Saturday, June 15, 2013

Wild Oranges (1924)

Goldwyn-Cosmopolitan
Directed by King Vidor
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Intriguing story of a recently widowed man sailing on the Atlantic to escape his sorrows. He sets ashore on the isolated Georgia coastline for water, only to find a lonely girl and her nervous father living in a run down mansion. A hulking wild maniac also lives nearby, who becomes dangerously jealous when the girl shows affections for the newcomer. Filmed on location instead of the usual Hollywood back lot, Vidor effectively conveys the troubled mindset of its deeply disturbed ensemble of characters: a leading man in self-imposed exile, a girl dreaming of escape from the lusty overtures of her horrific admirer, an old man crippled by fear and finally Nicholas, all lust and instinct, but also afraid of losing the girl he loves. I was reminded of some latter day horror movies, particularly The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, whose Leatherface character bears a strong resemblance to Nicholas.

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