Those who dislike silent film would find it easy to mine this splendid film for reasons to support their prejudice. The story is contrived, even elaborately so; some of the characters in it are simply the stock characters of 19th century melodrama; character depth and complexity are at a minimum here; there is a schism in the acting styles of the performers, some drawing on the more formalized theatrical conventions which prevailed on the screen in the Teens and early Twenties, others already performing in the more naturalistic style familiar to us today; and those who patiently bear with all of the preceding may feel sabotaged by the story's outcome. But it would only be those predisposed to find fault with the film who would pay much notice to any of the above, as, when one surrenders one's self to the production, one is borne along by its many beauties.The story's contrivances--conscious and unashamed--are not gratuitous; they are thematically necessary. The director's canny use early on of what was already a well-worn cliché by the time the picture was made--I refer to the oncoming locomotive--is, in my opinion, not only symbolic of the larger issues of the film but also his way of prepping the audience's sensibilities for the broad strokes of the oncoming plot. By the time this motif comes to its apotheosis in the film--I am being vague here to avoid spoilers--we perhaps come to understand that normal life too is lived through broad strokes and near-misses.The era in which his important acting took place, as well as his shocking death, combine to distance us from Ramon Novarro. This is a profound pity, as few actors at any time in the history of cinema inhabit a role to the degree that Novarro does; few actors can make their often uniquely disjunct characters resonate in us as does Novarro. Though this is one of his earlier films, he shows not only this ability to serve as a vehicle of empathy but also the great range of his talent in developing his role from that of a guileless country boy to that of an embittered denizen of the criminal underworld. In his career, he did not often have the opportunity to play "bad"; here he shows that he had the acting chops to deliver hardened viciousness no less than his customary ardent love.Enid Bennett--the wife of the film's director, Fred Niblo--similarly is called on to deliver a range of emotion in her role in the odyssey her character moves through in life. Successful in this in the terms of her era, she perhaps most of any of the principals evokes, particularly in sentimental moments, the older style of acting which, for those unaccustomed to it, may take a little getting used to to appreciate properly. And yet, within this context, she delivers a wonderfully nuanced and affecting performance.At the head of the secondary roles is that played by Wallace Beery, perfectly cast as a raffish but likeable street criminal, his acting style being the most natural and modern of all. It could be argued that, over the course of his career, Beery is usually just playing Wallace Beery; but I've never seen him in anything from early in his career to late in which I did not come away enthusiastic about his professionalism and dedication to his role.Production values are high in this film. The set designer obviously went to great lengths to evoke, realistically, the decaying and decadent corners of Paris.The currently-available DVD version, a Turner Classic Movie restoration, gives us "The Red Lily" in black and white splendor with its original moody and evocative tinting. The musical score is a new one, largely successful; and yet I have just one quibble with it: My impression is that the new composer was not "on board" with the spirit of the final scene of the show. See what you think!