Xiao Wanyi
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TrevorAclea — 10 years ago(March 04, 2016 02:37 PM)
With a screenplay by Alfred Hitchcocks wife and underappreciated behind the scenes heroine of his films Alma Reville, its doubtful that
A Romance of Seville
made any more impression on audiences in 1929 than it does today. A professionally made but uninspired romantic drama that was originally sold more on its Spanish locations and now lost Pathécolor sequences (and on its reissue the following year on its synchronised score featuring a medley of colourful Spanish music) than on its story or bland cast, the locations look great and are fully exploited by Claude Friese-Greenes cinematography but the story is a routine melodrama. Alexandre DArcy meets the bride he was betrothed to since childhood (Eugenie Amami) for the very first time, and the sparks fail to fly, so hes delighted to find out that shes actually in love with poor officer Hugh Eden, which is perfect timing because hes just about to meet Marguerite Allan and save her and her father from bandits who are after her valuable necklace. Shes also got a fiancé waiting in the wings (Cecil Barry), but unbeknownst to her hes in debt to the bandits and is behind the attempted robbery. Cue a few romantic misunderstandings that are quickly resolved, a kidnapping and a race to the rescue, all carried out with some professionalism but little attempt to make them seem new (though DArcy leaving a bandit tied to a tree with his arm pointing to the bandits hideout is a neat bit of business).
Its the kind of film that needs a charismatic star to pull off, and while the producers may have thought the Egyptian-born DArcys male model looks gave him a bit of Valentino-style exoticism hes a rather bland fellow who doesnt exactly exude strength or confidence (the kind of handsome but unexciting type some women would describe as having Pointless Good Looks). The script doesnt give him too much help either, throwing away his chance to be a swashbuckling hero when, mid-rescue, he takes two swords from the wall, throws one to Randle Ayrtons bandit chief in a classic prelude to a duel only to promptly run away with the girl and shut the door behind him, leaving most of the heavy lifting in the final battle to Edens soldiers. But for the most part its the kind of film where nobody shines but nobody disgraces themselves either, and the BFIs restoration of the 1930 black and white reissue version certainly looks very impressive even if the only extra on Networks UK DVD is a brief stills gallery.
"Security - release the badgers." -
gundabad_the_pirate — 10 years ago(March 11, 2016 08:06 PM)
Well a few personal thoughts on Charlie Chaplin.
I have seen a couple of Chaplin silent films on and off over the years mostly on TCM and will be the first to admit my lack of enthusiasm for his style of comedy.
Having just read the (Awesomely good
George Burn's 'All my Best Friends' in which he described a round table lunch vote in the early thirties that included most of the top comedians at the time including Groucho Marks and Jack Benny- everyone voted unanimously for Chaplin as being the Greatest screen comedian of their time. With all that comedy heft- there must be something that I was missing?
It was during the watching of 'Easy Street' (1916) that an understanding of Chaplin's greatness started to dawn upon me- like having stared at a painting upset down for years and trying to figure out what it was all about.
Chaplin's comedy is not how one has grown up to expect comedies to be acted out, of course there is slapstick and sight gags but to my understanding Chaplin should be viewed as watching a straight drama in which all the drama is speed up to it's highest pitch until it starts to lose it serious aspects and starts to become almost surrealistic.
Take 'Easy Street' for example, the film has a highly dramatic subplot of a down and out tramp who is so poor that he wanders into the church sermon just to steal the donation box and upon seeing the angelic countenance of the woman playing the organ suddenly decides to bolt out the door in anxiety but then the woman next to him asks him to hold her baby and then hands him the baby bottle upside down which starts to dribble on his pants and he does not know how to react to the possibility of the baby.well, that is an example of the surrealistic drama that bursts into comedy because it has gone beyond tragedy into something unexpected and crazy without losing the punch of the Social observations on poverty, despair and the violence it breeds which is a very serious underlying theme of this comedy.
The best I can conclude is that:
Chaplin = Social commentary as comedy.
And somewhere down the line modern audience expected their comedies- to contain social commentary. The picture turned around the other way.
Just one viewpoint on discovering some modern meaning in Chaplin. -
TrevorAclea — 10 years ago(March 12, 2016 05:14 AM)
I say serious things and people laugh.
A film of firsts the first film solely developed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (though still credited to Metro-Goldwyn), Lon Chaney and Irving Thalbergs first film at the studio, and the first appearance of Leo the Lion declaring Ars Gratia Artis in their corporate logo - time hasnt been as kind to
HE Who Gets Slapped
as to many of Chaneys other films. As with several of his films at the studio a melodrama with a grisly finish, its a curious mixture of sometimes heavy-handed symbolism (various acts being intercut with a clown spinning a ball that becomes a globe the most overused), sentiment, pathos, love story and finally suspense.
Chaney starts the film as a scientist pursuing his theories on the origins of man thanks to the patronage of Mark McDermotts Baron, whos not merely content with stealing Chaneys wife (Ruth King) but steals all the credit for his work too, leaving him humiliated and alone. Years later hes turned the slaps and derisive laughter he received that day into the basis of a circus act thats turning him or HE Who Gets Slapped, as he now calls himself into the hottest star in Paris. He may be billed as The quaintest clown in the world, but HEs act is pretty much the Twenties version of torture porn: not content with 60 clowns slapping him each night (well, it is just a small circus), hes bound and gagged and his heart torn out, stamped on and buried, all to the raucous roars of laughter from the crowd (well, it is a French circus, and some of their comedies have higher body counts than The Wild Bunch). Its not so much pathos as unrelenting sadism, but then audiences came to see Chaney suffer or make others suffer, so theres a knowing element to his twice-nightly humiliation.
Things get complicated when Tully Marshalls down-on-his-luck Count introduces his daughter Norma Shearer to the circus and she becomes part of John Gilberts trick riding act and naturally falls in love with him while HE stands on the sidelines silently falling in love with her. But her father has plans to sell her off to a rich aristocrat no prizes for guessing who giving HE the chance for a terrible revenge
Although its not helped by the 60s score thats been included on Warner Archives DVD-R release, which sounds like it was written for a family comedy-adventure with a few Twilight Zone cues creeping in, despite its huge critical reputation its not one of director Victor Sjöströms best (his name is Americanised to Victor Seastrom in the credits), never matching the kind of extraordinary emotional power he was able to bring to
The Phantom Carriage
. There are a few good visual moments, he plays the melodrama straight enough for it not to be saccharine or pathetic in the worst way and builds up some real suspense in the finale, but occasional attempts to try to make it seem more philosophical than the story actually is, like a title card asking What is life -? What is death -? What is love -?, feel a bit too much like trying to shoehorn a sense of universal importance into a shamelessly populist story. Gilbert and Shearers careers both got a huge boost from the film, though neither are really at their best in what are very much juvenile leads, which doesnt help when the film forgets about Chaney for far too long while they discover the delights of Spring. Ruth King makes much more out of considerably less as the unfaithful and ultimately discarded wife: her frozen shock as she is paid off while McDermott slopes off after younger prey is one of the films most memorable images.
Chaney, as ever, is adept at balancing moments of stillness and subtlety with the broader elements but even though it was one of his favourite parts it never really stretches him much beyond the crying on the inside tragic clown stereotype, something he revisited with rather better results four years later in Laugh, Clown, Laugh. In many ways its very much a template for some of his later MGM films, with the decent man wronged transforming himself into a human monster who takes a terrible revenge, and its certainly worth watching for Chaneys admirers, but newcomers might want to start elsewhere to see him in a story that makes better use of his remarkable talents.
He gets kisses while you get lashes.
Mockery
is one of Lon Chaneys least remember films today and its sadly not hard to see why. Despite grossing four times its budget, the film was regarded at the time as a major disappointment, the contemporary mixed reviews only adding to its eventual obscurity. At first its hard to understand why because the film starts out so strongly and Chaney is good enough to set up expectations that this could be among his best performances. His slow but fundamentally decent peasant, first seen scavenging dead bodies, is persuaded to guide Barbara Bedfords Countess through Bolshevik territory to safety. Unaware of her true identity himself, he suffers a vicious beating to protect her, motivated more by her promise of friend -
TrevorAclea — 10 years ago(March 13, 2016 09:11 AM)
Anybody here want to drive the generals car?
Service comedies were a comparative rarity in the silent era, but two major studios released two of them within a month of each other in 1926 and pretty much established the genres template for decades to come. Raoul Walshs What Price Glory? is probably the best remembered today, but
Tell It To The Marines
was the bigger hit the second biggest of the year, in fact, as well as the most profitable film Lon Chaney ever made at MGM. Both revolved around bickering U.S. Marines who both have their eye on the same girl (and both Fox and MGM would bicker over who had the rights to use the word Marines onscreen, MGM having the edge by being the first film made with the full co-operation), but while Glory was set during the First World War, Marines was set in the present day and followed fresh (in every way) recruit William Haines through his training and misadventures in the Philippines and China under the disapproving eye of Chaneys veteran sergeant. Naturally the Marine Corps makes a man of Haines and its not much of a headscratcher which one of the stars will win over Eleanor Boardmans Navy nurse, nor that the rivalry between them will resolve into friendship when they have to rescue her from Warner Olands Chinese bandit (politically correct its not, one Leather Neck throttling a Chinese extra and telling him Thats for all the punk chop suey I got in Omaha!).
Its certainly formulaic, but the formula was still fresh then, and director George Hill keeps it moving along breezily and enjoyably. Haines conceited wisecracking character isnt as irresistible as he imagines (Im Americas Sweetheart, he boasts in one very in-joke) and even after he shapes up he doesnt develop much in the way of charm, but as ever Chaney, using his own face as the ugliest mut in the service, is the main attraction. He may be playing the archetypal tough as nails D.I. with the heart of gold, but hes absolutely convincing in the part so much so that he was made a honorary Marine and granted a Marine honour guard at his funeral despite never having served managing to add subtle shading and self-awareness to the role without ever descending into bathos. Its a fairly slight, unashamedly crowd pleasing film, but Chaneys performance gives it a strong enough heart and centre to remain engaging after 90 years of variations on the same theme.
"Security - release the badgers." -
TrevorAclea — 10 years ago(March 26, 2016 02:55 PM)
If you wish to see strange things, I have the power to show them to you.
Not to be confused with the actor who played the genie in The Thief of Bagdad, Rex Ingram may have been one of MGMs top directors in the silent era, but watching
The Magician
you cant help wondering what a more inspired and adventurous director like F.W. Murnau or Michael Powell (who has a cameo in the film) could have made of W. Somerset Maughams tale of a young woman in Paris who falls under the spell of a magician who needs her virgin blood to create life (He looks as if he stepped out of a melodrama). There are moments that hint at what could be: a giant statue of a faun briefly appearing to come to life before crumbling and crushing its sculptor or a vision of pagan revels overseen by the same faun come to life. Yet theyre few and far between, Ingram adopting a rather classical style that never hypnotises the audience the way Paul Wegeners magician does the heroine but rather keeps it a film you watch at a remove rather than being drawn into, with even the brief imaginary hedonism never really letting rip.
It doesnt help that theres not a spark of chemistry or sexual magnetism between romantic leads Alice Terry (aka Mrs Ingram) and Iván Petrovich, behaving more like a long-married couple than lovers: theres no life in them to lose, which renders the threat purely academic. Ingram was somewhat notorious for not getting the most out of his wife and occasional co-director onscreen, and thats certainly the case here. Shes never particularly convincing and rarely seems engaged by the material in a part that offers her little to work with. Looking like a cross between Lionel Atwill and Oskar Homolka with the bulk of Emil Jannings, Paul Wegener was probably the first real superstar of the horror genre in the days when Germany led the field, but this never really taps into his talent or utilises his screen presence especially well in a role inspired by Satanist socialite Aleister Crowley (who wrote a scathing review of the novel under the pen-name Oliver Haddo, the character Wegener plays in the film).
Despite being shot in his studio in Nice and on location in Paris and Monte Carlo to avoid studio interference (most notably from Louis B. Mayer), this feels very much life a safe studio-friendly picture rather than a passion project. Its professionally made but rarely comes to life, and when it does its often where you least expect it. Always good with spectacle the casino scene is effective and theres a couple of delightful bits of comic business with his protégé Michael Powell as a balding bespectacled man with a balloon on the sidelines when Wegener demonstrates his powers during a snake charmers act, but despite gifting his mad magician with an atmospherically designed and shot sorcerers tower for his laboratory and a dwarf assistant who presumably spawned all those generations of Igors that populated Universals horror cycle, the finale offers more fisticuffs than frissons.
Horror fans might enjoy seeing it as a bridge between the more stylised German expressionist horror films of the early Twenties and the mad scientist movies that would become a screen staple in the wake of Frankensteins huge success, but this is really more of a production line melodrama with most of the supernatural elements and the darker ending of the novel omitted. Its certainly watchable, but its more of historical interest than especially enthralling.
Warner Archives manufactured on demand DVD-R is taken from TCMs 2010 TV presentation with a new orchestral score by Robert Israel that acknowledges the clichéd material in much of its choice of source music, especially Tchaikovskys Romeo and Juliet. The tinted print isnt pristine with some damage and track marks thats most noticeable in the first reel but more than acceptable. No extras.
"Security - release the badgers." -
CanterburyTale — 10 years ago(March 31, 2016 05:39 PM)
I recently watched
Street Angel
(1928) with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, and thought it was sublime.I had previously seen them in another Frank Borzage film
Seventh Heaven
, but, as enjoyable as that was, 'Angel' is my favourite.Janet Gaynor gives an absolutely stunning performance, on a par with her turn in Murnau's
Sunrise
, and it's easy to see why she won the first Oscar for her performances.
"Barney SloaneThat's my new nameMy old one's a little more Italian." -
gundabad_the_pirate — 10 years ago(March 31, 2016 07:37 PM)
Just watched 'Wings'(1927) for the first time and I am a little embarrassed that I have never watched this fantastic first Academy Award winner for best film.
When someone says, "That Silent Movie could be released in Theaters today and people would flock to see it" then that would be 'Wings'. The Aerial actions sequences are that phenomenal and probably the closest we will ever get to seeing actual W.W.I aerial combat. Having been filmed a mere 8 years after the first war and having the experienced pilots, planes and tactics that were probably still in use- gives this film a depth of authenticity that has you gripping your chair as the planes fill the screen in dive-bombing mayhem.
The copy that I watched was sepia toned? personally, I don't really care for this look in silent films, so I just turn the color back down to B&W.
According to the extras, the film maybe the most expensive ever, as the federal government gave approx 15 million dollars worth of support in troops, planes, artillery, equipment etc.. plus the production budget of $2 million.
Really enjoyed this film and the cast overall, good love triangle storyline that ties itself up neatly in the end. It does start a little Sappy at first when it is introducing the characters and their relationships but after they get out of aerial training and go off to war, then the film shifts to another level and the light comedy in-between the action helps to break up the tension between the build up scenes of combat with the Big Push at the end.
In my top ten list of the most exciting Silent Films of all times- period and one of the last. Out with a bang at 2 dollars a ticket in 1927. -
Peterlh — 10 years ago(April 01, 2016 08:27 AM)
It is as if the only good WWI movies were made in the years between WWI and WWII, I guess that people seem to think that WWII is a more interesting subject for a movie than WWI.
Have you seen Hells Angels (1930)? It is a WWI air combat talkie directed by Howard Hughes, it is not as good as Wings but still a pretty solid flick.
One of my all time favorite war movies is The Big Parade (1925) directed by the incredible King Vidor. Apart from a few scenes that are a bit silly it is as close to a masterpiece as you can probably get. A solid 9/10! -
gundabad_the_pirate — 10 years ago(April 01, 2016 06:56 PM)
Watched 'Hell's Angels' when I was on my Jean Harlow kick, not much of the film stuck with me??? I guess it is more of a thrilling-action experience than something that leaves a dramatic impression. I will take a good look at 'The Big Parade' and add it to my growing list- some can be rented and those that have to be bought should be exceptional to justify it.
That is a good point, probably the most effective (anti-war) film that I have viewed- still remains 'All Quiet on the Western Front' (1930) when the main character returns from the front on a furlough and visits his family at home, where the old veterans were singing their nostalgic praises of going off to battle and he now has his own taste of it for real and you can feel the bitterness of his betrayal.
The film still lingers potently when I remember it. It seems that these early war pictures are far less propagandist or political than the succeeding generations take on the wartime experience, so maybe they are more accurate in a way. -
TrevorAclea — 10 years ago(April 01, 2016 02:38 AM)
The best-known of Lon Chaney and Tod Brownings collaborations at MGM albeit perhaps more for the non-Browning directed remake that was the stars only talkie 1925s
The Unholy Three
is far from the best despite its initially deliriously devious set-up. Kicking off with an array of sideshow freaks and chiselers thats like a dry run for Brownings Freaks (itself based on a novel by the same author, Tod Robbins), Chaney is Professor Echo, a ventriloquist who distracts the crowds while girlfriend Sweet Rosie OGrady (a very good Mae Busch) picks their pockets. But he has bigger plans: teaming up with a strongman (Victor McLaglen, at times looking like a very young Anthony Quinn) and midget (Harry Earles, who would go on to star in both the remake and Freaks), he has an unholy scheme that sees him disguising himself as a little old lady and Earles as a baby running a pet shop that sells birds that cant speak to the wealthy. Not that his scam ends at throwing his voice to make it sound as if they can. When the wealthier customers complain that their bird is silent, he and Earles visit to case the joint while appearing to coax it to talk and return after dark with McLaglen to rob the place. Which works rather well until his accomplices decide to go it alone and end up committing murder and setting up the bespectacled sap who helps out in the shop (a surprisingly sympathetic Matt Moore in Harold Lloyd glasses) and has a crush on Busch
This was very much a comeback picture for Browning after a run of flops, and at times it feels like hes playing it safe because he knows hes in the Last Chance Saloon after spending too much time in real saloons. While there are certainly plenty of grotesque elements and anarchic in the film, from the obligatory wild animal that Chaney keeps that wreaks vengeance (in this case a giant ape) and Earles puffing away on a cigar while in his baby clothes or laughing about his victim begging for his life, the first half of the film is played more as a black comedy than a thriller. There are a couple of suspense set pieces and the unholy trinity do fall out with murderous intent, but the film takes its lead from Chaneys character who may run a crooked racket but isnt that bad a guy underneath it all. When Busch offers to go off with him if hell clear Moore theres no real question of how itll end up and the film gives in to sentimentality and melodrama once things reach the courtroom and the Professors plans to use his ventriloquism to save the day fail him. Browning shows some originality in handling the whole notion of ventriloquism playing a key role in a silent movie, at one point even putting cartoon speech bubbles above the parrots cages in the shop, and its a decent enough melodrama, but its ultimately more wholesome than unholy. Its the kind of film whose reputation you have to take with perhaps a pinch of salt to get the most out of it when Chaney says Thats all there is to life, friends a little laughter a little tear, hes pretty much summing up the movie. But remember, never smoke cigarettes and youll be a big strong man like Victor McLaglen!
Lon Chaney TALKS in
The Unholy 3
screamed the posters for MGMs 1930 remake of his 1925 hit, and Chaneys voice is certainly the main attraction in his only talkie before his untimely death. On one level it shows that his career would have had no problems adjusting to the new era but also indicates that it would move away from the more tortured dramas that made him a huge box-office attraction to the kind of street smart rogues on the wrong side of the law who discover they have a heart after all roles that Wallace Beery and James Cagney would thrive in a few years later. Its simultaneously a curious and an obvious choice for his belated entry into the talking picture stakes: the original was one of his lesser melodramas but the plot is dialogue-heavy and the then-new technology does allow you to actually hear his ventriloquist throw his voice. Its actually Harry Earles, also reprising his role from the silent version as the midget, whose voice is the real problem: his German accent is so thick around 95% of his dialogue is completely incomprehensible, and he has a
lot
of dialogue. Thankfully its a problem not shared by Ivan Linow, replacing a then-under contract to Fox Film Corporation Victor McLaglen as Hercules.
The plot is basically the same, and so are some of the sets and costumes), but Elliott Nugent, this versions co-writer along with his father J.C. Nugent, is while Lila Lee is convincing as a shopworn streetwise cookie but less convincing as the good girl underneath it all. Its pretty much a scene for scene remake until the end, which reaches the same point via a slightly different route that curiously makes much less of the ventriloquism than the original, but if it lacks individuality the under-rated Jack Conways direction is very polished, with the film playing up the comedy much more. Chaneys performance is a bit broader than in th -
TrevorAclea — 10 years ago(April 05, 2016 04:06 PM)
If its his heart you want, Ill cut it out and give it to you.
Its part of the legend that has grown around John Gilberts ultimately career ruining feud with Louis B. Mayer that the vengeful studio chief actively sought out the worst projects he could find for his $250,000 a picture star and that the years after Flesh and the Devil were filled with predestined turkey after turkey a notion that, like the myth that he had a bad voice, shows how few of Gilberts later films many have seen. If Mayer was deliberately trying to sabotage his fledgling companys biggest investment, he had a funny way of going about it: The Cossacks was one of the studios biggest budgeted movies and Tod Brownings
The Show
, so often described as an insulting bit of casting for one of the silent screens most popular lovers, is one of his best pictures and best performances.
In many ways its Gilberts Nightmare Alley (not surprising since in just as many ways Tyrone Power was his talking pictures equivalent), with the star cast against time as Cock Robin, the ballyhoo man for a Budapest sideshow featuring Neptuna, Queen of the Mermaids, Arachnida, the human spider and Zela, the half-lady (the film is almost a dry run for Freaks, though the attractions here are all fake). He knows how to get the ladies, and their money too, currently setting his sights on Gertrude Shorts country girl who he generously allows to pay for his supper. Things get complicated when her father is murdered by The Greek (Lionel Barrymore, quietly oozing self-satisfied menace), whose girl (Renée Adorée) plays Salome in the shows grand finale, where Gilbert plays John the Baptist in a fake decapitation which The Greek figures could be improved by removing the fake part from the equation
Gilbert had tried without success to get Liliom made as a starring vehicle, and this feels as if it was intended as a consolation prize, retaining the sideshow background, Hungarian setting and redemptive ending, but its made of much darker stuff. For most of the running time theres no attempt to make the characters likeable, especially the self-centred and exploitative Gilbert, yet they are genuinely compelling as they go through their sordid paces before it all ends in melodrama and redemption, though even then Browning manages to keep it fairly grounded. But its the first half of the film that sees him truly in his element, offering some striking imagery as well as a fascination with the fakery of it all, with a wonderful dissection of the beheading scene, and drawing an excellent performance from Gilbert (or at least until his final moment of catharsis where the stars tendency to overdo the big emotional moments comes into play). But the film, surprisingly, belongs to Adorée, who gives a superb performance that adds surprising depth to what could have been a clichéd and one dimensional part as the woman whos mistreated by all the men in the picture in one way or another, imbuing it with a combination of tired hope and world weariness with a subtlety thats absolutely fascinating to watch, drawing you in without ever showboating or over-emotin. Shed previously managed to make more out of her part than was on the page in The Blackbird for Browning the previous year, and judging from the excellent performance he drew from Mary Nolan in West of Zanzibar the following year its obvious that the directors fascination with the grotesque has overshadowed his considerable abilities as an actresss director.
Its not without its flaws - the last act threatens to overstay its welcome though Browning manages to prevent the pathos turning into bathos by making Edward Connellys elderly blind soldier an irritatingly needy and impatiently bossy figure whos yet another cross for Adorée to bear but its strengths and strikingly seedy atmosphere more than outweigh them. And the film even manages to end with an innuendo-laden joke and a wonderfully sick variation on the lovers kissing as if to put the directors own signature on the traditional studio formula.
Warner Archives manufactured on demand DVD-R comes with an effective new score by Darrell Raby and includes the original intertitles which surprisingly include some surprisingly strong examples of taking the Lords name in vain language that the Production Code would bar from films for decades just a few years later.
One of the biggest hits of the silent era, 1925s
The Merry Widow
may seem a contradiction in terms a silent musical? but is one of the most enjoyable, spectacular and surprisingly bawdy films of the day. The answer to the question how can you make a silent musical? is twofold: just because you cant sing doesnt mean you cant dance, and the operettas famous waltz is not the films only dance number, with Mae Murray getting a big number of her own to show off her chorus girl credentials, but also it helps if the operetta not only has a half-decent plot but if you add substantially to it as director Erich von Stroheim and his co-writer Ben -
TrevorAclea — 9 years ago(April 10, 2016 06:27 PM)
When the Devil cannot reach us through the spirit he creates a woman beautiful enough to reach us through the flesh.
Neither John Gilbert nor Greta Garbo wanted to make
Flesh and the Devil
, yet as well as giving them a smash hit it led to perhaps the most famous of all on and offscreen love affairs of the silent era and one you can almost see unfold in real time their first meeting was shooting their first scene where Gilbert falls in love with her at first sight and during their first big love scene rather than call cut, director Clarence Brown, or so he claimed, quietly ushered his crew away from the set and left them alone. But theres more to the film than just seeing two of the silent eras most perfect specimens falling in love for real, with Browns sophisticated direction and William Daniels superb cinematography elevating the material beyond the moralistic tale of a woman who destroys almost every man she comes into contact with.
Gilbert and Lars Hansen (Garbos co-star in The Saga of Gosta Berling) are fellow soldiers and childhood blood brothers (Foolishness! You might have got blood poisoning!) whose friendship is compromised when the former falls in love with Garbo, unaware that shes married, and is exiled to the colonial service after a duel with her husband only for her to marry the wealthy Hansen in his absence. Not that that means she wants to give up Gilbert when he returns
Its a curious mixture of romanticism, with its storybook matte paintings, and the more down to Earth (Gilbert and Hansen even mucking out steaming piles of horse manure in the stables), with plenty of comedy to undercut the formality and pomp in the first third of the film before things take a darker tone. There are a few moments that dont work, most notably some superimposition effects while Gilbert obsessively hurries across the globe to his lover, but theres so much that works so well and so seductively it doesnt matter: the truly striking play of light when Gilbert lights a cigarette in his cupped hands at night (You know when you blow out the match thats an invitation to kiss you?), a duel shot entirely in silhouette like a shadow play or the camera revealing Garbos first husband as it follows a cigarette thrown out of the window. But its not just the visuals that are so impressive about Browns striking direction: its the way that despite the films title and George Fawcetts pastors pulpit moralising, he avoids overtly demonising Garbos character.
Whats most intriguing about Garbos performance here is that although the part is clearly written as a femme fatale and the script and title are riddled with religious references, she downplays the malice to just a few quiet moments the small hint of a smile as she tries on her widows veil for the first time, the way she adjusts her lipstick during a fire and brimstone sermon about adultery or the way she looks at a gift proffered by Hansen so that youre not sure if she really is evil or just, as she protests, simply too weak. Its notable that the most unconvincing part of her performance is her hysterical reaction while Barbara Kents good girl prays for the two friends lives in whats pretty much meant to be a symbolic exorcism scene that drives the Devil out of her (although her evil spell still cannot be broken while she lives): its just too histrionic and on the nose and you can tell she doesnt entirely believe in what shes been asked to play. But that apart, the rest of the cast arent on her level, the two male leads admittedly not helped by some of the sledgehammer symbolism on their Island of Friendship when they finally face off against each other. Yet despite that, it works rather magnificently, as much thanks to the undervalued Brown as to Garbo, and still weaves its seductive spell nine decades on.
Warner Home Videos DVD offers a good transfer of the 1988 Thames Silents restoration that was prepared by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill with a Carl Davis score and comes with a decent selection of extras, including an alternate ending obviously made to placate some of the regional censors, a photo montage, a featurette on a competition to create a new score for Garbos The Temptress and an audio commentary by Garbo biographer Barry Paris. Despite not having a lot to say about the film itself, the latter is mildly informative, but theres quite a lot of dead air and intermittent Garbo impersonations when quoting her.
It almost feels mean not to love
Show People
, one of the increasingly few opportunities that Marion Davies got to demonstrate her comic chops because of her lover William Randolph Hearsts determination to turn her into a great but demure dramatic actress, but its one of those comedies that doesnt really live up to its reputation. Not that there isnt much to enjoy in this spoof of both Gloria Swansons rise from custard-pie comedies (though Hearst strictly vetoed Davies getting a pie in the kisser) to first lady of screen drama and Davies own often ill-fitting -
TrevorAclea — 9 years ago(May 07, 2016 01:17 PM)
Despite its outrageous plot a silent star plans to kill her husband and co-star during the shooting of a Western so that she can be with the knockabout comedian she loves without damaging her career -
Shooting Stars
isnt really a comedy. Parts of it are funny, and Anthony Asquiths script certainly takes plenty of satirical swipes at the industry he was trying to break into, but its really more of a drama that turns into a tragedy in very different ways than you might expect.
Mae Feather (Annette Benson), the Sunshine Girl, is the archetypal silent leading lady, beloved by all she meets, a lover of Shakespeare and all creatures furry and winged well, except for the crew of her films who despise her and the dove she shares a scene with who shows itself an excellent judge of character by pecking at her. In fact the only two people who love her are husband Julian Gordon (Brian Aherne) and, unbeknownst to him, Ben Turpin-like (minus the wild eyes) comedian Andy Wilkes (Donald Calthrop), and in Julians case its not the real Mae hes in love with but the sweet and loving version she plays in all her films: indeed, while shes with her lover, hes in the cinema across the road watching her onscreen and utterly enraptured. Yet at the same time he knows that his real life doesnt quite match up, sighing, I wish life was more like the movies. Ironically its part of maintaining the illusion of that movie image that puts him in harms way: because the morals clause in both her and Calthrops contracts could end their careers and hopes of a move to Hollywood if either were involved in divorce or scandal, murder is the only way they can be together though its only Benson who wants it enough to go that far, and even her resolve is shaky. Not that Wilkes is in any way admirable: he takes real delight in incorporating the key to his lovers flat into one of his films (complete with future star Chili Bouchier as the married bathing beauty his onscreen lecher has his eye on).
The behind the scenes look at a working silent studio is a big selling point of the film, from the split level studio (Westerns downstairs, comedy upstairs) revealed in a lengthy overhead crane shot and the phoney press interviews to the backstage bitching and some convincing scenes of Wilkes workshopping his routines in a way that had largely gone out of fashion by the time the film was released in 1928 (the main body of the film turns out to be set several years before). Its certainly more convincingly naturalistic than more traditional movies about movies like Show People: while a few try to live their dreams, for most its just a job, and not a very interesting one at that.
There is one major credibility problem with a key revelation depending entirely on Benson completely forgetting that Aherne is in the same flat at the wrong moment and for all the claims that Asquiths scenario was so flawlessly worked out that the credited director was a mere technician carrying out his wishes to the letter there are sections that feel technically accomplished but dont quite work as well as they could due to some sedate pacing. And, like many behind the screens stories, Wilkes is never as funny as everyone seems to find him: Calthrop is good as the actor but hes not a natural comedian, and it shows. Aherne, however, is a surprisingly convincing silent cowboy, with a wistful sadness to his young good looks while Benson manages to avoid entirely demonising her shallow character and theres some real power to her final scenes, by which time weve had an impromptu funeral parade and one major character has suffered an even worse fate than death: old movie stars never die, they just become obscure trivia questions, and its the films extended epilogue set several years later that is actually the films most powerful and memorable section. You know exactly where its going and how, but the inevitability of it only makes it more poignant.
Theres also another comment on the nature of celebrity and lasting reputation in the way the film is now constantly described as Anthony Asquiths debut not merely as a writer but as a director: yet he didnt direct the film, veteran actor-director A.V. Bramble did. But Bramble wasnt a celebrity and didnt go on to greater things so everything that is good about the film is ascribed to Asquith while Bramble is curtly dismissed as a mere supervisor working from a detailed script that must have precluded any possibility of his own individuality or imagination finding its way into the film. And yet, while it does feature many of his trademark shots, at times the style and look is markedly different from Asquiths silents: the ideas may have been Asquiths but it seems obvious that the same wasnt always true of the execution. Nor was Asquith the only writer he shares a credit with John Orton (as J.O.C. Orton), who, like Bramble, failed to go on to better things and so is casually disregarded as barely worth discussing. Its all too easy to think of Bramble -
Peterlh — 9 years ago(June 04, 2016 08:13 AM)
I just watched Die weie Hölle vom Piz Palü (1929).
I was especially blown away by the direction and cinematography, it reminded me (especially the torch scenes) of the cinematography of Neotpravlennoe pismo by the ever brilliant Sergey Urusevskiy.
Perhaps Sergey was inspired by scenes from Die weie Hölle vom Piz Palü? -
tobias_681 — 9 years ago(June 05, 2016 10:18 PM)
I watched
Cowards Bend the Knee or The Blue Hands (2003)
yesterday. I thought it was really good. Maddin always creates such a unique and haunting world. The visual style is dazzling and the surreal plotting is nothing short of fever-dreamish.
I also watched
Easy Street (1917)
today. It's the best Chaplin short I watched yet. I thought it was quite witty but also incredibly action-packed (more reminiscent of Keaton than of Chaplin) which I really enjoyed.
I'd rate both 8,5/10
"You see things; and you say Why? But I dream things that never were and I say Why not?" -
Brendan_Waters — 9 years ago(July 22, 2016 04:20 PM)
Over the last week I have watched four German films directed by Gerhard Lamprecht in the 1920's. The theme that these films have in common is that they give a very realistic focus on the human suffering of everyday life in 1920's post-war Berlin.
Slums of Berlin
(1925) is about an engineer who has served a term in prison. After his release he wants to continue his life as before but soon realizes that life is not going to be the same again as before he was imprisoned.
Children of No Importance
(1926) is about three children that are in a foster home and the abuse that they suffer. Then a dramatic event happens and life changes.
Menshen untereinander (The Folk Upstairs) (1926)
sketches a cross-section of Germany's new post-war society, with its winners, social climbers and losers who are tenants in an apartment building.
Under the Lantern
(1928) is about a young woman who runs away from her domineering father and the unfortunate sequence of events that lead to her downward spiral.
When mention is made of German silent film directors, usually the names mentioned are Lang, Murnau, Pabst or Lubistch. But these four films are evidence that Gerhard Lamprecht deserves his place among them. These films are wonderful and thanks to Edition Filmmuseum they are now available on DVD.
Highly recommended. -
CanterburyTale — 9 years ago(January 09, 2017 01:23 PM)
I have sadly never seen any of Lamprecht's Silent work, but I am a huge fan of his
Emil Und Die Detektive
(1931), and am very interested in seeing more. The films you mentioned all sound very interesting, and I shall try to seek them out."Barney SloaneThat's my new nameMy old one's a little more Italian."