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A great collection of silent era films that is a must own for fans.

When you mention silent movies to most people, they either mention Charlie Chaplin or they immediately tell you how they could never watch one.  Sure the comedies of Chaplin, Keaton and Arbuckle are much more popular than somber visuals of D.W. Griffith or the German Expressionism of Robert Wiene.  But wacky comedies and early horror aren’t only one aspects of the silent cinema. Perils of the New Land: Films of the Immigrant Experience 1910-1015 is an excellent two disc set that features two films and three Edison shorts about various social issues of the time.

The first movie, The Italian (1915), is about the life of an immigrant and the difficulty of living in New York City at the time.  Traffic in Souls explores the issue of white slavery that I’m sure was a major issue in the turn of the century America.  Both films offer an interesting glimpse into the history of America that is rarely examined.  People forget how difficult immigrant life in the U.S. was and these films are a cold reminder of the history and suffering that made America.

The Italian opens with a wealthy man (George Beban) pulling the book “The Italian” off the self and starts to read it.  The book opens in Italy where a poor but happy gondolier named Beppo (also played by Beban) is in love with Annette (Clara Williams).  Annette loves him too but a richer suitor swoops in and wants to marry Annette as well.  Her father gives Beppo a year to prove himself or Annette will have to marry the richer man.  Beppo heads to America and starts shining shoes on a street corner where he is able to save enough to have his love join him.  She joins him; they get married and have a son.  Living in poverty and barely able to afford milk, their son gets sick and the doctor tells them he can only have pasteurized milk.  Barely able to afford food as it is, the more expensive milk puts them into a desperate state and Beppo has to act fast.

While the first half is a bit campy and it’s hard to believe that Beppo would be considered a suitable suitor shining shoes, the second half is rife with emotional drama.  Beppo is extremely likeable and Annette is patient and understanding.  When their child gets sick, there is a legitimate emotional investment in what happens.  Beban is a great actor and largely forgotten in American cinema.  He’s able to transform Beppo from affable immigrant to hardened individual by the end of the film.  Unless the opening of a wealthy Beban is supposed to indicate that Beppo finally succeeds, the ending is bleak and the hardships of poverty show that sometimes the lesser of two evils is still a crappy choice.

Traffic in Souls is one of the first original screenplays not based on a book.  It was banned in many places due to its dealing with prostitution and white slavery.  It was made for about $57,000 and grossed over $500,000 giving Carl Laemmle the money to build Universal Studios.  The film follows William Trubus (William Welsh) as the head of a local morality league that wants to end prostitution.  But that’s a front, in reality; he’s the head of a white slavery ring and has men constantly searching for new women for his brothels. 

The story might seem a bit familiar as it’s still being used today, the men wait at train and bus stations to lure innocent country girls who come to the city seeking fame and fortune to go with them.  Lorna Barton (Ethel Grandin) works in a candy store with her invalid father.  She meets a nice guy, goes out on a date, gets drunk and ends up imprisoned in a brothel.  Lorna’s sister starts tracking her sister and trying to build a case to bring down the men that kidnapped her sister.

It’s funny that this story dates back to 1913.  I watched an episode of Burn Notice this week that was almost the exact same thing.  The story won’t blow you away but the chance to see a street level view of New York and Ellis Island are worth viewing alone.  Traffic in Souls is early sensationalism in cinema.  The story wants to shock and scare with claims that 50,000 women a year are stolen off the streets and forced into prostitution.  In 1913 America, that would mean that a hell of a lot of women were being turned into prostitutes and I can’t believe that supply and demand would sustain that.  Prostitution wasn’t illegal in the 1910’s so there were lots of whores during that time and I have no doubt that white slavery was a problem; it was nowhere near as high as the film would lead you to believe.  Prostitution was a well paying job and the risks low compared to other work for women at the time.  Sure it’s not glamorous but compared to other work, it wouldn’t be the worst thing a woman could do.

Normally I wouldn’t worry about the audio quality of a film but since there is no dialogue and the score is the thing, the music accompanying both films is great.  The Italian has a full orchestra score adding to the grandiose nature of the film, while Traffic in Souls is only accompanied by a piano. 
The films look amazing.  With sharp visuals and great color tinting, both movies look very impressive despite being almost a hundred years old.  There are three early Edison shorts films included: Police Force, New York City, McQuade of the Traffic Squad and The Call of the City.  All three compliment the two features and have a great accompanying piano by Rodney Sauer from the Mont Alto Orchestra who provided the music for The Italian.

The Italian features a commentary by Dr. Giorgio Bertellini and Traffic in Souls has a commentary by Professor Shelley Stamp.  Both are good and provide lots of context for the films with Stamps commentary being livelier.  If you like the movies I would highly recommend watching them again with the commentary.

If you’re a fan of silent films, Perils of the New Land is a great purchase.  The films are beautifully restored and prove that silent movies are just as vibrant today as they were almost a hundred years ago. The films alone would be enough to recommend this collection but adding the three Edison films makes it a must own for silent film aficionados.  Flicker Alley and Film Preservation Associates are doing a great job of rescuing the silent era from obscurity.  I look forward to their future releases.

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