Two men in a little fishing village both fall for the same flighty barmaid. The two men in question are life-long friends, one is a fisherman named "Pete", the other is Philip, a young lawyer come to petition on behalf of the fishermen in a territorial despute. After the girl's father rejects the fisherman as a suiter
for his daughter (on the grounds that he's penniless), he decides to sail to Africa to find his fortune, and leaves his promised girl under the watch of his best friend, Philip. Philip's mother doesn't approve of him spending so much time with a "publican's daughter", especially when he could become a "deemster" (apparently what they call a judge on the Isle of Mann) and being seen with a girl so beneath him could ruin his career. Soon though, a telegram comes declaring Pete is (erroneously) dead, and Kate announces "we're free" as she embraces Philip. When they discover Pete isn't dead, the couple decide to cover up their romance, and even though Kate loves Philip, she decides to go through with her marriage to Pete. If this movie were to be made today, Pete would be considered a dope, and no one would be rooting for him to win the girl. For a silent picture, it's certainly verbose/word-heavy, and while it's typical "love triangle" stuff, it seems to glorify just how idiotic women can be sometimes (this dame's not content to ruin just one man's life, she has to go for two). I'll say this for "The Manxman", it's watchable, and no worse than the typical romances of today, but like I said, it exemplifies all the horrible, flighty traits I find so despicable in women.
December 16, 2008
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