MURNAU, BORZAGE AND FORD AT FOX

[charliechaplinfan]

I have the other Borzage films from the box set, Liliom is included and I'm reading Herve Dumont's book at the same time, I don't want to get ahead of myself in the book because I don't want to read the movie plots before watching them. I've just watched Street Angel made to capitalise on the Gaynor/Farrell teaming with obvious nods to Murnau in the use of shadows and movement of the camera. I'll review in length a little later. I enjoyed it but it isn't quite as polished as Seventh Heaven.

[silentscreen]

I have the other Borzage films from the box set, Liliom is included and I'm reading Herve Dumont's book at the same time, I don't want to get ahead of myself in the book because I don't want to read the movie plots before watching them. I've just watched Street Angel made to capitalise on the Gaynor/Farrell teaming with obvious nods to Murnau in the use of shadows and movement of the camera. I'll review in length a little later. I enjoyed it but it isn't quite as polished as Seventh Heaven.

I totally agree. Gaynor out acts Farrell by leaps and bounds. He was a very good looking man, but not the best of actors. He's the best in Lucky Stars, which is much better than Street Angel.

[knitwit45]

I found Seventh Heaven on Ebay last night, and ordered it. I'm sure it is not the best copy in the world, but at least it will get me started. Charles Farrell is familiar to me, but in an odd kind of way. I only know him as the put upon, exasperated father of Gale Storm in the 50's tv sit-com of My Little Margie. As a (very) little girl, I thought the white haired man was very handsome, but very silly. I'm really looking forward to this movie! Thanks for the great reviews, ladies, it will add immensely to the viewing.

Nancy

[silentscreen]

I found Seventh Heaven on Ebay last night, and ordered it. I'm sure it is not the best copy in the world, but at least it will get me started. Charles Farrell is familiar to me, but in an odd kind of way. I only know him as the put upon, exasperated father of Gale Storm in the 50's tv sit-com of My Little Margie. As a (very) little girl, I thought the white haired man was very handsome, but very silly. I'm really looking forward to this movie! Thanks for the great reviews, ladies, it will add immensely to the viewing.

Nancy

You'll love it Nancy, but be prepared to have the tissue box close by.

[charliechaplinfan]

Nancy, Charles Farrell is very handsome, I'm sure you'll like him even better in Seventh Heaven.

Street Angel was filmed between 26th September to 31st December 1927. The studio cast about for a story to cash in on the success of Seventh Heaven. They found it in Street Angel, as well as starring Gaynor and Farrell and directed by Borzage it also features a European location (Naples), it had sentimental appeal, Gaynor was an orphan again and both were poor. The film is very fluid down to the round set and movable wheel in the middle, Borzage was able to film lots of tracking shots, the best when Gino (Farrell) is searching for Angela (Gaynor).

The story starts on the streets of Naples with a travelling circus, an altercation takes place and a large drum has the skin broken on it. Next Angela nursing her mother whilst the doctor examines her sick mother, he prescribes some medicine, it costs money they haven't got. She gazes after the doctor out of the window and she gaze is taken by the street angel (prostitute) who is plying for trade. Desperate Angela goes out into the street, Gaynor is very childlike, just like Mary Pickford and tries to vamp it up for prospective clients, she fails, they don't notice her, seized with desperation she snatches a wallet lying on a food counter, as she turns to run she runs into the police. They arrest her and take her to court. The next scene is very UFA like in it's composition, Angela is led up to the judges table, we see the scene from behind the judges who are shadows and Angela's face only peers over the bench. She is sentenced to 12 months in the workhouse for soliciting and stealing. She manages to escape and runs through the streets of Naples and runs home to find her mother dead, shadows loom large as she runs out into the night, Borzage is showing that he too can rival Murnau, both were admirers of each other's work and both visited the sets of each others work to watch the other at work. Many times she seems cornered, finally she runs into the travelling circus, they hide her in the broken drum the police are sent another way by the circus.

Next we see the circus complete with Angela who is having her fortune told, she is the pretty girl carried either by the strong man or standing on stilts. The fortune teller forsees love coming into her life when the circus leader tells Angela to hurry along a painter is pinching all their trade. She does, she gives he painter a real earful, she's no longer the shy little girl from Naples. The painter, Gino (Charles Farrell) is captivated by Angela and wants to paint her picture, so he joins the circus to do that, he tries different ways to get into her affections and make her love him, he whistles 'O Sole Mio' all the time but she isn't interested in love, when the picture is finally ready, Angela is transformed, she sees Gino's skill and his love for her in the painting. Her heart melts, he watches her perform with the circus, she is balancing on stilts when she sees the police standing near Gino, she loses her balance and falls, she breaks her ankle and has to leave the circus with Gino who takes her on a boat back to Naples, fear creeps across Angela's face knowing she is going back to the place of her crime.

Gino and Angela settle in rented rooms, they spend the day in Gino's room and Angela has a smaller room she goes to at night, they are hard up and can't pay the rent. Gino sells Angela's painting to survive, he gets a bad price for it and the man who buys it gets someone to forge it and sells it as a 18th century Madonna. Angela is up and about, she sees a policeman questioning a streetwalker, she has sympathy but Gino has none, they deserve what they get. Gino has forgotten to buy provisions so Angela goes to get them, she is spotted by a policeman who recognises her but can't quite place why.

Gino gets a commission to paint a fresco, he comes in laden with food they celebrate then comes a knock on the door, it is the policeman come to get her, she stalls him, 'please give me an hour, it would break his heart,' the kindhearted policeman does that, he waits outside whilst Gino celebrats inside, he gets merrier and merrier and Angela tries to join in with him, trying to make him go to bed, finally she succeeds and goes outside and leaves with the policeman. Gino is unaware of this but is whistling 'o sole mio' which she whistles back to him, when he can't hear it he is suspicious but her throat is cracked, finally she manages to whistle, Gino hears her and goes back to bed. Angela is escorted to the workhouse.

Gino doesn't know where Angela has gone, he searches, through streets, cafes the camera following him constantly, even though another street angel tells him what she was, he doesn't believe her, he despairs, he can't work, he loses his job. Angela whistles their tune in prison and gets joined by the street angel from her boarding house. When they are released Angela goes straight to look at the fresco, she is blown away by it and then realises it was painted by someone else. Gino in the meantime meets the other street angel who tells him where she has seen Angela. Despairing of women he wants to paint one with the face of an angel but the soul of a devil. He goes to the waterfront, Angela has gone there for lack of a place to go, Gino is lighting matches and looking in all the street angel's faces, he lights a match and sees Angela, Angela's expression, so hopeful turns to terror as she realises that he wants to harm her, she runs to the church, Gino set to kill her, he crouches with his hanfs around her neck then his face alights on the painting of the Madonna with Angela's face. 'To think I painted you like that once' 'I'm like that still' then the realisation of each other. No one plays these moments in silent movies better than Borzage.

[MissGoddess]

Street Angel is my favorite of the early Borzages. It's a beautiful film.

[charliechaplinfan]

Miss Goddess, could you contribute about Ford's work at Fox, he's my weak link, I do have some of his silents here that I'm going to watch and review. I know you're a big fan.

Street Angel is very fluid with lots of atomosphere, I love the fact they have 'O Sole Mio' that they whistle to one another, it's beautiful and although I prefer Seventh Heaven, there isn't a great deal in it.

[MissGoddess]

Hi CCFan,
I'd be hard pressed to say why I like STREET ANGEL best, I think it's the way Janet Gaynor's character is "introduced" to Farrell. It's both funny and poignant. I also like the photography. SEVENTH HEAVEN is a great film. These two films, along with LUCKY STAR are all just about equally great in my eyes, in fact too close to live on the difference as they say.

What did you think of City Girl (Murnau) and Lucky Star (Borzage)? I actually enjoyed those two the most in many ways. First of all, they look the best of them all, in terms of the condition of the print and restoration. They are practically pristine. City Girl has some wonderful imagery and a good story and Lucky Star was really very touching. (I'm sorry for my brevity here, it's been about a year since I watched these films so they aren't as fresh in my recollection. In fact, I often confuse plot points about Seventh Heaven and Street Angel).

I'll try to write a little about the lesser known Ford-at-Fox titles for you.

[charliechaplinfan]

I haven't watched Lucky Star yet, I'm waiting until the house is quiet and there are no interuptions, I've heard so many people say good things about it, I can't wait.

City Girl is another matter, I've seen it twice. I love the movie, I love the contrast between the city and the country and the farm boy and the city girl, I like Mary Duncan, she's different from Janet Gaynor, she's more street smart, she also has great chemistry with Charles Farrell both here and in The River (another favorite). Murnau is very good at building up the atomosphere in City Girl, especially the scenes in the cafe, I can almost imagine myself there, perspiring with Mary Duncan, is it a diner? or some other fast food joint. The romance is cleverly handled, (perhaps Murnau has learned a little from Borzage?) it doesn't seem at all rushed that they would get married after a couple of meetings. He builds up the hope as they go home to the farm only for it to be dashed when they meet his father and the abuse levelled at Mary's character and the farmhands who leer at her. The scenes on the farm, especially when they work through the night to stop the crop from ruining, it's a fine film, one I need to see again.

[charliechaplinfan]

This is my third viewing of Sunrise in as many years. It always rates highly in lists made of the best silent films, so it might be a film more of us are fimiliar with. I thought I was quite fimiliar with Sunrise but this edit has added sequences from the version I've seen in the past. The sequences that are added involved the woman from the city, making her out to be more devilish than she was portrayed in the version I've seen previously.

This is the film Fox brought Murnau over to make, the subject matter was Murnau's choice and Fox had constructed a hugh set on the Fox backlot. This movie has an awful lot going for it but it's almost worth a look just for the sequences set in the city, in some ways it's very real and in other ways it's make believe, it's hard to describe. I've always wondered which city it was, I read somewhere that the story was originally set in Ukraine or Lithunia, I wonder if anyone knows differently? The plot is such that it could happen in any country.

The film starts off portraying the city, it is holiday time and the workers are going on their vacations, next we cut to the seaside/lakeside and country and people enjoying their vacations without a care in the world. There is one, a woman from the city played by Margaret Livingstone that has set her sights on a farmer George O'Brien, she has bewitched, driven him wild with passion, she is trying to entice him from his farm and wife and child and back to the city with her. The neighbours talk about his carrying on whilst the baliffs come and strip his farm. Inside his wife Janet Gaynor cries with despair clinging on to her baby for comfort. Her husband has gone out again, scorning the meal she has made him. His lover implores him to come to the city, his wife could drown, he could make it look like an accident, if he took bulrushes he could float away from the overturned boat and leave her to drown. They collect the bulrushes, he goes home and collapses on the bed without bothering to climb into it. His wife awakens and tenderly covers him up, this is at odds to how she should behave to him but she obviously loves him and wants him back.

The next day she excitedly tells a companion that she is going away for the day and may be gone some time. The couple depart, the bulrushes already in place, the dog barks ominously as if trying to warn it's mistress as they push off in their rowing boat the dog takes a flying leap and lands in the water necessitating rescue and return to the shore. They set off again, try to imagine A Place in the Sun but this husband is far more menacing than George. He leans over her, fists clenched and glowering, she's terrified, Murnau plays this fall all the suspense he can, taking it slowly, then the church bell chimes and the husband comes to, he rides to shore, his wife gets out and runs away as fast as she can. He's horrified, goes to catch her to tell her ' don't be frightened, I won't hurt you' she doesn't believe him and catches a passing tram, he catches it too and the tram takes them to city. Once there the wife jumps off and runs through the traffic, he pulls her back to save her, he buys he flowers, she's still not sure, then they see a church were a wedding is being celebrated, they go in and watch the service and he is offered a redemption for his sins both by his wife and by God, they emerge from the church before the married couple with people stood around waiting for the happy couple which are couple are now, they walk through fields gazing at one another, they stop and kiss, then the film switches back to the city where they are stood in the middle of all the traffic with cars honking at them, the noise is added to the soundtrack, they don't hear as quickly as we the viewer does, oblivious in their world. The mood now lightened, they think back to their wedding, they see a photography studio and decide to have their photograph taken but first he must have a shave. The barbers scene takes a comedic turn, she is mistaken for the one who wants to be smartened and they try to take down her braids, once that mistake is straightened out they settle her husband down for his shave. The manicurist comes up, attractive, the wife is jealous, he waves the manicurist away, a customer sits next to his wife waiting his turns and tries to rub up against her, he snips one of her flowers for a buttonhole, she's disturbed, she's innocent and doesn't know how to deal with a man like him. Her husband gets revenge by frightening the man half to death by taking out a knife and removing the flower with it, which is near the customer's throat.

Next we go for the photograph itself, the photographer tells them she's the prettiest bride he's ever seen, that makes them giggle because they aren't newlyweds. Whilst waiting for the photographer they start to kiss and he captures them doing so, when they leave the photographers they have been given this picture as an extra. They also spent a couple of minutes whilst inside the photographers searching for a head they thought they'd knocked off the Venus D milo imitation he had. The next alight at a funfair where a pig gets loose, our farmer has to chase it and finally catches it in a restuarant which also has a band. They dance to a peasant song doing an elaborate dance for all the surounding city dwellers, much is made of a joke with a dress strap here too.

They depart and leave to cross the water again, she doses in her husbands arm as he guides them back home, a sudden storm wrecks the boat, the husband makes it to shore sending a search party out for his wife who cannot find her, we see her, one arm around the bulrushes, her husband sees bulrushes floating by themselves and thinks all hope is lost. His fancy piece sees this and goes to welcome him home, these scenes I haven't seen before, she's much more predatory and unfeeling, this time he turns on her in a murderous rage trying to strangle her, only the sound of his wife's rescue lets her off the hook. His wife is glad to see him, although very weak, the film finishes here, only

Now I've had chance to see it again, I got caught up with the romance between husband and wife but seeing this version, the husband can get possessed to the point of being very threatening, his wife, the customer and his girlfriend and on two occasions he would have been a murderer had something not stopped him, so Murnau was very ambiguous with the ending. A silent masterpiece.

[Gagman 66]

Alison, Christine, Etc,

For you and the other Charles Farrell fans here. A glimpse at Howard Hawks FAZIL (1928) with very beautiful Greta Nissen. Would be nice to see a restored print of this picture, along with Raoul Walsh THE RED DANCE. Sadly, from what I have heard Fox has pretty much ended it's classic line, before it even got started. So chances appear slim.


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[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks for posting Jeffrey, I hope what you say about Fox neglecting their silent and classic work is an awful shame.

[charliechaplinfan]

Today I watched for the third time City Girl, for me this is the most romantic of Murnau's silents and in some ways his simplest for me in terms of style.

Murnau uses Charles Farrell as Lem, the son of a farmer who is going from Minnesota to Chicago to sell his father's crop of wheat. We first see Lem aboard a train, fumbling in his many pockets to find his train tickets. Again Charles Farrell plays an innocent in the world, demonstrated brilliantly by having him count the money his father has given him on the train and attract the attention of a fellow female passenger, 'was that the first call for lunch' she asks him, giving him a come on if ever there was one 'why yes ma'am' and he gets out his sandwiches and eats them where he is, she storms off and Lem is completely oblivious to her. In his pocket is a note from father telling him he must get no less that 1.15 dollars.

Alighting in the city he goes to a diner/fast food joint were the food is served fast and eaten fast and your place taken by another diner as soon as you vacate your chair. We are introduced to Kate, a waitress in the establishment, she's hot and fans herself momentarily by the fan meant to keep the flies off the food. The boss is soon on to her, looking through the hatch at the men who need serving she and her friend she Lem, who has sat down and is saying grace, the girls are amused and take bets on what he'll order. Kate goes out to serve him, her friend wins her bet, accidentally Kate spills water over Lem's postcards' she picks them off to dry them seeing on one of them a poem to mother and the address on the back, Minnesota. They exchange chat, each curious about the other, both of them never been acquainted with the others type before. When Lem gets up to leave he tells her it's been awfully nice meeting her, she's touched. The thought of him lingers on. He leaves and gets a paper, the headline proclaiming that the price of corn is up and wheat is down.

Kate returns to her sparse apartment at night, decorated with only a pot plant and a birdcage, out side are billboards and a tram line. It's still hot, Kate is despondent. The next day Kate looks out for Lem again, seeing him and saving a place at her counter, Lem is a bit despondent, he's sold the wheat but for less than his father's price. Kate tells him that he told him to sell it. Lem has done his best but he knows he's failed his father. Murnau build up an atomosphere of longing between them, a hesitancy and when Lem tells her he's leaving on the 1 o'clock train, Kate looks like her heart would break. Lem leaves but hesitates about getting on the train, he gets his fortune told by a coin machine, it tells him to marry the one he's thinking of and everything will be alright. Kate, unable to take anymore stumbles out onto the street intent on finding Lem before his train leaves, she thinks she's failed but sees him when she gets back to the diner peering in through the window, she nearly faints and he takes her for a drink, now they are united but for how long? Lem shows her the fortune, he decides to marry her and return tomorrow.

The train journey back, there is no searching for his tickets they are in his hatband and the married couple are sleeping as the train makes it's way to Minnesota. Once they get there Kate runs ahead through the wheatfields (pop won't like that) their happiness is so great, Murnau depicts it in such a simple way and it shines from the film. The couple's meeting with mother goes well, Kate is touched by the love Lem shows his mother. The couple's happiness is popped once they reach home, Lem had already wired he had married a 'WAITRESS' so father thinks she's married him for what she can get out of him. Ernest Torrence plays the father, a meaner man you wouldn't come across. He ignores Kate and belittles Lem for the money he's lost on the wheat. Mother is accepting, next he talks to Kate, she stands up to him' telling him that she'll make a man of Lem despite him, he physically abuses her, she fights back but finally he throws her clean across the room. She tells Lem, he goes to sort his father out but his mother steps in imploringly and he doesn't do it. Kate feels that he's failed her.

The next day the workmen arrive fro harvesting, Lem's marriage is already the talk especially his estrangement from his new wife, they kept seperate bedrooms. Father gets Kate up to earn her keep, unused to farm life she's not stirred quickly enough for his liking. The men are anxious to see her and she is defensive, some leer, she serves coffee and later the meal to the men in the field. Lem won't eat and later comes to her to make up, when Lem leaves one of the men is outside her door and she only has her slip on. The men are pressed to work later as there is a storm coming and the crop will be ruined otherwise. The man comes back later he's cut himself and Kate tends his wounds, he tries to lure her away, Lem will never stand up to his father. Father comes in at this point , misinterpreting the scene and reporting to Lem, who fails her a second time by believing his father. The man stages a walk out for Kate's benefit to show how he's the opposite to Lem. Father threatens any man who leaves that he will shoot them rather than let them go. Kate leaves Lem a note telling him she's going, nto with the man but because Lem didn't believe her. Lem fights with the man and the cart they are in sets off, Lem wins and tries to stop the horses, his father hearing the cart, fires, then realises he's fired on his son. He sees the error of his ways and tells his son to get off after Kate and bring her home, the lovers reconcile, the men go back to work. This for me feels like Murnau might not have been in control of his ending. The father is so thoroughly nasty, to see his transformation is such a big change of character, yet he has the most gentle wife, Lem obviously takes after his Mother, we have to believe that there is some good there and he was looking after his own.

I can't put my finger on what makes this movie so special, it doesn't have as many of Murnau's shadows, it does have some great tracking shtos through the wheat. The atomosphere in the diner is the high spot for me, creating with very little screen time and intertitles this very real love between the couple.

Mary Duncan stars with Charles Farrell here, this film was made after The River, again with Farrell. She's the opposite of Janet Gaynor, she's the vamp type, a cynical woman, a more sexual woman to begin with than Gaynor. Farrell in contrast is even more of an innocent in these two films made back to back. City Girl did not open to good reviews, like so often with late silents, the artistry and sheer beauty was missed in the US because of the craze for talkies. They did have a an audience abroad, thankfully they are appreciated today.

[charliechaplinfan]

The River had long been a lost film a print was discovered in the 20th Century vaults by William K Everson. It is imcomplete with 43 minutes remaining but what does remain is the nucleus of the story, the romance between Rosalee and Allen John. It is the most sensual of the silent period, It's my third viewing and still I find myself holding my breath at some of the scenes.

The story takes place in the North, Harry Oliver the set designer was given £50,000 to recreate on the back lot the North complete with river, whirpool, barracks, traintrack, mountains and forrest. The first segment and last segments are missing along iwth a little bit in the middle, what remains is made up with surviving stills.

Allen John Pender (Charles Farrell) has built himself a barge, he leaves home and sail down river hoping to make the sea, Allen John arrives at a hydroelectrical power plant in the Rockies, the water is too shallow for him to continue so he moors his boat for the Autumn and Winter. As he gets off he witnesses Marsdon, the overseer being arrested for murdering a man who lustung after his mistress Rosalee. Sam, a deaf mute (Ivan Linow) a hulk of a man, wants to kill Marsdon, the man who was killed was his friend. Allen John stops him.

Later Rosalee is sitting on a rock watching the water flow when a water barrell catches her eye, spinning closer and closer to a whirlpool, next she is amused to see Allen John, naked floating close to the whirlpool, he pulls himself clear and hauls himself up to where she is sitting, unaware that she is there, Rosalee is amused, he drops back in the water, Borzage is showing how pure and clean Allen is, Rosalee on the other hand is sat with a clinging dress on and heels. Allen John tires to make conversation with her, he regrets it. Rosalee goes back home with Marsdon's pet crow, left to watch over her and a sign of the danger of Marsdon.

Allen John dries off and sets off for the train to take him into the city, he misses it, coming back he is invited in to tea with Rosalee, she knew he'd miss the train. He thought she hated men, but she tells him, he doesn't count. They spend the evening playing cards, Rosalee is amused. Has he ever known a woman? She's the first since his mother who died when he was small. She leans seductively over the table, he's tall, she presses herself against him to measure how tall he is, Allen John is unsure how to react. He's curious, is she Marsdon's wife, no, his sister, no. The train whistles, he's missed it again. He leaves, Rosalee thinks he is scared of her, he nods in agreement. He goes to wait at the station for the morning train. This bit is missing, the next morning he and the deaf mute buy provisions for Rosalee, they take them to her cabin, she isn't there, Allen John starts unpacking them, she returns accusing him of buying her. Furious Allen John goes out side and throws the food in the river, Rosalee repents, and jumps in the river to rescue her food.

Back in the cabin, Allen John dires his pants in front of the fire, Rosalee changes into a negligee, he gives her a piece of candy which she sucks in a very suggestive manner. He sees her wood pile is run down and goes to chop her some more wood. Another missed train. That was the last train until Spring.

Allen John goes to stay at the mill but comes back in Winter to see how she is doing, she's fine but has been terribly lonely. Allen John thinks they should celebrate and gets the checkers board out. Rosalee throws the checkers board away and lies suggestively on the bed. She takes his hand and puts in over her heart, then he listens to it but overcome he goes to kiss her, the raven attacks them. Frustrated Rosalee goes to kill it, Allen John stops her, she stabs him but thankfully the knife bends. Allen John calms her down by declaring his love. She pushes him away, knowing she is no good for him, he goes out without a coat and starts chopping trees to keep her warm. Inexplicably he strips off to the waist on a bitter cold night, Rosalee goes to reason with him but he dissappears into the night, he goes to his barge and lights the fire before he passes out. The next morning Sam returning from hunting finds Allen John unconscious, he takes him to Rosalee's cabin, he rubs snow into his chest to bring him around, nothing, she tries hot liquid, nothing either. Sam goes to fetch more help. Rosalee frantic, wondering how to help takes off her negliee and climbs into bed on top of him, willing him to keep alive, trying to give him warmth, she suceeds in bringing him back to life. He says her name and she promises never to leave him. This is where the recovered excerpt ends.

Spring Marsdon has escaped and comes back to claim Rosalee, he knock Allen John to the floor, Sam seeing Marsdon has a score to settle, Rosalee terrified jumps into the river, Allen John jumps in and saves her. Sam strangles Marsdon in te forrest and then waves the couple off as they begin their journey to the sea.

In some ways The River is a kin to Street Angel, it deals with a woman who is not the ideal that the man would want her to be, she wants him, attracts him and at the same times realises that she is still attached to Marsdon. The River cleanses all, cleanses Rosalee when she jumps in, taking all trace of Marsdon from her, it cleanses Sam after he has killed Marsdon.

[charliechaplinfan]

So far every film in this collection has included Charles Farrell except Sunrise. He's not listed in David Shipman's Great Movie Stars or in David Thomson's Biographical Dictionary of Film, what an omission. While not expecting him to be described as a great actor he is a pleasant and engaging one to watch. It's hard to be believed as a man of niavety when it comes to ladies but I believe him. I have only seen him in the work of Borzage and Murnau, two great directors, he might be different under weaker direction but on the strength of what I've seen he should be given a place in film bible books.