KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

thinbeach Heyst is a man who lives in isolation and peace on a secluded Island, but while doing business at a hotel on the mainland encounters Alma, an attractive violinist who is being abused in her profession. He takes pity on her, and as she wishes to escape, steals her back to the Island with him. Schomberg, the owner of the hotel, desired Alma for himself, and teams up with a group of criminals in order to win her back. The criminals travel to the Island, and once there it is one betrayal after another. The girl tries to please both Ricardo and Heyst in order to save herself. Ricardo, desiring the girl for himself, turns against their criminal leader Mr. Jones, as does Pedro who suddenly sees an opportunity to avenge Mr. Jones for murdering his brother some years ago. A couple of these characters die, one survives, and Heyst and Alma suddenly realise they love each other. For some reason we never get closure on what happens to Pedro or Schomberg, and the film ends with a few plot threads hanging.It is essentially an early pirate film, violence and adventure, and of course, sex appeal, with Alma spending much of the third act in a dress with her shoulders bare, which was fairly raunchy for the time. It was perhaps quite a spectacle in 1919, but pales in comparison to the achievements of modern films. And while the winding plot keeps us engaged, it all unravels in the end. Mr. Jones, leader of a criminal gang, can not hit his target with a pistol from five metres, nor can Ricardo, expert knife thrower, hit his, but Heyst, peaceful man who has never held a gun before in his life, can hit his target from a greater distance. Actually, not much in the third act makes a great deal of sense. I guess they were hoping the gunfights would distract you from that, but that trick won't work in 2018!Thematically, it is about the strong allure of women, and how their very nature can turn men from their peaceful ways, and against each other into wickedness. To the films credit, the scenery was nice, as was the use of the smoking volcano as both metaphor and potential hazard.

kidboots Maurice Tourneur was a gifted and sensitive director, who also directed Lon Chaney in "Treasure Island". Tourneur's films had great visual appeal through his mastery of set design and lighting. It is very apparent in "Victory". Lon Chaney was on the brink of stardom in 1919. He had just given a break through performance as "the Frog" in "The Miracle Man" and in 1920 would shock everyone with his role as "Blizzard" in "The Penalty". In "Victory" he was surrounded by established players - Wallace Beery, Jack Holt, Bull Montana and Seena Owen, who had starred as Princess Beloved in "Intolerance" (1916), but he still managed to make his mark.Axel Heyst (Jack Holt) lives on a solitary island, surrounded by his father's books. He feels that only by being an observer of life rather than a participator, can he find true peace. While staying on another island to finalize some business, he comes to the aid of Alma (Seena Owen) who is a violinist in the local band. She is being pursued, not only by Schomberg (Wallace Beery) but the band leader as well and begs Axel to take her to his island so she can escape. Axel agrees.Schomberg goes on a thorough search of the island and as a last resort, hires 3 thugs who have been causing havoc at his hotel. He wants them to go to Axel's island to search for Alma and lures them there with tales of hidden treasure. Lon Chaney is almost unrecognizable as Ricardo, a knife carrying crazy, who tells how Pedro (Bull Montana) can "snap men's back's like rotten sticks". Bull Montana is scary as the cretinous Pedro, who throws a boat boy overboard and carries his luggage around between his teeth!!!When they reach the island, Ricardo attacks Alma but she fights back with such force that Ricardo is full of admiration and asks Alma if she wants to come in with them for a share of the treasure. Ever since she has been on the island she has felt lonely. Axel is not interested in getting to know her so she pretends to throw in her lot with the thugs hoping to save Axel.With the smoldering volcano as background violence is let loose. Ricardo is shot on the roof and falls into a pit - in real life Chaney, who did all his own stunts, missed the pit when he fell, knocked himself out but still insisted that he complete the scene when he came to!!! Pedro throws Mr Jones into the fire because "when you killed that man in South America - he my brother"!!! It ends conventionally enough with Axel realizing that Love is the most powerful emotion.Highly Recommended.

Michael_Elliott Victory (1919) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Axel Heyst (Jack Holt) lives on a deserted island where he prefers to be alone. One day he travels to town where he meets an abused woman (Seena Owen), takes pity on her and brings her back to his island. Soon her owner (Wallace Beery) sends three criminals after her. The main note here is that Lon Chaney plays one of the criminals and, as usual, he does a very nice job showing off that evil side. Holt, Owen and Beery also give fine performances, which is pretty much the only thing this film has going for it. There's some nice visuals and a nice looking erupting volcano but the story starts to drag in the middle. Directed by Maurice Tourneur.

Cineanalyst Director Maurice Tourneur was one of the great pioneering filmmakers of the 1910s, and he ended the decade with one of his best: "Victory". His films are noted for their pictorial beauty. With the death of John van den Broek, René Guissart takes over the cinematography duties here. Clarence Brown, who worked as editor and assistant director on many of Tourneur's films, isn't credited here--he was beginning his own successful career as a director at about this time. Ben Carré, one of the best of early set designers, did work on this film, though.There are some impressive chiaroscuro effects here, as well as good use of tinting, in addition to Tourneur's trademark silhouettes. The film moves quickly, and the careful timing of the editing is visible in one scene where the cuts are in unison with gunfire. The film contains pictorial beauty, but also ferocity, which corresponds well with the film's narrative and intriguingly drawn characters. It climaxes in the film's volcanic dénouement.There's also a flashback in one scene, which is rather breezy; it setups Lon Chaney's character Ricardo, who narrates it, at the center of the film. There are several characters in this picture, each at some time pulling the narrative: Wallace Berry's character, who owns the hotel and tries to own Alma; the mistreated and fickle Alma herself, whose questionable loyalties turn the film's suspense on her; and even the protagonist who doesn't want to influence anything. Berry's nosey busybody, with the beard and glasses, the bestial physicality of Pedro, and the dark sunglasses and white suit of Mr. Jones make them visually intriguing characters, too--causing viewers to focus on them without the story having to.Heading all of that, however, is Chaney, whose feats in movie makeup invented the trade. Without credits, I wouldn't have known he played Ricardo. Chaney was also at the forefront of introducing cinematic acting, subtler than the theatrical and, more importantly, a fully convincing embodiment of a character. In that way, his character becomes the center of the film, and the rest of the characters unravel with the climactic events on his cue.Tourneur often adapted his pictures from literary sources, but using a novel by Joseph Conrad surely helped to make this one of his best works, as does Chaney. One of the things I like most about "Victory" is that it's more cinematic than some of his other films, although he referenced theatre in interesting and self-aware ways in such films as "The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England" (1914) and "The Blue Bird" (1918). "Victory" has both a consistent visual and cinematic style, in addition to the rarity (in Tourneur's films and in movies in general of the time) of intriguing characters convincingly and cinematically portrayed.