WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[MichiganJ]

I just happened to have watched some of the Griffith/Barthelmess films they made between the two classics Broken Blossoms and Way Down East, and ooo-boy, classic these are are surely not:

Scarlet Days (1919) Surely in contention for his worst, Griffith's western is as silly as they come. Filled with caricatures and not characters, the story involves Rosie Nell (Eugenie Besserer) as a prostitute (or dance hall girl if you prefer) who has been sending money to her daughter back east. The daughter, Lady Fair (Griffith with those silly names again) heads west to surprise her mother and when she gets off the stage she's met by a Robin Hood-esque Mexican bandit, Alvarez (Richard Barthelmess sporting an absurd goatee and mustache--oh, and two curls pasted on his forehead). There's romance, an alleged murder involving Rosie (where it's deemed she must hang, but the posse agree to wait three days so Rosie and her daughter can get reacquainted ), and the obligatory house under siege climax (is this finale in every Griffith film?) Clarine Seymour as Chiquita has some humorous bits and comes through relatively unscathed. Barthelmess looks uncomfortable and is humorously unconvincing as the Mexican bandit. Oddly, the usually stiff and formal Carol Demspter uses those attributes well; Lady Fair does seem like a foreigner who is out of her element. One wishes that, at the very least, Griffith would have shot the western landscape to his advantage, but alas, not one engaging vista is to be exploited.

The Idol Dancer (1920) Southern Florida passes as a South Sea Island and that's the good news. This film is every bit as racist as Birth of a Nation, but without any of the artistry or historical import. Most of the natives (or "savages" as Griffith's titles frequently like to call them) are, of course, white men and women in black face. Chief Wando (Walter James) is adorned with a bone through his nose and wears not one but two skulls as a neckless and of course the totem pole "god" they worship is called "devil-devil". Inside this mess is Richard Barthelmess as a drunken castaway who falls for half-caste Mary (Clarine Seymour). But also in love with Mary is the missionary's nephew (Creighton Hale) and there's a bunch of hooey about a white pearl hunter who instigates one tribe of natives to burn out the other (including the missionaries, who--get this, are holed up in their house while it's under siege!) Barthelmess has little to do but look drunk and sullen and it's only Seymour who is worth watching (she has the energy of Constance's Mountain Girl). And then there's Florence Short's "Pansy". Surely the most embarrassing character Griffith ever put on screen. Borderline despicable, and most assuredly sad, Griffith, by now, should have known better.

The Love Flower (1920) Substantially better than either of the above, The Love Flower is nevertheless silly and contrived and, if looked at with even the slightest inspection, harbors a warped sense of ethics and morality. After "accidentally" killing his wife's lover, a father takes his daughter and flees to a more-or-less deserted isle in the West Indies. Living in a hut that would be the envy of Gilligan as well as the Professor, the two live a happy existence until a relentless detective learns of their whereabouts and makes his way to the island. Enter Richard Barthelmess who happens by the isle while yachting and, well, plenty of hokum ensues. While Griffith dispenses with the natives, here he has Carol Dempster, who three times tries to murder the detective to protect her father--and we're supposed to root for her! Try as she might, Griffith just can't change Carol Dempster into Lillian Gish, and Dempster looks absolutely foolish acting the "little girl" while on the island, prancing about and happily putting a dress on her kitten. (Yes, this is that kind of isle, inhabited by ferocious kittens.) At least Barthelmess gets to be the affable Barthelmess we all know and love, and here he is quick with that lopsided smile.

While all three films feature Griffith's penchant for not matching shots between establishing, medium and close-ups, in The Love Flower it proves very distracting as he insists on using long and unflattering close-ups of Dempster, which are obviously filmed at completely different times--her hair is different in some and there's always a black background. On the plus side, there is a (too) long sequence featuring Dempster swimming, and here Griffith actually shoots underwater, which shows off some of Dempster's natural athleticism.

[drednm]

Well I think I said I liked Barthelmess and not necessarily the films. The South Sea stuff generally leaves me cold but I did like Scarlet Days possibly because it was so different from Griffith's other features. Barthelmess, in one of his oddest roles in a silent, got the part after DW nixed someone called Rudolph Valentino at the last minute as being too ethnic.

Barthelmess tried just about everything as an actor. One of his later starring roles was as an Indian in Massacre, and although Barthelmess would have been one of the last actors I'd have picked for this role, he's just wonderful in this little seen 1934 film. It had my blood boiling....

[Gagman 66]

At long last. I finally got to see HELEN'S BABIES (1924) for the first time ever. Based on the amount of letters in Vintage movie magazines this was a very popular film back in the day. Still running in Theaters more than a year after it's original release. The two little girls Toodie, and Budge, pride of the Lawrence family played by Baby Peggy and Jean Carpenter are just adorable. Claire Adams is quite a stunning beauty as the Mother Helen. Hubby Tom Lawrence (Richard Tucker) has learned how to rear his little darling's by following all the detailed technique's found in this wife's brother's book on child care to the letter. They consider that man a true godsend. So much that they will allow the famous author to tend to the well behaved little tykes while the parents slip away for the weekend. No concern's after all good old Uncle Harry himself a Bachelor, played by a young though still very recognizable Edward Everett Horton, is the reining authority on Children, Isn't He?

Headed into town for a vacation Uncle Harry Burton tired of fielding questions on Child rearing from the press, has no idea what He is getting himself into. Alice Mayton (Clara Bow) a winsome neighbor of the Lawrence's who lives down the road, is a strong admirer of the acclaimed writer's work. She shows up at the station with the family, and is quickly fascinated, with the unsuspecting Uncle. On the way to the Lawrence home they spot the two little girls in a predicament. Toodie and budge are stuck up high on a tree, attempting to retrieve a beloved Rag Doll that got snagged on a branch. Swiftly Uncle Harry dashes to the rescue. He saves the girls but leaves the toy behind. Now He will need to play the hero a second time. To bad He isn't very skilled at this. Ker-plunk goes the Child rearing expert! Toodie scrambles back up the tree, as if it is second nature, and finally gets her dolly. While Uncle Harry who having taken a nasty spill attempt's to collect his numbers. Catch me if you can Uncle! Toodie is headed down and believes on taking the shortest rout. Flying like a Bird! Successfully, breaking the fall, Toodie is all set for another go around! That was so much fun! No more of that! Uncle has had enough outdoor adventures for one afternoon. A shocker, He inquiers of Alice, "Who are these two little Imp's?" To which she replies with astonishment, "Why they are none other than you own two little nieces!" That's right Uncle has never seen them before! And obviously, He hasn't read his own best-selling book either.

Back home now and Harry can relax at last. Wishful thinking! Toodie and Budge mean well, but are constantly getting into things. Uncle Harry's things. Popping open a canister chuck full of his starched collars, Toodie will roll them up as small as she can in order to fit them back in the container. Baby Peggy is to Cute for words with her little Colleen Moore type Bob and bangs. There is one mishap after another, as the toddlers try to be helpful. Soon poor Harry is fit to be tied! And when inquisitive Toodie spy's Uncle shaving, she can't wait to try it out herself! Watch out that things sharp!

Next morning, while visiting Alice, the girls wander from the grounds, chasing a shy stray dog to a gypsy camp several blocks away. Before long they end up facing a speeding train! Oh, my! The stubborn Pooch won't move from the tracks! Yikes! Wouldn't you know Mommy and Daddy are aboard! Meantime, Harry and Alice in pursuit have been fending of accused Baby-Nappers in the gypsy camp! What happens now?

HELEN'S BABIES is great fun, a real charmer and appears to be in pretty decent shape. There are a couple scenes with some nitrate deterioration. Over all not to bad though. Director William Seiter who made several films with and soon married Laura La Plante, keeps the comedy business, all very plausible. The Silent Edward Evertt Horten isn't much different than the talking one. Giving the impression that most of the time, He has no idea what his next move is going to be. Clara Bow is terrific as Alice, though one is inclined to question her taste in Men falling as she does for the rather dim-witted Harry! All of about 17 or 18 years old when this picture was made Miss Bow looks nice, but her lips are a little more Bee-Stung than we are used too. More in the Betty Compson, Mae Murray mold.

A Public-Domain Clara Bow title, It would be nice to see a restored print of this in the future along with the newly discovered MAYTIME. and maybe EMPTY HEARTS. There's an idea for a future Flicker Alley, Milestone, or Kino project. Hey, If KID BOOTS is really Public Domain, certainly wouldn't mind seeing them take a look at that either. I would definitely buy such a collection.

[MichiganJ]

Well I think I said I liked Barthelmess and not necessarily the films.

And I think I wrote that I just happened to have watched a few of the films in discussion. There was no offense intended, and I think, the reviews reflect more on Griffith than on Barthelmess anyway.

Of the three, I was most interested in seeing Scarlet Days. Griffith doing a Western seemed hard to resist. Unfortunately, though, to me, it was pretty much the same-old-same-old, with a plot that could have been (and was) used in any locale. And while I think Valentino would have been a better choice, I'm glad Griffith passed him up and went with Barthelmess. I can't imagine cinema's history if Valentino's breakthrough film was Scarlet Days rather than Four Horsemen.

At long last. I finally got to see HELEN'S BABIES (1924) for the first time ever.

While I liked Helen's Babies, I think some of what passes for humor is questionable, even for 1924. Kids hanging precariously from a high tree branch? Well, maybe. But that scene where Baby Peggy tries to emulate Uncle Horton and picks up his straight razor is, to me, cringe-inducing and far from funny. While it's interesting that a silent Horton is essentially the same as he is with dialogue, it's hard to imagine he and Bow as sweethearts. Of course that is part of the humor and charm of the film and Bow is terrific.

[Gagman 66]

Kevin,

I didn't know that you had seen HELEN'S BABIES? You never mentioned the film to me before? Is it the same old Videobrary print with the logo superimposed in the corner of the screen? Other than that the quality is pretty good. It would be nice to see it with a little higher-frame rate. 16 frames per second is to slow for a film made in 1924. I should mention this title to Rich. He might even have a good 16 Millimeter print in his collection. Who knows?

[jdb1]

I fogot to mention that I recorded the German-Indian silent Throw of the Dice over the weekend. I tried to watch it last night, but I found it agonizingly slow to get to whatever point it was trying to get to, and I gave up after about 40 minutes. The print quality was very good, but I thought the direction static and not particularly cinematic. I also found the new score, supposedly a fusion of Western and Indian sounds, rather instrusive, but also pedestrian and not much of one style or the other. It was like the kind of pseudo-Indian Muzak-type stuff you hear in some Indian restaurants here in New York.

But maybe I'm just too accustomed to the sweep, tempo and color of Bollywood.

[rudyfan]

I fogot to mention that I recorded the German-Indian silent Throw of the Dice over the weekend. I tried to watch it last night, but I found it agonizingly slow to get to whatever point it was trying to get to, and I gave up after about 40 minutes. The print quality was very good, but I thought the direction static and not particularly cinematic. I also found the new score, supposedly a fusion of Western and Indian sounds, rather instrusive, but also pedestrian and not much of one style or the other. It was like the kind of pseudo-Indian Muzak-type stuff you hear in some Indian restaurants here in New York.

But maybe I'm just too accustomed to the sweep, tempo and color of Bollywood.

I only caught the last 20 or so minutes of it. I felt a little lost as I was not sure what was going on, then I did a little homework. I have to say I was very impressed with the costuming and settings.

I was not too fond of the score and would have preferred more original Indian ragas from the period than the mish-mash on the sound track.

The cinematography was lush and the vistas beautiful.

[charliechaplinfan]

I rewatched Merrily We Go To Hell, I just love well done precodes, this being one of my favorites, it feels so grown up. Sylvia Sidney grows on me each time I see her on film, Fredric March play another believeable drunk. I love the fact that we hear Cary Grant before we see him, he must have the most recogniseable accent in film. What a dilemma, a night out with Cary or a night out with Fredric, actually Cary's character is a little wishy washy here.

[MichiganJ]

I fogot to mention that I recorded the German-Indian silent Throw of the Dice over the weekend. I tried to watch it last night, but I found it agonizingly slow to get to whatever point it was trying to get to, and I gave up after about 40 minutes. The print quality was very good, but I thought the direction static and not particularly cinematic. I also found the new score, supposedly a fusion of Western and Indian sounds, rather instrusive, but also pedestrian and not much of one style or the other. It was like the kind of pseudo-Indian Muzak-type stuff you hear in some Indian restaurants here in New York.

But maybe I'm just too accustomed to the sweep, tempo and color of Bollywood.

I only caught the last 20 or so minutes of it. I felt a little lost as I was not sure what was going on, then I did a little homework. I have to say I was very impressed with the costuming and settings.

I was not too fond of the score and would have preferred more original Indian ragas from the period than the mish-mash on the sound track.

The cinematography was lush and the vistas beautiful.

Two kings addicted to gambling and both in love with the same (and very beautiful) woman, some treachery, murder, elephants (plenty of elephants), a cast of thousands and the exotic local of India, what's not to love? I picked the Kino DVD up a few years back when it was released and was amazed at how gorgeous the print is (you can see every wrinkle on those elephants). I also thought that director Franz Osten did a pretty good job, particularly in a sequence where he was showing the people readying for the big wedding.

I agree completely about the score. On the DVD, there's a lengthy interview with the composer and he goes into great detail about what he was trying to do. I admire his enthusiasm and think the music is pretty good by itself, but it rarely reflects what is going on on screen and I think the film would have been much better served with some traditional Indian music.

Interesting, too, that the film features a kiss, which I thought was a bozo no-no in Indian films. But then again, Seeta Davi would have been too hard to resist.

[Gagman 66]

I'm happy to see someone commenting on A THROW OF THE DICE. I've had the DVD for about a year, and personally think this is a fine film. The score has been praised on other boards, but I couldn't get into allot of it. There were portions that I liked. The near perfect Nitrate print was discovered in the BFI collection, and restored (Copied to Safety) in 2006. This film is in virtually pristine condition, one of the best preserved Silent films around anywhere. On the same level as the new DVD release of CHICAGO (1927). Most likely many people had never heard of this movie, and so they probably didn't tune in. I haven't seen one comment on the TCM boards about the film, from anyone who hadn't already seen it. To bad, You will rarely a more scenic and visually compelling movie. Seeta Davi sure was a gorgeous woman!

It was a real surprise that TCM picked this picture up. They haven't had many dealings with Kino in the past few years, and the movie is not all that well known. Really only being uncovered very recently. I was so anxious to read the comments about this debut on the TCM forums, and there have been none. A THROW OF THE DICE is a very impressive forgotten film, that astounds with it's stunning sets, costume's, and exquisite cinematography. My thanks to TCM Programmer Chuck Tabesh for the unique addition to the schedule. With just two mo9nths of programming left in the year November and December yet to be announced we have had just one new MGM Silent debut, that was Rex Ingram's THE MAGICIAN back in March. Hopefully, there will be another before 2010 is over.

[jdb1]

Upon reflection, I am still of the opinion that I didn't care much for Throw of the Dice. Maybe I was expecting The Apu Trilogy. I found the movie not particularly Indian in feel -- it could have come from Hollywood. I wonder if the kiss was edited out for Indian audiences.

I am home today, and this morning I got to see the charming Sally (1929), starring Marilyn Miller and Joe E. Brown. A young and barely recognizable Pert Kelton had a supporting role. This film was shown as part of TCM's birthday tribute to Brown. I really enjoyed this antique; the musical show itself was already 10 years old when it was filmed, and is correspondingly old-fashioned. However, there were many things about the film that merit attention.

I think the film (the stage version is credited to P.G. Wodehouse) would have been a lot harder to take without Miller and Brown. They were excellent. I really do like Brown, who we get to see very little of. He was quite a screen presence in the 30s, and pulled up the quality of a whole series of silly time-fillers he starred in. He got in a few quite racy zIngers in Sally. I loved Miller. She starred in the Broadway version of the show, which ran 1919-1920, and she was still entirely believable as the Cinderella-like ingenue Sally in 1929. I can well understand why she was such a Broadway megastar. She sang well, acted well, and danced wonderfully.

Miller danced in the same flat-footed tap style that Ruby Keeler used, but I found Miller infinitely more graceful. Miller also did a ballet number at the end, on pointe. She didn't seem quite as comfortable in that genre, but she obviously knew what she was doing. I found it interesting that Miller reminded me a lot of Irene Dunne, especially Dunne in Show Boat. I wonder if Dunne was intended as a Miller substitute. (Miller had a troubled personal life, and made only three films. She died at 37.)

The best part of Sally was that there was a color sequence in the middle, at Miller's big production number "Wild, Wild Rose." The print was pretty blurry, but you could clearly see green trees and Miller's pretty pink dress. After that number, Brown did some shtick, and right in the middle of a sentence, the color stopped and b&w came back. I've looked the movie up, but reports vary: some say the entire film was shot in 2-strip, and some say only certain sequences were done with color.

On the whole, I was impressed with the musical sequences. I thought the singing and dancing were a lot better executed than in most other films of the period I've seen, even though they were obviously merely transferred from the stage, and not necessarily choreographed for the camera. In other musicals of this time, everyone seems to be milling around, dancers bump into each other, and the whole thing always looked underrehearsed. Sally did it better (which is not to say it was anywhere near the caliber of the musicals of even 4 or 5 years later). This is a film that cries out for restoration. In color, if possible.

[ken123]

Judith:
Sounds like good one, I'm sorry that I missed it.

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks to Fernando I got to see Three Cornered Moon a very early screwball comedy with Claudette Colbert, Richard Arlen and Mary Boland as the dizzy matriarch of the Rimplegar clan, who has lost all the family money investing in a mine called Three Cornered Moon. Each of her pampered children will have to go out and earn money, all of them measuring up to the quest and finding jobs that don't quite sustain the family income and diet. Claudette as Elizabeth is engaged to the wrong man, Hardie Albright who will not help his adopted family by taking a readers job and leaves them in the lurch, bringing a bunch of flowers back to a hungry Elizabeth after he has had a night on the tiles. Thankfully commonsense prevails and Elizabeth realises she loves the family doctor who took to lodging with the Rimplegars just to be close to Elizabeth. Richard Arlen here looks very different to the young boy who was in Wings, he's matured into a sensitive leading actor. The stars of this forerunner to the screwball comedy are the women in the cast, Mary Boland, Claudette Colbert and Lyda Roberti as the Polish maid. The film felt like a play with a cast of many who played together really well, worth catching when you get chance.

[JackFavell]

Oh I am so bummed out that I missed Sally - I meant to record it, but forgot. I have always wanted to see it, if simply to see Miller in the role she created on stage. Sounds like it was very worthwhile. I'll have to try again next year, if they do another Joe E. Brown day.

[feaito]

Glad to read that you enjoyed "Three Cornered Moon" Alison, it is a thoroughly entertaining screwballish comedy and Mary Boland is a hoot in it!