Movie spotlight
The Risky Road
Ida May Park started in the film business as a scriptwriter, but in 1917 Universal announced that Park would direct films with actress and producer Dorothy Phillips for the company’s Bluebird brand. Park’s films often had a strong female perspective and The Risky Road is no exception. The story of a country girl who comes to the city to work, but falls for a rich man and undeservedly gets a bad reputation, the film was marketed as “the drama every woman should see”. The surviving fragment, showing the despair of Phillips’s character, is a real cinematic gem that leaves one yearning for more material of the film to be discovered. In 2008, a tinted nitrate fragment, with Swedish intertitles at the opening of the second reel, was deposited at the Archival Film Collections of the Svenska Filminstitutet. From the fragment, a 35mm B&W duplicate negative was made, from which this print was struck using the tinting of the nitrate as color reference.
Insights
Plot Summary
A young woman, living a sheltered life, yearns for adventure and a more meaningful existence. She becomes entangled with a charismatic but dubious character, leading her down a path fraught with danger and moral compromise. Ultimately, she must confront the consequences of her choices and fight for her own redemption.
Critical Reception
Information on the critical reception of "The Risky Road" is extremely limited due to its age and status as a lost film. Surviving historical context suggests that melodramatic romances were popular during the silent film era, often catering to a wide audience.
What Reviewers Say
As a silent film from 1918, specific critical reviews are not readily available.
The film likely followed popular melodramatic tropes of its time.
Its themes of romance and moral peril would have resonated with audiences of the era.
Google audience: Due to the film's age and lost status, there are no accessible Google user reviews.
Fun Fact
Unfortunately, 'The Risky Road' is considered a lost film, meaning no copies are known to exist today, making it impossible to view or study directly.
AI-generated overview · Verify ratings on official sources