. . . or jewelry designed to resemble the slithering reptiles, such as the near-fatal bracelet worn by Lilian Hall Davis as "Mabel" in this steamy love triangle Silent Pic. I've watched THE RING twice, and Mabel seemed more sinister the second time around. No one wants to believe that a blonde can be born bad; it's much easier to just echo Adam's mate, Eve, and blame it on the snake. THE RING's boxing hero protagonist, Jack, is faced at every turn by the epitome of Evil, pugilist Bob, Mabel's seducer. From the moment Bob insinuates the snake bracelet onto her wrist, viewers have the feeling that this story will not have a happy ending. THE RING represents director Alfred Hitchcock at his best, before he got all Fancy Schmancy with red filters on a later version of a Femme Fatale, MARNIE. Lil Mainwaring, who played Sean Connery's would-be lover in that film, says that Hitchcock literally fingered her face to achieve the exact expression he wanted her to have when she looked out the window of her "adopted" mansion at Sean and Marnie (Tippi Hedren). Hitchcock, who started in the film business writing title cards, always wanted to manipulate his actresses to the maximum extent possible, and it was a big help to reduce Ms. Davis' utterances as "Mabel" here to title cards, rather than having to deal with her vocal inflections, had this film been a "talkie."
Review of The Ring
