WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[Ann Harding]

For La Chienne, Renoir was lucky enough to have Theodor Sparkhul behind the camera. This brilliant German cinematographer worked with Lubitsch in the teens and twenties. I guess the atmosphere in La Chienne has a lot to do with him. He later moved to the US and worked for Paramount on The Light That Failed.

[charliechaplinfan]

The cinematography added to the enjoyment of the story, I wished I could have understood more of what was being said, nevertheless Michel Simon is a brilliant actor, able to tell a lot of the story by his actions and nuances. I found it excellent, more atomosphere than in Scarlet Street which in itself is a good film.

[feaito]

I watched Paul Czinner's "Fraülein Else" (1929) and I was impressed by its overall contemporary quality. Elisabeth Bergner, who looks much younger than her actual age, looks adequately naïve and ethereal as the teenager who's discovering life. She plays the young daughter of a Viennese elderly couple who goes on vacation to St. Moritz with her aunt and cousin. There she's practically "stalked" by a friend of her father's and due to some financial misdoings of the latter this lovely creature practically loses her innocence and is ultimatley sacrificed.

Bergner's portrayal is quite brillaint and the cinematography is superb. The location shots of the St. Moritz ski resort are incredibly well done; the camera movements are very smooth.There are few intertitles -thanks for that- and this a sign -for me- that a Silent film is really good. A good director does not abuse of intertitles. On the surface everything is very joyous, bobbed hair, modernity, dances, parties et al, but underneath tragedy approaches. The contrast between reality and appearances is tough.

The film is based upon an Arthur Schnitzler novel, just as Ophüls masterful "Liebelei" (1933).

I liked the score and I seemed to recognize Astor Piazolla's melodies in it. An excellent film.

[Ann Harding]

I loved that one too. Czinner made many great silents. Bergner is certainly a fascinating girl. I still have to watch her Ariane (1931, P. Czinner). The film was remade as Love in the Afternoon by Billy Wilder in 1957.

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday I watch two pre-codes in row. First The Keyhole (1933, M. Curtiz) with Kay Francis, George Brent and Glenda Farrell. This fun little picture follows Kay as she is trying to get rid of a blackmailer, while being trailed by a private eye (G. Brent) hired by her husband. The film is all fluff, but very amusing. The supporting characters are great fun particularly Farrell as a lady crook. We spend a lot of time on board a cruise ship bound for Havana which allows Kay to display a large trousseau of Ory-Kelly dresses. The very palid George Brent was a bit more alert than usual. Overall great fun.

The Easiest Way (1931, J. Conway) with Constance Bennett and Adolphe Menjou proved really remarkable. From the first shot, I knew I was up for a treat. The camera moves inside the small flat of the Murdoch family with great fluidity. We discover this big family which is truggling in a poor area of New York. Only Laura (C. Bennett) has a job and helps everybody to pay the bills. When she gets a chance in an advertising agency as a model, she grabs it eagerly. She gets into contact with the boss (A. Menjou). He is attracted by her and she becomes a 'kept woman'. Interestingly, the film avoids usual clichés. Constance Bennett plays her part with great skill and talent. We really believe in her character. The rest of the cast is also worth mentioning: Anita Page is the homely little sister married to a laundryman played by a very young Clark Gable; Robert Montgomery is the charming newspaper man Laura falls in love with. Bennett is in a terrible dilemna: how to leave her wealthy lover to marry her penniless journalist. She tries very hard, but she is defeated by hard times. I found the film extremely well done thanks to a myriad of little details that made it totally believable. When Laura has not money left, she is refused her hotel room key. The slightly crummy hotel lobby and the nasty caretaker says it all. As soon as her former boss turns up, the caretaker understands money is on the way and gives it back. In just a short scene, we can gather the difficulties and the hypocrisy of 20s' society. Her former colleague Elfie (Marjorie Rambeau) is also well drawn. She refuses to help Laura when she is penniless. She is tough as nails. But, Laura doesn't refuse to help her when she is also left destitute. I was rather amused to recognise the famous travelling shot along the sky-scraper from The Crowd (1928, K. Vidor). It had already become a stock-shot by 1931!!! Overall, it's a very good Conway, well directed and very well played. The open ending is an added bonus.

[intothenitrate]

I've been wanting to see The Easiest Way for a long time. Thanks for the heads up. I'm crazy about CB.

...and...I saw that tracking shot (from The Crowd) in the Buster Keaton talkie Speak Easily. Hilarious.

[charliechaplinfan]

I really enjoyed The Easiest Way, I found the home scenes more gritty and realistic than usual for a precode. It doesn't flag for a minute.

[Papermoon]

I recently watched both Roar of the Dragon and Lawyer Man, I enjoyed both of them, but I do have one little thing that is with Lawyer Man, I thought it was quite odd that cake was used to bribe two of the DA's goons with...must of been the BEST cake ever.

[Rita Hayworth]

I like Lawyer Man ... where you see this film, Papermoon

[Ann Harding]

I've been wanting to see The Easiest Way for a long time. Thanks for the heads up. I'm crazy about CB.
...and...I saw that tracking shot (from The Crowd) in the Buster Keaton talkie Speak Easily. Hilarious.

Amazing! So Vidor's tracking shot has been re-used to death. I guess by 1931-1932 silent pictures were considered already 'vintage'.

[JackFavell]

That The Crowd shot shows up in all sorts of movies, but I never realized it was happening that early on!

You could do an entire thread on shots like that - I have found similar re-used shots.... one is a certain bell tower shot



first used in The Love Light with Mary Pickford. To me, it looks like the top of a very old Spanish church. John Ford used it in the sound era, and I've seen it pop up in lots of other movies, set in all kinds of places, even English church settings. And of course there is the beautiful naval footage re-used in Michael Curtiz' Captain, Blood and The Sea Hawk (1940), culled from The Sea Hawk (1924).

[Ann Harding]

Thanks Jack Favell for the other examples. I need to rewatch the 1924 Sea Hawk to compare it with the two Curtiz.

Yesterday I watched The Man with Two Faces (1934, A. Mayo) with EG Robinson playing an actor/theatre director who decides to get rid of her sister's nasty husband. Robinson seemed to be having a ball playing the two parts with a very sweet French accent for one. Louis Calhern played the nasty with relish (including two pet rats). The whole thing was filmed without imagination by Archie Mayo. It's a shame because the cast is brilliant with even Riccardo Cortez and Mae Clarke in small supporting parts. Mary Astor is her usual excellent self. It's a just a little Warner programmer. Fun nevertheless.

[JackFavell]

Oooh, that's something I would like to see, though Calhern gives me the willies ever since I first saw Devil's Doorway. What a superb cast! Luckily, it's on this afternoon, and I've got the recorded going all day for Mary Astor's birthday.

[ChiO]

With such a wonderful cast, Robinson's and Calhern's performances being of special note, it is a wonder that it is a mediocre movie. Christine nailed it, I believe, with "The whole thing was filmed without imagination by Archie Mayo." When the plot revolves around a play, and the filming of the play is the least stagebound part, that's not a good thing.

[JackFavell]

I liked it.