ARCHIVE: George Eastman House
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People are voting emotionally.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
"Arms and the Gringo" is a two reel silent melodrama. Directed by William Christy Cabanne and starring Dorothy Gish and Wallace Reid, the film is truly poor.For instance, the editing of film seems to show Griffith-like techniques at their most over used. The director cross cuts constantly between scenes without any emotional or thematic significance. The only really powerful scene is the last, where Dorothy Gish is manhandled by arms smuggler and is rescued by the handsome American soldier Wallace Reid.The one surprise in "Arms and the Gringo" is a Mexican-American character. The character is quite stereotypical in keeping with the attitudes of the time, but he does manage to get Wallace Reid's attention at the end of the film and so that he can save Dorothy Gish. This Mexican character may have been inspired by another nameless character in the Griffith Biograph "The Battle at Elderbrush Gulch".Normally I am very kind to silent melodramas, but "Arms and the Gringo" lacks the direction or the heart to capture my attention. I would not recommend it as viewing for a person who has never seen a silent film.