1929 talkies
JimReid56
>seen. I was surprised by how few are from the first half of the year. I see
>now why LIGHTS OF NEW YORK remains my only 1928 sound film!
>
>THE BROADWAY MELODY February 1
>WEARY RIVER February 10
>ON WITH THE SHOW! May 28
>THE LAST OF MRS. CHEYNEY July 6
>THE HOLLYWOOD REVUE OF 1929 August 14
>MADAME X August 17
>HALLELUJAH August 20
>MARIANNE August 24
>THE UNHOLY NIGHT September 14
>WELCOME DANGER October 12
>THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR October 19
>NIGHT PARADE October 27
>DYNAMITE December 13
>NAVY BLUES December 13
>SALLY December 23
>HELL'S HEROES December 27
>THEIR OWN DESIRE December 27
>
>I watch a 1929 talkie every chance I get, so this should be a pretty
>scientific
>sample, at least as far as TCM (my only source for them) is concerned.
>
>The Pathe Rooster
>Alcoa, TN
>
Where's The Cocoanuts?
Rob Farr
on TCM.
"Pathe Rooster" <pather...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040328210243...@mb-m23.aol.com...
Rob Farr
Add Innocents of Paris to your list. One of the surprise hits of the
Cinefest.
Rob Farr
www.slapsticon.org
"ChaneyFan" <chan...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040329001332...@mb-m21.aol.com...
> To give you something to shoot for, here are the 150 1929 all talkies that
> still survive. I've seen 71 of them, so quite a few are out and about to
be
> seen. The bad news is that there were 248 talkies released in 1929, so
nearly
> 100 are lost films.
>
>
> Acquitted 29 COLUM
> Alibi a/Nightstick 29 ARTCC
> Applause 29 PAR
> Battle of Paris 29 PAR
> Behind that Curtain 29 FOX
> Big Time 29 FOX
> Bishop Murder Case, The 29 MGM
> Black Watch, The 29 FOX
> Broadway 29 UNIV
> Broadway Babies 29 FRNTL
> Broadway Hoofer, The 29 COLUM
> Broadway Melody, The 29 MGM
> Broadway Scandals 29 COLUM
> Bulldog Drummond 29 GOLDS
> Burning Up 29 PAR
> Canary Murder Case 29 PAR
> Charming Sinners 29 PAR
> Chasing Rainbows 29 MGM
> Close Harmony 29 PAR
> Cock-eyed World, The 29 FOX
> Cocoanuts, The 29 PAR
> College Coquette, The 29 COLUM
> Condemned 29 GOLDS
> Coquette 29 PICKF
> Courtin' Wildcats 29 UNIV
> Dance Hall 29 RKO
> Dance of Life, The 29 PAR
> Dangerous Curves 29 PAR
> Dangerous Woman, A 29 PAR
> Darkened Rooms 29 PAR
> Delightful Rogue, The 29 RKO
> Desert Song, The 29 WARNR
> Devil-May-Care 29 MGM
> Disraeli 29 WARNR
> Divorce Made Easy 29 CHRST
> Donovan Affair, The 29 COLUM
> Drag 29 FRNTL
> Dummy, The 29 PAR
> Dynamite 29 MGM
> Fall of Eve, The 29 COLUM
> Fashions in Love 29 PAR
> Fast Company 29 PAR
> Flight 29 COLUM
> Flying Fool, The 29 PATHE
> Flying Marine, The 29 COLUM
> Gentlemen of the Press 29 PAR
> Glorifying the American Girl 29 PAR
> Great Divide, The 29 FRNTL
> Great Gabbo, The 29 CRUZE
> Greene Murder Case, The 29 PAR
> Half Marriage 29 RKO
> Half Way to Heaven 29 PAR
> Hallelujah! 29 MGM
> Hearts in Dixie 29 FOX
> High Voltage 29 PATHE
> His First Command 29 PATHE
> His Glorious Night 29 MGM
> Hole in the Wall, The 29 PAR
> Hollywood Revue, The 29 MGM
> Howdy Broadway 29 RAYRT
> Idle Rich, The 29 MGM
> Illusion 29 PAR
> In Old Arizona 29 FOX
> Isle of Lost Ships, The 29 FRNTL
> It's a Great Life 29 MGM
> Jazz Heaven 29 RKO
> Kibitzer, The 29 PAR
> Lady Lies, The 29 PAR
> Lady to Love, A 29 MGM
> Last of Mrs. Cheyney, The 29 MGM
> Laughing Lady, The 29 PAR
> Letter, The 29 PAR
> Light Fingers 29 COLUM
> Locked Door, The 29 ARTCC
> Long Long Trail, The 29 UNIV
> Lord Byron of Broadway 29 MGM
> Love Doctor, The 29 PAR
> Madame X a/Absinthe 29 MGM
> Man and the Moment, The 29 FRNTL
> Man I Love, The 29 PAR
> Marianne 29 MGM
> Marriage Playground, The 29 PAR
> Masquerade 29 FOX
> Men are Like That 29 PAR
> Mexicali Rose 29 COLUM
> Mighty, The 29 PAR
> Mississippi Gambler, The 29 UNIV
> Mother's Boy 29 PATHE
> Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, The 29 PAR
> Navy Blues 29 MGM
> New York Nights 29 SCHNK
> Night Parade 29 RKO
> Not So Dumb 29 MGM
> Nothing But the Truth 29 PAR
> Oh, Yeah! 29 PATHE
> On With the Show 29 WARNR
> Paris Bound 29 PATHE
> Phantom in the House, The 29 CARR
> Pointed Heels 29 PAR
> Racketeer, The 29 PATHE
> Rainbow Man, The 29 SONO
> Return of Sherlock Holmes, The 29 PAR
> Rio Rita 29 RKO
> River of Romance 29 PAR
> Romance of the Rio Grande 29 FOX
> Sailor's Holiday 29 PATHE
> Salute 29 FOX
> Saturday Night Kid, The 29 PAR
> Say It With Songs 29 WARNR
> Senor Americano 29 UNIV
> Shanghai Lady 29 UNIV
> Ship from Shanghai, The 29 MGM
> Show of Shows, The 29 WARNR
> Side Street 29 RKO
> So Long Letty 29 WARNR
> So This is College 29 MGM
> Song of Love, The 29 COLUM
> Sophomore, The 29 PATHE
> Squall, The 29 FRNTL
> Street Girl 29 RKO
> Studio Murder Mystery, The 29 PAR
> Sunnyside Up 29 FOX
> Sweetie 29 PAR
> Syncopation a/Stepping High 29 RKO
> Talk of Hollywood 29 PRUDN
> Taming of the Shrew, The 29 PICKF
> Tanned Legs 29 RKO
> Their Own Desire 29 MGM
> They Had to See Paris 29 FOX
> They Learned About Women 29 MGM
> Thirteenth Chair, The 29 MGM
> Thru Different Eyes 29 FOX
> Thunderbolt 29 PAR
> Tiger Rose 29 WARNR
> Trespasser, The 29 SWNSN
> Trial of Mary Dugan, The 29 MGM
> Unholy Night, The 29 MGM
> Untamed 29 MGM
> Vagabond Lover, The 29 RKO
> Valiant, The 29 FOX
> Very Idea, The 29 RKO
> Virginian, The 29 PAR
> Wall Street 29 COLUM
> Welcome Danger 29 LLOYD
> Wheel of Life, The 29 PAR
> Why Bring That Up? 29 PAR
> Wild Party, The 29 PAR
> Wise Girls 29 MGM
> Woman Racket, The 29 MGM
> Woman Trap 29 PAR
> ===============================
> Jon Mirsalis
> e-mail: Chan...@aol.com
> Lon Chaney Home Page: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan
> Jon's Film Sites: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan/jonfilm.htm
Jeff NY
Always nice to see someone expressing an interest in the early sound films...
an genre which is as fascinating as it is frustrating.
One thing to keep in mind is that you'd do well >not< to wholly rely on
databases, lists (personal or published), or even replies to this thread which
present themselves as definitive... for there is no definitive listing of what
survives and what doesn't.
While an alarming majority of 1929 talkies (all-talking, part-talking or
synchronized with voice and music effects) are undoubtedly lost beyond
recovery, it's safe to assume that there's more out there than any of us
realize.
If this same e-mail thread somehow existed twenty years ago, the great majority
of titles we're happily ratting off as having seen, wouldn't appear on anyone's
list, for they would have been deemed "lost" by whatever experts existed just
two decades ago.
As for TCM, don't rely on their archive database either, for they claim to have
prints of dozens of 1929 films which are currently considered lost ("Paris,"
"Hard to Get," etc.) which only further proves not to believe everything (or
everyone) you read.
Keeping all that in mind, here's a list of 1929 talkies (all varieties) that
I've seen, (excluding the more obvious titles) and it includes more than a few
titles not included on another "definitive" list posted in this thread.
Release dates are based on published NYTimes reviews, so they may be a bit off.
Keep searching, keep your ears and eyes open, and above all, remember that
although it's admirable to study these films as one would a microscope slide,
or a window into the past, they're at their best when simply enjoyed and
allowed to entertain.
Jeff
"In Old Arizona" (January)
"Lucky Boy" (February)
"The Letter" (March)
"The Canary Murder Case" (March)
"Noah's Ark" (March)
"The Trial of Mary Dugan" (March)
"Chinatown Nights" (April)
"The Wild Party" (April)
"Syncopation" (April)
"The Charlatan" (April)
"Show Boat" (April)
"Nothing But the Truth" (April)
"Madame X" (April)
"Close Harmony" (April)
"The Desert Song" (May)
"Bulldog Drummond" (May)
"Desert Nights" (May)
"The Pagan" (May)
"A Dangerous Woman" (May)
"The Black Watch" (May)
"The Four Feathers" (June)
"Thunderbolt" (June)
"The Time, the Place and the Girl" (June)
"The Cock Eyed World" (July)
"Say It With Songs" (August)
"The Last of Mrs. Chaney" (August)
"Our Modern Maidens" (September)
"Side Street" (September)
"Flight" (September)
"Speedway" (September)
"Disraeli" (October)
"His Glorious Night" (October)
"Why Bring That Up? (October)
"Big News" (October)
"They Had to See Paris" (October)
"Marianne" (October)
"Welcome Danger" (October)
"Sweetie" (October)
"Jazz Heaven" (October)
"So This Is College" (November)
"The Saturday Night Kid" (November)
"The Love Parade" (November)
"The Vagabond Lover" (November)
"The Taming of the Shrew" (November)
"Untamed" (November)
"Tanned Legs" (November)
"The Mysterious Island" (December)
"Devil May Care" (December)
"Sally" (December)
"Seven Keys to Baldpate" (December)
"Dynamite" (December)
"Pointed Heels" (December)
###
Robert Lipton
Project. Their website is at
http://www.geocities.com/~ppicking/vitaphone.html
By all means, go take a look!
Bob
Fair Pickings
lipp...@nine.netcom.com when replying change nine to ix wrote on 3/29/04
7:11 AM:
> Jon,
>
> Add Innocents of Paris to your list. One of the surprise hits of the
> Cinefest.
>
> Rob Farr
> www.slapsticon.org
>
I would have called this one of the NON-surprise hits of the Cinefest. It
had to have the biggest crowd of any of the movies at the hotel, don't you
think?
Art Pierce
J. Theakston
> "ChaneyFan" <chan...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:20040329001332...@mb-m21.aol.com...
> > To give you something to shoot for, here are the 150 1929 all talkies that
> > still survive. I've seen 71 of them, so quite a few are out and about to
> be
> > seen. The bad news is that there were 248 talkies released in 1929, so
> nearly
> > 100 are lost films.
> > Ship from Shanghai, The 29 MGM
Looking this one up (because it is showing on TCM), this is from January 31, 1930.
-J. Theakston
james
that you have seen. I was wondering about a source for this film. I have a
copy(of a copy, of a copy...........) that I recently purchased that is ok.
But, not in really good condition. Of course, it may be the original film
that it was transfered from was in pretty bad shape, but, I am hoping to
find a better copy. Do you by any chance have a resource for this film?
james
"Jeff NY" <vita...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040329131752...@mb-m21.aol.com...
Eric Stott
"J. Theakston" wrote:
This film has it's moments- some good performances, and it's interesting to see what Charles Brabin can do with a restricted set- I've never seen a Brabin
film without at least one interesting shot. But don't expect "Lifeboat".
Stott
Jeff NY
>that you have seen. I was wondering about a source for this film.
Hello, James...
Saw IN OLD ARIZONA at a Syracuse CineFest roughly ten or eleven years ago, and
it was a >very< nice print as I recall. Some of the Syracuse regulars on this
group might be better able to clue you in as to who may have supplied the
print.
The film itself didn't leave much of an impression, outside of Warner Baxter's
florid accent and guitar strumming, which was tremendous fun!
J e f f
james
video or DVD. The VHS copy I have is pretty terrible. And you are right,
the movie itself is not all that great, but, I got a kick out of Warner
Baxter's "over done" Mexican accent and his guitar playing. And he did win
Best Actor that year too. Maybe someone here with a good copy here will
have pity on a poor soul wanting to see a clear copy!!
james
"Jeff NY" <vita...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040330102102...@mb-m21.aol.com...
ChaneyFan
databases, lists (personal or published), or even replies to this thread which
present themselves as definitive... for there is no definitive listing of what
years ago, the great majority of titles we're happily ratting off as having
seen, wouldn't appear on anyone's list, for they would have been deemed "lost"
by whatever experts existed just two decades ago.
Well, yes and no. 20 years ago most archives and studios didn't have complete
inventories of what they hold and now they generally do. There may certainly
be a handful of talkies released as TV prints by minor TV distributors that
private collectors hold, but there is no missing treasure trove of lost talkies
we don't know about. My list is about as accurate as you are going to get. In
fact, where my list is flawed is in the other direction...I show things as
surviving and then I find out that the only surviving print was a nitrate at an
archive that has subsequently decomposed. I have also listed films as
"surviving" because they were in a TV package, but then learn that while the
distributor acquired rights, they never got print material and so no prints
survive.
No list is perfect, but in general, the lists posted here by me and others are
quite close to 99+% complete.
ChaneyFan
I'm not sure why that didn't pick up when I did a sort except that my records
show that LOC is the only archival source and their print is listed as
incomplete. Obviously what we saw in Syracuse was a complete 16mm, but I'm not
sure what LOC has. This is a question for Earl.
Jeff NY
>are
>quite close to 99+% complete.
Exactly my point... that no individual list, in of itself, is perfect.
BTW, my list wasn't exactly an absinthe induced hallucination either! ;)
Hiccup..
Jeff
Early Film
>>>>>Add Innocents of Paris to your list.
Jon Mirsalis answers
>I'm not sure why that didn't pick up when I did a sort except that my records
>show that LOC is the only archival source and their print is listed as
>incomplete. Obviously what we saw in Syracuse was a complete 16mm, but I'm
>not sure what LOC has. This is a question for Earl.
Jon,
There is an easy answer why this did not pick up on your surviving lists.
No archive has material complete enough to show!
Paramount might have material, but I doubt it.
The print shown at Cinefest was clearly superior to any archive material.
R1 Does not survive
R2 Does not survive
R3 8:43
R4 5:13 (probably not complete)
R5 8:19 (known missing footage)
R6 Does not survive
R7 8:59
R8 8:12
R9 8:35
R10 7:43
35mm B&W preservation from a tinted nitrate print.
Deterioration printed in reels 5 and 10.
Print thru scratches and dirt, abrasions and emulsion damage.
Density pulsation.
Some movement in the nitrate preprint.
Poor splice repairs.
Track is of poor quality.
Print thru splices in sound track not blooped (which probably means frames are
missing.)
--------------0-----------
By the way, you listed DESERT SONG. This film is missing at least two reels,
but with such a thin story line, the reels are not missed and the film plays OK
as-is.
Earl.
ChaneyFan
reels,
but with such a thin story line, the reels are not missed and the film plays OK
as-is.
I believe the 16mm prints of DESERT SONG, though the color is lost.
ChaneyFan
Duh! Let's try this again with the brain turned on:
I believe the 16mm prints of DESERT SONG are complete, though the color footage
Early Film
>>>>I believe the 16mm prints of DESERT SONG, though the color is lost.
>
>Duh! Let's try this again with the brain turned on:
>
>I believe the 16mm prints of DESERT SONG are complete, though the color
>footage is lost.
It must be contagious, Jon, cause you seem to have been bitten by my gremlin
who rearranges my words the instant I hit the [send] button!!!
The AFI 16mm preservation of DESERT SONG, 1929, has additional footage that is
not in the 35mm preservation, but it is my understanding that only the footage
that was originally tinted or footage what originally was B&W survives and that
is only in 16mm. The Technicolor sequences are lost. (The possible exception
here is the opening color sequence, where a rather poor B&W dupe survives.)
This film was apparently recut and reissued in tinted form only, and that
survives, but without the tinting information. This probably happened when the
film was converted from sound-on-disc to sound-on-film in the early 1930s.
It might be an interesting project if someone looked up original era reviews
and compared those with the 16mm prints.
Earl.
ChaneyFan
is
not in the 35mm preservation, but it is my understanding that only the footage
that was originally tinted or footage what originally was B&W survives and that
is only in 16mm. The Technicolor sequences are lost. (The possible exception
here is the opening color sequence, where a rather poor B&W dupe survives.)
This film was apparently recut and reissued in tinted form only, and that
survives, but without the tinting information. This probably happened when the
film was converted from sound-on-disc to sound-on-film in the early 1930s.
A print of this was run at Syracuse maybe 10-15 years ago. It was an atrocity
of a picture, but I recall it as seeming to be complete. Of course if a
Technicolor musical number was missing, how would we know just by watching it?
Jeff NY
>of a picture,
Now, now! Viewed in the right mood, and with the right crowd (such as that
Syracuse screening, which I attended) the picture can be good fun, along the
lines of GOLDEN DAWN.
As I recall, the only atrocity was an old codger (seated in front of me,
'natch!) who contentedly, and loudly, sang along with each of the film's many
tunes!
All in all, I reckon I'm lucky he wasn't at the screening of DAWN and familiar
with the lyrics to "My Bwana."
"Vere iz Pierre????",
Jeff
ChaneyFan
Syracuse screening, which I attended) the picture can be good fun, along the
lines of GOLDEN DAWN.
GOLDEN DAWN is delightful, in a deliciously perverse kind of way. DESERT SONG
is just boring. Then again, I'm not a big fan of 1928-1930 musicals, so to
each his own.
Jeff NY
>each his own.
I suspect your opinion is shared by anyone who's been known to provide musical
accompaniment for silent films! ;)
Jeff
Robert Miller
> DESERT SONG
> is just boring.
Boring???
I know you have a fine appreciation of great melody, Jon, from your
excellent taste in quoted passages in your accompaniments. (The
Rachmaninoff/Paganini you once employed for a live screening of BARBED WIRE
was so exquisite in its rendition and placement that its memory has made the
circulating VHS copy forever unwatachable for me...)
Of course, you might be a subscriber to the view that Romberg, even at his
finest, is saccharine or treacle, but for those of his modern-day loyalists
who have never had the chance to revel in a stage revival of the show, Del
Ruth's lead-footed 1929 filming is nevertheless brimming with an
all-enveloping background score and TWICE as many of his soaring melodies as
are contained in Warners' two feature remakes (not to mention the 1932 "Tab"
short).
For us Rombergians, that's excitement a-plenty!
ChaneyFan
As I said....to each his own.
I remember the music as being not bad, but my recollection (from ~15 years ago)
was that the film dragged along at an interminable pace.