Synopsis
A young woman at life's crossroads is granted mystic visions of how her decisions will affect her future life.
The Love of Sunya
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Theatrical
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USA
Releases by Country
USA
11 Mar 1927
- Theatrical
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THE LOVE OF SUNYA is a silent film starring the always interesting Gloria Swanson. (Those who have only seen her in SUNSET BOULEVARD should see her when she was not “camping.”) The version shown on Paramount + has an end restoration note that mentions tinting, but this version is not tinted. It is apparently a video copy of a film from the Paul Killiam collection, and it features a piano score by William Perry that is highly inappropriate in tone throughout … and even repeatedly features the theme “Anchors Aweigh” although it has nothing to do with the Navy or boating!
I was drawn to the film by the premise. In ancient Egypt, an amorous Priest (Hugh Miller)… -
Gloria Swanson plays choose your own adventure, via a mystic’s crystal ball, as she considers multiple life paths. Barrymore may have been The Profile, but Gloria sure had a gorgeous one herself. And like any Gloria vehicle at this point, she has outrageously stunning outfits and does much much suffering. Highly enjoyable melodrama. Despite singing background, John Boles would’ve fared better if silents continued, his wooden personality masked by the medium.
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Thirty-five years after writing a pretty exhaustive chapter of my masters thesis on this film's production, I finally get around to watching it. It was not worth the wait.
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Gloria Swanson is a MOGUL!
For music, I put in my headphones the album “Deep Within A Faerie Forest” (which I had just found rather randomly) by Gary Stadler and Wendy Rule and listened to it one and a half times, starting from the middle. It’s incredible!! -
this could have been something truly great...the fuck ass cinematography/effects and gloria swanson swansoning but unfortunately the story somehow ends up being too standard despite being unusual (what other non-primarily supernatural oh movies have fortune telling as a major plot detail).
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Sooooo many later movies owe so much to this. It’s mulholland drive it’s opening night it’s everything everywhere all at once it’s (and like I apologize for always being this up but also I don’t) dark shadows
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A solid little drama that uses a clever structure to tell multiple stories too slight to fill out a feature alone. Even still, the exposition and second framed story drag just a little, and can border on cliche, but ultimately, it works and is surprisingly poignant to boot.
I think, given a more artistic treatment — of which there are some tantalizing glimpses during the crystal ball scenes or the Paris dinner — The Love of Sunya could have the little edge it needs to be better remembered, and might soften the slightly wearisome experience of watching Swanson suffer for an hour and some change.
One other, minor qualm is the Egyptian sequence being so brief — it looked wonderfully done for such a short scene, and the thought of Swanson in a Loves of Pharaoh-style drama is almost too much for me to process — -
Vampy Gloria Swanson sees through a crystal ball and get revealed her possible future when a mysterious man from an earlier life in Old Egypt appear to atone and help her in modern time since he was responsible for her death then. It is a light American "Destiny" remake that works mainly due to Swanson and some visual imput from director Albert Parker.
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A creative but imperfect idea is sunk by a boatload of clichés and some very bad performances - and sadly, Gloria's is probably the worst. There are some really interesting camera effects that remind me of the French impressionists, but the majority of the performers seem to think that "acting" means the same thing as "chewing scenery."
In hindsight, the most interesting part of the film might be that Gloria's performance in the Paris flashforward is very reminiscent of Norma Desmond, from her hair to her costumes to her facial expressions and broad, erratic movement. But while that performance style really worked in Sunset Blvd., here it just becomes another bit of overacting in a film that's wildly over-the-top even by silent film standards.
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