Best Silent Movie Experiences of 2006
mikeg...@gmail.com
but for now, I thought I would list the highlights of a year in which I
saw a LOT of silent movies, and encourage others to do the same.
BEST FESTIVAL/THEATRICAL SHOWING
I may have seen more silents in theaters this year than I saw new 2006
movies-- since I attended Cinesation, the Janet Gaynor fest (including
Lucky Star) at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago, assorted screenings
(including two of three nights of Pola Negri) at the Silent Film
Society of Chicago-- and still managed to miss Chicago (1927) when it
came to town, due to illness. Anyway, the best of the bunch were:
Barbed Wire-- Looking back at what I wrote about the Negri films, I
made it sound like I liked Hotel Imperial better, it's probably a
better full-out star vehicle for Negri, but Barbed Wire is the better
movie, a fine example of a message picture with believable characters
to push its message across.
Kiki-- Folks who saw this recently restored Norma Talmadge comedy at
Cinecon didn't seem that wild about it, but-- maybe because I knew,
from them, that the characters were screwball comedy types and fairly
monstrous in realistic terms (the word "stalker" was used here), when I
saw it a few months later at Cinesation, I was ready for it and found
it a lavish-looking hoot from start to finish.
Her Anniversaries-- One of those things that come out of nowhere at a
festival like Cinesation, this Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew one-reel comedy
(about a wife who expects her husband to remember an endless string of
anniversaries) was an utter delight, wittily exaggerated but always
human in its comic business.
So where's Lucky Star? I dunno, maybe I was expecting too much. I
liked the faux-Sunrise look, and certainly liked the relationship of
Gaynor and Farrell better than in the excessively moralistic Street
Angel, but all in all I'd have to say the honest schmaltz of Seventh
Heaven still strikes me as better than the artsy schmaltz of Lucky
Star.
BEST TCM PREMIERE
I'm not quite as gaga about Lady of the Night as, say, Mick LaSalle,
but even if it's a rather small, character study sort of piece, it's
extremely well done. Runner-up would be Souls For Sale, a decided
oddity that changes genres a few too many times for total success (from
comedy to grisly crime film), but perhaps because of that is
fascinating throughout, and offers fun glimpses of old Hollywood.
BEST VIDEO RELEASES
More than anything, this was the year of European silents on video--
and hey, I haven't even cracked open my Jacques Feyder set or compared
the four scores on Pandora's Box yet. (Of course, I haven't watched
Hindle Wakes, either, and how long have I owned that?)
I've commented recently on the Lubitsch in Berlin set, but to me the
real eye-opener came earlier in the year with the release of three
Mauritz Stiller films. Before, I had only seen Thomas Graal's Best
Film, and assumed Stiller to be much less of an important talent than
Victor Sjostrom. Now, having seen Erotikon, Sir Arne's Treasure, and
also three of his Hollywood movies-- Hotel Imperial, and two films he
partially directed without credit, Barbed Wire and The Temptress--
within the year, he was clearly one of the most sensitive and skilled
directors of the period, comparable to, say, Murnau in his
intelligence, slightly clinical sympathy (both have great understanding
of human nature, neither is willing to be swept away unthinkingly by
his characters as more Romantic directors would be), and technical
capabilities (Sir Arne's Treasure and Erotikon both display what can
only be called mastery of the moving camera, well before Murnau and
Karl Freund supposedly invented the thing).
BEST NEW STAR (FOR ME)
In the course of seeing all these things, incidentally, I got a good
introduction as well to Pola Negri-- I'd seen her before in Dubarry and
Eyes of the Mummy, but she hadn't done anything for me then. Seeing
her within a short time in The Wildcat, Barbed Wire, and Hotel Imperial
succeeded in impressing upon me her particular talent for radiating
sexual hunger in a natural, non-judgemental way. (As opposed to the
other star I saw the most of this year, Greta Garbo, who radiated it in
a way that absolutely called for punishment.) I look forward to more,
Kino!
mikeg...@gmail.com
BIGGEST DUD
The Better 'Ole. Syd clearly had skill, but he's practically wearing a
kabuki mask with that walrus mustache, and it's another example of the
adage that service comedies are only funny to those who actually
survived the experience and want to wax nostalgic about their old pals.
Old Movie Fan
Re: Best Silent Movie Experiences of 2006
mikeg...@gmail.com wrote:
That Sid is Charlie Chaplin's brother & manager for those that don't
know.
While what you write may be true, contained in this film is one of
the finest examples of vaudeville or early days of burlesque that I've
ever seen.
The gag with the 'Two Man' horse both on stage and mixing it up with
real horses & Germans was a class act worth keeping, even if the over
all program drags on too long.
When I saw it a few years ago, I kept my favorite parts and threw
away the rest. It's too bad that I didn't like it because the sepia
tint made it seem very lifelike. It's also obvious that they spent a
lot of money making this film.
Surely, you must have found parts of this film very funny. I would
prefer this film to "Pandora's Box" any day.
Happy New Year
Rich W
Old Movie Fan
talkies.
"The Red Lily" was perhaps the most dramatic film that I saw on TCM
this year. Ramon Navaro's hatred for the woman he had lost when they
came to Paris was overwhelming for me.
With some help from Rodney Sauer, I was able to better understand
"Diary of a Lost Girl" but when I saw the talkie, Prix de Beaute' with
Brooks voice dubbed flawlessly in French, I knew that I finally found
another film (other than "Beggars of Life") where Louise Brooks does
something other than just stand around in the picture while the story
revolves around her.
I've just bought a DVD of the restored H. G. Wells classic, "Things
to Come" and it presents the film in your choice of B & W or a colorized
version. This old anti-war film from 1936 ends in our future showing
much of what we have today, but even things that are not yet available.
Have a look at the future as filmed back in 1936:
Rich W.
Lloyd Fonvielle
> BEST VIDEO RELEASES
>
> More than anything, this was the year of European silents on video--
> and hey, I haven't even cracked open my Jacques Feyder set or compared
> the four scores on Pandora's Box yet. (Of course, I haven't watched
> Hindle Wakes, either, and how long have I owned that?)
I suspect that you'll find "Hindle" and the Feyder films respectable,
admirable, fascinating in many respects but decidedly underwhelming.
I found the traditional orchestral score on "Pandora's Box" to be
superb, the cabaret score to be a good idea not terribly well realized.
The other two I've yet to experience.
> I've commented recently on the Lubitsch in Berlin set, but to me the
> real eye-opener came earlier in the year with the release of three
> Mauritz Stiller films. Before, I had only seen Thomas Graal's Best
> Film, and assumed Stiller to be much less of an important talent than
> Victor Sjostrom. Now, having seen Erotikon, Sir Arne's Treasure, and
> also three of his Hollywood movies-- Hotel Imperial, and two films he
> partially directed without credit, Barbed Wire and The Temptress--
> within the year, he was clearly one of the most sensitive and skilled
> directors of the period, comparable to, say, Murnau in his
> intelligence, slightly clinical sympathy (both have great understanding
> of human nature, neither is willing to be swept away unthinkingly by
> his characters as more Romantic directors would be), and technical
> capabilities (Sir Arne's Treasure and Erotikon both display what can
> only be called mastery of the moving camera, well before Murnau and
> Karl Freund supposedly invented the thing).
Those two Stiller films were true revelations, but remind me that I
haven't had the heart to post a report on "Gosta Berling", which was, to
me, a colossal letdown. I've been hoping that you'd do the heavy
lifting on that one, so I could just chime in with a response.
I'm assuming that Garbo's presence gave the film its reputation, but the
earlier works are far more interesting.
I'm beginning to detect a pattern in early European silents of trying to
responsibly illustrate novels -- which led to a kind of pretentious
dullness but at least tended to get the filmmakers out of the studio.
Pretention in American films was more centered on reproducing theatrical
vehicles on film, which led to a different and more claustrophobic kind
of dullness.
Mar de Cortes Baja
www.mardecortesbaja.com <http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog>
mikeg...@gmail.com
Old Movie Fan wrote:
> The gag with the 'Two Man' horse both on stage and mixing it up with
> real horses & Germans was a class act worth keeping, even if the over
> all program drags on too long.
> When I saw it a few years ago, I kept my favorite parts and threw
> away the rest. It's too bad that I didn't like it because the sepia
> tint made it seem very lifelike. It's also obvious that they spent a
> lot of money making this film.
It has some good, stage-tested bits, and admittedly maybe it would go
over better in a theater. It still took me a couple of nights to slog
through it, though.
repro...@earthlink.net
THE BETTER OLE completely comes to life in a theater with a live
audience. It is a wonderfully silly film that seems to tickle a crowd,
but does not work as well watched alone. I think Syd Chaplin is
brilliant capturing Bairnsfeather's character, he basically dissapears
within the makeup and becomes Old Bill.
Even Kevin Brownlow, in his introduction to Glenn Mitchells book A-Z OF
SILENT COMEDY,admits that he disliked the film when he saw it solo, but
loved it when re-seen with an audience.
RICHARD M ROBERTS