Sadly, only three reels (about 45 minutes) of this film exists today. However, since the previous films Hitch had worked on are not available for the average person to watch, this movie provides us with our earliest peek into the master's filmography. Once again Hitch was not the director that credit goes to Graham Cutts. Hitch played no small part in the making of this movie though. He worked as screenwriter, assistant director, art director, and possibly editor.
The storyline is very melodramatic, similar to many of the master's early credits. It involves two identical twin sisters (both played by Betty Compson). One of them is very social conservative, while the other is a free spirit. A man falls in love with them without knowing they are different people.
For anyone who regularly watches silent films, the story here will feel very familiar. There is nothing original or fresh about this film at all. In many ways this is the type of melodramatic fluff that is hard to take seriously. The problem is that the movie does take itself very seriously. This is not to say that this film is a waste of time. In fact there are definitely some things to recommend about this movie. Betty Compson is wonderful in her dual role. She commands the screen and brings so much energy, charm and heart to these rather standard characters. This is also a visually beautiful movie. Director Graham Cutts shows why he was considered one of the best British directors of his time and Alfred Hitchcock's art direction is nothing short of brilliant. So many of the shots here are perfectly composed from the lighting to the color tinting to the sets to the cinematography (Claude L. McDonnell). There are visual moments here that will stay in your mind long after you forget the story. One moment involving a light shining through a window is a great example of a simply perfect shot. Much of the visual filmmaking also lends this film a wonderful sense of atmosphere that enhances many cliché scenes. The beautiful countryside where an early romantic scene takes place and the seediness of The Laughing Cat Cafe are perfect examples of this. It is simply too bad that these truly wonderful qualities this movie has, could not have been attached to a better story.
When American actress Betty Compson accepted to work on the British film Woman to Woman (1923), a condition of her contract stated that she would make two films with the Balcon-Savile-Freedman team. However, the filmmakers were so invested in the first film, that there were few plans for a second. After work on the first movie wrapped, the filmmakers rushed into making another. The film would be another adaption of another book by Michael Morton, Children of Chance. Working titles for this film included The Awakening and The Eternal Survivor.
Upon its release, The White Shadow proved to be a massive disappointment both at the box-office and with critics. Critics praised the visual filmmaking but criticized the story. Biograph stated, "the best part of the production is the magnificent settings, photography and lighting which are worthy of a better plot. As a whole the White Shadow makes fair entertainment as a conventional melodrama, admirably staged (both in the lavish interiors and unusual continental exteriors) and featuring a well-known American star." A review in Kine Weekly stated, "There is a complete lack of conviction in the way in which the sisters are mistaken for each other, and no attempt at a coherent and well-proportioned sequence of events. Everything happened in a haphazard sort of way as though the plot had been evolved as the production progressed." Motion Picture Studio stated, "When a production is made in this country with the pick of British stars and the added commercial and artistic presence of a pretty and clever American screen actress of great box office repute one is entitled to expect a better result than The White Shadow…. If the picture had been the first effort of a modest little firm one could understand more readily some of the shortcomings and their causes." This movie was such a box-office disappointment that it lost all of the money that Woman to Woman had made.
For those who wish to see what exists of this film you can watch it on YouTube below.
Resources Used
Hitchcock/Truffuat by Francios Truffau
https://www.jazzageclub.com/the-white-shadow-1924/1997/t
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