Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Victory (1919)

Director Maurice Tourneur’s adaptation of a Joseph Conrad novel of criminal intrigue in the Dutch East Indies was thought to be a lost film for many years. The film has, however, survived in 35mm print materials — to the delight of Lon Chaney fans.

Reclusive Axel Heyst (Jack Holt) lives on his isolated island, in spite of the contempt of hotel owner Schomberg (Wallace Beery) on a nearby island. Heyst’s visit there draws him into a tangled skein that includes a sad woman musician (Seena Owen), a manipulative and opportunistic criminal (Ben Deely), and his two henchmen (Chaney and Bull Montana).

Not a major film for Tourneur, with its odd and unengaging story flow and abrupt resolution, but rather an opportunity for Chaney to steal the film as the smarmy Ricardo. The insignificant hotel section of the film presents only an excuse for Holt and Owen to return to his lonely island surreptiously, and who knows what the volcano is all about. This kind of material would be later handled far better by Chaney with director Tod Browning.

— Carl Bennett