Tol'able David (1921)

Originally posted to Facebook on 3/9/2017

Tol'able David was our second film from 1921, and also the second film we’ve seen in which Richard Barthelmess plays the male lead. He’s the title character, and tol’able apparently is a contraction for “tolerable”, although it doesn’t seem like a word that’s used often enough to really warrant a contraction. He’s the youngest son in a farming family, who are depicted as having an idyllic if tenuous rural life. However, a series of tragic events occur, forcing him to grow up and shoulder more responsibility. The film was paced and executed decently well, but I thought Barthelmess overplayed his character’s boyishness in the earlier portions in the film. This was presumably to create a contrast with the later portions, but Barthelmess was too obviously a full-grown adult for it to seem credible. He also had patches of overacting, in particular a scene in which he told his quasi-girlfriend (Gladys Hulette) that he didn’t want to see her anymore, and then dramatically turned his head and marched off. This made the kids laugh significantly more than any of the deliberately comic scenes.

Next up is The Phantom Carriage, our third film from 1921, and the fourth film we’ve seen directed by Victor Sjöström. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT