I viewed a print of 'I Am the Man' that had been intended for exhibition in Belgian cinemas: the original intertitles had been cut out, and other footage with French translations inserted. Also, a crucial shot of a suicide note had been removed, and new footage of a French translation inserted. I've learnt from past experience with silent films (a much more modular art form than talkies) that this sort of editing can also mean that other mischief was done: intertitles and dialogue rewritten entirely rather than merely translated; entire sequences transposed; and so forth. If my description of this film contradicts an English-language version of the same movie, blame the Belgian editor.
James McQuade (Lionel Barrymore) loves his wife passionately, but is also prone to jealousy. When he convinces himself that his brother Robert has cuckolded him, James shoots his brother dead ... supposedly in white-hot rage, yet cool and careful enough to arrange manners to conceal his own guilt.
Purely by circumstance, the evidence falsely implicates Corinne Stanton, a pretty young lady who is a complete stranger to McQuade, so he's perfectly willing to keep schtum and let her be executed for his crime. But wait a minute...
SPOILERS COMING. At nearly the last moment, McQuade learns that Corinne is his own daughter! Huh? Where'd that come from? Is Lionel Barrymore pulling daughters out of his ... never mind. This movie would make a great double-feature with 'West of Zanzibar', in which Barrymore seems to cuckold Lon Chaney, producing a daughter by Chaney's wife, but then it turns out that Barrymore's daughter is really Chaney's daughter. Can't tell the daughters without a scorecard.
Just when I thought this movie couldn't get any stupider, it defies my expectations. Barrymore decides to save his daughter by confessing to the crime. Fair enough, but does he burst into the courtroom with a climactic confession? No; he sits quietly at his desk and scrawls out a note bearing the terse message "JE SUIS L'HOMME". (This is a French-language print; I assume that American movie-goers saw "I AM THE MAN".) And then he tops himself.
Huh? Wha-? Hoohaha? Mind you, Barrymore's suicide note gives no details whatever that would help acquit his daughter: he might easily prove her innocence by divulging facts known only to the police and to the real murderer. But does he? Mais non! He scrawls that single cryptic phrase, and then he kills himself ... thus ensuring that he has no further ability to save his daughter. If he was truly concerned for her well-being, he would have confessed in person and taken his punishment ... or he could have taken a slow-acting poison, staying alive long enough to free his daughter but then cheating the hangman. As it is, Barrymore endangers his daughter by committing suicide to escape a death sentence. Huh? Anybody home, then?
I'm reminded of another weird movie in which Barrymore commits suicide after a long separation from a daughter who didn't know him: 'The Devil-Doll'. That movie and the aforementioned 'West of Zanzibar' were both directed by Tod Browning, who was often accused of making implausible movies ... but both of those films, combined, have less implausibility than 'I Am the Man'. It doesn't help that Barrymore gives a performance here that's right out of the Robert Newton Overacting Academy. The production values in this movie ain't much, neither. I'll rate this fiasco just barely 3 out of 10.
James McQuade (Lionel Barrymore) loves his wife passionately, but is also prone to jealousy. When he convinces himself that his brother Robert has cuckolded him, James shoots his brother dead ... supposedly in white-hot rage, yet cool and careful enough to arrange manners to conceal his own guilt.
Purely by circumstance, the evidence falsely implicates Corinne Stanton, a pretty young lady who is a complete stranger to McQuade, so he's perfectly willing to keep schtum and let her be executed for his crime. But wait a minute...
SPOILERS COMING. At nearly the last moment, McQuade learns that Corinne is his own daughter! Huh? Where'd that come from? Is Lionel Barrymore pulling daughters out of his ... never mind. This movie would make a great double-feature with 'West of Zanzibar', in which Barrymore seems to cuckold Lon Chaney, producing a daughter by Chaney's wife, but then it turns out that Barrymore's daughter is really Chaney's daughter. Can't tell the daughters without a scorecard.
Just when I thought this movie couldn't get any stupider, it defies my expectations. Barrymore decides to save his daughter by confessing to the crime. Fair enough, but does he burst into the courtroom with a climactic confession? No; he sits quietly at his desk and scrawls out a note bearing the terse message "JE SUIS L'HOMME". (This is a French-language print; I assume that American movie-goers saw "I AM THE MAN".) And then he tops himself.
Huh? Wha-? Hoohaha? Mind you, Barrymore's suicide note gives no details whatever that would help acquit his daughter: he might easily prove her innocence by divulging facts known only to the police and to the real murderer. But does he? Mais non! He scrawls that single cryptic phrase, and then he kills himself ... thus ensuring that he has no further ability to save his daughter. If he was truly concerned for her well-being, he would have confessed in person and taken his punishment ... or he could have taken a slow-acting poison, staying alive long enough to free his daughter but then cheating the hangman. As it is, Barrymore endangers his daughter by committing suicide to escape a death sentence. Huh? Anybody home, then?
I'm reminded of another weird movie in which Barrymore commits suicide after a long separation from a daughter who didn't know him: 'The Devil-Doll'. That movie and the aforementioned 'West of Zanzibar' were both directed by Tod Browning, who was often accused of making implausible movies ... but both of those films, combined, have less implausibility than 'I Am the Man'. It doesn't help that Barrymore gives a performance here that's right out of the Robert Newton Overacting Academy. The production values in this movie ain't much, neither. I'll rate this fiasco just barely 3 out of 10.
