What are you reading?

[charliechaplinfan]

It sounds like he didn't like the word no. He was hugely influential in the industry and I do share your admiration of Louis B Mayer as someone who made a name for themself through sheer determination and hard work. I think I want to like him and find apologies for his behaviour but the evidence is pretty weighty. Like Fernando, in his case it's Luise Rainer and Lillian Gish, for me it's the bad treatment of John Gilbert and Thalberg that winds me up. Of course I've only ever read books in their favour and in the case of John Gilbert I can understand some of LB's annoyance.

[moira finnie]

Iin the case of John Gilbert I can understand some of LB's annoyance.

LOL! Naughty John must have been a bit much, even when he was very popular. It's too bad too, since some of his early work in talkies, such as Fast Workers and Downstairs showed what a capable, and modern actor (and writer) he could have been--if only he hadn't been so self-destructive too. Have you read Leatrice Gilbert Fountain's biography of her father, John Gilbert called "Dark Star"?

[charliechaplinfan]

I haven't read it yet but have it here. I'm a great hoarder of books and will eventually read them all, some of them more than once. I find books very comforting, one of the bonuses of moving this new house is there is room for a couple of really nice bookcases which need filling with books, preferrably on movies.

I have read anecdotes from Leatrice's book, John Gilbert was a scamp but I think he was a rather lovable one.

Interestingly I've just read in the Borzage book about his short tenure at MGM he didn't return after quitting in 1924 until after Thalberg had died. For a director like Borzage who was used to a certain amount of autonomy the micromanaging of production to reduce costs drove him away. I was intersted to see Thalberg named as the force that drove him away not LB.

I've just watched Lazybones a film Borzage made in 1925, the story wasn't too much to write home about but Borzage's direction made it touching and interesting.

[moira finnie]

Keep reading, Alison. Borzage makes a return to MGM, directing some of their most interesting films in the late '30s, (along with stuff he'd rather have forgotten too). I've just moved a slew of Borzage silents to the top of my queue at Netflix. We'll have to start a Frank Borzage thread soon. You are making me more curious about his early work as well as more appreciative of his later films, especially after your comments in the "What Silents and Pre-codes Have you Seen Lately" thread.

[feaito]

I think I feel sort of sorry for Louis B. Mayer. He was not educated, would never have been a handsome or graceful man, but all he had was his work ethic, which took him from the alleys of St. John, Canada to the corridors of power. He would never have talent or style, but there was something poignant about his desire to bring his admittedly warped vision of life to the screen. When I watch a film such as Maytime (1937) I tell myself that I know I'm seeing the aspirations of an immigrant soul. Overly sentimental, conservative, manipulative as hell, a moral coward and full of longing for something better, I'm sure I would have found him insufferable in person, but I really do admire the man in some ways, just as I do all the moguls of his generation in their crassness and their idealism, which I think was impossible to separate from their skills as moviemakers.

You have a valid point of view there Moira. BTW, "Maytime" (1937) is IMO the best MacDonald-Eddy film.

Thanks for sharing the Sterling Holloway anecdote. Mayer could not stand a no for an answer and he could be really vindictive.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've never seen Maytime, another one to add to the list of must sees one day.

Thanks Moira, I really enjoyed Lazybones and appreciated what Borzage was doing with the direction. I will start the thread on Borzage in the next few days.

[silentscreen]

The documentary with the set said that you can see Borzage's touch in Lazybones, but he had not yet perfected his style. I love the little touches such as in the beginning when it shows someone pouring molasses on pancakes to show you how laid back "Lazybones" was.

Borzage was more of a champion of the working class- a man with a lot of heart, and Murnau was the intellectual perfectionist. Someone said that if one director had Borzage's heart and Murnau's mind, they would be the perfect director. Needless to say, Borzage was much easier to work with.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've watched two thirds of the documentary tonight, the rest will have to wait until tomorrow. I can't wait to see the rest of the films from the set, I know I'm in for a real treat.

[charliechaplinfan]

I'm going to pick up another book as well as the Borzage book, I can read much faster than I can view films and I don't want to read the plots of movies before I watch them. The Borzage book is very good, scholarly and thought provoking.

[silentscreen]

Speaking of Borzage, this dual bio of his star making couple Gaynor and Farrell just came out. The author is from Dallas and wrote and produced the Olive Thomas collection a few years ago. Sounds like a good read!

http://bearmanormedia.bizland.com/id439.html

[charliechaplinfan]

It does sound a good read, I interested in them after watching some of their movies.

Lst night I started a book on Ruth Harriet Louise, she was one of the main photographers at MGM between 1925-30 she photographed Garbo, Davies, Shearer, Crawford, Chaney and Keaton. It's a times like this that I wish I had a scanner to post some of the beautiful photographs.

[ChiO]

I recently finished a couple of books that should be in every home library, especially if you have any tendency to depart occasionally from the big vehicles of the major studios.

Kings of the Bs: Working Within the Hollywood System - An Anthology of Film History and Criticism (McCarthy & Flynn eds., 1975) contains essays on the history and beauty of B-movies (including ones by Manny Farber and Andrew Sarris), people associated with the Bs (including Farber on Val Lewton and Roger Ebert on -- you just know it -- Russ Meyer), and films. There are also ten interviews (including -- yes! -- Phil Karlson and Peter Bogdanovich's interview of Edgar G. Ulmer that also appears in Who the Devil Made It) and a detailed (for the time) listing of American B-movie directors with their films. Who said education can't be fun?

Once upon a time, Jacques Tourneur meant, for me, three Lewton movies plus OUT OF THE PAST. Then I saw his Westerns and other noirs, and he passed every other director on my list of favorites but for Welles and Dreyer. Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall (Chris Fujiwara, 1998) accomplishes what every good book on film does -- it makes one want to re-watch each that one has seen (yes, even THE GIANT OF MARATHON) and see all of the subject's movies that one hasn't seen (I have five U.S. movies to go). Fujiwara goes through each of the U.S. movies and ties their themes and motifs together to make a convincing argument that, Tourneur's occasional protests aside, Tourneur was an auteur of the highest order.

[charliechaplinfan]

I don't know much about Tourneur but from the way you describe the book it sounds really interesting, like the author has really done his homework. Something I'd be able to pick up not knowing too much about the subject and get engrossed. The same for the B movies book, I'd like to learn more there too. I wish we had a decent library in my town.

[ChiO]

CCF: Both, I believe, are out-of-print, but I got them through Amazon in near-perfect condition and at less than the original list price. Go figure.

[charliechaplinfan]

Amazon marketplace and another site I use Alibris.com or co.uk are excellent sites, sometimes you just have to bide your time with titles you want and they eventually come up at a good price. I'll keep my eye out for those titles