WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[charliechaplinfan]

I got to see Carmen made in 1915 by Cecil B DeMille. It stars Geraldine Farrar who was an opera star in her day and one of the first 'names' to be lured to make movies. Carmen is undoubtedly a role she had performed on stage, she is comfortable in the role. I just found her a mite too long in the tooth to play Carmen, who surely should be young and nubile.

Pushing this to one side, it tells the story of Carmen complete with the music in the background. To audiences of it's day, many of whom, would have no hope of ever seeing an opera, it must have been very special.

Wallace Reid makes a very dashing Don Jose

I also watched Les Croix De Bois made in 1932 directed by Raymond Bernard. This film shows all the horror of war, all the waste, the waiting and wondering if you will live another day. It shows the comaraderie between the men, men from different walks of life something that would be highlighted in La Grande Illusion.

Coming from a person who isn't great with war films, I thought the battles were very well filmed and realistic looking.

The scene that stays in my mind is the hammering under the trench with the men waiting defending their position knowing that once the hammering stops the dynamite will be laid and the trench blown to smithereens, the trench still needs defending. The trench is blown up but only after the little band of men we are watching finish their shift. They have only just been relieved when the trench is blown up.

Food for thought

[charliechaplinfan]

I love your reviews Hedvig, especially the one about Umanita.

[Ollie]

I'll second the vote for all the reviews, Hedvig's as well as everyone else's. I never consider formal press critic reviews when I can find forums with 'real people' willing to explain or become passionate about their like's and dislikes. Thanks for all of that. Hedvig's reviews further point out I'd LOVE to buy DVDs with those films, if only they'd be available. One of these days, let's hope so.

[Synnove]

Thank you both!

I hope they will be released on DVD someday too. Since Mary Pickford is well known, there might be hope for that film to be released on DVD. Personally I wish for Umanitá.

[Gagman 66]

Hedvig,

I have been told that Milestone will be releasing a whopping 9 more Mary Pickford titles next year! Unfortunately, I do not know which films they will be, nor how soon in 2009 to expect them?

Hopefully, nicely restored verions of POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL, POLLYANNA, THE HOODLUM, DOROTHY VERNON OF HADDON HALL, and LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY will all be included. Maybe THE LITTLE AMERICAN, ROMANCE OF THE REDWOODS, and JOANNA ENLISTS as well? But I have no solid details?

Of course Milestone was expected to put out the Charely Chase collection for ther past three years, so you can never be sure about them???

Silentscreen,

THE RED KIMONA also gives us a brief glimpse at the legendary "Little Old Mother figure" of the Silent's Mary Carr. She was hugely popular as the perfect Mother figure in early films. The apparently lost 1920 Fox feature OVER THE HILL TO THE POORHOUSE, a long picture at the time of 11 reels, was a monster hit, that endeard her to millions of fans the world over. Maybe a print will yet be uncovered in an Archive someplace?

OVER THE HILL was one of the biggest, and most popular films of the early 1920's. Apparently, re-issued several times during the decade? I have actually heard allot about it from old timers. This is supposed to be one of the most powefully moving films ever made! It would be a awful shame if it could never be seen again!

[Synnove]

Gagman 66, I heard tell of that some time ago, and I hope they will be able to release them eventually. I would love to see a good DVD of Poor Little Rich Girl and the Hoodlum at least.

[Ann Harding]

Thanks for all these reviews Synnove! I read them all with great interest. Your film archive seems to do a very good job indeed!!!

[Ollie]

Hedvig, could you toss in some notes about the audience make-up of those performances - just a rough guess about ages. Was it a fairly mixed-age audience or was your impression that it was skewed to one end or the other? And I suppose this was a 'first viewing' by just about everyone in that audience - this is one of the labels our local festival theaters use with great results "First Time In X Decades" or "First Time Ever In Town".

[Synnove]

I'm glad you appreciated it, Christine! Yes, they did a great job.

Ollie, from what I could see, most people were maybe 30 - 50 years old? These showings were accompanied by lectures. I didn't attend them since I had to take the train to Stockholm to get there, and I had a lot of other things to deal with during the day - minor family catastrophes and such things (everything's fine right now, thankfully.)

You're right, a lot of these movies were shown for the first time in sometimes nine decades. The Mary Pickford movie, for instance. It was long considered lost. The image of her that I used in my post was also used on the film institute to advertise this festival. I found out about the showings a few weeks beforehand, since I regularly visit their page, but I could never find any information about them in any of my newspapers. It's possible I could have missed something, of course.

[MichiganJ]

Continuing my survey into the works of early women filmmakers, I watched Alice Guy-Blaché’s The Ocean Waif. A poor young woman flees from her brutal step-father, taking refuge in an abandoned mansion. Coincidentally, a rich author, with his nebbish valet, searches for a secluded property to write his new story. Guess which property he rents? The set-up is very funny, as they were warned the property was haunted by a “lady ghost”, and, of course, her “eerie” shenanigans are perceived mostly by the valet. Unfortunately this humorous set-up is resolved quickly, and the predictable romance and melodrama soon follow.

Overall the film is quite effective and highly entertaining. The print (apparently and unfortunately, one of only two Guy-Blaché features that still exist), is incomplete, necessitating some plot points to be covered by intertitles, and contains some serious nitrate decomposition early on, but it clears up reasonably quickly.

I’m impressed by Guy-Blaché’s direction, particularly her handling of the comedic sequences. Her framing is extraordinary, allowing us to see all of the participants, while maintaining the internal logic that the characters don’t necessarily see each other. (I really wish the “lady ghost” comedy was explored more. Edgar Norton, who plays the terrified valet, pretty much set the standard for such characters.) All of the acting is quite natural, especially for a film from 1916. Particularly good is Doris Kenyon (with eyes like Mabel Normand); she performs the comedy very naturally and handles the melodrama with equal skill.

The notes on the DVD jacket indicate the film is a “Pygmalian-type love story”, where the upper-class gentleman transforms the poor girl into a woman he can marry. But I don’t agree at all. While hiding in the attic, Millie (Doris Kenyon) discovers a hoop skirt, and makes her own dress, effectively changing herself. (It is fascinating, for a film that is a romance, how little the two leads share screen time) In my estimation, if one needs a literary comparison, The Ocean Waif is part Cinderella (swap an evil step-father for the evil step-mother) and a hint of Goldilocks (she does find a bed that’s “just right”). Plus, naturally, there’s a “happily ever after” ending (hope I didn’t give anything away!).

Synnove--I envy you and that wonderful film festival. To be able to see these films at all, let alone on the big screen is marvelous. Here, in Indiana, I had high hopes when they built an Art House Cinema, with six screens! Glancing at what’s now playing:
Sex & The City; Indiana Jones; You Don’t Mess With Zohan... (sigh)

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched One Way Passage with William Powell and Kay Francis. It's 70 minutes of perfection.

A simple story William Powell is going back to San Francisco to face execution for a murder he commited and Kay is on her way to a sanitarium to die. She's meant to be taking it easy but sees William Powell and decides to live for the moment, which will shorten her life. William Powell has a chance to escape but can't because she faints when he tells her he is leaving..... the ending is so good, it's one of those edge of your seat endings, but it's perfect

[Synnove]

Synnove--I envy you and that wonderful film festival. To be able to see these films at all, let alone on the big screen is marvelous. Here, in Indiana, I had high hopes when they built an Art House Cinema, with six screens! Glancing at what’s now playing:
Sex & The City; Indiana Jones; You Don’t Mess With Zohan... (sigh)

It's the same in my town, MichiganJ. Even the lovely old theaters only show modern mainstream films, so I have to take the train to Stockholm. I missed one film I really wanted to see because I had to take the last train back. I'm lucky I live so close to the capital though.

Thanks for that review of The Ocean Waif.

CCfan, that actually sounds like a fairly original plot. That alone makes it worth seeing.

[Gagman 66]

Everyone,

Last night, I watched the first half of Howard Hawks infamous FAZIL (1928) with Charles Farrell. I never do this, but it was late and I had to go back to bed. I always watch Silent's from Start to finish. Watching them interrupted is just no good.

Anyway, I had heard tell that this film was just awful! A mockery of Valentino! But after hearing the incredible NEAPOLITAN NIGHTS song from the picture, I was determined to see this movie! I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I just loved the first half of the film! And Greta Nissen was a real knockout! Forget Garbo!

Man what I would do for a good print of this film! It's odd because the Movie-tone score still sounds great, but the print, and more importantly the recording in combination was sub-par at best. I sure hope that Fox has this well perserved in the vaults someplace?

I'll finish the movie tonight. I know that it ends horrifically, but I have really enjoyed what I have seen thus far.

[myrnaloyisdope]

I watched a bunch of pre-code stuff the last couple of days so here goes:

The best of the bunch was 1934's Wonder Bar. I adore Busby Berkeley so I figured this one would be good, and it exceeded my expectations. Fast-paced, risque, delirious fun with Al Jolson as a night club owner/entertainer trying to survive a crazy night at his night club "The Wonder Bar". Kay Francis is in it too, but doesn't do a whole lot, and Delores Del Rio is good as a dancer. The music is great as always with "Don't Say Goodnight" and "Tango Del Rio" being standouts.

Of course the film is probably most famous for a couple things: firstly, a scene where a man and woman are dancing, and a man comes up and says "may I cut in", and then proceeds to dance off with the other man. Secondly the racist number "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" which features Al Jolson among many others in blackface, and offers a vision of heaven for black people that includes dice games, porkchop trees, fried chicken, and giant watermelons.

It's offensive, but nonetheless an incredible spectacle that rivals Berkeley's best. Highly recommended, but prepare to be offended.

I watched another Jolson picture Hallelujah, I'm a Bum which was interesting even if the message was problematic. Basically the premise is that it's better to be homeless than to have money. I kind of question this kind of thinking, particularly in the light of the Great Depression. But the songs are good, and there are some laughs.

I watched Blonde Crazy which was quite good as well, but it would be hard for a movie with Joan Blondell and James Cagney as the stars to be anything but. They have really good chemistry together, even if the story is a little light. I kinda liked the moral ambiguity of it though. The idea that there isn't much difference between the "upright folk" and the criminals.

I also watched the Warren William/Mary Astor/Ginger Rogers film Upperworld. William plays a railroad magnate whose wife, Mary Astor is seldom around, so he has a brief fling with showgirl Ginger Rogers. William's character has an amorality to him that's really compelling, as he is presented as the sympathetic hero from start to finish, but he tries to cover up a murder by bribing witnesses and cops. The ending is pretty awful though. But still worth checking out if only to see Ginger Rogers sing and take a couple pratfalls.

[silentscreen]

Gagman:

Thank you very much for the info about Mary Carr. I really didn't know who she was, but you're absolutely correct, she is the perfect "Mother figure." Her kindness to Gabrielle definitely stood out. I see that she had a very long life and that her last film was "Friendly Persusion", a film I enjoyed very much.