A brilliantly-directed film, long overlooked until recently revived by film archivists, Smouldering Fires is the first important work of veteran director Clarence Brown, whose long list of films, from Flesh and the Devil to The Yearling, have been characterized by astounding visuals. With exteriors shot in Yosemite Valley, Smouldering Fires promises to be a real find. The story is a Mizoguchi-like tale of a business woman (Pauline Frederick, in a revealing portrayal of a woman's role in business in the early Twenties) who falls in love with and marries a young employee, only to sacrifice him, in the end, to her younger sister.
“Clarence Brown is one of the great names in American motion pictures.... His style is one of deceptive simplicity.... Brown as a director was concerned not only with performances, but with lighting, composition, editing, story construction - every stage in the process....” --Kevin Brownlow, “The Parade's Gone By.”
“It is only just to give partial credit to the authority with which Pauline Frederick, who has here her best role, plays the woman of 40.... The intelligence with which Brown had sketched the difficult feminine characterization...no doubt led him to be chosen to direct Garbo in Flesh and the Devil.” --Rene Jeanne & Charles Ford, “Histoire du Cinema”