Castles for Two (1917) User Reviews

Miss Doro Has Some Fun

[boblipton · 6/10 · 19 November 2020]

Elliott Dexter has just inherited the lordship and the estate, but there's no money, and the tenants sass him. His sisters decide he must marry the rich American girl who has rented the next castle over. It's Marie Doro, but she has her secretary, Mayme Kelso, pretend to be her so Miss Doro can romp through the countryside and look for pixies. Dexter doesn't wish to marry the older lady; he much prefers the pretty young girl who seems to be the housemaid, but as he explains to her, they're broke.

So Miss Doro knows who he is, but he can love her for herself, and she knows it. It's certainly not the first time any of us have seen this plot, and it's all set up so Miss Doro can be charming and artfully artless, offering little bits of business and breaking the fourth wall by flashing her lovely eyes as the audience. At fifty minutes of screen time, it certainly doesn't have time to pall.

The copy of the movie that appears on the dvd co-produced by Ed Lorusso and Joe Harvat is not in pristine condition. The first half of the last reel has a lot of decomposition, but it doesn't interfere with the good-humored fun. David Drazin's score quotes extensively from "Kerry Dance." Of course.

Charm from Days Gone By

[drednm · 21 July 2020]

Lord Brian O'Neil (Elliott Dexter) takes over an estate in Ireland and, much to the distress of his three spinster sisters and mother, is not very good at collecting rent from the tenants. Arriving on the scene is an American heiress, Patricia Calhoun (Marie Doro), who's apparently come to Ireland to find fairies and freedom from staid American ways.

She's so intent on freedom that she instructs her secretary (Mayme Kelso) to pretend to be the heiress so she can run free in the woods and shed her inhibitions. After a cow scares her and runs her up a tree, she's finally freed by the meandering Brian as he passes by. There's an instant spark between the two and she lies as says she works for the "rich American."

Brian's three harpy sisters are after him to marry the "rich American" and bring some money to the estate and his aged mother. But he's seen she whom he assumes is the American and he wants nothing to do with her. He cannot tell them he's smitten with the strange young woman he met in the woods.

So while she romps in the woods with the fairies ... yes, she's found the Irish fairies ... he stews and frets about the money situation. Finally the Lord and family get invited to a dinner by the American. He's expected to propose marriage to the woman but announces he's going to wed Patricia. But Patricia ends the charade and makes a grand entrance as the rich heiress. Mortified, Brian rescinds his offer of marriage, but is the end to the story?

Doro and Dexter were married in real life and made several films together. Their chemistry is obvious. Kelso has fun as the fake heiress.

The existing print from Library of Congress hass several areas of bad decomposition, but most of the film is in good shape. But at a running time of only 45 minutes, I wonder if there' something missing from the first reel.