The Mountaineer's Romance

This British two-reeler concerns Percy Moran, who loves Ivy Martinek, whose brother is H.D. Martinek. They all seem to live together in a rough cabin in the Dovedale Peak district in Derbyshire, whence Mr. Moran is summoned one day to lead a party up the mountains, including pretty Dickie Thorpe -- yes, that's Miss Thorpe. Miss Martinek spies Miss Thorpe giving Mr. Moran a fond embrace as he drops the group back at their hotel. She tells her brother that her lover has been untrue to her.

I wasn't terribly impressed. Not only is the story simple and ultimately far too easily wrapped up, given the supposedly turbulent emotions of the people involved -- after all, Miss Martinek does wear a scarf on her head, surely a sign of wild passions! -- but the nature photography, evidently the actual purpose of this movie is less than excellent. It is true that the unnamed cameraman is competent. His compositions are fine and his camera movements excellent. However, the choices for scenes seem to be mostly set around scree and uninteresting mountain passages.

British taste in movie layout and design in this period ran a lot busier than American, as if they did not realize the distraction that additional objects caused. Here, where an American director might choose a site because it photographed well as a backdrop to the action or because it might be nice to look at on its own, neither reason seems to have been in director Charles Raymond's thoughts.