MovieChat Forums > Beyond the Rocks (1922) Discussion > A good movie!

A good movie!

posted 17 years ago by wtl471629
5 replies | jump to latest

POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING!

It is great that they discovered a copy. Gloria Swanson sacrefices happiness by marrying an older millionaire for her family's sake. Maybe that was done in England at the time (1922)but it seems odd that she would be forced to do this because her husband played by Robert Bolder was actually 63 in this movie and ironically in real life outlived two of the other main characters (Valentino and Francis). Alex B. Francis plays Swanson's father who in real life was 7 years younger than Bolder.

What was also strange to me is that Bolder sacrificed himself at the end. Surely they had divorces back then and he could have let his wife go to Valintino rather than go to the desert to sacrifice himself. Of course I guess that made it romantic but one couldn't help but feel that the husband was done dirty by the other two.

Anyway it is a good movie worth seeing even though I don't really think it is great. The scenes between Valentino and Swanson are outstanding.

[–] xylonian-1 17 years ago

First Valentino movie for me, and the second for Gloria Swanson....in a way, makes me see "Sunset Blvd" from a new perspective....

Not to argue, but I thought it was great.

Read My Lips!!!!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] monterice 12 years ago

TCM is showing it again tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. EST. Looking forward to seeing this for myself.

[–] eek-a-mouse 12 years ago

He sacrificed himself in keeping with the charming old-fashioned melodrama that it is. I LOVED the film, even the fact that the husband merely had to walk out of his tent to produce a happy ending for the lovers.

[–] HarlowMGM 9 years ago

I actually hated the ending but then "supporting characters" were usually quite expendable in silent films, one of the era's least appealing qualities. I felt the husband proved himself surprisingly quite sympathetic and to then kill him off so the young lovers could be happy was kind of in bad taste but then this is an Elinor Glyn story so what could you expect. However it would have been a more satisfying ending if either he was a creep who got the bullet or Swanson truly repented and saw him as a honorable man she was happy to stay married to.