Review of Souls for Sale

I guess I'll consider myself fortunate for catching this on Turner Classic Movies the other day, seeing as how so many other reviewers commented on the silent film's deficiencies going back a number of years. For one thing, the restoration shown made the complete film watchable without noticeable flaws or disruptions to continuity, and containing the musical score added in 2006 by Marcus Sjowall. If I can reference another reviewer's comments here on IMDb who stated there was a missing scene when Remember 'Mem' Steddon (Eleanor Boardman) became aware that her husband was a murderer, the print I viewed showed her becoming visibly upset when she saw a Wanted Poster for Owen Scudder (Lew Cody). For the 1920's, a thousand dollar reward seemed kind of generous, but then again, he was marrying women for their money and killing them to collect on insurance policies. Pretty nasty stuff. Perhaps more credible was Mem's offer of a movie contact as a background extra for thirty five dollars a week, even after an awful screen test! I can't say the entire story here was very credible, but it did make for entertaining viewing, particularly with the abundant cameos of leading silent film actors of the day. Notable by their presence were Erich Von Stroheim and Charlie Chaplin directing films of their own, and a quick glimpse of Zasu Pitts. After Mem is given the opportunity to replace the leading lady in a circus film, Scudder shows up to confront her about their still legal status, and after threatening to stab herself, disaster strikes the movie set when lightning ignites the circus tents on fire! For 1923, it was quite a sensational sight to see the panic of the movie folks and customers swarm away from the scene. "Souls For Sale" might give the impression of making a bargain with the devil, but here it had more to do with the sacrifices one had to make in order to become successful negotiating the pressures involved in the moving picture business.