WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[Birdy]

I just looked up Erik Rhodes on IMDB because I thought I remembered a role where he did not have an accent but can't place it. His birth name was Ernest Sharpe. Neither that or his stage name matches the long list of interesting continental-sounding names of the roles he played in the 30s. He was born and died in OK, started on Broadway in 1928 - I'd like to hear the story of how he got there. He appeared on the stage in A Gay Divorcee on Broadway and in London, then went to CA to make the movie. He made quite a few movies in the 30s, then returned to Broadway. I find him charming. (If you go looking for him on the internet, be careful or you'll get quite a surprise reading about another type of actor of the same name!)
B

[phil noir]

Erik Rhodes is just brilliant in Top Hat and The Gay Divorcee ('Your wife is safe with Tonetti/ He prefers spaghetti'), but of course the Astaire-Rogers films are bursting with loveable character actors: Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore ('you igneous intrusion!'), Helen Westley et al.

It's Top Hat, I think, where he plays a fashion designer who is outfitting Ginger Rogers to publicize his clothes. Although her wardrobe is much splashier than the men's, the thing I especially noticed was how elegant Astaire and Rhodes looked - their suits were really beautifully tailored. If only we all looked like that all the time.

The more I watch Erik Rhodes (from Oklahoma), the more I like him. The scene where he calls his wife to tell her what his new client looks like is funny and wistfully sad all at the same time. Poor Tonetti.

I felt sorry for him in Top Hat too; but then I often feel sorry for the third point of the romantic triangles in classic Hollywood films. Male or female, they exist only to be discarded before the stars go into their final rapturous clinches.

[Ann Harding]

I watched two films from 1934. I suppose they are only marginally pre-code, but they can find their place here.

This Side of Heaven (1934, Wm K. Howard) with Lionel Barrymore, Fay Bainter, Una Merkel and Mae Clarke. This unassuming production turned out to be a really moving film. The Turner family is in complete upheaval with the father (L. Barrymore) suspected of embezzelment while the mother (F. Bainter) is beside herself with joy at having signed a contract to write scripts in Hollywood. The children are also having problems of their own: joining a Fraternity at university, selecting the right boyfriend... With a fairly average story, Wm K. Howard manages to showcase the life of an average American family in the 30s. We discover the kind of pressure that affects middle-class people in those days. The father being an accountant had to sign a check for his crooked superior and he is so desperate at losing his honor that he is pushed to suicide. His son is equally under pressure to join a fraternity. Without it, he would feel a failure. This pressure for success affects every member of the family with terrible consequences. I can only praise Wm K. Howard's skill: he made the best out of this story avoiding the commonplace and the clichés. He has also directed the brillant The Power and The Glory (1933) a foretaste of Citizen Kane.

Spitfire (1934, J. Cromwell) with K. Hepburn, R. Young and R. Bellamy is not quite as successful though well directed. Kate Hepburn plays a mountain girl with a thick hillbilly accent. It's not altogether very convincing, she looks too refined to be totally believable. As Trigger Hicks, Kate is a tomboy in those remote montainous region where most people are illiterate. She meets two engineers working on a dam (R. Young and R. Bellamy) who are both attractred by her charm. Having seen now quite a few mountain girls like Mary Pickford in Heart o' the hills or Sylvia Sidney in Trail of the Lonesome Pine, I must admit that Kate is really not convincing. She is perfect as Jo March in Little Women. Here, she is like a fish out of water. It's amusing nevertheless.

[JackFavell]

I believe from your description of This Side of Heaven, that I have seen part of it... I never knew the name of it, so thank you! I too, was hooked by this unassuming movie. Fay Bainter is one of my favorite actresses - she never got much recognition but I enjoy her work so very much. (Check out her scenes in Quality Street sometime - she is heartbreaking). Lionel Barrymore is wonderful here... I like him so much as this kind of quiet-type everyday man.

[Birdy]

phil noir - I agree with your sympathy to the third point in the romantic triangle. (Often Allen Jenkins!) I think it's odd how Glenda is always the sidekick with Joan B. and everyone in the movie acts like there is no way she is pretty enough to pull off whatever scam they've cooked up. I always feel a little sorry for her.
B

[Ann Harding]

Recently I have been exploring French silent shorts from Gaumont as I acquired the Gaumont Cinéma Premier Volume 2. I don't regret it; it has allowed me to revise some notions I had about early cinema. Gaumont productions around 1910-1913 were truly ahead of their time: settings, acting, lighting and composition were already so sophisticated. Biograph productions of the time pale in comparison.
In this second volume, I discovered French westerns shot in Camargue, a region of Southern France where we raise bulls and horses on a vast plain. The director Jean Durand made many of these westerns with Joë Hamman in the lead. It sounds quirky and bizarre, but actually these films were exported to the US at the time (1910-1912). Overall, they are well directed and they make full use of the local settings, even a small railway line is used for train attacks. Hammann performs himself many dangerous stunts on horses or jumping onto a moving train. He plays either cowboys or Indians. He apparently had a full collection of genuine Sioux costumes! Watching them, I could see from many details that the films were not shot in America: the 'cow-boys' looks deceptively like herdsmen from Camargue in their costumes and attitude. But, in terms of story-telling, these short films (5 to 15 min long) are pretty satisfying.
I also watched some shorts made by little-known directors of the time. At that time, like Biograph or Vitagraph, Gaumont never advertised the name of its directors or actors. Among the little treasure I saw were Au Pays des Lits Clos (In the Land of the Closed Beds, 1913) shot in Brittany with some superb cinematography. A young man is saved from the wreckage of his ship. He cannot remember who he is. The kind daughter of a fisherman who saved him takes care of him and falls in love with him in the process. The understated acting really caught my eye. From such a simple story, the director made a moving refreshing film. The box also contains some early Feyder comedies such as Un Conseil d'ami (A Friendly advice, 1917) where a violonist tries to seduce a young heiress. Realising he is old-fashioned, he goes on training for various sports. But, the girl tells him that she liked him because he was different! Anther comedy Des Pieds et des Mains (Hands and Feet, 1917) tells a story by showing only the hands and feet of the actors (until the last image). A man is in love with a woman but she doesn't want to hear about him, until he saves her life. Very nicely done. I can't wait to see the rest!

[MichiganJ]

Recently I have been exploring French silent shorts from Gaumont as I acquired the Gaumont Cinéma Premier Volume 2. I don't regret it; it has allowed me to revise some notions I had about early cinema. Gaumont productions around 1910-1913 were truly ahead of their time: settings, acting, lighting and composition were already so sophisticated. Biograph productions of the time pale in comparison.

It's great that so many of these films are available for you to see. Judging from the Gaumont films available in the U.S. on DVD, I agree that the French films are more sophisticated. For me, the lighting is most obvious. Of course there are some amazing early Biographs and Thannhouser films , and it's interesting to watch as each studio and film influences and impacts other studios and future films.

I recently watched a short but terrific documentary on the silent films produced in Denmark between 1902 and 1914, and from the clips, it seems that they were light years ahead of everybody. Not just in film technique, but in substance and subject matter, too, particularly in regards to women and women's rights. Fascinating.

[Ann Harding]

I recently watched a short but terrific documentary on the silent films produced in Denmark between 1902 and 1914, and from the clips, it seems that they were light years ahead of everybody. Not just in film technique, but in substance and subject matter, too, particularly in regards to women and women's rights. Fascinating.

You are absolutely right. I have also seen a doc like that and felt that Denmark was indeed light years ahead in terms of content. I have a few Danish silent shorts from the teens. I'll have to watch them again to compare them with the Gaumont production.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've been watching a few films over the past week

The Silver Cord - A fascinating film, the leads are Irene Dunne and Joel McCrea but it's Laura Hope Crews who steals the show as the mother in law from hell, who not only tries to break up her son's relationships but sees them in an almost romantic light, yet in a speech near the end of the film about her disappointment in her marriage nearly had me feeling sorry for her. There was so much more to Laura Hope Crews than Aunt Pittypat.

Emma - a film that plays to Marie Dressler's strengths. She plays the family housekeeper through bad times (the mother dies in childbirth) then good (the family get rich due to father's inventing) Emma is the stronghold of the household, looking after everyone. When Emma takes her first holiday she nearly doesn't go because she's worried about her master, instead he goes with her and marries her. That doesn't go down well with the children, a few twists and turns and a courtcase, precodes don't believe in going slowly, that's part of the reason I love them.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet - One of the racier precodes, Helen Hayes plays her Madelon who elopes with her love only to be deserted and pregnant.After the baby is born she finds solace with a man about town as his mistress but things go wrong when he's revealed as a jewel thief. He manages to take his own life but Madelon is found guilty by association and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Her friend (Marie Prevost) looks after her son. When she is released she finds him in a charity school and showing a gift for medicine, she funds his education by becoming a streetwalker. Again twists and turns abound. Helen Hayes is brilliant as Madelon.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've been reading a book on Gary Cooper and watched two films to refresh my memory

It (well I wanted to watch Clara too) a film that is made because of Clara's presence, such a natural before the camera, especially with the baby. I can't say that I believe Antonio Moreno had 'it' and Elinor Glyn is a little silly appearing in her own film, so to speak. Although Gary's part is small, it's impossible to miss him.

Design For Living - I just love Lubitsch and this film is so naughty. Frederic March and Gary Cooper compliment each other, they are perfect casting for their parts, from the opening scene on the train (not many film stars would be filmed openmouthed and snoring and still be appealing) Only one line of Noel Coward's play remains but it is a good one. Miriam Hopkins is caught between the two guys and Edward Everett Horton. I woludn't have Gilda's problem, I'd go for Frederic March everytime but I'm sure there's a few ladies here who'd gladly go for Gary Cooper

[feaito]

Alison, you have seen many rare and good films! I have read so many posistive reviews about "The Silver Cord" (1933). Since we have similar tastes, I'm sure I am gonna love that one and yes it sounds like Laura Hope Crews' role in it was one of the best she had in her career. A domineering and selfish mother played to the hilt.

"Sin of Madelon Claudet" is another one I'd love to see, especially because Helen Hayes is one of my favorites.

And I agree with you, notwithstanding that it doesn't not retain much of Coward's play, "Design for Living" is an utter delight, thanks to Lubitsch and its 4 gifted leading performers (Horton, Cooper, March and Hopkins).

[Ann Harding]

I second Fernando: that's a mightily interesting title list, Alison!

Yesterday, I watched a pre-code myself: Flesh (1932) a John Ford picture with Wallace Beery, Karen Morley and Ricardo Cortez. The film starts in Germany where Laura (K. Morley) just came out of prison. She is desperate to see her boyfriend (R. Cortez) again. But he is himself in jail. Laura meets a wrestler/waiter Polakai (W. Beery) who falls madly in love with her... This is rather strange to see Wallace Beery playing this simple minded wrestler with a German accent. Karen Morley is very good as the bad girl who uses him shamelessly. She marries him as she is pregnant with Cortez. Then, later in America, Cortez becomes his manager and pushes him to accept to perform some fixed fights. the supporting cast is pretty good with Jean Hersholt, Herman Bing and Ward Bond. Overall, it's a fun pre-coder but a far cry from Ford's best pictures.

[drednm]

The Silver Cord is an amazing film, and Laura Hope Crews is spectacular as the vicious and domineering mother. An updated version would certainly give someone like Meryl Streep or Glenn Close a great role.

[charliechaplinfan]

Fernando, I like Helen Hayes too, Madelon has to age from a teenager to an old woman and all the stages in between, she was completely believeable in her descent into the life of a streetwalker and then to undernourished old woman, she could easily have overplayed but she was utterly convincing.

The Silver Cord didn't give Joel McCrea a great deal to do, it was a film dominated by two women, Irene Dunne and Laura Hope Crews.

[feaito]

Fernando, I like Helen Hayes too, Madelon has to age from a teenager to an old woman and all the stages in between, she was completely believeable in her descent into the life of a streetwalker and then to undernourished old woman, she could easily have overplayed but she was utterly convincing.

I'm glad to hear that since I have read that Hayes disliked intensely her Award Winning role (Mayer loved it). I'm quite curious.

The Silver Cord didn't give Joel McCrea a great deal to do, it was a film dominated by two women, Irene Dunne and Laura Hope Crews.

I had also read about that; a true Woman's picture