Raymond Hatton is probably best remembered for his over-the-top Western sidekick roles, but he should be better remembered for such roles as this one.
For one thing, he shows that with a properly restraining director, one who watches details, he could be as skilled an actor as Hollywood ever had.
Kathlyn Williams is generally unknown today, except among film fans and historians, but her performance here is evidence she deserved her acclaim at the time.
Other than Noah Beery and Tully Marshall, in small roles, the cast will be known, again, only to historians, but every single actor gave a first-class performance.
Cecil B. DeMille is best known for huge epics, but even in those "cast of thousands" pictures, he was admired and respected for his attention to detail. He would, for example, notice if an extra was wearing the wrong type of sandal.
Here, in "The Whispering Chorus," his attention is on tiny movements and gestures by his players, little touches that make each of them seem so human, so realistically human.
His characters make little motions toward others, or fondle something on a desk, or pick up and replace an item -- all very humanizing.
This is not a happy experience, but it is an enlightening one. Viewers can learn, even if perhaps again, that DeMille was a first-class director of even small films, and we can learn, even if perhaps again, that Raymond Hatton was a first-class actor, deserving to be so recognized, and remembered for much more than the third partner in his B Westerns.
In summation, "The Whispering Chorus" is an experience, not really pleasant entertainment, but a moving drama that every serious student or just fan of early motion pictures really ought to see.
Especially those who don't realize what quality was there in a movie made as early as 1918. Really, it is astonishing. I strongly recommend it.
For one thing, he shows that with a properly restraining director, one who watches details, he could be as skilled an actor as Hollywood ever had.
Kathlyn Williams is generally unknown today, except among film fans and historians, but her performance here is evidence she deserved her acclaim at the time.
Other than Noah Beery and Tully Marshall, in small roles, the cast will be known, again, only to historians, but every single actor gave a first-class performance.
Cecil B. DeMille is best known for huge epics, but even in those "cast of thousands" pictures, he was admired and respected for his attention to detail. He would, for example, notice if an extra was wearing the wrong type of sandal.
Here, in "The Whispering Chorus," his attention is on tiny movements and gestures by his players, little touches that make each of them seem so human, so realistically human.
His characters make little motions toward others, or fondle something on a desk, or pick up and replace an item -- all very humanizing.
This is not a happy experience, but it is an enlightening one. Viewers can learn, even if perhaps again, that DeMille was a first-class director of even small films, and we can learn, even if perhaps again, that Raymond Hatton was a first-class actor, deserving to be so recognized, and remembered for much more than the third partner in his B Westerns.
In summation, "The Whispering Chorus" is an experience, not really pleasant entertainment, but a moving drama that every serious student or just fan of early motion pictures really ought to see.
Especially those who don't realize what quality was there in a movie made as early as 1918. Really, it is astonishing. I strongly recommend it.