WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[pvitari]

Oh, I know they're in the TCM library. I'm impatiently awaiting their addition to the Warner Archive. C'mon Warner!

Though the REAL 50 million dollar question isn't, why isn't Devil-May-Care on Warner Archive DVD-R, but why in the world The Big Parade yet made it out onto DVD? Heck.... they should be preparing it for Blu-ray! Not to mention The Wind, The Crowd, and Wings (OK, that's Paramount which I think actually means Universal has the rights now... why don't they partner with TCM like for those other movies and get Wings out on DVD?). I have the laser discs of all these but really, it's a crime these major titles (= masterpieces) aren't on DVD yet. C'mon Warner! Stop sitting on these MGM masterpieces.

This is off-topic but in case y'all missed the news on the Film Noir board... I screencapped Nightmare Alley (Tyrone Power! Joan Blondell!) and it's at the usual place, paulasmoviepage.shutterfly.com/

[MikeBSG]

Last night I continued with Laurel and Hardy. My daughter and I watched "The Second Hundred Years" and "From Soup to Nuts."

One interesting thing. Both of them had long gags about someone trying to eat a cherry that kept rolling around a salad plate.

I think I liked "The Second Hundred Years" (L & H as convicts trying to escape) better than "From Soup to Nuts" (L&H as inept waiters). However, I would bet money that Preston Sturges watched "From Soup to Nuts" before filming "The Lady Eve." Hardy falls into three different cakes in "From Soup to Nuts," and I just had to think of Henry Fonda's mishaps in "The Lady Eve."

[drednm]

I have most of the early Novarro talkies but do not have Devil May Care, which I saw, probably on TCM years ago. I wouldn't mind trading for a copy of it if anyone has it....
Ed

[MikeBSG]

I watched "Slipping Wives," which has Laurel and Hardy in it, but isn't a "real" L & H because they don't work as a team. However, there is one scene in which Laurel re-enacts "Samson and Delilah" playing all the parts, and that is hilarious.

Also saw "Mighty Like a Moose," a Charlie Chase short directed by Leo McCarey. Sort of like a silent sitcom, but Chase has an appealing personality, and some of the jokes are witty, especially when Chase pretends to fight himself to impress his wife.

[movieman1957]

If you can get it try watching Laurel and Hardy's "Putting Pants on Phillip." Stan is not his traditional Stan. He plays a character from Scotland who comes to America. He comes wearing a kilt. The novelty of it creates such a disturbance that Oliver has to get Stan in a pair of pants.

[jdb1]

And a lot of Stan's solo silents, which parody the popular movies of the day, have some really funny moments, although to my mind the extended parodies get a little tedious after a while.

[drednm]

I plan to watch the 1927 Chicago this weekend... the print looks just about perfect. Stars Phyllis Haver as Roxy Hart.

[MikeBSG]

I just watched "Why Girls Love Sailors," which has Laurel and Hardy in it but just before they officially became a team.

I liked this one. Laurel has two good scenes, first when he gets water dumped down his shirt by the bully. (It plays funnier than it sounds.) Then he has a long drag scene in which he disposes of a tough crew except for the captain, and when the captain's wife shows up, she looks a bit like Laurel.

Hardy is good as the mean second in command. The camera clearly likes him, as Howard hawks would say.

A lot of fun, but, of course, not up there with "Two Tars" or "You're Darn tootin'".

[MichiganJ]

Over the past few days I watched several star vehicles of William Haines: Spring Fever (1927); West Point (1927); The Smart Set (1928); Speedway (1929). This close together it's clear that there wasn't just a formula to a Haines movie, there was only one script. Each film contains: the intolerable and ingratiating Haines character usually on full display at some dining event; a love triangle; a sport in which Haines' character more than excels, but in which he is no longer a part of--until the final moments of the big game; and, of course, the heroic change-of-heart (or rather, complete change-of-character), allowing Haines to save the day (frequently with a sore arm to boot!). The element that is sorely missing from any of these films is one iota of originality.

Each film features a sport (golf, football, polo, race car driving respectively) and each film does well in integrating the actual sport with inserts of Haines and his teammates. But since they are so similar, and since the Haines character is so obnoxious, one film a year (maybe even two) is more than enough.

I guess for me, Speedway works the best, mainly because he has a strong supporting cast including Ernest Torrence and his co-star Anita Page actually has an opportunity to give the insufferable Haines character a thrill or two of his own.

Haines is actually a pretty good dramatic actor and, perhaps not too bad at the comedy, if he could learn to keep the annoying quality in check, even just a little. I think he is best kept as a supporting player or co-star. In both Tell It To The Marines with Chaney and Eleanor Boardman and Show People with Marion Davies, Haines is much easier to take.

[drednm]

You need to see William Haines in Brown of Harvard, a football film that gives Haines his best (and star-making) role opposite Mary Brian and Jack Pickford.

[charliechaplinfan]

You're not alone MichiganJ, I've found the same films difficult to get into. I love him in Show People and not quite as much in Tell It to The Marines, that film I like because of Lon Chaney.

[Gagman 66]

OK, I watched CHICAGO last Monday night and enjoyed it greatly. Flicker Alley shopped all pre-orders a couple weeks in advance. The story is highly engrossing, and the camera work profound. From what I have seen the De Mille Pictures Silents of the Mid to late 20's are all exquisitely produced. Better produced I think than by most of the major studios.

This movie has it all. There is humor, drama, suspense. and great story-telling. But be prepared, Phyllis Haver's Roxie Hart is a Bad, Bad Girl! Shame on her! Seriously now, Her performance is brilliant, both comic and sympathetic. In today's morally bankrupt world Roxie could barely be viewed as an amateur at best. But in 1927? The film is something of a social satire of the public and press tendency to glorify the criminal element in society, and venerate them as hero's. Granted Roxie impulsively squeezes off one haphazard shot, clearly more intended to frighten than kill, that strikes down her lover a fatal blow. While immediately regretting the action, it is clear that Roxie is more concerned for her own lively hood, than that she has just killed a man. Fearful that she very well might end up with her pretty blond dome at the end of a rope! Victor Varconi is great as the suffering spouse. The neighbor girl who pines away after him, played by Virginia Bradford is Bee-you-ti-ful!!! Much better looking than Haver in-fact. Lo!

The image quality is virtually flawless. If only we could have some Colleen Moore films on DVD that look this good, Or even Marion Davies. When I think of the dismal State of a classic like Marion's QUALITY STREET made the same year, I cringe. The transfer is on par with the high standards of Photoplay Productions edition of THE GODLESS GIRL. Obviously, both from Fine-grain materials. And yes CHICAGO was considered to be a lost for decades, until fairly recently. A complete Nitrate print was uncovered in Cecil B. De Mille's private vault. Not even copied to Safety-Stock until just four years ago in 2006. I'll write a review later. I will say that CHICAGO ranks highly among Mont Alto's very best musical scores as well.

This is another outstanding release from Flicker Alley, and it has me anxious to learn what the next project might be? Who know? Maybe THE ROAD TO YESTERDAY, or WHITE GOLD? David mentioned in March of 2008 that Film Preservation Associates had a fine grain of THE ROAD TO YESTERDAY. I'm not sure about WHITE GOLD, but I would definitely buy a nicely restored version. The film is a masterpiece. Jetta Goudal is staggering!

The two disc DVD set including a couple rare documentaries is still on sale direct from Flicker Alley at substantial savings. $10.00 off the regular price, for another couple weeks or so.




CHICAGO (1927)-The DVD!


http://www.flickeralley.com/fat_chicago_01.html

[drednm]

I agree, Jeff.... Chicago was great fun and Phyllis Haver was terrific. She reminded me of Laura La Plante. Roxie would have been a great role for Marion Davies but Hearst would never have let her play a floozie murderess....

Beautiful print, nice music by Mont Alto Orchestra.... a real winner!

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched the delightful Hallelujah I'm a Bum yesterday. You've got to sit back and take this film for what it is a lovely little romp with Al Jolson as an unlikely bum who is best friends with the mayor of New York, who has a girlfriend who losed $1000 bill he gave her and jumps in the water in Central Park to kill herself, saved by Al Jolson's Bumper, the girl gets amnesia and becomes a sweet girl who falls in love with Bumper and him with her. Bumper goes to work to earn an honest living only to lose his girl when the mayor comes calling and returns to his calling of a bum.

The sweet way the film is put together and the songs bring this film alive, the use of Harry Langdon, still very recogniseable as Egghead and the sheer unbelieveability of the plot make it pure depression fodder, I loved it.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched the delightful Hallelujah I'm a Bum yesterday. You've got to sit back and take this film for what it is a lovely little romp with Al Jolson as an unlikely bum who is best friends with the mayor of New York, who has a girlfriend who losed $1000 bill he gave her and jumps in the water in Central Park to kill herself, saved by Al Jolson's Bumper, the girl gets amnesia and becomes a sweet girl who falls in love with Bumper and him with her. Bumper goes to work to earn an honest living only to lose his girl when the mayor comes calling and returns to his calling of a bum.

The sweet way the film is put together and the songs bring this film alive, the use of Harry Langdon, still very recogniseable as Egghead and the sheer unbelieveability of the plot make it pure depression fodder, I loved it.