I've been wanting to see THE DRUMS OF LOVE for years now. It's one of DW Griffith's more obscure features and a very late one in his career. From what I have read, it didn't make much of a hit at the time and it's never received a major home media release. The only copy I could track down looked like it was taped from a TV broadcast and the intertitles were in Spanish. Some jumpy editing towards the end also suggests some footage is missing.
As it is, DRUMS OF LOVE doesn't much feel like a Griffith film. It eschews his usual tropes, save for Mary Philbin skipping about with a puppy in her introductory scene. The story is essentially a South American riff on the Francesca de Rimini incident, with a beautiful woman being killed by her jealous husband after he discovers she's been carrying on with his handsome brother. Here the husband is a hunchbacked Lionel Barrymore and the brother is played by Don Alvarado, who comes off like a Valentino lite in this.
Barrymore steals the show from his co-stars, who do little more than look pretty and paw each other. Philbin was a limited actress, but she's smolders a bit here in a way I've never seen her do in any other role.
Really, Griffith's style is nowhere to be seen. I see all these reviews calling the film dated for the period, but it just feels very handsome but by the numbers. If I hadn't known this was a Griffith film, I would not have been able to tell it was. The story is thin and drags a lot. The characters are uninteresting and the best I can say is that some of the visuals are striking.
I do have to wonder if a clearer, more complete print and not having to stop the movie to put the Spanish intertitles into Google Translate would make for a better experience though. Silent films can live or die on their presentation. I can imagine this going from meh to mildly pleasant under better viewing circumstances.
As it is, DRUMS OF LOVE doesn't much feel like a Griffith film. It eschews his usual tropes, save for Mary Philbin skipping about with a puppy in her introductory scene. The story is essentially a South American riff on the Francesca de Rimini incident, with a beautiful woman being killed by her jealous husband after he discovers she's been carrying on with his handsome brother. Here the husband is a hunchbacked Lionel Barrymore and the brother is played by Don Alvarado, who comes off like a Valentino lite in this.
Barrymore steals the show from his co-stars, who do little more than look pretty and paw each other. Philbin was a limited actress, but she's smolders a bit here in a way I've never seen her do in any other role.
Really, Griffith's style is nowhere to be seen. I see all these reviews calling the film dated for the period, but it just feels very handsome but by the numbers. If I hadn't known this was a Griffith film, I would not have been able to tell it was. The story is thin and drags a lot. The characters are uninteresting and the best I can say is that some of the visuals are striking.
I do have to wonder if a clearer, more complete print and not having to stop the movie to put the Spanish intertitles into Google Translate would make for a better experience though. Silent films can live or die on their presentation. I can imagine this going from meh to mildly pleasant under better viewing circumstances.
