WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[feaito]

I agree with your opinions in relation with "Murder at the Vanities", "Other Men's Women" and "One Sunday Afternoon" Alison.

Now that you name Frances Fuller, who is very good in the latter film with Gary Cooper, I've just realized that she played Ray Milland's devoted wife -22 years after- in "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" (1955) which I watched yesterday. As far as I know she made few films and its kind of uncanny that in the two films I've seen her perform, she's played devoted wives of men whose amorous interests lie elsewhere.

Last weekend I watched the stunningly good Pre-Coder "Wild Boys of the Road" (1933). Thanks to the Forbidden Hollywood Pre-Code Collection I was able to discover this excellent movie. First rate performances by all the young actors, especially Frankie Darro. Harsh, realistic film.

I also saw "Old Heidelberg" (aka as The Student Prince) (1927) a fantastic Lubistch Silent. The version I saw has the Carl Davis score which is absolutely perfect for the film. Thanks to the score the film plays as a pefect Operetta. The composer matched perfectly the images with the appropriate music. Thanks to Lubitsch, Shearer definitely gives one of her best performances and Novarro is also in top form. Also there's Jean Hersholt in one of his most endearing portrayals -as Novarro's tutor and mentor.

[Ann Harding]

I have also watched quite a few silents and early talkies recently.

The Great Gabbo (1929) by J. Cruze with Betty Compson and Erich von Stroheim
In this one, Erich is ventriloquist who goes mad when his girl friend leaves him. It's fairly static with hardly any camera movement. The bright spark of the film is obvisouly Erich himself doing his best as the maniac Gabbo.

The Big House (1930) by G. Hill with W. Beery, R. Montgomery and C. Morris
This prison drama scripted by Frances Marion is really gritty and realistic. I enjoyed its bite and Beery's hammy performance. The young Montgomery is equally efficient as the (scared) informer. Very interesting early talkie.

The President (1919) by Carl T. Dreyer
We are in Denmark at the beginning of the century when a rich family heir leaves a young governess pregnant by his child as the family disapproves of the match. Twenty years later, the daughter of that man is accused of infanticide. Her own father will have to prosecute her as he is president of the tribunal...
One of the best Dreyers I have seen so far. A very sharp look at social classes and the mores of the upper-class versus the commoners. We are deep into puritan country. It's Dreyer's first feature and it's incredibly well woven. Recommended! (available on DVD from the Danish Film Institute).

Die Gezeichneten (Love One Another, 1922) by Carl T. Dreyer
We are in Russia in 1905 and follow the destiny of a Jewish family in a small town. The girl wants to leave for St Petersburg to join her brother who got baptised and became a lawyer...
This Dreyer picture was shot in Germany with a mixture of Russian and Scandinavian actors. I was really surprised to notice among the actors, Richard Boleslawsky! Yes, the future director of The Garden of Allah. At that time, he was from Moscow Art Theatre and a disciple from Stanislawsky. The film shows that antisemitism was already quite violent in Russia, pushed by some people who had everything to gain from it. It's not quite as compelling as The President but still a fascinating look at the lives of jews in Imperial Russia.

[silentscreen]

I recently watched Exit Smiling.(1926) ( from the Warner's archive.) For a little film that could hardly be considered more than a programmer in it's time, this one was full of surprises, all due to the comedic timing of a little known comedienne named Beatrice Lillie. Lillie plays Violet, the drudge in a third rate travelling theater company who has ambitions of some day playing the lead, or vamp, in the company's current production "Flaming Women." Later she gets her wish in real life as she reprises the role to foil the real villian in the film with hilarious results.

This film was entertaining in it's exploration of the backstage life of the travelling players in the troupes of this type and era. Lillie brings an extra dimension with her less than beautiful, but perfect face for comedy, and the way that she's willing to do top notch slapstick over romance. She conveys some of Chaplin's mannerisms, while remaining toally deadpan even during some of her most hilarious scenes. She reminds me of Keaton in that regard. Director Sam Taylor gives his cast full reign to to create their characters, and they all respond with out of the box performances, with the possible exception of Jack Pickford, as the man Violet loves, who is merely okay. There are better Jack Pickford vehicles.

Catch this one if you can. It's well worth the time.

[charliechaplinfan]

I thought the same when watching Beatrice Lillie. I've just looked her up on the imdb and she is buried about 10 miles away from where I'm sitting and I never knew! Life is strange, when in France I had everyone traipsing around a grave yard trying to find Gerard Philipe's grave, looks like this weekend I'll be doing the same but looking for Beatrice Lillie or Lady Peel.

I wasn't impressed with Jack Pickford and I wanted so much to like him seeing as I like Mary so much.

[Synnove]

I thought Jack did alright, but then again I was prejudiced against him as a leading man because to me he looks so goofy. I would like to see Tom Sawyer, that was his big hit.

Exit Smiling is a great little film! Beatrice Lillie wasn't like any other comedic actress at that time. I actually thought she was a bit cool with her boyish flapper style. I love backstage movies.

[MichiganJ]

I, too, just watched Warner Archives' Exit Smiling and thoroughly enjoyed it. Beatrice Lillie was great as the wanna-be thespian, over-emoting to great effect, especially when she's on-stage as the male villain, acting the female "vamp" lead role with the play's star. Oh, and did you notice the string tied to her mustache when she "sneezes it off"? Too bad Lillie didn't make many films, because her comedy is great. I also really liked Doris Lloyd as the "vamp", always with either a cigarette or chewing gum (lest we forget she's a "vamp", I suppose). Interesting, too, is seeing Franklin Pangborn already doing his "dandy" role, and showing his impeccable timing. Miscast entirely, though, is Jack Pickford. He has absolutely no charisma on screen and zero chemistry with Lillie. Worse though, he makes Lillie and the rest of the cast do all of the work. Pickford was okay in The Man Who Had Everything (the only other feature I remember seeing him in), but here he's a dead weight. (I did like the "onion" bit, though. Pickford's highlight.) Still, Exit Smiling is great fun and would make a good double-bill with Frank Capra's backstage comedy, The Matinee Idol.

I also liked the score by Linda Martinez. Ambitious and maybe a tad overzealous, but for the most part it worked well.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've just watched Merrily We Go To Hell this is a great precode and it has Frederic March, I'm very partial to Frederic March in 'modern' films rather than costume dramas, heck Cary Grant is in the cast and I wasn't even looking at him. Frederic March is great in this playing a seasoned alcoholic, turned to drink by Claire played by Adrienne Allen, who left him many years ago. He mets an heiress, Joan played by Slyvia Sidney (never more beautiful) she falls for him and he for her but he's unreliable. Once married he stops drinking writes a hit play in which the leading lady is Claire, he starts an affair with her and Joan instead of leaving him plays him at his own game, I'm not going to spoil it for anyone else, it is quite racy and daring, on my list as one of the best precodes I've seen.

[silentscreen]

I thought the same when watching Beatrice Lillie. I've just looked her up on the imdb and she is buried about 10 miles away from where I'm sitting and I never knew! Life is strange, when in France I had everyone traipsing around a grave yard trying to find Gerard Philipe's grave, looks like this weekend I'll be doing the same but looking for Beatrice Lillie or Lady Peel.

I wasn't impressed with Jack Pickford and I wanted so much to like him seeing as I like Mary so much.

Yes, she married into the aristocracy. Years later she was in Around the World in Eighty Days, and Thoroughly Modern Millie .You'll have to take pics if you find her resting place Alison.

I totally agree with your review MichiganJ. Jack Picford's best movies were supposed to be The Man Who Had Everything, Brown of Harvard,and The Goose Woman. I've only seen clips of the latter, but he actually looked good in that one from what I could tell. His sister felt like she had to cover for him all her life, and that's a shame.

[Synnove]

It didn't help him, did it? I can understand Mary's urge to protect her family though, she must have been used to it since she had been a family provider since she was 5 years old.

I saw a film recently, the only Douglas Fairbanks film that starred Mary Pickford in a cameo part, The Gaucho. It is different from other films, Douglas Fairbanks has a slightly different personality, and that is intriguing, even if it means you don't exist on the same comfortable ground as in his other movies. I rather liked that the story sort of took up the development of his personality - the problem I had with The Black Pirate for instance was that everything was set in place from the start, he was already a hero and that made the story lack in a certain excitement. It was interesting to see Mary in the role of Virgin Mary. Overall I would say this is definitively one of his better and more memorable ones.

I also saw The Mystery of the Leaping Fish, boy was that one strange! Er, I don't have much else to say, except that it's enjoyable, and Doug is energetic indeed. He really became more and more handsome the older he got, by the way - however, I like the imperfect look of all film stars in the 1910's, it makes them human and brings them here to us, it bridges the gap of a century.

[MichiganJ]

The Gaucho is one of my favorites because Fairbanks' character is so much darker than his other hero roles. (Who would ever think Fairbanks would play a thief, a drunk and a womanizer?) That and it's the only film where he has real chemistry with his leading lady, Lupe Velez. (The fact that they had an affair together, and this is the film where Pickford has a cameo, also adds to the film's intrigue.)


Leaping Fish is so wacky that's it's hard to resist. The fact that it makes no sense (a drug addict tries to stop drug smuggling) only adds to the craziness. Still, I hate the idea that its notoriety may be what draws silent film "newbies" to watch it, and Leaping Fish is not a great first silent film.

[charliechaplinfan]

I have to add that The Gaucho is my favorite Fairbanks too. I'm so glad you liked it Synnove. In Fairbanks other films he's more of a man's man but this one he's an anti hero and it shows him to be a much more rounded performer than I'd at first thought. Of all the Fairbanks films this is the one I've watched the most and Lupe is the best of all his costars.

I agree about The Black Pirate too, I am in awe of the colour and the scale but the plot is heading in an obvious direction right from the start.

As for the Mystery of the Leaping Fish, I don't know what to think apart from I'd love to see the rest of his early comedies.

[Gagman 66]

I'm so glad that you guys are finally back On-line. I had all but given up on this board after repeated months of problems. How is everyone?

Fernanado,

Nice to hear that you finally got to see OLD HEIDELBERG. It is one of my favorite Silents. and I agree that Jean Hersholt pretty much steals the movie away from it's two big name Stars. When people talk about the great MGM Silents that haven't been released yet on DVD, no one ever seems to mention this movie. No one that is except me. I always try to be sure and bring it up with the others whenever possible. They are running it this month on TCM during Lubitsch night.

Christine, Alison,

I was very impressed with the new score two Henry King's THE WHITE SISTER (1923) with Lillian Gish and Ronald Colem this past Sunday evening. It was done by the first runner-up in the 2007 TCM Young Film Composers Competition Garth Nuestatder. The only drawback was the Main-Title theme was played over and over far to many times, and for to long of a duration. However, the rest of the score was really very good. Multi-faceted and diverse.

I was far less impressed with the print TCM aired. Although it had some new tinting effects, they were rather harsh and garish, obscuring detail. What was most disappointing is the overall clarity was just not up to the standard of what TCM France had Broadcast back in 2006. I don't know if they accidentally encoded the broadcast at a the wrong, Bit-Rate, a lower one than they should have, or what was to blame? What I do know is that it lacked the crisp detail of the earlier TCM France showing. Rather mysterious, since I am certain they utilized the same stock?

[myrnaloyisdope]

Old Heidelberg is quite a good film. Very Lubitsch in the sense that everything is handled so deftly, and I'm not sure I could describe why I liked it so much.

On the subject of Fairbanks, I finally watched my first Fairbanks film last night: Robin Hood. Well it was a frustrating experience to say the least. I thought it was interesting that the film provides so much backstory about Robin Hood, as every adaptation I've seen starts with Robin Hood, and with King Richard already absent. In this film Robin spends the first half of the film as Huntingdon, before finally going back to England to fight Prince John's tyranny. This would not be a problem were it not for the fact that Huntingdon doesn't do anything particularly interesting as a character, and doesn't do anything interesting from a stunt standpoint. When Huntingdon finally becomes Robin, the movie picks up, but before that it's 70 minutes of exposition. It's not well paced for an action film.

As for the film's strengths, well I did find the bleakness of it fascinating, as Prince John is shown to be a real SOB, as opposed to his usual depiction as a bumbling, immature brat. Also some of the stunt work is quite good too, I just wish Fairbanks were given more to do in the first half of the film.

All in all, it's not a great intro to Fairbanks, but I certainly wasn't put off or anything.

[Gagman 66]

Justin,


Yes, ROBIN HOOD is a poor introduction to Fairbanks. I haven't seen it in years, and sad to say I don't even remember it. The music was rather Lackluster.

By the way, I finished adding a score to WINE OF YOUTH. When I sent it to you several months ago, it had been dubbed a couple years back with a program that would only allow you to use 10 or 12 melodies. No more. Then they had to repeat after that, and you had no control over the order. Never intended to send you that. I also found Vidor's THE SKY PILOT (1921) with John Bowers and Colleen Moore, which you were looking for.

More recently, I added a great score to BEAU GESTE, which I spent three weeks working on. Also dubbed a fine score to Frank Borzage's THE CIRCLE (1925) as well with Eleanor Boardman, and a great All-Star cast. I wrote reviews of these films, so I will need to go back and see if I can find them to post here?

[Birdy]

Exit Smiling and Merrily We Go To Hell - what great titles! Thanks, I'll try to get both of them.
Is Merrily a talkie?
B