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The Perils of Pauline
1914
The inclusion of Pearl White's famous serial in this section is something of a paradox, for if I were writing on the fifty worst movies of all time, it would also have to be included! However, no matter how stern— or how charitable— a view one takes of this work, the fact remains that it has to be regarded as one of the immortals. Not quite the first serial, having been preceded by The Adventures of Kathlyn, it was nevertheless the film that put serials on the map, that established Pearl White as a star, and that set up the basic ingredients that were to be the serial's stock in trade for years to come. The debit side of the ledger is far lengthier, but since audiences enjoyed the film so much back in 1914— and since obviously everybody who worked on the film had a grand time too— it seems unfair (and unnecessary) to go into detailed criticism. It is sufficient to say that the direction by Louis Gasnier was so appalling as to be beyond belief, and both photography and editing were crude and inept. And by 1914— indeed, by 1909— both expert photography and imaginative editing had been achieved by others. By far the worst (and most amusing) of this serial's crimes however were its fantasically illiterate subtitles, written without any basic knowledge of grammar, full of spelling errors, sentences that a mentally retarded child of five wouldn't use, and such howlers as using the word "immoral" when "immortal" was intended. And yet, who can argue with a box office success? Many great serials followed The Perils of Pauline; in the 20's especially, the serials of Pathe revealed genuine imagination and terrific excitement; yet when one thinks back to the serial era, it is always the title
The principal characters of The Perils— villain Koerner (Paul Panzer), heroine Pauline (Pearl White, of course), and hero Harry Marvin (Crane Wilbur).
The Perils of Pauline that springs to mind first.
It had only a very simple overall plot— that of villain Paul Panzer scheming to steal Pearl's inheritance, preferably by having Pearl killed off. Pearl— or Paulinewas a trusting soul, and despite the most damning evidence against Paul, she continued to regard him as one of her best friends— until the closing episode. Other than this connecting thread, there was no real plot, and for the most part, each episode contained a different adventure which was resolved within the chapter. The cliff-hanging endings came later. Thus Pearl battled redskins in one episode, was flung from a cliff high in the Rockies (New Jersey's Palisades provided a convenient location for this), won an international motor race, was kidnapped by gypsies, was blown up at sea by a mad old pirate, and so on. The acting from the lesser players was on the same level as the writing and direction, but Pearl White— a lovely girl, with an easy, assured acting stylemanaged to convince one that she was much too bright a girl to be mouthing such idiotic subtitles. Crane Wilbur made a rather stolid, but serious and likeable hero; later he became a prolific writer and director. And Paul Panzer's jovial villainy was either the hammiest ever, or a remarkable anticipation of the Noah Beery-Montague Love brand of skulduggery that came into its own with the swashbucklers of the 20's.
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