WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[MichiganJ]

Gagman wrote:

I rather doubt that Greta would have been able to pull of the "Jimmy Leaves For The Front" sequence nearly as effectively as Adoree did. A powerhouse scene that one is never likely to forget once you have seen it.

I agree, but by the same token, I would also say that Renée wouldn’t have been nearly as effective in the cigarette lighting scene in Flesh and the Devil, the apex of smoldering lust on the screen. Gilbert and Adorée certainly have chemistry in The Big Parade, but Garbo and Gilbert not only have chemistry, they have heat.

Given the way Warners released Ben Hur (as a supplement in the remake’s box set, the same way the silent version of The Ten Commandments was added as a supplement to the remake), I’m curious how The Big Parade will be released. Will it be a stand-alone title or coupled with another film (on laserdisc, MGM paired the classics The Wind/The Crowd as a double feature). I really like the Davis score, and hope that it is somehow included (perhaps as an alternate score, if necessary.)

[Gagman 66]

Kevin,

I'll concur that Renee Adoree would not have been as nearly as effective in that sequence or any of the sequences in FLESH AND DEVIL as Garbo was, but I feel that works both ways. Garbo would have looked rather silly in some of Adoree's roles, and vice-versa.

Here are some excerpts from my conversation with Rodnety Sauer of Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra about the scoring subject. If nothing else I hope Carl Davis can record his complete score to THE BIG PARADE even with the added footage again. I would still like to hear a new recording of the 1925 score though if at all possible. Though I was far from encouraged that this would still happen, rather by Robert Israel, Davis, or anyone.

quote][Me:

Speaking of King Vidor's THE BIG PARADE, Mr. Tabesh told me in July, that He is certain that Warner Home Video will have the new version ready by next year for MGM's 85th Anniversary. He is quite anxious to run the 2004 restoration on TCM since seeing it at a film festival last year. The sad thing is this picture has been stuck in limbo on TCM as they have been waiting, and waiting for this version to arrive. No version of the film has been shown since Memorial Day 2004.

Tabesh noted that they have repeatedly resisted the temptation to run the Brownlow presentation from the 80's (1983) again, as the new master was supposed to be ready much sooner than this. Perfectly understandable in 2005 and 2006, but to me in late 2008 this is wearing pretty dang thin. I know lot's of new to Silent film fans who have never seen THE BIG PARADE, and are very frustrated! It took along time for the film to even be restored, as Brownlow found the Negative by pure Fluke at Eastman House in 1997! The film wasn't restored until 2004, and a fine-Grain Master prepared.

I have been hoping that Warner's will commission Robert Israel and His Orchestra to reprise the original 1925 William Axt, David Mendoza score they have preformed at a few live screenings since 2005. Was shocked to hear from David Shepard as of this past March it had yet to be recorded! Which tells me there is no guarantee that we will get this score at all! I sure hope so though! It would be a travesty to see this Masterpiece desecrated by some inferior score, when the original still exists in-tact, and could be freshly recorded!

There had also been talk of including the earlier Thames version of the film, with Carl Davis score all re-mastered. Like FLESH AND THE DEVIL was for the Garbo Silent's set. Again no guarantee of this either. I took this even one step further, also asking for the 1931 sound re-issue, for an Ultimate Special Edition DVD set of THE BIG PARADE. After waiting for the film for this long, it deserves something far more than just a standard old run of the mill release.

Rodney Sauer,

You would not believe the expense this could entail -- the legal and rights issues are a real mess. You could probably use the originally recorded score, as there's some evidence that it's regarded as part of the "picture" (though see "It's a Wonderful Life" for a counter-argument.) For a newly recorded score, even if it's identical, you'd need to find the title of each piece used in the score (Axt and Mendoza certainly didn't compose the whole thing, they compiled parts of it from music in their library, they may or may not have written down what the pieces were), identify who owns the copyright now, and clear sync rights with the copyright owners. You'd be surprised at how quickly the tens of thousands of dollars will pile up. And that's before you pay Robert Israel and his musicians a fair rate for their work. Carl Davis is expensive too, but the nice thing about licensing his scores is that since he wrote them, at least you're only dealing with ONE agent.

Me:

So are you saying that it simply can not possibly be done, and we will never get to hear the original scoring arrangement from 1925? What I do know is Jack T got to see THE BIG PARADE screened live in 2005 with the Axt-Mendoza score being preformed by Israel's orchestra, and couldn't stop raving about it at the time! Even stating on Harold Lloyd.com, that He actually preferred it to Davis score. Which I felt was fantastic, and is the score I am used too. So how can you blame me, if ever since I have dreamed of hearing the vintage score?

I mean, even Kevin Brownlow back in May, as a guest on Silver Screen Oasis, stated that He expected Israel to record this score for Warner's DVD release! I mean, who wants to hear some hack new-composer hired for a project of this magnitude? I sure as heck wouldn't!

Anyway, I imagine that the majority of the Axt-Mendoza score is now "public domain material" isn't itl? I might add that Carl Davis adopted a great deal of that score into his own arrangement for the Thames version. So with respect, to some extent it's already been done. The Gilbert-Adoree Romance theme, The Melisande theme (a French Waltz), and several others. He used "Strawberry Blonde" for Karl Dane's "Slim" character. "My Buddy" was used by Axt, and by Davis too, for Bull, and Slim's theme. Carl didn't write any of those. All of them had been used by Axt-Mendoza, Davis generally does compose mostly original music for his scores, but not with THE BIG PARADE He didn't.

Incidentally, wanted to be sure to mention, I really enjoyed you guy's score for Fairbanks THE MODERN MUSKETEER, when it premiered on TCM some months ago. Great work!


Rondney Sauer:

I don't know about the details of this particular title, but if Kevin Brownlow says it's happening, that's good news, as I'm sure he has better information than I have. And music written before 1923 is public domain, but due to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, that written in 1923 and afterwards mostly is not. Silent film scores from the late 20s contain music written over about a thirty-year period, but a fair amount of it is from then-recent publications.

And public performance is an entirely different thing from "sync" rights -- Robert Israel can perform the score in any auditorium that pays its ASCAP license. He could even use pieces by Puff Daddy if he likes. It's covered by the license. There's no such license for sync, so you have to negotiate on a case-by-case, piece by piece basis when you're recording a score.

For instance, the AFI (using its nonprofit and academically-oriented nature to great benefit) was able to release REDSKIN with a new piano recording of Zamecnik's cues on the recent TREASURES release. If I had been trying to do it with a "commercial" company like Kino, it would probably not have been possible without a huge budget.

Glad you liked A MODERN MUSKETEER. There are excerpts of many more (public domain) silent film pieces at our website if you want to hear more.

Me:

Rodney,

I never made any such claim, that Browlow said that "it was happening". He merely said that's what he "heard Warner's was planning to do". I wish I had more solid details, but I don't. That's why I brought up the subject in this thread hoping that someone knew more about the situation than I did.

The idea has been tossed around that we might get several long awaited MGM Silent's for MGM's 85 th Anniversary on DVD from Warner's in 2009. Again that is pure speculation, and I am inclined to take it with a grain of salt. I just hope that I am wrong, and it really does happen. I just haven't seen much eveidence.

Very much looking forward to the Flicker Alley Fairbanks set! [/quote]

[MichiganJ]

Jeffrey,

Thanks for the Sauer excerpts. It really helps in understanding some of the confounding rights issues, which were muddled even more with the Bono-Extension Act.

Juts watched the Griffith film One Exciting Night, the feature he made right after Orphans of the Storm. Oh boy, what a mess. A murder mystery with little mystery, and worse, no compelling reason to care about the mystery. A leaden pace picks up, slightly, after a second murder, but ultimately the film is pretty darn boring. The overly-complicated plot contains Griffith’s penchant for over-long intertitles, and be warned, Griffith tries to inject some humor involving Porter Strong, in blackface, naturally, playing the stereotypical scared servant.

Griffith’s direction is unusual. too, in that his camera never moves. The film consists of long shots, medium shots and close ups. There is nary a pan or tilt, let alone the fluid camera movements Griffith’s films are known for. Also unusual is the terrible editing. His continuity is off in nearly every scene. We watch a movement in long shot, and then, see the same movement repeated in the medium shot. This from the “father of film” who, less then 10-years earlier, came to be defined by his editing.

The film culminates in an odd “race-to-the-rescue” featuring a raging storm, with heroine Carol Dempster trapped while a giant falling tree threatens her. The sequence makes little sense in the context of the film, and it, too, has no camera movement. (Dempster, by the way, having the unenviable position of filling in Lillian Gish’s shoes, does a pretty good job.)

All-in-all, One Exciting Night is really anything but exciting, and has the dubious distinction of being Griffith’s worst feature.

[drednm]

BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT..... rumors have it the film is headed for DVD and even Kevin Brownlow wrote me and mentioned this BUT when I wrote to Flicker Alley, they said they had no plans for the film..... so what's the story with this great find?

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday, I watched a double bill of silents. First The Dragon Painter (1919) with Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki. This beautiful silent takes place in Japan where a talented painter (S. Hayakawa) lives like a wild animal looking for a fairy princess. He is taken as the disciple of a famous artist and falls in love instantly with his daughter (T. Aoki). Alas, once married and happy, he loses all his talent...
This wonderful silent produced by Hayakawa and his wife shows Japanese society in a totally non-prejudiced way. Underneath the fairy-like tale, it's really a very moral story. Hayakawa is superb from beginning to end: from wild unbriddled youth to a man in the depth of despair when he loses his wife. The landscape (absolutely stunning) looks more American than Japanese with its huge pinetrees, but, the interior sets are incredibly accurate and elegant. A wonderful picture!

Afterwards I watched Borzage's Lazybones (1925) with Buck Jones, Madge Bellamy and Zasu Pitts. I had been waiting for a while to watch this silent and I wonder why: it's a very moving Borzage feature!
Steve (B. Jones) is called 'Lazybones' by the whole town as he is often seen fishing by the river or sleeping. One day, he saves from drowning Ruth (Z. Pitts absolutely superb and tragic). She was trying to commit suicide: she has a child and cannot tell her evil mother about it. Steve accepts to take the baby girl home and care for her while Ruth will try to tell her mother. Alas, Ruth is beaten savagely by her evil mother. Steve decides to adopt the baby creating even more gossips in the small town...
Buck Jones was a western star at the time and the part he plays in this film was a complete departure from his usual parts. He can be seen also in another Fox silent, Just Pals by J. Ford. Most of the reviewers at the time failed to catch the beauty and sensitivity of the film. We follow Steve and Kit, his adopter daughter through the years as she grows into a teenager while Steve gets grey. Most scenes bear the usual Borzage touch: when Zasu Pitts dies, she clutches desperately her daughter while not telling her she is her mother. we don't see the characters' faces, but the emotion is almost palpable when we see her losing her grip as she dies... There are many other scenes which are a sight to behold! I saw a pretty washed out 16mm print transfer and it's just as well that XXth Cent Fox is going to release this little gem as part of their Borzage/Murnau DVD Box.

[Synnove]

Yesterday, I watched a double bill of silents. First The Dragon Painter (1919) with Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki. This beautiful silent takes place in Japan where a talented painter (S. Hayakawa) lives like a wild animal looking for a fairy princess. He is taken as the disciple of a famous artist and falls in love instantly with his daughter (T. Aoki). Alas, once married and happy, he loses all his talent...
This wonderful silent produced by Hayakawa and his wife shows Japanese society in a totally non-prejudiced way. Underneath the fairy-like tale, it's really a very moral story. Hayakawa is superb from beginning to end: from wild unbriddled youth to a man in the depth of despair when he loses his wife. The landscape (absolutely stunning) looks more American than Japanese with its huge pinetrees, but, the interior sets are incredibly accurate and elegant. A wonderful picture!

Isn't it? It made me wish there were more silents with Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki available for viewing. I saw a fragment of another one of their films at a festival recently, and it was about what happened when a man lost his public honor. It was treated as the worst thing possible. I think it's very interesting and sympathetic that Sessue Hayakawa tried to showcase a fair, more truthful image of Japan from the stereotypical images you generally got to see in the movies of that time. There is also a documentary called Black Shadows on a Silver Screen which I saw thanks to Alison, and it showed some tantalizing scenes from films directed by black film makers during the silent era. There are so many intriguing movies that have been lost...

The Dragon Painter is really beautiful visually too, especially the moonlit scenes.

[bdp]

Some of the information in Black Shadows is a little out of date - when it was made only one of Oscar Micheaux's films was known to exist but two others have since been found. They also used no clips of The Birth of a Race in that documentary but it does exist, and excerpts of it were included in the Lumivision laserdisc/DVD of The Birth of a Nation, courtesy of the George Eastman House. Also, in another documentary, Midnight Ramble, I've seen clips of another two-reel comedy from the Ebony studios, whose Spying the Spy was excerpted in Black Shadows.

[Gagman 66]

Kyle,

Hey, been trying to reach you. Brace yourself, I now have the 5 and a half hour restoration of Abel Gance NAPOLEON with the Carl Davis score! To be honest, I am still somewhat partial to the Coppola score, but at least I finally found the longest version that has ever been offered to the public, outside of live screenings and film festivals since this movie was first released! Send me an E-mail! Look forward to hearing from you very soon.

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday, I watched James Cruze's The Mating Call (1928) with Thomas Meighan, Evelyn Brent and Renée Adorée.
Leslie Hatten (T. Meighan) comes back from the war hoping to find his bride Rose (E. Brent) waiting for him. But while he was away, she divorced him. It doesn't prevent Rose to come constantly to tempt him. Fed up, Leslie decides to marry a migrant girl he will find in Ellis Island. He selects Catharine (R. Adorée) and takes her to his farm....
The film has been beautifully restored and is a treat to the eye. Evelyn Brent is superb as the femme fatale, every bit as enticing as in her Sternberg pictures! There is a lovely contrast with Renée Adorée which is more homely and sweet. The village seems to be in the throes of a masked gang, the 'Order' which wants to make justice itself. It's a shame this aspect of the film has not been developed further as it gave an interesting insight into the period. Nevertheless, the corruption is latent with Rose's husband being a prominent member of the gang while being himself a nasty individual. Meighan is a very understated actor and gives a fine performance. Cruze is definitely an interesting director!
Thanks a lot for sharing this, Jeffrey!!!
I have to finish watching The Racket tonight.

[MichiganJ]

Ann Harding said:

The village seems to be in the throes of a masked gang, the 'Order' which wants to make justice itself. It's a shame this aspect of the film has not been developed further as it gave an interesting insight into the period.

I couldn’t agree more. The unpredictable plot of The Mating Call provides a unique glimpse into the mindset of the late 1920’s. On the one hand, you have the tacit acceptance of the Klan (here, The Order) as they purport to uphold the morality of the community. One man is threatened for not taking better care of his mother, while another, a confessed unrepentant wife-beater, is lashed to a cross and whipped. The kangaroo-court aspect, where there is no defense and punishments are dolled out fast and swift, is never deliberately questioned in the film, and while Meighan protests his conviction, his guilt is assured merely because he’s the accused. When they realize their mistake, the Klan release Meighan, but there are no apologies given and, by Meighan’s demeanor, none expected. The Klan and their justice is just a fact of life, apparently acceptable to communities both in the film and those watching the film. Fascinating.

Thanks to Jeffrey I saw The Pagan, an odd little film, which takes place on one of those picturesque South Seas Islands. None other than Ramon Navarro plays a “half native”, while second-billed Renée Adorée (really in a supporting role), plays a prostitute. It’s interesting that her profession isn’t masked or merely alluded too (it actually plays a significant plot point later in the film), but it’s a shame her character wasn’t explored more. One wonders why she had to “work” at all, Navarro’s character certainly doesn’t. Can’t say I was much impressed with the film’s love interest, Dorothy Janis, although she and Navarro did have an almost sibling playfulness about them. (I did like how she nestled into his arm, which was framed nicely by director W.S. Van Dyke.) Couldn’t help, too, by being amused at how often “Navarro” broke into song! (these on-the-cusp Silents are quite endearing in that way).
Still, hard to shake the idea that Ben Hur is wearing a loin cloth, plucking a yuke, and serenading his lady love. Donald Crisp, as the heavy, is his usual gritty self.

[Ann Harding]

I have now seen The Racket (1928) by Lewis Milestone with Louis Wolheim, Thomas Meighan and Marie Prevost.
This is a very early gangster picture (around the same time as Sternberg's Underworld) with Louis Wolheim playing the mob boss, king of bootleggers. The film doesn't shy away from the corruption among judges and politicians who are all receiving bribes from gangsters. The police officer played by Meighan has to try to go round these to capture the boss. Marie Prevost is a gangster's moll type (it's really hilarious that her screen character is called Helen Hayes!!!! ), but with a big heart as she falls for a young journalist who covers the events. The last part of the picture takes place in a police station, though it doesn't feel too stagey thanks to the action taking place there, like in The Front Page!
A very interesting feature, lovingly restored to show Tony Gaudio's superb cinematography.
Thanks Jeffrey!!!

[charliechaplinfan]

Well the kids have gone back to school and within the space of one week they've brought home a bug that's managed to floor us for a few days. Thankfully I got a package from Fernando yesterday and it's managed to pull me through.

Whilst led on my sick bed I watched Sadie McKee Joan Crawford starring with Franchot Tone, Joan does look like she could have had him for breakfast.

Morning Glory, the delightful Katharine Hepburn with Adolphe Menjou and Doug Fairbanks Jnr.

Dance Fools Dance another Joan Crawford film with Clark Gable in a supporting role, my they had chemistry.

Strange Cargo, Gable and Crawford again, with Crawford having billing over Gable in the credits, which I thought was strange, I'd have thought he had more pull at the box office, perhaps he was a gentleman. The movie needs a wider discussion. It has many layers, it's very enjoyable.

I've also watched

A Free Soul, Norma Shearer making very obvious eyes at Clark Gable. A very sexual movie, I can't help but cheer for Norma's character. The end is a little contrived, wanton lust it seems has to have it's downside, the girl has to be a little chastened. A very good movie, I'm beginning to like Norma.

I'm a Fugitive from A Chain Gang this is like so many other movies rolled into one, only the other movies have copied from this one. Paul Muni without makeup, a very good story one I must see again.

You can see I have used my convalesencse wisely, thank heavens for grandparents who for once saw how ill we were and took the kids out both days. Alleluljah!

I've keep my comments brief, although my typing fingers are fine, the brain hasn't completely shifted back into gear

[drednm]

the Klan also figures prominently in Mary Pickford's 1919 film HEART O' THE HILLS with Mary herself riding with the clan to rid the area of land developers. When a guy is killed by a Klansman, Mary is accused and must stand trial. Just a few year after THE BIRTH OF A NATION took so much heat for its Klan portrayal, the Pickford film apparently got none.

[bdp]

I doubt that Heart O' the Hills espoused the same sort of...um...'ideology' that BoaN did.

[feaito]

Thanks to Christine I watched "An American Tragedy" (1931). A much shorter films than the 1951 remake "A Place in the Sun" (1951) and very different in many aspects.

I feel that Phillips Holmes captured the essence of Clyde Griffiths' character but chose to play him in rather lifeless, zombie-like-way; like a living dead. The delivery of his lines, especially in the first part of the film sounded as if he were walking in his sleep. But I felt he did it on purpose, because he felt he was the right way to play it. I've seen him in "Night Court" (1932) and "Broken Lullaby" (1932) and he's a good actor. Towards the end of the film his playing gets most expressive. He impersonates Clyde as a doomed character right from the beginning, like if he knew he's heading towards tragedy.

Clyde Griffiths, quite unwillingly, attracts the attention of many women during the length of the film; he's like a magnet and yet you do not understand why, because although Holmes has looks he's no Gary Cooper or Monty Clift, but it's maybe this "helplessness" of the character that draws women towards him. In one scene at a his uncle's factory, where he becomes the head of a department in which only women work, he's being looked by all these women as if he were the prey and the women were wolves. It's a very sexually charged scene. In fact the movie has a more "daring" atmosphere than the 1951 remake. The cinematography is excellent.

Frances Dee's role as the socialite girl with whom Clyde "falls for" or "becomes interested in" plays her in a more kittenishly sexy way than Liz Taylor, who was pretty, but as I recall more played the socialite in a more straightforwardly ladylike way and was more "romantically" in love with Monty. And he with her too. Although Frances is beautiful and classy, she plays her part with more moral ambiguity, devoid of romantic ideals, very different to Monty and Liz's romantic relationship in the later remake. I realize that Taylor's part was expanded for the remake, which focuses principally on these two beautiful people's love affair.

Sylvia Sidney gives a beautiful performance as Roberta Alden, the poor factory girl with whom Clyde initially falls in love with, in a sort of way, and of whom he later wants to get rid off. Sylvia plays the part wonderfully, very differently of the way in which Shelley Winters played the role. Shelley was made up to look very drab, very unattractive and played her part as an annoying girl. Sylvia is sweet, pretty and glows with hope. One feels much more sorry for her than for Shelley in the 1951 version. And Sylvia Sidney is the leading lady in the 1931 version, because she has much more screen time.

Lucille La Verne plays touchingly Clyde's mother and Irving Pichel impersonates very effectively and in a florid way, the D.A. during the trial.

This film should be on DVD. Very interesting.