Rare Clips with Dolores Costello and Conrad Nagel

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Gagman 66
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Joined: April 19th, 2007, 11:34 pm
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Rare Clips with Dolores Costello and Conrad Nagel

Post by Gagman 66 »

:) Enchanting clip from the partial Talkie, GLORIOUS BETSY (1928). Directed by Alan Crossland. who helmed some of John Barrymore's best features. Titles such as DON JUAN, THE BELOVED ROGUE, WHEN A MAN LOVES, and GENERAL CRACK. His wife by this time Mrs. Barrymore, Dolores Costello was one of the silver screens most beautiful and vivacious actresses of the 20's. Sometimes referred to as the Silent Goddess of the movies. Often appearing in sensational period attire. Here she portrayed a real life historical Southern Belle of the early 1800's, Liz Patterson.

A stunning statuesque young Woman with large green eyes, Strawberry blonde hair, and virtually Flawless figure, Costello must have been some ravishing creature to behold in living color. As she was extremely photogenic in Monochrome.

Second generation Star D C, was the daughter of the popular Maurice Costello of the teens. Her lovely Sister Helene was another well known leading lady at this time.

Conrad Nagel was a top leading man for Stars like May McAvoy, Pauline Starke, Aileen Pringle, Renee Adoree, Eleanor Boardman, Marion Davies, and even Greta Garbo. Despite his excellent speaking voice, Nagel's career started to waver considerably with the coming of sound. By the early 30's, he was frequently being reduced to second Banana, or character rolls.

To few of Dolores Starring features still survive today. Luckily this one does. The the videos seem to be embedding now. Where I had no success with FINE MANNERS yesterday. I'll go back and see if ZI can fix those.


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Here's more from a smouldering sequence later on in the picture. Hope your wearing you asbestos gloves folks! Passion ignites between Jerome and Elizabeth on the grounds of the Patterson Estate. The two are utterly swept away in their apparently impossible love for one another. Yowza!!! Wonder what Hubby John Barrymore thought about this steamy stuff unfolding before the camera's with his new wife??? Or was he to busy tripping and falling on Camilla Horn during the production of THE TEMPEST to take notice? ;)


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:-[ OK, just after this scene, there is a rather lengthy drawn out talking sequence, with some apparent singing. Jerome's true identity is revealed to the gathering and a startled Betsy during this time. Unfortunately, the Vita-phone sound discs have never been found. So without benefit of an expert lip reader, we have no idea what is being said during this portion of the picture? It's obviously a big key to the story too. Maybe an all Silent version with Title-cards survives that covers matters, but regrettably this is not it. Maybe there is a script someplace, so new title cards could at some point be added to explain the holes in the plot line? ???

I think if they could manage to bridge the missing talking bits with some title-cards, in order help to explain what is going on plot-wise, a pretty nice Silent version would emerge. So far I see no outright missing footage that would require any stills to be employed. So that's a definite step up from a film like BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT, missing whole reels, or lengthy bits of key footage.


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:) For Dash Birthday, Here is another scene. We have all seen stills of Dolores in this costume before. I had not planed to post anything beyond the first three clips.
After great personal sacrifice, Betsy returns from France to the Patterson Estate. Having been prevented from entering that country by would be Brother In-Law Emperor Napoleon. Well ahead of schedule, immediately rumor's fly among the Southerner's that she and her husband Jerome (Conrad Nagel) have become estranged from one another. Really magnificent sets and cinematography.

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JackFavell
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Re: Rare Clips with Dolores Costello and Conrad Nagel

Post by JackFavell »

Wow! Very romantic! I always wanted to see this one, based on stills I saw from it. Thanks for posting.

I never did know what women saw in Conrad Nagel, but he's good here, and has better hair than usual. Norman Kerry is another I could never understand being a movie star. They are both good actors, I'll give the edge to Nagel, but just not in any way attractive to my way of thinking. But then, men were so different back then.
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