If you have to see only one silent serial, then this is the one you have to see. Not because it is clearly the best one -- although it's a lot of fun, there are others, such as Feuillade's LES VAMPIRES with as good or even better claims -- but simply because it is a ripsnorting bunch of fun, and, more importantly, the wellspring from which all other movie serials, that cinematic art more fully lost to its makers than the movie musical -- the spring from which all serials sprang. It has all the usual stuff of serials -- scary cliffhanging chapter ends, the intrepid hero and heroine, the awful, hissable villain, tearful deathbed scenes and a host of storied names: Pearl White, Crane Wilbur, Louis Gassnier, George Seitz..... who has not heard of The Perils of Pauline? And I will repeat in case you missed it: it's a lot of fun. In the original version it might not play well in one evening, but the only surviving version is the 9-chapter version that Pathe released in Europe in 1916, now available on DVD from Grapevine. The print they located is a bit battered, but complete and in a lovely colored print. Go to their website and order one. Watch it with some friends. You won't regret it.
