Review of The Signal Fire

There is no incompatibility between the appearance of fragments of a film in a collection by Lyrisch Nitraat and its inclusion in the EYE collection of films from the collection of Jean Desmet. The Lyrisch Nitraat exclusively used footage from the Desmet collection,and much of that is either in the process of restoration where this is possible or has since been restored. The film is moreover quite evidently not complete, since footage of the shipwreck, evidently too damaged to restore, is obviously missing from the beginning of the film. I assume there was also evidence of the captain's maltreatment of his wife in the earlier footage (in manner justifying her later relationship with the other man). Nevertheless although the wife does the conventional thing at the end and returns to her husband, the film is unusual in showing clear sympathy for the separated couple of lovers and he ending has a certain lyrical sadness to it. It is a great shame that the whole film does not survive because it is difficult to judge the part that remains without knowing more about the earlier relationship between the three characters.

There are several misidentifications in the Desmet collection (see Lost Horizons, A Loyal Deserter, Shipwrecked and The Poor Musician) but there is no reason that I know of to suppose that this is the case here.