Evgeni Bauer: Child of the Big City

Evgeni Bauer's Child of the Big City tells the story of Mary an orphaned seamstress who is pursued by Viktor and Kramskoi, two "well-to-do" young men who vie for her affection. It is unclear initially whether Kramskoi is interested in Mary and is just extremely forward, or whether he is in some way trying to assist Viktor by playing the villain in the restaraunt, either way Mary ends up with Viktor. When Viktor is ruined financially by Mary's new found extravagant lifestyle, Mary leaves him in favor of a man we are lead to believe was a servant or at least a lackey of Viktor. The film culminates in a letter written to Mary by Viktor asking to see her just one more time, she crumples up the letter and the film ends with Mary stepping over Viktor's body in the gutter.
Bauer's statement about the corrupting nature of wealth is typified in his characterizations of Viktor and Mary; Viktor who is wealthy only desires the simplicity and genuine nature of the formerly lower class Mary, who when given the wealth that would elevate her from the working classes turns her back on Viktor's love. The irony is in this sense tragic, and further amplified by the fact that the protagonist's name is derivative of victory when he is in fact the loser.
Since the film is silent there is of course no dialogue, making a little difficult to understand the exact circumstances of the scene, for example it is difficult to understand the relationship between Viktor and Kramskoi. Since we can not hear the words the say to each other, we may only judge their relationship by how they interact, and although it seems like Kramskoi gives Viktor a hard time regarding his love life in the beginning, Viktor still dines with him. This really speaks to the nature of silent film, while we normally rely on the images on the screen as the primary form of perception in movies, the importance of dialogue as well as sound must not be understated. This being said, the lack of sound in Child of the Big City creates the necessity of reading body language and facial expressions. This type of viewing involves something more creative about the watching process, we must imagine the dialogue, the ambient noise, even the voices of the characters in order to complete the scene. In this sense there is less about the film that we dislike, barring overly large movements, odd facial expressions, or poor set choices (which are really the challenge of the director, although probably more difficult in a silent film). We really only have to contend with the aspects of the film that we ourselves create in our minds, and in this sense we become part of the movie.