Out with the Old, in the with the New Year

Mildred and Harold Lloyd ring in the New Year circa 1930

2013 was a year of fitrs and starts with this blog.  I'm usually lousy at resolutions.  I will continue to watch films in 2014 and aim to post about them, like them or not.  Hopefully my commentary will be interesting, insightful and fun.  If not, forgive me. 

For those who have stuck by this blog and checked it out when I have posted, I thank you.  I wish all my online, behind the screen friends and happy and healthy 2014. 

See you in 2014 and make sure you watch lots of old classic movies, you will be happy you did!

Charles Chaplin Day - January 11, 2014

2014 marks the centenary of Charlie Chaplin's start in the filmaking business.  To kick things off, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival is spending January 11, 2014 screening some Chaplin films to celebrate.  It's at the Castro and you can buy a pass for the day here.

Here's the program:

January 11, 2014 at 1:00 PM
Accompanied by Jon Mirsalis on piano

Three shorts Chaplin made at the Mutual Film Corporation his happpiest and most creative period.   The Vagabond (1916, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell) Charlie is a musician who rescues a girl from a band of gypsies.
The Cure (1917, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman) An inebriated Charlie checks into a sanitarium to take the cure, but brings a cabinet of liquor with him.
Easy Street (1917, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell) Chaplin blends comedy and social commentary in this film that sees his character go from tramp to police constable.

January 11, 2014 at 4:00 PM
Accompanied by San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with Timothy Brock conducting Chaplin’s score
The Kid
Cast Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan, Carl Miller Written by Charles Chaplin
Chaplin’s Little Tramp becomes a surrogate father to an abandoned child—the wonderful child actor Jackie Coogan—in this eloquent marriage of comedy and sentiment. Probably his most personal film—Chaplin himself was placed in a home for destitute children at age seven—The Kid is considered by many to be his most perfect. Plus: We celebrate the centennial of Chaplin’s Little Tramp character with Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) The first appearance of Chaplin’s Tramp character set the stage for Charlie’s ascendency as a star! And Kid Auto Races is the very funniest of the Keystone films! Approximately 70 minutes total
The films will be introduced by Jeffrey Vance.

Preceding The Kid, there will be Charlie Chaplin Look-Alike contest. Come dressed as the Little Tramp and win a prize!
January 11, 2014 at 7:30 PM
Accompanied by San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with Timothy Brock conducting Chaplin’s score.
The Gold Rush 1925
Cast Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman, Malcolm Waite, Georgia Hale Written by Charles Chaplin
Inspired by images of the 1896 Klondike gold rush and the Donner Party disaster of 1846 (in which snowbound immigrants resorted to eating their shoes—and their dead companions—to survive), Chaplin manages to turn stories of cold, hunger, and loneliness into a sublime comedy. The Little Tramp becomes a prospector who sets out for the Klondike to strike it rich, battling starvation, bears, and other prospectors along the way. The Gold Rush contains some of the most iconic images in cinema, including the famous scene in which Charlie makes a gourmet feast of his boot! Georgia Hale plays the beautiful dance hall entertainer who steals Charlie’s heart.
Approximately 80 minutes
The film will be introduced by Jeffrey Vance.

I'll be there, hope you will be too!

Parker/Totter/O'Toole and Fontaine - The Passing of the Old Guard

This past week was a particularly harsh one for film buffs with the passing of Eleanor Parker, Audrey Totter, Peter O’Toole and Joan Fontaine. 

Eleanor Parker’s career is one I have not followed closely.  Her coolness on screen did not appeal to me, but I am told by several friends there are some good performances I really should seek out.  I always liked her as the Baroness in The Sound of Musicif for no other reason she was the counterpoint to the spunky sweetness of Julie Andrews.  I have a real fondness for her in Between Two Worlds which I find her to be very effective.  She also positively steals Scaramouche, MGM’s overblown Technicolor swashbuckler.  How Mel Ferrer and Stewart Grainger could have preferred Janet Leigh over Parker is beyond me.  Parker is utterly gorgeous in glorious Technicolor and clearly she relished the comedic aspects of the film.  I am told I must see Caged for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.  She loses points for the 1951 film Valentino, for obvious reasons.

Audrey Totter was noted mostly for nourish, B films.  I loved her in Lady in the Lake and The Set Up.  She remains a favorite simply for her role in one of my favorite of all films, The Unsuspected.  Everything you need to see about Totter on film can be seen in the below clip from The Unsuspected, it’s glorious as she was.  She married and retired early for what I presume was a happy life contrary to the tough dames she played on screen. 

 

Peter O’Toole was the last of the hell-raising, hard-drinking, hard-partying actors from his generation that included Richard Burton, Richard Harris and the delicious Oliver Reed.  His incredibly bright blue eyes shining against the baked desert in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia will remain an iconic image on film.  Even in dreck, I do not think he gave a bad performance, but once wonders with all the abuse it is a wonder he survived to 81.  He was much nominated by the Academy eight times and never won, excepting an Honorary Award in 2006.  A shame, that. 

Finally this weekend, on the same day as O’Toole, patrician Joan Fontaine also left at the age of 96.  It took me a long time to warm to Fontaine, I have to admit.  I was early on a fan of her sister Olivia de Havilland and found the coolness (much like Parker) a bit off putting.  That said, I have since warmed to her in many films, including Rebecca, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Jane Eyre (where I feel you can really see the underlying fire in Jane despite the reserved, guarded exterior), Tessa in The Constant Nymph and Born to be Bad (delightfully wicked, manipulative as Cristobel).  Pointing you to the Self-Styled Siren, her tribute to Fontaine is as elegant as Fontaine appeared to be.  I'd be lying if I did not think sister Olivia was waiting for Joan to die first so she could publish her long in progress autobiography.

My roommate asked me, how can you feel sad for the passing of someone who was 96 (or 81 for that matter) and someone you never knew?  I do not feel the keen loss that I felt when Cary Grant or Fred Astaire passed away, I can tell you where I was when I saw the news.  To me, this is more the passing of the old guard, the ever thinning ranks of a link to the old Hollywood.  I’ve been a film buff from an early age, the golden days before cable when local stations ran classic films constantly on rotation.  Where I cut my teeth, so to speak as an amateur film historian. 

In my lifetime, so many of the film stars I loved were still active, still working.  I’ve watched in my own time, perhaps to a lesser historically important degree than that of the WWI buffs, who saw the passing of the last witness to that awful spectacle a few years ago.  With so few real old greats remaining to bear witness to a time and people we will never see the like of again, I feel sad.  Hollywood, the film business has changed.  With the internet, twitter and the instant news cycle and without the dream factories, it also makes me sad that, with few exceptions, we will not see the likes of so many of these actors again. 

For better or worse, I still mourn the studio system that created, nurtured and protected them.  I miss the mystery, the mystique of an actor or star I admire.  With each that leaves us in due time, it is like the passing of an old friend.  Happily, each will live on, to be rediscovered anew by future generations so long as cinema endures in some fashion.  And as they pass, it also gives me the opportunity to revisit old favorites and find new ones thanks to suggestions from friends.  This is a sad time for their families, but for us who only knew them as flickering images on screen, it’s a way to say thank you for the delightful legacy left behind and treasure the art of cinema which we love. 

All in all, a very sad weekend for the Old Guard Hollywood and TCM needs to do a serious revision on their end the year clip reel.

On the Bedside Table - A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True by Victoria Wilson

I found myself wondering just how much life Barbara Stanwyck lived up to 1940 to have the first volume of a biography encompass so many pages.  In reading Victoria Wilson's first volume on the life of cinema great Barbara Stanwyck, I figured out why.  You not only get Stanwyck's life, but the History of the World Part I as well.  Lots of bang for your buck.

Let me say this, Ms. Wilson is an excellent writer.  It is my understanding she is also an editor of some renown and this might be the crux of the problem with this book.  It needed to be edited, it needed a machete.  I found myself getting lost in the book, there is so much context placing, so much detail of people who touched Stanwyck's life that you lose the subject at hand.  Then there are the plot rehashes of the films, hers, Frank Fay's and Robert Taylor's.  All of this should have been cut to the bone.  Unlike reading Gary Giddins' Bing Crosby: Pocketful of Dreams - The Early Years, reading True Steel I am *not* left wanting, panting, waiting for the second volume as I have been (and am) with the Crosby book.  I'm afraid of reliving the History of the World Part II along with the remaining 42 years of Stawyck's life in the next volume. 

Stanwyck was famously private and I think she really did succeed in keeping a good deal of her life private as she wished.  Wilson's research is impeccable, her writing is mostly engaging.  But I can't help feeling exhausted in reading it.  I am sure this was a labor of love, a volume of this heft had to have been.  But there is no warmth in it.

Stanwyck will always remain a bit of an enigma.  I think the one tiny thing that shows me a lot of what I need to see or know about Stanwyck can be seen in this video clip here. 

You can order the book here in kindle (which I did much easier to handle such a tome) as well as a true brick of a book.

Others might find this more engaging than I do, I adore Stanwyck and do not feel she was so much ill-served (she wasn't) but she was lost in the details.  ymmv.

CMBA Film Passion 101 Blogathon: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)

Rudolph Valentino portrait by Nelson Evans as Julio

Accepted cinema history tells us that Rudolph Valentino’s star-making film was the 1921 blockbuster The Sheik.  While this is, in part, arguably true, the real landmark was a small film entitled The Eyes of Youth in which Valentino played a paid correspondent to help Milton Sills win a divorce from poor Clara Kimball Young.  This small landmark performance put Rudolph Valentino under the gaze of the powerful scenarist June Mathis who was in the process of writing the gigantic film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  It was Mathis who fought hard and pushed for Valentino to win the coveted part of Julio Desnoyers. 

My first exposure to Valentino was in another film, also based on a novel by Spanish author Vincente Blasco-Ibanez, Blood and Sand.  It was, however, my first viewing of the 1921 epic that really exposed me to Valentino’s terrific talent and ability as an actor of range.  A range far beyond the display of The Sheikwhich is commonly referred to as the star-making film.

Ibanez’ sprawling novel tells the tale of two branches of a family, split by cultural differences and values and, ultimately, by World War I.  Mathis expertly culled the massive tale down to a tightly told story that is as gripping today as it had to have been in late 1920 when the film was first released.

Valentino’s appearance comes relatively early in the film, dressed in his gaucho attire and with his doting grandfather (played by Pomeroy Cameron) in the seedy Boca district where Julio revels and dances the tango.  If ever there were a moment on screen that a star was truly born, the famed “Tango Sequence” is it for Valentino.  Once he has eyeballed Beatrice Domiguez on the dance floor with her lesser partner, it’s easy to see he absolutely will take what he wants and what that is, is her.  Once he has disposed of the pasty opponent, he slinks into the dance like a panther taking her with him.  As they circle the floor, the various miscreants and patrons nod and applaud their approval.  The dance progresses and ends with a slow, lingering kiss in profile.  It is said the women in the audience grew faint, in 2013, you can still have a great understanding why.  It is not only a star-making moment, it’s a terrific piece of filmmaking.

 

While I had an appreciation for Valentino long before I saw this film, I’d seen a few silent films (often on my bedroom wall in super 8 in the pre VHS and DVD days).  But seeing this film spoke to me of the power of silent film.  The epic story distilled down to the stories of the two families and, in particular, the story arc of Julio, was quite simply engrossing story telling.  This film was made at the mid-point of the silent era.  Itself only five years gone from D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation and technically a much more complex film.  It could have been 20 years ahead with the progress made in the art of telling the story.  Similarly, if you look at F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise of 1927, the leaps in technology and the changes in the visual story arc from Four Horsemen and Sunrise, they’re like night and day.  Sadly, Sunrise was very nearly the mark of the end of the silent era with the synchronized soundtrack.  What a film to exit on, however.

For this viewer, however, even without Valentino, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a film that still stands the true test of time.  It helped inspire a passion for early cinema and it is a film that still holds up with repeated viewings.  To me that is the key point, if you find a silent film you love, it will inspire you to seek out more of them.  Tragically, the Photoplay Productions restoration of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is not commercially available, at least not yet.  It is shown in semi-regular rotation on Turner Classic Movies.  Happily, if you have an interest in Valentino, loads of his films are available on DVD.

 

Six-Sheet poster from the original release

That said, lest you think I obsess too much over Valentino, here are ten silent films (most on DVD) that I think, in my humble opinion, will bring you pleasure and suck you into the vortex of early film. You won’t regret it.

In no particular order:
Stella Maris; Tol’able David; Sunrise; The Thief of Bagdad; The Son of the Sheik (I HAD to put a Valentino in there), The Wind (run on TCM); The Patsy; The Student Price of Old Heidelberg (run on TCM); Our Hospitality; and Ben-Hur (available as an extra on the later DeMille Ten Commandments set).

This post of part of the Classic Movie Blog Association's Film Passion 101 Blogathon. Click here for the full blogathon schedule and for links to other members' posts.

2014 Rudolph Valentino Calendar & 2014 Film Preservation Calendar

Just in time for the holidays!

 

Shamelessly promoting the annual Valentino Calendar here!  13 rare photos of Rudolph Valentino to brighten your 2014.  8x10 spiral bound a perfect gift for the Valentino fan in your life.  A full preview of the calendar and available for sale at $13.99 by clicking the button below.

 

If you care anything about film preservation, I urge you to send off for a copy of the annual Silent Movies Calendar produced by Rodney Sauer of the Mont-Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.  The proceeds from the calendar are used to benefit film preservation and it's a really worth cause.  The 2014 edition is the BEST one yet with fabulous hats!  You can order a copy here.

On the (virtual) Beside Table - Picturegoing Blog

One of my favorite blogs in the past was Luke McKernan's excellent Bioscope (now sadly retired but still out there and tres useful for research).  Luke is back with another fascinating subject, it's called Picturegoing and it is a chronicle of recollections about going to see movies, the experience of movies.  Check it out here!

My pick this week to go on the bedside table, virtually on ye olde iPad.  I recommend it highly.

Kickstarter Campaign - SF Historic Balboa Theater - Go Digital or Go Dark

I love the theater, the neighborhood and the programming.  This is a worthy and good cause and I call upon all San Francisco film buffs (even if you do not live in San Francisco) to pony up a few bucks for the campaign.

Most important link, the kickstarter crowdfunding site for the Balboa Theater.  Donate a buck, two or fifty.  It does not matter except we help keep another neighborhood theater alive and running movies. 

Thanks for your help!

Favorite Photo of the Week #10 - Myrna Loy

There is nothing that brightens my day more than seeing a film with the lilting and divine Myrna Loy.  I adore this stylish late 20's portrait.  

Help Save a Landmark - Castro Theater to Lose the Mighty Wurlitzer

Castro Theater interior (Image courtesy sfhandyman's flickr stream

Over the course of the Silent Film Festival Weekend I heard rumblings of news that had somehow previously escaped me, the pending sale/demise of the Mighty Wurlitzer at the Castro Theater.  I'm not sure what rock I've been living under and how I missed knowing this, but there you have it.  It was first noted in SF Biscuit, at least this is what my googling turned up.

If you are local, you know the drill, the Castro is the sole remaining single screen neighborhood movie palace left in our fair city.  That this iconic theater is at risk to lose the Wurlitzer is a shame.

So?  What can we do about it?  Read the full details here about SFCODA and the fund raising campaign to save the organ.  The fundraising goal is $700,000.00 and there is a paypal link.  I do not have terribly deep pockets, but I am making a donation.  If you are local, even if you do not, I hope you will consider helping to keep the music playing at the Castro. 

Here's some video of founder David Hegarty playing in the Castro, search for Castro Theater Organ on youtube and you'll see plenty of videos.

Favorite Photo of the Week #9 - John Loder

You'll remember John Loder from films in the 1930's and 40's, in particular Hitchcock's Sabotage, How Green Was My Valley and as the somewhat stodgy Elliot in Now Voyager (among others, he had quite a long career).  Seeing him this past weekend in Miles Mander's 1928 film The First Born was a revelation.  In the 20's he was really a hottie!  This portrait is circa 1928, so you can see what I mean.  Mander treated us to some smoldering closeups of Loder across a dining table that I won't soon forget!

San Francisco Silent Film Festival - Recapping the Festival Part II

Jean Forest in Gribiche

 

My recap of the 2013 San Francisco Silent Film Festival continues from Part I posted yesterday

Saturday began with another interesting presentation and an opportunity for a bit of geekatude.  I got to meet and spend a few minutes with John Canemaker.  Icing on the cake, my friends, really grand.

John Canemaker talking about Little Nemo in Slumberland

The morning began withWinsor McCay His Life and Art presented by Academy Award© winner John Canemaker who also penned the fabulous biography Winsor McCay: His Life andArt.  Canemaker spoke eloquently about McCay and his magical world of Little Nemo in Slumberland.   We were treated to some really stunning images from his book, and four of McCay's films: Little Nemo (1911), with splendidly hand colored frames, done by McCay himself.  Nemo was followed by How a Mosquito Operates (1912), that made me itch just watching it.  Then we had a recreation of the vaudeville act of McCay which brought us the magical Gertie the Dinosaur (1914).  Finally, we had what Canemaker described as McCay’s masterpiece, The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), this was an incredible recreation of that sad night, complete with the horror of seeing bodies dropping from the wreckage.  A sight not soon to be forgotten.  McCay was a great draftsman and Canemaker an eloquent spokesman for this man’s wonderful art. 

The 1911 film Little Nemo in Slumberland, hand-colored by McCay himself.

After the presentation I got some real grief from a fellow patron for taking the photos I’ve posted here.  I was trying to be discreet, I was on the aisle and leaning down to take a few shots from as close to ground level as I could manage.  Oy!  Did I get some bad attitude, poor guy, he stewed for the rest of the lengthy presentation about it and waited for me to exit before giving me a tongue lashing in the lobby.  No wonder he did not enjoy himself.  This does not make what I did right, I appreciate I disturbed his peace, and I did apologize but he was having none of it.  He needed to spout off and how funny it did not disturb him the day before. 

A rare glimpse of "Doug" in The Half-Breed

I have a personal interest in the restoration of The Half-Breed since I know someone directly involved in this particular project.  The film was restored as I said yesterday by Board President Rob Byrne (check his wonderful blog here, btw) from four sources.  It took much digging, research and sifting to get the continuity as correct as he thought it could be.  As close to the 1916 original.  Again, his presentation the day before was abundantly illustrative of the process.  We were treated by the accompaniment of Günter Buchwald on the Mighty Wurlitzer (about time, I love me some big thundering Mighty Wurlitzer). Buchwald was fabulous, too!

This 1916 film is pre-swashbuckler Fairbanks and very different for many reasons.  It is also one of Fairbanks few flops, a smart man, Fairbanks never repeated the error.  Directed by Allan Dwan and co-starring Alma Rubens and Jewel Carmen with a cameo by the soon to be famous first Tarzan on film, Elmo Lincoln.  Fairbanks is far more subdued than he normally was, portraying an almost sombre character with stoicism and crossed arms.  Only rarely do you see the “Doug” the fans loved.  Stunting, running, jumping and that infectious grin were mostly absent.  All this being said, it was an interesting film, there was some gorgeous location shooting and the story was based on Bret Harte.  I enjoyed seeing a young Alma Rubens in the cast, she was quite pretty and very expressive, too.  I can see why this film failed at the time of original release, it has everything to do with the Fairbanks personality and pattern was already firmly established and a non-smiling, non-insouciant Doug is just no fun! 

A large group of us broke for lunch and I missed Legong: Dance of the Virgins.  I came back to the theater to catch the very end.  I crept up to the balcony, and did not want to disturb the people standing, missing the screened image I heard the music and it was fabulous.  The round of applause at the end was pretty enthusiastic.

 

I was planted in my seat for Gribiche ready for the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra and the touch of director Jacques Feyder.  What surprised me totally was the cast, Jean Forest (Gribiche) was the standout, of course.  Such a sensitive, expressive face, a beautific smile and such a twinkle in his eyes.  Françoise Rosay (Mrs. Jacques Feyder) played the rich American that adopts Gribiche assured she can give the boy all he needs to go on to a successful life.  Cécile Guyon played his mother, who also had a very expressive face. 

To say the film was a charmer was evident when the bathroom design got a prominent note in the title cards.  Once we saw it, well, it is no wonder they got a plug!  Forest was delightful as the young boy trying his best to adapt to a life he is not quite prepared for and out of place.  The scene where he makes the noble decision to leave his widowed mother because he feels she will be better off without him at home, heartbreaking.  It was, perhaps, a hair overlong and could have used a trimming, but the film was lovely and good fun.  This film and others from Albatros Films have been released on DVD and I encourage you to seek them out. 

 
Again, a dinner break went long and I missed The House on Trubnaya Square.  Truly a bummer.  I’m going to have an opportunity to see thefilm on DVD and will look forward to that.  The program notes and press from the Silent Film Festival herald it as “Our vote for Best Soviet Silent Comedy ever.”  Big statement, but I so loved A Kiss From Mary Pickford some years back, I know I will likely love this. 

Having seen The Joyless Street (Die freudlose Gasse) with Garbo a couple of times, I felt I could give this a miss.  I regretted missing the Matti Bye Ensemble, but, one does have to make choices. 

Sunday was might light day, I passed on Kings of (Silent) Comedy as I’ve seen all the films and really wanted to sleep in. 

The Outlaw and His Wife (Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru) also got passed because I was being interviewed by the estimable Frank Thompson for his podcast The Commentary Track.  Now I’m nervous about it!  Let me also plug Frank’s excellent documentary on The Lost Remake of Beau Geste.  It’s a fabulous story and a fun movie

Billy Bakewell in The Last Edition

 

All of San Francisco, it would appear has been waiting for the screening of The Last Edition.  I was among them, hometown pride and the anticipation of seeing San Francisco circa 1925 and recognizing the sights.  Directed by local boy Emory Johnson the film starred Ralph Lewis, as the biggest name in the cast (he started with D.W. Griffith at Biograph)

Shot in and around the Chronicle building, the film had some thrilling chases throughout San Francisco.  It’s not a great film by any means, but worth seeing.  Great to see our city on display and I loved picking out locations I recognized.  An unfortunate reel was spooled on backwards.  The film was delayed to seat the 100% sold-out house.  The film started late, the reel kerfuffle delayed things further.

I had already planned to miss The Weavers (Die Weber) and wanted to go to Safety Last to see the restoration.  But with the timing snafu, it did not start until after 9 pm.  Sadly, Cinderella had to take off the glass slippers and head home until next year.

I missed more films than I had planned this summer and while I am tinged with some regret, the films I did see were all terrific.  I’ll make every effort to do the full run next summer.  I love the SFSFF, love what they do and this year it was so great to see the efforts of preservation and restoration on the big screen.  All the volunteers get some nods for crowd control and diplomacy, too.  It’s always a weekend full of good surprises and this year was no different.  I came home a happy camper.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival - Recapping the Festival Part I

The always glorious Castro Theater

Yes, it's Monday morning and time for this Cinderella to sweep the chimney and go back to work.  But my heart and head are still remembering and visualizing the delights of a wonderful weekend of cinema.

The festival this year had a lot of variety and my initial not-to-be-missed films and programs were : Tales From the Archives; The First Born; Tokyo Chorus; The Patsy; Winsor McKay His Life and Art; The Half Breed; Legong: Dance of the Virgins; Gribiche; The House on Trubnaya Square; and the local interest film The Last Edition.

I missed a few more films than I had intended, but, juggling lunches/dinners and getting back to the Castro proved to be a bit of a problem.  I think next year I will come with a brown-bag lunch and just plant myself.  J

Due to a hectic workday on opening night (so I could get the Friday off) I was too tired to make it to the opening film, Louise Brooks in the silent version of Prix de Beaute.  I have it on good authority that is was wonderful and far superior to the sound version. The screening was a digital projection.

SFSFF Board President Rob Byrne giving his presentation on the restoration of The Half Breed

 

I showed up bright and early for a feature I always enjoy, the Tales from the Archiveswhich features informative slideshows/clips and talks by archivists and film restoration experts.  This year we were treated, in every sense of the word with an appearance by SFSFF Board President Rob Byrne discussing the trials and tribulations of restoring Douglas Fairbanks’ 1916 feature The Half Breed.  I wish I could illustrate how entertaining this portion of the program is, especially in Rob’s hands.  He’s a charmer, engaging speaker and very, very funny.  That he knows his stuff is more than obvious, but, seeing first hand with his examples and clips what hoops had to be gone through to track down the existing portions of the film, the continuity and sift through the State’s Rights issues, well, it’s a wonder that this was completed as successfully as it was.  What a puzzle to put together.  Rob really knew why we were there, we were treated to the famous (infamous) clips of a practically bare-ass nekkid Doug from four different sources.  I’m amazed that with the censors at state levels, this particular clip survived in all the source prints used for the restoration.

Celine Ruivo narrating her presentation on Le Phono-Cinema Theatre

 

Second on the program was Céline Ruivo Director of Film Collections at the Cinémateque Française who spoke and presented about her current project which is the restoration of the films of the Phono-Cinéma Théâtre from the Paris Exposition of 1900.  Let me say, this was a fascinating glimpse through a window of a time that has been nearly forgotten, entertainers of the Belle Epoque.  As she described and illustrated the process of the restoration, I could not help but be amazed at the miracle (and it is a true miracle) that the films not only survived, the sound cylinders survived and preserved by a collector, Henri Chamoux (and all but two cylinders have been located).  That the materials survived, for starters, two world wars, a conflagration if ever there were one, miraculous.  That I got to see and hear one, miraculous.  Ms. Ruivo only screened, sadly, only one complete, restored film.  It was expertly synched by modern technology into a film that was utterly enchanting and magical.  It made me long to see more, and I hope with the happy relationship between the SFSFF and the Cinémateque Française, we will be treated to an entire program of similar enchantments.  To see more about this fascinating project, please hit the Cinemateque’s website.

 

As you can see I rather geeked out over this, but this really is one of my favorite educational aspects of the festival that reflects their commitment to preservation, restoration and screening of all kinds of films.

Miles Mander and Madeleine Carroll in The First Born

The first film for me of the weekend was the 1928 film directed and starring Miles Mander, The First Born with the expert musical accompaniment of Stephen Horne.  The cast included Madeleine Carroll (a natural brunette here), John Loder (what a hottie he was in 1928), Margot Armand, Ellat Atherton, and Ivo Dawson.  The film boasts a scenario by Miles Mander and Alma Reville (Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock).  The print was gorgeous 35mm, tinted and toned sourced from the BFI (BFI link)

According to the program this was the directorial debut of actor, writer, and producer Miles Mander.  It was also adapted from his own novel and play.  He gave himself a pretty good part, what a stinker Sir Hugo was!  What Madeleine Carroll saw in him was anyone’s guess.  John Loder plays another long suffering suitor to Miss Carroll.  You’ll remember him from Hitchcock’s 1936 film Sabotage and as the rather stuffy suitor to Bette Davis in Now Voyager.  I’m not going to give the plot away, but Sir Hugo has the very best death in film, literally falling to his death in an elevator shaft.  Not content to let him fall to his not entirely untimely demise, he gets the coup de grace from an elevator car landing on top of him.  In the center of this gruesome death is a bit of hilarity that was rather brilliant and will remain an unforgetable image.  If you get a chance to see this film, particularly with Stephen Horne playing for it, do not miss it!  It’s a corker!

 

Hideo Sugawara (left) and Tokihiko Okada in Tokyo Chorus

Next up was Yasujiro Ozu’s “family flm” Tokyo Chorus.  Like China and many other nations, Japan was still producing silent films well into the 1930s.  This is one of them.  it is a small, quiet film and powerful film.  I was told not to miss it and I was supremely happy I didn’t.  The moving, simple and minimalist film was ably supported by Günter Buchwald.  It touched me in ways I had not expected and in the end I was craving curry rice like you would not believe.  If you’ve seen it, you will get my feeble attempt at a joke. 

Marion Davies in The Patsy

My final film of the day was the new to me Marion Davies comedy, The Patsy.  This 1928 comedy was directed by King Vidor and photographed by the legendary cameraman John Seitz.  The print origin was Marion Davies’ own that is now held at the Library of Congress.  Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra provided delightful and hilarious musical accompaniment. 

I was really unaware I had not seen this film.  It was crafted beautifully to showcase the talents of Marion Davies (so ill served by history and legend). She was a terrific comedienne and a wickedly funny mimic.  All that being said, she also was quite capable of tender, sensitive portrayals, in this as the younger sister who is not favored by her mother (hilarious Marie Dressler) but doted on by her father (always wonderful Dell Henderson).  I had only seen the clips of Davies mimicking Lillian Gish from this (and spot on hilarious it was, too) to see the sequences in context, Mae Murray, Lillian Gish and Pola Negri, if I could have fallen on the floor laughing, I would have.  I've loved Vidor's Show People as the best of Marion Davies.  After The Patsy I've revised my assessment and this is now my favorite of her silents. 

Regretfully, I skipped The Golden Clown which was described as clown noir.  This means I will have to seek it out.

This was my day 1, to be continued. . .

The Gish Sisters Blogathon - September 7-9 2013

September 9 will mark the 101st anniversary of Lillian & Dorothy Gish's motion picture debut. To celebrate the careers of these two remarkable women,  Movies Silently and The Motion Pictures are hosting a blogathon.  This event will take place September 7-September 9, 2013. We invite you to join us in honoring the careers of Lillian and Dorothy.  The blogathon is open to all bloggers who wish to participate.

Needless to say, I'm 100% in for this and will write about Dorothy.  I've already covered Dorothy's 1916 film Gretchen the Greenhorn and for the blogathon I plan on posting at least one tribute post for Dorothy and also a review of her 1926 film Nell Gwyn.  More if I am feeling ambitious. 

On the back burner, it seems perpetually, is my manuscript covering Dorothy's life and career.  I've not posted much, but feel it's worth linking to my little chronicle of finding Dorothy here.  Someday I will actually update it and someday, God willing, Dorothy will have a proper biography out from behind Lillian's big shadow at long last.