The Top 10 Movie Project

1931: Top 10 and Year in Review

2010-03-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

1931 was a definite improvement on the previous year.The two major classics were as good as advertised (City Lights, M) and there were some nice surprises (Miracle Woman, Platinum Blonde, Five Star Final, The Royal Bed). We also had some iconic stars make their mark (James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and Barbara Stanwyck).

Favorite directors like Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch, and Josef von Sternberg that populated prior top 10 lists make reappearances this year. Legendary director Frank Capra surprised with two great early films that both appear on the list.

The biggest disappointments were the mostly weak horror entries. Several of them are regarded as classics, but for the most part they were excruciatingly dry films with no life and spent an interminable amount of time on dull exposition. None matched the intensity and excitement of earlir horror entries I loved like The Cat and the Canary or The Unknown.

Very good films that didn't make this year's list include Mervyn LeRoy's scathing media indictment Five Star Final, Rene Clair's political comedy Freedom For Us, Norman Z. McLeod's Marc Bros. entry Monkey Business, and Yasujiro Ozu's delicate workplace dramedy Tokyo Chorus.

Click here for a full list of films I saw in 1931, including capsule reviews.

And now, the top 10 films of 1931...

10. The Royal Bed (Lowell Sherman)

9. Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy)

8. Platinum Blonde (Frank Capra)

7. The Public Enemy (William Wellman)

6. Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg)

5. An American Tragedy (Josef Von Sternberg)

4. Miracle Woman (Frank Capra)

3. The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch)

2. City Lights (Charles Chaplin)

1. M (Fritz Lang)

Awards for 1931:

Director

Frank Capra, Miracle Woman
Charles Chaplin, City Lights
*Fritz Lang, M
Ernst Lubitsch, The Smiling Lieutenant
Josef von Sternberg, An American Tragedy

Actor

James Cagney, Public Enemy
Charles Chaplin, City Lights
Maurice Chevalier, The Smiling Lieutenant
*Peter Lorre, M
Edward G. Robinson, Little Caesar

Actress

Claudette Colbert, The Smiling Lieutenant
Marlene Dietrich, Dishonored
Sylvia Sidney, An American Tragedy
*Barbara Stanwyck, Miracle Woman
Loretta Young, Platinum Blonde

Supporting Actor

George Barbier, The Smiling Lieutenant
Rudolf Blumner, M
*Dwight Frye, Dracula
Boris Karloff, Five Star Final
David Manners, Miracle Woman

Supporting Actress

Virginia Cherrill, City Lights
Jean Harlow, Platinum Blonde
Jean Harlow, Public Enemy
*Miriam Hopkins, The Smiling Lieutenant
Aline McMahon, Five Star Final

Adapted Screenplay

An American Tragedy (Samuel Hoffenstein)
Miracle Woman (Jo Swerling)
Platinum Blonde (Jo Swerling)
The Public Enemy (Harvey Thew)
*The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernest Vajda, Sam Raphaelson)

Original Screenplay

*City Lights (Charles Chaplin)
Dishonored (Daniel Nathan Rubin, Josef Von Sternberg)
Freedom For Us (Rene Clair)
M (Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang)
Monkey Business (SJ Perelman, Will B. Johnstone)

Editing

An American Tragedy
City Lights
*M
Miracle Woman
The Smiling Lieutenant

Cinematography

City Lights
*M
Miracle Woman
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
Woman in the Moon

Art Direction

*City Lights
Dracula
M
Miracle Woman
Woman in the Moon

Costume Design

*Dishonored
Mata Hari
Miracle Woman
Platinum Blonde
The Smiling Lieutenant

Makeup

Dracula
*Frankenstein
Svengali

The Academy Awards - 1929

2010-03-03T00:46:00.000-08:00

The very first Academy Awards took place in 1929 and were hosted by Douglas Fairbanks and William C. de Mille. The time period for qualification was August 1, 1927-August 1, 1928. This odd release period makes it difficult to have a side by side comparison of what I would've nominated, but that is something I plan to do once the Oscar years match calendar years.

The actual Academy winners are in bold:

Best Picture, Production

7th Heaven
The Racket
Wings

Thoughts: The Best Picture categories were split up this year, but this is the one that generally gets credit for the official recognition of Best Picture. That's a shame, because Wings is really an awful movie with a terrible script and even worse performances. It does prove the Academy was just as stupid back then as it is now. I have not had the chance to see The Racket yet, but 7th Heaven is a terrific melodrama from Frank Borzage and a more deserving winner than Wings.

Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production

Chang: A Drama in the Wilderness
The Crowd
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Thoughts: Not sure what the Oscars intended with this award or why it doesn't get full recognition, but this is a much, much better collection of films. The Crowd and Sunrise are the top two films of their individual years and Chang is a much better thrill pic than Wings. Sunrise is a fine choice, but it's annoying that it doesn't get proper recognition as a Best Picture winner.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Emil Jannings, The Last Command
Richard Barthelmess, The Noose and The Patent Leather Kid

Thoughts: Neither of the Barthelmess films is available, but I have seen The Last Command and Jannings does give a terrific performance in it. It is a showy performance, the kind the Academy would come to love over the years. I would have preferred Lon Chaney to be nominated and win for either The Unknown or Laugh, Clown, Laugh. He is amazing in both films. It should be noted that Charlie Chaplin was originally nominated here for The Circus, but was taken out of the running and given a special award instead. He also would have been a better choice than Jannings.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Louise Dresser, A Ship Comes In
Janet Gaynor, 7th Heaven, Sunrise: A song of Two Humans, and Street Angel
Gloria Swanson, Sadie Thompson

Thoughts: Once again I have only seen the films from the winner, but Gaynor is a brilliant dramatic actress that was working several steps ahead of her contemporaries at the time. She is particularly amazing in Sunrise. Maria Falconetti's performance for The Passion of Joan of Arc would have also been a great choice.

Best Director, Comedy Picture

Lewis Milestone, Two Arabian Knights
Ted Wilde, Speedy

Thoughts: This year the Oscars split up the directing awards for Drama and Comedy. I have not seen the Milestone film, but Speedy is one of my favorite silent films so I wish Wilde had won. Chaplin was also taken out of this category and would've been the best choice.

Best Director, Dramatic Picture

Frank Borzage, 7th Heaven
Herbert Brenon, Sorrell and Son
King Vidor, The Crowd

Thoughts: I have not seen Sorrell and Son, but I'll note that Brenon did a great job with the Lon Chaney drama Laugh, Clown, Laugh. 7th Heaven is probably Borzage's best film, but King Vidor's The Crowd is an outright masterpiece and he should have been the winner. The most glaring omission among nominees is FW Murnau for Sunrise (and Fritz Lang for Metropolis, but I doubt they wanted to honor foreign films at this point).

Best Writing, Original Story

Underworld - Ben Hecht
The Last Command - Lajos Biro

Thoughts: Wow, they really got this one right. Underworld is a fantastic screenplay with vivid characters and a fascinating moral dilemma. It is amusing that Hecht was originally unhappy with the film and wanted his name removed from it. The Last Command is also a good script, probably getting attention here for the dual narrative structure it employed.

Best Writing, Adaptation

7th Heaven - Benjamin Glazer
Glorious Betsy - Anthony Coldeway
The Jazz Singer - Aldred A. Cohn

Thoughts: Did not see Glorious Betsy, but I'm glad 7th Heaven won if this was the competition it faced. There is nothing remarkable about The Jazz Singer's screenplay. Sunrise ro The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg would have been my picks here.

Other Awards...

Cinematography: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Art Direction: The Tempest
Honorary Award: Charlie Chaplin, The Circus
Honorary Award: Warner Brothers, The Jazz Singer for technical excellenge

Thoughts: Sunrise is the obvious choice for Cinematography, so it's good they didn't screw that one up. I would have gone with 7th Heaven for Art Direction. If The Jazz Signer had to win an award, I'm glad that's the only one it won. It's nice for Chaplin to receive a special award, but he deserved to win one in a competitive category.

Conclusions: They got many of these categories perfect, but made a huge blunder with Best Picture. In fact, of all the Best Picture winners I have seen, Wings is clearly the worst. Sunrise (now in the AFI 100) should be duly recognized as a Best Picture winner.

Change of Plans

2010-02-28T21:50:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I'll have to change this project up a bit if it is to continue. The original format of doing full recaps for each film I see was a little unrealistic given time constraints. Therefore, I'll just be posting the yearly wrapups, and maybe some occassional comments on certain films or actresses as I go through each year.

i also plan to start expanding my commentary on the Academy Awards as I'm now seeing pretty much every nominee and will have some posts up regarding that shortly.

1931 year in review will be coming up soon.

Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice) ***

2009-12-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

Director: George Fitzmaurice

Cast: Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Lionel Barrymore

Background: Greta Garbo continued her successful transition into talkies, following double Oscar nominations the previous year. Ramon Novarro fills in for usual Garbo costar John Gilbert, whose career had begun to fall apart in 1929. Longtime film star Lionel Barrymore rounded out the cast.

Story: Very loosely based on a true story, Mata Hari (Garbo) is a legendary spy outwitting the secret police. She has seduced a Russian General (Barrymore), but problems arise when she develops feelings for the young Lieutenant (Novarro) who is the target of her latest mission.

Thoughts: This is a fairly straightforward film without a lot of depth, but it is nonetheless entertaining thanks to an interesting story and solid performances from the entire cast. Garbo had issues the previous year in Anna Christie, which was her first talkie, but they seem to have been fixed as she gives a confident, relaxed performance here. Lionel Barrymore is much better here than his hammy Oscar winning performance in A Free Soul. And it's nice to see the talented Ramon Novarro (so good in Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg) in a talkie for the first time. The story unfolds at a nice pace as we gradually begin to like each of the characters, giving the film some emotional resonance. This is much, much better than Garbo's earlier spy film The Mysterious Lady, which included ridiculously idiotic mistakes by the supposedly great spies. None of the stupidity that doomed that film exists here. Instead, we get a fun story about a cool female spy and the men who love her.

Postscript: Barrymore's career was far from over. After winning an Oscar for A Free Soul, he would continue acting for another two decades, including a memorable turn in It's a Wonderful Life. Garbo would receive two more Oscar nominations (Camille, Ninotchka), but would retire in 1941.

M (Fritz Lang) ****

2009-10-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

Director: Fritz Lang

Cast: Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Grundgens, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Rudulf Blumner

Background: This was Fritz Lang's first sound film, and like most of his earlier films, he co-wrote the screenplay with his wife Thea von Harbou. This was the first major role for theater actor Peter Lorre.

Story: Hans Beckert (Lorre) is a serial killer who murders young girls. The police have been unable to catch him, but the criminal underworld sets out to get the job done themselves.

Thoughts: Every modern filmmaker and moviegoer should be required to watch Fritz Lang's M. Maybe then we'd be spared the ADD crap of modern blockbusters. M shows how brilliant a film can be when it has the patience let the suspense slowly build throughout the story. The most notable sequence is a long, mostly silent passage where a blind man notices the killer's presence and the underworld network tracks him to a building, where he hides in the attic as they get closer and closer to finding him. But the film isn't just visually brilliant, it explores the story through multiple levels, with a fascinating sequence at the end showing how the criminal underworld ironically views defense attorneys in a much different light when the tables are turned. Peter Lorre's performance is far removed from the standard one note villain. He doesn't play Hans Beckert as a purely evil psycopath, but as someone who feels he does not have control of his own actions. M is a film that plays against your expectations, where the criminals are self-righteous and child murderers are human beings. It's a thoughtful and frightening movie, coming from a director who by this point was a complete master at his craft.

Postscript: Fritz Lang regarded this film as his finest work. He went on to direct for three more decades. Lorre would be typecast for a bit as villains, but still had a successful film career, including supporting roles in classics such as Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.

Bad Girl (Frank Borzage) **1/2

2009-10-10T13:23:00.002-07:00

Director: Frank Borzage

Cast: James Dunn, Sally Eilers, Minna Gombell

Background: Borzage was the master of melodrama, but here he took a departure from that concept for a more realistic exploration of love. In doing so, he cast two relative unknowns as his leads.

Story: A lower class young couple (Dunn, Eilers) falls in love and gets married, but a pregnancy threatens to doom their marriage.

Thoughts: This is the second time Borzage has attempted a departure from his usual style, and once again the result is merely an interesting failure. Here he doesn't necessarily abandon the melodrama, but the stark realism of the story is a contrast to the fanciful backdrops he's used for his previous films. The main problem here is the events move at an excruciatingly slow pace. The most interesting aspect of the film is the exploration of the difficulties of married life for people who don't have alot of money. Unfortunately, almost half the film is over before they even get married and it's quite a chore to make it to that point. It's interesting that the main problem between them was mostly a simple misunderstanding, which actually feels pretty authentic for the kind of troubles married couples go through. I just wish Borzage had gotten to that point a little sooner, because the first half of the film is almost a complete wash.

Postscript: Borzage won his second Best Director Oscar and the film also won for Best Screenplay. Dunn's most notable work after this would be Elia Kazan's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Sally Eilers made a pretty nice career of supporting roles through the late 40s.

A Free Soul (Robert Z. Leonard) *1/2

2009-10-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Director: Clarence Brown

Cast: Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, James Gleason

Background: Clarence Brown received an Oscar for directing Anna Christie, which was Greta Garbo's first talkie and also got her an Oscar nomination. Norma Shearer was coming off a Best Actress Oscar for The Divorcee. This is one of Gable's earliest major roles.

Story: Defense attorney Stephen Ashe (Barrymore) wins the acquittal of a gambler (Gable) on a murder charge, but is not happy to see that his daughter (Shearer) begins dating the man.

Thoughts: This is a movie that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be about. It alternates from love triangle to father-daughter drama about alcoholism to courtroom drama. Ultimately, it is not successful at any of them. The script doesn't seem to know what to do about the various characters. At one point in the third act, the film does a complete 180 on how we're supposed to view Gable's character. It's an abrupt and jarring twist that completely derails the movie. Once Barrymore wanders back into the film for a ridiculously contrived courtroom sequence, it's hard to take anything seriously. At the very least, we get confirmation on Norma Shearer's skill as an actress. She brings an astonishing elegance to her role and her wonderful presence makes the film somewhat bearable.

Postscript: Lionel Barrymore won the Best Actor Oscar for this film. The film also received nominations for Norma Shearer and Clarence Brown. Clark Gable and Leslie Howard would late appear together in Gone With the Wind.

The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch) ****

2009-10-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, George Barbier, Charles Ruggles

Background: This was the third of Ernst Lubitsch's early talkie musicals, the first of which (The Love Parade) also starred Maurice Chevalier and made him a star. Claudette Colbert also previously starred with Maurice Chevalier in 1930's The Big Pond.

Story: Niki (Chevalier) is a Lieutenant in the Austrian Royal Guard who falls in love with Franzi (Colbert). One day, he is winking at her on duty when his gestures are mistaken for a visiting princess (Hopkins) from the small kingdom of Flausenthurm. Niki is able to charmingly talk his way out of punishment for that offense, but can't talk his way out of the arranged marriage with the princess who now loves him.

Thoughts: Another delightful Lubitsch musical and among his best films overall. Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert make a terrific romantic pair, and the musical numbers between them are outstanding. However, the biggest surprise in the film is Miriam Hopkins. Her character appears at first to be a one note spoiled brat, but Hopkins (and Lubitsch) makes her a wonderful, charmingly naive person. This really sets the film apart from most that deal with love triangles by allowing us to like both choices. In fact, one of the best scenes is when the two women meet and actually gain an understanding of one another. There's quite a bit of sexual innuendo in this pre-code talkie and Lubitsch "touches" are found all throughout the film. My favorite is when Niki tries to talk his way out of the marriage:

"When you winked at my daughter, were your intentions honorable?"
"They were."
"Well, then naturally, you'll marry her."
"My intentions were dishonorable!"
"Then you'll have to marry her!"

Dialogue like that just can't be found in most films. Lubitsch wraps things up with a surprisingly satisfying ending that mixes sadness and happiness, and is a whole lot of fun.

Postscript: The film was nominated for Best Picture. Lubitsch would make his final musical the following year, a film called One Hour With You, also with Chevalier. He would also release Trouble in Paradise that same year, which turned out to be one of his most notable films and also starred Hopkins. Colbert would win the Lead Actress Oscar for the enormously successful 1934 film, It Happened One Night.

The Bachelor Father (Robert Z. Leonard) **1/2

2009-10-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

Director: Robert Z. Leonard

Cast: Marion Davies, C. Aubrey Smith, Ray Milland, Ralph Forbes, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, Nina Quartero

Background: Leonard had received an Oscar nomination for 1930's The Divorcee and had previously worked with Marion on in the abysmal 1929 musical Marianne.

Story: A wealthy Englishman (Smith) bachelor who has illegitimate children around the world tries to unite them so they can finally spend time with him. After an iffy beginning, they begin to bond, but Toni (Davies) isn't aware of the secret that he isn't her father after all, while she falls in love with his assistant (Milland).

Thoughts: Another vehicle for Marion that just doesn't live up to her talents. Once again, she's stuck in a film with a very static visual design and a script that doesn't give her the right material to work with. She brings as much as she can, with a winning enthusiasm that makes the film far more pleasant and entertaining than it should be. There is also a decent chemistry between her and Ray Milland. However, this film just doesn't have a strong narrative drive. It just kind of sits there, with very little plot progression until a rushed third act twist which is wrapped up too neatly. It's a shame because Marion is a very talented comedienne as she proved in Show People and The Patsy, but so far she has not picked very good projects in the sound era.

Postscript: Director Robert Z. Leonard would go on to direct Best Picture winner The Great Ziegfeld in 1936, for which he received his second Oscar nomination. Marion continued acting for another 6 years, including films with Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. Ray Milland would have a long and successful career, including a Best Actor Oscar for 1945's The Lost Weekend.

Schedule for 1931

2009-10-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

Coming off the weakest year of the project so far, there appears to be a lot of promise for 1931. There are several entries by directors who have dominated my previous top 10's, such as Josef von Sternberg, Fritz Lang, Frank Borzage, King Vidor, and FW Murnau. We also get one of Chaplin's most notable films, not to mention the first appearances of Yasujiro Ozu, Frank Capra, James Whale.

Here is the full list, which is subject to change depending on availability...

An American Tragedy (Josef Von Sternberg)
Arrowsmith (John Ford)
The Bachelor Father (Robert Z. Leonard)
Bad Girl (Frank Borzage)
The Champ (King Vidor)
Cimarron (Wesley Ruggles)
City Lights (Charles Chaplin)
Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg)
Dracula (Tod Browning)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian)
Frankenstein (James Whale)
Freedom For Us (Rene Clair)
A Free Soul (Clarence Brown)
Little Caeser (Mervyn LeRoy)
M (Fritz Lang)
Maltese Falcon (Roy Del Ruth)
Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice)
Miracle Woman (Frank Capra)
Monkey Business (Norman Z. McLeod)
Platinum Blonde (Frank Capra)
The Public Enemy (William Wellman)
Rich and Strange (Alfred Hitchcock)
Svengali (Archie Mayo)
The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch)
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (FW Murnau)
Tonight or Never (Mervyn LeRoy)
Tokyo Chorus (Yasujiro Ozu)
Waterloo Bridge (James Whale)

1930 Year in Review

2009-10-05T00:35:00.000-07:00

This turned out to be an extremely weak year for the most part. In fact, I panicked about halfway through, having not seen many films worthy of making the list and worrying that there wouldn't even be 10 films that I really liked. Thankfully, there were a few surprises (Billy the Kid, A Cottage on Dartmoor) that prevented an outright disaster, but this was still the weakest of the years since I started this project.

Part of the problem was technical issues with the early talkies. Many of the directors and actors were still not comfortable with the new format. Examples include the stilted acting from Greta Garbo in Anna Christie, the hideous editing in John Ford's Up the River, and King Vidor's surprisingly static Not So Dumb. It's not a surprise then that 4 of the 10 films on this list were silents, despite the silent era being dead two years earlier.

There were more foreign films this year, but those were also a mixed bag. Most of them were made with admirable skill, but the avant garde and surrealistic films just didn't work for me for the most part. I'll probably scale back on those in future years. There were lots of major directors making films this year, but many of them hadn't quite hit their stride yet (Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford) or had lost it (D.W. Griffith).

Without further delay, here is the top 10 list for 1930...

10. Song O My Heart (Frank Borzage)

A surprisingly skillful performance from John McCormack

9. The White Hell of Pitz Palu (Arnold Fanck, GW Pabst)

Amazing cinematography made this an exciting adventure.

8. Feet First (Clyde Bruckman)

Another of Harold Lloyd's wonderful thrill sequences.

7. The Blue Angel (Josef Von Sternberg)

The role that made Marlene Dietrich a star.

6. Morocco (Josef von Sternberg)

Marlene Dietrich's provocative act catches the eye of Gary Cooper.

5. Hell's Angels (Howard Hughes)

The spectacular dogfight sequence.

4. Billy the Kid (King Vidor)

Pat Garret (Wallace Beery) and Billy the Kid (Johnny Mack Brown) face off.

3. A Cottage on Dartmoor (Anthony Asquith)

The brilliantly terrifying face of Uno Henning.

2. City Girl (FW Murnau)

Newlywed bliss, before cultural differences would threaten them.

1. All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone)

This haunting image is one of the best closing shots in cinema history.

Awards:

Best Picture

*All Quiet on the Western Front
Billy the Kid
City Girl
A Cottage on Dartmoor
Hell's Angels

Best Director

Anthony Asquith, A Cottage on Dartmoor
Howard Hughes, Hell's Angels
*Lewis Milestone, All Quiet on the Western Front
FW Murnau, City Girl
King Vidor, Billy the Kid

Best Actor

Lew Ayres, All Quiet on the Western Front
Charles Farrell, City Girl
*Uno Henning, A Cottage on Dartmoor
Emil Jannings, The Blue Angel
John McCormack, Song O My Heart

Best Actress

*Marlene Dietrich, Morocco
Marie Dressler, Min and Bill
Mary Duncan, City Girl
Jeanette McDonald, Monte Carlo
Norma Shearer, The Divorcee

Best Supporting Actor

*Wallace Beery, Billy the Kid
Wallace Beery, Min and Bill
David Torrence, City Girl
Louis Wolheim, All Quiet on the Western Front
John Wray, All Quiet on the Western Front

Supporting Actress

*Evelyn Brent, The Silver Horde
Grayce Hampton, The Bat Whispers
Jean Harlow, Hell's Angels
Kay Johnson, Billy the Kid
Maureen O' Sullivan, Song O My Heart

Best Screenplay

*All Quiet on the Western Front (George Abbott, Maxwell Anderson, Del Andrews)
Billy the Kid (Wanda Tuchock, Laurence Stallings)
The Blue Angel (Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmoller, Robert Liebman)
City Girl (HH Caldwell, Katherine Hilliker, Marion Orth, Berthold Viertel)
Song O My Heart (Tom Barry, Sonya Levien)

The White Hell of Pitz Palu (Arnold Fanck, GW Pabst) ***1/2

2009-10-04T23:54:00.000-07:00

Director: Arnold Fanck, GW Pabst

Cast: Gustav Diessl, Leni Reifenstahl, Ernst Petersen, Ernst Udet, Mizzi Gotzel, Otto Spring

Background: Pabst and Fanck agreed to an unusual arrangement where Pabst directed indoor scenes and oversaw the dramatic structure of the film, while Fanck focused on the mountain scenes. At the time, Reifenstahl was a notable dancer who had only appeared in a handful of films.

Story: Dr. Johannes Kraft (Diessl) has been distraught since his wife fell during a mountain climb on their honeymoon ten years ago. He meets up with newlyweds Karl (Petersen) and Maria (Reifenstahl), and they join him on a dangerous climb to find his wife's resting place.

Thoughts: Plenty to like in this one. This mountain climbing film is incredibly exciting and features some amazing cinematography. The fantastic opening sequence provides a suitably compelling emotional backdrop for the film. The film is fairly light on plot and consists mostly of dangerous mountain climbing footage, but it is thrilling enough to keep you gripped for the full 2 hour running time. It helps that the cast is much stronger than you'd think for what is basically a standard action film. Gustav Diessl is great as the mysterious man who hangs around the mountain and Leni Reifenstahl is a revelation, making for an exceedingly likable heroine. They could have probably trimmed a bit from the running time, particularly a scene where a biplane flies around for an endless amount of time, but for the most part this is a wonderful adventure.

Postscript: The film was a major success at the box office and has gained a lasting reputation. It was referenced heavily during a scene in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Reifenstahl would go on to be a notorious Nazi propaganda filmmaker, with Triumph of the Will being her most notable film.

Song O My Heart (Frank Borzage) ***1/2

2009-10-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

Director: Frank Borzage

Cast: John McCormack, Maureen O' Sullivan, Tommy Clifford, Alice Joyce, John Garrick, JM Kerrigan, J. Farrell McDonald

Background: Borzage was well known for directing romantic melodramas. McCormack was a world renowned Irish singer who performed in many operas and recorded several hit records, including the WW1 ballad "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". This was Maureen O' Sullivan's film debut.

Story: Sean (McCormack) is a well known singer who has retired to a small village near the woman he always loved (Joyce). She was forced to marry someone else, but he has left her and her children alone. Sean becomes somewhat of a father figure to her two children, and makes a career comeback at her urging.

Thoughts: This is a criminally underrated Borzage film that features a splendid performance from John McCormack. Despite not being an actor, McCormack gives a more polished performance than most other actors at the beginning of the sound era. His line delivery is fluid and he has the perfect look of a man who's experienced alot of sadness in his life. Of course, much of the movie consists of McCormack singing, but that's not a complaint because he's incredible to hear, his wonderful voice punctuating some powerful songs that are a perfect fit for Borzage's romantic melodrama. It's actually surprising that the main romance is between two supporting players and is only mildly interesting, despite a solid early turn by Maureen O' Sullivan. My favorite supporting characters are two charming old men (Kerrigan, McDonald) from the village who show up throughout the movie, sometimes commenting on the events and often getting into amusing spats. The film does feel a bit lighter than what you usually get from Borzage, but the sad, regretful nature of McCormack's character is right up his alley.

Postscript: This would be the only film John McCormack would make. Maureen O' Sullivan would quickly become a star, playing Jane in several Tarzan films in the 30s. Her successful acting career would last for another 50 years.

The Pay-Off (Lowell Sherman) ***

2009-10-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

Director: Lowell Sherman

Cast: Lowell Sherman, Marian Nixon, Hugh Trevor, William Janney, Helene Millard, George F. Marion

Background: Lowell Sherman was a veteran actor from silent films dating back to 1914. When the talkie era began, he decided to try his hand at directing. This would be his third film as writer and star.

Story: Crime boss Gene Fenmore (Sherman) doesn't approve of one of his cronies robbing from a poor young couple. He takes the couple in and looks after them, while trying to instill a sense of decency among the gang. However, that doesn't go over well with Rocky (Trevor), who has his own ideas of how the gang should be run, and is ready to do it.

Thoughts: This is a fun little film that takes a different approach to the gangster genre. Lowell Sherman does a terrific job playing a very different crime boss than you usually see. It's a very laid back performance, but still manages to contain enough gravitas to make you believe that he can wield as much power as he does. His care for the young couple (despite the awful acting from these two) who have been caught up in the mess is actually very touching and I sympathize with his desire for the gang to use their brains when pulling jobs, instead of their guns. It's easy to root for him against the mindless thugs that are trying to take over his operation. Like many of the early sound films, the flaws come down to wooden performances (from the supporting cast), poor sound quality, and a very static visual design. However, Sherman's performance is memorable enough to make this work.

Postscript: Sherman would focus on directing and he made 12 films over the next 5 years. Among them was Morning Glory, which won Katharine Hepburn her first Oscar.

Murder! (Alfred Hitchcock) **1/2

2009-10-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring, Edward Chapman, Miles Mander, Phyllis Konstam

Background: Hitchcock was a successful director by this point, with The Lodger and Blackmail doing very well in Britain. This was only Herbert Marshall's third film. The story was based on a play called Enter Sir John, and was Hitchcock's third talkie.

Story: A juror (Marshall) begins to have doubts over his guilty vote in what appeared to be an open and shut case, so he opens his own investigation to find out what really happened.

Thoughts: The first act of this film is a real treat, with some great tension built through the jury deliberations. And the casual nature that the jurors reach their guilty verdicts is rather chilling. Unfortunately, everything falls apart from there. Once the verdict is reached, Marshall begins a long and slow investigation with no suspense or tension whatsoever, feeling very much like a mediocre episode of Law & Order. The final twist is not properly set up, and just pops up out of nowhere with little dramatic buildup. Herbert Marshall is a solid lead, and it's easy to buy his determination to get to the bottom of the case, but it's just not exciting to watch him do it. This is another in a long line of early Hitchcock films that hint at his later brilliance, but contain too many flaws to be as highly regarded as his classics.

Postscript: Hitchcock would of course go on to become a Hollywood legend. Herbert Marshall would have a very successful career over the next two decades, with roles in such classics as Trouble in Paradise and The Razor's Edge.

Liliom (Frank Borzage) ***

2009-10-04T22:35:00.000-07:00

Director: Frank Borzage

Cast: Charles Farrell, Rose Hobart, Estelle Taylor, HB Warner, Lee Tracy

Background: Liliom is a play by Ferenc Molnar. A previous adaptation in 1919 by Michael Curtiz was abandoned midway through. Borzage and Farrell had worked together with much success on four previous films.

Story: Liliom (Farrell) is an amusement park worker who loses his job for flirting with Julie (Hobart). The two end up getting married, but the unemployed Liliom does not make for a very good husband. He comes up with the idea to pull a robbery so he can earn money for his family, b ut the idea ends in tragedy.

Thoughts: It's nice to see that Charles Farrell is completely at home in talkies and he gives a solid performance here, playing someone much less likeable than he has in the past. Once again, we get a melodramatic romance from Borzage set against a fanciful visual backdrop. The main flaw here is for once Borzage and Farrell don't have a strong leading lady. Rose Hobart certainly doesn't match up to the wonderful Janet Gaynor, who worked with Farrell so well in previous Borzage films (Seventh Heaven, Lucky Star). Hobart's line delivery is incredibly flat and there is very little chemistry between her and Farrell. In fact, there's a tragic scene where she just stands there and barely reacts to what has just happened. But this is still a movie with some great moments thanks to Farrell's fine performance and Borzage's very impressive visualization of heaven.

Postscript: The film was not very successful. Fritz Lang would follow up with his own version of Liliom in 1934. The play was later adapted into the Rogers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.

A Cottage on Dartmoor (Anthony Asquith) ****

2009-10-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Director: Anthony Asquith

Cast: Uno Henning, Norah Baring, Hans Adalbert Schlettow

Background: Asquith was the son of a former UK Prime Minister. He had previously directed three silent films, none of them very successful.

Story: Joe (Henning) makes a daring escape from prison to see Sally (Baring), then we flash back to see what landed him in prison. We follow as he falls for Sally, his later disappointment, and his growing mad obsession as Sally falls in love with Harry (Schlettow).

Thoughts: Another of the very late silent films that shows the true power of the silent era. This is an absolutely wonderful film where not much really happens, but the emotion are expressed powerfully with some stunning images. Watching Uno Henning brilliantly depict a seemingly normal man's descent into madness and obsession is quite a treat. Director Anthony Asquith is able to create very suspenseful moments out of ordinary events. There is a scene in a movie theater that is a masterwork of editing. Later, there is a pivotal scene that takes place in a barbershop that is incredibly tense thanks to outstanding performances from both Henning and Norah Baring and Asquith's ability to milk the situation for maximum effect. The ending has some major surprises in store and I appreciate the unpredictable way the characters react to the situations that occur at the very end. What a fantastic job by everyone involved.

Postscript: Despite not being very well known by modern audiences, the film has an excellent reputation among critics and those who have managed to see it. Asquith went on to a long career, with notable films being The Browning Version, Pygmalion, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Neither Henning or Baring had very successful careers.

L'Age D'Or (Luis Bunuel) **1/2

2009-10-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

Director: Luis Bunuel

Cast: Gaston Modot, Lya Lys, Max Ernst, Josep Llorens Artigas

Background: Luis Bunuel and artist Salvador Dali collaborated the previous year on the surrealist short film Un Chien Andalou, which contained many shocking images

Story: A young couple (Modot, Lys) are madly in love, but keep getting interrupted in the throes of passion. The interrupters include the bourgeois and the church.

Thoughts: I completely understand what Bunuel and Dali were going for here. Their attack on the corrupt bourgeois and organized religion was certainly meant to get a strong reaction and they definitely succeeded at that. The fascinating and often shocking images they produce definitely caught my attention and I can admire and sympathize with much of the point that they were making. However, the film is just too abstract and disorganized for my taste. That's not necessarily a knock on Bunuel, since that's exactly what he wanted. He was no fan of linear narratives and wanted to use film in a different manner. I admire him for that, but it's just not my cup of tea.

Postscript: The film caused quite a stir when it was release, causing mass protests. In some theaters, the audience was attacked and artwork from Dali and other surrealists was destroyed in the lobby. The film was quickly banned by censors and didn't premiere in the United States until 1979.

The Blue Angel (Josef Von Sternberg) ***1/2

2009-10-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Director: Josef Von Sternberg

Cast: Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti, Hans Albers

Background: Josef Von Sternberg and Emil Jannings previously collaborated on 1928's The Last Command. Prior to this, Marlene Dietrich had acted in a few German silent films, but was mostly known for her stage performances.

Story: Professor Rath (Jannings) disapproves of his students visiting a local cabaret to see Lola Lola's (Dietrich) act. He takes a visit to the cabaret in an attempt to catch them there, but finds himself drawn to Lola.

Thoughts: Emil Jannings scores again with another compelling performance in a von Sternberg film. He does a terrific job with the sad portrait of a noble professor whose desire causes his downfall. This was the movie that made Marlene Dietrich a star. Her performance here isn't as accomplished or provocative as in her Hollywood follow up Morocco, but she still has a wonderful screen presence and it's easy to see why this man falls for her. Von Sternberg is a great storyteller and he moves swiftly through the plot here, nicely building up to the dramatic moment when Professor Rath must perform in his old hometown. The ending is perhaps a bit overly melodramatic, but it is suitably set up by the rest of the movie. This film was made in both English and German language versions, but I recommend watching the German version with subtitles as the case is more comfortable with the dialogue.

Postscript: This role won Dietrich a contract with Paramount and she worked with Von Sternberg later that year in Morocco, cementing her as a Hollywood star.

Beauty Prize (Augusto Genina) ***

2009-10-04T09:40:00.001-07:00

Director: Augusto Genina

Cast: Louise Brooks, Georges Charlia, Augusto Bandini

Background: Fresh off her career defining turn in Pandora's Box, Louise Brooks makes her talkie (and singing) debut in a French language film. GW Pabst (director of Pandora's Box) and Rene Clair collaborated on the screenplay.

Story: Lucienne (Brooks) is a typist who decides to enter the Miss Europe beauty pageant. She wins and becomes an instant celebrity, much to the displeasure of her boyfriend.

Thoughts: Louise Brooks is always a welcome presence and her performance in Beauty Prize doesn't change that. She plays more of an innocent ingenue in this one, a departure from her most well known roles, but nothing new for her (see: Beggars of Life). It's pretty interesting to watch her get caught up in the world of being a celebrity and how that affects her relationship. It's am,using that her character is named Lucienne so people can call her Lulu (her famous character from Pandora's Box). My main quibble with the film is the story moves through the events in a fairly unimaginative fashion. She does this, then this, then that, and so on. It's just a little too plain for the film to be truly compelling, although the ending certainly does reach that status. Brooks carries this movie and makes it eminently watchable and seeing her sing for the first time is a delight.

Postscript: Louise Brooks returned to Hollywood, but would only make 6 more films. After her retirement, she was found working as a salesgirl at Saks 5th Avenue.

The Blood of a Poet (Jean Cocteau) ***

2009-10-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Director: Jean Cocteau

Cast: Enrique Rivero

Background: Cocteau wasn't just a filmmaker. He also did poetry, playwrighting, novels, painting, and designing. He was friends with some of the most notable artists of the day, including Pablo Picasso. The Blood of a Poet was his first film.

Story: Four vignettes detailing the bizaare thoughts and visions of a poet (Rivero).

Thoughts: Not sure what to make of this one. There certainly is some fascinating imagery here. Cocteau does stuff with the camera that truly amazed me during the entire running time, and in that sense it is at times a compelling portrait of the mind of an artist. But much of it feels quite unnecessary, with repetitive shots and camera tricks that only serve to annoy. Cocteau is clearly an amazingly talented filmmaker and the images he produces here ignite a visceral thrill, but much like a big budget action movie with grand special effects but a weak plot, this film left me cold for the most part. But it would be stupid to deny how impressive the technique is and it is definitely a worthwhile and important film. I just wish it could've been in the service of something that made more emotional, if not logical sense, such as Dovzhenko's Earth.

Postscript: Cocteau continued directing films, including two more "sequels to this one (Orpheus, The Testament of Orpheus) which comprised the Orpheus trilogy. His most popular film is a 1946 adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.

All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone) ****

2009-10-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Director: Lewis Milestone

Cast: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander, William Bakewell

Background: The film was based on the celebrated anti-war novel by Erich Maria Remarque. Lewis Milestone had already gained some notoriety for directing the films The Racket and Two Arabian Knights, the latter of which won him an Oscar for Best Comedy Direction.

Story: A group of German schoolboys are convinced by their teacher to enlist in World War I. The story follows one such soldier named Paul (Ayres) and how the war deeply affects him.

Thoughts: Simply put, this is among the greatest films ever made. Milestone does a terrific job in showing the horrors of war, managing to avoid the common hypocrisy found in war films where the action scenes are made to look exciting while at the same time decrying the very action they are showing. The battle scenes here are extremely unpleasant and show the true nature of trench warfare. There's a scene where German troops attack a trench and are picked off by machine gun fire that seems to have inspired Spielberg in Saving Private Ryan. However, the two scenes that really stick out to me are when Paul gets a furlough and returns home for a brief stay. He meets a group of civilians who attempt to tell him what needs to be done to win the war, and tell him he just doesn't see the big picture. Later, he goes back to see his old teacher who is giving a lecture to another group of kids, attempting to get them to enlist. When Paul explains the true nature of what the war is like, he is called a coward by the students. These two scenes really resonate because they eerily remind me of the chickenhawks that dominate current foreign policy debates. It's a shame that someone could ever be considered a coward for not wanting to kill people or be killed themselves and that to denounce a war could be considered unpatriotic. It's an incredible tragedy that 79 years later, we apparently haven't learned a damn thing.

Postscript: All Quiet on the Western Front won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, and also received nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. It was named on the first AFI top 100 list, although dropped off of the list in the 2nd edition.

Under the Roofs of Paris (Rene Clair) ***

2009-10-02T08:01:00.001-07:00

Director: Rene Clair

Cast: Albert Prejean, Pola Illery, Edmond T. Greville, Bill Bocket, Gaston Modot

Background: Rene Clair had been directing movies since 1924 and this was his 6th film. and his first talkie. He preferred silents, but was forced to switch to sound for financial reasons.

Story: Albert (Prejean) is a street singer who falls in love with Lola (Illery), but their relationship is threatened when Albert is set up for a crime and gets arrested.

Thoughts: For the most part, this is a charming movie with romantic moments set against a nice musical backdrop. The problem is the lack of character development. The two leads are fine and have terrific chemistry, but supporting characters become important in the third act and the film does not properly develop them for us to swallow the ending it wants to sell us. The movie does have a strong mix of sound and visuals for an early talkie and a charming theme song sets the perfect mood . Clair is certainly a talented technical filmmaker, but there are too many holes in the plot for it to be completely successful. Still, it's paced well and has a light, breezy atmosphere that makes it a fun time.

Postscript: Clair continued directing movies through the 60s, including 1931's Liberty For Us and 1945's Agatha Christie adaptation And Then There Were None.

Min and Bill (George W. Hill) ***

2009-10-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

Director: George W. Hill

Cast: Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Dorothy Jordan, Marjorie Rambeau, Don Dillaway

Background: Marie Dressler was in a diner contemplating suicide when she was rediscovered by a producer that recommended her to King Vidor, who cast her in 1928's The Patsy. The role reignited her career, which was still strong enough to land her a lead role here. Veteran character actor Beery teamed up with director Hill earlier the same year in The Big House.

Story: Min (Dressler) runs a dockside hotel and has been raising Nancy (Jordan) since she took her in as a young child. Min is forced to make difficult decisions when a truant officer and the return of Nancy's mother (Rambeau) threaten the mother-daughter relationship she has developed. Min is supported by Bill (Beery), the captain of a fishing boat who lives in the hotel.

Thoughts: On the surface, this is the story of a woman who will do anything to protect the girl she raised from childhood. But the movie itself is so much more interesting than that. what really makes the movie work so well is the awkward, sad, carefully studied relationship between the two title characters. This works so well because of the nuanced performances of veterans Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Dressler, free from the one note drunk caricature that doomed her in Anna Christie, creates a fascinating character, torn between her desire to be a mother to this girl and the desire to protect the girl at all costs. Beery has been a pleasant surprise in both of his talkies I've seen to date. I felt he ruined the Louise Brooks silent vehicle Beggars of Life, but his cheerfully gruff performance here is a delight. No matter how many insults Bill throws Min's way, he is there to support her in the end. It's a touching and insightful relationship. There are a few flaws in the film, including uneven performances in the supporting cast and a poorly done scene on a runaway boat, but for the most part this is a solid character study.

Postscript: Marie Dressler would win the Oscar for this role and Wallace Beery would go on to win an Oscar hismelf for his role in King Vidor's The Champ.

The Divorcee (Robert Z. Leonard) ***

2009-09-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

Director: Robert Z. Leonard

Cast: Norma Shearer, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel, Robert Montgomer, Florence Eldridge

Background: Based on the novel "Ex-Wife" by Ursula Parrott. Robert Z. Leonard was a long time silent film director who made his first film in 1913. Norma Shearer had also been around for a while, with her most notable role being Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg.

Story: Jerry (Shearer) finds out her husband Ted (Morris) has been cheating on her, so she decides to get revenge and have her own affair.

Thoughts: A sophisticated drama that works for the most part thanks to the willingness to explore realistic issues in adult relationships and the fantastic central performance of Norma Shearer. The story also mixes in a touch of melodramatic tragedy, but in so doing lays the groundwork to examine what happens when you don't end up with the person you always wanted. The film generally works along these grounds, but runs into some problems during the third act. The script places Shearer's character in a position that she does not deserve at all. The completely one sided view of the what happened between her and her husband reflects the sexist attitudes of the day. It's really unfortunate, because the film at times feels very advanced (for 1930) in its treatment of gender roles, but then completely obliterates that with an awful ending where only one character says what needs to be said. Shearer's compelling performance still makes this a worthwhile film.

Postscript: Norma Shearer went on to win an Oscar for this role. She would end up being nominated four more times. The film was also nominated for Best picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

Earth (Aleksandr Dovzhenko) ***1/2

2009-09-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

Director: Aleksandr Dovzhenko

Cast: Stepan Shukrat, Semyon Svashenko, Yuliya Solntseva, Yelena Maksimova, Nikolai Nademsky

Background: This was the third film in Dovzhenko's Ukrainian trilogy, following up the celebrated Arsenal from 1929.

Story: Earth follows the experience of collective farming and the lives that those farmers lead, particularly highlighting their battle with wealthy landowners.

Thoughts: I wasn't a fan of Dovzhenko's previous film Arsenal, because I felt that the director squandered his considerable talent by showing off when it wasn't necessary and making an absurd argument that he could not possibly support with his style. What changes here is that he takes a simple story of poor vs. rich farmers and infuses it with a beautiful lyricism. The film's narrative does not always make logical sense, but it sure makes emotional sense. The long expansive shots of the collective farms are breathtaking, and the brilliant editing provides many tremendously exciting moments such as the buildup that accrues while the farmers await a tractor. And this time Dovzhenko has a powerful, timeless argument to make and he makes it with considerable flair.

Postscript: Earth is the most highly regarded of Dovzhenko's films. He would give up directing after only making 7 films and turn to other pursuits such as writing novels. He would become disillusioned with the totalitarian nature of Stalin's regime.

Billy the Kid (King Vidor) ****

2009-09-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

Director: King Vidor

Cast: Johnny Mack Brown, Wallace Beery, Kay Johnson, Karl Dane

Background: King Vidor was a highly regarded silent film director (The Crowd, The Big Parade) who made an interesting, but unsuccessful departure with his first sound film, Hallelujah! He followed that up with the stagey comedy Not So Dumb. This would be his third sound film. In the cast are relative newcomer Johnny Mack Brown and veteran character actor Wallace Beery.

Story: Billy the Kid (Brown) seeks revenge for the coldblooded murders of two of his friends, but must deal with Sheriff Pat Garret (Beery), a man who likes Billy but is still determined to do his job.

Thoughts: Vidor's film is one of the biggest surprises since I started the project. This is a western that mixes many different elements to make a fantastically entertaining story. Instead of presenting the entire life of Billy the Kid, Vidor keeps the focus to a short period of time and his battle with Pat Garrett. This keeps the story in a nice, controlled situation making for very tense shootouts and standoffs. A scene where Garrett and his deputies have Billy and his friends cornered in a small cabin is incredibly suspenseful. But what really makes the film so great is the considerable wit displayed in both the dialogue and the way the events play out. It almost feels as if Ernst Lubitsch had directed a western. Take for example Billy's repeated attempts to escape from prison while playing poker with Garrett, just barely missing several opportunities in hilarious fashion. Johnny Mack Brown gives a surprisingly reserved and completely cheerful performance as Billy. He resists the temptation to overact and instead lets Wallace Beery steal the show with a memorable supporting turn as the gruff sherriff who also has his own touches of wit. And Vidor gives us a lovely ending that is straight out of Lubitsch, if not straight out of history. What a brilliant surprise and another reminder of what makes this project so much fun.

Postscript: The film hel;ped make Johnny Mack Brown a western star and helped Beery make the transition to sound films. Beery would go on to win the Best Actor Oscar for 1931's The Champ.

The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh) **

2009-09-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

Director: Raoul Walsh

Cast: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, Tyrone Power Sr., El Brendel

Background: Marion Morrison had appeared in movies over the last several years in small bit parts, often in films directed by John Ford. It was director Raoul Walsh who gave him his first starring role here, and producer Winfield Sheehan who helped come up with the legendary name John Wayne.

Story: Breck Coleman (Wayne) joins a group of settlers heading west, suspecting that the person leading the group is responsible for the death of a friend. During the long journey, he falls in love with one of the settlers (Churchill) and works to protect her.

Thoughts: Even in 1930, John Wayne had it. The amazing screen presence that would go on to fascinate audiences for decades was evident in one of his earliest roles. Director Raoul Walsh does him some favors with some stunning showing the barren plains of the trail out west and the very long line of stagecoaches and horses making the perilous journey. There's a particularly brilliant shot when they attempt to navigate a steep hill. It certainly helps that the modern print of this film looks amazing, perhaps the cleanest print I've seen of a movie this old. The problem with the film is that there's not enough material to support the 120 minute running time. As great as Walsh does with the visuals, he has issues with pacing. Perhaps the idea was to give the audience a feeling of what it was like for the people who made this long, tedious journey. If so, then he was all too successful. This film feels like a long journey, but the destination just isn't worth it.

Postscript: Wayne would of course go on to be one of the most iconic stars in Hollywood history, but it didn't happen right away. Wayne toiled away for most of the 30s, until John Ford cast him in Stagecoach. That is the movie that would make Wayne a star. Raoul Walsh would continue a long directing career, making several films with Errol Flynn and James Cagney. His last film was 1964's A Distant Trumpet.

Abraham Lincoln (DW Griffith) *1/2

2009-09-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

Director: DW Griffith

Cast: Walter Huston, Una Merkel, Ian Keith, Kay Hammond

Background: DW Griffith is one of the most notable filmmakers in history. He got his start as far back as 1908, and directed many classics during the silent era such as Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, and Way Down East. This would be his first sound film.

Story: A biopic about the life of Abraham Lincoln (Huston), following his early romance with Ann Rutledge (Merkel) and his later Presidency and management of the Civil War.

Thoughts: Griffith was of course a legendary silent director able to paint considerable tragedy on to a large canvas and basically invented modern film structure. He was a director ahead of his time. That's why it's so shocking that here he appears to be a director way behind his time. This Lincoln biopic is told with little passion or wit. Hell, most of the second half of the movie is Lincoln sitting still waiting for battle reports. Sure, there are a few Civil War battle scenes at the end, but they certainly don't measure up to the fascinating large scale scenes Griffith has supplied us in the past. Aside from Griffith's uninspired direction, the biggest problem is Walter Huston's portrayal of the title character. Lincoln was one of the most charismatic presidents in history, but Huston plays him as a simple folksy guy thrust into a major role. He brings absolutely no gravitas to the role, and the considerable wit that Lincoln displayed throughout his Presidency is also missing.

Postscript: The film was not very successful and Griffith would only make one more sound film before retiring for good.

Anna Christie (Clarence Brown) **

2009-09-25T08:52:00.002-07:00

Director: Clarence Brown

Cast: Greta Garbo, George F. Marion, Charles Bickford, Marie Dressler

Background: Greta Garbo was one of the biggest stars of the late silent era, and the films she made with frequent leading man John Gilbert (especially Flesh and the Devil) were very successful. She decided to make her talkied debut in this adaptation of Eugene O' Neil's Broadway play. She reteams with Clarence Brown, the director of Flesh and the Devil.

Story: Anna (Garbo) visits her seafaring father (Marion) for the first time in 15 years, looking for a place to stay. While on his barge, she meets a sailor named Matt (Bickford) who immediately falls in love with her and asks her to marry him. However, her father does not approve, wanting her to escape the kind of life he lives.

Thoughts: Garbo's deep, thickly accented voice was not likely what audiences were expecting when hearing the silent film star for the first time, but it is appropriate for the lost, broken character she plays. What is not appropriate is the abysmal sound quality of this early talkie, much worse than even some of the films that were made a year earlier. This really causes a problem for the film because the thick accents used by most of the cast are sometimes indecipherable and I'd say at least 1/3rd of the lines spoken are almost impossible to make out. But the film also runs into problems with structure. Based on a Broadway play, the staginess is to be expected, but the long and simplistic scene structure skips through events too quickly for the audience to become emotionally invested. Garbo's performance is a bit awkward, wooden at times and overdone at others. She struggled to find the right balance in her first talkie. Marie Dressler also shows up in a supporting role, but the one note drunk she is forced to play does the usually wonderful actress no favors. Only George F. Marion as the father acquits himself well with a sad portrait of a man who has many regrets.

Postscript: The film received three Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Actress. Garbo would adjust to talkies nicely and continue a very successful career over the next decade, receiving two more Oscar nominations. Marie Dressler would win the Best Actress Oscar the next year for Min and Bill.

Animal Crackers (Victor Heerman) ***

2009-09-25T08:52:00.001-07:00

Director: Victor Heerman

Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Lillian Roth, Margaret Dumont, Louis Sorin

Background: Animal Crackers is the second Marx Brothers film after the success of The Cocoanuts and was also adapted from their Broadway show.

Story: Famous explorer Captain Spaulding (Marx) attends a party in his honor at the home of Mrs. Rittenhouse and helps investigate the theft of a valuable painting during the party.

Thoughts: The Marx Brothers are hilarious here, mixing clever wordplay and oddball shenanigans to great comic effect. That is when they are actually on screen. The curious thing about Animal Crackers is how often that is not the case. The movie pauses frequently so the supporting characters can explain the plot, and none of the supporting characters are funny or interesting at all, even the wonderful Lillian Roth who was so great in Lubitsch's The Love Parade. It often ruins the comic momentum of the movie and prevents Animal Crackers from being as good as it really should be. Some of these problems also existed in The Cocoanuts, but that one hit some higher points, with the hilarious two room screwball sequence that is funnier than anything here. Still, there is plenty of funny material here to make this one a worthwhile effort.

Postscript: Animal Crackers is one of the Marx Brothers most well know films, and was very successful upon commercial release. Groucho himself would later say that this was the best of their movies.

Feet First (Clyde Bruckman) ***1/2

2009-09-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Cast: Harold Lloyd, Barbara Kent, Robert McWade, Lillian Leighton, Noah Young

Background: Lloyd's first talkie was the 1929 film Welcome Danger (changed after originally being shot as a silent). Harold was not happy with it, but audiences flocked to the theaters to hear their favorite star speak for the first time. This would be his first movie filmed with the intent of being a talkie, and harold borrowed inspiration from his most famous film, Safety Last! for the conclusion.

Story: Harold Horne (Lloyd) is a shoe salesman who falls in love with his boss's daughter (Kent) and pretends to be a wealthy tycoon to impress her. He sneaks on to a ship and has to work hard to hide his true nature. When her job is in jeopardy, Harold must take drastic measures to save the day.

Thoughts: Harold Lloyd proves that while his sound films might not have been very successful, he was just as funny in them as he was in the silents. This is a solid comedy that shows Lloyd's natural everyman charm wasn't hurt by the added difficulties of recorded dialogue. One of the best gags in the movie is when hungry stowaway Harold comes up with inventive ways of sharing his potential girlfriend's meal. There's some fun wordplay involving Harold's script for selling shoes and how it eventually causes trouble for him. The film ends with another of Harold's thrill sequences, and while this one essentially copies his famous sequence in Safety Last! (the very best silent film I have seen), he still manages to do enough new things with the concept to make it memorable. Two moments are particularly astonishing: 1) At the top of the building, Harold almost loses his balance on the edge of the building; and 2) a first person perspective shot with the camera hurtling toward the ground. Feet First does lose some points for the unfortunate racial stereotype embodied in the character of an African-American janitor played by Willie Best, but thankfully the role is extremely limited.

Postscript: Harold Lloyd's talkies would not be as popular as his silents, although it is commonly believed that it had more to do with Depression era audiences having difficulties identifying with his character than any difficulties adjusting to the new technology. Lloyd would make a few more films before retiring, only to reappear one more time in the 40s for the Preston Sturges satire The Sins of Harold Diddlebock.

City Girl (FW Murnau) ****

2009-09-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

Director: FW Murnau

Cast: Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan, David Torrence, Edith Yorke, Tom McGuire

Background: Farrell and Duncan had previously worked together on the Frank Borzage lost film The River. Farrell is best known for the Borzage melodramas he made with Janet Gaynor.

Story: Lem (Farrell) goes to the city to sell his family's wheat crop. While there, he meets and falls in love with a waitress named Kate (Duncan). they get married, but when he takes his bride back home, she has trouble fitting in due to his father's (Torrence) strong disapproval.

Thoughts: One of the best things about Murnau's films is his gift for beautiful simplicity. The courtship between Farrell and Duncan in this film is one of the best examples of this. There's no huge, dramatic buildup to it. We just see two people enjoying each other's company and how that quickly turns into love. Farrell, well versed in the wonderful Frank Borzage melodramas, is as good as anyone at expressing pure love without a trace of cynicism. With Duncan, they create two convincing characters by refusing to overplay scenes for dramatic effect. In fact, the remarkable thing about the film is that no character in it is reduced to one note. Even the temperamental worker who tries to take advantage of Kate is portrayed as a three dimensional person. By doing this, Murnau allows these fully realized characters to interact in realistic and fascinating ways, as the distrust between two cultures comes to a head. Sure, the third act is melodramatic, but even the most melodramatic moments are still played with a fine touch of realism. Witness the scene when Kate is upset at Lem for not standing up to his father for her. Instead of a huge shouting match argument, Kate simply walks away from him. Murnau remarkably kept making silent films eventhough it hurt his box office grosses, but it's doubtful that a sound version of this film would have been able to achieve the kind of reserved romanticism that Murnau nails here.

Postscript: Murnau would only make one more film before dying in a car accident. Mary Duncan retired from films just 3 years later after getting married. Farrell continued acting throughout the sound era, but his most successful films were silent.

Up the River (John Ford) *

2009-09-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

Director: John Ford

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer

Story: Steve (Bogart) and Judy (Luce) are former inmates trying to make it on the outside. When they are blackmailed by someone who wants to pull a job, their convict friends Saint Louis (Tracy) and Dannemora Dan (Hymer) break out of prison to help.

Background: This was the first major feature length films for Bogart and Tracy. Ford was a very active director in the silent era, but had yet to really show his full potential.

Thoughts: It's amazing how much talent went into a movie that is just painfully awful in every single way. Ford had made some decent silent films at this point, but he was not ready for the talkies. The editing is just miserable, with jump cuts all over the place that don't make sense. A young, fresh faced Bogart certainly has some appeal here, and the film seems to be going for a nice, pleasant charm, but without any laughs it is patently boring. This one is a misfire for everyone involved.

Postscript: Ford, Bogart, and Tracy would all go on to become Hollywood legends. Tracy and Ford would work together again almost 28 years later in The Last Hurrah and then 4 years after that in How the West Was Won.

Morocco (Josef von Sternberg) ***1/2

2009-09-21T03:38:00.001-07:00

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Cast: Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Adolphe Menjou

Background: Gary Cooper wasn't yet a huge star, but had a supporting role in Best Picture winner Wings and a breakout lead performance in The Virginian. Dietrich had already worked with director von Sternberg in The Blue Angel, but this was her major introduction to American audiences.

Story: The Foreign Legion arrives in the town of Mogador at the same time singer Amy Jolly (Dietrich) begins her nightclub act. Amy soon finds herself falling for legionairre Tom Brown (Cooper), but political intrigue threatens their romance.

Thoughts: Another solid effort from von Sternberg. He really has a knack for showing us complex characters, always uncertain about where they are and where they are going. Cooper and Dietrich take that concept and run with it to create memorable performances. Adolphe Menjou even shows up as "the other man" and is given multiple dimensions, refreshingly not a one note villain we're supposed to hate. Dietrich's opening night club sequence in a tux and top hat is unforgettable (including a same sex kiss), not to mention the follow up sequence where she sells "forbidden fruit" to the legionnaires. Despite not much happening in terms of story, the film evokes a nice mood of intrigue and gives you a great sense of the lives that these characters lead. Because of that, he's able to pull off an ending that probably sounded hokey as written, but is a wonderful cinematic moment.

Postscript: The film was nominated for four Oscars: Best Director, Best Lead Actress, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. Both Dietrich and Cooper would go on to become major Hollywood stars.

Monte Carlo (Ernst Lubitsch) ***

2009-09-20T07:56:00.001-07:00

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Buchanan, Claud Allister, Zasu Pitts, Tyler Brooke

Background: Ernst Lubitsch had great success in his first talkie The Love Parade, a 1929 musical that featured Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette McDonald. He decided to mine that well once more by reteaming with MacDonald and enlisting Broadway star Jack Buchanan to play the male lead.

Story: Countess Helene (MacDonald) leaves her fiance (Allister) waiting at the altar and flees to Monte Carlo. While there, she catches the eye of Count Rudolph (Buchanan), who poses as her hairdresser to get close to her.

Thoughts: Another slight disappointment from Lubitsch, although it's still a really good film. Jeanette MacDonald is once again a perfect leading lady for the director, and she has a memorable music number early in the film while on a train, when she sings "Beyond a Blue Horizon" and Lubitsch includes outside sounds (like the train whistle) to complement the music. Part of the problem with the film is the odd choice of Jack Buchanan as a leading man. He just doesn't really have the right chemistry with McDonald and his hammy performance is at times highly annoying. I applaud the idea to get a less conventional leading man every now and then, but even then Buchanan really needed to dial it down a little bit. Also problematic is the lack of interesting supporting characters that we usually get in Lubitsch films (see: Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth in The Love Parade, Jean Hersholt in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg). Both the leads have servants and despite some early promise, neither of them develop as an interesting character. The film still works thanks to MacDonald and the trademark Lubitsch wit (most memorable is the running bit where a joke is passed around until one of the tellers figures out that the joke is about him).

Postscript: Buchanan never did break out into a successful leading man and his most notable performances would come as a supporting character in The Band Wagon and Penny Serenade. Lubitsch would reunite the Chevalier-MacDonald combo one more time for his last musical, 1932's One Hour With You. "Beyond the Blue Horizon" became a hit song for Jeanette MacDonald.

Hell's Angels (Howard Hughes) ***1/2

2009-09-20T03:53:00.000-07:00

Director: Howard Hughes

Cast: Ben Lyon, James Hall, Jean Harlow, John Darrow, Lucien Prival

Background: Howard Hughes was ready to spent a lot of money (eventually $4 million) on a big budget action picture, hoping to outdo the enormously successful Wings. He alienated his first choice for director, so took over the directing reins himself. Halfway through the film, Hughes made the decision to switch the film from silent to talkie, as that's what audiences now wanted in the wake of The Jazz Singer. This forced him to replace Norwegian actress Greta Nissen (due to her accent) with a young Jean Harlow. Hughes brought in director James Whale to help direct the dialogue sequences.

Story: It is the start of World War 1, and two brothers, Monte (Lyon) and Roy (Hall) enlist in the Royal Flying Corps and fly dangerous combat missions against the Germans. Both are in love with the beautiful seductress Helen (Harlow).

Thoughts: What a film! This is certainly not without flaws, chiefly among them the mostly pedestrian dialogue, but what this film gets right, it really gets right! There is a stunning sequence depicting a zeppelin raid, which is by far the most impressive action scene filmed up to this point and still holds up today. The third act shows a large scale aerial dogfight involving over 30 planes that goes far beyond where Wings took us, including shots of a plane heading right at the camera and some spectacular crashes. But it's not only action scenes that are impressive. Jean Harlow makes her major film debut playing a fascinating woman that has a stunning sexual freedom that was very rare even in the pre-code days of cinema. See the scene where she seduces her man by asking if he would be shocked if she "put on something more comfortable". An impressive achievement despite its many flaws, this one will certainly stay with me for a long time.

Postscript: The expensive film would prove to be a hit and make back $8 million at the box office (equivalent to over $100 million today). The making of the film was detailed in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator.

The Bat Whispers (Roland West) ***

2009-09-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

Director: Roland West

Cast: Chester Morris, Una Merkel, Maude Eburne, Richard Tucker, William Bakewell, Wilson Benge

Background: The story was adapted by West from a play by Avery Hopwood and Mary Roberts Rinehart. This was a remake of Roland West's 1926 silent film called The Bat. None of the original cast survive to this version, but West does reteam with his Alibi star Chester Morris.

Story: A criminal known as The Bat has been terrorizing police by announcing his intentions before his crimes and still managing to pull them off. His latest task is to go after $500,000 of stolen money from a bank heist that he knows is hidden in a secret room of a country mansion.

Thoughts: Roland West had already made one of the better early talkies with the previous year's Alibi. Once again, he's able to create a strong visual style and include some breathtaking camera tricks, including a breathtaking shot where the camera sweeps in to the house from far out. There are many eerie scenes taking place in almost complete darkness, with only enough light to see shadows of the effectively ominous presence of the Bat. It's a little disappointing then that this film doesn't quite live up to the promising beginning. The third act is the biggest problem, for when we fianlly see the villain in his bat costume, he's not scary at all and actually quite funny. Probably would have been better to never show the costume if they couldn't design a better one than that. Then there is an odd little final monologue that breaks the fourth wall and tries to be too clever. Still a pretty good horror movie, but it had the potential to be much better.

Postscript: This was the second to last film for director Roland West, whose career was hurt by rumors that he murdered his mistress. The villain in this film did inspire comic artist Bob Kane to create Batman (thankfully he changed the costume!).

Not So Dumb (King Vidor) **1/2

2009-09-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

Director: King Vidor

Cast: Marion Davies, Elliott Nugent, Raymond Hackett, Franklin Pangborn, Julia Faye, William Holden

Background: After experimenting in his first talkie, Vidor returns to more familiar territory, teaming up with Marion Davies. The two had successfully collaborated on the silent films Show People and The Patsy. The story was adapted from a stage play written by Marc Connelly and George Kaufman.

Story: Dulcy Parker (Davies) wants to help out her fiance's business career, but all of her attempts backfire and threaten a very important business relationship.

Thoughts: After being forced to use a (very bad) French accent in her first talkie, Davies is allowed to let her spirited charm loose here, and she is an absolute delight throughout this film. She has an endless enthusiasm in every single scene that really lifts an otherwise stagey and dull affair. The rest of the cast just doesn't seem to be up to her level. But the real surprise is the clunky direction from King Vidor. This is the same man who made The Crowd, and even his misfire Hallelujah! showcased very advanced technique. Unfortunately, it seems like he chose to phone in this one. The camera barely moves at all and he does absolutely nothing visually. The dialogue itself isn't as clever or funny as the writers appear to believe. Without any support, Davies is left to carry the whole thing by herself, and to her credit she almost makes it work.

Postscript: The next year, Vidor would make The Champ with Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper, but it would be another 16 years before he made his most highly regarded classic, 1946's Duel in the Sun. Davies would continue making comedies, eventually breaking into musicals such as 1933's Going Hollywood with Bing Crosby.

The Silver Horde (George Archainbaud) **1/2

2009-09-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

Director: George Archainbaud

Cast: Evelyn Brent, Joel McCrea, Jean Arthur, Louis Wolheim, Raymond Hatton

Background: Director George Archainbaud was a veteran of 60 silent films and was a very prodigious filmmaker, making 9 films in the previous two years. Evelyn Brent gained notoriety for a series of performances she gave in the Josef von Sternberg films Underworld, The Last Command, and The Dragnet.

Story: Boyd Emerson (McCrea) is a salmon fishermen fighting for control of the salmon business in Alaska, while his heart is torn between high society Mildred Wayland (Jean Arthur) and Cherry Malotte (Brent), a girl with a mysterious past.

Thoughts: The real revelation here is Evelyn Brent. While I found her to be a terrific actress in both Underworld and The Last Command, I'd never heard her speak before. Not only does her voice match the resourceful, tough-talking persona she showed in silent films, but she delivers her lines with a sparkling energy that betrays none of the problems that many actresses faced in the early sound era. In fact, a young Jean Arthur is completely wooden here, and it is she that would rise to fame throughout the decade. It's too bad the story, or the rest of the cast, just isn't strong enough to support Brent's wonderful performance. McCrea isn't interesting enough to be a leading man, and it almost seems like the director realizes this because much of the story is told from Brent's point of view. She creates a memorable character in Cherry Malotte, but she deserved a better script and cast to support her.

Postscript: Brent continued acting in many films over the next two decades, but it was Joel McCrea and especially Jean Arthur who would really become stars in the future. Arthur made a name for herself by playing the female lead in several Frank Capra classics, while McCrea would star in the classics Sullivan's Travels and The Palm Beach Story. Sadly, the modern DVD cover (see above) completely ignores Brent's presence in the film.

1930 - A New Decade Begins

2009-09-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

The Depression had just hit the United States, but it also coincided with the invention of recorded dialogue in motion pictures. What started as an experiment in the Al Jolson vehicle The Jazz Singer was the standard in 1930. In fact, of the 27 films I am watching this year, only two of them are silents and both are foreign holdovers that just made it to the US. This new technology would spur a further interest in films, which were now a way for people to escape their economic despair.

The collection of films I have chosen this year include many from the great silent directors we've seen in the past, including King Vidor, FW Murnau, Frank Borzage, Ernst Lubitsch, and Josef von Sternberg. Future legends John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock would have some of their first sound films this year.

What will be really exciting is hearing some of the great silent stars speak for the first time, which was certainly also a great thrill for the audiences of the time. This year we will hear Harold Lloyd, Greta Garbo, Charles Farrell, Evelyn Brent, and many others. We will also witness the first major starring role for future Hollywood legend John Wayne in The Big Trail.

Here is the complete list:

Abraham Lincoln (DW Griffith)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone)
Animal Crackers (Victor Heerman)
Anna Christie (Clarence Brown)
Bat Whispers (Roland West)
Blood of a Poet (Jean Cocteau)
City Girl (FW Murnau)
Earth (Aleksandr Dovzhenko)
Feet First (Clyde Bruckman)
Hell's Angels (Howard Hughes)
Juno and the Paycock (Alfred Hitchcock)
L'âge d'or (Luis Bunuel)
Liliom (Frank Borzage)
Min and Bill (George W. Hill)
Monte Carlo (Ernst Lubitsch)
Morocco (Josef von Sternberg)
Murder! (Alfred Hitchcock)
Not So Dumb (King Vidor)
Song O My Heart (Frank Borzage)
Storm Over Asia (Vsevolod Pudovkin)
The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh)
The Blue Angel (Josef Von Sternberg)
The Divorcee (Robert Z. Leonard)
The Silver Horde (George Archainbaud)
Under the Roofs of Paris (Rene Clair)
Up the River (John Ford)

1929 Top 10, Year in Review, and Awards

2009-09-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

1929 was a major year of transition for Hollywood. The last silent movies were being released and a new era of cinema would soon be born. But if the silents were ending in 1929, they would go out with a bang, as the top 6 films on my list were all silent films, and only two talkies made the top 10.

Problems with proper line delivery hampered many of the talkies, not to mention the stationary camera that was now required due to problems with moving sound equipment around. Best Picture winner The Broadway Melody is far from the best film of the year, but was actually one of the better early talkies and certainly better than the previous winner of the award (Wings).

We had some interesting debuts this year. The Coconauts was the first film from the Marx Brothers. Ernst Lubitsch made his first musical and introduced movie audiences to Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette Macdonald. Nina Mae Mckinney was dazzling in King Vidor's otherwise mediocre Hallelujah!, notable for being the first major Hollywood film with an all-black cast.

It will be exciting and interesting to see how sound films develop through the years, but it was great to see several great films that showcased the strength of silent cinema in its final year. Now here is my top 10 of 1929:

10. Queen Kelly (Erich Von Stroheim)

The Prince will do anything to see Gloria Swanson.

9. Lucky Star (Frank Borzage)

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in a heartbreaking romance.

8. Alibi (Roland West)

The memorable interrogation sequence.

7. The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch)

Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth steal the show.

6. Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst)

Louise Brooks as the resilient Thymiane.

5. Asphalt (Joe May)

Betty Amann (with her seductive eyes) makes a great femme fatale.

4. Pandora's Box (GW Pabst)

Louise Brooks is captivating in her most famous film role.

3. Napoleon (Abel Gance)

The memorable triptych sequence.

2. Spies (Fritz Lang)

Rudolf Klein-Rogge as the menacing Haghi.

1. The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan)

Fairbanks displays his acrobatic skill in this stirring goodbye to silent cinema.

Awards

Best Picture

Asphalt
*The Iron Mask
Napoleon
Pandora's Box
Spies

Best Director

Allan Dwan, The Iron Mask
*Abel Gance, Napoleon
Fritz Lang, Spies
Joe May, Asphalt
GW Pabst, Pandora's Box

Best Lead Actor

Maurice Chevalier, The Love Parade
Albert Dieudonne, Napoleon
*Douglas Fairbanks, The Iron Mask
Charles Farrell, Lucky Star
Chester Morris, Alibi

Best Lead Actress

Betty Amann, Asphalt
Louise Brooks, Diary of a Lost Girl
*Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box
Janet Gaynor, Lucky Star
Jeanette MacDonald, The Love Parade

Best Supporting Actor

Nigel De Brulier, The Iron Mask
*Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Spies
Lupino Lane, The Love Parade
Purnell Pratt, Alibi
Vladimir Roudenko, Napoleon

Best Supporting Actress

Bessie Love, The Broadway Melody
*Nina Mae McKinney, Hallelujah!
Seena Owen, Queen Kelly
Alice Roberts, Pandora's Box
Lillian Roth, The Love Parade

Best Screenplay

*The Iron Mask (Douglas Fairbanks)
The Love Parade (Ernest Vajda, Guy Bolton)
Napoleon (Abel Gance)
Pandora's Box (Joseph Fleisler, Ladislaus Vajda)
Spies (Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou)

Applause (Rouben Mamoulian) *1/2

2009-09-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Director: Rouben Mamoulian

Cast: Helen Morgan, Joan Peers, Fuller Mellish Jr., Jack Cameron, Henry Wadsworth

Background: This early talkie was director Rouben Mamoulian's first film. It was adapted from a novel by Beth Brown.

Story: Kitty Darling (Morgan) is a popular burlesque performer who sends her daughter April (Peers) to a convent to keep her away from a seedy lifestyle. Years later, April returns as her mother's popularity begins to fade.

Thoughts: There's definitely some positive stuff here. Mamoulian was ahead of his time in the way he utilized sound equipment, and the seedy, negative portrayal of burlesque clubs is refreshing. It's very similar to how you would see a strip club portrayed in a modern film. Helen Morgan gives a brave and realistic portrayal of a woman stuck in a lifestyle she knows there is no escape from. Unfortunately, none of that can make up for some ridiculously horrific performances by the other actors, especially Joan Peers as her daughter. It has to be one of the worst performances I've seen in a movie, with a dramatic sequence where her mother is consoling her that is unintentionally funny. Then when I thought it couldn't worse, they pair Peers up with the equally wooden Henry Wadsworth as a romantic interest. There is an incredibly long courtship sequence for the two that just destroys the entire movie.

Postscript: Mamoulian would go on to a successful Hollywood career, with notable entries such as 1931's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and 1933's Queen Christina. Morgan would continue a career on both stage and screen until 1940.

The Manxman (Alfred Hitchcock) **

2009-09-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Carl Brisson, Malcolm Keen, Anny Ondra

Background: Hitchcock was a busy director at this point, making 8 movies in the previous two years. The story was adapted from a novel written by Hal Caine.

Story: Fisherman Pete (Brisson) and lawyer Phillip (Keen) grew up as best friends. Pete is in love with Kate (Ondra), but cannot marry her until he gets more money, so he goes off on a long fishing trip. While he's away, Philip and Kate begin a shameful affair, but soon find out about his death. However, their marriage plans are halted when they find out he's very much alive.

Thoughts: There's a decided lack of artistry in the telling of this story. You wouldn't be able to tell this was directed by Hitchcock, as it contains none of his signature touches or his skill as a storyteller. The film mainly plods along from event to event without much interest. Anny Ondra gives an emotional performance in the lead role, but she has no chemistry with Malcolm Keen. This is a huge problem, as we're supposed to feel for the complex moral dilemma faced by Phillip and Kate. Yet they just seem like horrible, selfish people and the only sympathy to be found is for poor Pete, who just gets horribly mistreated through the whole movie. This is a romantic melodrama without any romance that doesn't need to be seen by anyone other than Hitchcock completists.

Postscript: This film only has any distinction because it is Hitchcock's last silent film. He would follow it up the same year with the much better Blackmail (also starring Ondra).

The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan) ****

2009-09-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Director: Allan Dwan

Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Leon Bary, Tiny Sandford, Gino Corrado, Nigel de Brulier, William Bakewell, Marguerite De La Motte, Ullrich Haupt

Background: Douglas Fairbanks wrote the screenplay and spent a great deal of money on this sequel (with mostly different co-stars) to 1921's The Three Musketeers, knowing that it would be his last silent film (though he did film two short recorded monologues). Director Allan Dwan had over 300 films on his resume including a 1922 version of Robin Hood starring Wallace Beery.

Story: D'Artagnan (Fairbanks) attempts to get revenge against Cardinal Richelieu (de Brulier) for the death of his love Constance (De La Motte), but is forced to separate from his Musketeer pals (Bary, Sandford, Corrado) and serve the King's son Louis XIV (Bakewell) to prepare him for the throne, not knowing that the boy has a twin brother that was hidden by Richelieu.

Thoughts: While doing this project, I've seen alot of movies that I didn't care for, many of them out of duty (Wings, The Jazz Singer). So it's a great pleasure to come across something that makes me realize why I started this project in the first place. The Iron Mask is a supremely entertaining film of the highest order, incredibly exciting and fun (while maintaining a dark undercurrent) from beginning to end. Fairbanks crafted a fanciful script that changes many elements of the original story, but is still suitably complex and intriguing. Fairbanks was 46 at this point, but had not lost his marquee appeal or his ability to do fantastic stunts. It's pure joy to watch him dance around the screen, hopping over walls and doing backflips. His status as a screen legend was well earned. Allan Dwan directs this film with a breezy pace, managing to achieve a nice balance of adventure and despair. There is great support from the entire cast, especially Nigel de Brulier as the evil Cardinal Richelieu. The film concludes with one of the most memorable endings in film history, as Fairbanks wraps the story up in a way that makes it an incredibly moving goodbye to the era of silent cinema. Amazing.

Postscript: A re-issue of the film was done in the 50s for a TV release, with the intertitles removed and narration added by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. This is the same verstion available online in public domain, but I strongly recommend watching the original silent version that is available on DVD from Kino. Fairbanks retired from films in 1934, after a few unsuccessful attempts at talkies.

Queen Kelly (Erich von Stroheim) ***1/2

2009-09-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

Director: Erich von Stroheim

Cast: Gloria Swanson, Walter Byron, Seena Owen, Tully Marshall

Background: This was a troubled production, as star Gloria Swanson was unhappy with Stroheim's direction and fired him after only one third of the film had been completed. Swanson then worked hard to complete the film with different directors, but von Stroheim's contract made this difficult.

Story: Prince Wolfram (Byron), unhappily bound to marry Queen Regina (Owen), falls in love with Kelly (Swanson), a student at a convent. He takes her to the castle to declare his love for her, but the Queen spots her and forcefully throws her out. Prince Wolfram promises that he will come find her one day.

Thoughts: What a crazy story! It plays out like an exciting prime time soap opera. I mean, you have a main character who fakes a fire to kidnap a girl that he loves. And this is treated as a great romantic gesture. You have an actress in Seena Owen that deliciously chews up so much scenery that it seems like she's auditioning for a 1929 version of Melrose Place. The movie was never fully completed, but if anything the choppy story progression, missing scenes, and bizarre ending add to the whole experience. The story is so ridiculous and moves at a surprisingly quick pace that it actually becomes quite exciting. Gloria Swanson is definitely an appealing lead and Byron acquits himself nicely as the prince. Who the hell knows what von Stroheim was going for, or how far away this is from his vision, but what is available to us on DVD today sure is a fun time.

Postscript: The film wasn't released in the United states because von Stroheim refused to approve any edited version of his work. Clips from the film were used in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, which starred Swanson and featured von Stroheim as a former director who worked with Swanson's character during the silent era.

Spite Marriage (Edward Sedgwick) **

2009-09-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

Director: Edward Sedgwick

Cast: Buster Keaton, Dorothy Sebastian, Edward Earle, Leila Hyams

Background: Buster Keaton's recent films (particularly The General) had performed poorly at the box office and his distributor (United Artist) stripped some of his creative freedom, insisting on a production manager. He decided to switch to a new studio and signed for MGM.

Story: Buster is in love with stage star Trilby Drew (Sebastian), so much that he sees her show every night. When Trilby is dumped by fellow actor Lionel Benmore (Edward Earle), she decides to marry Buster (who she thinks is a millionaire) out of spite.

Thoughts: This one contains all of Buster's flaws from his previous films. The problem is it doesn't contain nearly enough of the brilliant comic bits that usually balance that out. The biggest flaw once again is that Buster plays a thoroughly unlikable character. He's kind of a jerk, actually. When we first see him, he's ruining the stage show for people who have already seen it. And he keeps his trademark stonefaced expression throughout the movie, making it hard to really care that he's being mistreated by his wife. Speaking of his wife, Sebastian plays leading lady that is just downright mean for the entire film, yet we're somehow supposed to root for them as a couple. There have been similar problems many of Buster's previous films, but there's usually memorable comedy to make you forget. All we have here is an amusing scene where Buster tries to put his drunk wife to bed, and a manic sequence on a boat where they try to dodge some villains (the best bit is the repeated trick where Buster hits a villain over the head with a bottle). That's not nearly enough to save this weak story.

Postscript: Despite this being a success, MGM began to exert even more control over Buster's movies during the transition to sound and his career as a leading man was over by the mid-30s.

Asphalt (Joe May) ****

2009-09-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

Director: Joe May

Cast: Gustav Frohlich, Betty Amann, Albert Steinruck, Else Heller

Background: Joe May was one of the earliest German filmmakers, directing his first film in 1911. He was responsible for giving Fritz Lang his first job in film, employing him as a screenwriter. Gustav Frohlich gained notoriety for playing the hero in Fritz Lang's sci-fi epic Metropolis. This was Betty Amann's first major film role.

Story: Elsa Kramer (Amann) is a thief who gets caught stealing a diamond from a jewelry store, but successfully seduces police officer Albert Holk (Frohlich) to not turn her in. Their steamy romance now threatens to ruin his career.

Thoughts: Now, this is a wonderful film and Betty Amann is chief among the reasons, with her amazingly expressive eyes working magic on the camera. This is a film that would have been hard to do in sound. For example, the lengthy sequence where Elsa begs Albert to let her go may have grated a bit with spoken dialogue, as some of her histrionics would seem a bit ridiculous. Instead, the focus is simply on her facial expressions, and she woos him by suggestively batting her eyes. And what's really amazing about the performance of the two actors is that you'll find yourself actually hoping this romance can work out somehow, no matter how damaging that would be to Albert. Elsa is clearly wrong for him and sends him on a downward spiral, but Amann's performance is so deep and layered that you believe she might actually like him, too. The final scene might sound hokey on paper, but her eyes work that magic one more time for a memorable conclusion.

Postscript: Joe May fled Nazi Germany before World War 2 and had some success directing b-movies such as The Invisible Man Returns. Betty Amann made her way to Hollywood, but only made a few films before retiring in 1943. Gustav Frohlich would have a long career in German films.

Arsenal (Alexander Dovzhenko) **1/2

2009-09-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Director: Alexander Dovzhenko

Cast: Semyon Svashenko, Amvrosi Buchma, Georgi Khorkov, Dmitri Erdman

Background: Dovzhenko had only been directing movies for three years when he made Arsenal, and it was the second of his planned Ukrainian trilogy, the first being the previous year's Zvenigora.

Story: A Ukrainian soldier (Svashenko) returns after seeing the horrors of war, but when he gets back home he begins to challenge the local authorities who have claimed independence from the Soviet Union.

Thoughts: Like other Russian films of this era, such as The End of St. Petersburg, this is not a straightforward affair. Dovzhenko uses lots of symbolism and odd camera angles to make his point. The story is thankfully fairly linear once he gets down to telling it, but the real issue I had with this film is the message. Dovzhenko goes overboard in making the obvious answer that independence is a stupid idea for the Ukrainians. It's certainly understandable that there was no way he could come from another perspective while making a film in the Soviet Union, but he does himself a disservice in the way he makes his argument. The film has been praised for ambiguity, but there's nothing ambiguous about the contrast he shows between the heroic Marxists and the bald and bearded evil Ukrainian capitalists. Hell, Kerensky comes off better in Eisenstein's October than they do here. I would've preferred some more dimensions being explored. But sure, it's impossible to deny that the film is beautifully made. Dovzhenko is clearly a technical master with superior editing skill and understands everything you can do with a camera.

Postscript: Dovzhenko would complete the trilogy the next year with Earth, a film about collective farming that is even more highly regarded than this one.

Erotikon (Gustav Machaty) **1/2

2009-09-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

Director: Gustav Machaty

Cast: Karel Schleichert, Ita Rina, Olaf Fjord, Theodor Pistek, Charlotte Susa

Background: This was Machaty's 4th outing as director, and he also wrote the screenplay.

Story: George (Schleichert) is a travelling salesman who gets stuck for the night in a small town. The railroad owner lets him stay at his house. George eventually meets and seduces the man's daughter (Rina). He leaves town the next day, but she can never forget him, even after she gets married to Hilbert (Pistek).

Thoughts: What an opening! The first 20 minutes or so of this film are just absolutely mesmerizing and showcase the true power of what can be accomplished by silent cinema. Machaty is able to build ample erotic tension just by the flirtatious glances between his two actors (who are fantastic), and the eventual consummation of this flirtation is directed in a provocative way (only a close-up of the female's face in complete ecstasy is shown) that would shame many modern filmmakers. That's why it is so painful that the rest of the film just descends into a standard melodramatic love triangle. Everything plays out in such a dull and obvious manner that it's hard to believe the same director also made the first twenty minutes. There is one really nice scene late in the film, where the two men competing for Andrea get locked in an intense chess match, obviously playing to win more than just the game, but that's the only bit of ingenuity we get. I also have major problems with the ending, which is a cheap copout from the filmmaker, allowing the main character an easy solution without having to make a moral choice.

Postscript: Machaty's most notable film would be 1933's Ecstasy, which starred Hedy Lamarr and where he once again broke sexual taboos. Ita Rina would continue acting in Czech films for the next decade.

Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock) ***

2009-09-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Anny Ondra, John Longden, Cyril Ritchard, Donald Calthrop

Background: Blackmail was originally intended to be a silent film, but the popularity of talkies convinced producers to film a sound version as well. Lead actress Anny Ondra's voice had to be dubbed for the sound version, as her Czech accent did not work for the character. Both sound and silent versions were released, as many theaters were still not equipped with sound equipment. The sound version is considered Britain's first all-talkie film.

Story: Alice White (Ondra) ditches her date, Scotland Yard detective Frank Webber (Longden), so she can meet up with a painter (Ritchard). When the man tries to rape her, she grabs a knife and kills him. Alice flees, but one of her gloves his found by Frank when he arrives to inspect the scene. His attempt to hide the evidence is discovered by a thief (Calthrop), who tries to blackmail the pair.

Thoughts: As in many other early talkies, there are some problems with the line delivery, especially absurdly long pauses in between each actor's lines. Ondra is a wonderfully expressive actress, but the dubbing makes some of her moments feel awkward. Having seen some of the scenes of the silent version, her performance (not to mention the film) was much better there without the added distraction. Still, this is a pretty good early Hitchcock film that showcases some of the skill that would make him a legend in the coming years. The offscreen rape and murder is brilliantly handled, as Hitchcock makes it clear what happened by only showing two different arms appear in the frame. The extended sequence where the thief blackmails the couple is top notch stuff, maintaining a strong tension eventhough not much is happening. With this film and The Lodger, you can see the skill of the young Hitchcock that would eventually be fully realized in later films.

Postscript: Anny Ondra's acting career was over in England, so she moved back to Czechoslovakia and in 1933 married boxing champion Max Schmeling. She was portrayed by Peta Wilson in the 2002 tv-movie Joe and Max. It would be another six years before Hitchcock would make what is regarded as his first classic, The 39 Steps.

The Broadway Melody (Harry Beaumont) ***

2009-09-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

Director: Harry Beaumont

Cast: Anita Page, Bessie Love, Bessie Love

Background: The Broadway Melody would be (as advertised) Hollywood's first all talking musical. Bessie Love and Anita Page were both veterans of the silent era making their sound debut.

Story: Queenie (Page) and Hank (Love) are sisters who take their vaudeville act to New York, hoping to find success on Broadway. However, Queenie begins to find more success than her sister, both on stage and in her romantic life.

Thoughts: This is a film that has a fairly negative reputation, thanks in part to it being considered the inspiration for the silent to sound transition problems played to comic effect in Singin in the Rain. However, the common problems that appeared in early sound films (bad dialogue, awkward line delivery) do not exist in this movie at all. Sure, the camera is stationary, but that's not a drawback for a backstage musical. In fact, the performances really shine here. Anita Page is dazzling, completely owning the screen and infusing her character with winning charm. It's interesting that Bessie Love was such a veteran of silent cinema, because she has a wonderful voice and infuses her line delivery with so much spunk that it's hard to root against her obviously doomed character. This leads to the one major problem the movie has. The plot is so predictable that you can see what's happening every step of the way. There's also an unforunate gay stereotype that is unpleasant to witness. The musical numbers are all very well done, and I enjoyed the elaborate stage decorations. This film may not be as good as it was received in 1929, but it's also not nearly as bad as people make it out to be today.

Postscript: The Broadway Melody was the second winner of the Best Picture Oscar. There were no nominees listed for the Oscars that year, but both Bessie Love and director Harry Beaumont are considered nominees by the Academy today. Anita Page was one of the most popular stars of the era, but announced a sudden retirement in 1934, later stating that she was banned from Hollywood by refusing to bow to sexual favors from Irving Thalberg. She was the last major silent star to pass away, when she died last year at 98 years old. Bessie Love's popualrity dipped in the 30s, but she did make a comeback in the 80s with supporting roles in Ragtime, Reds, and The hunger.

The Love Trap (William Wyler) *1/2

2009-09-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

Director: William Wyler

Cast: Laura La Plante, Neil Hamilton, Robert Ellis, Jocelyn Lee, Norman Trevor

Background: William Wyler had made a number of silent films when he was chosen by Laura La Plante and her husband to direct her next feature. La Plante was best known for playing the heroine in Paul Leni's horror classic The Cat and the Canary.

Story: Poor Evelyn Todd (La Plante) has a chance meeting with wealthy Peter Harrington (Neil Hamilton) and they fall in love, but his family objects to their marriage when Peter's uncle (Trevor) remembers Evelyn from an unfortunate (and misunderstood) incident in her past.

Thoughts: What starts off as a mediocre romance gets progressively worse as the movie goes on. Chief among the problems this movie has is that the decision was made to switch to sound for the 2nd half. This is disastrous because most of the actors were apparently not ready for it. La Plante is particularly bad, with some nonsensical line readings in an awkward delivery. There's an illogical sequence at the end between La Plante and Trevor that is just painfully bad from every angle. The story is so weak that it probably wouldn't have mattered if it was done silent or not, but at least it might have been bearable. As it is, it's a struggle just to make it through the meager 71 minute running time.

Postscript: La Plante acted in many films over the next decade, but nothing of note. William Wyler would go on to a legendary directing career, winning three Oscars for Best Director.

Alibi (Roland West) ***1/2

2009-09-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Director: Roland West

Cast: Chester Morris, Harry Stubbs, Mae Busch, Eleanore Griffith, Regis Toomey, Purnell Pratt

Background: Roland West was a theater director who had made a name for himself in film with the 1925 Lon Chaney vehicle Monster. The story for Alibi was based on a stage play called Nightstick.

Story: Gangster Chick Williams (Morris) has just been released from prison and is now married to a policeman's daughter (Busch). He doesn't leave his old ways behind and soon finds himself having to cover his tracks for the murder of a policeman during a botched robbery attempt.

Thoughts: It's odd to say about a film that received a Best Picture nomination, but this is one severely underrated film. Many contemporary takes on the film call it clunky and outdated. While the sound is admittedly a problem in this early talkie, there is still plenty to admire here. The most notable aspect is that West takes a stage play and the limitations of the camera during the early sound era and still comes up wtih a nice visual flair. I especially like the art deco design of the gang hideout. There's also a brilliant interrogation sequence that utilizes some interesting camera angles to add to the tension. The characters are all played with multiple dimensions (the charismatic Morris is especially strong), and West isn't above making the cops seem self serving. The film concludes with a rooftop chase sequence that is very advanced for the time period.

Postscript: Alibi received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Morris), and Best Art Direction. Roland West's career was cut short when his mistress mysteriously died and he was considered a suspect, although no evidence ever turned up and no one was ever charged for the crime. Chester Morris continued acting for a long time, including numerous films in the Boston Blackie detective series in the 40s.

Napoleon (Abel Gance) ****

2009-09-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

Director: Abel Gance

Cast: Albert Dieudonne, Vladimir Roudenko, Gina Manes, Edmond van Daele

Background: Abel Gance was a veteran of the silent cinema, his most notable previous work being La Roue, which ran for over 5 hours. As the silent era was ending, he set out to make a series of films (in 6 parts) about Napoleon's life.

Story: A biopic about the life of Napoleon Bonaparte (Albert Dieudonné), following him from his early days at a boarding school to his early military triumphs.

Thoughts: It should be noted that the only version I was able to find was a mediocre copy of the Francis Ford Coppola restoration, which cut out tons of Gance's film and played it at the wrong speed. That being said, this is still an amazing cinematic experience. Gance was a master of what could be accomplished with the camera during the silent era, and he utilizes every tool at his disposal to present a grand portrait of a legendary historical figure. If you're looking for an unbiased examination of Napoleon's life, you'll have to look elsewhere. This is instead a celebration of Napoleon the hero, showing how he perseveres against many setbacks, including imprisonment and stupid senior officers that ignore his advice. There's a little bit of romance in the latter half of the film as Napoleon and Josephine finally find their way to one another, but for the most part this focuses on his military exploits. Perhaps the greatest tribute I could pay this 4 hour film is that it isn't dull for one second. Gance fits in so much compelling material that you can easily see how another hour and a half could be added to the running time. Albert Dieudonne gives a charismatic and stoic performance as Napoleon, and you can sense the man's driving ambition through Dieudonne's eyes. There's a particularly stirring moment where he stops at a conference hall and gathers inspiration for an upcoming battle, remembering the revolutionaries who came before him. Special mention must also go to Vladimir Roudenko, who does a brilliant job as the young schoolboy Napoleon in the first hour of the film. The most eye opening moment is during the finale, in which Gance creates a 4:1 aspect ratio by lining up three cameras, allowing for some mesmerizing shots of the battlefield along with the opportunity to use one of them cut in to a close up of the stoic Napoleon as he leads troops into battle. This is an amazing and important piece of work and I can only hope to one day see the original version, as Gance intended.

Postscript: The other 5 films in the planned series were never completed. Gance's first sound picture (The End of the World) was too ambitious and flopped, so he went for safer projects throughout the 30s. World War 2 slowed down his career somewhat, but he returned to continue directing through the 60s.

They Had to See Paris (Frank Borzage) **1/2

2009-09-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

Director: Frank Borzage

Cast: Will Rogers, Irene Rich, Owen Davis Jr., Margeurite Churchill, Fifi D'Orsay

Background: Frank Borzage was the master of romantic melodramas, but he decided to mix it up for his first talkie and tackle a light comedy. At the time, Will Rogers was avery well known performer and humorist, having made his fame in the Ziegfield Follies and appearing in over 50 silent films.

Story: Pike Peters (Rogers) and his family get rich when they find themselves part owners of an oil field. At the urging of his wife (Rich) they leave the comfort of Oklahoma and take a trip to Paris, but Pike finds himself at odds with his family who get caught up in their new ritzy lifestyle.

Thoughts: This one is certainly a misfire, although it is at least an interesting one. Will Rogers gives a strong performance as an almost maddeningly decent man that just feels out of place in Paris. At first the character seems like it might go in the direction of a typical country bumpkin, but it's to Rogers' credit that he never oversells the character. He's not an idiot, but just has principles that he's not willing to compromise just because the family is now rich. Unfortunately, the other performances are not quite as nuanced and the film goes a little too far in showing how much his family, especially his wife, are frustrated with him. There's one scene in particular where his wife says things so mean to him that I almost wished he ran off with the cute waitress that keeps flirting with him. The ending of the film is just a little too neatly wrapped up and not very convincing. Credit to Borzage for attempting a departure from his usual fare, but it simply lacks the artistry he brought to his silent films, and all that remains are the storytelling problems that have sometimes hampered him in the past.

Postscript: Not one of Borzage's more notable works, it only has 44 total votes from IMDB users. He would return to his roots for his most well known talki, 1932's Farewell to Arms, which earned him a Best Director nomination. Sadly, Will Rogers would die in plane crash just 6 years after this movie was made.

The Cocoanuts (Robert Flory, Joseph Santley) ***1/2

2009-09-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

Director: Robert Flory, Joseph Santley

Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx. Chico Marx, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton, Margaret Dumont

Background: The Marx Brothers were five brothers that got their start performing in vaudeville shows. Their act got very popular by the end of the 20s, and with the invention of talkies, they seemed a perfect match to take advantage of the new medium.

Story: Groucho owns a Florida hotel that is about to go belly up. He comes up with several ideas for making money, including a real estate auction, but is often thwarted by Chico and Harpo. They also get mixed up in a romance between

Thoughts: This was a great debut for the Marx Brothers. The thin plot was enough to provide them ample inspiration for great wordplay and hijinx. The most inspired moment comes during a scene where the camera cleverly shows us two rooms at once, and the Marx Brothers all rotate through the two rooms (and the unseen hallway) trying to find one another. This sequence features the brilliant comic timing that no doubt made their stage show a success. There's another great moment that recalls Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" routine where they get plenty of hilarious mileage out of Chico's pronunciation of "viaduct". What I could've done without were the musical interludes that did not involve the Marx Brothers. They bring the show to a screeching halt and sap some of the comic momentum.

Postscript: The Marx Brothers would continue to make a number of highly successful films, including two that appeared on the AFI Top 100 list (A Night at the Opera, Duck Soup). Their last feature length film would be The Story of Mankind in 1957.

The Last Warning (Paul Leni) ***

2009-09-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

Director: Paul Leni

Cast: Laura La Plante, Montagu Love, Roy D'Arcy, Margaret Livingston, John Boles

Background: Paul Leni was known for directing horror films such as Waxworks and The Cat and the Canary. His most recent effort was an attempt to helm a more serious (but still dark) film, The Man Who Laughs.

Story: An actor is mysteriously murdered during a play, and the killer is never found. Five years later, a new producer tries to reopen the theater and bring the same cast back to perform the play.

Thougts: This is a return to form for Leni and owes alot to Leni's earlier horror film, The Cat and the Canary. Once again, we get a story filled with crazy plot twists and moments designed to make you jump out of your seat. There's plenty of fun to be had here. Leni has always been terrific at creating tension with a stirring atmosphere and inventive use of sound effects. The final 15 minutes are especially fun. The only thing that detracts from this is the lack of strong characters. Laura La Plante made for a strong heroine in Cat and the Canary, but her character is not very sympathetic here and given very little to do. There is also no performance that approaches the wonderful Martha Mattox's creepy turn as the maid in that earlier film. With better characters, this could've been one of Leni's best films.

Postscript: Sadly, this would be the last film Paul Leni ever made as he succumbed to blood poisoning in September of 1929. It's a shame because he seems like a director that was primed to take full use of the new sound era.

Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov) **1/2

2009-09-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

Director: Dziga Vertov

Background: Dziga Vertov was a documentary filmmaker who did not hide his contempt for fictional storytelling. He worked on a newsreel series known as Kino-Pravda where he pushed buttons with his experimental technique. He was hired by the Ukrainian government to direct a documentary about a man with a movie camera, and set out to change the way films were seen and understood.

Story: The day in the life of an unnamed large Russian city, as recorded by a cameraman who shows up frequently in the action.

Thoughts: It's really hard not to be impressed somewhat by this film. Vertov completely changed film language with his frequent use of stop motion and split screen, among many other innovative techniques. It's clear to see how influential the film is today. And it looks so great. There are a number of beautiful, memorable shots that completely amazed me. But what is all of this in the service of? No, a strong narrative isn't necessary for a film like this, but if you compare to Ruttman's Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, there was a film that took a similar premise (day in the life of a city) and made it work because Ruttman didn't feel the need to call attention to himself in every single shot. Vertov was going for a more personal and intimate view of city life, focusing more on the individuals within the city, but the problem is that his own technique severely detracts from that as the subjects get buried under layers and layers of fancy camerawork and rapid fire editing. Vertov may have accomplished his goal of influencing film language, but he did not accomplish his goal of making a good film.

Postscript: The Man With a Movie Camera is a highly regarded film classic, making it on several best of all time lists, and included in Roger Ebert's Great Movies column, where he admittedly makes a strong case for the film. Vertov continued directing after this, but soon met difficulties with the Soviet government who began to demand heavy edits to his films, turning them into nothing more than propoganda. His brother Boris Kaufman later became a cinematographer, winning an Oscar for helming On the Waterfront.

Lucky Star (Frank Borzage) ***1/2

2009-09-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

Director: Frank Borzage

Cast: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Guinn Williams, Hedwiga Reicher

Story: Mary (Gaynor) is a poor farm girl who meets Tim (Farrell) just as World War 1 breaks out. Tim goes off to war, but comes back in a wheelchair. Tim and the now older Mary begin to fall for one another, but Mary's mother does not approve of her marrying a "cripple".

Background: This is the third collaboration between Borzage, Gaynor, and Farrell after Seventh Heaven and Street Angel. Gaynor had just won the first Best Actress Oscar (partly for her performance in Seventh Heaven) and Borzage won the Best Director Oscar (also for Seventh Heaven).

Thoughts: A much improved outing for the trio after the dismal Street Angel. This one contains all the romanticism of Seventh Heaven and avoids the nonsensical plot twists that doomed Street Angel. In fact, it's pretty remarkable that the film remains interesting despite most of the scenes consist of Mary and Tim talking to one another. But oh how wonderful those scenes are! There's even a very sensual moment when he begins to wash Mary (in his attempt to remake her), but gets shy when he starts to undress her. By now, Gaynor and Farrell were such a perfectly matched pair that they could sleepwalk through their roles and still be convincing lovers, but they invest everything in these roles, completely selling even the corniest of moments. The ending is just perfect and includes a shot of Farrell in the distance that is one of the best images Borzage has produced.

Postscript: This would be the last film the trio would make together, but Gaynor and Farrell would continue working together in 8 more films. Borzage would win another Oscar for 1931's Bad Girl and continue directing until he made his final film in 1959.

Eternal Love (Ernst Lubitsch) ***

2009-09-07T14:27:00.001-07:00

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: John Barrymore, Camilla Horn, Victor Varconi, Mona Rico, Hobart Bosworth

Background: This was Lubitsch's 59th film in his long and distinguished directing career. Leads John Barrymore and Camilla Horn had worked together previously in 1928's Tempest. The story was adapted from a novel by Jakob Christopher Heer.

Story: It is 1806 and the French have occupied a small Swiss town, demanding that all guns be surrendered. Marcus (Barrymore) is the lone hold out, but finally relents because he is in love with Ciglia (Horn). However, their romance is threatened by the scheming Pia (Rico), who plots a trap to get Marcus to marry her.

Thoughts: The first act of this picture plays out as an NRA wet dream, but the gun subplot is just another clever way in which Lubitsch inventively uses a prop for comedic and romantic effect. Unfortunately, there are fewer of those typical Lubitsch moments and instead the story plays out like a straightforward romantic melodrama. Thankfully, Lubitsch knows how to make this work and even manages to coax a strong performance from Camilla Horn, who was downright awful in the previous year's Tempest. John Barrymore is charismatic as always and the ending packs a pretty powerful punch. The movie is very short at only 72 minutes long and would've been better if expanded to add more of Lubitsch's wit.

Postscript: Lubitsch's 59th silent film would also be his last, but his transition into sound was smooth and his most notable films come from that era (Trouble in Paradise, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner). Camilla Horn continued acting, but mostly in German, British, and Italian films. John Barrymore's drinking problems would get the best of him and hurt his career throughout the 30s.

Spies (Fritz Lang) ****

2009-09-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Director: Fritz Lang

Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Willy Fritsch, Gerda Maurus, Hertha von Walther, Fritz Rasp

Story: Secret agent no. 326 (Fritsch) is assigned to bust up a spy network led by the ruthless Haghi (Klein-Rogge) and ends up falling in love with one of the spies (Maurus).

Background: Coming on the heels of the legendary sci-fi classic Metropolis, Fritz Lang turns to the world of spies, once again calling on author Thea Von Harbou to adapt another of her novels. Rudolf Klein-Rogge was a Lang regular by this point, playing the mad scientist in Metropolis and the title role in the two Dr. Mabuse films.

Thoughts: Here we have a movie made in 1929 that is as exciting as any action movie today. Just as he's done in previous films like Destiny and Metropolis, Lang knows how to keep a story moving like no one else. The opening sets the mood right away, with a flurry of astonishing sequences that lead to one of the best screen introductions ever, a close-up of Rudolf Klein-Rogge as the menacing Haghi. The story unfolds at such a breakneck pace that you wonder if it can possibly hold up for the 2 hour, 23 minute running time, but aside for a few moments where Lang lets you catch your breath and digest the complexities of the story, this thing is on full tilt for the whole ride. Klein-Rogge (so wonderful as the mad scientist in Metropolis) goes for a more controlled sinister performance here and creates a memorable villain, while Willy Fritsch invents the handsome secret agent role that undoubtedly inspired Ian Fleming. The incredible ending contains a shocking, but nonetheless satisfying denouement.

Postscript: Lang would return to sci-fi (and reteam with Fritsch and Maurus) later that year with Woman on the Moon. His most notable film after this would be 1931's M, and he would make three more Dr. Mabuse films (two with Klein-Rogge). Fritsch and Maurus would have successful careers in German film.

Marianne (Robert Z. Leonard) *1/2

2009-09-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

Director: Robert V. Leonard

Cast: Marion Davies, Lawrence Gray, Cliff Edwards, Benny Rubin, George Baxter

Background: The second of two versions of this story, both starring Marion Davies. The original version was a silent, and the hope then was that the experiment with sound pictures would fail. That didn't happen, so a talkie version was made. It would be Marion Davies' first sound picture. She previously teamed with co-star Lawrence Gray in The Patsy.

Story: During World War 1, a French girl (Davies) catches the eye of several American soldiers and falls for one of them (Gray), but she is promised to a French soldier.

Thoughts: Casting Marion Davies as a French woman may have worked in a silent film, but with recorded dialogue it does not work at all. As great a comic actress as Marion is, her performance here is dreadful, with a ridiculous (and almost unrecognizable) French accent that is incredibly annoying and not credible or funny one bit. This saps every bit of fun from the story. Marion sure gives an energetic performance, but the ridiculous accent destroys every single joke. The only fun bits involve the men who are courting her and a genuinely charming sequence in the third act where Marion performs musical numbers meant to be impressions of Sarah Bernhardt and Maurice Chevalier. There's not much else to say about this one. What a disaster.

Postscript: Davies would make 14 talkies in total, but her best remembered films are the two silents she made with King Vidor, Show People and The Patsy. She would also team up once again with Gray in 1930's The Floradora Girl.

Hallelujah! (King Vidor) **1/2

2009-09-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

Director: King Vidor

Cast: Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William E. Fountaine, Harry Gray, Fannie Belle de Knight

Background: King Vidor had wanted to make this film for many years, and finally jumped at the chance with the advent of talkies. The project was so important to him that he gave up his salary to make it. It would be one of the first all-black films made by a major studio.

Story: Sharecropper Zeke (Haynes) gets set up for a rigged craps game by con artist Chick (McKinney). He decides to reform by devoting his life to God and becoming a minister. However, a chance encounter with Chick threatens to ruin everything he has rebuilt.

Thoughts: This film proves that Hollywood had come a long way from Birth of a Nation, but also proves that they hadn't yet come far enough. It's certainly admirable for Vidor to have attempted a film with an all black cast. Unfortunately, the film is littered with problems and the end result just doesn't add up. The characters speak in a very stereotypical way, and even Vidor himself admitted that his overall view of African-American life was (unintentionally) very condescending. Much of the film consists of the characters standing around singing spirituals. But the problems don't end there. The storytelling leaves much to be desired. The film drags throughout the second act, and the disturbing actions taken by Zeke in the third act are all too easily wiped away by the ending. What almost saves the movie is the dynamic performance by Nina Mae McKinney. Not only does she play an electrifying femme fatale, she has several show stopping musical numbers. More of those and fewer spiritual singalongs would have made this a much, much better movie.

Postscript: King Vidor received an Oscar nomination for this film. Nina Mae McKinney struggled to find good roles in the ensuing years, as other directors were not willing to follow Vidor's lead in attempting positive views of African-American life. The film was added to the National Film Registry in 2008.

The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch) ***1/2

2009-09-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette McDonald, Lupino Lane, Lillian Roth

Background: Maurice Chavalier was a well known musical performer in Europe. He rejected an offer to come to Hollywood to star in silent films, not having a very good experience with the few French silents he made. With the advent of sound, he now had the confidence and signed a contract with Paramount. The Love Parade was his second film. It was the first film for Broadway star Jeanette MacDonald, who was spotted by director Lubitsch while looking through old screen tests of Broadway stars.

Story: The Queen of Sylvania (Macdonald) meets and falls in love with Count Renard (Chevalier). When they get married, he finds it difficult to adjust to his new life playing second fiddle to his wife.

Thoughts: The first full sound picture (and musical) that I've seen since I started this project, and it's great fun. Ernst Lubitsch always had a unique way of telling what seems like a simple story, and that's evident here. See the way in which a prop is used to cleverly deceive the audience in the film's opening scene. And he knows how to bring actors together that seem perfectly matched. Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette McDonald make a wonderful romantic pair, completely natural playing off each other with Lubitsch's typically witty dialogue. However, the romance between underlings Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth is actually my favorite part of the movie (and seems to have inspired Billy Wilder, whose Sabrina has a very similar romance between two minor characters). The actual songs are not very memorable, but almost all of them are charming, thanks mostly to the ingratiating performances by the cast. It sure says something that this is my least favorite of the five Lubitsch film I've seen to date, and it's still tremendously entertaining.

Postscript: This film received six Oscar nominations, including nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Lead Actor. Lubitsch would reteam with his two leads for 1934's The Merry Widow. All three would continue to have very successful film careers.

Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst) ***1/2

2009-09-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

Director: GW Pabst

Cast: Louise Brooks, Andre Roanne, Josef Rovensky, Fritz Rasp, Vera Pawlowa

Background: Pabst and Brooks team up again after thair great collaboration in the classic Pandora's Box. The story was based on a novel written by Margarete Bohme.

Story: Thymiane (Brooks) is pregnant after being raped by a family friend. When she refuses to marry the man, her baby is taken away and she must fend for herself in a brutal reform school.

Thoughts: Pabst and Brooks team up to great effect. Once again, we have a story where Pabst directly challenges the sexist society of the day. Most of this film is incredibly bleak, a stark contrast to what we saw in Pandora's Box. Brooks undergoes so much terrible treatment throughout the film that it even makes the typical Lillian Gish treatment seem tame. The third act turns everything on its head, and it's here where he really departs from his previous film. Whereas his previous film has oft been misinterpreted as a warning sign or a lesson for women who act like Lulu did in that film (as if this could somehow be the case and the movie still be good), he avoids any possibility for misinterpretation here. Instead, he goes for a more hopeful message, that a woman like Thymiane has a chance to prevail. Louise Brooks comes up with a terrific performance again, in some ways more accomplished than in Pandora's Box.

Postscript: This would be the last time Pabst and Brooks teamed up, and also the last silent film either of them made. The next year Pabst made an anti-war film called Westfront 1918, while Brooks would continue to work in Europe with the French film Beauty Prize.

Pandora's Box (GW Pabst) ****

2009-09-03T23:10:00.001-07:00

Director: GW Pabst

Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer, Alice Roberts, Gustav Diessl

Background: GW Pabst wanted Louise Brooks for the main role ever since seeing her in A Girl In Every Port. He actually had Marlene Dietrich in his office waiting to sign for the role until getting word from Brooks at the last minute that she was willing to do it.

Story: Lulu (Brooks) is a woman with a special gift at drawing the attention of men, but this causes problems for her when the men are driven to violence and other nefarious deeds.

Thoughts: This is a remarkable film that fully utilizes Louise Brooks' captivating screen presence. It's refreshing to see a movie this old be so openly daring about sexual issues. The casting of Louise Brooks is important because she has the ability to combine innocence and sexuality in a way that Marlene Dietrich probably couldn't have accomplished. With Dietrich, the character would have appeared to be too sinister. But Pabst isn't interested in judging Lulu, despite what a cursory glance at the plot may lead you to believe. Instead, he's taking aim at a sexist society that judges such women. The male characters certainly don't come off any better throughout the film. The movie even includes what film historians consider the very first lesbian character, and it's fitting with the theme of the movie that it is the most positively portrayed relationship in the whole movie (albeit that's not saying much). Two years removed from the storytelling issues found in The Love of Jeanne Ney, Pabst gives us a character worth caring about and comes up with a brilliant ending as the final few scenes are absolutely stunning.

Postscript: This film would be the defining role for Louise Brooks. The role would be so iconic that the hairdo she wore in it is still called a "Lulu" today. Brooks would quit acting by the end of the next decade, while Pabst would continue his successful directing career through the 50's.

Year 3 - 1929

2009-09-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'll finally begin year 3 of this project and hopefully can get through this much faster than previous years. It should be an exciting year, as it will be a mixture of late silents and early talkies. I've pared down the list a little bit and will be watching 22 films this year, closer to the output I did for 1927.

We've got multiple films from several of my favorite directors this year, including Alfred Hitchcock (Blackmail, The Manxman), GW Pabst (Diary of a Lost Girl, Pandora's Box), and Ernst Lubitsch (The Love Parade, Eternal Love). There will be a few musicals, although I've decided to skip some of the big plotless medley musicals.

Here is the full list of films that I will be watching for 1929:

Alibi (Roland West)
Applause (Rouben Mamoulian)
Arsenal (Alexander Dovzhenko)
Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock)
The Broadway Melody (Harry Beaumont)
The Cocaonuts (Robert Florey, Joseph Santley)
Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst)
Eternal Love (Ernst Libitsch)
Hallelujah (King Vidor)
The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan)
The Last Warning (Paul Leni)
The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch)
The Love Trap (William Wyler)
Lucky Star (Frank Borzage)
The Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)
The Manxman (Alfred Hitchcock)
Napoleon (Abel Gance)
Pandora's Box (GW Pabst)
Spite Marriage (Edward Sedgwick)
Queen Kelly (Erich Von Stroheim)
Speedway (Harry Beaumont)
Spies (Fritz Lang)
They Had to See Paris (Frank Borzage)

Film that could be added if they become available include:

Disraeli (Alfred E. Green)
Flight (Frank Capra)
The General Line (Sergei Eisenstein)
The Trespasser (Edmund Goulding)
Thunderbolt (Josef Von Sternberg)

1928 - Top 10 List and Year in Review

2009-09-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

It sure took me a long time to get through 1928, partly because of real life stuff that kept taking up my time, but also because I took on too much for this year. It was a very interesting year for cinema, and there were lots of movies I wanted to see, but I probably should have limited myself somewhat. The good news is that while it was taking me so long to finish the year, TCM decided to do a Marion Davies marathon and I was able to capture basically her entire filmography on DVR. That allowed me to add her two 1928 films to the list, and I'll be prepared for her stuff in future years.

I ended up seeing 31 films overall, and it was a generally strong year overall. The technical aspects of filmmaking had reached their highest point ever, but some of the films had issues as directors got a little too busy experimenting and forgot to tell the audience a story. William Wellman had his second straight mediocre output and I'll be careful in selecting any of his future films for inclusion in the project.

It was an especially strong year for leading actors. Not only did we have terrific comic performances from the three comic legends (Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton) but we also had some outstanding dramatic performances from Lon Chaney, James Murray, Conrad Veidt, Emil Jannings, and George Bancroft.

1927 saw the first feature length sound film in The Jazz Singer. It was a huge hit, and studios began transitioning to sound by 1928. However, the early talkies were apaprently not very good and none of them made it on my radar to watch this year (if they were even available). So this will be the actual last full year of silents.

And finally, here is the top 10 list for 1928

10. The Docks of New York (Josef Von Sternberg)

The mature and complex romance between George Bancroft and Betty Compson.

9. A Girl in Every Port (Howard Hawks)

Robert Armstrong and Victor MacLaglen make for winning protagonists.

8. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Walter Ruttman)

One of just many fascinating shots of Berlin.

7. The Last Command (Josef Von Sternberg)

Jannings (2nd from right) and Brent, before it all goes to hell.

6. Steamboat Bill Jr. (Charles Reisner)

One of just many obstacles Buster has to avoid.

5. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer)

Falconetti's passionate performance among the best in film history.

4. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (Herbert Brenon)

Chaney proves once again that he is the best actor of his era.

3. Speedy (Ted Wilde)

A shot from the fantastic Coney Island sequence.

2. The Circus (Charles Chaplin)

The Tramp in a precarious situation.

1. The Crowd (King Vidor)

This fascinating shot of Johnny's soul sucking work place would later inspire Billy Wilder in "The Apartment".

Best Picture

The Circus
*The Crowd
Laugh, Clown, Laugh
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Speedy

Best Director

Charles Chaplin, The Circus
Carl Dreyer, The Passion of Joan of Arc
Walter Ruttman, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
*King Vidor, The Crowd
Ted Wilde, Speedy

Best Lead Actor

George Bancroft, The Docks of New York
*Lon Chaney, Laugh Clown Laugh
Charlie Chaplin, The Circus
Harold Lloyd, Speedy
Emil Jannings, The Last Command

Best Lead Actress

Eleanor Boardman, The Crowd
Betty Compson, Docks of New York
Marion Davies, The Patsy
*Maria Falconetti, The Passion of Joan of Arc
Greta Garbo, A Woman of Affairs

Best Supporting Actor

Nils Asther, Laugh Clown Laugh
William Haines, Show People
Ivor Novello, The Lodger
Bernard Siegel, Laugh Clown Laugh
*Ernest Torrence, Steamboat Bill Jr.

Supporting Actress

Olga Baclanova, The Docks of New York
Evelyn Brent, The Last Command
*Louise Brooks, A Girl in Every Port
Marie Dressler, The Patsy
Loretta Young, Laugh Clown Laugh

Best Screenplay

A Girl in Every Port (Malcolm Stuart Boylan, Howard Hawks)
The Circus (Charles Chaplin)
*The Crowd (King Vidor, John VA Weaver)
Laugh, Clown, Laugh (Joseph Farnham, Elizabeth Meehan)
Speedy (Albert DeMond, John Grey)

Show People (King Vidor) ***

2009-09-02T00:44:00.000-07:00

Director: King Vidor

Cast: Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderson, Paul Ralli

Background: The second collaboration between Marion Davies and King Vidor this year. Co-star William Haines doesn't get alot of attention today, but was one of the most popular comic stars of the era.

Story: Peggy Pepper (Davies) is an aspiring actress who moves from Savannah to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. She finds early success in comedies, but wants to do dramas so she switches to a new studio and takes on the name Patricia Pepoire. In doing so, her personality changes and she ignores her former friend (Haines).

Thoughts: I'm surprised Hearst was okay with this, because it seems like a direct attack on his own ideas about Davies' career. Nevertheless, it's a fine film that features cameos from tons of Hollywood stars (Chaplin, Fairbanks, Gilbert, and even King Vidor himself). The first half is especially strong, featuring some hilarious set pieces and the fake films are brilliantly done. The second half runs into some problems, as Davies overplays her character's snotty behavior a bit too much and Haines disappears for too long. The events are less inspired here and instead follow an entirely predictable chain of events. Still, the movie is able to recover for a strong conclusion that works because Davies and Haines are charismatic enough to make us care.

Postscript: William Haines was openly gay, and his career was cut short when Louis B. Mayer demanded he break up with his longtime partner and publicly marry a woman. His last film was in 1934, but he remained with his partner for over 50 years. The film itself has a good reputation, but is unfortunately one of the many Davies films that are not available on DVD.

The Patsy (King Vidor) ***1/2

2009-09-01T21:59:00.001-07:00

Director: King Vidor

Cast: Marion Davies, Marie Dressler, Orville Caldwell, Lawrence Gray

Background: Marion Davies was the mistress of tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who only wanted to see her in expensive costume dramas. Director King Vidor got the idea to cast her in this when witnessing her do impressions of her friends. Marie Dressler's career was over and she was contemplating suicide before getting a last minute offer to portray Marion's mother.

Story: Patricia Harrington (Davies) struggles to win the approval of her mother (Dressler). Things don't get much better when she falls in love with her sister's boyfriend, but decides to pursue him after finding out her sister is cheating on the man.

Thoughts: It's a shame that it took so long for her to be cast in a comedy, because this film proves Marion Davies was meant to be a comedienne all along. The comic persona that was threatening to break out in last year's dud Quality Street is fully evident here and her spirited performance is a joy to behold. At one point, she tries to impress a man by doing impressions of silent film stars, including a Lillian Gish impersonation that is dead on. There's some really inspired stuff in the 2nd half where Marion has to pretend to be crazy and the many inventive ways they come up with for her to do that are absolutely hilarious. Marion's splendid performance completely carries this movie, but there are some strong support with Marie Dressler's manic performance as her mother of special note. The basic story is certainly simple (although the genders are reversed from the norm), as it was in most comedies of the day, but what's important is that we have a funny and endearing main character to make it all work.

Postscript: From here on out, Marion would make mostly comedies and she enjoyed success in the transition to sound. Her reputation would later be shattered by the unflattering portrayal of her fictional alter ego in Citizen Kane, and subsequent films featuring Marion would portray her in a similar light. However, film historians have since recognized that those portrayals didn't really do her justice, and even actress Virginia Madsen regrets how she portrayed Marion in the 1985 tv-movie The Hearst and Davies Affair.

The Last Command (Josef von Sternberg) ****

2009-09-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

Director: Josef Von Sternberg

Cast: Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell

Story: A General (Jannings) in Czarist Russia is reduced to nothing after the revolutionm, even losing the woman he loved (Brent). Now in the United States, he ends up getting a job as an extra in a movie about the very revolution that deposed him.

Background: The story was inspired by the life of General Lodijensky, a Czarist General who also fled to the United States and became a Hollywood extra. Director Josef von Sternberg had already made a name for himself with the previous year's Underworld (#3 on my 1927 list and also starring Evelyn Brent). Jannings was a highly regarded veteran actor who already had over 50 credits to his name.

Thoughts: Von Sternberg nails it once again. He is clearly one of the best pure storytellers of his era, brilliantly juxtaposing the General's life before and after the war by alternating the narrative, never once losing focus. Emil Jannings gives an amazing performance in the lead role, showing us so many dimensions and layers of this General, making him a complex and fascinating individual. The romance between Jannings and Brent is at first problematic and contains a ridiculous title card (You are now my prisoner of war... and prisoner of love!"), but the two actors completely sell it, and the ultimate fate of the romance packs the required punch. The plot escalates to a bravura finale that still has time for one final moment of understanding between two enemies.

Postscript: Emil Jannings would become the first winner of the Oscar for Best Actor (for both The Last Command and Way of the Flesh). He still had many years left in his career, including another outing with Von Sternberg called The Blue Angel. William Powell (who plays the Hollywood director) would have a long and successful career, making a name for himself as The Thin Man. Von Sternberg would make several films with Marlene Dietrich, being nominated for two of them, and continued directing through the 50s.

October (Sergei Eisenstein) ***1/2

2009-09-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Director: Sergei Eisenstein

Cast: Vladimir Popov, Vasili Nikandrov

Background: Eisenstein's previous film Battleship Potemkin is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. It revolutionized film editing and contains one of the most famous film sequences of all time. He was commissioned by the Soviet government to direct a film celebrating the 10th anniversary of the revolution.

Story: Documentary (using recreated footage) following the historical events starting from the end of the monarcy in Russia and dissolution of the provisional government.

Thoughts: What could have been a bland docudrama is given alot of power by Eisenstein's skillful editing and terrific use of sound effects. The film moves at a surprisingly brisk pace, thrusting the viewer right in the middle of the historical events. The Soviets were not happy with Eisenstein's experimental nature, including the use of symbolism in his montage sequences. They worried that it wouldn't make sense to the average viewer, but I found the film surprisingly accessible. Separated from the historical events, it's a fairly simple story of good vs. bad told with alot of passion, including a brilliant depiction of the storming of the Winter Palace. I find that remarkable considering most of the movie is disconnected from the actual people involved and instead focuses on a grand view of the events.

Postscript: The film did not fare well. Eisenstein was forced to edit certain parts of it (all references to Trotsky) and it never received the acclaim of Potemkin. It is currently held in high regard by film historians.

Four Sons (John Ford) *1/2

2009-08-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

Director: John Ford

Cast: Margaret Mann, James Hall, Charles Morton, Ralph Bushman, George Meeker, June Collyer

Background: The plot for this movie was adapted from a novel by I.A.R. Wylie. After a career as a character actress, Margaret Mann was given her biggest role to date.

Story: A widow (Mann) watches as her four sons leave home one by one. Joseph has decided to make a living in the United States, while his brothers eventually fight for Germany in World War 1. When America enters the war, Joseph finds on the opposite side of the battlefield as his brothers.

Thoughts: This is all very ridiculous. You'd think there would be plenty to milk out of this premise. The basic situation has some psychological complexity to it. But Ford isn't interested in any of that. He's just here to manipulate the audience, forcefully plucking those tears from their eyes. What almost works is the bravura performance from Margaret Mann, who almost sells this nonsense. She creates such a convincingly real character that it's impossible not to feel sympathy for her predicament. Unfortunately, every time we get to that point, Ford is back to plucking once again. The third act is particularly bad, with one of the most unconvincing endings I've seen in a silent movie.

Postscript: Despite her great performance, this would turn out to be the only lead role Margaret Mann would get. She continued acting through the next decade, but in mostly minor roles. It would be 11 years before Ford would make what is considered to be his first masterpeice, Stagecoach.

Doomsday (Rowland v. Lee) ***

2009-08-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

Director: Rowland V. Lee

Cast: Florence Vidor, Gary Cooper, Lawrence Grant

Background: Florence Vidor (ex-wife of the legendary director King Vidor) was already very well known by 1928, being one of the biggest stars of the early silent era. Gary Cooper had many credits before this, but they were mostly bit parts, including a minor role in the Oscar winning Wings.

Story: A poor woman (Vidor) taking care of her sick father has two suitors. Percival Fream is an aging millionaire that offers her a life of luxury, while poor farmer Arnold Furze (Cooper) can only offer his love.

Thoughts: This one wasn't on my radar, as it's not one of the notable films from the era, but I didn't want to pass up a chance to see a young Gary Cooper in a leading role. The movie is all standard stuff, but the immensely appealing stars make it work. Florence Vidor is one of the most beautiful of all silent stars I've seen, and a young Gary Cooper just absolutely owns the screen. Lee clearly knows this, and provides us with numerous close-ups of his stars. While the story is pretty predictable from beginning to end, the two stars are so charming that it's impossible not to root for them to get together.

Postscript: Vidor would only make one sound film before retiring from acting for good. Gary Cooper of course would go on to beciome a Hollywood legend with iconic performances in movies such as High Noon, Seargent York, The Pride of the Yankees, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

A Woman of Affairs (Clarence Brown) **

2009-08-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Director: Clarence Brown

Cast: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Johnny Mack Brown

Background: Greta Garbo and John Gilbert had previously teamed up to great success in two previous films, Love and Flesh and the Devil. The story was adapted from a controversial play called The Green Hat, but the studio demanded changes to the story.

Story: Diana (Garbo) loves Neville (Gilbert), but their impending marriage is thwarted when his father disapproves and sens him away on business. Diana ends up marrying David, their other childhood friend, but when tragedy strikes she makes a decision that ruins her reputation.

Thoughts: Garbo is excellent as usual, but once again the script and director are not up to the job. Part of the problem is censorship, which diluted much of the sensational events in the book. Clarence Brown still directs things in the mode of an intense melodrama, but with everything dumbed down, it feels kind of blah. If the studio wasn't willing to do the book justice, then they needed to hire a director with a light touch, who could inject some personality and humor into the story. Only Garbo really rises to the occassion, her immeasurable screen presence impossible for even the worst director to ruin. Gilbert suffers the most, playing a very passive character, playing a man who doesn't seem so much torn between two woman, but just hopelessly confused.

Postscript: Garbo would make one more silent film before transitioning to sound, where she would receive four Oscar nominations over the next decade. Gilbert's first sound picture was a disaster (legend being that his voice was too high pitched, but that is strongly disputed by some film historians) and he was never able to recover his popularity, despite teaming up one more time with Garbo. His last film was in 1935. Clarence Brown would go on to receive six Oscar nominations for Best Director.

Laugh, Clown, Laugh (Herbert Brenon) ****

2009-08-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

Director: Herbert Brenon

Cast: Lon Chaney, Bernard Siegel, Loretta Young, Cissy Fitzgerald, Nils Asther, Gwen Lee

Background: Laugh, Clown, Laugh had been delayed for several years so as not to appear too similar to Chaney's role as a clown in 1924's He Who Gets Slapped. This would be Loretta Young's first film role, at the age of 14.

Story: A clown (Chaney) and a count (Asther) become good friends as they help each other with emotional problems, not knowing that they both have fallen in love with the same woman (Young).

Thoughts: This actually has many similarities to Chaney's previous film The Unknown, but certainly less creepy. This is more of a straight drama, although there are still some very dark elements to the story, not the least being that Chaney's character is in love with a girl that he raised since she was a child. Lon Chaney once again proves that he has no acting equal in the silent film era. There is an incredible scene where the clown has to perform after catching the woman he loves with the count. It's an amazing bit of acting and of the more heartbreaking moments I've witnessed in a film. It leads to the line that gives the film its title: "Laugh, Clown, Laugh, eventhough your heart is breaking." Powerful stuff. The film apparently had two endings, one shot at the insistence of the studio that has thankfully been lost forever.

Postscript: Lon Chaney would only make three more films before his untimely death, robbing the world of one of the greatest actors in Hollywood history. Loretta Young would go on to be a Hollywood staple for several decades.

Tempest (Sam Taylor) **1/2

2009-08-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

Director: Sam Taylor

Cast: John Barrymore, Camilla Horn, Louis Wolheim, Boris de Fast, George Fawcett

Background: Director Sam Taylor made a name for himself by directing several Harold Lloyd comedies, including what I consider to be the very best silent film of them all, 1923's Safety Last! In only his 3rd film without Lloyd, he was able to snag matinee idol John Barrymore as the lead.

Story: In Czarist Russia, a lowly peasant (Barrymore) is suddenly promoted to Lieutenant. He falls in love with a princess (Horn) who betrays him when he is caught in her room. He gets sent to jail, but the tables are turned when he is freed during the revolution.

Thoughts: Here we have a different take on the revolution that doesn't make the Bolsheviks look so nice. In many ways, this is a very timely film in that it criticizes the overzealous actions of a conquering army. But the film isn't interested in making that the central theme. This is really about the romance, and that's where we run into some problems. Barrymore is up to the task with a charismatic turn in the lead role, but Camilla Horn as his leading lady is just terrible. Her entire performance is flat and not once is there any sense of chemistry between the two leads. Thus the central romance thus suffers quite a bit, even if you ignore that the spy falling in love with the target was already a big film cliche by this point. The movie is still paced very well and looks great, but I wish they had either done a better casting job or dispensed with a romance that didn't work.

Postscript: The film won an Oscar for Art Direction. Barrymore would continue for another decade as a box office star. Sam Taylor had moderate success, including directing Mary Pickford to an Oscar in 1929's Coquette.

The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg) ***1/2

2009-08-25T22:41:00.000-07:00

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Cast: George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova, Clyde Cook

Story: Bill Roberts (Bancroft) is a coal worker on a steam ship who rescues Mae (Betty Compson) from a suicide attempt, leading to an unlikely romance.

Thoughts: A fresh and appealing story with a central romance that really works. Von Sternberg (reuniting with Bancroft from 1927's Underworld) once again creates fascinating characters that find their way together out of sad, desperate situations. Moreover, they feel like authentic characters that have real problems. And he found two actors that really connect. You really want to believe that these two people will figure out how to make it work. The film is also populated with very interesting supporting characters. Olga Baclanova is terrific as an engineer's wife and Clyde Cook makes a great villain as the engineer. All of this is punctuated by some wonderful cinematography.

Postscript: Like many of Von Sternberg's films, The Docks of New York enjoys a solid reputation today despite not being available on DVD. Both Compson and Bancroft had long careers as character actors, while Von Sternberg would continue a long and distinguished directing career.

The Wedding March (Erich Von Stroheim) ***

2009-08-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

Director: Erich Von Stroheim

Cast: Erich Von Stroheim, Fay Wray, Matthew Betts, Zasu Pitts, George Fawcett

Background: Von Stroheim was already well known for a number of films, including the legendary Greed, where he fought with the studio over the running time (9 hours). The studio ripped his movie apart and destroyed the lost footage. Stroheim would fight with the studio over The Wedding March as well, with the studio forcing von Stroheim to split it into two films, the latter being known as The Honeymoon.

Story: A young aristocrat's (von Stroheim) parents tell him to marry money, but he falls in love with Mitzi (Wray), an inn-keeper's daughter.

Thoughts: Stroheim is clearly a talented director and his brilliant visual flair is on display throughout this film, able to capture both the grand celebratory moments for the royalty and the small intimate beauty of the backyard scenes. Still, this is a story that just doesn't click the way I expected it to. I fully admit that part of the problem is certainly due to the fact that it bears many similarities to Ernst Lubitsch's Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, which is superior to this film in almost every single way. Von Stroheim is a sly actor, but as a director he's sometimes a little too obsessed with the details. A flirtation scene between the two leads is one of the more memorable moments in the film, but goes on far too long. But even with all the problems, you can't deny Von Stroheim's talent or the appeal of the central story.

Postscript: After more fights with the studio on future films, Von Stroheim decided to stick to acting and among his many accomplishments is a memorable performance in the Billy Wilder classic Sunset Boulevard. Fay Wray would go on to be known for her iconic role in King Kong. The last known print of The Honeymoon was destroyed in a fire in 1957.

Beggars of Life (William Wellman) **

2009-08-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Director: William Wellman

Cast: Louise Brooks, Richard Arlen, Wallace Beery

Background: Director William Wellman was the flavor of Hollywood after directing the smash hit Wings, the most successful film in the silent era. He's reunited here with Wings star Richard Arlen, provocative leading lady Louise Brooks, and character actor Wallace Beery.

Story: A young woman (Brooks) murders her abusive stepfather and is forced to run from the law. Dressed as a boy, she meets up with a man (Arlen) who helps her

Thoughts: What a disappointment. There is an interesting premise in here, and the first half maintains a nice simplicity as the two leads hop from place to place and grow closer to one another. The chemistry between them is really strong (despite the fact that Brooks detested Arlen during filming) and the character development is very nice. However, the film falls apart once they get involved with a group of hoboes, the main one named Oklahoma Red (Wallace Beery), who takes an unhealthy liking to the girl. The problem is that the film itself takes an unhealthy liking to Oklahoma Red and hands over almost the entire 3rd act to him, with a ridiculous redemption arc that isn't believable for a second and a series of action scenes that belong in a much different film. As our leads disappear, so does the film's heart. I'm certainly not happy with the William Wellman ouevre so far.

Postscript: Wellman continued a successful career through the 50's with several notable films to come. Arlen was mostly a bit player from here on out, but managed to keep acting through the 70's. Brooks was in the midst of her career high point, with Pandora's Box just around the corner, to be followed by Diary of a Lost Girl. She would quit acting at the end of the next decade.

Battle of the Sexes (DW Griffith) **

2009-08-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Director: D.W. Griffith

Cast: Jean Hersholt, Phyllis Haver, Belle Bennet, Sally O' Neil, Don Alvarado, William Bakewell

Background: DW Griffith was already a Hollywood legend at this point, making a name for himself with period melodramas like Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, and Way Down East. Battle of the Sexes would be a major departure from his usual style.

Story: A couple of con artists aim to bring down a wealthy middle-aged man (Hersholt) by enticing him to forget about his wife and family.

Thoughts: It is interesting to see Griffith attempt a departure from his usual fare, but he didn't really have the nerve to see it all the way through and it ends up not being as much of a departure as it should have been. Griffith doesn't have the light touch that someone like Lubitsch could bring to the table. Instead, he just gives us a remarkably unlikable main character, makng it very hard for the audience to root for this marriage to succeed. Hersholt is a splendid actor and gave a truly memorable performance the previous year's Student Prince in Old Heidelberg. That might be part of the problem. He plays this sad man's descent into mid-life crisis so well that it feels all too real to fit in with the ridiculous set of circumstances that Griffith throws us in the 3rd act.

Postscript: This did not end up as one of Griffith's memorable films. He would only go on to make three more, including an Abe Lincoln biopic.

The Man Who Laughs (Paul Leni) ***

2009-05-12T07:11:00.000-07:00

Director: Paul Leni

Cast: Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin, Olga Baclanova, Brandon Hurst, Cesare Gravina

Background: Producer Carl Laemmle chose director Paul Leni to direct this Victor Hugo adaptation based on unique style of Leni's 1926 picture Waxworks. Conrad Veidt (chosen because Lon Chaney was under contract to MGM) had gained fame almost a decade earlier by co-starring in the classic silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Story: King James II has young boy Gwynplaine (Veidt) disfigured so he will have a permnanent smile on his face, a cruel act of retribution against the boy's father. He is taken in by the owner of a travelling show and his disfigured face is a huge attraction. Years later he is discovered by the Queen's advisors, and the Queen orders a marriage between Gwynplaine and Duchess Josiana so he can claim his late father's estate.

Thoughts: Some very interesting stuff going on here, even if it never comes together in a completely satisfying way. Conrad Veidt's performance in the lead role is powerful and he gives us a memorable character to follow. The rest of the cast is also excellent. It's beautifully shot and contains some fascinatingly grim subject matter. The problem is, like many other films this year, the story just doesn't flow very well. Scenes that need to be explored more are too short and other scenes are too long. Leni is clearly a good director and he's got some good stuff here, perhaps just enough for it to work, but it leaves the impression that it could have been so much more, especially if they had kept the original ending of the novel.

Postscript: The film was a success despite mixed critical reaction. More notably, Conrad Veidt's Gwynplaine is one of the inspirations for the creation of Batman's arch nemesis The Joker.

The End of St. Petersburg (Vsevolod Pudovkin) **

2009-05-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

Director: Vsevelod Pudovkin

Cast: Aleksandr Gromov, Vera Baranovskaya, Sergei Komarov

Background: Pudovkin had just finished Mother, where he gained fame with his montage style. The End of St. Petersburg was to be his follow up and was made to commemorate the the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Story: A peasant and the labor leader he helped get arrested find themselves on the same side in the Russian Revolution.

Thoughts: Certainly an admirable attempt to make an important film, but this is really a rambling, incoherent mess for the most part. Now Pudovkin certainly has some visual flair and that is certainly evident in some of the huge crowd scenes but the story gets lost amongst all the overwrought camerawork. We never really connect with any of the characters and thus it feels more like a history lesson than a movie. The narrative here could have been constructed much better than what we got and if that was done, it could have made this a very powerful film as Pudovkin's sweeping shots and multiple montages would have had a more compelling impact. I don't deny his skill as a technical director, but he lacks the skill of a storyteller in this film.

Postscript: Pudovkin would follow this up with another highly regarded film about the revolution, Storm Over Asia. However, his forays into the world of sound cinema were not nearly as successful as his earlier works, although he did keep working until 1952.

The Wind (Victor Sjostrom) **1/2

2009-05-09T12:45:00.001-07:00

Director: Victor Sjostrom

Cast: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming

Background: Victor Sjostrom gained worldwide recognition with 1920's The Phantom Carriage, largely considered one of the best films of the silent era. By 1928, he was one of the highest paid directors in Hollywood. Lillian Gish (who also starred in Sjostrom's The Scarlet Letter) was already a legend and The Wind was to be her 75th screen appearance.

Story: Letty (Gish) moves out west to live with relatives, but soon feels she is not welcome. Out of desperation, she marries a man who she hates and is forced to live a lonely life in a tiny shack that seems to barely withstand the powerful wind storms.

Thoughts: The Wind is a highly regarded film and it's easy to see why. Director Victor Sjostrom has a great sense of atmosphere and creates very interesting characters for us to follow. The technical aspects were really advanced for the time period. Also, we have a legendary actress in the main role delivering a very strong performance. However, the story just never really comes together in a compelling way. The pacing, especially throughout the second half, is really weak and the film literally crawls to the conclusion. Gish was an amazing acress, but by this point, it seems pretty stale to see her repeatedly mistreated and abused throughout a film. Still, I'm definitely interested in seeing more Sjostrom films.

Postscript: Sjostrom would only make 5 more films before his directing career ended in 1937. He went on to act in many Swedish films for the next 30 years. Gish's output decreased, but she did not disappear. She would get an Oscar nonmination in 1946 for King Vidor's Duel in the Sun.

The Love of Jeanne Ney (GW Pabst) **

2009-05-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

Cast: Edith Jehanne, Uno Henning, Fritz Rasp, Brigitte Helm

Background: Georg Wilhelm Pabst was an Austrian born director who had previously directed The Joyless Street, which starred Greta Garbo.

Story: After her father is murdered, Jeanne Ney moves back to Paris and gets involved in intrigue involving her activist lover, a thief, and a diamond ring.

Thoughts: Pabst certainly has alot of skill as a filmmaker and the complex narrative is very impressive for the era. The only problem is that so much time has been spent on creating an intricate mystery, that Pabst forgot to develop characters that the audience could care about. None of them really amount to anything. And that is the big problem here. There's not much reason to really find interest in the intricate mystery when we don't really care about the characters involved in it. Still, Pabst's skill with the camera is evident and he maneuvers through the complex narrative with ease, and that's enough to make this interesting for the most part. Hopefully, his other films will contain more interesting characters.

Postscript: GW Pabst would really make a name for himself the following year by directing the captivating Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box. His career survived the transition to sound and his last film was in 1956.

Hangman's House (John Ford) ***

2009-05-06T08:28:00.001-07:00

Director: John Ford

Cast: Victor MacLaglen, June Collyer, Earle Foxe, Larry Kent, Hobart Bosworth

Background: He hadn't cemented himself as a legend yet, but by 1928 John Ford was already noteworthy as one of the hardest working directors in Hollywood, making more than 60 films between 1917 and 1928. 4 years earlier he scored his first big hit with the epic western The Iron Horse.

Story: A ruthless judge (Bosworth) objects to his daughter's (Collyer) future husband (Kent), so he arranges for her to be married to the despicable John Darcy (Foxe). Meanwhile, a mysterious man (MacLaglen) arrives in town to find the man who caused his sister's suicide.

Thoughts: An entertaining genre film that doesn't provide much depth, but is still generally entertaining. It's hard to not like the presence of victor MacLaglen in a movie, even if it was hard to separate him from his oafish persona from A Girl in Every Port. The central romance isn't exactly scintillating, but it works well enough for you to care about the outcome. What really makes the film work is Ford's precision direction that reallys sells the action scenes, including a horse race and an impressive large scale house fire. He also adds some vivid atmosphere. Even back in 1928, Ford had a great sense for setting up exciting action sequences and providing appealing heroes for you to root for and distasteful villains that you love to hate. Hangman's House may not mean anything, but it's a good time. An extra treat is seeing a very young John Wayne as an extra during the horse race.

Postscript: Ford would later go on to direct some of the most notable films in Hollywood, such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Grapes of Wrath. Other than MacLaglen, the cast did not go on to much success.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Walter Ruttman) ***1/2

2009-03-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

Director: Walter Ruttman

Background: Ruttman was known for making experimental films, including a series of animated shorts in the Opus series, but none had garnered any major attention.

Story: A documentary showcasing various aspects of city life in Berlin.

Thoughts: Fascinating time capsule view of Berlin in 1928. Ruttman does a terrific job capturing the energy of a big city. I realize I've dismissed some films that haven't had a strong narrative, but Ruttman wisely divides this film into five acts that capture one complete cycle of a day in the city. So eventhough the film doesn't have a story, it has a strong narrative drive that makes it compelling to watch. Ruttman's deft talent for editing really creates the feel that you're maneuvering through this fast paced city. Can be considered a nice companion piece to Sunrise, which also depicted the liveliness of the big city, but with the audience in the place of the main characters. This is a fascinating film that takes you on a great adventure and is very original for the time period.

Postscript: This became a very influential film over the years, but Ruttman didn't find much Hollywood success and continued making films in Berlin for the next decade. 6 years after this film was made, Hitler rose to power and Berlin hosted the Olympic Games 3 years after that.

The Garden of Eden (Lewis Milestone) **

2009-03-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Director: Lewis Milestone

Cast: Corinne Griffith, Louise Dresser, Lowell Sherman, Charles Ray

Background: Director Lewis Milestone hadn't made a name for himself yet, but had a few films under his belt. Corinne Griffith was a silent film star with tons of experience, and Dresser was a well respected character actress.

Story: Toni (Griffith) is a young woman who sings in a Viennese nightclub. She is befriended and taken in by Rosa (Dresser), who turns out to be a Baroness. Toni worries if her suitor is now interested in her only for money.

Thoughts: Pretty vanilla movie. Nothing interesting going on here. Hard to believe this is the same director that would make All Quiet on the Western Front. Pacing is off, especially in the middle section. Corinne Griffith is an appealing performer, but her character isn't very interesting here. The film juggles two romances, but does a piss poor job of developing either of them. Rarely have I cared less whether a couple got together in a romance. There is an interesting relationship between Toni and Rosa, and Louise Dresser is especially good in the scene where she describes her backstory. I wish the movie had focused more on them instead of the two bland romances that go nowhere.

Postscript: Milestone would go on to direct the classic All Quiet on the Western Front and continue to direct movies for several decades, including the original version of Ocean's Eleven. Griffith would only make 7 more films, while Dresser continued acting for another decade and would receive an Oscar nomination the very next year.

Street Angel (Frank Borzage) **

2009-03-10T10:35:00.001-07:00

Director: Frank Borzage

Cast: Charles Farrell, Janet Gaynor

Background: Borzage had previously directed Gaynor and Farrell in 1927's Seventh Heaven. That was one of the highest grossing films of the previous year, and the studio brought the team back together for another melodramatic romance.

Story: Angela (Gaynor) tries to work as a prostitute to make money for her dying mother, but ends up getting caught. She escapes from prison and ends up traveling with a circus, where she meets talented artist Gino. As the two begin to fallin love, Angela is worried that her past will catch up with her.

Thoughts: I had high expectations for this reunion of Gaynor, Farrell, and Borzage, but was left very disappointed. Sure, they make a great on screen couple and Gaynor is particularly impressive, but this story mostly plods along without much focus or common sense. There's a particularly terrible moment when Angela has to finally face the truth, but she deceives Gino in a way that makes things so much worse for him. Seriously, the decision Gaynor's character makes in this film is one of the most nonsensical and basically mean spirited I've ever seen in a film. Why did anyone think this made sense at the time? Gaynor is one of the best actresses I've discovered while doing this project, but she deserved so much better than this character. This also misses the visual flair that the inventive set decoration of Seventh Heaven provided. This is a major disappointment.

Postscript: The trio would work together one more time, in 1929's Lucky Star. Gaynor and Farrell would continue working together, eventually appearing in 12 films together. All theee would survive the transition to sound and have very successful careers.

The Fall of the House of Usher (Jean Epstein) **1/2

2009-03-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

Director: Jean Epstein

Cast: Jean Debucourt, Marguerite Gance, Charles Lamy, Fournez-Goffard

Background: Epstein was a veteran French director at the time of making this film, and he brought then newcomer Luis Bunuel on board as assistant director. Bunuel was furious over Epstein's decision to ignore/change Poe's story, and eventually quit the film. Among the cast, Marguerite Gance was particularly notable for being the wife of famed French director Abel Gance.

Story: Roderick Usher (Jean Debucourt) is an artist who paints images of his now sick wife, although each pose begins to wear her down. In the company of his friend Allan and a doctor, Roderick goes mad and refuses to accept the events that unfold.

Thoughts: Not much going on here, but a series of admittedly haunting images. Since it doesn't really follow the original story, it might have been nice if the film made some kind of narrative sense. Without that, it seems more like experiment for the filmmaker. Nothing wrong with that, but this was pretty short and a minor amount of structure certainly could've been added to make this work. If you're into really abstract filmmaking, you might like this, because it has some nice cinematography, but by the end I just couldn't care to make out what was going on.

Postscript: Epstein continued directing for another 20 years, but it was Bunuel that hit it really big and became a huge influence on world cinema over the next four decades. Marguerite Gance would not make another film.

A Girl in Every Port (Howard Hawks) ***1/2

2009-03-06T07:43:00.000-08:00

Director: Howard Hawks

Cast: Victor MacLaglen, Robert Armstrong, Louise Brooks

Background: Not much is available on the making of this one. Howard Hawks was a relatively new filmmaker at this point, with only 4 films under his belt, and none of them were particularly noteworthy. MacLaglen was out to prove he could be a leading man, as he'd played mostly supporting roles up to this point.

Story: Spike (Victor MacLaglen) is a sailor with a gift for seducing women in any port. Soon he finds that another sailor (Robert Armstrong) is beating him to the punch. They start to feud, but then quickly become buddies. Their newfound friendship is tested when Spike falls for Marie (Louise Brooks), a diver he meets in France.

Thoughts: Now this one was a blast. It's a classic guy's movie, featuring a couple of rough and rowdy sailors who like to drink and get into numerous barroom brawls. Both of the leads are great fun to watch, but it's Victor MacLagen as the oafish Spike that is the most endearing. He's able to pull off the double act of seeming like a guy's guy, but also has endearing childlike qualities that really make him a winning character. The third act of this film revolves around Spike's interest in a diver played by Louise Brooks. I've already found Brooks to have a captivating and unique screen presence for this era, so her appearance here was certainly welcome. This early Hawks picture showcases his ability to do fast paced comedy and stage rousing action sequences, both of which would be trademarks of his later films. This is the most purely amusing silent film I've seen outside of the traditional comic silents of Chaplin, Lloyd, and Keaton.

Postscript: Not much is available on the financial success of the film, but it did help Louise Brooks land her seminal role in Pandora's Box. MacLaglen would later win an Oscar for his role in 1935's The Informer and make many appearances in John Ford films. (Including one I will be reviewing shortly, 1928's Hangman's House.) Hawks of course became a Hollywood legend by directing classics such as Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, and Seargent York.

The Cameraman (Edward Sedgwick) ***

2009-03-03T05:49:00.000-08:00

Director: Edward Sedgwick

Cast: Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin, Sidney Bracey

Background: Keaton made a risky move to MGM after the financial failure of his films at United Artists led that studio to interfere with some of his story elements and forced him to hire a production manager. The film would be Buster's debut at MGM, and he handled uncredited directing duties on it.

Story: Buster is an aspiring photographer who falls in love with a woman who works in MGM's newsreel department. He sets out to win her over by trying to get pictures sold at the studio.

Thoughts: Like most of Buster's work, this is a very uneven film. It has some brilliant sequences, but then an entire middle section that falls flat and almost derails the whole thing. The two brilliant sequences come at the end. The first is when aspiring photographer Buster gets caught up in a gang war. It's a dizzying sequence that really showcases the advanced abillities of filmmaking at the end of the silent era. The ending features some great storytelling surprises. Unfortunately, there is a looooooooong middle section where Buster makes an ass of himself at the pool. There was hardly anything funny about this whole scene and it really takes away from what could have been a great film. It boggles the mind how these sequences of such varying quality could exist in the same film, but alas that is the story of Buster's career and why I'd rank him behind both Chaplin and Lloyd among the silent film comedians.

Postscript: The film was well received by critics, but MGM must not have been too happy with the financial results, because they removed Buster's creative freedom. Some of these later films would be successful financially, but Buster hated them and his career would never be the same. He continued acting in supporting roles through the 60s, including a cameo in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard and teaming up with Charlie Chaplin in Limelight.

The Crowd (King Vidor) ****

2009-03-02T20:21:00.000-08:00

Director: King Vidor

Cast: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark

Background: King Vidor was a veteran director with significant financial success in the silent era. He sought to use that leverage to help him sell this unusual idea to the studio. He wanted to make a wholly original film, and cast unknown actors (including his wife) to help maintain the authenticity of his story.

The Story: A man (James Murray) and a woman (Eleanor Boardman) meet, fall in love, get married and face the consequences and cruel struggles of adulthood.

Thoughts: This is the kind of movie I hoped to discover when I started this project. I love every single second of this picture. The movie is deceptively simple, just showing how a couple develops over the years, through dating, married life, and parenting. It shows how they try to cope with financial problems, career goals, and tragedy. It manages to cover all of this without ever seeming shmaltzy or overly melodramatic. For an actress who didn't end up having much of a career, Eleanor Boardman gave a splendid performance in this film, reminding me very much of Janet Gaynor in the previous year's Sunrise. The film advances through many years, but not too quickly. It captures all the important events in the character's lives and you'll feel every moment of it. By the end, you'll feel like you've known this family as well as your own. The Crowd reminded me a bit of Harold Lloyd's wonderful Speedy. Both films have a memorable sequence set in Coney Island and present an interesting view of a young couple trying to cope with the problems in adult life. And oh, what an amazing final shot.

Postcript: The Crowd was not a financial success, but developed strong critical praise over the years. It was one of the first films added to the National Film Registry. Vidor had a very long and influential career including Duel in the Sun and War and Peace.

The Mysterious Lady (Fred Niblo, 1928) **

2009-02-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

Director: Fred Niblo

Cast: Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, Gustav von Seyfferfitz

Background: Garbo only had a handful of films under her belt, but had already made a name for herself with her stunning screen presence. Her films with co-star John Gilbert were so popular that the studio retitled their Anna Karenina remake "Love", so they could run ads saying "Garbo and Gilber in LOVE". For this one she would go with a different co-star, silent film veteran Conrad Nagel.

The Story: Tania Fedorova is a Russian spy tasked with seducing Austrian Captain Karl von Raden. Things get complicated and dangerous for both of them when she actually falls in love with him.

Thoughts: It's hard for a movie to be comepletely worthless with Greta Garbo in the lead role, and thus The Mysterious Lady remains somewhat entertaining thanks to her fantastic screen presence. However, her presence also causes a bit of a problem, because she completely overshadows co-star Conrad Nagel. He is pretty much an empty presence in this one, though the screenplay does him no favors. Nagel's character is really one of the worst spies ever. He lets secret plans get stolen from him in the most obvious manner possible. It's hard to feel sorry for his fate, since he pretty much deserves everything he gets in this movie. Garbo's character isn't much better. There's a key scene where it's obvious a trap is being planted for her, and she is too clueless to even suspect anything. The movie thus wastes alot of time on a story that the screenwriter/director clearly knows nothing about instead of giving us what we really want, which is lots of luminous shots of Garbo. And without her frequent co-star Gilbert (with whom she had real chemistry), the romance itself just isn't convincing enough to care about.

Postscript: Garbo was a big star and her stardom made this film a box office success. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she was not slowed down by sound films, and had much success in the 30s. Nagel continued his acting career throughout the 50s, but never really achieved huge stardom.

The Circus (Charles Chaplin) ****

2008-10-10T00:24:00.000-07:00

Director: Charles Chaplin

Cast: Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, Harry Crocker

Background: Charlie Chaplin was one of the biggest box office stars in the silent era and was coming off the huge success of The Gold Rush three years earlier. However, the making of The Circus came at a time of personal turmoil for Chaplin. He was dealing with numerous issues that delayed the making of the film, such as a bitter divorce, an IRS investigation, and a studio fire.

The Story: The Tramp wanders into a travelling carnival and immediately gets himself in trouble with police. During an extended chase, he finds himself in the middle of a circus show, where the audience thinks he's hilarious. The ringmaster immediately hires him, but finds he cannot be funny on purpose, so the Tramp is made a janitor and tricked to put himself in funny situations. The Tramp aslo falls in love with the Ringmaster's daughter, but must compete for her affections with a rival performer.

Thoughts: The Circus doesn't get as much attention a Chaplin's other work, but this is an absolutely beautiful piece of filmmaking. You couldn't tell that this was a troubled production, because Chaplin is in top form throughout. The opening chase sequence is among my favorite chase sequences that have ever been portrayed on film, particularly the dazzling sections with the mirror maze. Chaplin's Tramp is a very empathetic character, instantly likeable as the underdog just trying to get by and win the heart of a girl he loves. The romance is understated and sweet. One of the best moments is Chaplin playfully sliding down a tree to impress the girl. Still, the comedy is never sacrificed and this is among the funniest films I've seen. There are countless memorable set pieces, including a memorable scene where the Tramp is trapped in a cage with a lion, However, it's the ending of this film that sets it apart. The Tramp makes a remarkable moral decision at the end of the film and the final iconic moment contains a unforgettably brilliant final shot.

Postscript: The Circus ended up being one of the highest grossing silent films of all time. It doesn't get as much attention as Chaplin's other classics, but is still generally regarded by critics as a great film. Chaplin was still at his peak, and would make several more classics, including City Lights and Modern Times before eventually being threatened to stay out of the United States as part of the red scare.

The Lodger (Alfred Hitchcock) ***

2008-09-11T17:26:00.001-07:00

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, Ivor Novello, June Tripp

Background: Alfred Hitchcock had made 4 films before this one, but none of them stood out in a major way. In fact, his previous outing The Pleasure Garden was a major failure. Attempting to keep his career going, Hitchcock decided to adapt a novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes that was inspired in part by the Jack the Ripper legend.

Story: An older couple rents out a room in their house to a stranger (Novello), who quickly takes a liking to their daughter (Tripp). She's dating a detective who soon begins to suspect that this new stranger may be "The Avenger", a serial killer known for murdering young blonde women.

Thoughts: Very interesting early film from the master. It's clear that Hitchcock already had a great talent at building tension. The terrific central performance of Ivor Novello captures the nuances of the character and really helps with the story's attempts to keep you guessing. What I really liked was that Hitchcock takes time to build the little parts of the story and make each of the characters interesting. There are a couple problems, though. The big payoff sequence just isn't very well done. The editing is a little off and it could be much creepier. Hitchcock would certainly get much better at that later in his career. Also, he was forced by the studio to change the ending of the film. Having heard Hitchcock's original idea for the ending, it is far more interesting than what he was forced to do. Despite the faults, this is still an impressive piece of work from a future legend.

Postscript: The film was almost not released and massive edits were ordered by the studio, who hired someone to take over and present a final cut, although apparently not many changes were really made. The film was a box office success and helped get Hitchcock's career going. His first classic, The Man Who Knew Too Much, would come six years later.

Speedy (Ted Wilde) ****

2008-09-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

Director: Ted Wilde

Cast: Harold Lloyd, Ann Christy, Bert Woodruff, Babe Ruth

Background: Harold Lloyd was at the height of his popularity at this point. His most recent films The Freshman and The Kid Brother had performed very well at the box office. After making several films with Jobyna Ralston as his leading lady, Harold cast little known actress Ann Christy for the lead in Speedy. Ted Wilde had not only directed Harold the previous year in The Kid Brother, but he also helped write several of his biggest hits, including Girl Shy and The Freshman.

Story: We are introduced to Harold "Speedy" Swift, an average guy trying to keep his job as a soda jerk while catching the score of the latest Yankees game. His girlfriend's father runs the last horse drawn trolley in the city, and Harold is determined to help him keep it against the pressure of the big business interests.

Thoughts: Speedy is a wonferful film filled with a lovely, infectious spirit. Safety Last! is often considered to be Harold Lloyd's masterpiece (and rightfully so), but this is right behind that one. The romance here is sweeter and more interesting than in many other silent comedies, where it is usually just a backdrop for the silly situations. There's a hilarious trip to Coney Island that is not only a great time capsule moment, but it also contains one of my favorite movie moments since starting this project. After inadvertently causing trouble, Harold and his girlfriend have to use all their money to pay a vendor for damages and are flat broke without a ride home. They eventually get a ride in the back of a moving truck, where they arrange the furniture within and imagine what their lives will be like when they get married. It's such a sweet, sentimental moment that definitely gets you on Harold's side and sets up the fast paced (the film definitely has an appropriate title) third act very well. This film also features a hilarious cameo by none other than Babe Ruth.

Postscript: This would be the last silent comedy that Harold Lloyd would release. His next film Welcome Danger was actually filmed as a silent, but later edited to be a sound film. Lloyd found some success in the sound era, but it was mostly mixed and he would be done by the end of the 30s. Harold returned in the 40s to work with Preston Sturges on one last film before giving it up for good.

The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer) ****

2008-09-07T01:52:00.000-07:00

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Cast: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, Andre Berley, Maurice Schutz, Antonin Artaud

Background: Carl Theodor Dreyer had already made his mark as a provocative and controversial director with films like Leaves From Satan's Book and Michael. In the late 20s, he decided to make a film about the trial of Joan of Arc. In doing so, he heavily relied on historical records of the trial. Maria Falconetti, an actress who had only appeared in two films over a decade earlier landed the lead role.

Story: Tells the historical story of French hero Joan of Arc (Falconetti), specifically focusing on her 1431 trial for heresy after the English captured her. The trial consisted of biased judges and hateful priests attacking her for saying she had holy visions.

Thoughts: It's easy to see why this is one of the most acclaimed films of the era. Dreyer's minimalist approach to the trial is very interesting. Despite spending a ton of money on sets, almost everything is shot in close up, so we don't see much of that. Instead, we get the intense presence of Falconetti, unwavering in her faith even under the most intense scrutiny; and the increasingly angry reactions of the judges and priests, aghast that this woman withstands their threats and humiliation. The reliance of close ups gives the film a claustrophobic feel, appropriate for a film about a doomed prisoner. Dreyer only uses enough dialogue to tell the story of the trial. He trusts everything else to his skilled actors. Dreyer even intended the film to be seen without music, and that is how I recommend it as well since it is consistent with the style he used throughout the film. For all of his directorial talent, it is Falconetti's passionate performance that really sells the film. He entrusts the film to her, and she absolutely nails it every step of the way.

Postscript: The film definitely had a controversial reception, and was immediately banned in Britain. Over time, it would come to be considered one of the best films of all time. It appeared on Sight and Sound's 10 Best List in 1952, 1972, and 1992. Dreyer's cut of the film was thought to be lost forever, until it was found in 1981 in a janitor's closet of an Olso mental institution, which would seem to be the very last place you would want to show such a film.

Steamboat Bill Jr. (Charles Reisner) ****

2008-08-29T17:25:00.001-07:00

Director: Charles Reisner

Cast: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Tom McGuire, Marion Byron

Background: Buster Keaton was just coming off the debacle of The General, which was a critical and commercial failure for him, and would only be considered a classic much later.

Story: Gruff steamboat captain William Canfield (Ernest Torrence) is excited to meet his son for the first time in years, but is disappointed by the when he meets the skinny, silly young man that steps off the train. He tries to train his son on how to be a steamboat captain, but is frustrated at the many mistakes the kid makes. He's also not happy that his son is in love with the daughter (Byron) of one of his biggest rivals (McGuire).

Thoughts: This is definitely my favorite Buster Keaton film so far, mainly because it avoids many of the problems that have plagued some of his other films. One of my biggest complaints about Buster is his seeming need to show that he doesn't care about anything (with his trademark stone face expression), but then asking the audience to root for him to win in the end. That's tempered a bit here, because the story is actually told from the point of view of the steamboat captain, and Ernest Torrence delivers a beautiful performance as a solid hardworking man who just wants his son to follow in his footsteps. The underlying story is very sweet, and Buster is a little more empathetic here than usual. There's a funny early scene when he tries to cheer up a baby. Also, the film doesn't falter in the one area that Buster does usually get right; the big third act stunt sequence. This one features some of Buster's finest comic moments and for once it is in service of characters that are worth caring about.

Postscript: Steamboat Bill Jr. was another box office failure for Keaton. Back to back box office misfires, plus the inciming wave of sound meant the loss of Keaton's creative freedom. He would continue acting regularly for a long time, but he never returned to the stardom of the 20s. Ernest Torrence would continue as a notable supporting actor for a few years, but he passed away in 1933.