WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[Jim Reid]

The Thames versions of the silent classics sound so wonderful. I can't understand why they haven't been released on DVD!

My guess is a combination of expired rights and film transfers that are inferior to what can be done today.

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday I saw Mauritz Stiller's Hotel Imperial (1927) with Pola Negri & James Hall. This is one of the few features that Stiller managed to complete when in America.
During WWI, an Austrian officer (J. Hall) seeks refuge in a hotel as the Russian troops are invading the city. Anna (P. Negri), a servant, helps him to hide as a waiter. Soon a Russian general makes the hotel its HQ. He notices at once the pretty servant...
The film has some similitude with some Sternberg features of the time and it's no wonder with Jules Furthman as screenwriter (He wrote The Docks of NY). The film is superbly directed and shows that Stiller had kept his touch when he came to the US. There are some amazing tracking shots which lend to the film a fluidity not unlike some great German expressionist features. Pola Negri is remarkable: obviously extremely well directed; she is totally believable as the servant who takes enormous risks to save her fellow countryman. Nearly the whole film takes place in the Hotel Imperial, but, the film is not claustrophobic at all. Let's hope that one day Paramount will realise what treasures they have in their hands so that we can enjoy this film in a superb print!

[drednm]

Yes HOTEL IMPERIAL is pretty good. Pola Negri still awaits a major rediscovery. She's excellent in A WOMAN SCORNED and A WOMAN OF THE WORLD.... I don't like her as much in her earlier European films but as a Hollywood star she did some good stuff. I'm still looking for her talkie A WOMAN COMMANDS but no like so far.

[Gagman 66]

Christine,

HOTEL IMPERIAL does indeed survive in very good prints according to Kevin Brownlow. This film was released in January of 1927 I believe. so essentially a 1926 film.

I don't like this picture as well as I did BARBED WIRE personally, but some of that may have to do with the rather dark print, which in fairness still retains good contrast.

Negri was a great dramatic actress, who has been unfairly categorized if remembered at all, as a "Vamp". In the films that I have seen of her, she portrayed nothing of the sort.

Ed,

Haven't seen those other two titles you mentioned. Maybe I can get to one of them soon.

[Synnove]

The Thames versions of the silent classics sound so wonderful. I can't understand why they haven't been released on DVD!

My guess is a combination of expired rights and film transfers that are inferior to what can be done today.

You're probably right.

I guess it's the music I miss the most. I've had the opportunity to see a few Thames silents, like The Eagle, and the music for that is so much better than the score for the newer DVD. I hope that, at least, will see a revival. There's nothing wrong with re-interpreting silents with new music if it's done well, though.

It's such a pity about Mauritz Stiller, that he died so soon after making Hotel Imperial. Apparently his creativity never declined. After he had left Hollywood, he set up a play in Stockholm which got great reviews, but he died shortly afterwards. He left behind a wonderful body of work, and a few of his earlier movies that were long thought lost have also been found recently. I'm hoping for more, there is plenty to get re-discovered. I would certainly love to see Hotel Imperial in a good print too.

[drednm]

Jeff do you have the Negri films? I can't remember if I sent them or if you already had them? A WOMAN SCORNED is, I think, a British film from the late 20s. A WOMAN OF THE WORLD is really good and maybe Negri's best American film.

The trouble is her titles all sound alike so it gets confusing....

oh I finally watched WHAT PRICE GLORY today.... I liked it!

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday, I watched another Thames Silent: The Thief of Bagdad (1924) by R. Walsh with D. Fairbanks Sr.
It was also a Thames silent I had seen many years ago (1985 or 1986) on French TV and I had been dazzled by it: the music, the images, Fairbanks moving like a dancer ....Years later, I purchased a VHS of it with Gaylord Carter organ score. It was a beautiful as I remember it, but somehow the film didn't quite live up to my memory. Watching Kyle's beautiful transfer yesterday, I know why: Carl Davis' score makes all the difference! He uses cleverly themes and leitmotives from Rimsky-Korsakov which gives the film a drive and lyricism which is completely lacking in all the other scores I had heard.
As for the quality of the image, it's perhaps not as pin sharp as some more recent DVD transfer, but, with THAT score, it's a 1,000,000 times better!!!!

[bdp]

well I could have sharpened the image up more, but I tend to overdo that and am very conscious of it so I probably under did it this time. Glad you enjoyed it.

I know people talk about older formats not being up to digital standards but I still don't see why you couldn't get a perfectly acceptable DVD release from the laserdisc set of the Hollywood series.

[Gagman 66]

Ed,

Wow, that's great that you finally got to see WHAT PRICE GLORY?, I have been waiting for a long, long time now, Are you going to write a review here, or on the TCM board?

Christine,

Didn't I also send you a copy of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD with the Carl Davis score too? Containing one of my great big menu's with motion thumbs? I thought that I did? Let me know?

Kyle,

This came from you too earlier, but I added about a 15 page menu. I believe I sent you a copy? It was an earlier transfer though, as I think you said that you just re-did THIEF some weeks ago? As well as THE COVERED WAGON, and a few others over again.

Really, the only film were I thought you had any trouble with the sharpness was THE BIG PARADE. The real problem was glare. I guess I expected the transfer to look as good or better than you made of of WINGS had from Laser-disc, which was spectacular. And I had allot of difficulty with Glare when trying to add captures, and menu's. So maybe some minor adjustments were just off a bit when you transferred that movie with your equipment? But Thames HOLLYWOOD, and so many of the others just looked fabulous! Don't want to sound as if I am complaining here.

I would be interested in a new copy of the Thames BROKEN BLOSSOMS as the one I have you sent me about three years ago. When TCM ran BROKEN BLOSSOMS a few months ago, it was a fresh transfer of the film, by far the best I have ever seen. Unfortunately, the brand-new score was just horrendous, and the credits indicated that it was commissioned by TCM! So very disappointing, that there would be a new transfer like that and it be given such awful music!

I'm with you that I think HOLLYWOOD, and several of the Thames Silent's, and Channel Four Siloent's presentations, could be made to look just fine in DVD releases from laser-disc.

While it's not from Laser-disc, but didn't you say that you also ran of a new copy of THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK? The only copy I have is from about 4 years ago, when you barrowed me the VHS, and I made my own transfer.

Believe it or not, As I mentioned to Christine, I am on the verge of having the 5 and a half hour Carl Davis scored version of Abel Gance NAPOLEON! Should be just a few more days! I guess that I forgot to mail you THE COSSACKS? I was sure that I had, but apparently not? I will get it out to you this week sometime.

[drednm]

I might write a review but I probably have nothing new to add to what's been said....

I never liked Edmund Lowe or Victor McLaglen much but they were good in this one. Phyllis Haver just disappeared from the film. Dolores Del Rio was excellent as Charmaine. The supporting cast was ok but I didn't recognize anyone.

What was interesting was how many swear words you could see the guys mouth... SOB came up a lot. The film was a little long but well done and well directed by Raoul Walsh. The score was very good also. I noted this copy came from the old AMC station.

[Gagman 66]

Ed,

Yes, it's hard to believe that the old American Movie Classics used to show films like WHAT PRICE GLORY?, BARBED WIRE, THE MATINEE IDOL, THE BLUE EAGLE, THE YOUNGER GENERATION, FOUR SONS etc, as none of those movies have aired on TCM far as I know?

I got the transfer from Scottman, and He said that WHAT PRICE ran on AMC back in 1996. He was able to get a very nice recording in Super VHS, so it transferred well to DVD-R. If not for Scottman, I would not have this version at all. It took me years to round up a copy with the Movie-tone score.

This was shown at the same time they aired THE LITTLE AMERICAN, BARBED WIRE, and some others as part of a War Movies festival that year. I remember a Woman's festival that included Pickford and Swanson films, like POLLYANNA. and THE LOVE OF SUNYA. When I first saw WINGS it was on AMC in 1990, or 1991. Same with Valentino's THE SHEIK. I also saw SUNRISE for the first time on AMC, which had no commericials back then, in about 1994 or 1995. And it even aired in Prime-time too!

They used to run the Fairbanks features, and Buster Keaton comedies regularly. Chaplin, and even some Harry Langdon showed up too. Although, I used to get sore at the old AMC, as apart from a few shorts they did not show Harold Lloyd's comedies.

WHAT PRICE GLORY? is so marketly different from THE BIG PARADE it's astonishing that it was taken from the same writters work, and that Vidor had planned to make WHAT PRICE originally at MGM, and not THE BIG PARADE! It's a good thing that He changed his mind! Again, this was mainly due to the fact that Fox had already obtained the rights to the story, which had been a huge hit as a Stage playn broadway.

[MichiganJ]

In my opinion, the first half of Two Arabian Knights is directly “influenced” by What Price Glory (the second half turns into a Hope/Crosby Road picture with Mary Astor doing the Hedy Lamarr role). What Price Glory set the standard for the cantankerous and antagonistic “buddy” picture. Walsh was the perfect choice as director

In contrast, The Big Parade set the template for the anti-war war movie. Hard to imagine Walsh directing anything like this, the story of which required a little more sensitivity. I can’t imagine Vidor directing What Price Glory, it would have been a completely different picture.

I agree with Gagman, it’s lucky for us that Vidor changed his mind.

[coopsgirl]

I had a chance to watch Street Angel a few days ago and I really enjoyed it. I like Seventh Heaven better, but Street Angel was very good.

I thought the scene at the beginning where Janet’s character (Angela) resorted to prostitution to get money for her sick mother’s medicine was done very well. She seemed awkward as she tried to proposition a couple of men and they could tell she didn’t really know what she was doing and therefore got no takers. That’s when she decided to steal money from one of them leading to her being chased by the police and hidden from them by a band of circus folk.

She takes to circus life well and seems to be a stronger, tougher gal than the one we saw at the beginning of the film. One thing I’m curious about though is why she seems to be a bit of a man hater. When she meets Charles’ character (Gino), a vagabond painter who joins the circus too, she lets him know right off the bat that she’s not interested in men. We never get an explanation why though. Perhaps it has to do with a bad relationship with her father who isn’t around, or maybe she just doesn’t want to get close to anyone and lose them like she did her mother.

Gino is persistent though and finally convinces Angela to sit for him so he can paint her portrait (which was beautifully done). He paints her the way he thinks she really is deep down and not the hardened person she appears to be. She has a softer expression but doesn’t look weak. She looks beautiful and very earthy and is quite moved by how it turned out.

While performing one day, she sees a police man and has flashbacks to when they were chasing her earlier causing her to fall and break her ankle. Gino, who is in love with her by this point, tells everyone he will take her to a good doctor and the scene where he carries her to the boat and holds her while they are being rowed away, was very sweet and touching. She is afraid b/c they are going back to Naples where she is wanted by the police but you can tell she feels safe with Gino and loves him too.

Once in Naples, she and Gino share adjoining apartments and are leading a happy life. I really liked the scene where he was supposed to get groceries but he forgot and all he comes home with is a flower for Angela. She fussed at him for forgetting and laid the flower down on the window sill as she went out to do the shopping. We see Gino sitting in front of the fireplace moping a little b/c he upset her but then we see Angela sneak back around and pick up the flower. Gino sees her and he smiles, feeling better that she isn’t really that mad at him. That was a nice touch to show that they aren’t just all moony eyed over each other.

After Gino gets a job painting a large mural, he and Angela decide to get married. Of course, we’ve got to have a little drama here and Angela is spotted by one of the policeman who chased after her at the beginning and he eventually remembers why she looked familiar to him and he goes to arrest her. She begged him just to give her an hour with Gino and then she would go with him to prison to serve her sentence for robbery while soliciting. This scene is very well done as Gino is bubbling over with happiness and Angela is consumed with sadness. He doesn’t know why she is gone but when he realizes the next morning that she has left he becomes despondent. We see him sitting on the scaffolding slumped over unable to do his work. He is fired and becomes a drunk bum. When he finds out from another prostitute who was in prison with Angela, what became of her, he goes from despair to rage.

Here’s where I have a problem with the story. When Gino runs into Angela after she’s released, he doesn’t even give her a chance to explain. He chases after her and nearly chokes her to death in a church. He only stops when he looks up and sees the painting he made of her. It was purchased by a man who takes cheap paintings and doctors them up to look like old, rare artworks to sell to unsuspecting collectors. The portrait has been altered to make her look like an angel.

I’m not a radical feminist or anything, but us chicks gotta stand up for ourselves and it’s disheartening how many movies have been made over the years that show violence towards women as if it’s acceptable. Domestic violence is part of life and if shown in the right context is fine, but what bothers me is men attacking women and then the women not really having a problem with it.

I totally understand Gino being angry to learn that his angel Angela had a criminal past, I just think it was a little much having him choke her nearly to death and she forgiving him so quickly. Also, I don’t like this double standard of women must be pure and men can do whatever they want. For all we know, Gino may also be a “good boy” but you’re telling me a good looking young man who has spent his adult years travelling around painting people, hasn’t had a little fun with a lady or two? Of course, there is a difference when you’re getting paid for it, but I still don’t like the double standard.

Okay, I’ll quit ranting . Overall though, I really enjoyed this one and I have become totally smitten by Janet and Charles. Physically, they were very cute together as he was a strapping 6’2” and she was a petite 5’. So far I’ve only seen two of their films together (Seventh Heaven and Street Angel) but I have copies of three of their talkies together on the way and I’m really anxious to hear what they sounded like.

I do have several silent films however that Charles did on his own, including one of his earliest major roles in Clash of the Wolves, a Rin-Tin-Tin picture where he plays the leading (human) actor. I’m surprised at how many people dismiss his acting ability, especially in reviews I’ve read of the films he and Janet made together. I do think she was the stronger actor of the two, but he has done a fine job in everything I’ve seen him in. Another reason I’ve taken a shine to him, is that he had a real ‘Gary Cooper’ quality about him, if that makes any sense . Physically they were similar, but they also just gave off that good guy vibe. I’m telling you, if Charles was alive today, I’d cast him as the next Superman. He totally has a Clark Kent thing going on!

Also, to my great delight I found a pic of Gary and Charles together from 1933 in one of my old movie mags. I was looking back through some of them this weekend and when I first got that particular one (that has Janet on the cover by the way ), I didn’t know who Charles was. The pic was taken at a party and Gary is wearing a tux and Charles is wearing white tie and tails and they both look very dashing and happy.

[Ann Harding]

MichiganJ: Did you know that Raoul Walsh directed a very interesting anti-war picture called The Naked and The Dead (1958)? I haven't watched it for years, but, I remember the excellent quality of the acting: Clift Robertson as the young inexperienced officer facing the bull-like Aldo Ray and Ray Massey playing an evil general.
That said, I am also in awe in front of The Big Parade.

Gagman: Please let us know everything about that 5h1/2 version of Napoleon as soon as you get it!!!!

[CoffeeDan]

I've just watched Female, Someone mentioned on here that it has an objectionable ending and I have to agree. I'm all for romantic films but a woman who potentially throws everything away for the right man, all the power and influence she's built up, her workers security. I won't say anymore I don't want to spoil it too much. I did find the majority of it really watchable though, a different take on the female boss and I should imagine quite groundbreaking for it's day. I liked Ruth Chatterton she's a good actress.

From my seat on the floor, FEMALE is Exhibit A that pre-code films have been oversold in the last 15 years or so. Since the rediscovery of the pre-code era, FEMALE has been viewed as drama, even as a feminist tract -- something it was never meant to be. Critics and audiences in 1933 correctly saw it as a comedy -- it's written, acted, and directed very broadly, stopping just short of farce. If you watch it that way, the ending makes perfect sense.

And besides, doesn't William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew have the same kind of ending as FEMALE? So, too, does the Greta Garbo film QUEEN CHRISTINA. And that last one's based on history . . .

Face it, the basic story has quite a pedigree . . . I've even seen it played out in the lives of two close female friends of mine -- one of whom I worked for. (I can appreciate George Brent's point of view, too!)