Sky High. 1922. Directed by Lynn Reynolds.

(2/19/00)

This film has spectacular photography of the Grand Canyon and must have been dazzling in 1922. Unfortunately, I saw it in a crappy 16mm print.

Tom Mix is attractive and personable, but I don't think he had much presence or charisma. I suspect that a lot of his fame was really due to the kind of picture he was associated with. It was a good product--a very good product.

In Sky High the great moment is when Mix descends out of a plane and jumps into the river in the Grand Canyon. That's the memorable image, but it's supported by a tale of laborer-smuggling and a damsel in distress. It's a completely different film from The Covered Wagon (which was to come a year later), D. W. Griffith's westerns and those of William S. Hart. It's a much more modern world, one not filled with the pioneer spirit or the struggle to survive against the elements.

At the end of the film, Mix is willing to conceal the villain's villany from his ward. The two men shake hands and the villain asks Mix to look after her. This scene leaves me with the feeling that crime has been trivialized and treated as sport. It's a gentlemen's game--not to be taken seriously. And I rather think that that is the attitude one should take with Sky High in general.