WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[charliechaplinfan]

That's awful. I bet the drunk driver got away with slight injuries and a light punishment.

[drednm]

Yes I remebered that Gaynor never quite recovered....

[pvitari]

Robert Cato (the drunk driver) got a three-year sentence for DUI and vehicle manslaughter.

Someone hand me a hankie. Last night I watched MGM's 1932 version of Smilin' Through and started sniffling whenever Norma Shearer sang (dubbed, I presume) or the orchestra played the title tune. Those glossy MGM weepers always -- well, usually -- have the requisite effect on me. Shearer always comes off like she's posing for the camera,and even while I see what she's doing, I sink right into the performance. Leslie Howard is properly musty, and Fredric March is -- well, a breath of fresh air shooting through whole thing. I love those stagebound sets -- the garden, the house, the patio, the tea room -- it's all its own little magic world and it's nice to think that ghosts linger around waiting for their beloveds to join them in the afterlife. One of these days I need to get around to the Jeannette McDonald version although I've heard it's not as good. Actually I'd love to see the Norma Talmadge 1922 silent too but I haven't been able to find that anywhere on DVD.

[drednm]

The 1922 Norma Talmadge version just played at the Kansas Silent Film Festival in Topeka so it exists. I like the Jeanette MacDonald version with Brian Aherne and Gene Raymond, but then I like MacDonald and think she's a hugely underrated actress.

[pvitari]

Oh, I know it exists. In fact, both the Library of Congress and the Nederlands Filmmuseum Archive have prints. But I can't find a copy for home viewing. I like Jeannette MacDonald a lot too. Unfortunately many of her MGM movies need restoration which is one reason why they haven't been released on DVD.

[Gagman 66]

If the Norma/Constance Talmadge sets sell well, Kino will release more titles. Hopefully, SMILIN' THROUGH, THE LOVE EXPERT, THE LADY, SECRETS, EAST IS WEST etc. I would love to see restored versions of these movies. Douris Corporation has already had SMILIN' THROUGH scored it would appear?

[drednm]

I'd love to see a great restoration of The Lady, which I think is Norma Talmadge's best performance.

My Talmadge DVDs from Kino are set for Friday delivery!

[pvitari]

I can't wait for those two Talmadge sets, though for us members of the Ronald Colman Appreciation Society (I'm not making that up, it's on Facebook), we think of the sets as "the two Ronald Colman sets with lots of Talmadge sisters too!" I plan to have a good time doing some screencaps of those films.

It's not Pre-Code I don't think (1934) but I watched Peck's Bad Boy with Jackie Cooper and Thomas Meighan tonight. Very nicely done, touching little film. Cousin Horace sure is a brat!

[drednm]

I liked Peck's Bad Boyalso and thought the actors were better than the story. A rare mean role for Dorothy Peterson as the sister-in-law.

As for Talmadges, I've already seen Kiki and Her Sister from Paris but bought the sets anyway to support Kino.

[MichiganJ]

It's not Pre-Code I don't think (1934) but I watched Peck's Bad Boy with Jackie Cooper and Thomas Meighan tonight. Very nicely done, touching little film. Cousin Horace sure is a brat!

While I like this version, I think I like the silent Peck's better. Despite a similar costume and being referred to as "The Kid", Jackie Coogan gives a terrific performance, and builds an entirely different character than he played in Chaplin's film.

[rudyfan]

I f I remember right, Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor were riding in a cab together when it was hit by another car. Both were badly injured.

Yup and this happened 1 block from my apartment. Terrible, Gaynor never really recovered from this terrible accident.

[charliechaplinfan]

I still can't belive that Jackie Coogan grew up to be Uncle Fester, he was the cutest kid. He was in Lonelyhearts the other night, I just can't see any resemblance between the boy and the man.

I never knew that Janet Gaynor was injured in a car accident and died later as a result of her injuries. I remember her in Hollywood, she'd aged very well, she was one of my favorite contributors.

[ChiO]

I still can't belive that Jackie Coogan grew up to be Uncle Fester, he was the cutest kid.

Then you must check out MESA OF LOST WOMEN (1952), starring Mr. Coogan, with Delores Fuller and possibly the worst soundtrack in film history. You know it has to be great when Lyle Talbot does the voice-over narration. It's all there on youtube for your enjoyment.

[charliechaplinfan]

It sounds interesting. I might just do that

[Ann Harding]

My latest discoveries have been two Feuillade serials. I went to see them at the Paris Film Forum on a videoscreen. It was well worth the effort.



Parisette (1922, L. Feuillade) with Sandra Milowanoff, Georges Biscot and René Clair
(René Clair & Sandra Milowanoff)
This serial is in 12 episodes clocking about 8 hours. We start in Portugal where the Marques da Costabella is ruined. He suddenly gets a fortune in gold bars. His grand-daughter Manöela (S. Milowanoff) suspects him of being a murderer. She takes the veil and dies in a convent. Some years later, Parisette (S. Milowanoff again) a young dancer of the Paris Opera, an orphan living with her uncle,is the living image of the dead Manoëla. One day, her uncle is indicted for murder following the theft of his uniform by a nasty neighbour. Follows a series of adventures where her uncle hides from the police pretecting the secret of a respectable lady...
At that point in his career, Feuillade had dropped his usual criminal stories for a more traditional melodrama. Sandra Milowanoff had arrived from Russia rencently. She was a dancer with Pavlova in St Petersburg. Feuillade hired her in 1920 to play in various melodrama. She was the perfect tragic heroine. but, she avoids sentimentality. She gets a chance to dance the 'Death of the Swan' during this serial showing her quality as a dancer. The serial was shot in Paris and Nice (where Gaumont had a studio) and the use of locations is brillant as with all Gaumont productions at the time. The best sequences are those when a murder is committed. We see a criminal pushing his accomplice in the river after a particularly over-alcoholic lunch. The man drowns. Surprisingly, the actor who has the comic relief part ends up also committing a murder: he pushes a criminal over a cliff above the Mediterranean! What is even more surprising is that he is never questioned about this...! René Clair was then a young actor and he plays the heroine's fiancé. Overall, it's not among Feuillade's best serials, but it's well shot, acted and keeps you interested from start to end.




Barrabas (1920, L. Feuillade) in 12 ep. with Gaston Michel, Fernand Hermann, Edouard Mathé, Georges Biscot & Blanche Montel
(Gaston Michel holding a gun)
A criminal mastermind, Joseph Strélitz (G. Michel) controls a vast criminal organisation called Barrabas. Each member wears a tatoo on its left arm and cannot leave the organisation. A lawyer (F. Hermann) and a journalist (E. Mathé) are going to try to unmask him. But the task will prove difficult: Strélitz is powerful, ruthless and immensely rich...
Feuillade is really in his element when creating complex criminal stories. His mastermind here is played brillantly by a veteran actor, Gaston Michel, who looks completely harmless with his white beard and tall figure. Nothing could be further from the truth: Strélitz is the devil incarnate. One title card gives you an idea of what he is capable of: "You may not believe in God. But when you know Strélitz, you have to believe in Satan." Nothing can stop this man and one life can be erased as easily as blinking. The film contains several hair-raising stunts like when a man jumps from a bridge unto a moving train. Blanche Montel has also to perform a very dangerous walk across a narrow plank above a precipice. We gets all the adventures you can ask for: kidnapping, blackmail, chase and murder. The heroes even take an aeroplane and a hydroplane. We actually get some stunning aerial footage of Nice. The print restored by Gaumont is gorgeous: entirely tinted and obviously taken from a negative. let's hope it will be on DVD one day.