These days, the novel THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD is more known for being referenced in God only knows how many Victorian novels than as a work of literature in its own right. While not known much outside of nerd and academic circles now, it still had some place in the popular culture around the turn of the twentieth century, when it was given a whopping three film treatments in the 1910s.
This Thanhouser one-reeler is a very, very condensed version of the novel's story. Like most early movie adaptations, it is little more than a highlights reel, more than likely incomprehensible to those who have no familiarity with the story of the original work. As far as that goes, this is a handsome production, with nice locations and costumes. Most of the actors are good in the gesture-heavy movie acting of the period which would evolve into something more subtle by the late 1910s. The plot is melodramatic in the extreme, but played very straight-- an interesting note is that most critics have debataed whether or not VICAR is supposed to be straight sentimnent or a satire on the behavior of its righteous, pure-hearted characters. The filmmakers here seem to have favored the former notion.
This Thanhouser one-reeler is a very, very condensed version of the novel's story. Like most early movie adaptations, it is little more than a highlights reel, more than likely incomprehensible to those who have no familiarity with the story of the original work. As far as that goes, this is a handsome production, with nice locations and costumes. Most of the actors are good in the gesture-heavy movie acting of the period which would evolve into something more subtle by the late 1910s. The plot is melodramatic in the extreme, but played very straight-- an interesting note is that most critics have debataed whether or not VICAR is supposed to be straight sentimnent or a satire on the behavior of its righteous, pure-hearted characters. The filmmakers here seem to have favored the former notion.