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Best movie of this year hands down!

Too much of everything

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Even at the late 1920s standard, (This is a 1927 movie.) this is a very amateurishly made movie. Except showing of the beauty of Marion Davies, and she was beautiful, one can't blame Hearst for falling head over heels in love, there is nothing in the movie worth mentioning. If I limit myself to Hollywood, it may not be that low scoring, but if I move out, in to European masters Sjostroms, Murnau, Stiller, Sternberg or even Renoir, this is an infantile effort. In fact it is interesting to compare the quality of Hollywood with European movies and then see the situation reverse somewhere around thirties. Probably migration associated with environment that strangled the art there ? There is no doubt of Marion's talent, but that talent could be unearthed only when she was out of Hearst's complete control. Well she remained under emotional control, but not the financial one, after the depression wiped off his fortunes. And the quality of her movies then had a dramatic change, and especially once she moved into talkies. This movie is supposed to have Romance, Drama, Horror and Comedy, unfortunately one has search to appreciate depiction of either of these factors. Probably Arbuckle has over-stepped in capability. Not worth the time, unless one just wants to watch Marion at her full youth and beauty (that too in last quarter).

I agree with my predecessor on the beauty and artistry of this masterpiece of the Seventh Art. I offer my hat to TCM for completing an outstanding restoration of a masterpiece of Americana. The musical score that was added this silent film was well chosen and replaces very well the missing dialog. I would like to bring the attention of the reader on the props and decor used in the movie. The details of the set mimicking the Holland country side complete with its channels, windmills, iced ponds, and buildings are so well detailed with the means of the day. For example, look at at the decoration the bedrooms, the kitchen where Ms. Davis strenuously works, and notice the matching outdoor scenery showing through the kitchen windows. The haunted red mill with it's intricate detail appears right out of a Currier and Yves lithograph. It is fascinating that the director give us such a realistic vision of the set. For example, pay attention to the intricacies of the mechanism powered by the sails (arms) of the windmill as the raging storm shakes the old structure. The entire set is a work of art to preserve as a fine example of the quality and wholesomeness that made Hollywood, the "dream factory", world famous. I offer my thanks to TCM for preserving such masterpiece and to Michael Picton for such a delightful musical score for generations to enjoy.PS: The "Burgomaster" or Burgomeester was the town mayor in Holland and a person of considerable power in these small communities.

The good news is that even the title cards have a wit and humor that is carried over beautifully onto film under Fatty Arbuckle's direction for THE RED MILL, based loosely on a Victor Herbert operetta.Quaint is a good word to describe the costumes and settings of the Dutch tale, which opens with a charming ice skating sequence that is played for laughs and largely succeeds because of the clever acting of MARION DAVIES and OWEN MOORE. The tale that follows is a case of mistaken identity, with Moore confusing Davies with the burgonmaster's daughter LOUISE FAZENDA, who is engaged in a comical relationship with someone else.Davies has never been better at establishing herself as a comedienne from the start, given lots of bits of business (on and off the ice), including the stay in a haunted mill that occupies that last fifteen minutes of the story and is a good mixture of laughter and fright.Technically, the film looks great with TCM's restoration and a bouncy score that accompanies rather than distracts (as some of the new scores do). Very worthwhile Marion Davies vehicle shows that she did indeed have promise as more than Hearst's favorite protégé.Trivia note: The sets and costumes cry out for early Technicolor but only the night scenes are shaded a blue tint.

Despite watching this film in a less than ideal print, with a canned soundtrack (as of this writing, I hope TCM eventually airs this film with a good soundtrack based on the public domain music of Victor Herbert for this operetta -- I know they have it in their library, what are they waiting for???), I really enjoyed this romantic comedy. Although still essentially a period piece (Hearst loved those and kept putting Marion in them), Marion Davies' screwball comedy skills brighten up the whole picture, which otherwise would have been just a quaint little programmer, soon forgotten.Marion is ably supported by handsome Owen Moore (Mary Pickford's first husband), and additional comic relief is provided by wonderful Karl Dane (who looks almost handsome here!), and perky Louise Fazenda, who actually was quite pretty when young, so it was brave of her to agree to look ugly for this film. Not to mention our own little favorite funny man, Snitz Edwards, who is always a barrel of laughs in every film he's in, simply by hamming it up for the camera.The plot doesn't have much to do with the Victor Herbert operetta; that was more of a serious story, and sometimes the pace of this film seemed a bit fragmented, but overall it really is a crowd-pleaser and needs to be more widely available; just one more example of Marion Davies' astounding comedic abilities. She was so much more than just Hearst's paramour! She was the first screwball comedienne! (Also a woman with a big heart, since apparently she was instrumental in getting Roscoe Arbuckle this directorial job and I'm sure his influence added to the comedy). 8 out of 10.Update: TCM is airing this film in April 2007 for the first time.