WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[MichiganJ]

For Valentino (from the male perspective), I would suggest The Eagle. It's a fun romantic adventure, the likes of Fairbanks, and Valentino is right at home playing the young adventurous Cossack. It may be his best performance (although I think he's quite good in Son of the Sheik, too.)

While Pickford's "little girl" certainly requires a good amount of "suspension of disbelief", I think her performances are generally fantastic, and in many of her films she proves to be quite the comedian.

She does play an adult in at least two films available on DVD. The Love Light is a wacky melodrama, with so many tragedies befalling Pickford's heroine that you need a sponge to soak up all of the soap suds (written and directed by Frances Marion, The Love Light is "interesting", but not a favorite.) Better, as CCF suggested, is Pickford's last silent, My Best Girl. This is Pickford at her best in an adult romantic comedy (with future hubby, Charles "Buddy" Rogers.) My Best Girl is one of silent film's best comedies.

I wouldn't give up on Pickford's "litte girl" though. My favorite is Little Annie Rooney, where she plays a tom boy to near perfection. Sparrows is as close to a horror movie Pickford ever got, and Pickford does play the oldest of the kids placed in a "baby farm". If Pickford's "little girl' causes trouble, her playing Little Lord Fauntleroy may be even harder. Although she never convinces as being a boy, Pickford is still marvelous and the movie is great fun.

[charliechaplinfan]

The Love Light was a very adult role for Mary to play, she was able to show how beautiful she was, something that doesn't come through in her child roles. She does the best turn as the mother in Little Lord Fauntelroy, she has beauty and grace. Little Annie Rooney is one of her best child roles.

Thinking about my early statement on Valentino films I was wrong, from this female's point of view there's no bad Valentino movies. Isn't that so Marta

[Marta]

The Love Light was a very adult role for Mary to play, she was able to show how beautiful she was, something that doesn't come through in her child roles. She does the best turn as the mother in Little Lord Fauntelroy, she has beauty and grace. Little Annie Rooney is one of her best child roles.

Thinking about my early statement on Valentino films I was wrong, from this female's point of view there's no bad Valentino movies. Isn't that so Marta

I really have to agree with that one Alison, but you knew that anyway. There's a certain scene in Son of the Sheik that gets me going every time!!!

[MichiganJ]

from this female's point of view there's no bad Valentino movies

Even The Sheik? This puzzles me no end. The Sheik is a film where women are treated abysmally, and yet it is the film that catapulted Valentino to super stardom. Poor Agnes Ayres, playing a strong-willed independent woman, is kidnapped, treated roughly, and nearly raped, so of course, she falls for her kidnapper (I guess it helps that it's Rudy, but holy smokes!). Even before she's abducted, Rudy is in a casino playing roulette...with the prize being a woman!

Even by 1921 standards, Valentino's acting is pretty bad in The Sheik. And yet, the women swooned.... (Would the women have been so "moved" if the Sheik had been played by, say, dashing Ernest Torrence. I wonder....)

He's so much better in Four Horsemen and his most restrained performance is probably in Cobra (not a classic, but a good little film.)

[charliechaplinfan]

I think I just like looking at Valentino whatever he's in and he is bad in The Sheik and the story, well even by the standards of the day, it's dodgy. It is my least favorite of the movies I've seen. It must just be Valentino, he's not my favorite silent screen idol that would be John Gilbert, he's just compelling to watch. He had something that obviously speaks to some women and for me it's only on film and not in stills that he comes across.

[myrnaloyisdope]

I didn't necessarily think The Sheik was terrible, but it's not good, and it's the kind of film that would be easily forgotten were it not for Valentino's popularity, and as an intro to Rudy it's a pretty bad one at that.

On CCF's advice I checked out My Best Girl, and was most impressed. My first response is that its a masterpiece, a wonderful blend of comedy, romance, commercial sensibility, yet so artfully done that it holds up artistically with the very best silents of 1927-28 (Sunrise, The Crowd, Wind, Lonesome et al). Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers are perfectly matched, with such great chemistry, you actually get the sense they were falling in love. Rogers is so good at conveying that wide-eyed aw-shucksness that he doesn't seem like a heel even though he's two-timing Pickford throughout.

I loved Charles Rosher's photography, whilst watching I was thinking that it looked an awful lot like Sunrise at times, especially the sequence of Pickford and Rogers walking through traffic. This sense wasn't a coincidence as Rosher also photographed Sunrise the same year. The sequence with Pickford and Rogers lunching in the stock room is brilliantly done too, loved the framing of them looking as though they are dining in a cafe, only for the camera to pull out and reveal they are dining inside a crate. The sequence is all warmth and intimacy, and that kiss is just so tender and sweet.

The gags were quite good too. Not sure how much of it was Sam Taylor, but given his involvement on Safety Last, I'm thinking he knows something about how to do a gag. The opening sequence of little Mary covered in pots and pans, struggling to move, and eventually losing her bloomers is worthy of any of the silent masters. I liked that her family was so over-the-top as well, the mother balling over everything was just so pathetic. Great stuff. Oh and Mary doing the worst gold-digger routine ever was brilliant, I loved the little touch of her trying to talk tough, and then convulsing just a little as she tries not break out in tears. Oh my and when she starts jazz dancing...how adorable. Mary as a flapper is something I'm definitely interested in.

I'm becoming convinced of her greatness, and I'm anxiously looking forward to checking out Rosita courtesy of Gagman66.

[rudyfan]

I didn't necessarily think The Sheik was terrible, but it's not good, and it's the kind of film that would be easily forgotten were it not for Valentino's popularity, and as an intro to Rudy it's a pretty bad one at that.

I'm a bit late to this Valentino part of the discussion

The Sheik is a pretty poor film, Valentino overacts, as does poor Agnes Ayres. The film cashed in on the extreme popularity of what was for the day a near pornographic novel, with all the good bits cut. Valentino had already proved himself to be a sensitive performer, but as much of a rudyfan as I am, he also rose and fell to the quality of the script and/or the direction he was given sometimes. I would not blame George Melford entirely, he directed Valentino in Moran of the Lady Letty, which I feel is a much better film.

I'm becoming convinced of her greatness, and I'm anxiously looking forward to checking out Rosita courtesy of Gagman66.

I love Mary, but I will await your comments on Rosita leaving no spoilers.

[MichiganJ]

With all of the Valentino talk I felt inspired to pull out one of my favorites, The Married Virgin. One of Valentino's first featured roles, he basically steals the film playing a blackmailing count. Plenty of complications make up the convoluted plot, but it all makes sense in the end, and Valentino is wonderful as the bad guy.

Also watched Asphalt, a German film by Joe May. Almost a tone poem, the film is visually stunning, with plenty of long, dark shadows combined with elements of lingering German Expressionism. About a young traffic officer who falls for a dark-haired jewel thief, and soon things go horribly wrong, Asphalt may also be an early Noir. The opening montage sequence echos Berlin: Symphony of a City, and May's visual style continues to excite throughout the film. Although I've never seen them before, both Gustav Fröhlich and Betty Amann give tremendous performances. Great film.

[Gagman 66]

Justin,

ROSITA is only a fragment I fear. I have had it for well over a year, but never looked at it before. However, I tossed in a copy of LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY (1925). It is the same Blackhawk films version, Color-Tinted that I have had for 30 years since 1979. But it is the best version of the film i have seen. The Image laser-disc with the Gaylord Carter score might be a little sharper print, but I prefer Bill Perry''s music. Even if it is muffled. LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY has always been my favorite Pickford feature, and I long to see it given a proper restoration, and a full orchestra score. By the way, Mary's leading man is William Haines!

[phil noir]

I'm becoming convinced of her greatness, and I'm anxiously looking forward to checking out Rosita courtesy of Gagman66.

I think Mary Pickford was a great actress, and My Best Girl is full of subtle touches which would have gone straight to the hearts (and funny bones) of her audience. When Buddy Rogers pretends that the department store staff are entitled to dine at the the boss's mansion, and takes her there, Mary surreptitiously wipes the cutlery on the edge of the tablecloth (much to the disgust of the butler). Straight away we know that she's used to dining in ordinary cafes and diners where sometimes the cleanliness isn't up to scratch, and we also know that she has standards. It's a perfect, unforced way of letting the cinema audience know that she's still 'one of us'.

[charliechaplinfan]

Justin, I'm so glad you liked My Best Girl, it's my favorite and shows that Mary could hold her own with the likes of Marion Davies, Colleen Moore and Clara Bow. I don't think I can add anything, Phil and yourself have said it all.

Can't wait until you review Rosita. I beleive it does exist somewhere perhaps in Mary's archives, she disliked it so much I hope that doesn't stop it from being relesed one day.

[JackFavell]

With all the talk of Mary Pickford, I just wanted to say that the Frances Marion documentary that aired on TCM a couple months ago was very good, and talked a bit about Mary's professional and personal relationship with the writer. It is well worth seeing for insight into how Mary and Frances worked out her movies.

[myrnaloyisdope]

Can't wait until you review Rosita. I beleive it does exist somewhere perhaps in Mary's archives, she disliked it so much I hope that doesn't stop it from being relesed one day.

Well I read a biography on Lubitsch (Laughter in Paradise) a few months ago, and the author really seemed like Rosita. The film wasn't a huge success, but still made ok money, and was generally well received. The author concludes that Pickford in her later years especially really didn't have a proper perspective on her career, so she tended to re-imagine situations and circumstances that fit her view (which was generally pretty negative) of the events surrounding her career.

I'm reading Brownlow's excellent The Parade's Gone By, and in the Pickford section, she really does a number on the film and Lubitsch, referring to him as overly-assertive, and unable to direct women. It's strange to read her words, because she lacks the usual sense of sentiment and nostalgia that old movie folk seem to have, and she really has a lot of negativity about her own work. She describes herself as a perfectionist which explains quite a bit I suppose, as she was always trying to make the best film, and make the most money. She's got a producer's mentality...the best films are the one's that made the most.

[phil noir]

Just to say I've come across someone on the net selling what I presume is the full-length version of Rosita. Apparently it's with Russian intertitles.

[charliechaplinfan]

That's interesting to know, I'm hoping for an official release of Rosita but it is nice to know it's out there. I like to think that when a director and star that I really like come together the result must be wonderful, I'm sure Mary was wrong in her later assessment. Thankfully she was stopped from destroying all her films.

The Parade's Gone By to me is the ultimate book about silent cinema. Kevin Brownlow has issued a book called Mary Pickford Rediscovered which is a superlative book about Mary's films. It's rich in both text and films and isn't too hard to find second hand.

I've turned my attention to precodes tonight, Wild Boys of the Road is one of the most moving and times disturbing films I have ever seen. When I say disturbing I mean in terms of history, I tend to believe that if subjects like this were brought to the screen, poverty and feral boys like this existed in reasonable numbers. There are many parallels with our recession but surely in the Western world we wouldn't let innocents suffer in this way. I'm hopeful that we learned a lesson from history.

Back to the performances, I thought they were great Frankie Darro and Edwin Phillips bringing in brilliant performances as the juveniles driven to leave home because their parents couldn't afford them, Dorothy Coonan is just as good as Sally. William Wellman really does create the right atomosphere in his precodes. The ending I presume is a nod towards the new Roosevelt administration. Gosh, I'd even recommend this for a history lesson.