The Intrigue: The Films of Julia Crawford Ivers

The Films of Julia Crawford Ivers (1867-1930), part of Kino's Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, recognizes a productive writer and director who amassed 50 credits during her career in Hollywood. The set centers on Frank Lloyd's 1916 espionage melodrama The Intrigue, bolstered by three other Ivers-penned silent films, all preserved by the Library of Congress's Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Intrigue, which is in remarkable shape, revolves around inventor Guy Longstreet (Cecil Van Auker, a likeable presence who served in the military before and after filming) and his X-ray gun. To his disappointment, the Secretary of War turns it down, so he travels to Europe to look for a buyer. The Foreign War Board tests it out on a poor, defenseless lamb, and declares it a success, so Baron Rogniat (Howard Davies) offers to take it off his hands. They make plans to travel to the US, but Countess Varnli (Broadway star Lenore Ulrich) gets wind of the Baron's scheme to murder Guy, so she switches places with her maid (played by King Vidor's wife, Florence Vidor) to foil the plan. The result is a triumph of peace over war and love over money. Since Varnli is ultimately the hero, claims that The Intrigue is proto-feminist would not be misplaced. Ben Model provides the lively piano accompaniment, author Anthony Slide (Early Women Directors) handles the audio commentary, and the restoration team has preserved the tinting in shades of black, white, gold, green, blue, sepia, and magenta (the film was shot by Ivers' son, James Van Trees). Only the fourth reel remains of the Ivers-directed Majesty of the Law from 1915. The episodic excerpt unfurls in the style of Le Ronde as a card sharp's sleight of hand has repercussions for a college student, bank teller, and groundskeeper. The reel ends before Ivers gets the chance to reveal whether anyone will trace the missing money to the original cheat. William Desmond Taylor's 1916 Ben Blair, an adaptation of William Otis Lillibridge's novel, is an epic western about a boy who never knew his father. After he loses his mother to her brute of a boyfriend and barely escapes a fire, he must make his way in the cruel world on his own. After an unhappy time in the city, he finds his happy ending on a ranch with childhood sweetheart Florence (Frequent Ivers collaborator Dustin Farnum plays the adult Ben, and his future wife Winifred Kingston plays Florence). The stolid Farnum returns that same year for the Ivers-directed Son of Erin as Denny, a poor Irishman who dreams of immigrating to America. After battling grabby landlords and grafting politicians, he and fellow immigrant Katie (Kingston again) manage to stake their claim on the American dream. Since it's a silent film, there's no need for the actors to fake the accent. Instead, Ivers wrote the dialogue in Irish vernacular, adding a few words of Gaelic. Because the last reel was lost, the restoration team has effectively reconstructed it with stills, title cards, and film clips. All four films showcase Ivers' skill, versatility, and sympathy for ordinary men and women seeking better lives. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)