WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[feaito]

Intothenitrate, since I had seen Metropolis only once before in the early 1980s (the infamous Moroder-scored version) I can't really compare, but I can say to you that the missing scenes (25 minutes-the subplot of Hel, the story of the working man whom Fröhlich replaces in the machine and all the whereabouts of the spy and hired-man of the master of Metropolis,etc...) certainly add to the story and its fluidity, but as Wendy states correctly, on the other hand, apparently they did not give the film a different flavor, I agree with her in that. And it's easy to tell which are the new incorporated scenes due to the bad quality of the 16mm print.

Also, there are still some missing scenes that were replaced with title cards depicting what happened. I liked the score included on the DVD, but when I was watching it my wife who was doing her things, complained about the repetitiveness of the music, thus I'd have liked to check the Alloy Orchestra score, which is highly praised by Paula.

[intothenitrate]

Thanks for those insights everyone. The first copy of the film I bought was a VHS long long ago, out of a retail bargain bin. The montages were just a lot of gray smudges in that one, and the story didn't make a lot of sense. What there was of a story seemed pretty flimsy to warrant such an elaborate production. It's nice to know that Lang did more with story- and character development than I previously imagined. Still though (to my facile mind), the 'slutty-girl-robot-run-amok' plot device will always keep me coming back.

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday I went to see a rare French silent at the Cinémathèque.
(Henri Debain)

Le Costaud des Epinettes (The Sturdy Guy from les Epinettes, 1922) is a comedy directed by Raymond Bernard. Before directing big epics such as Le Miracle des Loups (The Miracle of wolves, 1924), Bernard adapted to the screen various comedies from his playwright father, Tristan Bernard. This charming film follows Claude Brévin (Henri Debain) a former gambler, now destitute, who lives near a dive in Montmartre. He is nicknamed the 'costaud des Epinettes' in reference to his ability at martial arts and the name of the local district. He is hired by a blackmailer to recover some compromising letters from a young actress (Germaine Fontanes). He also has to kill her, so as to leave no witness. But, obviously, he is far too nice to commit murder and ends up falling in love with the girl. Henri Debain in the lead reminded me of the young Alec Guinness. He has the same tall and frail body with a slight absent-mindedness, a kind of innocent surrounded by nasties. He was also very good in the title role of Triplepatte (1922), another Bernard comedy. Neverthless, the film suffers from a rather flat narrative lacking in sparkle. A few scenes shone like when Debain recalls his failures in various jobs. We visualize his retelling: he had to accompany children in the streets and forgot about them while reading a book. The film boasted some superb Art-Deco sets by the architect and designer Robert Mallet-Stevens. The cinematography was gorgeous in the superb tinted print from the CF I saw. The print has dual titles in French/English. The acting overall is excellent, naturalistic and avoiding excesses. It's a shame that the very last scene was missing (presumably lost) though it was easy to imagine the outcome. Overall it's not a major Bernard picture, but it made me want to see Triplepatte again.

[JackFavell]

What a wonderful face! That picture alone, (well, and your description of him) makes me want to see him in one of these movies.

[Ann Harding]

Debain is indeed a very good comedian. So yesterday, I watched again Triplepatte (1922) a wonderful Raymond Bernard comedy. In the lead, Henri Debain plays an impoverished aristocrat, Robert de Houdan, nicknamed Triplepatte (triplefoot) because of his indecision in jumping any obstacle. The young man has been promised to the heiress of another rich aristocratic family, before his birth. Alas, the girl -on top of being insufferable- is only a small child, due to the late arrival of a child that family. Robert must find a bride quickly to cover his large debts. Baroness Pépin thinks she has found the right girl: Yvonne Herbelier (Edith Jehanne) the daughter of a rich bourgeois family. Robert still refuses to submit to matrimony and is dragged out of bed by his usurer (Pierre Palau). He arrives at the registrar's office in his pyjamas...This brilliant comedy is a forerunner to the later René Clair films such as Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie (An Italian Straw Hat, 1927) and Les Deux Timides (1928). Like those, it revolves around matrimony, the all-important ceremony that could seal a fortune in the late 19th century. Debain is perfect as the reluctant bridegroom-to-be. He is a slow moving, lazy kind of guy though at the same time, extremely likeable. He is constantly pushed around by terrifying would-be mothers-in-law and we can't blame him for wanting to stay in bed. In the end, he falls in love with lovely Yvonne while meeting her on holiday. The film is perfectly paced and acted. A real delight.

[JackFavell]

Oh it sounds wonderful!

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday I went through a double-bill of Madame X. I started with the early talkie version directed by Lionel Barrymore in 1929. It stroke me as being a textbook in what-not-to-do-when-directing-a-talkie. Ruth Chatterton, in the title role, seems to playing for the last row of the upper circle in a Broadway theatre. Her speech is declamatory, her movements excessive and her acting over the top. But, the rest of the cast is also chewing the scenery, including the small players. Lionel Barrymore proves he was not a director by placing his camera rigidly fixed on the floor for long talking scenes. There is a slight panning left or right to catch the actor's face when he moves, that's it. The film is certainly not helped by a script based on a terribly hoary French play. I guess it must have been already dated in 1929. 'The fallen woman, sent away by a nasty husband, becomes an alcoholic' feels like a cliché of the worst kind. All the characters are like caricatures. The final in the courtroom reaches an unlikely climax with the fallen woman being defended by her lost son. The 1937 remake was no better. Gladys George is less OTT, but she cannot make this silly script sound any better. Again, the supporting cast is overplaying, including Henry Daniell as a sneering villain. What makes both films even more irritating is its conclusion. While trying to defend the fallen woman, it ends with the glorification of the 'good society morals'. It's not pro-feminist; it's just pure patriarchal hypocrisy. A completely outdated piece of hokum...

[moira finnie]

Funny, Christine, I agreed with everything you wrote about both versions of that perennial chestnut, Madame X, up until you said that Henry Daniell was OTT.

Surely, that's why they hired him?? Daniell was a walking depository of theatricality, sinister-style, and successfully avoided portraying recognizable human beings for much of his career--save perhaps for his turn as a legal beagle in Witness for the Prosecution and one of his few leading roles in The Body Snatcher.

[JackFavell]

From the two or three Lionel Barrymore directed films I've seen, I can certainly recommend NOT EVER seeing any of them, if you know what's good for you.

[charliechaplinfan]

I don't think I've seen any of them, just read about them. Why did he ever take a turn behind the camera, was it because of his arthritis?

[Ann Harding]

Funny, Christine, I agreed with everything you wrote about both versions of that perennial chestnut, Madame X, up until you said that Henry Daniell was OTT.

Surely, that's why they hired him?? Daniell was a walking depository of theatricality, sinister-style, and successfully avoided portraying recognizable human beings for much of his career--save perhaps for his turn as a legal beagle in Witness for the Prosecution and one of his few leading roles in The Body Snatcher.

But I LOVE Henry Daniell when he plays villains! I adore his baron when he slaps Garbo in Camille. But, I felt that in Madame X vintage 1937, he was disappointing - even him!! His part was just too cliched to work. You felt he was struggling to get his villain across....a bad sign.

[Ann Harding]

While reading Scott O'Brien's biograpy of Ann H, I've been rewatching several pictures. Yesterday I watched again Double Harness (1933, J. Cromwell). This is certainly one of Ann's best films. Teamed with William Powell for the only time, she gives a superb performance as the girl who tricked the perennial bachelor into marriage. I just watched her ease and naturalness when she is explaining her philosophy of marriage while cooking dinner. Not missing one beat, she goes around the kitchen, opens the oven then a can with a can-opener. All that while telling us that marriage is all business and no emotion. Even better are her scenes with Powell as they exchange sparkling dialogues like the Champagne they are drinking. It's full of double-entendre and delivered with great intelligence and finesse. The supporting cast is also great with Henry Stephenson as Ann's father and Reginald Owen as a stuffy butler. Really very enjoyable and even moving in places.

[Rita Hayworth]

Mark of ZORRO 1920 Classic
Starring Douglas Fairbanks as ZORRO and Noah Berry as Sergeant Gonzales

Before I went to bed around 1am in the morning, I sometimes check my Cable TV Guide listing and discovered to my fancies that 1920 Silent Film staring Douglas Fairbanks is on Turner Classic Movies - 2 hours later ...



This is the very first time - I ever seen this movie and I seen all the others as well. I simply love the grandeur of this delightful movie - its was produced by Douglas Fairbanks Pictures Corporation and released later first by United Artists. I can't believe how well its holds up so well after all these years. it's well made, action packed, charming, and most of all this movie was made twenty years earlier from the Tyrone Powers 1940 ZORRO remake. I love this movie. It's worth getting up and watch it.

I love the ending - Pure Romance ... I'm glad I watched this movie with awe and respect.

[MichiganJ]

If you liked Mark of Zorro you should definitely see the sequel, Don Q, Son of Zorro, it's great. But then all of Fairbanks' films are great. He basically invented the swashbuckler.

[Gagman 66]

Mark of ZORRO 1920 Classic
Starring Douglas Fairbanks as ZORRO and Noah Berry as Sergeant Gonzales

Before I went to bed around 1am in the morning, I sometimes check my Cable TV Guide listing and discovered to my fancies that 1920 Silent Film staring Douglas Fairbanks is on Turner Classic Movies - 2 hours later ...



This is the very first time - I ever seen this movie and I seen all the others as well. I simply love the grandeur of this delightful movie - its was produced by Douglas Fairbanks Pictures Corporation and released later first by United Artists. I can't believe how well its holds up so well after all these years. it's well made, action packed, charming, and most of all this movie was made twenty years earlier from the Tyrone Powers 1940 ZORRO remake. I love this movie. It's worth getting up and watch it.

I love the ending - Pure Romance ... I'm glad I watched this movie with awe and respect.

Kingme,

Glad you got to see this an enjoyed it. One thing that you likely did not know, Fairbanks originated the idea of "The Mark Of Zorro" There was no Z in the Pulp story THE CURSE OF CAPISTRANO that it was based on. Rather there was something called "The sign of The Fox" Fairbanks changed it to the Z. Doug doesn't get the credit He deserves for inventing this concept. Used in every adaption of Zorro ever since. Other film-makers that produced subsequent versions probably are not even aware of this. The gorgeously restored version TCM has been running (I assume this is what aired this morning), is available on DVD from Flicker Alley, part of the Early Fairbanks "A Modern Musketeer" box set. And also as an individual disc on the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra website.