Customer Reviews

The Primitive Lover

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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I have been curious about the films of Constance and Norma Talmadge for a long time, but it is very hard to find any of their films that have not been lost, much less that have been put on DVD. Constance was the comic actress of the two sisters, and this is a very fun romp of a film that holds up very well today some 85 years after it was made. The initial scene on a raft, full of over the top acting and cliches, is just Constance's character finishing her former fiance's novel. She has married another man when her author-fiance is presumed dead, and she is finding life with her husband dull compared to the life she has imagined she would have had if her favorite novelist had survived. However, it turns out the death of her "primitive lover" was just a publicity stunt, and he unexpectedly reappears and turns Constance's life upside down. Her husband decides the best thing to do is step aside until he realizes that maybe his wife needs to realize that her former fiance is not the definitive hero and outdoorsman after all, and sets out to show it to her. The quality of the print is quite clear, and I highly recommend the film.

If you are familiar with Buster Keaton's silent films, one face you will likely recognize is that of Big Joe Roberts, who plays a cowboy lost in a storm who runs across Constance's cabin in the wilderness and demands a meal. He is involved in one of the funniest scenes in the film as Constance's character is an unexperienced cook, to put it kindly. As a result, Big Joe is faced with a dinner consisting of coffee of molasses-like consistency and pancakes that he finds so inedible and even indestructible that he later finds a possible use for them as a bullet-proof vest.

The extras include 1927's "Splash Yourself", a short comic film about a Swedish immigrant who becomes a plumber's assistant, and 1914's "The Egyptian Mummy" that has Constance Talmadge in a supporting role in a Vitagraph comic short just as she was getting started. There is also a photo gallery.

Another one of the great forgotten stars of the silent era, Constance Talmadge shines on film. This film is good, a little quaint, but it's hard to take your eyes off of her. To truly appreciate "Dutch", as she was known, try "The Dutchess of Buffalo", which can be found on VHS at Grapevine Video.

It's nice to see another rarely-seen silent era star on the Unknown Video label (other big stars rarely seen and who have appeared on recent Unknown Video releases are G M Anderson and Colleen Moore, also Jack Pickford as Tom Sawyer) and in this good quality comedy it's a pleasure to watch Constance Talmadge - sister of Norma Talmadge - give a sample of the kind of the nice romantic comedies she was famous for in the 1910s and especially 1920s. An extra bonus feature of "The Primitive Lover" is that the screenplay was written by Frances Marion, one of Hollywood's most revered writers whose work includes scripts for some of Mary Pickford's films, among many others. It's a clever story with a lesson drawn from real life: a young woman with unrealistic expectations of romance and marriage reads too many trashy romance novels and feels unhappy with her husband. When her former fiancé who was believed dead suddenly reappears, poor hubby is forced to devise a scheme to win her back, as well as teach her a lesson about real life and romance. There are some original ideas, albeit unrealistic ones, but certainly entertaining and amusing enough to make enjoyable viewing. Constance has a pleasant, vibrant nature, and this kind of comedy story suits her well. Add to all that very good picture quality and a lively organ score, a lovely photo gallery of Constance and a comedy short ("Splash Yourself") about a Swedish migrant hired to fix some plumbing but ends up causing a disaster. This short slapstick comedy makes some good-natured fun of Swedish migrants, while "The Primitive Lover" tends to put Native American Indians in a rather negative light, but no doubt also meant only in jest.

Constance Talmadge is best remembered as the Mountain Girl in D.W. Griffith's epic "Intolerance" (1916). Constance was the oldest of three acting siblings. Baby sister Norma (the tragedian) was the family's star, Constance (the comedianne) had a respectable career, and middle child Natalie's acting struggles ended soon after her 1921 marriage to Buster Keaton (her last film was his "Our Hospitality," released in 1923). With the advent of sound, the squeaky Brooklyn-accented Constance and Norma abruptly joined Natalie in retirement.

Constance (like Norma) had her own film company. THE PRIMITIVE LOVER is a Talmadge production.

SYNOPSIS--
Romance novel fan (Talmadge) divorces her dull husband to marry his friend, a novelist who's just returned from a wilderness adventure. To prove he's not boring, the ex-husband kidnaps the couple and takes them to the Nevada mountains. He secretly gets a local Indian to help him bag a deer and cook it while the clueless writer flounders at providing supper for his wife. He is thus shown to be a phony with no survival skills.


Constance Talmadge co-stars with Douglas Fairbanks in the 1916 programmer THE MATRIMANIAC, which is available in a VHS double feature along with Fairbanks' THE NUT (1921). (As of 10/08, neither of these are on DVD.)


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(8.2) The Primitive Lover (1922) - Constance Talmadge/Harrison Ford/Kenneth Harlan/Joe Roberts/Charles Pina/Chief John Big Tree/Snitz Edwards

There's nothing artistically special or important about "The Primitive Lover". It's an enjoyable little comedy and nothing more. Well - it is one of the few films that starred silent favorite (and former D.W. Griffith player) Constance Talmadge that has survived, and in a pretty nice print as well. She apparently was a huge star of the time after her turn in "Intolerance", but there's not much left to see to understand her popularity; this is, I would imagine, the real reason behind this dvd, and it is a nice release. As a great bonus, there's also a much earlier short on here which features Talmadge in a small role.