Cheap Regeneration (DVD) (Rockliffe Fellowes, William Sheer, Anna Q. Nilsson) (Raoul Walsh) Price

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Customer Reviews of Regeneration

Two Important Films of 1915
I was very pleasantly surprised by both "Regeneration" and "Young Romance" on this DVD. Firstly, I was expecting more of a gangster movie in "Regeneration" as the introductions said, but found it to have a much deeper, spiritual meaning overall, making it far less sinister than I had imagined. The main theme of the story is based on the idea that many gangsters are only the result of an unhappy childhood in a rough neighbourhood, and when given a chance, they can become decent, respectable citizens. The film begins by showing the sad child in miserable surroundings which lead him to become the leader of gangsters. Everything looks very realistic, including characters - some of which were apaprently real-life slum dwellers - adding to the atmosphere of the drama. The hopelessness and heaviness of it all dramatically change when a woman from the upper classes devotes herself to helping the slum dwellers, and whose kind deeds transform the gangster leader (who, as we see before already, isn't really all that bad to begin with anyway). Not only is it a bitter-sweet story with a hopeful message, but for a 1915 feature film, it is very well made, and there are only a few short segments of film are damaged beyond repair or restoration.

"Young Romance" was written by William C. de Mille, older brother of the more famous Cecil, and whose films have all but been lost, it seems. This is probably a real shame if this film is anything to go by, because the story is clever, yet nice and charming. It is a light-hearted story about two young people with the same dream of being wealthy upper-class socialites just for one week, and their consequent misadventures and resulting romance. It moves along at a pleasant, happy pace and is easy to follow, and I enjoyed it immensely. It has a lovely musical score by Robert Israel, and the picture quality is very good throughout. It is only about an hour long but leaves you feeling good and satisfied, mainly perhaps due to the excellent photography and editing which, along with "Regeneration", I'd say are exceptionally good for 1915, and therefore well worth adding to a silent film collection.

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an overlooked masterwork
Rockcliff Fellows was the finest actor of his generation, and nothing shows this better than this overlooked classic by Raoul Walsh. This movie has a primitive emotional power and honesty that overshadows today's movies, whose only distinguishing characteristics are their loud, whooshing sound effects.

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primitive but very interesting
it has already been noted that this movie is like the recent Gangs Of New York, only apparently real gang members make up much of the cast. their faces are incredible. you can't imagine a bunch of actors looking like that. this is the main selling point of the movie and what makes it worthwhile to watch. the movie itself is very much in the silent melodramatic tradition, which can be wearying at times. also worthy because it was the first movie by raoul walsh, who went on to make movies like White Heat over 30 years later. Sort of for specialized tastes, but well worth watching.