Cinecon 41 review
Bruce Calvert
rare films (sometimes both), I got to dine and talk with many, many
alt.movies.silent members. Kudos to Frederica for organizing another great
a.m.s. lunch.
I missed MARTY because I went to a great panel discussion with Robert
Birchard, Diana Sierra Carey (Baby Peggy), David Kiehn, James Curtis, and
Anthony Slide. Those five have written some excellent books on film
history. I also missed MOONLIGHT AND CACTUS, DRESSED TO KILL, AND I CAN GET
IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE because I had to leave for the airport Monday
afternoon. Here is my review of the rest of the films...
Silent Shorts:
ASK FATHER (1919). This Harold Lloyd one-reeler, probably his first "thrill
comedy", was very funny. Harold wants to get married, but his fiancée
(Marie Mosquini) wants him to ask her father for permission. Unfortunately,
it is impossible to get into her father's office to talk to him. This short
was very ingenious in the number of different ways that Harold tried to get
into the father's office. A young 13-year old pianist made her silent film
debut for this film. While she played fine, her music selection, like
"Greensleeves", did not exactly fit the film. (***)
THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN (1913) This short film opened with several minutes of
a recreation of the Battle of Bull run from the American Civil War. After
that, the confusing plot featured Grace Cunard as a Union spy who sneaks
through the battle lines. Although the story was confusing, the final scene
was effective as a sleeping Cunard dreams (in double exposure) of the ghosts
of the men who were killed in battle because of her actions (*)
THE LAST SHOT (191?) This newly restored film was screened by the AFI with
hopes that someone could identify the year or studio. It was definitely in
the style of early teens. A white settler helps an Indian squaw who is
attacked by the least convincing man in a bear suit in movie history. She
returns the favor after a young girl is kidnapped by her tribe. The Indians
were authentic native Americans, and the woman was probably princess Mona
Darkfeather. Robert S. Birchard said he saw "101" branded on the horses,
meaning that this is a "101 Bison" film. (* ½)
Silent Features:
THE CANADIAN (1926) This film featured unknown Mona Palma as a formerly rich
woman who shows up at her brother's Alberta farm when her money runs out in
Europe. She is totally useless and wears designer cloths while everybody
else works their butts off. After insulting her brother's wife, Dale Fuller
(who usually appears in slapstick comedies), she agrees to a love-less
marriage with Thomas Meighan. After a few weeks of marriage, he can't stand
it any more, and rapes her. This film was really good in that it was filmed
on location (probably not in Canada) and it showed the hard lives of the
farmers trying to eke out a living. Although a quick look at the plot makes
it sound like Palma isn't redeemed until she becomes a good cook and good at
housework, that was not the whole point of the movie. When she shows up on
the farm, she has lots of trunks and even golf clubs. She won't eat the
food and she is basically useless to help with anything. Notice that when
she leaves she can cook and run the house, and she only takes a very small
case of clothes with her. She discovered what was truly important in life
(*** ½ )
THE DANGER SIGNAL (1925) This low-budget railroad actioner from CBC
(Columbia) was a surprise. Although a few scenes were missing, the plot was
extra thick with irony as Eva Novak stars as a woman who is forced to give
up one of her sons to his wealthy grandfather when her rich husband suddenly
dies. She conceals the boy's twin's existence. The poor boy grows up as
hard-working and honest railroad guy, while the rich twin is a lazy snob who
has no interest in work. The train fight, and the race to stop the runaway
train (on a motorcycle) were thrilling. (***)
DOWNHILL (1927) After seeing a lot of cheerful films all weekend, this dark
and depressing film was a nice change of pace. This silent film is not the
typical suspense film that we associate with Alfred Hitchcock. Ivor Novello
stars as a college student who is expelled after he is wrongly accused of
petty theft. His father disowns him and kicks him out of the house. After a
disastrous marriage to an unfaithful and spend-thrift woman, he loses his
will to live. This film has many beautifully composed shots. The montage
scenes showing his madness were effective. Gabriel Thibideaux's score gave
me goose bumps - it was that good. Best scene: After Novello is kicked out
of the house, we see him working as a lowly waiter. As the couple he is
serving get up to dance, he slyly steals the woman's cigarette case. A few
seconds later, we see that Novello is in a stage show, and he is a dancing
waiter! (***1/2)
HIGH TREASON (1929) This British sci-fi film was an early sound film, but
only the silent version currently survives. In the far-off future of 1950,
Europe has become a united country, while North America is part of the
"Atlantic states". Tensions are high on both sides, but a Peace League in
London is trying to get the public to resist war. A weapons manufacturer
pays agitators (terrorists) to bomb the English channel tunnel. This film
owes a lot to METROPOLIS, but the subject matter here is world peace.
Visually it is very striking, as the mostly-women peace-niks wear all-white,
while the male bomber pilots wear dark leather. Look for Raymond Massey as
one of the peace leaders. The film asks a great question: is it O.K. to
commit murder if it will head off a global war? (***)
PEGGY LEADS THE WAY (1917) This Mary Miles Minter film was a clone of
Pickford's POLLYANNA. Mary works with her father in a rural store. A mean
guy buys all of the countryside and wilderness land around town, and he won'
t let anyone fish or gather wood on his land. After a big storm destroys
his house and food supply, Peggy turns the tables on the mean guy. The film
had a lot of close-ups of Mary, but the story was very simple and the
characters were not that interesting. (**)
THE ROARING ROAD (1919) This Wallace Reid race-car film was a beautiful
tinted print. Reid is in love with the daughter of a race-car company, but
her father "The Bear", won't cut him any slack. He ends up trying to beat a
train traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Ann Little had very
little charisma, so I wondered why Reid's character was even interested in
her. It was amusing when Reid won an earlier road race. He pulled up into
the pits and immediately started smoking! (** ½)
SORRELL AND SON (1927) H.B. Warner gives a great performance in this
"male-weepie" about a father who will do anything to give his son a better
life. While the film was wonderful, son Nils Asther was way to pretty to be
convincing as the son. The only-surviving print was washed-out and it was
sometimes hard to see the actors expressions in a few scenes. This film was
definitely a high-light of the weekend. (*** ½)
THE SPOILERS (1914) This epic tale of the Alaska gold rush was pretty good.
It was long because it packed so much of the novel into the story. The
climatic fight between William Farnum and bad-guy Tom Santschi was a little
bit disappointing because it only took up about a minute. It was as much of
a wrestling match as a fist-fight. (Farnum and Santschi supposedly traded
real blows, rather than faking it.) The story was nice because Bessie Eyton
and Kathlyn Williams were integral to the plot, rather than just being
objects of desire. Ms. Williams acting style is definitely "old-school".
The outdoor scenery is what makes this film a classic. (***)
THE WONDERFUL THING (1921) was not so wonderful. Harrison Ford was a member
of an upper-crust English family that had long ago spent all of their money.
When a black-mailer cons Ford's brother out of even more money, Ford marries
Norma Talmadge for her money. Norma does what she can to help out the
snobby family members. Besides being dull, the film seemed to say that
American money can fix any problem. Also, Talmadge's character was an
American raised by French nuns, but her French mangling of English in the
intertitles was just annoying. (* ½ )
Sound Shorts:
ADVANCE BASE (1945) The color 16mm documentary was produced by the Navy
during World War II. It opened with grisly footage of dead and burned
Japanese after a Pacific island has been liberated from the Japanese. While
the process of building an advance base is not that exciting, there is also
plenty of aerial, naval and land combat footage. The film was shot silent,
and has sound effects and narration. The explosion of a Navy ship after
being hit by a kamikaze plane was huge. (**1/2)
THE BEER PARADE (1933) This bizarre Scrappy cartoon was a celebration of the
end of prohibition. Two little kids help a bunch of elves drink all the
beer that they want. A mean old man comes along and smashes all of the beer
kegs, but the kids and elves get their revenge. Definitely not for kids!
(***)
BUCK RODGERS IN THE 25TH CENTORY (1934) This short film was not the
better-known serial. It had grade-Z production values and horrible acting.
The story is spoken as much as shown on screen. Terrible in every way, but
good for a laugh (No stars)
CHARLIE CHAN CARRIES ON (1931) This newly-restored trailer featuring Warner
Oland made the film look interesting. (No rating).
COURT PLASTERED (1931) This amusing Vitaphone short featured Helen Broderick
as a woman who murdered her husband. She was able to wise-crack her way
through her court case and get off free. I got the feeling that this was
from a stage show of hers. (** ½ )
HARLEM BOUND (1935) This musical featured several African-American
performers at a "Harlem" nightclub with white patrons watching. "Pork Chop"
has a voice that has to be heard to be believed. Buck and Bubbles were a
musical comedy team that were pretty good. The lady that sang the sad song
was O.K., but her song went on for too long. (** ½ )
THE IRON CLAW (1941) Chapters 4 & 5. I had seen the first chapter back in
2002, but the story is still pretty incomprehensible. On the other hand,
this James W. Horne serial moves so fast, that you don't care! Family
members bicker and argue about who has stolen a fortune in hidden treasure.
There are plenty of fights and chases to keep any serial fan happy. The
mansion must be the most bizarre house ever built, because there are HUGE
hidden passages and rooms in the middle of it. Every room has a hidden
panel somewhere. (**)
ONE ON THE HOUSE (1937) This was a musical about a pair of newlyweds who
come home to a musical party put on by their friends. While several musical
acts perform, the Merry Macs are destroying the upstairs of their house.
The musical numbers were nothing to get excited about. And the Merry Macs
have no personalities, so you don't feel their pain when their construction
projects go awry. (* ½ )
SUZIE'S AFFAIR (1934) Betty Grable starred in this bonus musical short where
everybody talked in rhyme. Her boyfriend is really rich, and she is not.
She pretends to be just as rich. A girlfriend calls her boyfriend, a
chauffer, and they appropriate the chauffeur's employer's car and house
while he is "at the club" for a few days. Surprise, the employer is the
rich boyfriend, who is amused to be invited into his own house. This film
was cute, and the rhyming dialogue was clever. (** ½ )
THE TABASCO KID (1933) Charley Chase plays a dual role as a tenderfoot who
works for rancher Billy Gilbert, as well as a Mexican bandit. Chase's
accent as the bandit, as well as his fake-accent as the tenderfoot
pretending to be the bandit, was hilarious. Gilbert had a gouty food, and
you better believe that it got stepped on and crushed several times. (***).
TRAPPED (1931) This was a fast-moving mystery short with Lina Basquette as
an undercover cop and James Murray as the unsuspecting gangster that the
marries. While the story scenes were great, the surrounding narration
scenes, by "The Shadow" were terrible. The were out of sync and his
comments were ridiculous. (** ½)
Sound Features:
BABY FACE (1933) Barbara Stanwyck starred as an impoverished woman who
decides to sleep with any many who can give her what she wants. Along the
way, she leaves a trail of broken men in her wake, but they did deserve what
they got. The restored, uncensored print was beautiful. I really liked the
scenes of her as a waitress in her father's speakeasy, where you could
really understand the kind of hell she lived in every day. The three
comparison scenes after the film that showed what the edited and released
film looked like were laughable, because they really changed the impact of
the film. John Wayne appeared in a small role as one of Stanwyck's early
conquests. (*** ½ )
THE BAND WAGON (1953) This MGM Musical was the best film of the weekend.
Although the print was a little grainy, it still sounded and looked great on
the big screen. Fred Astaire is a washed up dancer who is forced into a
Broadway show with ballerina Cyd Charisse. Jack Buchanan is hilarious as a
pretentious producer who changes the show from a light comedy into the doom
and gloom story of Faust. Astaire and Charisse dancing in the park gave me
chill bumps. The "triplets" baby dance number was very funny. And Astaire
has a wonderfully fun dance with the shoeshine guy. Guest Nanette Fabrey
told us about a blooper where a stage hand ruins her musical number, and we
all spotted him in the film. (****)
CHINATOWN NIGHTS (1929) This part-talkie was a curiosity, and a frustrating
film. Completed as a silent, sound shots were inserted later. Unlike
other part-talkies where the story stops for a few sound scenes, the sound
was either post-dubbed, or it is integrated between silent shots. This
really throws the pacing of the film off, since a shot that is a little fast
because it was shot at 20 or 22 fps is followed by a natural-looking 24 fps
sound shot. This film must be one of the most politically incorrect movies
ever made (this side of GOLDEN DAWN). Besides featuring a stereotypical
Tong war between Chinese gangs, one gang has a white leader, the really mean
Wallace Beery. Beery slaps Florence Vidor and she likes it! The film makes
fun of reporter Jack Oakie's stutter. The first five minutes is actually
quite good, as tourists slumming in Chinatown are treated to fake scenes of
Chinese life. (*)
GIFT OF GAB (1934) This film was a mess, but if you were a big 1930s radio
fan you might enjoy it. Edmund Lowe as the brash announcer was a complete
jerk throughout the entire film. Why Gloria Stuart was interested in him I'
ll never know. At the end of the film, he parachutes down to a plane crash
with a microphone to get the news scoop on the survivors. Did he bring
food, water, or medical supplies with him? No! Worth watching for cameos by
Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and musical numbers by Ruth Etting and Ethel
Waters (*1/2)
HIDEAWAY (1937) Gangsters flee the city after double-crossing one of their
own. The turn up at Fred Stone's (the original stage scarecrow in the
Wizard of Oz) house in the country. The house actually belongs to the
gangsters, but Stone and his family have been squatting there. Stone is
lazy as can be, but the townspeople welcome the "hunters" with open arms.
The film is funny and clever because the townspeople outwit the gangsters
without even knowing they were gangsters. Our Gang member Tommy Bond and
his frog really get the best of one of the city guys. (***)
IT CAN'T LAST FOREVER (1937) This breezy comedy was really a surprise.
Ralph Bellamy and Robert Armstrong are looking for the next big act in
radio. They watch some really bad acts, including a comic ballroom dancing
couple that is a disaster. (The scene is somewhat ruined by Bellamy's
character's laughing at the couple, rather than having to hold it in). They
find a guy called "The Master Mind", played by a delightful Raymond Walburn,
who delivers doom and gloom predictions of the future. Unfortunately, the
Master Mind can't stay sober either, so Bellamy takes his place and arranges
a big pearl heist so that the Master Mind can solve it on the radio. This
comedy with a few musical numbers was first-rate, and it included a song by
a very young Dorothy Dandridge and her family. I loved the many tracking
shots through the apartment set as the characters went back and forth.
(***1/2)
IT HAPPENED IN FLATBUSH (1942) This baseball comedy starred Lloyd Nolan as a
washed-up baseball player who takes over as manager of the perennially
losing Brooklyn baseball team. Nolan used a great Brooklyn accent. The
scene where he tells the new owners (including Carole Landis) why the team
needs to sign a new pinch hitter was hilarious. The film had a great
supporting cast including William Frawley (Fred on I LOVE LUCY), Jane
Darwell, Robert Armstrong. Scotty Beckett (of Our Gang) was a little
annoying sometimes, and his relationship to Nolan was never explained. (***)
MIRAGE (1965) I don't mind a few later films if they are as good as this and
are attached to a nice guest. Gregory Peck stars as a man with amnesia who
gradually learns that he may have done something horrible. Walter Matthau
was great as a novice detective who helps out Peck. I loved the scene where
Jack Weston watches wrestling while holding a gun on Peck. Peck knocks the
gun out of Weston's hand, and we see and hear the wrestling match on TV
instead of the struggle for the gun. When the wrestling match is over, Peck
's struggle is over too. I loved that 1960's action music. (***1/2)
SECOND FLOOR MYSTERY (1930) This comic/mystery starred a very young Loretta
Young and Grant Withers, who was later her husband for a short time. It
starts off really cute as a man and a woman meet in a London hotel, but her
mother disapproves. They start sending each other secret messages in the
personals section of the newspaper. Then the story gets confusing as people
get murdered, and later turn up alive. Withers even confesses to a murder
that he didn't commit. The was the last film of the night and I almost
nodded off before it was over. (**)
THE SUBWAY EXPRESS (1931) This filmed stage play started off promisingly.
On a crowded subway car, two men get into a fight and the lights go out.
When the lights go back on, one of the passengers is dead. The police keep
the passengers on the train until scowling detective Jack Holt shows up. He
grills the passengers for an hour until he figures out whodunit. Since the
entire film was confined to the subway car, the dialog got tiresome after a
while. Still, I'm glad I saw it. (**)
UNKNOWN VALLEY (1933) This Buck Jones western was really a change of pace
for a B-western. Buck's father has disappeared, so Buck travels across the
desert to try an find him. He finds a strange Amish-like cult where
everybody's life is controlled by elders. Baddies Wade Boteler and Ward
Bond (barely recognizable under his beard) have enslaved Buck's father and
made him dig for gold. This film had no gunfight, but lots of riding,
fist-fights, and great stunts of climbing up and down a big cliff. (**1/2)
WASHINGTON STORY (1952). Patricia Neal starred as a newspaper reporter
trying to dig up some dirt on Democratic congressman Van Johnson. This film
was pretty good, although it was kind of a cop-out because only the
newspaper people were not ethical. Louis Calhern was great as a Republican
congressman who was not really untrustworthy as he seemed. Ms. Neal was an
interesting guest, but she had much difficulty remembering the names of
people that she worked with. (***)
--
Bruce Calvert
--
Visit the Silent Film Still Archive
http://home.comcast.net/~silentfilm/home.htm
mikeg...@gmail.com
Who produced that Buck Rogers short and why? Seems funny that a hot
new property would get made into an el cheapo movie like that, even
recognizing that the genre was small stuff for Hollywood then.
So has anyone who saw High Treason seen Elvey's Transatlantic Tunnel,
and was there any relation?
Unknown
<mikeg...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Thanks for the report, looking forward to more.
>
>Who produced that Buck Rogers short and why? Seems funny that a hot
>new property would get made into an el cheapo movie like that, even
>recognizing that the genre was small stuff for Hollywood then.
Many years ago, Ron Hall researched this film and wrote an article
about it in Classic Images. He managed to unlock the mystery of how
and why it was made.
I may have some of the details wrong, but apparently the comic strip
"Buck Rogers" and it's vision of the future was a theme at the 1933
"Century Of Progress" World's Fair in Chicago.
A 10 minute Buck Rogers film was made to be shown at the Fair. The
film starred John Dille, Jr., who was the son of the man who
syndicated the original Buck Rogers comic strip.
It was basically an advertising film, never really intended to be
shown theatrically. The concept was to show off the toy ray guns and
other Buck Rogers toys that were available for sale at the Fair.
Sorry, I don't know what issue the article appeared in, but maybe Ron
or Chris could chime in with more details.
--John A.
Bruce Calvert
Narrows bridge flapping in the wind was unbelievable. I sure would not have
walked out there to photograph it. It also included speeches by newly
elected Franklin Roosevelt and loser Wendell Wilkie. There were scenes from
the Nazi's bombing of London, and highlights from several college football
games. (***1/2)
I also fogot to mention that Phil Carli and Gabriel Thibaudeau were
outstanding on the piano all weekend. I missed Michael Mortilla's
performance for the final silent film.
--
Bruce Calvert
--
Visit the Silent Film Still Archive
http://home.comast.net/~silentfilm/home.htm