I think Gish's performance in The Wind is one of the best in silent cinema (second only to Falconetti in Joan). Gish was a great actor under Griffith, but it is really in the hands of Sjörstöm, where she was allowed to explore the darker elements of her characters, that Gish really shines.
I also agree about the ending, but many a silent is marred by a tacked on happy ending (see: The Last Laugh).
WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
The ending of The Wind is so upbeat that I almost think that Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson were enacting a parody or burlesque.
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drednm
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
The ending to The Wind is not the original ending and was forced on Gish to give the film a happy ending. She fought a losing battle again LB Mayer who basically dumped the film into the emerging talkie market after shelving it for months.
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
Yeah, I know it's not the ending anyone connected with the film wanted - Lillian and Lars seem to be saying 'Ya want happy? We'll give you happy' and just over-playing that to the hilt. Could just be me though...
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charliechaplinfan
- Posts: 9040
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I have to agree with you. If it was made in any other country and perhaps at any other studio it would have had a more realistic ending.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
MGM did produce a number of dramas at that time that could not be called commercial, though. I think I recall from a documentary that Irving Thalberg was interested in supporting film as an art, he let Murnau have free reign for instance. It's a shame that they didn't have faith in The Wind.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
MGM seem more formuliac than other studios and then you get movies like Freaks which Irving Thalberg approved. It's easy to think that Louis B Mayer liked the formula films and Irving Thalberg had an open mind and was prepared to push the envelope, so to speak. But is that strictly true, I'm not sure? Didn't LB authorise everything finally?
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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silentscreen
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I think the films were better while Thalberg was around. That is just my opinion. I remember in the "Hollywood" series, King Vidor said Thalberg was very open minded and that was quite unusual for executives. He allowed Vidor full rein in "The Crowd", and that one wasn't your typical boy meets girl and lives happily thereafter film.
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
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myrnaloyisdope
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- Location: Toronto, Ontario
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
Keep in mind that Vidor had quite a bit of goodwill due to the massive success of The Big Parade. Also there was an alternate happy ending to The Crowd, though according to Vidor no distributors ever bothered to show it instead opting for the ending we see now.
That being said every studio did have a recognition of film as art, and were often willing to produce films that weren't box office hits, but would go over well with critics. There was definitely an understanding that these so-called 'prestige films' were necessary for studios in order to heighten their respective reputations, and with the birth of the Academy Awards, awards became a source of pride for a studio too. Ernst Lubitsch's career was very much the result of this phenomenon, he brought class to Warner Bros., Paramount, MGM, and Fox, even though most of his films weren't box office hits.
Now onto to what I've watched this past week:
A Fool There Was (1915) - I think I'm in love with Theda Bara. I'd read about her, and seen pictures, and didn't understand the fuss. She's not particularly beautiful, and the heavy eye make-up in a bunch of the photos I'd seen made her look like a raccoon. But watching her on-screen was a completely different experience. She is absolutely sexy, every movement, and gesture is so langorous, so completely sexy. Even fully clothed, she manages to radiate sex appeal.
The film itself is pretty solid, the plot revolving around Bara's Vampire seducing a married doctor, causing him to leave his wife and child, and ending a pathetic shell of himself. I found it fascinating that Edward Jose's Dr. Schuyler very literally wastes away, as if Bara's Vampire is actually sucking the life out of him. The contrast between Schuyler at the beginning and the end of the film is pretty remarkable, and never for a minute do you doubt that Bara could captivate and destroy a once respected man.
The direction of the film is at times pretty clumsy, but the strength of Bara and Jose's performances is such that it doesn't matter.
Hell's Hinges (1916) - I just picked up the Treasures From American Film Archives, set and so far this has been a definite highlight. It's my first exposure to William S. Hart, and his appeal is pretty evident right away, he's the strong silent type, emanating toughness, while being handsome enough to play a romantic lead too. The story follows the arrival of a weak-willed parson, and his pious sister to the God-forsaken town of "Hell's Hinges", which is run by jointly by Hart's notorious gunfighter Blaze Tracy, and Alfred Hollingsworth's Silk Miller who "mingles the oily craftiness of a Mexican with the deadly treachery of a rattler". What follows is a standard conversion story, as Tracy becomes a Christian, and protects the good people of the town from the evils of Silk Miller and his ilk.
I thought the restraint of the film was it's greatest strength, as Hart's acting is really understated, and in fact all the actors are pretty restrained, even moreso compared to 1916 standards. What could easily devolve into ridiculous melodrama, is handled with dignity. Also instead of turning preachy, the film is pretty matter-of-fact about Hart's conversion, as he doesn't become self-righteous prig, but rather retains a sense of modesty as evidenced by the Gary Cooper-esque intertitle which reads: "When women like her say there's a God, there is one, and He sure must be worth trailin' with."
Anyway's really good stuff. Anybody happen to have a copy of Hart's The Disciple?
That being said every studio did have a recognition of film as art, and were often willing to produce films that weren't box office hits, but would go over well with critics. There was definitely an understanding that these so-called 'prestige films' were necessary for studios in order to heighten their respective reputations, and with the birth of the Academy Awards, awards became a source of pride for a studio too. Ernst Lubitsch's career was very much the result of this phenomenon, he brought class to Warner Bros., Paramount, MGM, and Fox, even though most of his films weren't box office hits.
Now onto to what I've watched this past week:
A Fool There Was (1915) - I think I'm in love with Theda Bara. I'd read about her, and seen pictures, and didn't understand the fuss. She's not particularly beautiful, and the heavy eye make-up in a bunch of the photos I'd seen made her look like a raccoon. But watching her on-screen was a completely different experience. She is absolutely sexy, every movement, and gesture is so langorous, so completely sexy. Even fully clothed, she manages to radiate sex appeal.
The film itself is pretty solid, the plot revolving around Bara's Vampire seducing a married doctor, causing him to leave his wife and child, and ending a pathetic shell of himself. I found it fascinating that Edward Jose's Dr. Schuyler very literally wastes away, as if Bara's Vampire is actually sucking the life out of him. The contrast between Schuyler at the beginning and the end of the film is pretty remarkable, and never for a minute do you doubt that Bara could captivate and destroy a once respected man.
The direction of the film is at times pretty clumsy, but the strength of Bara and Jose's performances is such that it doesn't matter.
Hell's Hinges (1916) - I just picked up the Treasures From American Film Archives, set and so far this has been a definite highlight. It's my first exposure to William S. Hart, and his appeal is pretty evident right away, he's the strong silent type, emanating toughness, while being handsome enough to play a romantic lead too. The story follows the arrival of a weak-willed parson, and his pious sister to the God-forsaken town of "Hell's Hinges", which is run by jointly by Hart's notorious gunfighter Blaze Tracy, and Alfred Hollingsworth's Silk Miller who "mingles the oily craftiness of a Mexican with the deadly treachery of a rattler". What follows is a standard conversion story, as Tracy becomes a Christian, and protects the good people of the town from the evils of Silk Miller and his ilk.
I thought the restraint of the film was it's greatest strength, as Hart's acting is really understated, and in fact all the actors are pretty restrained, even moreso compared to 1916 standards. What could easily devolve into ridiculous melodrama, is handled with dignity. Also instead of turning preachy, the film is pretty matter-of-fact about Hart's conversion, as he doesn't become self-righteous prig, but rather retains a sense of modesty as evidenced by the Gary Cooper-esque intertitle which reads: "When women like her say there's a God, there is one, and He sure must be worth trailin' with."
Anyway's really good stuff. Anybody happen to have a copy of Hart's The Disciple?
"Do you think it's dangerous to have Busby Berkeley dreams?" - The Magnetic Fields
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charliechaplinfan
- Posts: 9040
- Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I thought the same about Hell's Hinges, I really didn't think I would like it as much as I did, I thought it would be stagy and standard fare. I could see in William S Hart many of the strong and silent types that followed later.
Last night I needed a taste of nostalgia but something not too complicated. I revisited Why Change Your Wife. I just think Cecil B DeMille and Gloria Swanson were made for one another at this point in time. It makes the scenes in Sunset Boulevard have more resonance. I think I said it earlier on another thread but noone did clothes and interiors like Cecil B DeMille. As for strong silent types, Thomas Meighan is another from the silent era who filled the position admirably.
Last night I needed a taste of nostalgia but something not too complicated. I revisited Why Change Your Wife. I just think Cecil B DeMille and Gloria Swanson were made for one another at this point in time. It makes the scenes in Sunset Boulevard have more resonance. I think I said it earlier on another thread but noone did clothes and interiors like Cecil B DeMille. As for strong silent types, Thomas Meighan is another from the silent era who filled the position admirably.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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feaito
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I watched the excellent Pre Coder “Hot Saturday” (1932) in which Nancy Carroll shines as a girl from a small town whose reputation is ruined because of vicious gossip regarding her supposed liaison with a young “amoral” –by the town’s standards- millionaire portrayed by Cary Grant. Nancy’s voice and heart-shaped face reminded me of Claudette Colbert, but she also resembles –in a way- Clara Bow. Her performance is natural and sincere. Grant’s quite good in this early role, displaying a nonchalant quality and a flair for comedy. Randolph Scott plays a more conventional role as the good-natured boyfriend of Ms. Carroll's childhood. Edward Woods plays Nancy’s spiteful date who along with Lillian Bond cause all the trouble for Miss Carroll. Jane Darwell plays her unsympathetic mother very well and Grady Sutton plays one fo Nancy’s many suitors. In all a good story, well performed and a fine print.
I had been wanting to see this film ever since I read about it in William K. Everson's great book "Love on Film" and all I can say is that Mr. Everson is one of my favorite authors and that I trust everything he states.
I had been wanting to see this film ever since I read about it in William K. Everson's great book "Love on Film" and all I can say is that Mr. Everson is one of my favorite authors and that I trust everything he states.
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myrnaloyisdope
- Posts: 349
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
feaito, at some point I plan to pick up the Universal Pre-code set. Hot Saturday sounds very interesting, I really want to check out Merrily We Go To Hell...for my money Fred March is the preeminent screen drunk. There's no one I'd rather see tie one on. 
As for me well aside from copious amounts of Harold Lloyd, I managed to check out Erich von Stroheim's The Merry Widow. I was somewhat disappointed by it. I'd read many raves about it, and given my fondness for von Stroheim and John Gilbert, as well as a new-found curiosity in Mae Murray, I had high hopes, but sadly they were dashed. It's not that the movie was bad, it just simply existed, never really piquing my interest, or causing me to invest in it. Yet I can't find any fault with any of the acting, Gilbert gives his usual dashing performance although I have my doubts about his haircut, and Mae Murray is engaging enough, and it was fun seeing the usual von Stroheim character actors milling around...I can't help but smile when I see the grotesquely obese Teddy Roosevelt lookalike. Nor can I find much fault with von Stroheim's direction, particularly inspired bits include the close-ups of women's feet to signify the evil prince's foot fetish, and sequence where Mae Murray's jewelry is illuminated by making the rest of the screen pitch black.
I think my issues with film are two-fold: firstly the story (and its various permutations) has been done to death, man must choose between woman he loves, and his duty. This is not a problem in and of itself, but von Stroheim never really brings the story to life, he never gives me a reason to care, why is he telling the story, and what has he done to make it standout from the pack? I don't really think there is an answer to that, simply put the story progresses exactly as one expects it too, and the result is generally dull. Secondly, I think the film lacks von Stroheim's signature fascination with decadence, debauchery and grotesqueness. Certainly it's alluded to in the character of the evil prince, but von Stroheim never blows the hinges off and lets inhibition run wild, and so there is nothing to rival the orgy sequence of The Wedding March, or the disfigured junk-dealers of Greed. If there's one thing von Stroheim struggles with it's restraint, and sadly The Merry Widow is too restrained for its own good.
As for me well aside from copious amounts of Harold Lloyd, I managed to check out Erich von Stroheim's The Merry Widow. I was somewhat disappointed by it. I'd read many raves about it, and given my fondness for von Stroheim and John Gilbert, as well as a new-found curiosity in Mae Murray, I had high hopes, but sadly they were dashed. It's not that the movie was bad, it just simply existed, never really piquing my interest, or causing me to invest in it. Yet I can't find any fault with any of the acting, Gilbert gives his usual dashing performance although I have my doubts about his haircut, and Mae Murray is engaging enough, and it was fun seeing the usual von Stroheim character actors milling around...I can't help but smile when I see the grotesquely obese Teddy Roosevelt lookalike. Nor can I find much fault with von Stroheim's direction, particularly inspired bits include the close-ups of women's feet to signify the evil prince's foot fetish, and sequence where Mae Murray's jewelry is illuminated by making the rest of the screen pitch black.
I think my issues with film are two-fold: firstly the story (and its various permutations) has been done to death, man must choose between woman he loves, and his duty. This is not a problem in and of itself, but von Stroheim never really brings the story to life, he never gives me a reason to care, why is he telling the story, and what has he done to make it standout from the pack? I don't really think there is an answer to that, simply put the story progresses exactly as one expects it too, and the result is generally dull. Secondly, I think the film lacks von Stroheim's signature fascination with decadence, debauchery and grotesqueness. Certainly it's alluded to in the character of the evil prince, but von Stroheim never blows the hinges off and lets inhibition run wild, and so there is nothing to rival the orgy sequence of The Wedding March, or the disfigured junk-dealers of Greed. If there's one thing von Stroheim struggles with it's restraint, and sadly The Merry Widow is too restrained for its own good.
"Do you think it's dangerous to have Busby Berkeley dreams?" - The Magnetic Fields
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drednm
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I recently got a copy of Paul Fejos' 1929 Broadway. I was anxious to see this film after seeing his silent Lonesome from the year before.
If I understand this correctly, Broadway exists outside archives as a mute silent print from Hungary. The sound disks also survive but no sound print exists. As I understand this this the silent version and the talkie version were two separate filmings, a common practice in the transition years.
Anyway, I found a copy where a friend took the silent version and attached the soundtrack from the talkie version. The film speeds between the two versions were different, and the musical numbers apparently expanded for the talkie. Also while the 2-strip Technicolor finale exists in this silent print, the music is missing from the sound disk. In any case the result is quite fascinating if a little rough since it's an apples and oranges kind of deal.
The print is not very good but it's watchable. But what the "author" had to do to keep the soundtrack in sync with the picture is to add inserts, loop music etc. Still taking all this into consideration, Broadway is a vibrant early musical that boasts a truly massive nightclub set. Glenn Tryon is the pushy star, Evelyn Brent and Merna Kennedy are the leading ladies, Paul Porcasi plays the nightclub owner, and Leslie Fenton plays "Scar."
Fejos and cinematographer Hal Mohr devised a massive, 28-ton camera crane for this film. The camera work for this mostly lost film has always been legendary, and justly so. Fejos' Lonesome was fueled by some of the best camera work this side of Sunrise. Broadway was an attempt to continue that Fejos style and avoid the stiff, lifeless camera work that ruined so many early talkies.
Of course we can hope that a clean version of the talkie will appear and be available. Until that happens this is the best effort to get an idea what the film was like. Of course the silent version is still around... with Hungarian intertitles.
As for Fejos, he was replaced as director on his next two films (the musicals Captain of the Guard and King of Jazz and returned to Hungary.
If I understand this correctly, Broadway exists outside archives as a mute silent print from Hungary. The sound disks also survive but no sound print exists. As I understand this this the silent version and the talkie version were two separate filmings, a common practice in the transition years.
Anyway, I found a copy where a friend took the silent version and attached the soundtrack from the talkie version. The film speeds between the two versions were different, and the musical numbers apparently expanded for the talkie. Also while the 2-strip Technicolor finale exists in this silent print, the music is missing from the sound disk. In any case the result is quite fascinating if a little rough since it's an apples and oranges kind of deal.
The print is not very good but it's watchable. But what the "author" had to do to keep the soundtrack in sync with the picture is to add inserts, loop music etc. Still taking all this into consideration, Broadway is a vibrant early musical that boasts a truly massive nightclub set. Glenn Tryon is the pushy star, Evelyn Brent and Merna Kennedy are the leading ladies, Paul Porcasi plays the nightclub owner, and Leslie Fenton plays "Scar."
Fejos and cinematographer Hal Mohr devised a massive, 28-ton camera crane for this film. The camera work for this mostly lost film has always been legendary, and justly so. Fejos' Lonesome was fueled by some of the best camera work this side of Sunrise. Broadway was an attempt to continue that Fejos style and avoid the stiff, lifeless camera work that ruined so many early talkies.
Of course we can hope that a clean version of the talkie will appear and be available. Until that happens this is the best effort to get an idea what the film was like. Of course the silent version is still around... with Hungarian intertitles.
As for Fejos, he was replaced as director on his next two films (the musicals Captain of the Guard and King of Jazz and returned to Hungary.
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feaito
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
MLID, I already have the Universal Pre-Code Collection and I'm hooked!
I just watched "Search for Beauty" (1934) and all I can say is that it's one of the raciest and kinkiest Pre-Codes I have ever seen. Lots and lots of flesh! Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino are cheated into entering business, running a Health & Sports Magazine, which is really a facade for an "erotic" magazine which features racy stories and exploits the beautiful bodies of young male and female athletes. Robert Armstrong, James Gleason and especially Gertrude Michael are a hoot as the swindlers. Mr. Crabbe is fine as the hero and Miss Lupino, although far away from her glory days as WB's tough lady is OK. Very kinky.
I'd definitely would like to watch more of Gertrude Michael. She's deft at comedy! The type of wisecracking lady I like.
I just watched "Search for Beauty" (1934) and all I can say is that it's one of the raciest and kinkiest Pre-Codes I have ever seen. Lots and lots of flesh! Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino are cheated into entering business, running a Health & Sports Magazine, which is really a facade for an "erotic" magazine which features racy stories and exploits the beautiful bodies of young male and female athletes. Robert Armstrong, James Gleason and especially Gertrude Michael are a hoot as the swindlers. Mr. Crabbe is fine as the hero and Miss Lupino, although far away from her glory days as WB's tough lady is OK. Very kinky.
I'd definitely would like to watch more of Gertrude Michael. She's deft at comedy! The type of wisecracking lady I like.
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drednm
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I agree... my review from IMDb
Part of the recent Paramount box set of pre-Code films, Search for Beauty a fascinating film that's about the sexiest film I can remember seeing. The whole film is about sex disguised as a health and exercise magazine that hucksters Robert Armstrong and Gertrude Michael put over by duping Olympic athletes Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino into lending their names to it.
Amazingly frank attitude toward sex actually shows several naked men (butts) in a locker room, women showing their crotches (in underwear and bathing suits), etc. Dozens of men and women run around in skimpy, tight bathing suits throughout the film, including a massive production number. There are many scenes of men ogling the scantily clad women, and a jaw-dropping scene where Gertrude Michael zeroes in with binoculars no less on Crabbe's crotch while he's competing in the Olympics.
Crabbe is surprisingly good here; 20-year-old Lupino, in her American film debut, is totally unrecognizable with curly blonde hair and Dietrich eyebrows. Armstrong and Michael (always underrated) are solid. We also get James Gleason, Toby Wing (in her best film role, dancing in skivvies on a tabletop), Bradley Page, Nora Cecil, Bert Roach, etc. Ann Sheridan and Lynn Bari are among the beauties, who include Gladys Willar from Worcester, Massachusetts.
There's a hilarious sequence where they decide to build the perfect woman for advertising (think *Page Miss Glory*) by gathering models who are famed for their specific parts.... one for lips, one for hair, etc... and then there's Fanny....
Part of the recent Paramount box set of pre-Code films, Search for Beauty a fascinating film that's about the sexiest film I can remember seeing. The whole film is about sex disguised as a health and exercise magazine that hucksters Robert Armstrong and Gertrude Michael put over by duping Olympic athletes Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino into lending their names to it.
Amazingly frank attitude toward sex actually shows several naked men (butts) in a locker room, women showing their crotches (in underwear and bathing suits), etc. Dozens of men and women run around in skimpy, tight bathing suits throughout the film, including a massive production number. There are many scenes of men ogling the scantily clad women, and a jaw-dropping scene where Gertrude Michael zeroes in with binoculars no less on Crabbe's crotch while he's competing in the Olympics.
Crabbe is surprisingly good here; 20-year-old Lupino, in her American film debut, is totally unrecognizable with curly blonde hair and Dietrich eyebrows. Armstrong and Michael (always underrated) are solid. We also get James Gleason, Toby Wing (in her best film role, dancing in skivvies on a tabletop), Bradley Page, Nora Cecil, Bert Roach, etc. Ann Sheridan and Lynn Bari are among the beauties, who include Gladys Willar from Worcester, Massachusetts.
There's a hilarious sequence where they decide to build the perfect woman for advertising (think *Page Miss Glory*) by gathering models who are famed for their specific parts.... one for lips, one for hair, etc... and then there's Fanny....