Cheap The Married Virgin (DVD) (Joseph Maxwell) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Married Virgin

A Fast-paced drama to keep you on the edge of your seat!
After reading the other reviews about a melodrama and poor or unbelievable plot, I was pleasantly surprised to find this film much better than I had expected. I found the pace to be quite fast and you have to stay on your toes to keep up with each new development, and the plot seemed interesting, intricate and well-thought-out to me. Needless to say, Valentino's role is a highlight, but together with the unfolding of the story and other characters the whole film is quite enjoyable and even suspenseful as you wonder what will happen next and how it will end. As a movie in its own right, apart from Valentino, it stands as a quality drama, and despite some poor picture quality at times, it is still enjoyable and entertaining to watch.

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Admire the star, deplore the plot
This is not a top-notch silent film, this is a melodrama. When I think of melodrama I think of unbelievable characters and unbelievable plots. In this film we have a witness to murder who waits ten years and then cracks a safe to steal the murder weapon, a lawyer who is employed to uncover corruption but doesn't find any, and a gigolo who marries a girl as part of an attempt at blackmail! I can't trace all the plot holes - it gives me a headache trying to unravel it all. Valentino is smooth and casual in his portrayal of a gigolo, very effective. The overall impression I have of this movie is this: it's a production-line melodrama where the plot doesn't matter much, just give the audience some plush interiors to look at and some dramatic moments, and rake in the money.

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A Great Movie
I strongly disagree with the only other (lengthy) review that speaks very disparagingly of this incredibly good movie. This is the best silent I've ever seen and not just because of Valentino, albeit he is just great in it. The stepmother is superb and the two of them make an illicit love duo the like of which one has seldom seen in the movies, even to this date. When they sit clandestinely and grandly in the garden of her husband's estate, scheming away, it is just hilarious. Again, the stepmother is as good as anybody has ever been in this role, and is also a hell of alot better looking than the daughter.

I also disagree that the film characters aren't fleshed out. They are totally, and in a very economical fashion. They are not at all stock characters. Even the lawyer boyfriend rises above his secondary role and also isn't too cloyingly good.

Finally, the scenery and cinematography of this film are outstanding, featuring the old El Coronado hotel in San Diego, and swimming scenes. And of course, the car scene where the old 1918 roadster goes barrelling into the canyon has to be one of the first such car crash scenes and it's a hell of alot more realistic than most.

So if you want to see what all the fuss was about Valentino, and watch a wonderful period silent film, this is the film for you.

Therefore, I wish and hope that someone remakes this film. The somewhat unbelievable plot not withstanding.