far too old for her) on her return home to the Devon countryside from Paris. From here we proceed to what Roger Ebert calls the 'idiot plot' -- the whole movie would disappear if everyone didn't act like idiots. Robin meets Nancy at her estate and they kiss. The next day Nancy sends her mopey, serious twin sister Georgina (Compson again) to meet Robin in her place. Georgina rejects him. Nancy, bored runs away from home, mom dies, alcoholic dad wanders off, Georgina moves to London to try to find Nancy. Robin meets Georgina thinking her to be Nancy -- he doesn't know that there are two of them -- and falls for her, though thinking that she isn't quite the same as the carefree, flirtatious Nancy he first met. It goes on like this, with some unintentionally funny scenes, but I won't.

"Bohemians live and die . . . "

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 3 December 2013]

" . . . but the cat still laughs!" If you substitute the word "actors" for "Bohemians" and switch up "the fat man" for "the cat," this title card written by THE WHITE SHADOW assistant director Alfred Hitchcock could be taken as a summary of his future 50-year career in making movies. Certainly, Vera Miles--who slaved under Hitch in THE WRONG MAN--would say so. The first three reels of this 1924 silent feature are watchable enough, though the premise about souls (or "shadows") flitting from body to body (at least when one of the bodies in question is born soul-less) sounds at least as far-fetched as the more recent 21 GRAMS (the title refers to the supposed weight of souls, though I can think of several people who may be a few grams short). The four title cards summarizing the assumed content of the final three "missing" reels of THE WHITE SHADOW sound so preposterous, it likely is no accident they went "missing." It's possible that if these ludicrous-sounding scenes were not conveniently "lost," their more widely-circulated content could have nipped short the career of the self-styled "Master of Suspense" before it truly began.

Part of silent British melo

[Mozjoukine · 15 October 2011]

Undistinguished British silent melo, with Compson's double performance it's one major asset. The film's part rediscovery however has become a talking point because young Hitch is covering half the unit functions.

Betty's willful, jokey self is advanced on by American (!) Clive Brook, who gets slapped and then kissed for his trouble. Back at the family country estate Betty one puts reserved lookalike Betty two in Clive's path, without either of them knowing about the situation.

About this time a few reels go missing before we get into the far fetched climax, set in the would be racy Chat Qui Rit club in Montmartre.

Nothing to distinguish this from what was being done around it, outside of it's interesting cast. It's always a shock to find character actor Victor (Confessions of a Nazi Spy) as a juvenile in this period.

Early but Incomplete Hitchcock

[Michael_Elliott · 6 December 2013]

White Shadow (1924)

Of all the films that were discovered in a New Zealand vault in 2010, this here is perhaps the one that gained the most attention. This here turns out to be the earliest surviving "work" of Alfred Hitchcock who served as assistant director, writer, editor and set designer. Sadly, only three of the six reels survived but at least it gives us an early glimpse of what the future master was doing during this era. The story has Betty Compson playing twin sisters, one good and the other bad, who fall in love with the same man. I won't reveal too much else but I will say that this story has about as many twists and turns that later Hitchcock films would have. It's impossible to really judge this film since the final three reels are still missing. In their place are some title cards explaining how everything ends and I must say that the final reel must have been quite crazy to see back in the day. Again, it's impossible to fully judge this film but from the first three reels it's easy to see that Compson did a very good job with her role as you can perfectly see how different she played the two roles. I thought she was quite good at both but the good girl was the clear winner. The supporting players were also quite good, although no one really stood out. As far as the work Hitchcock did, I'd say the set design was probably the best thing and especially during the scenes located inside the father's house. Perhaps one day the rest of the film will turn up but as is, this film is still going to appeal to silent buffs as well as those interested in the early career of Hitchcock.