You don't know it, but you may have heard of another Maurice Tourneur film already. Or read about it - in my post about "The Blue Bird".
Let's talk about "The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England" from 1914 today.
As usual here's the plot (with spoilers).
Giles is the son of the Earl of Bateson and one of those students that take their studies extremely seriously. At least that's what he tells his father. Unfortunately, reality looks a little different and Giles gets kicked out of school - and then kicked out at home when his father is informed of the truth. Maybe he shouldn't have to tried to sell Dad the story of a vacation "as a recompense for exemplary conduct". You don't try to pull such a stunt on a grumpy old man suffering from gout.
The Earl refuses to let Giles come back until he has earned half a crown without anyone's help.
It's true, Giles is absolutely irresponsible and Entitlement is his middle name. He takes fruit from a woman and when she protests, he throws it back at her. He kicks a little dog (which is only implied, not seen) and laughs about it. We don't like Giles at that point.
The dog runs home and we learn he's the companion of Sally, the poor parson's daughter.
Luckily, Giles has a wealthy godfather, Squire Annesley. The Squire who has just been left by his gardener after scolding him because some of his roses have been stolen is about to go on a journey and decides to help by appointing Giles to take care of his roses while he's away.
Giles discovers the rose thief quickly enough, it's Sally.
Her argument that flowers are God's gift to humans, poor or rich, doesn't quite convince him. When she shows him, however, that the flowers are meant for decorating the humble church, he not only tells her to keep them, but also treats her to some bread and jam. Then Sally invites him home to meet her father.
There's clearly love in the air as Giles even smiles through Sally's off-key singing and drinking her dandelion brew!
On their first walk together, they visit a gypsy camp and Sally buys a silver "wishing ring".
The Squire sends Giles a letter asking him to invite all the neighbors for a lawn party to celebrate his return. Of course he includes Sally and her father, but she has nothing to wear, so "The Wishing Ring" aka Giles sends her a new dress, a hat, and shoes.
At the lawn party, Sally and the parson find out Giles's true identity when he loses the Earl's letter, and Sally sets out on a mission to reconcile father and son bearing gifts, introducing her dog and challenging the Earl to a game of chess. He's enchanted, but refuses to talk about Giles.
Thinking that a remedy for the gout will help, Sally visits the gypsies again and gets told to pick a magic herb on Devil's Cliff at midnight by the light of the moon which she does right away.
The next morning, the parson finds Sally gone and ask some young villagers to help him search. One of them thinks of taking the dog that leads them to Sally who has fallen from Devil's Cliff.
When the Earl hears about this, he forgets all about his gout, calls for a horse and gets on his way. Unfortunately, the horse founders and he asks for a new one at the inn. The innkeeper runs to the Squire where Giles tells him to take the horse from the stable - for whose use the Earl pays half a crown which the innkeeper takes back to Giles telling him about Sally's accident.
When Giles and his father meet at Sally's bed, the Earl gets angry and wants to leave, but Sally hands him the half crown and Giles tells him that he himself has unknowingly paid him with it.
Everyone is invited to the wedding feast, village girls and boys, school masters and soldiers, gypsies - and of course Sally's dog!
From the title and after watching "The Blue Bird", I had the idea that this would be another fairy tale with a moral, but actually it's a romcom and such a sweet one!
The title is a bit misleading, the wishing ring really doesn't play such a big role except allowing Giles to give Sally the new party dress anonymously.
I loved to see how Sally's uncomplicated and enthusiastic behavior - maybe a bit too uncomplicated in regards to the roses, couldn't she have asked the Squire? - changed Giles, but I think you could already see that Giles isn't a bad egg when the Squire told him to take care of his roses. No complaining, on with the apron and off he went even if we don't know how well he did it.
It was also lovely to see how quickly Sally captured the Earl's heart. I got "Little Lord Fauntleroy" vibes from that, it was enough that Sally was being her uninhibited self, just like Cedric, no idea of class differences or shyness.
We have a charming romance, we have our funny bits, we have our drama, what's not to like?
Especially with pictures as beautiful as this one? Admit it, that looks like a good spot for a break.
The movie is based on Owen Davis's play from 1910 which explains the opening and ending with the proscenium and curtain and the silent chorus of four young girls whom we meet several times throughout the film.
Now let's get to the real hero, though, Gyp Williams as "The Orphan". Oh wait, I haven't mentioned an orphan yet? Well, not under that name ... yes, our little Gyp is billed fourth, and if you ask me, he deserves it for his splendid performance!
Oh, and by the way, this is another lucky find when film historian Kevin Brownlow came upon it in a defunct film library and didn't even think it was worth the asking price at first!
This one is definitely going on my favorite silent movie list.
Sources and further reading:
1. Fritzi Kramer: The Wishing Ring (1914) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, September 21, 2014
2. Kyle Westphal: The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England. On: Library of Congress. National Film Preservation Board. Documents
Let's talk about "The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England" from 1914 today.
As usual here's the plot (with spoilers).
Giles is the son of the Earl of Bateson and one of those students that take their studies extremely seriously. At least that's what he tells his father. Unfortunately, reality looks a little different and Giles gets kicked out of school - and then kicked out at home when his father is informed of the truth. Maybe he shouldn't have to tried to sell Dad the story of a vacation "as a recompense for exemplary conduct". You don't try to pull such a stunt on a grumpy old man suffering from gout.
The Earl refuses to let Giles come back until he has earned half a crown without anyone's help.
It's true, Giles is absolutely irresponsible and Entitlement is his middle name. He takes fruit from a woman and when she protests, he throws it back at her. He kicks a little dog (which is only implied, not seen) and laughs about it. We don't like Giles at that point.
The dog runs home and we learn he's the companion of Sally, the poor parson's daughter.
Luckily, Giles has a wealthy godfather, Squire Annesley. The Squire who has just been left by his gardener after scolding him because some of his roses have been stolen is about to go on a journey and decides to help by appointing Giles to take care of his roses while he's away.
Giles discovers the rose thief quickly enough, it's Sally.
Her argument that flowers are God's gift to humans, poor or rich, doesn't quite convince him. When she shows him, however, that the flowers are meant for decorating the humble church, he not only tells her to keep them, but also treats her to some bread and jam. Then Sally invites him home to meet her father.
There's clearly love in the air as Giles even smiles through Sally's off-key singing and drinking her dandelion brew!
On their first walk together, they visit a gypsy camp and Sally buys a silver "wishing ring".
The Squire sends Giles a letter asking him to invite all the neighbors for a lawn party to celebrate his return. Of course he includes Sally and her father, but she has nothing to wear, so "The Wishing Ring" aka Giles sends her a new dress, a hat, and shoes.
At the lawn party, Sally and the parson find out Giles's true identity when he loses the Earl's letter, and Sally sets out on a mission to reconcile father and son bearing gifts, introducing her dog and challenging the Earl to a game of chess. He's enchanted, but refuses to talk about Giles.
Thinking that a remedy for the gout will help, Sally visits the gypsies again and gets told to pick a magic herb on Devil's Cliff at midnight by the light of the moon which she does right away.
 |
| I'm legally bound to mention movie scenes with cats. This cat is even shown twice. |
The next morning, the parson finds Sally gone and ask some young villagers to help him search. One of them thinks of taking the dog that leads them to Sally who has fallen from Devil's Cliff.
When the Earl hears about this, he forgets all about his gout, calls for a horse and gets on his way. Unfortunately, the horse founders and he asks for a new one at the inn. The innkeeper runs to the Squire where Giles tells him to take the horse from the stable - for whose use the Earl pays half a crown which the innkeeper takes back to Giles telling him about Sally's accident.
When Giles and his father meet at Sally's bed, the Earl gets angry and wants to leave, but Sally hands him the half crown and Giles tells him that he himself has unknowingly paid him with it.
Everyone is invited to the wedding feast, village girls and boys, school masters and soldiers, gypsies - and of course Sally's dog!
 |
| I love how the young girl is eating. That's concentration. |
From the title and after watching "The Blue Bird", I had the idea that this would be another fairy tale with a moral, but actually it's a romcom and such a sweet one!
The title is a bit misleading, the wishing ring really doesn't play such a big role except allowing Giles to give Sally the new party dress anonymously.
I loved to see how Sally's uncomplicated and enthusiastic behavior - maybe a bit too uncomplicated in regards to the roses, couldn't she have asked the Squire? - changed Giles, but I think you could already see that Giles isn't a bad egg when the Squire told him to take care of his roses. No complaining, on with the apron and off he went even if we don't know how well he did it.
It was also lovely to see how quickly Sally captured the Earl's heart. I got "Little Lord Fauntleroy" vibes from that, it was enough that Sally was being her uninhibited self, just like Cedric, no idea of class differences or shyness.
We have a charming romance, we have our funny bits, we have our drama, what's not to like?
Especially with pictures as beautiful as this one? Admit it, that looks like a good spot for a break.
The movie is based on Owen Davis's play from 1910 which explains the opening and ending with the proscenium and curtain and the silent chorus of four young girls whom we meet several times throughout the film.
Now let's get to the real hero, though, Gyp Williams as "The Orphan". Oh wait, I haven't mentioned an orphan yet? Well, not under that name ... yes, our little Gyp is billed fourth, and if you ask me, he deserves it for his splendid performance!
Oh, and by the way, this is another lucky find when film historian Kevin Brownlow came upon it in a defunct film library and didn't even think it was worth the asking price at first!
This one is definitely going on my favorite silent movie list.
Sources and further reading:
1. Fritzi Kramer: The Wishing Ring (1914) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, September 21, 2014
2. Kyle Westphal: The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England. On: Library of Congress. National Film Preservation Board. Documents
