WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[feaito]

I liked her in "The Marriage Circle" too Wendy, a very elegant Lubitsch comedy. Marie is also great in Capra's "Ladies of Leisure" (1930), another great Pre-Code with Barbara Stanwyck, whose love story is kind of reminiscent of that in "Paid" (1930).

Yesterday I watched "Within the Law" (1923), the Silent version of Bayard Veiller's play, whose plot is quite different from "Paid's" (1930), which IMO is by far superior, tougher, bolder and more cinematic. The Norma Talmadge feature directed by Frank Lloyd, I guess is much more faithful to the stage play and is more melodramatic and "old fashioned". Nevertheless, I enjoyed Norma´s performance as well as Lew Cody's (in the Bob Armstrong role), Jack Mulhall's (in the Douglass Montgomery role) and especially Eileen Percy's (in the Marie Prèvost role), who was quite funny when she said "Oh, I'm so fwightened!". I'm glad these Silents have been saved from oblivion.

[Ann Harding]

I felt Within the Law was a typical Lloyd feature full of talking profiles. It's funny how this director had such a complete lack of visual sense...

Glad to see that you enjoyed Christopher Strong though, Fernando. I really loved it when I saw it. One of Kate's best performances IMHO.

[feaito]

When I was wathcing "Paid" and "Within the Law" I was constantly recalling the word hack uttered by somenone sometime... although "Paid" is particularly good....You are right about "Within the Law" in terms of visual quality....the cinematography is not something to praise about this film.

And yes "Christopher Strong" is superb; how unfairly underrated it's been over the years.

[charliechaplinfan]

I was surprised by how good Christopher Strong was, it's been slated in books in the past but it's really good with one or two wicked costumes for Kate.

Marie Prevost is one of the best supporting actresses, really good at playing the friend and often the subject of jibes about her weight. She's good too in The Good Bad Girl and excellent in The Godless Girl.

I watched The Cat and the Canary this morning, hmm, I didn't know whether to take it seriously as a horror story or as a comic horror story. It was good but not great, the print itself didn't help it's cause. Laura Le Plante is the only performer who stood out for me. I am looking forward to seeing the version with Paulette Goddard, as long as it's a comedy.

[JackFavell]

I like the Cat and the Canary, but you are right, the print is AWFUL.

[Ann Harding]

I watched The Cat and the Canary this morning, hmm, I didn't know whether to take it seriously as a horror story or as a comic horror story. It was good but not great, the print itself didn't help it's cause.

There is a breathtakingly beautiful print available on DVD from Kino . It's a Photoplay restoration from the original nitrate with a very good score by Neil Brand. I still feel the film is not a complete success, but the print is so gorgeous it focuses your attention.

[charliechaplinfan]

It might be nice to see that print although I wouldn't put it at the top of my to buy list as the film doesn't quite gel. If only our rental services carried Kino releases.

I watched Bolero this morning, George Raft the dancer which I believe he was before coming to Hollywood, two thoughts on him, he looks uncannily like Valentino's ruffian brother when he has his hair slicked back and although I love dancing on film, I didn't really connect with Raft's dancing. Raft plays a man who completely believes in himself and is devoted to his career until partner number three comes along in the form of Carole Lombard, a touching part in the film is when he realises how much her character means to him. I almost missed Ray Milland as a British Lord. It's quite a tongue in cheek story but watchaable nevertheless. I don't get why George Raft was such a sought after star and also quite popular with the ladies unless it was the thrill of being seen with someone with his connections. I prefer him in his supprting roles of the early forties. Carole Lombard in her early career is attractive, bubbly but not the gorgeous creature she became in the mid thirties, did Gabel have something to with that? Or longer hair that she started to wear. I do like her as an actress.

[JackFavell]

I think Raft is good and quite sexy.

When asked who the greatest lover in Hollywood was, Carole Lombard replied, "George Raft - or did you mean on the screen?"

Rumor has it he had large personal "assets". Mae West said of him, "He had a good heart, and more."

[charliechaplinfan]

So it wasn't the gangster connections, that enticed all those ladies. He obviously had something because he was a big star, he's just not for me. I enjoyed Bolero though. I saw him recently in Manpower, I liked him in that.

[JackFavell]

According to Mae West, who remained friends with him for life, he quit being a real life gangster when he started playing movie gangsters - a good trade.

[charliechaplinfan]

A good trade indeed.

I watched the beguiling The Easiest Way today, it stars Constance Bennett as Lolly the pretty eldest daughter in a family living on the edge of poverty. She toils daily in a department store and it there that she is spotted and given a card for an advertising agency where she then gains employment as an underwear model, she catches the eye of the boss, Adolphe Menjou and becomes his mistress, she's able to keep her work shy father in alcohol and contribute to the family budget but her mother disowns her and her sister's husband Clark Gable also feels the same way and won't let his wife Anita Page associate with her. Eventually Lolly finds her real love, Robert Montgomery and forsakes Menjou for him, the poverty is too much for her especially when her mother gets sick and needs medicine, she caves in and goes back to Menjou whilst Montgomery is in Argentina carrying out his journalist work. When Montgomery comes back he learns that she's took up back with Menjou and leaves again, the picture ends with Lolly leaving Menjou again and being reconciled with Gable and his family and waiting for Montgomery to see if returns.

The thing I really liked aobut this film is it didn't shy away from showing living conditions and the poverty Lolly's family endure (I'm sure the reality was worse) the boys sleep in the living room, two to a bed, the girls sleep 3 to a bed and ma and pa have their own bed, all sleeping very close together, the apartment is very cramped. Clark Gable's character is a hardworker and he puts a down payment on a house, such luxury that the parents at the end of their working lives can't afford, pa is too old for being a longshoreman and won't accept less and still having three younger mouths to feed. It stood out as a precode because of these scenes.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched the Kay Francis film The Keyhole today, costarring George Brent as a private detective. It was pleasant but didn't pack too much of a punch.

[drednm]

I watched the 1926 Ladies of Leisure starring Elaine Hammerstein.

Elaine Hammerstein and Gertrude Short play the ladies in two meandering story lines here. Hammerstein plays Mamie, a paid companion to Short in a wealthy household where she is being romanced by the handsome son (Robert Ellis). He presses for marriage but she has a dark secret. She finally accepts a ring from him as a friendship ring but goes into hiding when her "husband" (Jim Mason) appears on the scene. It seems she was tricked into marrying him after her father was framed in a jewel robbery. He expects her to help rob the house so she escapes.

Short plays Marian, a perky little pest who's after a "confirmed bachelor" (T. Roy Barnes) who does everything he can to avoid her. But no matter how he and his butler (Tom Ricketts) lie to her, she always manages to sneak into his apartment. By today's standards,she a stalker.

The two stories come together when Hammerstein decides a jump off the Brooklyn Bridge is the only way out, but who should be driving by but Barnes. He talks her out of jumping and taker her home. About the same time, a detective has traced Hammerstein to Barnes' apartment, which sends Ellis into a fury since Barnes is his best friend.

Ellis shows up and threatens Barnes if Hammerstein (dressed in a dry robe) is in the apartment. But Short sneaks in again and bursts into the room (in a robe) and declares she is married to Barnes. Ellis backs off and Short tells him Hammerstein is back at the house waiting for him.

Ellis races home but what will he find? Barnes has been trapped into marrying the pesty Short. Will they find wedded bliss?

I always thought this was the silent version of the Barbara Stanwyck talkie with the same title but I don't see much resemblance.

[feaito]

Yesterday I watched "Underworld" (1927) with a newly composed score by Robert Israel, which when it gets to Brook's and Brent's romantic moments uses a theme/melody similar to Rodgers & Hart's "Isn't it Romantic?"...The film is powerful and visually attractive -great cinematography and use of shadows and close-ups. George Bancroft gives an awesome performance as the gangster Bull Weed and Clive Brook is incredibly good as Rolls Royce -it's the most sensitive performance of his I've ever seen, perhaps with the exception of the one he gives in "Barbed Wire" (1927) opposite Pola Negri. Evelyn Brent's Feathers is an accomplishment too. Her moody interpretation is fantastic. The Three-film Set released by Crierion is awesome. This film had a choice of two scores the Alloy Ocrhestra's and the 2010 score composed by Robert Israel. It also includes a Visual Essay on Von Sternberg's career up to 1928-1929. A thoroughly informative and engrossing 35 minutes mini-documentary.