Tweet New MGM Silent Premiere on TCM in June

Finally after over two years TCM is debuting a new Silent from the MGM Library. Frank Bozage's THE CIRCLE (1925) with Eleanor Boardman, Malcolm McGregor and Creighton Hale. Of course it also has Joan Crawford in the prologue, un-billed in one of her first films. Scheduled to run on the 17th as part of Silent Sunday's. I like this movie myself, but I know that allot of people here don't think much of it. So what do you think of this being the first choice of MGM titles for a new scores since THE MAGICIAN in March of 2010?

So what do you think of this being the first choice of MGM titles for a new scores since THE MAGICIAN in March of 2010?

I think you're lucky to get it, my friend.

Michael,

It will be interesting to see who did the score. It's probably just piano, (budget cuts), but who knows? Most people Silent fans, probably have not seen this movie. So it is a good choice in that regard. While I praised it a few years back, I recall one lady who gave the picture a particularly scathing review on her site. This rather surprised me. I thought she would like it. Myself, I found the film clever, witty, and fun. Even charming. Though it is largely about cheating on your spouse, and Martial Infidelity. Or at least the prospect there of. In the opening prologue, Joan Crawford actually runs off with her husbands best friend! Leaving her baby son behind her and not looking back!

THE CIRCLE is a relatively short feature. So I was checking the schedule to see if another short MGM Silent feature wasn't airing right afterward. No such luck.

An early Frank Borzage silent, an early Joan Crawford performance, with a script from a play by Somerset Maugham. And on top of that, we just might see it in the Warner Archive around Christmastime. What's not to like?

It's great news. Remember when it was on YT a little over a year ago and got taken off, right at the time I joined. But anyway George Fawcett and Eugenie Besserer play the roles John Drew(uncle of the Barrymore trio) and Mrs. Carter played on Broadway in 1921. There's a great pic of Drew and Mrs. Carter in the play in D. Blum's PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE (*any of the volumes)

Thank you, sir. May I have another?

Bob

I'm looking forward to this turning up soon over here on TCM UK.

Probably a silly question, but is it unusual that this film even exists? How many 1925 MGM films are there? Why does this one survive and others don't, even taking into account the variables of nitrate decomposition?

Okay, I feel better now.

I like Eleanor Boardman, but I would rather they show one of these: The Viking, Annie Laurie, or The Fair Co-ed. Speaking of Boardman, is this pic from a film?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eleanorboardman_3.jpg

Wait, if that glass slide is correct, this aint an MGM picture. It's just an MG picture.

I thought this one was Creighton Hale's best performance- or at least one time they took his usual stuffed shirt character and really used it for laughs. The rest of the cast is fine Eugene Besserer and George Fawcett are in great form and get to be both grotesque and touching. Even Malcolm MacGregor is decent, and I've never been able to understand just what the studio saw in him. The ending is a bit of a cop out- Maugham's conclusion was ditched in favor of a Hollywood ending, but it's tolerable.

I like Eleanor Boardman, but I would rather they show one of these: The Viking, Annie Laurie, or The Fair Co-ed.

You could also throw in Tod Browning's The Show and West of Zanzibar for good measure. Maybe these will make it to the Warner Archive around Halloween.

By the way, the last TCM silent premiere, Rex Ingram's The Magician, was also based on a Somerset Maugham novel.

Probably a silly question, but is it unusual that this film even exists? How many 1925 MGM films are there? Why does this one survive and others don't, even taking into account the variables of nitrate decomposition?

There were a total of 42 MGM films that were released or premiered in 1925, and all but 12 or so still exist. MGM kept its library together a bit better than most other studios and performed a significant preservation job on its extant material in the 1970s. There are still more than 70 Metro, Goldwyn and MGM silents that TCM could/would air but for the lack of a score.

-HA

Well, If it was going to be a film with Eleanor Boardman, I would have preferred King Vidor's PROUD FLESH (Also, 1925). I have never seen it in a good print, and this would have gotten another Vidor Silent out there.I'm also a big fan of WINE OF YOUTH (1924). Great cast, with Eleanor, Ben Lyon, Billy Haines, and Pauline Garon. Really a defining and prototypical Jazz Age movie. Just delightful. The music though in the first three scenes has to be very specific. As in each instance we are told what the band should be playing.

Mitch,

Warner Archive has three other Chaney's they could have released. THE BLACKBIRD, TELL IT TO THE MARINES, and WEST OF ZANZIBAR that already have scores. Warner's must be holding on to those for something better. Maybe we will still get WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS yet as well.

There are still more than 70 Metro, Goldwyn and MGM silents that TCM could/would air but for the lack of a score.

Thanks for the info! It seems so sketchy what manages to survive and what doesn't, even at MGM. I wonder how and why those dozen went missing. I had no idea so many silents were lacking scores--you would think it'd be a great business for pianists to create some sort of serviceable score to at least get such films out of limbo.

Great to see more silents in the rotation on TCM. I'm still hoping for John Stahl's MEMORY LANE from 1926 a First National film also starring Boardman with William Haines and Conrad Neagle. It's exists at Warners. Terrific film.

:Warner Archive has three other Chaney's they could have released. THE BLACKBIRD, TELL IT TO THE MARINES, and WEST OF ZANZIBAR that already have scores. Warner's must be holding on to those for something better. Maybe we will still get WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS yet as well.

Hopefully they also have something better in mind for The Scarlet Letter and The Wind. I wonder if there might be rights issues with the reconstructed Greed. If that's so, why can't they release the theatrical version? It's been released on VHS; I've seen it on TCM. Some might like to have the shorter Greed in preference to the reconstruction, when and if it ever comes out on disc. I haven't seen The Blackbird or Tell It to the Marines. Maybe The Blackbird will come out in a Tod Browning set.

There are still more than 70 Metro, Goldwyn and MGM silents that TCM could/would air but for the lack of a score.

-HA

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Is there are list of these titles anywhere?

I had no idea so many silents were lacking scores--you would think it'd be a great business for pianists to create some sort of serviceable score to at least get such films out of limbo.

It's also a case of the amount of work that needs to go into transferring the film, too.

I had no idea so many silents were lacking scores--you would think it'd be a great business for pianists to create some sort of serviceable score to at least get such films out of limbo.

Hey, we're working on it! But don't ask us to do them all at once, or we'll be out of work in 2013.

Get AIR to score them all, with ironclad score exclusivity contracts.

WOW I am curious I wonder if TCM Silent Sunday night going get good again

For a film that should be so reliant on dialogue it comes over quite well (I haven't had the chance to see the 1930 remake STRICTLY UNCONVENTIONAL for comparison pruposes). Creighton Hale's shirt is quite stuffed in this one but at least he comes through in the end. Poor Malcolm McGregor seems to be one of those gellows like Johnny Mack Brown who was hired on due to his looks but everyone realized a bit late he was in over his head in the acting department. George Fawcett steals the show though, not difficult as he steals every movie I've ever seen him in.
I hope TCM keeps kicking the silent screenings into higher gear again. Even from MGM itself there are many other films just from 1925 alone that have yet to see the light of day. I'd love to see more of a cross-representation of their output too. I don't think a Tim McCoy western has screened yet, nor have any of the Dane and Arthur team-ups (who doesn't love Karl Dane?). Lew Cody was a major star for the studio in the late 1920's but all we ever see him in is the occassional supporting role. Even on TCM the poor guy remains little more than an historical footnote. It's unfair we don't get the chance to check out these flicks!

Malcom MacGregor does an acceptable job acting in SMOULDERING FIRES and LADY OF THE NIGHT, but he was just terrible in A MILLION BID. It looks as if his credited career limped in into the 30's. He burned to death at age 52 apparently smoking in bed.

Don't forget this film is tonight on TCM! Is there any info on who did the musical score? I have not heard anything.