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Very disappointed :(

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The movie starts with the death of Mike Donovan (Alfred Allen), who is watching over his two children Roy and Sylvia, whilst unbeknownst to him, the present Hawkes (Wallace Beery) is plotting against him. Roy runs outside, believing his father and sister dead, while Hawkes flees with Sylvia, who believes the same of Roy. Fifteen years later, Roy (Raymond Griffith), going by the name of The Kid, is scamming people with his mechanical chess player. Hawkes returns to England with Sylvia (Priscilla Dean) and witnesses the automaton at a wax display, and hatches a plan with Roy to take the chess player to America, where they can pull a giant scam on the upper classes. After pulling of a robbery, the trio flee to a remote cabin, where paranoia and greed start to take hold of them.Though he is now best remembered for his work in horror, most notable Dracula (1931) - arguably the greatest adaptation of the story ever made - and the excellent Freaks (1932), a macabre and twisted horror that would see itself banned for decades and tarnish the director's reputation, Tod Browning enjoyed a hugely successful and busy silent period directing, amongst others, caper films, focusing on small-time crooks and their schemes. White Tiger is one of these such films, and one of many collaborations he had with star Priscilla Dean, who was a huge star in her day, now sadly all but forgotten. The title White Tiger refers to the animal that lies inside of criminals, eating a way at them with guilt, uncertainty and paranoia, and we see this unfold in the second half on the movie as the lead trio hide out. I suspect the movie thinks itself as a window into this fascinating world, but after an entertaining first half, becomes a tedious and rather ridiculous melodrama.The print I watched of this was so old and grainy that the film would often jump, making certain scenes difficult to follow and title cards often unreadable. But should the film ever be given a re-mastering, I doubt it would do anything to improve the dullness of the film. After spending forty or so minutes setting up an intriguing story, we spend the next forty minutes in one location, where unconvincing suspicions arise about the true identity of Hawkes, and they needlessly bicker amongst themselves. It is something Browning would go on to develop further in the commercially successful The Unholy Three (1925), but White Tiger was so incoherent that it was shelved for over a year before the studio released a new edit to an underwhelming box-office.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Fortunately this 1923 Universal film by Tod Browning survives for us to view and evaluate. Made right after Browning's OUTSIDE THE LAW this film has all the feel of "Outside the Law" even to the point of looking like it re-uses some of the "Outsidethe Law" sets. Browning's stars in this film are perhaps his favorite muse, Priscilla Dean who appeared in "Outside the Law" and many other Browning films, Wallace Beery, Raymond Griffith and Matt Moore. Even the same cameraman William Fildew is on hand. If you're familiar with Tod Browning's films you'll recognize that he's treading on territory that he would later use at MGM in such films as THE UNHOLY THREE, THE MYSTIC and THE SHOW. In fact Raymond Griffith has a mustache and is dressed wearing a familiar striped shirt almost identical to John Gilbert's in 1927's "The Show". So one gets the feeling that Browning is never really finished saying what he wants to say where as many of his films, such as "White Tiger", keep returning to the same theme. Sources state that "White Tiger" was made in 1921 but not edited and released until 1923 which is probably why it bears such a striking resemblance to "Outside the Law". As in "Outside the Law" and the later "Unholy Three", the story in "White Tiger" has three to four criminals on the run after a jewel robbery, held up in a claustrophobic environment, each having to deal with the other's foibles. In "Outside the Law" it was an apartment on Nob Hill in San Francisco and in "White Tiger" it's a log cabin in western New York. The sense of mistrust amongst the criminals is just as tense as it is in both the 1925 "The Unholy Three" and it's 1930 sound remake.

The name of director Tod Browning is often associated with noir. His White Tiger (1923) is available on DVD in an extremely worn but quite sharp print that seems to be missing only the end title. The evil but charismatic villain, engagingly played by Wallace Beery, joins with his supposed daughter, Priscilla Dean (not exactly over-flatteringly costumed or photographed), and hero, Raymond Griffith (playing a dramatic role here with his usual comedic skill), in robbing the rich by diverting their attention with a "mechanical" chess player. As in Browning's later Unholy Three (1925), the three crooks escape to the hills but fall out. The editing in this latter section tends to be a bit choppy, but evidently this was always the case. After completion, Universal took the editing out of Browning's hands and also saw to it that many of the inter-titles were re-written. Nonetheless, White Tiger remains a fascinating noir excursion that will delight Browning fans, despite its many unbelievable plot twists and machinations.

After their underworld father is shot down, children Raymond Griffith (as Roy Donovan) and Priscilla Dean (as Sylvia Donovan) are brought up believing each other is dead; they are separated, and raised, by other criminals. Wallace Beery (as Bill Hawkes), the "Stool Pidgeon" who played a part in her father's death, raises Ms. Dean to be an accomplished London pickpocket. Meanwhile, enterprising Mr. Griffith scams pawns as "The Mechanical Chess-player". Mr. Beery, who calls himself "Count Donelli" invites Griffith to join himself and Dean. Soon, the unholy trio travel to New York's Fifth Avenue; there, they plan their biggest heist.Tod Browning's "White Tiger" is entertainingly performed, and directed. Later in the running time, Matt Moore (as Richard Longworth) makes the troupe a fine acting quartet. The story situation requires too great a suspension of disbelief, however. You'll may wonder why Griffith and Dean don't dope things out sooner (just for starters). The "White Tiger" referred to in the title is, by the way, the criminal element that lives in the heart of the unholy criminal: "Fawning and hating the strong, ready to ravage the weak, faithless…suspicious…cruel and savage, fearing no God…trusting no man…that's White Tiger in the heart of the crook!"