WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[MichiganJ]

I, too, just watched a Clara Bow film, My Lady of Whims. Clara plays a rebellious daughter from a rich family, who moves to the Village in New York City to gain experiences so that she can become a writer. Her father hires Donald Keith to look after her and make sure she stays out of trouble, but Clara catches on, and takes Keith for a ride...

Pure fluff, certainly a programer, but Bow is, as ever, hard to resist. Her natural performance is a pure joy to watch. (At one point she breaks out in a little dance for no reason whatsoever, and yet it is entirely within her character to do so). She also gets to play the “bohemian” of sorts, and some of her costumes are quite interesting.

There’s no question that if the studios had given her more to work with, Clara Bow would be high on the list of the best actresses in silent film. It’s a testament to her talent that her performances always overcome the pedestrian vehicles in which she appeared.

[coopsgirl]

Clara is my favorite actress and it really is a shame she wasn’t given better pictures more often. Like you said though, her talent always shined through even the weakest material. I liked My Lady of Whims too. It was cute for what it was, just a fun movie about youth gone a little wild. My faves of hers are It and Hula.

I got the Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 2 set yesterday and I watched Three on a Match. I really enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised to see Glenda Farrell and Edward Arnold (love them both) in it, even though they had very small roles (only once scene each, I believe). I got cracked up at one point when a young man came on the screen and I said to myself, ‘hey he looks like Humphrey Bogart’. Then as soon as spoke I realized it was him. I haven’t seen many of his films (not really a fan) and I was surprised to see him so young.

I thought Joan Blondell did the best job in the cast. Ann Dvorak seemed to be overacting from around the point where she decides to ditch her husband through the rest of the film, until her last scene which she did a very good job and was very powerful. Better Davis was fine but her part was pretty small. Warren William looked like he was about to fall asleep through most of the film but his scenes with his son were very well done and sweet. That little boy was just too cute and I thought he did a great job too.

[myrnaloyisdope]

Hey coopsgirl,

I love the Forbidden Hollywood sets. I'm hoping volume 3 comes out at some point. I think my favorite from volume 2 is probably Night Nurse, Wellman, Stanwyck, and Blondell is a powerful cocktail, and when mixed with dope fiends, bootleggers, child endangerment, drunks, and Clark Gable as an evil chauffeur, the result is wildly potent.

I really enjoyed Female too, although the ending is one of the most offensive things I've ever seen.

I watched a Myrna Loy pre-code yesterday called The Truth About Youth. It also had a very young Loretta Young, David Manners, and Conway Tearle(who somehow ends up the romantic lead). Anyway the movie was pretty average, except for Myrna who was fantastic as a gold-digging vamp and night club singer who marries David Manners' character for his money(the twist is he has none). It was fun to see Myrna be so bitchy and animated. She was so ruthless. I've never seen her like that, usually her vamps are so detached, but here she was wild. There's a great scene where she finds out Manners' character doesn't have any money, and she just flips out, slapping him, cursing him out and throwing vases. I thought it was interesting to that she didn't get her comeuppance, she just found another sugar daddy and walked off into the sunset. Ah...only in pre-code. My only complaint is that her singing was obviously dubbed. It just was odd hearing this completely different voice coming out of her mouth.

Loretta was pretty as always but seemed a bit unsure of how to play the role. Given that she was 17 at the time, it makes sense. Conway Tearle is badly miscast as Manners' guardian and eventually Loretta's suitor. I mean he was 52 at the time, and possessed nothing resembling charm, charisma, or sex appeal. He just seems bored and stodgy.

I highly recommend it for Myrna's wonderfulness, and I suppose to demonstrate how bad leading men could be in the early talkies.

[coopsgirl]

The Truth About Youth does sound very interesting and you had me cracking up talking about Myrna moving on to another sugar daddy! So far Night Nurse (which I saw months ago) and Three on a Match are the only ones I've seen from the second Forbidden Hollywood set. They all sound good though. I bought the first set as well and Waterloo Bridge is the only one there I haven't seen. I got to see Babyface for the first time on a big screen last summer and that was really cool and I loved it, as did everyone else.

I also just got the entire Thin Man set and I already have the William Powell/Myrna Loy set so I've got Bill and Myrna coming out my ears (which isn't a bad thing ).

Speaking of Clark Gable in Night Nurse, it was funny to see him in a small role since he would become such a big star. He was so mean in that one too and sure gave Barbara what for! I don't think I'll ever get used to him without his moustache. Gary made two movies in '35 where he had a moustache and I'm still trying to get used to that - ha!

This just doesn't look right .

[myrnaloyisdope]

Without the moustache Gable kind of looks like my brother.

Is the Cooper picture from Peter Ibbetsen?

You haven't watched Waterloo Bridge yet? I am aghast. It's phenomenal, right up there with Design For Living as my favorite pre-code. Mae Clarke gives an astonishing, naturalistic performance that feels years ahead of its time. It might just be the best melodrama I've ever seen.

In short, watch it as soon as you get the chance.

[coopsgirl]

Yes, the pic of Gary is from PI. He had the moustache in Lives of a Bengal Lancer too, also released in '35. Thankfully he shaved it off after that. It looks alright, but he looks better without it. Clark definitely looked better with it.

I just got the Forbidden Hollywood sets in the mail yesterday and with baseball season still going on (Go Astros!!) that greatly reduces my movie watching time .

I like Design for Living alright, but it's not one of my faves of Gary's. There's something about Miriam Hopkins that I don't like (not really sure what ) but Gary, Frederic March, and Horton were all good in it.

[myrnaloyisdope]

An Astros fan?? Tough break.

I'm a dispossessed Expos fan currently cheering for the Yankees. I also cheer the Twins.

It's interesting to hear your take on Hopkins, she seems to divide the audience more than most. I absolutely adore her, and think she can do no wrong, but I've read tons of scathing reviews of her too. I can see why, she is pretty affected when she acts, and sometimes goes pretty far out, but I love watching her. And she's a cutie too.

I get the impression she's a bit like Katharine Hepburn, an acquired taste. Her tics and gestures and tendencies turn some people away, but inspire other people.

Ooh...that brings up another point, I read a negative review of a Joan Blondell movie, where the reviewer absolutely buried Joan, saying she was annoying, vulgar, and ugly. I was appalled. I mean hating Joan Blondell is like hating puppies. I couldn't believe someone disliked her. Funny world.

[MichiganJ]

coopsgirl said:

I also just got the entire Thin Man set and I already have the William Powell/Myrna Loy set so I've got Bill and Myrna coming out my ears (which isn't a bad thing ).

For my money Loy and Powell were the best couple in the movies. Their chemistry is evident in every scene they appear in together, and they obviously had respect for each other and must have enjoyed working together. The Thin Man series, and the first film in particular, is brilliant, and their repartee is unrivaled. Nobody but Loy could keep up with Powell in the throw-away one-liners, and she’s adorable doing it, too. (My wife and I enjoy the series so much that we named our two cats “Nick” and “Nora”, although I usually refer to “Nora” as “Noodle”...but that’s another story...)

Aside from The Thin Man I think my favorite pairing of the two is in Libeled Lady. While they are playing different characters, their chemistry is sill in abundance, and their comedic sequences reinforces that attraction. Besides, the film also has Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow!:D

Let’s go Mets!

[coopsgirl]

Hey Justin,
I think what it is that I don't like about Miriam Hopkins is she seems like a stage actor. I don't know if she did any theater work but her gestures and speech seem more like she's doing a play rather than a movie. I love seeing plays, but that style doesn't work on film.

I'm not real crazy about Katherine Hepburn either although I liked her in Bringing Up Baby, but I watched that one for Cary Grant. He was good in just about everything, especially comedies.

I'm not sure who would hate Joan Blondell either. She was a good actress, very natural, and she certainly doesn't seem like she was a very polarzing person. I'm not a real big fan of puppies (not really an animal person), but I do like Joan

Baseball is a funny thing. The Astros had a very good run from the late 90s through '05 (of course that season started out very roughly for us) and since then we've gone downhill fast. We had an incompetent GM over that span who ran our farm system into the ground so that will still hurt us for sometime to come.

[Ann Harding]

Today I finished to watch James Cruze's The Covered Wagon (1923). That's a superb epic western, certainly the first one of its genre, since then copied many times. The scale and grandeur of it all is staggering! Karl Brown's cinematography is magnificent. The story of that of the settlers who moved to the West (to Oregon & California) in the 1840s. A lot of wonderful character actors added some color, particularly Tully Marshall & Ernest Torrence, both playing nice characters for a change, while Alan Hale was the heavy. The crossing of the river Platte and the attack of the Indians were just staggering and had a documentary style to them. A superb western!
Thanks a lot, Kyle!

[feaito]

Today I watched an excellent Pre-Code with John Barrymore: "Topaze" (1933), a bittersweet film in tone, directed by Harry D'Abbadie D'Arrast, with a quite brilliant performance by Barrymore. In a movie of this kind one can really appreciate and realize the genius of the very gifted actor that Barrymore was. He plays the idealist Professor Topaze, who succeeds in life in spite of his motto in relation with "ill gaines". He's aptly supported by a good cast and I was impressed to read that this film was denied a seal of approval by the Production Code when RKO Radio attempted its reissue in 1936, no doubt due to the adulterous relationship of Baron de La Tour (played by Reginald Mason) and charming Coco (an equally charming Myrna Loy). A very European film, which must be based upon a French stage play.

I wonder how this film compares with the 1932 French version starring Louis Jouvet, which was made at Paramount's Joinville Studios.

On the weekend I also watched "The Cossacks" (1928) a truly magnificent, powerful Silent. Watching John Gilbert in this Epic film is easy to understand why he was such a legendary embodiment of the male erotic symbol during the Silent Era and why he could not live up to his Silent Persona after the Talkies arrived to stay. No matter what voice he would have had, it was an impossible task. Talkies were another world where icons such as Gilbert and Valentino, whose Personaes belonged to Silents, could not survive as such, because it was a totally different medium. John Gilbert was fine in talkies such as "Way for a Sailor" (1930) for example: masculine, devil-may-care, mischievous, with avery fine vocie, but no more the unattainable icon of the Silent Era. Superb battle scenes, fights, and an excellent cast lead by likable Ernest Torrence as Gilbert's father, Rénee Adorée as his love interest and scheming Nils Asther as a Russian aristocrat.

I also watched "Wild Orchids" (1929) a very erotic exotic adventure film with Garbo, Nils Asther and Lewis Stone. Luminous Garbo is at the peak of her beauty and allure. She plays Stone's much younger wife who accompanies him to a trip to the Far East. On board a ship she mets a mysterious Javanese Prince (Asther) and she feels uncannily attracted to him, in an almost masochistic way. On the surface she demonstrates him disdain and disgust, but deep inside she's shaken by his wild ways, disguised by a suave pose. Great chemistry between the two Swedes, who look well together, because Asther was a tall, physically strong man that matched Garbo. Fascinating bewitching erotic scenes between the two leads, which in a way I found reminiscent of Stany's and Asther scenes in the 1933 Pre Code "The Bitter Tea of General Yen" (1933).

[Gagman 66]

Fernando,

Wow, you sure saw a lot of Movies lately. Was WILD ORCHIDS from Laser-disc? Do you still need THE SINGLE STANDARD? Or which Gabo didn't you have?

Where Oh, where, did you find a copy of THE COSSACKS??? It took me well over two years to locate one? Does the version you found have a musical score to it of any kind??? I would be curious to hear how it compares to my own score for the film? I dubbed it twice, making some minor changes the second time, spending many hours on each effort.

I would be interested in the Pre-codes too, as I don't think that I have those titles yet? I just sent you a PM and an E-mail. I was sending you a package later today as well.



"...And Forever They Dance Amid The Stars!"

[MichiganJ]

Thanks to Gagman , I also recently saw The Cossacks and I agree with feaito that it is an entertaining romp, very much like an “Eastern” western, particularly when Gilbert’s double does his horse-riding tricks. It’s a great popcorn movie. But, while the film is very entertaining, there are quite a few issues that are left unclear, and one significant plot device, which nearly undermines the film’s climax.


*******Avast ye, matties, Spoilers Ahead!*******
(By the way, I know I’m nit-picking, here. I just like to look under the surface of films and explore their apparent themes, etc., and see how they stand up.)

In regards to Gilbert’s character; initially he’s introduced as a fop, a man who would rather stay home and fool around with his horse than go out with the men and kill the dastardly Turks. It is never made clear why, after being brought up in this society, Gilbert doesn’t want to join the men folk and kill Turks (and who wouldn’t ), and he is mercilessly made fun of by the men, including his father. And the women want nothing to do with him, either (although Renée steals her peaks at him while she’s working). Gilbert doesn’t have any problem killing Turks--he shoots one in the back when the Turk attempts to escape--so what was his initial problem? Then, after more taunting, he finally joins up, and, naturally being good with his gun, racks up the bodies left and right. But again, what was his motivation?

As for the film’s conclusion, it must be remembered that there was a truce called with the Turks, and it was Gilbert and the Cossacks, after realizing that they would have nothing to do if their war with the Turks was over, write a letter that re-ignites the war. Essentially the entire (admittedly exciting) conclusion is all Gilbert’s fault! Or did I miss something?

*******Spoilers evaded.********

As for Gilbert in talkies, I think I might have to disagree with you a little, feaito. I don’t think Gilbert is in the same category as Valentino, who probably wouldn’t have maintained his persona in sound films. (Had he survived, of course. Although I bet he would have been pretty good in some sound romantic comedies, maybe even spoofing his Sheik-ness ). Gilbert, however, was fine in the sound films I’ve seen, particularly in Queen Christina, where he and Garbo pick right up where they left off in their silents. Sure, their actual romance had long been over, but their chemistry on screen was still in abundance, and “the morning after” scene, where Garbo memorizes the room they shared, is one of the highlights in Garbo’s sound career. In no small part do I attribute Garbo’s magical performance in that scene to Gilbert. Gilbert was given a raw deal in sound films, especially if the Mayer story is true (and I kinda believe it). I think Gilbert would have done just fine if given better roles, and wouldn’t be thought of simply as a silent film star, now, if he had.

Have you seen Gilbert’s final silent, Desert Nights? Again, thanks to Gagman (:D ) I saw that, and Gilbert gives one of his most entertaining, almost effortless performances. And talk about chemistry with his co-star. He and Mary Nolan are, quite literally, HOT. Ernest Torrence is also featured, (as he is in nearly every Silent film!) and is, as usual, wonderful.

[Ann Harding]

Thanks to Jeffrey, I also saw The Cossacks. And I can tell you where and when it was recorded: on France 3 TV channel in 2001. It was shown as part of 'le Cinéma de Minuit' a programme that shows classic films. Through the years, I have seen occasionally some pretty rare silents on that programme such the fragments of Sjöström's Confessions of a Queen.
I feel like MichiganJ regarding the story; it's sometimes a bit baffling. But, overall it's an entertaining movie. Gilbert moves from being a lazy fop to a bloodthirsty cossack killing turks. The contrast with Nils Asther could not have been more striking. (BTW I was outraged to see Nils being slaughtered before the end!!!! he is so much better looking that Gilbert..... ) Ernest Torrence was a hoot playing Gilbert's father!
Thanks again Jeffrey!

[Gagman 66]

Kevin,

Well, my impression is that neither the Turks or the Cossacks had any intention of honoring the tenuous Peace treaty to start with. Immediately, Ivan (Torrence), is adamantly opposed to the truce, as were the rest of the group. Making Gilbert's actions seem somewhat irrelevant. Certainly the Turks appeared far more devious and untrustworthy than The Cossacks did. So who would believe them?


Christine,

Thanks much for the information on the 2001 France 3 broadcast. That still does not tell me where Fernando got his copy though? I wonder why TCM has never aired THE COSSACKS before?

I knew you would not be pleased with the way that Nils character was rather hastily dispatched. There was allot of potential for more serious conflict for Maryana's (Adoree's), hand, but that was never realized. Part of the sudden plot shift may have had to do with the change of Director. Though begin by George Hill, the movie was completed by Clarence Brown, without screen credit.

Poor Maryana puts up with allot from Lukashka (Gilbert), who is not necessarily the most likeable fellow you are ever likely to meet. I think this is another of Adoree's great performances, and she displays a full gamut of human emotions, and does it all most convincingly. Renee is much better than Gilbert in this film in my opinion, but together they compliment each other so very well on screen.

Here is a link to Slide-show tribute to Nils Asther on GAOH, that you probably have not seen before. It is very well done. Even the music enhances the Stills quite effectively.


http://goldenageofhollywood.ning.com/vi ... eo%3A33569