The Silver Screen Oasis

Yes, I love those scenes too..there is an indefinable melancholy about them. I haven't watched it for some time, but I really love watching him watch Garbo walking around her room touching things, as she sees them differently through the eyes of love. I think sometimes of what a tremendously appealing older man he might have been had he kept his health up.

Oh I think so too, he was so dashing and sensitive, it didn't help that his costume in Queen Christina didn't do anything to enhance his appeal.

Good news about the new book on John Gilbert.....

Some interesting notes by Ms. Golden on seeing some rare Gilbert films at the Library of Congress.
http://ladailymirror.com/2012/03/27/eve ... h-odyssey/

Very interesting article! Thanks very much for posting it. Sad to hear that His Glorious Night is as bad as rumored, but I enjoyed hearing about Jack in his earliest movies. He's fascinating in them, a scrawny but game player who still has the most expressive eyes ever. One almost can't recognize him, and I always wonder when he developed his ability to command a screen, and mesmerize an audience.

MichiganJ wrote:Some interesting notes by Ms. Golden on seeing some rare Gilbert films at the Library of Congress.
http://ladailymirror.com/2012/03/27/eve ... h-odyssey/

Oh, that's just wonderful and it is great to see that this witty and scholarly writer has another outlet for her musings. I am so glad to read that Eve's irreverent sense of humor (and the absurd) is alive and well, even on this junket to Washington in her quest to find out more about John Gilbert.

Eve posts fairly regularly at the http://ladailymirror.com online as "Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead" with her trenchantly apt comments on recently departed celebs, places related to classic movies and what was once known as "the high life of cafe society." Ms. Golden is a delight and I am hoping she'll return for a visit here when the Gilbert book is published. If you haven't had a chance to read her informative, very well researched and highly entertaining books, you can find out more about them here:
http://www.amazon.com/Eve-Golden/e/B000 ... 245&sr=8-1

Thanks for the link, Moira!

One of John Gilbert's most interesting sound films, Downstairs (1932) is no longer available on youtube, but The Warner Archive has just issued the film as part of Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 6. Other films in this set are The Wet Parade (1932), Mandalay (1934), and Massacre (1934). More can be seen here and a clip from Downstairs is below:

[youtube][/youtube]

Hahaha. So much in the word, "chauffeur."

Downstairs held so much promise, it's a real pleasure of a film.

I loved watching that clip! It reminds me to go back and watch it again. Thank goodness I can, because of Alison, who sent me the recording in the first place.

I k my copy came from Texas and before that it had come from Florida were it had been recorded long ago on TCM, I think, thank heavens for TCM and now an official release, it's too good to be true.

It's so nice to see that his prissy sound film reputation is undeserved. If only more folks could see this one, they would realize how multi-dimensional and talented he really was, even up into the sound era.

...0ne of Hollywood's tragedies. Sad. What might have been. Take hold of your own life.

I can't believe there is no mention of this since the news broke about a week ago? At last it's official, my favorite film of all time is finally getting it's long, long awaited DVD and Blu-ray debut October 1st. That's right after a frustrating 9 year wait, here comes King Vidor's Silent Masterpiece THE BIG PARADE (1925) with John Gilbert and Renee Adoree!

Here is a link with lots of details.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/3 ... e-blu-ray/