That said, Living on Velvet is the better picture of the two in terms of script. Just a shame they didn't cast somebody else than Brent in the lead....(this is just my own opinion! 
)WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
-
Ann Harding
- Posts: 1246
- Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
- Location: Paris
- Contact:
I've seen Stranded and Living On Velvet recently. They both feature Kay Francis and George Brent under the direction of Borzage. I am sorry to say that I found George Brent incredibly wooden and boring.... That said, Living on Velvet is the better picture of the two in terms of script. Just a shame they didn't cast somebody else than Brent in the lead....(this is just my own opinion! )
That said, Living on Velvet is the better picture of the two in terms of script. Just a shame they didn't cast somebody else than Brent in the lead....(this is just my own opinion! )-
silentscreen
- Posts: 701
- Joined: March 9th, 2008, 3:47 pm
Miss G - I've only recently been aware of Robert Barrat, mainly because of his character "Fritz" in the Chatterton, Brent film Lily Turner. He plays the mentally disturbed stongman who gets a romatic fixation on Ruth. I thought he was European, until I saw him in some other flick where he spoke without an accent. Now, I look up his listing in the IMDB and gee wiz - he was in ton's of films!MissGoddess wrote: Besides both starring one of my crushes, George Brent, they also feature a character actor I never really paid attention to before, Robert Barrat.
-
MissGoddess
- Posts: 5072
- Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
- Contact:
Hi Jez---I remember him now in Lily Turner---what a precode! I'm so glad I managed to record that one!Jezebel38 wrote:Miss G - I've only recently been aware of Robert Barrat, mainly because of his character "Fritz" in the Chatterton, Brent film Lily Turner. He plays the mentally disturbed stongman who gets a romatic fixation on Ruth. I thought he was European, until I saw him in some other flick where he spoke without an accent. Now, I look up his listing in the IMDB and gee wiz - he was in ton's of films!MissGoddess wrote: Besides both starring one of my crushes, George Brent, they also feature a character actor I never really paid attention to before, Robert Barrat.
-
MissGoddess
- Posts: 5072
- Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
- Contact:
Thanks to someone very kind here, I was able to finally see CYNARA (1932), the Ronald Colman movie I've read so much about. Directed by King Vidor and costarring Kay Francis and Phyllis Barry as the other two points of a triangle, this study of infidelity was frank and very moving. It was Colman's performance that made it so for me. He's perfectly cast as the perfectly satisfied-with-the-status-quo married and successful London barrister who finds himself beset by temptations he neither sought nor desired, and yet he tumbles faster than his rakish friend, Henry Stephenson, at the first opportunity. It's his disappointment and frustration at his own lack of will and the unfairly disproportionate condemnation and scandal that results which Colman expresses with such unique credibility. He's good at looking bewildered and shaken out of his shell.
The movie highlights the trueism that when a genuinely virtuous person strays just once, it often ends in greater disaster than ever it does for more practiced sinners. I appreciate that the other woman (Phyllis Barry) in this case, though not made more of than she deserves, is not presented with any judgement either. She's "common" and ordinary but she's an ordinary human girl who sincerely falls in love with her married lover. She's not vilified or made out to be a common joke and I like that. I'm pleased to have this movie in my collection.
The movie highlights the trueism that when a genuinely virtuous person strays just once, it often ends in greater disaster than ever it does for more practiced sinners. I appreciate that the other woman (Phyllis Barry) in this case, though not made more of than she deserves, is not presented with any judgement either. She's "common" and ordinary but she's an ordinary human girl who sincerely falls in love with her married lover. She's not vilified or made out to be a common joke and I like that. I'm pleased to have this movie in my collection.
Robert Barrat
Hey, Jez and MsG, do you remember Robert Barrat in "BabyFace"? He played the father of Barbara Stanwyck, and was the most evil person in the movie. He also was "Chingachgook" in Last of the Mohicans. What a range he had!
Nancy
Nancy
-
Ann Harding
- Posts: 1246
- Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
- Location: Paris
- Contact:
-
Ann Harding
- Posts: 1246
- Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
- Location: Paris
- Contact:
Yesterday I watched E.A. Dupont's Variety (1925) with Lya de Putti and Emil Jannings. This is a really extremely impressionistic film shot by Karl Freund. I absolutely loved Jannings' performance which I didn't find as hammy as usual. He had a great chemistry with De Putti as the femme fatale. (according to Brownlow's Cinema Europe, their relationship extended beyond the screen....) This is definitely a great German silent with fabulous close-ups. Jannings is totally destroyed by De Putti's charm like he will be later in The Blue Angel. I just wished this great picture was available on DVD rather than having to watch a washout 16mm print with Italian titles!
I have not seen Variety (1925) yet, but isn't there a good print out on DVD from Kino? And probably from Eureka in Europe? I thought that there was?-
Ann Harding
- Posts: 1246
- Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
- Location: Paris
- Contact:
Oh, I know what you mean about Emil Jannings! I've seen him in two silents, Der Letzte Mann/The Last Laugh and Faust. I enjoyed him in Faust, since if you can't be over the top as the Devil, when can you be? But in Der Letzte Mann, he was just awful. I have always found that kind of Great Acting tiresome. I liked the sets and camerawork of that film - the groundbreaking technical stuff - but for me, it wasn't at all moving, because Jannings overdid everything so much...Ann Harding wrote:I absolutely loved Jannings' performance which I didn't find as hammy as usual.
-
Ann Harding
- Posts: 1246
- Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
- Location: Paris
- Contact:
Yesterday I treated myself with two wonderful PreCodes.
First, William Dieterle's Jewel Robbery (1932) with Kay Francis and William Powell. This is one of the most sparkling comedy of that time I have ever seen! It managed to combine the elegance of a Paramount production with the breckneck speed of a Warner one. In actual fact, I never thougth Warner could produce such a sophisticated comedy!!! The dialogue was full of double-entendre, delivered with incredible charm and intelligence by the two leads, Kay Francis and William Powell. Dieterle obviously enjoyed himself enormously by adding all these little visual touches, like Kay's dress caught in door or when she drops her gun on William's foot! (all very symbolic....
). Some scenes were irresistible like when the chief of police smokes Powell's cigarette, obviously some kind of pot!!! 
. The supporting cast was equally wonderful (with even André Luguet in a small part). I absolutely love the joyously immoral ending of this lovely film! 
Then I moved on to a completely different universe: Hawaii with King Vidor's Bird of Paradise (1932) with Joel McCrea and Dolores Del Rio. I've read about this film in Vidor's memoirs and about its really eventful production. This is really a torrid PreCode with some of the most amazing love scenes you can imagine in the 30s.
The story is virtually non-existant; but, as Vidor said, he was only interested in the visual aspect. From Del Rio's dancing (choreographed by Busby Berkeley) to the skinny dipping, it's all highly censorable! I just wished this film was available in a nice restoration. Alas, it's PD.... 
But, anyway, it's certainly worth investigating!
First, William Dieterle's Jewel Robbery (1932) with Kay Francis and William Powell. This is one of the most sparkling comedy of that time I have ever seen! It managed to combine the elegance of a Paramount production with the breckneck speed of a Warner one. In actual fact, I never thougth Warner could produce such a sophisticated comedy!!! The dialogue was full of double-entendre, delivered with incredible charm and intelligence by the two leads, Kay Francis and William Powell. Dieterle obviously enjoyed himself enormously by adding all these little visual touches, like Kay's dress caught in door or when she drops her gun on William's foot! (all very symbolic....
). Some scenes were irresistible like when the chief of police smokes Powell's cigarette, obviously some kind of pot!!! . The supporting cast was equally wonderful (with even André Luguet in a small part). I absolutely love the joyously immoral ending of this lovely film! Then I moved on to a completely different universe: Hawaii with King Vidor's Bird of Paradise (1932) with Joel McCrea and Dolores Del Rio. I've read about this film in Vidor's memoirs and about its really eventful production. This is really a torrid PreCode with some of the most amazing love scenes you can imagine in the 30s.
The story is virtually non-existant; but, as Vidor said, he was only interested in the visual aspect. From Del Rio's dancing (choreographed by Busby Berkeley) to the skinny dipping, it's all highly censorable! I just wished this film was available in a nice restoration. Alas, it's PD.... But, anyway, it's certainly worth investigating! Those movies sound great. I love a good precode.
I saw Wings together with my parents. Dad thought it was going to be an action adventure film, he was absolutely astonished with the anti-war message. I think that, watching it with them, I also saw it in a new light. I had thought of it as the movie that was more melodramatic than The Big Parade, with great flying scenes. That's a pretty silly estimation though. Wings has an enormous scope, and the fact that all of it has been done without special effects makes it even greater.
I also noted how often the camera showed the German planes when they were shot down, the faces of the Germans when they die. When David hijacks a plane, he shoots down one of the German planes as it is about to take off. We see David flying away laughing, and then the scene switches to the Germans, as they pull the pilot from the wreckage of the plane and carry him away. The twist, in the end, is also an obvious statement on war in general. In the beginning the Iron Cross is what identifies the Germans as the enemy, instead of people, since that is what the camera focuses on, but in the end, this is turned around. The scenes at the church with all the crosses are beautiful.
Clara Bow is in it of course, although her role is a minor one. She makes the most of it.
I saw Wings together with my parents. Dad thought it was going to be an action adventure film, he was absolutely astonished with the anti-war message. I think that, watching it with them, I also saw it in a new light. I had thought of it as the movie that was more melodramatic than The Big Parade, with great flying scenes. That's a pretty silly estimation though. Wings has an enormous scope, and the fact that all of it has been done without special effects makes it even greater.
I also noted how often the camera showed the German planes when they were shot down, the faces of the Germans when they die. When David hijacks a plane, he shoots down one of the German planes as it is about to take off. We see David flying away laughing, and then the scene switches to the Germans, as they pull the pilot from the wreckage of the plane and carry him away. The twist, in the end, is also an obvious statement on war in general. In the beginning the Iron Cross is what identifies the Germans as the enemy, instead of people, since that is what the camera focuses on, but in the end, this is turned around. The scenes at the church with all the crosses are beautiful.
Clara Bow is in it of course, although her role is a minor one. She makes the most of it.
Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I taped the "Forbidden Hollywood II" movies that were on TCM and just finished "Three On A Match" and am starting Ruth Chatterton in "Female". I am working on finishing reading a biography of Bette Davis and seeing her in this film is very instructive. She is only in a supporting role, but I think she does it beautifully. She was such an attractive woman! What sticks with you is of course, the "third" who eventually gets in with the wrong crowd. I definitely think that this might have been a straw that broke the camel's back where the Hays office is concerned. "Female" so far seems one too that is on the fringe-but more on that later.
-
Ann Harding
- Posts: 1246
- Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
- Location: Paris
- Contact:
Yesterday, I went to a special screening of Jacques Feyder's Carmen (1926) with Raquel Meller. The film was presented with a piano accompaniment based on the original orchestral score by Spanish composer, Ernesto Halffter Escriche (a disciple of Manuel de Falla).
The film was a huge production (9 months shooting) shot on locations in Andalucia and in studios. The print presented was a beautiful restoration recreating the original tinting.
Feyder didn't try to adapt Georges Bizet's opera at all, he went back to its original source, a short story by French writer Prosper Mérimé. We follow the destiny of a young man from Navarre, Don José. After killing accidentally a friend, he has to leave forever his native city. He arrives in Seville where he joins the army. His meeting with the gipsy Carmen will change his life forever. He becomes a smuggler and a murderer....
In the title role, the Spanish actress Raquel Meller was beautifully attired in some stunning Jeanne Lanvin dresses but lacked somehow fire and personality at times. That said, the film has some of the most stunning landscape cinematography I have ever seen of Spain: fortified cities, sierra, mountains, deserts and long sweeping wheat fields. Like in L'Atlantide (1922), I feel that Feyder overdid it a bit in terms of length. The film would have gained dramatically by being shorter than its 166 min. But some scenes were pretty incredible visually: the smugglers being ambushed by the custom's officers in a western-like landscape, a real corrida filmed in the arena of the city of Ronda, all the set decoration by Lazare Meerson are just incredibly faithful and beautiful.
This is the 6th Feyder silent I have seen. It's not as good as Crainquebille (1922), Visages D'Enfants (1923) Gribiche (1925) and Les Nouveaux Messieurs (1929). But, if you are a fan of Jacques Feyder silents, I have some great news for you! I learned yesterday that the French cinémathèque is going to release a DVD boxset of Silent Feyders before the end of the year containing: Gribiche, Les Nouveaux Messieurs and Carmen!
The film was a huge production (9 months shooting) shot on locations in Andalucia and in studios. The print presented was a beautiful restoration recreating the original tinting.
Feyder didn't try to adapt Georges Bizet's opera at all, he went back to its original source, a short story by French writer Prosper Mérimé. We follow the destiny of a young man from Navarre, Don José. After killing accidentally a friend, he has to leave forever his native city. He arrives in Seville where he joins the army. His meeting with the gipsy Carmen will change his life forever. He becomes a smuggler and a murderer....
In the title role, the Spanish actress Raquel Meller was beautifully attired in some stunning Jeanne Lanvin dresses but lacked somehow fire and personality at times. That said, the film has some of the most stunning landscape cinematography I have ever seen of Spain: fortified cities, sierra, mountains, deserts and long sweeping wheat fields. Like in L'Atlantide (1922), I feel that Feyder overdid it a bit in terms of length. The film would have gained dramatically by being shorter than its 166 min. But some scenes were pretty incredible visually: the smugglers being ambushed by the custom's officers in a western-like landscape, a real corrida filmed in the arena of the city of Ronda, all the set decoration by Lazare Meerson are just incredibly faithful and beautiful.
This is the 6th Feyder silent I have seen. It's not as good as Crainquebille (1922), Visages D'Enfants (1923) Gribiche (1925) and Les Nouveaux Messieurs (1929). But, if you are a fan of Jacques Feyder silents, I have some great news for you! I learned yesterday that the French cinémathèque is going to release a DVD boxset of Silent Feyders before the end of the year containing: Gribiche, Les Nouveaux Messieurs and Carmen!