The Ace of Hearts (1921)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Wallace Worsley

Writers:

Gouverneur Morris (story)
Ruth Wightman (scenario)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A romantic rivalry among members of a secret society becomes even tenser when one of the men is assigned to carry out an assassination.

Plot Keywords:

Assassination | Secret Society | Romantic Rivalry | Love | Playing Card

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Lon Chaney	...	Mr. Farallone
Leatrice Joy	...	Lilith
John Bowers	...	Mr. Forrest
Hardee Kirkland	...	Mr. Morgridge, the Society Leader
Raymond Hatton	...	The Menace
Edwin Wallock	...	Chemist (as Edwin N. Wallock)
Roy Laidlaw	...	Doorkeeper
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cullen Landis	...	Young Man in Restaurant (uncredited)

Directed by
Wallace Worsley

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gouverneur Morris		story
Ruth Wightman		scenario

Produced by
Samuel Goldwyn	....	producer

Original Music by
Vivek Maddala		(2000)

Cinematography by
Don Short		(as Donovan Short)

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Music Department
Vivek Maddala	....	orchestrator: original music (2000 score)

Production Companies

• Goldwyn Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Goldwyn Pictures Corporation (1921) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Critics' Choice Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (????) (USA) (TV)
• Videobrary (????) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

75 min (2000 alternate version) (21 fps)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White | Color (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Passed

Company:

Goldwyn Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Second of four films Lon Chaney made for Goldwyn Pictures.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Settling the Score (2005) (TV)

The themes of love, honor, unrequited love and self-sacrifice pervade this fine suspense thriller

An anarchist group decides that one man has lived too long. His executioner will be determined by chance. One of the group deals out cards to the rest. The one who gets the ace of hearts becomes the assassin. Two young men (Lon Chaney and John Bowers) desperately want that card. They are both courting the sole female member (Leatrice Joy), who thinks of nothing but The Cause. When Fate deals her own hand, one of the suitors (Chaney) must determine if he really loves the girl—or merely wants to possess her.

The themes of love, honor, unrequited love and self-sacrifice pervade this fine suspense thriller. The script, written by Ruth Wightman from a story by Gouverneur Morris, and directed by Wallace Worsley, is extraordinarily deft at creating and maintaining suspense. All the details—what we see and don't see; what we are told about this anarchist group and what we're left to guess; and the moment when a certain character is at last introduced—are well chosen. The film only loses its footing briefly during the fatuous intertitles near the end ("Love is construction!").

Lon Chaney is a great actor, but that doesn't mean he's perfect. He has a great face and a way of compelling our attention and sympathies. I think his main defect is best demonstrated by the scene where Lilith shows up at the door, and he expresses shock. He was clearly expecting this "shock." Lon Chaney is not always what actors call "living in the moment"—feeling things as the character feels them without anticipating the next line in the script. His ability to concentrate on his performance is said to have been intense; but he doesn't always live with his character moment by moment. The trouble is not his era's acting style. Even though people have knocked silent movie acting since the days of silent movies, the exaggerated expressions and gestures are really very powerful. So they are with Chaney.

This excellent silent film was given an enormous boost in 2000 when Vivek Maddala won a competition and was hired to write the score, a job he performed beautifully. My high rating applies to the 2000 version of this film.