Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Back Pay (1922)

This romantic melodrama, directed by Frank Borzage, features Seena Owen, Matt Moore and J. Barney Sherry. Scenario was written by Frances Marion, from a story by Fannie Hurst.

Dissatified Hester Bevins (Owen) longs to get out of the tiny New York town in which she was raised and run off to the Big Apple for excitement and luxury. Modest Jerry Newcombe (Moore) only looks forward to the time that Hester and he are married. She does, of course, soon board a train for New York City leaving Jerry on the station platform, and five years later Hester has found the life she sought.

Hester’s new friends Kitty (Ethel Duray) and ‘Speed’ (Charles Craig) are indicative of her socialite lifestyle provided by Wall Street speculator Charles G. Wheeler (Sherry). Posh dinner parties, a waterfront apartment, a Rolls-Royce automobile and expensive furcoats are now her norm.

Perputually dissatisfied, Hester does come to question whether she has everything she wants. A getaway vacation to an exclusive hot springs resort brings Hester close to her former small town and stimulates thoughts of Jerry. Curiously forgotten by some in the small town, Hester is relieved to find that Jerry is still carrying a torch for her.

Conflict raises its head as Hester wrestles with her feelings and desires. Hungry in her soul for love and still yearning for privilege and possessions, Hester lies to Jerry as to how she acquired her expensive things. Hurt by her persistent yearning for meaningless things, Jerry rejects Hester’s new lifestyle.

As is to be expected, life goes on with Hester diving deeper into the dizzying whirlpool of hedonism. Meanwhile, Jerry is severely wounded in the World War and cannot see. Hester’s visit with him in the hospital causes her to question the meaning of cruel fate and the inequity of the privileged. Vowing to never to leave him again, Hester is informed by the doctor that Jerry’s condition is terminal.

Hester appeals to Wheeler to allow her to marry Jerry to make him happy for the three weeks left of his life. Married they are and Hester brings Jerry to her New York apartment, lying to him as to the size and opulence surrounding them. Her friends scoff at her folly, unimpressed by her sacrifice but, as his condition worsens, Hester is flooded with love and sadness for Jerry. After the inevitable, Hester’s unresolved conflict within her torments her still.

As the story flirts constantly with the melodramatic, Borzage lifts the film with a masterful combination of impressive visuals, sensitive pacing, and thematic counterpoint. Of note are the pastoral shots early in the picture devised by Borzage and cinematographer Chester Lyons that establish a tranquil small town life — intriguingly framed and effectively impressionistic. These are later established as counterpoint to the shots of swarming city streets, large dinner parties, and overflowing racks of expensive fashion that seem dirty, claustrophobic and sterile. More counterpoint is presented as Hester’s return to the small town is introduced by a shot of the main street, unoccupied except by a horse-drawn carriage and Hester’s chauffeured Rolls-Royce full of monied and smug friends. Obvious love was taken in the selection of framing and backgrounds of the small town shots of Hester randomly finding Jerry there. Evidence of Borzage’s on-going development as a top director is present throughout this film.

— Carl Bennett