Yesterday I watched Lubitsch's Die Puppe (The Doll, 1919) with Ossi Oswalda. It's again an absolutely delightful comedy where the young heir of a baron decides to marry a doll so he can cash the dowry without the trouble of a wife.....alas, the doll turns out to be very opiniated!!!
The whole film takes place in doll house sets. It's meant to be some kind of a fairy tale, but the charming Ossi Oswalda adding quite a bit of spice as the naughty doll! The print on the Kino DVD is absolutely faultless: it looks as if it was made yesterday. Absolutely wonderful.
I watched Feel My Pulse Bebe Daniels plays a rich heiress who inherits a fortune and a sanitarium. The sanitarium is a front for bootleggers. It's a little like Harold Lloyd's Why Worry Bebe is so charming I prefer it to the Lloyd film. Richard Arlen plays her love interest and her nemesis is played very menacingly by William Powell.
Following on was a short by Billy West. I've never seen Billy West, for those who don't know he made a career out of impersonating Chaplin. I would go as far as to say that Billy looks a little like Charlie and carries some of the mannerisms but he doesn't have any of the grace of movement of Chaplin or the production values, these were probably produced rather quickly to capture the Chaplin market. Very interesting to see.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
I saw Orphans of the Storm the other day. It's a Griffith epic, and now the setting is in late 18th century France, around the time of the revolution.
Like with a lot of his other great movies, this one has flaws. For example, the way it turns historical figures like Danton and Robespierre into "the good guy" and "the bad guy" - I won't dispute that Robespierre was a ruthless man but I would have wished for more complexity in the portrayal of real historical characters. Secondly, the parallels to Bolshevism aren't entirely convincing - although they were of course timely. In 1921, which revolution was the public worrying about the most? So that's understandable.
Still, Griffith's film making, along with the interplay of the Gish sisters, draws you in completely, and I think this is one of his most well made films in that regard: others take more time to build up, but this one sucks you in from the start. One of the things that make his movies so special is the atmosphere. No matter what the setting is, he always seems to get it right, whether it's the murky Limehouse or the beautiful farm landscape in Way Down East. Here he brings an 18th century city to life. I can't say whether it's 100% percent Paris, but the houses look real, the dirt looks real and the poverty looks real. As usual Griffith has a good sense for casting extras and directing crowd scenes. Besides that, Orphans runs more smoothly than some of his earlier movies. Its theme reminded me of Intolerance, in that this is Griffith the humanitarian shining through. The anti-violence message seems earnest.
My favourite aspect of the film is the central relationship, that between the two sisters. It was very moving to me.
The only thing I dislike about Orphans of the Storm is the painful 'comedy relief.' At least there isn't as much of it as in Way Down East, but comedy clearly was not Griffith's strong suit, he certainly had problems incorporating it into his big pictures.
Oh yes, I agree with you there. I couldn't see much point in that, it was very out of place and not very funny. But at least he didn't let it take over, like it sometimes did in Way Down East.
For me, Orphans of the Storm is the quintessential Griffith film. I agree it is filled with historical inaccuracies, (and the "comedy" is leaden), but it has everything that made Griffith a brilliant director. There’s nothing groundbreaking in the film, but Griffith hones all of those things he’d learned in his previous films, and made, what is for me, his most exciting picture. His race-to-the-rescue (Lillian on her way to the guillotine) rivals that in Way Down East, and the relationship between Lillian and Dorothy is exploited to its maximum potential. This is the film I’d recommend for people expressing an interest in discovering Griffith.
I watched 1930's The Office Wife today, and it's not very good. The title implies salaciousness and there is none. The story is weak and pointless. Really the only redeeming quality was that it was Joan Blondell's first film, and she is great as always. She already shows the life and energy that characterize her work, and she runs rings around everyone else in the picture. But she doesn't get nearly enough to do.
But at least every scene she's in involves her putting on lingerie in typical pre-code style. She's a cutie.
And thankfully it's only 59 minutes long.
Only recommended to devotees of Joan(like myself), and even then expect to be underwhelmed.
I don't usually use quotes from other websites but for The Cabinet of DrCaligari I thought I'd make an exception.
A man named Francis relates a story about his best friend Alan and his fiancée Jane. Alan takes him to a fair where they meet Dr. Caligari, who exhibits a somnambulist, Cesare, that can predict the future. When Alan asks how long he has to live, Cesare says he has until dawn. The prophecy comes to pass, as Alan is murdered, and Cesare is a prime suspect. Cesare creeps into Jane's bedroom and abducts her, running from the townspeople and finally dying of exhaustion. Meanwhile, the police discover a dummy in Cesare's cabinet, while Caligari flees. Francis tracks Caligari to a mental asylum. He is the director, or not
This film deserves it's fame. The sets are something to behold. Paintings that meld perfectly with the abstract script. The story is wrapped within another story .
I think this film was te start of German Expressionism, what a starting point. Although not a big horror fan I do enjoy the occasional horror film, this one is a must.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Which version of ORPHANS OF THE STORM did you see? I have the seen the old Killiam Shows version on TCM, and I also have the Image Entertainment DVD release. I have not seen the more recent Kino or Eureka DVD releases. If that's the one you saw, what type of a musical score does it have??? Is it a good print???
Well I watched 3 pre-code films today, and surprisingly enough they were all quite good.
Barbara Stanwyck's Ladies They Talk About was a fun ladies prison romp, that tacked on a relatively ambiguous ending, in which Stanwyck goes unpunished. It's good stuff, with Stanwyck being her usual awesome self, as a female bank robber who finds love and prison at the hands of a preacher. Definitely something you should check out.
Ginger Rogers' Professional Sweetheart was also great. I was surprised to see Rogers as such a bitchy wild woman, but she played with gusto and it was a lot of fun. Theresa Harris as Rogers seductive soul singing maid is great, and one of the finer treatments of a black actress in a 1930's film. Even with the less than inspired ending it was great to see Rogers strut her stuff in a pre-code starring role.
I also watched Evelyn Prentice with my beloved Myrna Loy, and despite reading mixed reviews, I enjoyed it alot. It's a brisk 78 minute crime story with Myrna as a woman being blackmailed who kills her blackmailer. She's great in it, one her finer dramatic performances as she was starting to show her polish. William Powell is good as always, and I dug Una Merkel as the comic relief.
I was pleased with all 3. I find with pre-code stuff you end up with something really enjoyable or really boring. There isn't much middle ground, so I just hope for the best, and if leading actress is good you increase your odds, because most of the leading men are duds.
Professional Sweetheart was cute. I always like Ginger Rogers in her early movies.
Question--
I watched a film not long ago, from TCM, I thought it starred Ginger Rogers. Anyway, it was these two young people who fall in love, but before they can marry, a rich girl butts in and marries the man out from under the star. The man owns a gas station. And instead of being angry, the female star becomes friends with the rich girl and helps her paint and shop and everything. The rich girl's family is totally against the marriage and when she becomes pregnant, she goes back to NY and doesn't return. The man goes to find her and she tells him she wants a divorce and that the baby was a mistake (implied abortion? has to be a precode) and the man goes home to find the female star waiting for him, ready to pick up where they left off. Anyone know what this film was called?
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. "~~Wilde
I saw The Delicious Little Devil, a light, highly enjoyable film from 1919 starring Mae Murray and Rudolph Valentino. What I mostly knew about Mae Murray before seeing this film was that she made a very annoying face, as if she was trying to balance something between her top lip and nose, a la Baldrick in Blackadder Goes Forth. But in Delicious Little Devil she's fresh-faced and sometimes very natural. Her performance is exaggerated, but enjoyable. I've hear that this was her Pickford immitation, which can sometimes be true, although I doubt Pickford would have gotten away with playing a lightly clad Cabaret dancer.
Rudolph Valentino doesn't have a complicated role to play, but I like seeing him in this film anyway. He's handsome and a likeable character. My only problem with The Delicious Little Devil is that the speed is too fast in it sometimes, which I think also makes Mae Murray's performance seem even more exaggerated. But it's a fun film.
Which version of ORPHANS OF THE STORM did you see? I have the seen the old Killiam Shows version on TCM, and I also have the Image Entertainment DVD release. I have not seen the more recent Kino or Eureka DVD releases. If that's the one you saw, what type of a musical score does it have??? Is it a good print???
I have the KINO version and it's very good (IMO). It has the original 1922 score by Louis F. Gottschalk & William Frederick Peters, arranged & performed by Brian Benison.
I bought this edition because it seemed to be the best available. It's produced by David Shepard and has some nice extras: The 1908 film "Rescued from the Eagle's Nest"; The Story of D.W. Griffith , a lengthy biography published in Photoplay magazine in 1916; a Portfolio of rare Griffith photographs; a radio eulogy for Griffith by Von Stroheim; footage taken at Griffith's funeral; & a filmed introduction to the movie by Orson Welles.
Which version of ORPHANS OF THE STORM did you see? I have the seen the old Killiam Shows version on TCM, and I also have the Image Entertainment DVD release. I have not seen the more recent Kino or Eureka DVD releases. If that's the one you saw, what type of a musical score does it have??? Is it a good print???
