Wow! I saw 'Rivals' last month at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy; they screened a print from the Bundesarchiv in Berlin.
'Rivals' is the work of Harry Piel, a semi-handsome German who wrote and directed movies as star vehicles for himself, usually playing a dashing action hero. In 'Rivals', to make sure we remember the name of the actor cast in the lead role (Harry Piel), the hero is named Harry Peel. So that's sorted, then.
Since I write science-fiction stories myself, I'm very intrigued that many of Piel's films are early examples of science-fiction cinema, with a strong emphasis on gadgetry as well as thrills. 'Rivals' has very much the feel of an American sci-fi movie serial.
This is all by the numbers. Professor Ravello (Adolf Klein) is the brilliant but evil scientist who aspires to (dare I say it?) rule the world. He also schemes to seduce and traduce the fair Evelyn (Inge Helgard). Ravello is assisted by his robot, which looks like a German cousin of the Tin Woodman. (The robot is identified as an 'automaton' in the title cards.) Even though this is a silent movie, I could hear the robot clanking. There's obviously an actor (or a stuntman) inside that galvanised robot costume, but please don't ask me who plays the robot: I didn't see a performer's name listed in the credits.
Harry Peel (Piel), of course, is our intrepid hero who risks his own life and limbs to foil Ravello and the robot and rescue Evelyn. Along the way, there are no end of 'Perils of Pauline' adventures designed more for thrills than for logic. Piel (or Peel) seems to be auditioning for Houdini's job here; he constantly escapes from Ravello's nefarious traps, including at one point an underwater cage made of glass(!).
We get the usual lapses of logic. Ravello repeatedly captures Peel, but -- rather than simply killing him -- chucks him into some Heath Robinson contraption which is meant to kill Peel slowly and painfully, but merely gives actor Piel yet one more opportunity to stage an elaborate escape.
Some of the stunts here are very obviously faked, but others are impressively real. At one point, a car drives off a bridge into a river ... and doesn't come up again. This sequence is clearly genuine, and is better for the obvious lack of trickery.
I've never been a huge fan of cliffhanger serials, since I tend to get hung up over the gaps in their logic rather than mindlessly enjoying the stunts. 'Rivals' has the same problem as those serials: it's a thrilling adventure if you're willing to forget common sense and plausibility, but not otherwise. My rating for this one: 7 out of 10.
'Rivals' is the work of Harry Piel, a semi-handsome German who wrote and directed movies as star vehicles for himself, usually playing a dashing action hero. In 'Rivals', to make sure we remember the name of the actor cast in the lead role (Harry Piel), the hero is named Harry Peel. So that's sorted, then.
Since I write science-fiction stories myself, I'm very intrigued that many of Piel's films are early examples of science-fiction cinema, with a strong emphasis on gadgetry as well as thrills. 'Rivals' has very much the feel of an American sci-fi movie serial.
This is all by the numbers. Professor Ravello (Adolf Klein) is the brilliant but evil scientist who aspires to (dare I say it?) rule the world. He also schemes to seduce and traduce the fair Evelyn (Inge Helgard). Ravello is assisted by his robot, which looks like a German cousin of the Tin Woodman. (The robot is identified as an 'automaton' in the title cards.) Even though this is a silent movie, I could hear the robot clanking. There's obviously an actor (or a stuntman) inside that galvanised robot costume, but please don't ask me who plays the robot: I didn't see a performer's name listed in the credits.
Harry Peel (Piel), of course, is our intrepid hero who risks his own life and limbs to foil Ravello and the robot and rescue Evelyn. Along the way, there are no end of 'Perils of Pauline' adventures designed more for thrills than for logic. Piel (or Peel) seems to be auditioning for Houdini's job here; he constantly escapes from Ravello's nefarious traps, including at one point an underwater cage made of glass(!).
We get the usual lapses of logic. Ravello repeatedly captures Peel, but -- rather than simply killing him -- chucks him into some Heath Robinson contraption which is meant to kill Peel slowly and painfully, but merely gives actor Piel yet one more opportunity to stage an elaborate escape.
Some of the stunts here are very obviously faked, but others are impressively real. At one point, a car drives off a bridge into a river ... and doesn't come up again. This sequence is clearly genuine, and is better for the obvious lack of trickery.
I've never been a huge fan of cliffhanger serials, since I tend to get hung up over the gaps in their logic rather than mindlessly enjoying the stunts. 'Rivals' has the same problem as those serials: it's a thrilling adventure if you're willing to forget common sense and plausibility, but not otherwise. My rating for this one: 7 out of 10.
