WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

feaito

Post by feaito »

bdp wrote:William Powell has a supporting role in Beau Geste (1926), which is in circulation - I have a Japanese laserdisc of it, and in fact I was watching it today, having just burned a new DVD-R of it.
I loved the 1926 version of Beau Geste, it is definitely superior than the 1939 remake.
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Ann Harding
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Post by Ann Harding »

Recently I watched:

Blonde Crazy (1931) a sparkling pre-Code with Cagney and Blondell on top-form as a couple of crooks. I cannot believe the number of times Joan slapped Jimmy's face!!! :lol: Great fun!

A nous la liberté (1931) by René Clair. It's among Clair's first talkies and has a special 'silent flavour' to it. Many scenes are without dialogue but are accompanied by Georges Auric's excellent score and songs. On the surface, it's a comedy, but deep down it's showing the flaws of societies regarding 'work'. When two former convicts meet years later one has become a succesful ruthless businessman while the other is just a poor worker. The film has been beautifully restored. It boasts some amazing scenes inside the factory made 5 years before Modern Times! :shock: I would bet Chaplin got some ideas watching this film. :wink: A lovely René Clair. :)
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

I think Chaplin did get some of ideas there, I don't think he ever denied it. Rene Clair took it as a compliment to be copied by Chaplin.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Post by Ann Harding »

Yesterday I saw a rare French silent: L'Ile Enchantée (The Enchanted Island, 1926) by Henry-Roussell. It was set in Corsica.
A young woman Gisèle is managing a steel factory and wishes to build a dam to get some electrical power for her plant. She runs foul of the locals, especially a local outlaw whose father lives near the river and will have his house destroyed in the process...
I went to the Cinémathèque not expecting much beyond some gorgeous Corsican landscapes. But, in the end, I was enchanted by the film: it was very well scripted, directed and extremely enjoyable. The romance between the outlaw and the businesswoman wasn't corny at all. The landscapes were indeed stunning and served this story of violence, revenge and passion. It reminded me of the rocky landscapes of California. The hero wore a large black hat and a cloak like in Feuillade's Judex. The film had me on the edge of my seat until the final image. The ending escaped all stereotypes. Really enjoyable! 8)
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by drednm »

I watched the 1931 MAN OF THE WORLD which boasted an early pairing of William Powell and Carole Lombard, two of the greats. The film co-starred Wynne Gibson and Lawrence Gray.

Not really a comedy but with plenty of snappy lines, the film is about a swindler (Powell) who tries to get to Lomard's rich uncle (Guy Kibbee) but he falls for Lombard instead. All 4 stars here are solid though the film seems to lack something. While Powell and Lombard went on to major stardom, Gibson and Gray faded away within a few years. For Gray this was especially sad since he had had a solid career in silents and early talkies. He's quite good in STAGE STRUCK with Gloria Swanson, MARIANNE and FLORODORA GIRL both with Marion Davies, and IT'S A GREAT LIFE with the Duncan Sisters. He got to star in an early musical: SPRING IS HERE.
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by myrnaloyisdope »

On Oscar Night, they were showing Wellman's A Star is Born, but having seen that recently, I was prompted to reach back a little farther and re-watch George Cukor's What Price Hollywood?. I remember being a bit underwhelmed the first time I watched it, the story seemed a little creaky. The second viewing confirmed some of the creaky elements of the story (namely Lee Hamilton and the very rushed transition from happy marriage to divorce), but also revealed a ton of great things about the film. I would argue it's among Cukor's most visually inventive films, much to the film's benefit. Some really notable sequences were the scene where Constance Bennett rehearses her first movie scene, where she is supposed to walk down some stairs, say her line, and give a reaction shot. She starts out rushing down some stairs and hastily saying her line, then giving a hammy look. Instead of showing her repeating the scene, it cuts to a shot of her feet, going up and down the stairs over and over, and then it cuts back to her, slinking langorously down the stairs, coolly saying her line, and giving the look that launches her to stardom. It's a great and striking way of showing a predictable sequence. Another great sequence involves Bennett doing a Dietrich-esque musical sequence on set, and instead of focusing on her, there are various cuts to the boom mic, sound guy, camera man, even to the rafters, which gives a sense of the artifice of it all. It's really quite striking, and unexpected for a Cukor film, as he typically kept things simple.

The film's greatest strength is Lowell Sherman in the March/Mason role of the the alcoholic star. He's incredibly good, and I would argue his death scene might be the most powerful of all three adaptations. Bennett is quite good too, love those eyes. I'm interested to see more, I'll be watching Rockabye sometime soon.

Keeping with Cukor, I watched 1931's Girls About Town too, and while it's pretty slight, it was still some fun. Lilyan Tashman was really good, she just seems completely at home as the brassy, fun-loving, gold-digger. I'm eager to see more. Kay Francis is good as always, although I would have preferred a bit more ambivalence to her character. About 2 minutes into the film she's already admitting how much she hates being a gold-digger, so it's hard to fully invest in her character. Eugene Palette is fun too, as a naive, boobish, cheapskate steel magnate. It's also the earliest Joel McCrea film I've seen, and it's among his stronger early performances.

I just finished watching 1933's Goodbye Again, it's a fun film with Warren William as a philandering author, Joan Blondell as his loyal secretary, and featuring Genevieve Tobin, Wallace Ford, Hugh Herbert, and surprisingly Helen Chandler (I've only seen her in The Last Flight). The film is quite light and frivolous, but still cute, with William somewhat against type as his character is really manic and is the comic center of the film. It's not entirely successful, but he plays it with such energy, that it's hard not to like him. The final 15 minutes or so is pretty notable I think in that it's pretty much screwball comedy, with fast paced absurdities, among them William doing the copy-cat game, and a great gag involving Joan Blondell and a bottle of soda pop. It's definitely worth checking out. Unabashedly silly.

I also watched James Whale's The Impatient Maiden, starring Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, Una Merkel, and Andy Devine. Well it's no Waterloo Bridge, but what is. It's a pretty watchable film, but a little too jarring as it jumps back and forth between comedy and melodrama, with the finale in particular being a bit too grim compared to the tone of the rest of the film. The plot involves Mae and Una as roommates who call the ambulance after finding their neighbor passed out during a suicide attempt. Ayres is the doctor who arrives on scene, with Devine as the nurse/pal/comic relief. Devine is positively slim in this film much to my surprise, as even by 1934's Stingaree, he was already getting pretty big. The highlight of the film is probably Merkel as a relentlessly stupid southern belle, who falls for Devine. It was fun seeing her get so much screen time, as she steals every scene she's in, even from my beloved Mae. There's a very funny sequence, involving Devine testing out a strait jacket on Merkel, and her getting accidently locked up in the mental ward of a hospital. She's just so over the top with it that you can't help but laugh. It's kind of a shame she didn't get more bigger parts, as she could have been quite a good comic lead I think. The film was a disappointment but only because I was hoping another Waterloo Bridge might be on tap. As it is it's a serviceable melodrama, that probably could have used a better script.
"Do you think it's dangerous to have Busby Berkeley dreams?" - The Magnetic Fields
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by drednm »

WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD is a forgotten gem, boasting one of Constance Bennett's best performances. But the film also offers Lowell Sherman is one great talkie role. The middle-aged Sherman had a long career in silent like WAY DOWN EAST and MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE usually playing a villain. But WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD offered Sherman a chance at a sympathetic part and he's terrific. Also a director, the forgotten Sherman counted Katharine Hepburn's MORNING GLORY and Mae West's SHE DONE HIM WRONG among his hits. He also directed the neglected BROADWAY THROUGH A KEYHOLE and died while making BECKY SHARP.

As for his performance in WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD, Lowell Sherman brings just the right mix of Hollywood arrogance, impish humor, and world-weary charm. His performance compares favorably with the similar heroes of the various A STAR IS BORN versions.
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Thanks to Christine and French TV I got to watch The Joyless Street directed by Pabst starring Greta Garbo. I had seen this film bought from a bootlegger a couple of years ago unfortunately the bootlegger's version only included Garbo's scenes, Garbo is very good but it made for a frustrating viewing experience. Watching this version which ran to nearly 2 and a half hours was a much better experience. Pabst created a film about poverty and excess, poverty for ordinary people and excess for the very few. It shows the old adage that wealth is only held in the hands of a few, particularly at times of strife such as after the first world war this was increased. The juxtaposition of wealth and poverty and the slimy characters that operate in both sectors of society preying on the vulnerable. The most memorable of these is the butcher who gives slabs of meat in return for favours. Garbo's section is only part of what Pabst was trying to say with this film. She does look better than in her MGM films, this is before MGM made her over, her teeth are a little crooked and her hair, lovely and curly, looks so natural.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by myrnaloyisdope »

Thanks to Christine, I got to check out some films I'd been wanting to see for quite some time.

First up is The Cardboard Lover...well what can I say Marion Davies is as the French say freakin' adorable. The film is easily one of her best comedies, lots of fun stuff from her...I particularly liked the running joke with her autograph book, the scene where she steals someones car, and of course her vamping it up. The film is slight but her work is not. Definitely a highlight.

I also watched George Cukor's The Royal Family of Broadway, which impressed me quite a bit. I've been a great admirer of Cukor's work, so this was a film of great interest to me. The film chronicles the ups and downs of a very Barrymore-like family of great stage actors. Ina Claire is quite good as the lead, she has a kind of relaxed reading of things, that makes her stand out. A lot of the Broadway actors in early Hollywood are much to stagey, but somehow she avoids that, and comes off as very naturalistic, at least in the few films I've seen of hers. Fredric March steals the show doing his best John Barrymore imitation. He's just wildly exuberant, flamboyant, and over-the-top, but so perfectly suited for it. A real highlight of the film was Henrietta Crossman as the family matriarch, who was also a big stage actress. She has a couple of great sequences espousing her love of the theatre, and really captures the love for the theatre that I think the film was trying to convey. All this was helped by Cukor's direction, as his own theatre experience must have helped convey that sense of appreciation, and the great lineage of the theatre. A good film, sadly neglected.

Perhaps more than even Cukor, King Vidor is a direct I admire immensely, so I was fortunate to get a chance to see a couple of his pre-coders, Birds of Paradise, and The Stranger's Return. Birds wasn't too bad, although it felt very much like a knock-off of Murnau's Tabu. Joel McCrea was solid as the sailor who falls in love the island princess played by Dolores Del Rio, who looks as beautiful as ever...though sadly even speaking gibberish she sound like Minnie Mouse (to paraphrase John Ford). The film looks quite good, but I'm afraid there isn't much there in terms of plot, although the musical/dance sequences were done by Busby Berkeley.

On the flipside The Stranger's Return impressed the heck out of me. As some of you know I adore Miriam Hopkins, so I was happy to see her in another starring role, and here she's quite good as the recently divorced outsider who comes back to the farm owned by her grandfather, and stirs up some trouble along the way. Lionel Barrymore is excellent as the grandfather nearing 90, who has no one he can trust, save for Hopkins. I liked how understated the relationship between Hopkins and Franchot Tone as a married farmer was. She understood him unlike anyone else, but couldn't do anything about it. Very heartbreaking, but oh so real. I was reminded a bit of Stanwyck, and MacMurray in Remember The Night. Highlights include Barrymore's civil war reenactments, and Stuart Erwin's turn as a drunken worker for Barrymore. Another sadly neglected film, it might be Vidor's best talkie.

I also re-watched Sunrise, and it was exquisite as always. But I also managed to watch the documentary/essay on The 4 Devils that's on my DVD, and that made me very depressed. I didn't know much about the film, other than Janet Gaynor played an acrobat, but now it's taken a place among my Holy Grails of lost cinema (along with Convention City, Cleopatra, and the lost footage of The Magnificent Ambersons). The film sounds absolutely compelling, with Murnau seemingly at his best. Mary Duncan's turn as a vamp seems like it would be a must see, and I would love to see the "Leap of Death" on film. I hope someday it gets found...hopefully the preview version (featuring Gaynor and Charles Morton plunge to their deaths)...or at least the silent version(Gaynor and Morton fall but live happily ever after...not the goat-glanded talkie version with the climax completely undermined(though in a pinch I would take that too). Gosh, I wish a print could be found.
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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myrnaloyisdope wrote:I also watched George Cukor's The Royal Family of Broadway, which impressed me quite a bit. I've been a great admirer of Cukor's work, so this was a film of great interest to me. The film chronicles the ups and downs of a very Barrymore-like family of great stage actors. Ina Claire is quite good as the lead, she has a kind of relaxed reading of things, that makes her stand out. A lot of the Broadway actors in early Hollywood are much to stagey, but somehow she avoids that, and comes off as very naturalistic, at least in the few films I've seen of hers. Fredric March steals the show doing his best John Barrymore imitation. He's just wildly exuberant, flamboyant, and over-the-top, but so perfectly suited for it. A real highlight of the film was Henrietta Crossman as the family matriarch, who was also a big stage actress. She has a couple of great sequences espousing her love of the theatre, and really captures the love for the theatre that I think the film was trying to convey. All this was helped by Cukor's direction, as his own theatre experience must have helped convey that sense of appreciation, and the great lineage of the theatre. A good film, sadly neglected.
Thanks to Fernando's kindness, I had a chance to see The Royal Family of Broadway too. I was very impressed with March's funny parody of John Barrymore, but even more so by Henrietta Crossman. I loved her and, though I'd seen her in The Dark Angel (1935) and The Moon's Our Home (1936), it never penetrated my dumb noggin that it was the same woman in all those roles until her matriarch nearly stole the show in this early Cukor effort. If you have a chance to see the recently released dvd of Crossman in Pilgrimage (1933), directed by John Ford I think that you might enjoy her work in that. Her central character undergoes a transformation throughout the film as she loses her son (in part due to her own selfishness, in part due to WWI), and is part of an armada of grieving mothers who visit France to commemorate their children's lives. I hope that you'll post your reaction to it when you see this film, which certainly showed this actress' variety.
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by drednm »

Henrietta Crosman is amazing in PILGRIMAGE, an excellent film..... Also in THE CARDBOARD LOVER, Davies' niece Pepi Lederer has a small role as a fellow autograph hound. She looks a lot like Miss Davies and is easily spotted.
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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I recently picked up the Lubitsch Musicals set from Eclipse and so far have only had time to watch The Love Parade starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. I really wasn’t that impressed with MacDonald but Chevalier was so much fun to watch. I’m used to seeing him when he was much older in things like Gigi so this was neat to see him so young and early in his film career. He stole every scene and had a very natural, almost breezy manner about him that made the film a lot of fun. I also loved the two supporting characters a butler and maid played by Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth. Eugene Pallette, whose croaky voice is unmistakable, also had a small role in this one and it’s hard for me to picture him playing wealthy society type roles even though he played them quite a bit b/c the first thing I saw him in was The Virginian (1929) and he was perfectly suited for Westerns.
“I never really thought of myself as an actor. But I’d learned to ride on my dad’s ranch and I could do some roping stunts and working as an extra was better than starving as an artist nobody wanted on the West Coast.” - Gary Cooper
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I had the same reaction to Maurice Chevalier, I've seen and loved him in his fifties films but he's such the cheeky chappie, the camera loves him.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by myrnaloyisdope »

Hey Ang,

I also just watched The Love Parade for the first time too this past week. It's a fun film, and Maurice Chevalier is always compelling. I thought it was probably about 20 minutes too long though. I think the opening could have been shortened, and the film would have been much tighter. My favorite scene was when Chevalier is at the opera and is totally shaming Jeanette MacDonald, eventually getting her to beg him to stay. In the wrong hands that scene would have been really mean-spirited, but Chevalier has such a playful manner that it works.

I still have yet to watch Monte Carlo and One Hour With You from the boxset, and The Merry Widow, though at some point (hopefully soon) I'll check em out.

The Smiling Lieutenant is a lot of fun, I definitely liked it more than The Love Parade, mostly because I adore both Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins, but it's also better paced, and has Chevalier being Chevalier.

I would highly recommend Rouben Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight also starring Chevalier and MacDonald which is among my very favorite musicals, and is just a wonder to watch. It's very stylized, with some very inventive and surrealistic touches (think Lubitsch meets Rene Clair), and the music is wonderful, plus it has Myrna absolutely killing it as a love-hungry countess. She steals every scene she's in. It might be her funniest role.
"Do you think it's dangerous to have Busby Berkeley dreams?" - The Magnetic Fields
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Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by coopsgirl »

Hey Justin,
I have a feeling I’ll probably like Smiling Lieutenant the best too b/c I do like Claudette Colbert. I’m not real crazy about Miriam Hopkins, she comes off as too mannered sometimes, but I’m sure I’ll still enjoy it.

Love Me Tonight does look good and I will probably buy it at some point. It looks like the Kino dvd has some nice bonus features including deleted scenes and stuff like that is so rare for these old movies and always very interesting to see.

I totally agree about the scene in Love Parade where Maurice and Jeanette go to the opera. It was very well done and you could tell he wasn't being mean to be hateful, but to teach her a lesson. I think I laughed the hardest through those scenes. :lol:

I was also really impressed with Lupino Lane. Those dance sequences were amazing. I think he must have been made out of rubber to move around like he did. :shock:

I also recently got the Mae West glamour collection and watched I’m No Angel. I’d only ever seen snippets of her films so it was neat to get to see one whole. She reminds me a lot of one of my closest friends. They’re both amply built, sassy broads who men just can't resist. I’m not like that at all, in fact I’d say I’m more like Eliza Doolittle (“I’m a good girl I am!”) when I’m awake, but when I slip off to dreamland my inner Mae West definitely takes over! :P

I think it’s interesting that Clara Bow, Mae West, and Jean Harlow appeal to me (a straight woman) so much even though they were all seen as the sexpot bombshell type. I think it’s because there was always some playfulness in their characters and they weren’t just there as a sex object for the men. They spoke their mind and had their own identity which women can relate too. I think that’s probably why I’ve never been a big fan of Marilyn Monroe. Now I know she has plenty of female fans, but to me, she always seemed like a blow up doll come to life and that’s just not appealing.
“I never really thought of myself as an actor. But I’d learned to ride on my dad’s ranch and I could do some roping stunts and working as an extra was better than starving as an artist nobody wanted on the West Coast.” - Gary Cooper
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