The Light in the Dark (1922)

So much average

Absolutely Brilliant!

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Copyright 28 August 1922 by Hope Hampton Productions. Released through Associated First National: 3 September 1922. Originally 5,700 feet in length (8 reels), the movie was cut to 5,600 feet (6 reels) for release. In 1927, the movie was acquired by a religious group who cut it down to 3 reels (33 minutes) and re-titled it The Light of Faith.SYNOPSIS: The version under review is The Light of Faith. This is not a cut-down, but a more or less complete segment of the final section of the film: An out-of-work young girl rents a room in a New York tenement where she is befriended by a petty crook.NOTES: The only film produced by Hope Hampton, star of the original Gold Diggers movie (1923), and a celebrity fashion model.COMMENT: It's fortunate indeed for Lon Chaney's fans that a complete segment of this movie comprising all the footage in which he appears, is now available on Image/Blackhawk's DVD of Oliver Twist-and beautifully presented it is too in all the glory of its original tints. This wonderful photography serves as a perfect match for the rather odd little story that blends realism and fantasy in a tale of the finding of the Holy Grail by an American millionaire. Brown handles the main plot in a carefully controlled naturalistic style and has obviously tried to temper Chaney whose performance tends to go a little over the top at times. Producer Hope Hampton, however, delivers a faultless, softly shaded study of the harried heroine, and is ably supported by a caring Dorothy Walters. On the other hand, E.K. Lincoln's ultra-boorish hero, although no doubt true to type, seems an odd choice for the affections of a super-sensitive heroine.

"The Light of the Dark" is a bit of a mystery to me. The IMDb description has a story line that starts with a traffic accident and runs 33 minutes. The heroine is called Bessie MacGregor. The version that I watched runs 37 minutes and has no character named Bessie MacGregor, but rather has a heroine named Elaine and starts with an entirely different beginning. It is this version upon which I base my comments.A distraught wandering young waif (Hope Hampton) arrives at a seedy boarding house and seeks lodging. She is evidently fleeing a broken romance. The land lady takes her last dollar for rent. The young lady, whom we learn later, is named Elaine is admired by another boarder, small time crook Tony Pantelli (Lon Chaney). After several days of looking for a job Elaine collapses from hunger. Tony carries her back to her room and cares for her.Shift the scene to England where J. Warburton Ashe (E.K. Lincoln) is equally distraught over an apparent broken romance. As luck would have it, his dog discovers what is believed to be The Holy Grail in the ruins of an old cathedral. Turns out it IS The Holy Grail.Meanwhile back at the boarding house, Elaine has become delirious. One day Tony brings her a newspaper where she learns that Ashe has returned and has The Holy Grail in his possession. Tony is curious about the goblet and Elaine recounts to him the story of The Holy Grail.In a flashback sequence in the time of King Arthur, we are introduced to Sir Galahad and his young unnamed maiden, also played by Lincoln and Hampton. The young maiden has seen a vision of the Holy Grail and its healing powers and has Galahad set out on a quest to find it. Find it he does and the cup is used to heal the maladies of the people of the area.Fast forward to the "present" where Tony decides to acquire the cup in order to heal Elaine of her sickness. He goes to Ashe's mansion and takes the cup while assaulting Ashe in the process. He brings the cup to Elaine and convinces her to touch it and be cured. Later, Tony is arrested and brought to court and....................................Lon Chaney as always, is outstanding as Tony. He once again evokes the sympathy of the audience with his hopeless quest for the love for the heroine, a recurring theme in many of his films. Again his facial expressions showing pity, anger, compassion, fear and relief dominate the film.There is apparently a full length version of this film running about an hour but is not readily available. And there's the alternate 33 minute version described in IMDb. In the 37 minute version, there are some gaps in the presentation but it is more or less the full story as I see it.I sincerely hope that the full version becomes available so that Chaney's fans are treated to yet another masterpiece from "the man of a thousand faces".

I just saw the unrestored shortened version of "The Light in the Dark" so keep this in mind when reading my review. This shorter version clocks in at 32 minutes and is, despite being greatly condensed, a very good silent short.The film begins with a woman moving in at a boarding house. One of her neighbors (Lon Chaney) is clearly infatuated with her and the theme of his unrequited love is a very common theme in Chaney's films.Suddenly, the film abruptly switches venues--now it's in Britain. A rich guy finds a golden cup half-buried in the ground. It's a fancy cup that glows and he announces to the world that it might just be the famed 'Holy Grail'.Just after this, the lady becomes sick (heart-sick--a common movie malady) and things don't look good. But when he tells Chaney about the story of the Holy Grail (much of which I have never heard before and think they made up for the movie), he is determined to steal it and use it to cure her. Yes, in this film this legendary cup has the power to heal (thank goodness it didn't have the face-melting power like the Ark of the Covenant in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"!). The cup works its magic though the lovely lady is still sad--apparently she and the owner of the cup have some sort of romantic history together.When the owner discovers the pair and the cup, he contacts the police. In the next scene, Chaney is being prosecuted for assault and theft, but the owner is touched by Chaney's friendship with the lady and decides the best course is to lie his head off. As a result, Chaney is found not guilty and everyone lives happily ever after...except for Chaney, who is once more left to lament his lost love as she leaves with the old boyfriend.While the story is a bit antiquated, what impressed me about this one were the restrained acting and the nice cinematography. The film is very artistic looking and I liked seeing the glowy cup--a nice special effect for the time. It's worth seeing, but you might just want to look for the extended version instead--it probably is a better film but this is only conjecture based on my feeling that the original film length is almost always better than a truncated one (though there are definite exceptions).

Light of Faith, The (1922) *** (out of 4) A rather interesting religious/love story about a young woman who is seriously injured (Hope Hampton) and is being taken care of by a thief (Lon Chaney). One day the woman notices that her ex love, who thinks she's dead, has found the Holy Grail. The woman tells the thief that this grail has the power to heal so he sets out to find her ex and get the item. This is the shortened version of The Light in the Dark, a film that was believed lost until being found three years ago. This shortened version was prepared in 1927 by a religious group and this is the version, which has been seen the most. This version runs 40 minutes shorter and while I'd love to see the full version this one here is quite impressive. Hampton is very good in the lead even though she hasn't much to do and Chaney is terrific and quite believable as the thief with a good soul. The lighting used in this film is some of the greatest I've seen from any silent film and it makes the religious moments very strong. This film is on Kino's DVD of Oliver Twist but hopefully they'll release the full version at some point.