SILENT
FILMS
& Early Talkies on DVD
A Classic Movie Fan’s Guide
John Howard Reid
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Table of Contents
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Lew Ayres
Arizona Express (1924) Pauline Starke
B
Baby Take a Bow (1934) Shirley Temple
Battling Butler (1926) Buster Keaton
the Bat Whispers (1930) William Bakewell
Beggars of Life (1928) Wallace Beery
the Big House (1930) Chester Morris
the Block Signal (1926) Ralph Lewis
the Blue Bird (1918) Tula Belle
Broadway Melody (1929) Bessie Love
Broken Hearts of Broadway (1923) Colleen Moore
C
the Canary Murder Case (1929) William Powell
Captain January (1924) Hobart Bosworth
Cat and the Canary (1927) Laura La Plante
Cavalcade (1932) Diana Wynyard
the Champ (1931) Wallace Beery
Change of Heart (1934) Janet Gaynor
the Charlatan (1929) Holmes Herbert
the Circus (1927) Charles Chaplin
City Girl (1929) Charles Farrell
Clash of the Wolves (1925) Charles Farrell
Cleopatra (1934) Claudette Colbert
the Crackerjack (1925) Johnny Hines
Cruise of the Jasper B (1926) Rod La Rocque
D
the Dawn Patrol (1930) Richard Barthelmess
the Death Kiss (1932) David Manners
Devil’s Island (1926) Pauline Frederick
the Devil To Pay (1930) Ronald Colman
the Divine Lady (1929) Corinne Griffith
the Divorcee (1930) Norma Shearer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) Fredric March
Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925) Douglas Fairbanks
Don’t Be Nervous (1929) Lloyd Hamilton
Doubling in the Quickies (1932) Lloyd Hamilton
Down to the Sea in Ships (1923) Clara Bow
Dress Parade (1927) William Boyd
E
the Eagle (1925) Rudolph Valentino
Easy Street (1917) Charles Chaplin
Evangeline (1929) Dolores Del Rio
the Eyes of Julia Deep (1918) Mary Miles Minter
F
the Fair Co-Ed (1927) Marion Davies
a Farewell to Arms (1932) Gary Cooper
Feel My Pulse (1928) Bebe Daniels
the Florodora Girl (1930) Marion Davies
Flying Fool (1929) William Boyd
F.P.1 antwortet nicht (1932) Hans Albers
F.P.1 Doesn’t Answer (1933) Conrad Veidt
a Free Soul (1931) Norma Shearer
the Freshman (1925) Harold Lloyd
G
Grand Hotel (1932) Greta Garbo
H
Hands Up! (1925) Raymond Griffith
the Hazards of Helen (1915) Helen Holmes
Hotel Imperial (1927) Pola Negri
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) Lon Chaney
I
the Ice Flood (1926) Viola Dana
In Old Arizona (1929) Edmund Lowe
It Happened One Night (1934) Claudette Colbert
J
Jungle Princess (1920) Juanita Hansen
Just Travelin’ (1927) Bob Burns
K
the Kid Brother (1927) Harold Lloyd
L
Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925) Irene Rich
the Last Chance (1926) William “Bill” Patton
Lighthouse by the Sea (1924) William Collier, Jr
Light in the Dark (1922) Hope Hampton
Lightning Hutch (1927) Charles Hutchison
Little Church Around the Corner (1923) Claire Windsor
Little Women (1933) Katharine Hepburn
the Locked Door (1929) Rod La Rocque
the Lodger (1926) Ivor Novello
the Lookout Girl (1928) Jacqueline Logan
the Lost World (1925) Wallace Beery
Love ’Em and Leave ’Em (1926) Evelyn Brent
the Love Flower (1920) Carol Dempster
M
Man from Beyond (1921) Harry Houdini
Man from Oklahoma (1926) Jack Perrin
the Man Who Laughs (1928) Conrad Veidt
McKinley at Home (1898) William McKinley
the Mark of Zorro (1920) Douglas Fairbanks
Mexicali Rose (1929) Barbara Stanwyck
the Michigan Kid (1928) Renée Adorée
Montana Moon (1930) Joan Crawford
Move Along (1926) Lloyd Hamilton
My Lady of Whims (1925) Clara Bow
N
No Man’s Law (1927) Barbara Kent
the Notorious Lady (1927) Lewis Stone
O
Office Wife (1930) Dorothy Mackaill
Oliver Twist (1922) Jackie Coogan
Oliver Twist (1933) Dickie Moore
One Way Passage (1932) William Powell
Orchids and Ermine (1927) Colleen Moore
Our Blushing Brides (1930) Joan Crawford
Our Dancing Daughters (1928) Joan Crawford
P
Parisian Love (1925) Clara Bow
the Perfect Clown (1925) Larry Semon
Phantom of the Opera (1925) Lon Chaney
Possessed (1931) Joan Crawford
Prisoner of Zenda (1932) Lewis Stone
R
the Red Raiders (1927) Ken Maynard
Return of the Rat (1929) Ivor Novello
Robin Hood (1922) Douglas Fairbanks
S
Safety Last (1923) Harold Lloyd
the Saphead (1920) Buster Keaton
the Safety Curtain (1918) Norma Talmadge
Saturday Afternoon (1926) Harry Langdon
Scaramouche (1923) Ramon Novarro
the Sea Squawk (1924) Harry Langdon
Secret of the Blue Room (1933) Gloria Stuart
Secrets of a Soul (1926) Werner Krauss
the Sheik (1921) Rudolph Valentino
Sherlock Holmes (1922) John Barrymore
Show People (1928) Marion Davies
the Sign of the Claw (1926) Ethel Shannon
Skinner’s Dress Suit (1926) Reginald Denny
Smouldering Fires (1924) Pauline Frederick
Soldier Man (1926) Harry Langdon
Son of the Sheik (1926) Rudolph Valentino
South of Panama (1928) Carmelita Geraghty
the Squaw Man (1914) Dustin Farnum
Stand and Deliver (1928) Rod La Rocque
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) Buster Keaton
the Strong Man (1926) Harry Langdon
Surrender (1931) Warner Baxter
Sweet Adeline (1925) Charles Ray
T
Taming of the Shrew (1929) Mary Pickford
Tarzan the Tiger (1929) Frank Merrill
Ten Cents a Dance (1931) Barbara Stanwyck
Tess of the Storm Country (1922) Mary Pickford
Thief of Bagdad (1924) Douglas Fairbanks
Three Musketeers (1921) Douglas Fairbanks
Through the Breakers (1928) Holmes Herbert
Tol’able David (1921) Richard Barthelmess
the Tong Man (1919) Sessue Hayakawa
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) Harry Langdon
the Trial of Mary Dugan (1929) Norma Shearer
Tumbleweeds (1925) William S. Hart
U
the Unchastened Woman (1925) Theda Bara
Underworld (1927) George Bancroft
Up the Ladder (1925) Virginia Valli
V
Vagabond Lover (1929) Rudy Vallee
Venus of the South Seas (1924) Annette Kellerman
Viva Villa! (1934) Wallace Beery
W
Warning Shadows (1927) Ruth Weyher
West-Bound Limited (1923) Ralph Lewis
When Knighthood Was In Flower (1922) Marion Davies
Whistlin’ Dan (1932) Ken Maynard
White Gold (1927) Jetta Goudal
the White Sheep (1924) Glenn Tryon
the White Sister (1923) Lillian Gish
Wild Horse Mesa (1925) Jack Holt
the Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) Vilma Banky
Within Our Gates (1919) Evelyn Preer
Wizard of Oz (1925) Larry Semon
Wolf Blood (1925) Marguerite Clayton
the Woman He Scorned (1929) Pola Negri
a Woman in Grey (1920) Arline Pretty
a Woman of Affairs (1928) Greta Garbo
a Woman of the World (1925) Pola Negri
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All Quiet on the Western Front
Lew Ayres (Paul Baumer), Louis Wolheim (Katczinsky), John Wray (Himmelstoss), Raymond Griffith (dying French soldier), George “Slim” Summerville (Tjaden), Russell Gleason (Muller), William Bakewell (Albert), Scott Kolk (Leer), Walter Browne Rogers (Behm), Ben Alexander (Kemmerich), Owen Davis, Jr (Peter), Beryl Mercer (Mrs Baumer), Edwin Maxwell (Baumer), Harold Goodwin (Detering), Marion Clayton (Miss Baumer), Richard Alexander (Westhus), G. Pat Collins (Lieutenant Bertinck), Yola D’Avril (Suzanne), Renée Damonde, Poupée Androit (French girls), Arnold Lucy (Kantorek), Bill Irving (Ginger), Edmund Breese (Herr Meyer), Heinie Conklin (Hammacher), Bertha Mann (Sister Libertine), Bodil Rosing (watcher), Joan Marsh (poster girl), Tom London (orderly), Vince Barnett (cook), Ellen Hall (young girl), Arthur Gardner (student), Fred Zinnemann (student), Wolfgang Staudte, Jack Sutherland, Robert Parrish, Daisy Belmore.
Directed by LEWIS MILESTONE. Adapted by Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, Lewis Milestone from the 1927 novel by Erich Maria Remarque (pseudonym of Erich Paul Remark). Dialogue: Maxwell Anderson and George Abbott. Additional dialogue: Del Andrews. Photographed by Arthur Edeson and Tony Gaudio. Dialogue director: George Cukor. Supervising film editors: Lewis Milestone and Maurice Pivar. Film editors: Edgar Adams, Edward L. Cahn and Milton Carruth. Art directors: Charles D. Hall and W. R. Schmidt. Additional photography: Karl Freund. Special effects: Harry Lonsdale, Frank H. Booth. Foley artist: Jack Foley. Boom operator: Jack Bolger. Music synchronized and scored by David Broekman. Assistant director: Nate Watt. Story editor: C. Gardner Sullivan. Titles for silent version: Walter Anthony. Sound recording engineer: C. Roy Hunter. Sound mixer: William Hedgcock. Associate producer: George Cukor. Producer: Carl Laemmle, Jr.
Copyright by Universal Pictures Corporation 17 May 1930. U.S. release date: 24 August 1930. New York opening at the Central: 29 April 1930. U.K. release date: October, 1930. 14 reels. 140 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Conscripted German youths find war is neither glorious nor adventurous.
NOTES: Won the annual awards for Best Picture and Best Director, presented by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Also nominated for Best Writing (lost to Frances Marion for The Big House), and Best Cinematography (lost to Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van Der Veer for With Byrd at the South Pole).
Winner of the Photoplay Gold Medal — Best Film of the Year — voted by the moviegoing public of America.
Winner of the Film Daily poll of American film critics for 1930.
Winner of the National Board of Review citation for Best Film of 1930.
Winner of the Picturegoer Seal of Merit for an Outstanding and Exceptional Motion Picture.
Second place (to With Bryd at the South Pole) on Mordaunt Hall’s Ten Best in The New York Times.
COMMENT: Erich Maria Remarque’s semi-autobiographical novel, “Im Westen Nichts Neues”, was first published in Berlin in 1927. Other Remarque books that have been filmed include “Drei Kameraden” as Three Comrades, “Der Weg Zuruck” as The Road Back, “Flottsam” as So Ends Our Night, a short story “Beyond” as The Other Love, “Arch of Triumph” as The Arch of Triumph, “Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben” as A Time to Love and a Time to Die.
In its original form, All Quiet on the Western Front ran 140 minutes. This has now been restored. Continuity, however, is still somewhat jerky and abrupt. The film is constructed along the lines of a stage play with a fade-out at the end of each scene replacing the curtain fall. There is a tendency to make the individual scenes run too long, and despite the large amount of action footage — fully half-an-hour of the film would be solid action — the accent is firmly on dialogue. The pace is slow, sometimes excruciatingly so by modern standards, though this was contrived quite deliberately both for contrast with the sudden bursts of action and also to emphasize the dreariness and monotony of front-line sub-existence. Nonetheless, Milestone’s technique often seems uncompromisingly dated and this could prove a drawback for 2009 audiences.
Available on DVD through Universal. Quality rating: 10 out of ten.
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Pauline Starke (Katherine Keith), Harold Goodwin (David Keith), David Butler (Steve Butler), Evelyn Brent (Lola Nichols), Anne Cornwell (Florence Brown), Francis McDonald (Vic Johnson), Frank Beal (Judge Ashton), William Humphrey (Henry MacFarlane, David’s uncle), Bud Jamison (helpful motorist), Otto Hoffman (desk clerk).
Director: THOMAS BUCKINGHAM. Screenplay: Fred Jackson, Robert N. Lee. Based on the stage play by Lincoln J. Carter. Photography: Sidney Wagner. Executive producer: William Fox.
Copyright 13 March 1924 by Fox Film Corporation. U.S. release: 23 March 1924. No recorded New York opening. 7 reels. 6,316 feet.
Grapevine DVD, tinted, toned and stretch-printed, runs 82 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: This rather complicated but easy-to-follow plot deals with a sister’s many valiant efforts to save her brother from the gallows, despite all the attempts by the real criminals to prevent her reaching the Governor in time to prevent the scheduled execution.
COMMENT: A prolific writer of blood-and-thunder melodramas, Lincoln J. Carter specialized in railroad settings. Although his plays were not acclaimed by the critics (in fact they rarely opened in New York), they were extremely popular with touring companies before World War One. The Arizona Express was one of his most famous offerings, and here, considerably expanded, it has been brought to the screen with at least three times as many thrills.
Director Thomas Buckingham is another forgotten man who deserves to be re-instated. That The Arizona Express is so successful is due not only to its many edge-of-the-seat action highlights (all of them breathtakingly staged against real locations), but to the skill with which the movie has been cut and paced and to the fine acting Buckingham has elicited from his players. The only disappointment is Pauline Starke, who displays plenty of stamina but little charisma.
AVAILABLE on DVD through Grapevine. Quality rating: 8 out of ten. Presented on the original tinted stock, with a first-rate music score.
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Shirley Temple (Shirley), James Dunn (Eddie Ellison), Claire Trevor (Kay Ellison), Alan Dinehart (Welch), Ray Walker (Larry Scott), Dorothy Libaire (Jane), Ralf Harolde (Trigger Stone), James Flavin (Flannigan), Richard Tucker (Carson), Olive Tell (Mrs Carson), Paul McVey (Daniels), Howard Hickman (Blair), Eddie Hart (sergeant of detectives), Guy Usher (captain of detectives), Samuel S. Hinds (warden), Lillian D. Stuart (Annie), Mary Gordon (neighbor), One Reed, Garland Weaver, Marilyn Granas (stand-ins), Gordon Carveth, W. Laverick, Chic Collins (doubles), John Alexander (rag-picker).
Director: HARRY LACHMAN. Screenplay: Philip Klein, E. E. Paramore, Jr. Based on the stage play “Square Crooks” by James P. Judge. Photography: L. W. O’Connell. Art director: Duncan Cramer. Costumes: Royer. Songs by Bud Green (lyrics) and Sam H. Stept (music). Additional song by Lew Brown and Jay Gorney. Incidental music: David Buttolph. Orchestrations: Emil Gerstenberger. Stock music: J.S. Zamecnik. Dance director: Sammy Lee. Music director: Samuel Kaylin. Sound: George Leverett. Producer: John Stone. Executive producer: Winfield Sheehan.
Copyright 20 June 1934 by Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy, 29 June 1934. U.K. release: December 1934. Australian release: 1 August 1934. New Zealand release: 26 January 1935. New Zealand length: 6,955 feet. 77 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Ex-criminal Eddie Ellison (James Dunn) has a hard time going straight.
NOTES: Shirley Temple, acknowledged as the best juvenile performer of 1934, received a miniature statuette from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Awards Ceremony at the Biltmore Hotel, 27 February, 1935.
The stage play opened on Broadway at Daly’s on 1 March 1926, and ran a surprisingly successful 144 performances. Russell Mack starred as the jittery ex-thief who tries to go straight, although everything conspires to send him back to jail. The play was directed by Albert Bannister, and produced by Bannister in association with Elmer Powell.
COMMENT: Although this was Shirley’s 23rd film, it was her first starring vehicle at Fox, following her success on loan-out to Paramount for Little Miss Marker.
For many years, all prints of this film were thought to be lost as the original negative and master prints were destroyed in a laboratory fire in 1935. However, a projection print in good condition, with only about 3 minutes of footage missing, credit and end titles complete and only a few minor scratches throughout, has come to light and from this a dupe negative has been made. From this unpromising material, the present colorized but otherwise very satisfactory, digitally restored release prints derive.
Unfortunately, the film itself does not repay all this trouble, but at least it will not gain a totally undeserved reputation as a lost masterpiece by default.
Besides its curiosity value, Baby Take a Bow boasts a cast of seasoned players — all of whom over-act atrociously. There is some excuse for this theatricality, however, in view of the melodramatic nature of the script. The whole film resembles an enthusiastic but distinctly amateur stage production. In fact, the script makes few attempts, other than the intriguing opening sequence and the roof-top climax, to open up the action of the original stage play.
Harry Lachman’s direction, for the most part, is disappointingly routine. Lachman was (and is still regarded as) a most distinguished painter in the post-impressionist tradition, but there is nothing in this movie that betrays an artistic eye. True, L. William O’Connell’s photography does bring off a few attractively sinister effects with cross shadows on the faces of Ralf Harolde and Alan Dinehart, but otherwise the film has little visual appeal. In fact, production values generally are rather mediocre. In short, the Shirley Temple presented here isn’t half as attractive as she was to become in her succeeding Fox pictures.
It’s interesting to note that in overseas markets, such as England and Australia, neither this film nor Shirley achieved either a good press or box-office success. However, her next film, Now and Forever, in which she was billed third to Cooper and Lombard, proved to be a great money-spinner everywhere. [Available on DVD through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. Quality rating: 9 out of ten].
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James Dunn (Edward Collins), Sally Eilers (Dorothy Haley), Minna Gombell (Edna Driggs), William Pawley (Jim Haley), Frank Darien (Lathrop), Paul Fix, Irving Bacon, Eddie de Vorska (expectant fathers), George Irving (Dr Burgess), Edward Hearn, Lorin Raker (male nurses), Aggie Herring (seamstress), Louis Natheaux (Thompson), Sarah Padden (Mrs Gardner), Frank Austin (neighbor), Billy Watson (Floyd), Charles Sullivan (Mike).
Director: FRANK BORZAGE. Continuity and dialogue: Edwin Burke and Rudolf Sieber. Based on the 1928 stage play by Vina Delmar and Brian Marlowe from the novel by Vina Delmar. Photography: Chester Lyons. Film editor: Margaret Clancey. Art director: William Darling. Costumes: Dolly Tree. Producer: Frank Borzage.
Copyright 18 July 1931 by Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy, 14 August 1931. 8,046 feet. 89 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A year in the lives of two young married people in New York’s tenements. The movie has considerably changed both the plot and the title character of the stage play. Bad Girl is now a purely exploitive title. There is no “bad girl” in the picture.
NOTES: Feature film debut of Broadway stage star, James Dunn. (He had previously appeared in five movie shorts).
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected Frank Borzage for Best Directing (defeating King Vidor’s The Champ, and Josef von Sternberg’s Shanghai Express), and Edwin Burke for Adapted Screenplay (defeating Sidney Howard’s Arrowsmith, and Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde).
Bad Girl was also nominated for Best Picture (defeated by Grand Hotel), and was placed 4th in The Film Daily poll of U.S. film critics (after Cimarron, Street Scene and Skippy). It was selected by The New York Times as one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1931. The stage play opened on Broadway at the Hudson on 2 October 1930 and ran a very moderately successful 85 performances. Sylvia Sidney played the title role, while Paul Kelly did the husband. Marion Gering directed.
COMMENT: Love in Manhattan, as seen by that virtuoso of the romantic, Frank Borzage, who won the year’s most prestigious award, as did scenarist Edwin Burke. In the matter of popularity, the film elevated James Dunn and Sally Eilers to a plateau rivaling that of the resident Fox lovebirds, Gaynor and Farrell.
— Don Miller.
OTHER VIEWS: As Don Miller states above, Frank Borzage was not only Hollywood’s king of romance, but a superlative craftsman who could play on the strings of an audience’s emotions like a master violinist. His own temperament echoed the image of a confirmed sentimentalist. A quiet man, Borzage (pronounced “Bore-zaig/ie”, the “zaig” rhymes with “plague”) never raised his voice on the set and never drew attention to himself. Untutored visitors always assumed he was a script clerk or continuity assistant.
Yet any critic who writes a book on Romance in the Cinema will always place Borzage’s name at the top of the list. He really believed in what he was doing. In fact, he persisted in his adoration for Romance even when it was out of fashion. In this instance, of course, the movie struck a timely chord with Depression audiences.
Oddly, In the free-and-easy, pre-censorship Hollywood world of the early pre-code 1930s, Borzage and his very clever scriptwriters Edwin Burke and Rudolf Sieber cleaned up Delmar’s play, changing characters and plot to an enormous extent, even though there was absolutely no pressure on them to do so. They succeeded in making Bad Girl far more romantic, if almost equally realistic. In fact, it’s not the romance that seems artificial, but the occasional comic relief. In the stage play, the heroine, a little Bronx stenographer (Sylvia Sidney), is an unwed mother who is forced to marry a petty racketeer (Paul Kelly), whom she tries to reform.
The film “version” bears only one vague relationship to the stage play, namely the fact that two young people get married and settle down in a New York apartment. Otherwise, it is completely different in every respect. Mordaunt Hall in his review in The New York Times even goes so far as to state that the “only adverse criticism” he could make of Bad Girl was “its strangely unsuitable title.” He was being sarcastic, of course. He knew perfectly well how the title came about. He continues: “However, that is of small importance, for many a poor picture has boasted a good title.”
This must-see movie, is now available on a 10/10 Fox DVD set.
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Buster Keaton (Alfred Butler), Snitz Edwards (his valet), Sally O’Neil (his girl), Walter James (the girl’s father), Bud Fine (girl’s brother), Francis McDonald (Battling Butler), Mary O’Brien (wife), Tom Wilson (trainer), Eddie Borden (manager).
Director: BUSTER KEATON. Screenplay: Paul Girard Smith, Al Boasberg, Charles H. Smith, Lex Neal. Based on the book of the 1923 Broadway musical by Stanley Brightman and Austin Melford. Technical director: Fred Gabourie. Photography: Bert Haines and Devereaux Jennings. Electrical effects: Ed Levy. A Buster Keaton Production, presented by Joseph M. Schenck.
Copyright 30 August 1926 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. U.S. release: 19 September 1926. New York opening at the Capitol: 22 August 1926. 7 reels. 6,970 feet. 77 minutes.
COMMENT: Although robbed of its delightful songs by Douglas Furber (lyrics) and Philip Brabham (music), Battling Butler more than makes up for this unavoidable lapse by casting one of our favorite character players, Snitz Edwards, in a major role. He is wonderful; and it’s to Keaton’s credit, both as a fellow comic and as the director, that he allows Snitz to steal many of his scenes. In fact, Keaton and Edwards make a great comedy team. Except for one or two sequences, they don’t play against each other, they play with each other—a feat that is more difficult to bring off successfully.
Following the construction of the stage musical, the film splits neatly into two halves. Tom Wilson’s harassed trainer, who expertly pits himself against the seemingly hopeless Keaton, supplies much of the comedy in the second half until the star unexpectedly turns the tables in a grand climax especially written for the film. In the play, the McDonald character simply drops out and doesn’t return at all. It could be said that the stage musical actually ends on rather a limp note plot-wise, but this problem has now been cleverly licked.
Doubtless due to the fact that comic fight scenes have been done to death by just about every comedian you could name in sound films, Battling Butler is not wholly prized among Keaton addicts, but I regard it as one of his best outings.
AVAILABLE on DVD through Kino. Quality rating: 10 out of ten.
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Jack Pickford (Brooks Bailey), Emily Fitzroy (Cornelia Van Gorder), Jewel Carmen (Dale Ogden, her niece), Louise Fazenda (Lizzie, her servant), Sojin (Billy, another servant), Robert McKim (Dr Wells), Lee Shumway (assault victim), Tullio Carminati (Moletti), Arthur Housman (Richard Fleming), Eddie Gribbon (a private detective), George Beranger (Gideon Bell), Charles Herzinger (masked man).
Director: ROLAND WEST. Screenplay: Julien Josephson. Titles: George Marion, Jr. Adapted by Roland West from the 1926 stage play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, which in turn was based on the 1906 novel The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Photography: Arthur Edeson. Art director: William Cameron Menzies. Film editor: Hal C. Kern. Special effects: Ned Mann. Assistant directors: Frank Hall Crane, Thornton Freeland. Producer: Roland West.
Copyright 23 March 1926 by Feature Productions, Inc. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Mark Strand: 14 March 1926. 8,219 feet.
SYNOPSIS: A mysterious criminal, identified as “The Bat”, is at large in a cavernous but spooky old mansion leased to a wealthy spinster and her niece. A faithful but frenzied servant is also on hand. The niece attempts to introduce her lover, a bank teller suspected of embezzlement, into the household as a gardener because he believes the real criminal has hidden the loot in a secret room. Three detectives and a calculating doctor complicate matters.
NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Morosco on 23 August 1920 and ran a colossal 878 performances. Effie Ellsler starred as Miss Van Gorder, supported by Mary Vokes and Edward Ellis. The play was directed by Collin Kemper, who also co- produced with Lincoln A. Wagenhals. Mrs Rinehart adapted the play into a novel, The Bat, in 1926. Movie headliner Jack Pickford was Mary Pickford’s brother.
AVAILABLE on DVD from Alpha. Quality rating: 7 out of ten. See The Bat Whispers (next page) for Comments.
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William Bakewell (Brook), Una Merkel (Dale Van Gorder), Grayce Hampton (Cornelia Van Gorder, her aunt), Maude Eburne (Lizzie, her aunt’s servant), Spencer Charters (the caretaker), Gustav von Seyffertitz (Dr Venrees), Ben Bard (assault victim), Chester Morris (Detective Anderson), Hugh Huntley (Richard Fleming), Charles Dow Clark (Detective Jones), Richard Tucker (Bell), Chance Ward (police lieutenant), De Witt Jennings (police captain), Wilson Benge (the Bell butler), S.E. Jennings (masked man), Sidney D’Albrook (police sergeant).
Director: ROLAND WEST. Screenplay: Roland West, adapted from the 1926 screenplay by Julien Josephson, with titles by George Marion, Jr., based on the 1926 stage play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, which in turn was based on the 1906 novel The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Photography: Ray June, and Robert Planck (65mm version). Art director: Paul Crawley, based on the 1926 sets by William Cameron Menzies. Film editor: James Smith. Supervising film editor: Hal C. Kern. Music: Hugo Riesenfeld. Special effects: Ned Mann. Production manager: Helen Hallett. Assistant cameraman: Stanley Cortez. Make-up: S.E. Jennings. Assistant director: Roger Heman, Sr. Dialogue director: Charles Henry Smith. Special effects photography: Edward Colman, Harry Zech. Sound recording: J.T. Reed (director), Oscar Lagerstrom (technician). Producer: Roland West. Executive producer: Joseph M. Schenck.
Copyright 24 November 1930 by Art Cinema Corp. Released through United Artists: 29 November 1930. New York opening at the Rivoli: 15 January 1931. 7,991 feet. 88 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: With the exception of an enlarged role for Spencer Charters, the plot is more or less exactly the same as for the 1926 version. Even some of the dialogue is identical to the 1926 title cards (although no doubt it actually derives from the original stage play or even the 1906 novel).
NOTES: The play was re-made in 1959 by writer-director Crane Wilbur, who was hampered both by a small “B” budget and his own inherent lack of talent. The promising leads—Vincent Price as the two-faced doctor, Agnes Moorehead as Cornelia Van Gorder—were both let down by a script that generated neither excitement nor atmosphere.
COMMENT: I like the silent version best. This sound version is almost a frame-by-frame re-make, except oddly on a smaller scale. The sets are not as grand and Menzies’ thrilling touches of scenic inventiveness are often missing. What’s more, Mr West’s direction seems far less assured. Both sound and the big screen have slightly overawed him. Atmosphere, pace and audience involvement in the silent version are all superior to the sound (although admittedly the widescreen effect on audiences in a big theatre would have been quite overpowering).
Cast-wise, the silent version has it all over the sound re-make. True, Chester Morris is very effective, but the strength of his characterization is often due more to clever lighting than personal charisma. He had not yet evolved the personable tough-guy image he was to project in later films.
However, stage actress, Grayce Hampton, in her first sound film (in fact she had made only one previous movie appearance, and that way back in 1916) is certainly the equal of Emily Fitzroy. Oddly her excellent performance in what is virtually a starring role seems to have done little for her subsequent career. By 1933, she was reduced to playing bits.
As for an Una Merkel versus Jewel Carmen comparison, there is little to say except for the fact that Una doesn’t seem to be trying very hard to overcome Miss Carmen’s far greater curiosity appeal. Jewel was married to Roland West and Bat was her final film. (She divorced West in 1936).
On the other hand, as implied above, in the difficult role of the detective, Tullio Carminati outshines Chester Morris. Despite the fact that he’s robbed of his voice, he still makes his Moletti a really penetrating characterization, whereas Morris relies heavily on lighting and other atmospheric effects. And for comedy relief, Miss Fazenda easily contrived a much funnier Lizzie, while comic Eddie Gribbon similarly outclassed dull and dour Charles Dow Clark.
Nonetheless, it’s still a most fascinating early widescreen version (I love the film’s run-out music) and it’s available on DVD from Image. Quality rating: 9 out of ten.
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Wallace Beery (Oklahoma Red), Louise Brooks (Nancy), Richard Arlen (Jim), Blue Washington (Black Mose), H.A. Kewpie Morgan (Skinny), Mike Donlin (Bill), Andy Clark (Skelly), Robert Perry (The Arkansas Snake), Roscoe Karns (Lame Hoppy), Jack Chapin (Ukie), Johnnie Morris (Rubin), George Kotsonaros (Baldy), Robert Brower (Blind Sims), Frank Brownlee (irate farmer), Guinn “Big Boy” Williams (bread cart driver), Harvey Parry (hobo, and stunt double for Miss Brooks), Guy Oliver.
Director: WILLIAM A. WELLMAN. Screenplay: Benjamin Glazer, Jim Tully. Based on the 1924 novel by Jim Tully. Titles: Julian Johnson. Photography: Henry Gerrard. Film editor: Alyson Shaffer. Set continuity: Margery Chapin. Assistant director: Charles Barton. Producer: Benjamin Glazer. Executive producer: B.P. Schulberg.
Copyright 21 September 1928 by Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Presented by Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky. U.S. release: 18 September 1928. New York opening at the Paramount: 23 September 1928. 9 reels. 7,504 feet. 83 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: After murdering her step-father, a young lady flees to Canada with both the willing and reluctant aid of a group of hoboes.
COMMENT: Notable for its tautly realistic performances and unrelentingly downbeat atmosphere, Beggars of Life is put over with considerable power by director Wellman who makes the most of his location material with a real train on the San Diego-Yuma railroad. Although it’s hard to tell in the print under review, the photography by Henry Gerrard was also a potent ingredient; and certainly the remarkably astute film editing by Alyson Shaffer also aids both the film’s tight pace and its ability to grip the viewer. With her beguiling face and charismatic presence, Louise Brooks rivets attention as the wanted girl and even manages to outshine Wallace Beery who pulls out all his usual thespian tricks as a good badman.
AVAILABLE on DVD through Grapevine. Quality rating: 6 out of ten. (A worn and somewhat fuzzy print, but at least it’s presented on tinted stock—which is always a big plus).
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Chester Morris (John Morgan), Wallace Beery (Butch Schmidt), Lewis Stone (Warden James Adams), Robert Montgomery (Kent Marlowe), Leila Hyams (Anne Marlowe), George F. Marion (Pop Riker), J. C. Nugent (Marlowe), Karl Dane (Olsen), DeWitt Jennings (Captain Wallace), Mathew Betz (Gopher), Claire McDowell (Mrs Marlowe), Robert Emmett O’Connor (Sergeant Donlin), Tom Kennedy (Uncle Jed), Tom Wilson (Sandy, a guard), Eddie Foyer (Dopey), Roscoe Ates (Putnam), Fletcher Norton (Oliver), Adolph Seidel (prison barber), Louis Natheaux (Morgan’s lawyer), Eddie Lambert, Michael Vavitch (bits), Harry Wilson (inmate 46375), Chris-Pin Martin, Charles O’Malley, Edgar Dearing.
Director: GEORGE HILL. Screenplay: Frances Marion. Additional dialogue: Joe Farnham, Martin Flavin. Based on the 1928 stage play “The Big House” by Lennox Robinson. Photography: Harold Wenstrom. Film editor: Blanche Sewell. Art director: Cedric Gibbons. Sound: Robert Shirley, Douglas Shearer. Executive producer: William Randolph Hearst.
A Cosmopolitan picture, copyright 19 June 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. Jute mill scenes filmed at the Pacific Woolen and Blanket Works, Long Beach. New York opening at the Astor, 24 June 1930. U.S. release: 21 June 1930. 10 reels. 7,901 feet. 87½ minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Intolerable conditions lead to a prison riot.
NOTES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Frances Marion a statuette for Best Screenplay (defeating a very strong line-up: All Quiet on the Western Front, Disraeli, The Divorcee and Street of Chance), whilst Douglas Shearer (only) received a similar accolade for Sound Recording.
Also nominated for Best Picture (All Quiet on the Western Front was the winner), and Best Actor, Wallace Beery (losing to George Arliss’ Disraeli).
The movie made such an impact on professional reviewers, it scored Number 6 position on The Film Daily annual poll of critics.
The German and French versions were both directed by Paul Fejos, the Spanish version by Ward Wing.
COMMENT: An unremittingly grim prison drama, thanks to dialogue and characters that are extraordinarily realistic, abetted by the solid performances ace director George Hill elicited from his cast. The story is nothing if not fast-moving and, thanks to Hill’s powerful staging, it comes over with a terrific punch. Unsung cinematographer Harold Wenstrom’s atmospheric camerawork also rates as a major asset.
In such a uniformly excellent group of players, it seems a bit unfair to single out a few of the actors for special praise, but we simply must commend Wallace Beery and Robert Montgomery. The former has a typical role, which he puts over with customary yet fascinating force. Montgomery, on the other hand, essays a most untypical part — a cowardly stool-pigeon — which he limns so persuasively and convincingly, he easily overtakes Beery as the most unsympathetic character in the picture.
The Big House stands unchallenged as one of the most powerful prison movies ever made. It hasn’t dated one iota.
OTHER VIEWS: Yes, in many ways ahead of its time. Hard to believe that the marvelously realistic sound track was recorded by Douglas Shearer, and that the predominantly gray-toned sets are the work of Cedric Gibbons. Despite the familiarity of its themes and background, The Big House remains a totally riveting experience in 2008.
And as for that astonishingly effective performance by Robert Montgomery — totally unsympathetic — all we can say about the rest of his career (with perhaps four or five notable exceptions): What a waste!
Other players who deserve a special commendation include Chester Morris, in a made-to-order characterization (which he went on to repeat ad infinitum—with only a few exceptions—in his subsequent career), Leila Hyams and George F. Marion.
As the prison governor, Lewis Stone is far removed from his cracker-barrel Judge Hardy sinecure, and (as in his many other pre-Hardy movies—see The Notorious Lady later in this book) handles the powerful role convincingly.
Pleasingly, The Big House is currently on offer as a 10/10 POD commercial DVD release through the Warner Archive.
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Ralph Lewis (Joe Ryan, engineer), Jean Arthur (Grace Ryan, his daughter), George Chesebro (Bert Steele, his fireman), Sidney Franklin (Roadhouse Rosen, his friend), Hugh Allan (Jack Milford), Leon Holmes (Unhandy Andy), Missouri Royer (Jim Brennan).
Director: FRANK O’CONNOR. Screenplay: Frank O’Connor, from a scenario by Edward J. Meagher, based on a story by F. Oakley Crawford. Photography: Ray June. Producer: Renaud Hoffman. Executive producer: Sam Sax.
Copyright 28 September 1926 by Gotham Productions. Released through Lumas Film Corp.: 15 September 1926. 6 reels. 5,900 feet.
SYNOPSIS: A stop-at-nothing fireman has designs both on the engineer’s job and his daughter.
COMMENT: Although he appeared in well over 500 movies from 1915 through 1958, directed 23 films and wrote 7, Frank O’Connor is not a name well-known to cineastes. (Incidentally, he is NOT the Frank O’Connor who was married to Ayn Rand). To judge from this movie (but see also Devil’s Island), he is a talented director who can not only draw heart-warming yet convincing performances from his players, but get the best from his photographer, using both close-ups and tracking shots where warranted to provide both production values and thrills.
Here he also has the services of a first-rate cast. Jean Arthur comes across with all her usual appeal, Ralph Lewis repeats his engineer role from West-Bound Limited, Hugh Allan makes a personable hero, while George Chesebro presents a surprisingly handsome profile before he reverts to his usual villainous role.
The movie is not only must viewing for all railroad buffs (who will enjoy all the many on-location scenes of real trains thundering along real tracks), but an unexpected delight for movie fans generally. The screenplay is not only both convincing and fast-moving, but surprisingly well produced.
AVAILABLE on DVD through Sunrise Silents. Quality rating: 7 out of ten. (An ex-Kodascope Library print, skillfully condensed to 52 minutes).
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Tula Belle (the girl), Robin Macdougall (the boy), Edwin E. Reed (father), Emma Lowry (mother), William J. Gross (grandfather), Florence Anderson (grandmother), Edward Elkas (widow neighbor), Katherine Bianchi (sick daughter), Lillian Cook (fairy), Gertrude McCoy (Light), Lyn Donelson (Night), Charles Ascot (dog), Tom Corless (cat), Mary Kennedy (Water), Eleanor Masters (Milk), S.E. Potapovitch (Fire), Sammy Blum (Bread), Charles Craig (Sugar).
Director: MAURICE TOURNEUR. Screenplay: Charles Maigne. Based on the 1909 stage play by Maurice Maeterlinck. Film editor: Clarence Brown. Photography: John van den Broek. Sets and costumes designed by Ben Carré. Presented by Adolph Zukor.
Not copyright 1918 by Famous Players-Lasky. New York opening at the Rivoli: 31 March 1918. 81 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Two children set out to find the blue bird of happiness.
COMMENT: I much prefer the magnificent 1940 remake to this one. Admittedly, once the movie gets started (and its seems to take forever to get going), we are presented with some really magical sequences, despite Tourneur’s disappointingly static direction. Only three times does he enliven proceedings by moving his camera. On all other occasions, it’s up to the players and the lavish sets and special effects to stimulate the audience. Fortunately, the movie was obviously produced on an admirably large budget, and, by and large, the acting is most acceptable. In fact, the lead children are both charming and charismatic and it’s amazing to learn that Robin Macdougall made no other films at all. The neighbor’s sick daughter with the soulful eyes, Katherine Bianchi, also impresses.
AVAILABLE on DVD through Kino. Quality rating: 6 out of ten. Although presented in all the splendor of its original tints, the DVD has a surprisingly large number of important defects, including at least 20 minutes of worrying print deterioration, a missing scene of around 6 minutes in the middle of the film, and a concluding sequence that has almost totally dropped out except for three or four irritating freeze frames.
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James Dunn (Loop), Shirley Temple (Shirley), Judith Allen (Adele Martin), Lois Wilson (Mrs Blake), Jane Withers (Joy Smythe), Dorothy Christy (Mrs Smythe), Theodor Von Eltz (Mr Smythe), Charles Sellon (Uncle Ned Smith), Jane Darwell (Mrs Higgins), Brandon Hurst (Mr Higgins), Walter Johnson (Thomas, the chauffeur), Dave O’Brien (Tex), Frank Moran (truck river), Earle Foxe (bond man), James Flavin (pilot — “Paris”), Paul McVey (attorney — last to leave court), Wade Boteler (detective), Selmer Jackson (attorney on phone), Rodney Hildebrand (driver — death car), Sam Labrador (house boy), George Irving (judge), Sunny Ingraham (airplane passenger), Gardner James (radio operator), Sam Hayes (radio newsman’s voice) Robert Burgess, Crilly Butler, Russ Clark, Fred Crawford, Robert Dalton, David Field, Pat Flaherty, Phil Marshall, John McGuire, Harry McKee, Tom Murray, Steve Pendleton, Paul Swegler (aviators), Peter Potter (mechanic), Harry Strang (policeman), “Terry” (“Rags”, the dog), Marilyn Granas (Temple’s stand-in), Garland Weaver (Dunn’s stand-in).
Director: DAVID BUTLER. Screenplay: William Conselman. Original screen story: David Butler and Edwin Burke. Photography: Arthur Miller. Film editor: Irene Morra. Art directors: Duncan Cramer and Albert Hogsett. Costumes: Royer. Music director: Samuel Kaylin. Song, “On the Good Ship Lollipop”, by Sidney Clare (lyrics) and Richard A. Whiting (music). Dance director: Sammy Lee. Original music by David Buttolph. Stunts: Opal Ernie, Duke Green, Bruce Randall. Dog owner/trainer: Carl Spitz. Aeronautics adviser: Bob Blair. Sound recording: S.C. Chapman. Producer: Sol M. Wurtzel.
Copyright 28 December 1934 by Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall, 20 December 1934 (ran one week). Australian release: 13 March 1935. 7,741 feet. 86 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Miss Temple is the mascot of an aviation field.
NOTES: At its annual awards ceremony honoring pictures released in 1934, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave a miniature statuette to Shirley Temple, “in grateful recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during the year.”
COMMENT: Even in its mercifully cut to 70 minutes TV version, this slopping over with sentiment, impossibly contrived yarn, is a bit of a chore to sit through. As if the impossibly tedious plot were not imposition enough, David Butler’s direction never rises above the routine and pedestrian — and almost all the other behind-the-camera credits prove likewise tiresomely routine and solidly bereft of rousing any rounds of applause from even the most indulgent audience. Any such enthusiasm is reserved for Shirley herself, for the one bright spot in the technical department, is a favorite Temple song, “On the Good Ship Lollipop”, which Shirley delivers in her usual ingratiating style. (Why Sammy Lee receives a dance director credit in this version is a total mystery: All Shirley does is a tiny jig down the narrow corridor of an airliner).
The other players also strive valiantly to overcome script and technical shortcomings. Miss Temple is her usual perky self, James Dunn displays his customary charm, and it’s nice to see silent star Lois Wilson as Shirley’s mum (though it’s pretty easy to understand why her star slipped in the sound era. Nothing wrong with her voice, but she looks old, is unattractively photographed and costumed and, what is most important of all, she has little personality).
It’s good to see Charles Sellon in a meaty part (and he makes the most of it), but Jane Darwell has only a couple of tiny scenes (at least in this cut-down version).
Also presumably snipped away in this print are some of Judith Allen’s scenes. She makes a late entrance and while her role is by no means large, she certainly comes across as a delightful heroine. It’s also interesting to find Shirley’s film rival, Jane Withers, sharing many episodes with her. Jane is inspiredly cast as an atrociously spoiled brat — one of the most effective portrayals in the whole movie.
The rest of the supporting performers are equally competent — not a dud in the bunch. Aside from this solid acting, however, production values of Bright Eyes are very moderate.
AVAILABLE on DVD through 20th Century-Fox in its full theatrical version which, allowing for DVD’s 25 frames per second (versus the original movie’s 24 frames per second), runs a correct 83 minutes. Quality rating: ten out of ten.
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Bessie Love (Hank Mahoney), Anita Page (Queenie Mahoney), Charles King (Eddie Kearns), Jed Prouty (Uncle Jed), Kenneth Thomson (Jock Warriner), Mary Doran (Flo), Eddie Kane (Francis Zanfield), Edward Dillon (stage manager), J. Emmett Beck (Babe Hatrick), Marshall Ruth (Stew), Drew Demarest (Turpe), James Burrows (singer), James Gleason (music publisher), Ray Cooke (bellhop), Nacio Herb Brown (pianist at music publisher), Arthur Freed (song-plugger), the Biltmore Trio and Orchestra (themselves), Joyce Murray (lead dancer, “Painted Doll” number), Carla Laemmle, William Demarest (bits).
Director: HARRY BEAUMONT. Screenplay: Sarah Y. Mason. Dialogue: Norman Houston and James Gleason. Titles: Earl Baldwin. Original screen story: Edmund Goulding. Photographed by John Arnold. “Painted Doll” sequence photographed in (two-color) Technicolor. Film editor: Sam S. Zimbalist. Film editor for silent version: William Le Vanway. Art director: Cedric Gibbons. Costumes: David Cox. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Sound recording: Wesley Miller, Louis Kolb, O. O. Ceccarini and G. A. Burns. Associate producer: Lawrence Weingarten. Producer: Harry Rapf.
Musical ensembles staged by George Cunningham. Songs by Nacio Herb Brown (music) and Arthur Freed (lyrics) include: “The Wedding of the Painted Doll” (chorus); “Broadway Melody” (King); “You Were Meant For Me” (King); “Harmony Babies” (Page and Love); “The Boy Friend” (Page and Love); “Love Boat” (Burrows and chorus). Additional songs: “Truthful Parson Brown” (Biltmore) by Willard Robinson; “Give My Regards To Broadway” (orchestral) by George M. Cohan.
Copyright 5 March 1929 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. World premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (Hollywood), 1 February 1929. New York opening at the Astor, 9 February 1929. U.S. release: 6 June 1929. 10 reels. 9,372 feet. 104 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Crooner thinks he is in love with elder sister of two-sister act, but finds he is actually smitten with the younger. Unfortunately, she is pursued by one of the backers of his current Broadway show.
NOTES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences endorsed The Broadway Melody as Best Picture (defeating Alibi, Hollywood Revue, In Old Arizona and The Patriot).
Also nominated for Best Actress, Bessie Love (lost to Mary Pickford’s Coquette), and Best Directing (lost to Frank Lloyd’s The Divine Lady).
The first all-talking musical.
Second only to Disraeli in the 1929 Film Daily poll of U.S. film critics.
Negative cost: $280,000. Initial domestic gross: a whopping $4,000,000. (In 1929 the average admission price was 35¢, although the movie did roadshow at a few theatres at a top price of $2 before its general release.)
Re-made (in a considerably cleaned-up version) by MGM in 1940 as Two Girls On Broadway with Lana Turner, Joan Blondell and George Murphy.
The Broadway Melody title was so boxoffice hot, it was used again in 1936, 1938 and 1940.
Said to be the film debut of Charles King.
COMMENT: I once thought every man and his uncle liked The Broadway Melody. But I was mistaken. Mordaunt Hall in his contemporary assessment in The New York Times expressed himself unhappy with the verisimilitude of the characters. He didn’t like the Broadway slang, and as far as the film’s entertainment value went, he found the story “frequently a little trying on one’s nerves... It is a matter whether one likes to see and hear so much of the upsets of chorus girls and their ilk.”
Well, Mordaunt, the rest of us find chorus girls frankly super-fascinating. The main reason, of course, is that showgirls bare their hearts (along with the rest of their bodies). They’re not pretend people like everyone else. They’re quite happy (even eager) to let the whole world know how anxious they are to get ahead. Thus the little spitfire Hank Mahoney becomes a microcosm of everything we’d like to be ourselves: gutsy, pushy, unapologetically self-promoting, despite her pint-sized talent and miniscule gifts.
Bessie Love brings Hank to vibrant life. This was her only acting nomination in a screen career that started with a bit part in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and continued right through to 1983. It takes talent indeed to so effectively portray a feisty vaudeville artist with such a grossly exaggerated opinion of her own ability. When the Ziegfeld-like character peremptorily decides to cut her number, our sympathies are all with him. He’s dead right. Her act might go over okay in Hicksville, but on Broadway it signally lacks class, style and even a touch of elementary pizzazz. Yes, Bessie’s is a brilliant performance indeed, requiring just the right balance between aspiration and actuality. Although superbly calculated, her go-getting Hank almost always seems too natural and true-to-life. (It’s only when she breaks down and tearfully erases the make-up that artifice appears to get in the way. Oddly, this was the one scene that Mordaunt Hall liked. That’s sure a good example not only of the way acting styles change but of the way they impact upon and engage an audience. My daughter won’t watch any movies made before 1935. She doesn’t like the acting. “People don’t talk like that in real life!” she claims. That’s very true. But it happens to be equally true of today’s movies and television. The acting styles are totally different, yes. But our friends and neighbors still don’t talk that way in real life. We just imagine they do).
Anita Page, Hollywood’s reigning love goddess of 1929 (only Greta Garbo received more fan mail), remains an unqualified delight. She looks the part, she acts the part, and even her scratchy, uncultured voice is just perfect. Like Miss Love, she was unable to capitalize on her role. You can no more make a career portraying beautiful, untalented showgirls than you can feisty, untalented hoofers. Miss Page retired from films in 1936. Sixty years later, however, she made a comeback, appearing in Sunset after Dark (1996), The Crawling Brain (2002), and Bob’s Night Out (2004).
Oddly, the one genuine vaudeville talent in our star trio, Charles King, (he of the ingratiating voice and charismatic manner), had the shortest Hollywood career of all. He made his debut in this film, then joined Marion Davies in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s disastrous Five O’clock Girl which executive producer William Randolph Hearst halted and scrapped when he didn’t like the rushes. A bad omen. King never repeated his success in Broadway Melody. He played himself in a brief appearance in The Hollywood Revue (1929), then starred in Climbing the Golden Stairs, Chasing Rainbows, Remote Control, Oh Sailor Behave (all 1930) and Ladies Not Allowed (1932). And that was it. Seven films. Count them. He died in 1944. To add insult to injury, King’s film credits are often confused with those of that delightfully stiff-as-a-board, cult western heavy, Charles King, whose legendary incompetence has charmed generations of fans.
Jed Prouty’s hilariously timed impersonation of a tongue-struck booking agent never fails to bring down the house. He was later to star as the patriarch of the Jones Family in a top-grade 20th Century-Fox comedy series that is now, alas, completely forgotten, despite its high production values and clever scripts.
Eddie Kane, who appeared in more than 150 movies in mostly uncredited walk-ons as headwaiters and the like, has his best role ever here as the imperial Ziegfeld-like impresario, surrounded by his yes-men, issuing orders right, left and center.
Director Harry Beaumont, a veteran of the silents, managed the transition to sound with elegance and style whilst most of his contemporaries were floundering. Yet in a few short years, his career was virtually over (though he continued making the odd “B” movie now and then right up to 1947).
The Broadway Melody initiated Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s all-talking features. Therefore it was produced with even more finesse than the studio usually lavished on its entertainment offerings. As the world-acknowledged leader of the motion picture industry, studio head Louis B. Mayer was determined not to be outdone or outshone by any other studio. If audiences wanted the novelty of sound, M-G-M was going to sock it to them in truck-loads. And, wow! What a track! Whilst the visuals are not always as innovative, catchy or emotionally rousing as the sound, oddly the only real visual disappointment lies in the Technicolor insert, “The Wedding of the Painted Doll”. Miles removed from a Busby Berkeley number, the choreography is too static to garner much audience interest, especially in current prints where the number is disappointingly presented in washed-out black-and-white.
DVD available through Warner Home Video. Quality rating: 9 out of ten.
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Colleen Moore (Mary Ellis), Johnnie Walker (George Colton), Alice Lake (Bubbles Revere), Tully Marshal (Barney Ryan), Kate Price (Lydia Ryan), Creighton Hale (an unsuccessful Broadway would-be), Anthony Merlo (Tony Guido), Arthur Stuart Hull (Barry Peale), Freeman Wood (Frank Huntleigh).
Director: IRVING CUMMINGS. Screenplay: Hope Loring and Louis Duryea Lighton. Suggested on the 1917 stage play by James Kyrle MacCurdy. Photography: James Diamond. Film editor: V.H. Hellikson. Assistant director: Charles Woolstenhulme. Producer: Irving Cummings.
Not copyright by Irving Cummings Productions. U.S. release through States Rights exchanges: July 1923. 6,600 feet.
SYNOPSIS: Two room-mates struggle for success on Broadway,
COMMENT: It’s always a pleasure to see the lovely Colleen Moore in action. Even when handed a script that wanders all over the place, Miss Moore still manages to shine. Mind you, it’s not really the sort of role we like to encounter her in, because the character she plays is so colorless, she’s forced to let the rest of the cast walk all over her. It’s really a Johnnie Walker and Alice Lake movie, even though George and Bubbles have little in common and few scenes together. In fact all the acting is excellent. The direction is always reasonably competent and like all Mr Cummings’ movies shows occasional flashes of brilliance. The script is the problem. A flashback is a suspenseless device to start with. But just as it seems to settle down into its conventional formulas of rags to success, virtue is its own reward and the price of fame is body and soul, it switches all of a sudden into a half-baked murder mystery which is then quickly and most unconvincingly resolved. And at this point the script-writers unexpectedly decide to substitute subtlety and brevity for the detailed exposition of previous scenes. The flashback ends and the main plot is then breathlessly wound up by a minor support player!
AVAILABLE on DVD through Sunrise Silents. Quality rating: 10 out of ten. A beautiful print on tinted stock in original aspect ratio.
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William Powell (Philo Vance), Louise Brooks (Margaret O’Dell), James Hall (Jimmy Spotswoode), Jean Arthur (Alice LaFosse), Eugene Pallette (Sergeant Heath), E.H. Calvert (Markham), Charles Lane (Charles Spotswoode), Oscar Smith (stuttering desk clerk), Lawrence Grant (Cleaver), Gustav von Seyffertitz (Dr Lindquist), Louis John Bartels (Louis Mannix), Ned Sparks (Tony Skeel), Tim Adair (George Y. Harvey), Margaret Livingston (voice of Margaret O’Dell).
Directors: FRANK TUTTLE, MALCOLM ST. CLAIR. Story and dialogue: S.S. Van Dine. Based on his 1927 novel, adapted by Albert Shelby DeVino. Screenplay: Florence Ryerson. Titles for silent version: Herman J. Mankiewicz. Film editor: William Shea. Photography: Harry Fischbeck, Cliff Blackstone. Costumes designed by Travis Banton. Music: Karl Hajos. A Malcolm St. Clair Production. Executive producers: Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky.
Copyright 15 February 1929 by Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. U.S. release (on tinted stock): 16 February 1929. New York opening at the Paramount: 10 March 1929. 7 reels. 7,171 feet. 79 minutes.
COMMENT: When Paramount decided to re-make their unreleased 1928 silent, The Canary Murder Case, as a talkie, they faced two problems. The first was that the charismatic title star, Louise Brooks (pictured above), had accepted an offer to work in Germany and refused to return. She and Paramount had parted on bad terms because the studio refused to honor her contract. The second problem was that director Mal St Clair begged to be excused as a director (although he was willing to continue as a producer) as he had no knowledge of sound technique. So Frank Tuttle—who also had no experience with sound whatever, but was willing to put his head on the line—was engaged to direct the talkie.
In order to get around the Brooks problem, the studio wheeled in a double, Margaret Livingston. Not only did Miss Livingston dub the Canary’s voice (in a Brooklyn accent yet!) but also substituted visually in a few back-to-the-camera long shots.
So what we now have is a movie in which all the Brooks close-ups (in fact all the shots which show her face), plus at least one short clip in a hotel corridor and maybe the long shot of the dancing chorus in the theater (and perhaps the location snip of the speeding car), were directed by Mal St Clair, whereas the rest of the action was handled by Frank Tuttle. A major headache for the editor indeed, and he is to be commended for a sterling job of work under extremely difficult circumstances. By the ultra-smooth standard of Hollywood productions, the pacing is odd, the cutting unrhythmical and even jarringly abrupt at times, but at least the narrative still makes sense.
Aside from Miss Livingston, the players do wonders with the not very convincing dialogue supplied by novelist S.S. Van Dine himself. Oddly, Eugene Pallette copes best, giving a typically hearty impersonation of Sergeant Heath.
On the other hand, William Powell seems a little unsure of his characterization at this early stage of his talkie career—he had already made his sound debut as the star of Interference (1928)—and is often content merely to rattle off his lines.
The rest of the players are competent enough, if a little too theatrical at times, though comedian Ned Sparks seems miscast as a ruthless thug and Jean Arthur’s fans are in for a considerable shock not only by the paucity of her part but by the most unattractive way she is presented and photographed.
All things considered, however, the film comes across as more than a mere curiosity. It not only bolsters the Brooks legend, but, if nothing else, it also presents a murder mystery that is not only reasonably intriguing but ingeniously solved.
AVAILABLE on DVD from Sunrise Silents. Quality rating: 8 out of 10. Happily, it’s presented, as originally released, on tinted stock.
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Hobart Bosworth (Jeremiah Judkins), Baby Peggy Montgomery (Captain January), Irene Rich (Isabelle Morton), Lincoln Stedman (Bob Peet), Harry T. Morey (George Maxwell), Barbara Tennant (Lucy Tripp), John Merkyl (Herbert Morton), Emmett King (John Elliott), Joseph North (Morton butler).
Director: EDWARD F. CLINE. Screenplay: Eve Unsell, John Grey. Based on the 1891 novel by Laura Elizabeth Richards. Photography: Glen MacWilliams. Art titles: William J. Sackheim. Assistant director: Robert Ives. Executive producer: Sol Lesser. Principal Pictures.
Not copyrighted. A Principal Pictures release. New York opening at the Strand: 6 July 1924. 6,194 feet.
SYNOPSIS: A lighthouse keeper adopts a little girl whom he finds washed ashore, tied to a spar.
NOTES: Re-made in 1936 by 20th Century-Fox as a Shirley Temple vehicle.
COMMENT: This picture hails from the old Kodascope Library. The movie was so extraordinarily popular that when I rented the film the original amber print had long since worn out and had been replaced by a black-and-white reversal with lots of tram lines and other signs of wear. Although I’d hoped for sepia, this beat-up old black-and-white copy, alas, is the print used by Grapevine for their DVD release. You could argue that even a 7/10 copy is preferable than no print at all, but this is the sort of movie that gives silent pictures a bad name. Hobart Bosworth with his ridiculous fright wig comes across as an unmitigated ham, while Baby Peggy with her boyishly straight hair and pudgy, irregular features, makes a somewhat unattractive, if talented child. Fortunately, the support cast, led by the lovely Irene Rich, proves more interesting, and Cline’s direction makes the most of some effective locations and seascapes. A few of the studio sets (the winding lighthouse stairs) are also compelling, and I loved the picturesque title cards. All told, the movie is reasonably well produced. But as for the sentimental sludge of a story which totally lacks both logic and credibility…