WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

feaito

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by feaito »

thanks!! :D
User avatar
JackFavell
Posts: 11926
Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Image


Yesterday, I watched Frank Borzage's Lazybones (1925). I don't remember ever seeing a film with a star more suited to his role. Buck Jones was just wonderful, understated, moving...never more than what was called for, never less. He is the rock, the foundation of the movie. His performance was so...I don't know....thoughtful and transcendent, it could be in a movie made today and still be considered a great one. He was unlike any other actor I've seen. Relaxed, just letting the other actors play upon him. Reacting, letting the mood catch him.

It seems to me that this is the quintessential Frank Borzage film, explaining everything about the director's themes that you would ever need to know. The film itself was perfection, every event, every person, every emotion was related to every other one and we saw how it all played out, how actions reflected back on themselves. The story played out most beautifully, without ever seeming forced or contrived. Borzage contrasts lives so vividly, and without judgment. Even the people who drive his plots, that others might call villains, those who are in control of other people's lives, have their own reasons and we can feel a little something for them, because they are so deluded and warped. We just feel sad for them in the end, because they lose what they had in the first place in the pursuit of what they thought was the most important thing. Ruthless ambition, ugly attitudes about what a man or woman ought to be cause so many problems in this world, don't they?

In this film, a mother wants her two lovely daughters to make acceptable matches, and that doesn't include the youngest striking up an affair with Lazybones - whose real name is Steve Tuttle (played by Jones).

Borzage's outsiders, the ones the plot swirls around, are usually seen as odd or different, but we the audience immediately see the good aspects of that person, even the angelic in them, no matter what their outward appearance is, no matter their 'affliction'. Lazybones, or Steve, is simply lazy, always off daydreaming or napping. He's big-hearted, taking in a child, helping a mother keep her terrible secret even when It costs him his own love. He does it because it's the right thing to do, he doesn't even think twice about it. Borzage does something wonderful here. He doesn't make his hero exceptional, nor does he have him dreaming big thoughts. He's just stopping and smelling the flowers all the time. No one sees his value except his mother, and even she probably gets a little exasperated with him for not fixing the fence or doing other jobs around the house. During the war, he distinguishes himself, through no fault of his own, and the town reverses its shallow opinion of him.... and yet that reversal, and the way they treated him before, it never affects him, either way. He's secure in himself, and imparts that to the growing child he adopts. It's a lovely premise, one I think put forward by the writer, Frances Marion, who, along with Borzage never crafted a finer or a more perfect movie. It's a movie of reverses and how we deal with them. Perhaps ignoring those who would hurt us and simply living our life truly is the best thing on earth we could do.

Lazybones is very beautiful film to look at, with cinematography by Glen MacWIlliams and George Schneiderman. The sun on grass and in the air and trees seems alive, like it seemed when we were kids. Things float in the air while we are watching the characters move about. We immediately see why Steve spends his time outside. The differences between the indoors and the outdoors is marked. I think this is a technique of Borzage's to equate Steve with the outdoors, something good and natural, maybe not bound by human materialism. The storyline was also beautifully constructed with occasional scenes of Lazybones' fishing attempts at an old tree to mark the passage of time. The movie flows like a river, without breaks at all, it's simply ABOUT time passing slowly. It's got a country feel, laconic and easy, which is terribly pleasing. It fits the gentle nature of the film and the leading man to a T. There are parables here, with a strict and perfect mirroring of characters: sisters, mothers, lovers, daughters. Every character has a double to show contrast, and this makes the framework of the film quite remarkable. Constructed, but with the look of something unconstructed, as if it happened naturally. How Borzage planned this I don't know, because the film seems carefree and spontaneous, not worked out to the nth degree. The film holds together like a delicate string of pearls.

All the actors are perfect. Notice how I keep using the word perfect? Well, it is and they are. Not one falls off in any way, even young [b]Virginia Marshall[/b], as Steve's adopted girl. She's brilliant, lovely, natural... heartbreaking. Zasu Pitts is a standout as Ruth, the young mother with a terrible secret, she's as good here as I've seen her, but Jane Novak is just as good as her indecisive sister, who slowly comes to believe the scandal surrounding the sudden appearance of a baby at Lazybones' place.

Borzage has Pitts' Ruth bear the brunt of her mother's striving for money and position. There's a staggering scene in which the mother (played by the remarkable Emily Fitzroy) beats her because she has found out about the baby and is crushed that her dreams for her daughter are ruined. The mother forces her to abandon it in order to accept the suitor she has found for her. Even though the mother would be considered a villain in any other movie, Borzage gives her a humanity that is surprising. She has her reasons, even if they are deluded and she has become warped by them. The scene of the beating is actually quite an impressive acting challenge for Fitzroy, the camera stays on her as she works out her disappointment on her daughter... she slows, and one can see her feelings changing...she knows she is wrong. There are complex emotions going on within her, she hides and subverts the feeling that she has made a mistake, blindly going forward with her plans for Ruth's marriage, to a man it turns out isn't worth it. All her planning, her subversion of nature and the natural pairing of her children leads to naught.

Just as good is Edythe Chapman, as Steve's patient, understanding, wise and humorous mother. She makes you understand how Steve got to be how he is. Her trust in him makes it all worthwhile, and she never comes off as foolish or fussy. Just a warm-hearted woman with a big strapping son who she loves.

But the biggest surprise in the cast is Buck Jones as Lazybones. He's just tremendous. When I say tremendous, I mean even better than that. There just aren't any words to describe his performance. Thoughts flicker openly over his face, never rushed or hurried, always kind and gentle. He's like Gary Cooper, but even more so. So very expressive, without even looking like he's trying. He simply is. He's a marvel as the character whose one greatness is just to be nice. Borzage finds the truth in the actor's reactions, never lets any of it become sentimental or maudlin. It's one of the most lovely films I've ever seen, easy to watch, thanks to Jones. I fell in love with this character at once. Jones actually cries on camera, not like any actor I've ever seen before - it's so real - not covered up or trying too hard or using any standard shorthand for sadness, but overcome with simple emotion, letting the camera capture the tears flowing without shame. He wipes his nose and it's over. His whole performance is as real as if you could reach out and touch him. He's a living breathing person, fully there. Things happen to him, life washes over him, and he's still fully himself. It's an amazing thing to see, especially when we think of acting in silent pictures. We don't think it's like this.

This is a movie I would show to someone who hadn't seen a silent movie before. Although the plot is a simple one, very much of it's time, it's nothing like what we have come to think of nowadays as a silent film. None of it is trite or standard or pat. No character does what is expected. No plot point works out in a traditional way. It's a real bona fide GREAT movie.
User avatar
Robert Regan
Posts: 290
Joined: June 12th, 2012, 3:59 pm

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Robert Regan »

Wendy, rather than repeat my comments from Facebook, I'll just say Brava!
User avatar
JackFavell
Posts: 11926
Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Thanks, Bob! :D :D :D :oops: :oops: :oops:
User avatar
Robert Regan
Posts: 290
Joined: June 12th, 2012, 3:59 pm

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Robert Regan »

No blushes now. You're good, real good!
User avatar
movieman1957
Administrator
Posts: 5522
Joined: April 15th, 2007, 3:50 pm
Location: MD

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by movieman1957 »

That's what I've been telling her for years.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
User avatar
JackFavell
Posts: 11926
Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

You guys. :D
User avatar
Robert Regan
Posts: 290
Joined: June 12th, 2012, 3:59 pm

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Robert Regan »

You gals!
feaito

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by feaito »

I second Robert Wendy, as I wrote on SSO FB: you are an artist.
User avatar
JackFavell
Posts: 11926
Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

That's awfully nice. If you knew my history, the fear of writing I used to have, you'd know how much that means to me.
User avatar
moira finnie
Administrator
Posts: 8024
Joined: April 9th, 2007, 6:34 pm
Location: Earth
Contact:

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by moira finnie »

Well, Wendy, I think you know that I have been telling you for years that you have a gift for writing. Now you just have to start believing it.

BTW, nice Halloween avatar, but I think Vinnie should buy his date a meal!
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

The Skeins
TCM Movie Morlocks
User avatar
JackFavell
Posts: 11926
Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

I thank you for all the encouragement you've given me, Moira. I don't know what I would do without you and everyone here at the SSO!

As for Vincent's date, she looks a little malnourished doesn't she? :D
User avatar
JackFavell
Posts: 11926
Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Thank you so much, David. You guys are all SWELL! :D
User avatar
Rita Hayworth
Posts: 10068
Joined: February 6th, 2011, 4:01 pm

Re: WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Nice write up on Lazybones - and I will put that movie on the to do list of movies to see - thanks for sharing this Wendy! :)
Post Reply