FRANK BORZAGE

[feaito]

Feaito, I don't know of any commercial DVD of The Man Who Came Back -- it's not even on youtube. Fox is sitting on (I think) eight talkies that Farrell and Gaynor made together in the early 30s, a couple of which I've seen and the rest I'd give a body part to see. The good news is that Change of Heart has just been released as part of the Fox Cinema Archive. Delicious and Sunny Side Up show up sometimes on TCM. I really don't know why Sunny Side Up isn't on DVD -- it's been restored, looks great, and is a really enjoyable film. It was the unexpected hit of the first TCM Classic Film Festival. But I guess they just don't want to spend the money to make a new transfer. (The one we see on TCM is definitely not the restored version -- it's probably the same transfer as the old VHS tape.)

I did find a *cough* unofficial DVD of The Man Who Came Back at ioffer.com but the picture quality is awful, as you saw from those two screencaps I posted.

Thanks for the detailed information Paula.

[charliechaplinfan]

I'm so glad you liked it, I'm a sucker for romantic movies but this movie has an endless appeal. I do know what you mean about the snowstorm and it wouldn't have spoiled the film for me if they'd have been united with Tim still in his wheelchair.

[JackFavell]

I actually liked the ending, thought it worked incredibly well despite what we look at today as a ridiculous plot contrivance. The fact that Borzage actually brought it off is very much to his credit. The meat of the film though is the slow winning over of Gaynor's character to a new way of viewing others, and herself... had she married Guinn, her character would have been lost, and her life would have been perhaps even more horrible than her mother's. In other words, learned kindness and tolerance lead to huge ripples of goodness in the world.

[charliechaplinfan]

I just got carried away with all the romance of Lucky Star, no one can top Borzage for the romance that just drips from his movies and I just lap it up.

[JackFavell]

I agree. I think this is why we are drawn to classic films in the first place, true romance is so lacking these days, and if it is there, they do it wrong.

[charliechaplinfan]

Don't they just? Libby is studying the subject Titanic and film, so they've been watching Titanic in class, with suitable scenes omitted of course and they're playing it in the school yard. Of course Chris has pointed out that Rose is not a person to be envied as she wouldn't allow Jack on her raft when they were in the ocean then she threw a priceless item of jewellry overboard which could have fed her family for months. Ah, if I did have an ounce of romantic feeling over this film, Chris would have got it out of me.

[JackFavell]

That's too funny! I'm afraid I'm more like Joe on that particular movie.

Alice and her friends watched it together at a sleepover recently and she said they cried and cried and cried. I can barely mention it without her tearing up.

[charliechaplinfan]

I was disappointed with it the first time around, although the scenes of the Titanic are what kept me with it but I wasn't carried with the love story. Alice and Libby are at the age that it would be tearful.

[JackFavell]

Yes, I love Titanic stories, but the movie was a bit of a disappointment, my sister loved it, and I guess it had such hype that I thought it would be better. The ship parts were good and Gloria Stuart, but the romance for me felt too modern. I am still trying to imagine a Titanic picture directed by Hitchcock, which was supposed to happen but never did. Too bad.

For me the most shocking was Upstairs Downstairs, when a major character, Lady Marjorie went on a trip, and they didn't mention until the end of that episode what ship she was travelling on. Her ladies maid survived and told about what happened. Horrifying, because it was told from a personal viewpoint and because they had the chutzpah to kill off a main character which was completely unexpected. I suspect Downton has taken a page out of that book this year. Don't tell me!

[charliechaplinfan]

Downton started with someone killed on the Titanic, I won't tell you what's happening this series, don't worry.

I think Titanic was so hyped and loved by so many that when I got to see it, dragging my spouse all the way I have to say, I was let down and he was vindicated, he knew it would have big holes in it. Not often I'll admit he was right....

[moira finnie]

Another rarely seen Borzage on TCM tomorrow--

Wed. Oct. 24th @6:00 AM (ET):
THE CIRCLE (1925)
A wife on the verge of leaving her husband she meets the mother who deserted him years earlier.
Dir: Frank Borzage Cast: Eleanor Boardman , Malcolm McGregor , Alec Francis .
BW-66 mins, TV-PG,
More Here:

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2991/The-Circle/

[charliechaplinfan]

I don't think I've seen that one yet, I look forward to your reviews.

[feaito]

Moira & Ali, I saw it back on December 21st 2010 and this is what I wrote:

I saw a sweet little film: Borzage's "The Circle" (1925) based upon a Maugham play, whose adaptation to the screen I'm not sure it was 100% faithful to the source...It mixes drama with comedy in a strange way. A married Upper Class woman-Lady Catherine- (a very young Joan Crawford) elopes with her husband's best friend, leaving her infant son behind....35 years pass and her son is about to face the same situation....when Lady Catherine and her second husband return to visit her first husband and her son, who's grown up to be a stuffy character (Creighton Hale....not the type of man who captures the fancy or matches the romantic dreams of a young wife -Eleanor Boardman-lovely- who's fallen for dashing Malcolm Mcgregor)...A kind of British Drawing Comedy-Drama....with some touching moments (especially when the older Lady Catherine looks at her picture when she was 35 years younger and her second husband tells her she looks just the same after all these years). Incredibly adult and "civilized" reactions towards rather unpleasant situation (adultery). The acting of the older actors (Alec B. Francis, Eugenie Besserier and George Fawcett) is especially good and Boardman's too. A fine Borzage film!!

[CineMaven]

Saw "THE CIRCLE" and its re-make "STRICTLY UNCONVENTIONAL." "The Circle" was pretty creeky but it was sweet. I liked the older actors as well...couldn't believe my brain when I thought I saw Joan Crawford...and it was Crawford. Eleanor Boardman...whoa! Look out Esther Ralston. I just didn't quite get the ending. Her husband pretends to be a chauffeur and brings her back like a caveman. Doesn't she recognize he's her husband? It was interesting that seeing the runaway couple thirty years later influenced her. Gee, it was thirty years that passed. Did I miss some-
thing in the titles. See what happens with Silents. You look away for a second and BAM! you're missing a plot point. All's well that ends well. (In the re-make, she does run away with her lover). Well...at least I made in a new discovery:



Eleanor Boardman.

...And just saw Jeanne Eagles in "THE LETTER." Whew!