ReelBob: ‘The Remarkable Life of John Weld’ ★
By Bob Bloom
The life of author-reporter-stuntman John Weld is the stuff of movies.
However, “The Remarkable Life of John Weld” is not that production.
This direct-to-DVD and video-on-demand release is neither fish nor fowl.
It purports to be a documentary but, features more re-enactment footage with no-name actors and much stock newsreel footage of the eras it covers to fill its 76-minute running time. And even that short span feels padded.
Weld led an interesting life. He always had an itch to be a writer, but he took a convoluted path to attain his goal.
The movie details how he first went to Hollywood during the early days of the movie industry and became a stuntman by accident.
He doubled such diverse performers as John Barrymore, Tom Mix, Charlie Chaplin and Zasu Pitts.
Hoping to satisfy his yen to write, he landed a job as a reporter at the “New York American,” a Hearst paper.
In the late 1920s, he traveled to Paris to pursue his goal, working as a freelancer for the “Paris Herald-Tribune” where, among other stories, Weld covered Charles Lindbergh, after his historic, solo cross-Atlantic flight, and hobnobbed with such famous authors as James Joyce.
“The Remarkable Life of John Weld” is an unwieldy concoction, featuring narration by Peter Coyote, still photos from Weld’s life and amateurish re-creations of important moments in Weld’s life.
Director Gabe Torres would have been better served if he had chosen to make a full-fledged documentary or feature-length biopic. The continual back and forth between the new footage and documentary elements simply amplify that the filmmakers could not find enough usable material about Weld.
It also doesn’t help that the dialogue in the re-created moments is stilted and sounds like something written by a novice screenwriter.
Many relatives and friends of Weld and his wife, Katy — a former actress who performed as Gigi Parrish — are interviewed, but even their observations seem to lack depth. They are more superficial and, at times, sound like clichés that could have been said about dozens of other individuals.
The movie itself simply skims the surface of Weld’s life. For a man who supposedly led such as “remarkable” life, the movie is very tame and simplistic. It needed to delve deeper into the man.
All we simply get is a cardboard representation. It is as if Torres and his team are reluctant to delve past the outer layer of Weld.
The movie nearly plays like a cinematic obituary rather than an extensive study into the life of a man who you would like to learn more about.
The impression from the movie is that John Weld led an extraordinary existence, but you’d never really know it from watching “The Remarkable Life of John Weld,” which is s shame.
He appears to be a larger-than-life individual, but the movie never comes close to appreciating how special he was.
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF JOHN WELD
1 star out of 4
Not rated