WHAT SILENTS & PRE-CODES HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[charliechaplinfan]

It's sounds lovely, I didn't realise it had been restored, I've only watched a patchy version and could see it was a very good silent.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched Five Star Final today starring Edward G Robinson, Ona Munson, Aline MacMahon and Marian Marsh. What I love about precodes is you never know what your going to get in the lesser known titles. This one was based in a newspaper office desperate to increase circulation it will stop at nothing including dragging up a twenty year old murder case, that of a woman, Nancy acquitted for killing a rich man and starts raking over the coals. They send the brilliant Boris Karloff playing the scary Isopod in the guise of a vicar to talk to the woman now living under her married name, mistakenly she thinks he is the priest who is going to marry her daughter tomorrow. He's not and the story soon gets in the papers, the young man's family call off the wedding and Nancy takes her life, followed by her husband taking his life when he sees her dead. The daughter played by Marian Marsh is left without her parents but thank heavens her fiancee stands by her, she calls by the newspaper office to get an explanation for the murder of her parents, Edward G Robinson plays the newpaper editior and Aline Macmahon his secretary. Ona Munson is seen in one of her earliest roles, she's very good.

[intothenitrate]

That's a really powerful film, CCF. Before I saw it, I thought that Marian Marsh was sort of a lightweight, but her rage at the end is a tour-de-force.

[JackFavell]

Oh, Five Star Final is an unsung GEM! I'm so glad you got to see it, Alison! I love the tirade Robinson finally gives as well as the bravura speech by Marsh.... The father's last scene is particularly moving, I thought. Aline MacMahon can do more with just a look than most actresses with loads of lines - check out the way she just looks at Robinson in the bar. She's so expressive with those big soulful eyes.

Have you seen Heat Lightning?

[charliechaplinfan]

I'd never heard of Five Star Final, it wondered if anyone else had but it's obviously got a following and quite rightly so. The parents were heartbreaking, yet part of me was very cross with them for ending their lives and leaving their daughter to fight on alone in the world, after all they weren't certain that her fiancee would stand by her. I like Marian Marsh, I've seen her in this, Under Eighteen and Svengali. I'm becoming quite a fan of Edward G Robinson, not only here in his precodes but in his later works too, Woman in the Window, Manpower and Scarlet Street. I've not watched Key Largo in the longest time, I feel like revisiting it again.

I really like Aline MacMahon, she livens up everything she's in, I think she's superb. I've seen Heat Lightning another one worth watching is Life Begins.

[feaito]

Last night I watched a wonderful W. Bros Precoder directed by Roy del Ruth, "Upperworld" (1934). These Precoders, ranging from 60 to 70sth minutes are ideal for watching during the week! They pack more action and interest than many a film released nowadays. Condensed and succint.

Warren William (one of the great unsung actors of that Era) plays a tycoon who gets mixed with a likable, good-natured showgirl (Ginger Rogers) due to neglect of her social climbing wife (lovely Mary Astor). The film is well paced, keeps the interest and is full of fine vignettes and interesting featured players. Some situations are very realistic -in my opinion- and it exudes a kind of honesty not be found in films from other studios. I must say that I did not expect the ending and think that maybe another ending would have made everything more credible, but anyhow I was happy!

The secondary characters are important part of the success of films of this kind, in this case: the menacing, suave, despicable blackmailer played by J. Carrol Naish (Rogers' boss and lover), so different from his later "greasy" characters in films like "Toast of New Orleans" or "The Kissing Bandit"; the talented Dickie Moore as Williams and Astor's son, who shares some very tender moments with Dad; the incomparable Ferdinand Gottschalk as Williams aide-de-camp; the naïve Andy Devine as Williams funny chauffeur; Robert Greig as another of his typical butlers; Robert Barrat as a corrupt commissioner; Sidney Toler, as one of the most complex characters...the embittered policeman ruined by William who's willing to have his revenge on him; John Qualen, fantastic as a janitor. It has all the flavor of a Pre-Code...This must have been released before it was enforced in 1934.

[drednm]

I watched Derelict (1930). George Bancroft stars as a seaman who fights his rival (William "Stage" Boyd) over a Havana saloon singer (Jessie Royce Landis) who is trying to get to Rio.

But when Bancroft gets promoted to captain, sparks fly when the ship grounds in a dense fog. Bancroft is at first commended for saving the ship but is fired when they learn that Boyd sneaked the woman on board.

When Boyd ships out to Rio with Landis, Bancroft signs on with a banana boat and follows. In a raging hurricane (great sea storm effects) Bancroft commandeers the banana boat to help rescue the sinking ship Landis is on.

Bancroft is good as the rough sailor. Boyd (not to be confused with the other William Boyd) is OK as the rival. Landis, in her feature film debut) sings a couple songs and is quite good as the woman. She wouldn't make another film until 1949 and is best remembered for her "mother" roles in Hitchcock films of the 50s.

[drednm]

I watched Smiling Through (1922). This first film version of the hit play (which starred Jane Cowl) was a big hit starring Norma Talmadge in the dual role of Kathleen/Moonyeen.

The story is partly told in flashback to explain John's (Wyndham Standing) hatred of the Wayne family, which includes Kathleen's love Kenneth (Harrison Ford, who also plays Jeremiah in the flashback).

Years before, John was about to marry Moonyeen when her spurned lover Jeremiah burst into the wedding and fired a shot at John. Moonyeen jumps in front of her intended and is killed. From that day John has lived in bitter hatred of the Wayne family. So when Kenneth comes calling on Kathleen, John refuses to let Kathleen see him. But World War I is imminent and Kenneth goes away, swearing eternal love.

The melodramatic storyline is helped by the idea that the ghosts of John's youth watch over the living, waiting for them to join them. John is told by his friend (Alec B. Francis) that the hatred in his heart will always drive away the love Moonyeen had for him. She hovers but can't connect to the hateful old man.

Will the young lovers be united? Will John see the error of his ways? Norma Talmadge, with her dark eyes and expressive mouth is excellent here as the tragic heroine but also has a few light moments as when she's trying to ditch a young man (Glenn Hunter) at a dance. Harrison Ford gets to play the mooning lover but also the deranged Jeremiah. Standing seems pretty unappealing but he handles his acting chores well. And yes that's Gene Lockhart as the village rector, in his film debut.

This is a very nice production of the old fashioned and delicate story of love everlasting. The ghost of Moonyeen tells us that if people only lived their lives knowing what awaits them after death, they would go smilin' through life.

The title of this film in the opening credits is actually SMILING THROUGH.

[charliechaplinfan]

Trying to catch up with the screwball's I haven't seen I watched The Thin Man, after I'd watched Midnight and The Palm Beach Story it felt a bit flatter. It's not as mad and I'm definetly in the mood for mad at the moment. Nevertheless it is a good film with good moments. Good chemistry between Powell and Loy, lovely Asta who stole every scene he was in. Maybe it was me with a houseful of kids (it's school hols again!) and just too many characters to keep up with whilst I did my ironing. William Powell rarely comes across for me on screen, in the ones he does he plays the rogue like in Jewel Robbery otherwise I find him a bit slick. I find that I prefer Myrna Loy teamed with Gable or Tracy than Powell. The drinking gags fell flat with me, I wonder if this is because TV and media these days are geared up to make you feel guilty everytime a drop passes your lips, but I only found a couple of them amusing.

Having said all this, I wouldn't discount watching some other of their Thin Man outings if the mystery in them was strong and once the kids are back at school.

[Ann Harding]

Alison, you're not the only one to find The Thin Man a little flat in places. I felt the same when I watched it a few months ago. Perhaps I need to see it again?...



I saw Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame (I Kiss Your Hand, Madame, 1929) a Robert Lang comedy with a youthful Marlene Dietrich. It's a silent sophisticated comedy taking place in Paris. Marlene is divorced from her husband and meets a déclassé Russian aristocrat (Harry Liedtke) who has to work as a waiter in a posh restaurant. She falls in love, ignoring his real job... From these premisces we get a very enjoyable romp with Marlene going from her (fat) lawyer to her ex-husband and her new lover. She was already a stunning looking woman. But, she doesn't quite have this aura of mystery she acquired with Sternberg. Here, she reminded me of the young Garbo, a little plump, with a rounder face than she had later on. She is more womanly than femme fatale. The film is enjoyable and I managed to follow the story, even with German titles only. Quite fun.

[charliechaplinfan]

It's a lovely screen capture of her, Christine. She never talked about her pre Von Sternberg films, she probably felt they fell far short of what Von Sternberg could do. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[feaito]

I saw the Blu Ray Edition of the Complete "Metropolis" (1927) and it was a grand experience, notwithstanding the big contrast between the quality of the original 35mm print and the scenes recovered from the 16mm print -in very bad state- found in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The score in 5.1 TruSurround HD is magnificent. I can't believe that the only version I had seen before was the shortened Giorgio Moroder-scored Metropolis, released in the '80s and which I saw in the cinema. Thanks KINO for this great opportunity!

[intothenitrate]

Hi Fealto. I had intended to record the restored version of Metropolis when it recently aired on TCM. Instead, I only got the documentary about the recovery of the lost sequences. That was pretty exciting, but I really wanted to see the film put back together.

I had become pretty familiar with the (previously-thought-to-be) complete version. Maybe it seemed choppy, but we tend to adapt and fill in the continuity gaps rather easily anyway, attributing the jumping around to "stylistics."

So what I'm terribly curious to know is, did the inclusion of the lost material flesh out the story more for you? Did the film/story have a different impact/flavor with the new scenes restored to their proper places?

[JackFavell]

If you don't mind my jumping in to this conversation, I thought the additions added substantially to the clarity of the film, but did not give the film a different flavor. The flow was so much better, it turns out to be a very fluid movie!

[pvitari]

I've seen Metropolis a number of times, including on DVD, a 16mm screening way back in the 1990s, a 35mm theatrical screening of the first restored version from a few years back, and then, last year at the TCM film festival, the newly assembled "complete" (still missing a few minutes, actually) print.

There is no doubt, at least for me, that the newly-restored half hour adds a LOT. For the first time the plot and characters really made sense to me and I was as wrapped up in the *story* as I was in the stupendous visuals (which truly were stupendous in the Graumann's Chinese!). Let's just say this time I was absolutely riveted in a way I had never been before. Though I think the Alloy Orchestra's fantastic score had something to do with that. I wish so much that the Alloy's score could have been included on the new Blu-ray/DVD.