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Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 1:29 pm
by buskeat
It's the Year of Priscilla Dean! Announced by Kino on Facebook today.
Drifting (1923) and White Tiger (1923)
Directed by Tod Browning
Starring Priscilla Dean and Wallace Beery
After the runaway success of Outside the Law, director Tod Browning re-teamed with star Priscilla Dean on Drifting, another hard-boiled crime picture flavored with Orientalism. Set in a remote Chinese village, and staged on an epic scale, Dean stars as Cassie Cook, an opium trafficker caught between an undercover government agent (Matt Moore) and a fellow smuggler (Wallace Beery). Dean may have been the star, but it is Anna May Wong (age eighteen and on the brink of stardom), who steals the show during the film’s fiery climax.
An early attempt by Browning to infuse the crime melodrama with elements of the uncanny (spurring the evolution of the American horror film), White Tiger involves a band of jewel thieves who employ a chess-playing automaton to gain entry into the homes of the wealthy. But their elaborate plans are haunted by omens, and they seem doomed to an inescapable fate. This disc also contains the only surviving footage of Browning and Dean’s 1919 The Exquisite Thief, one of the key films in establishing Dean’s persona as the glamorous jewel thief.
Special features:
• Drifting 4K Restoration by George Eastman Museum
• Audio commentary for Drifting by film historian Anthony Slide
• Musical score by Anton Sanko
• Audio commentary for White Tiger by film historian Bret Wood
• Musical score by Andrew Earle Simpson
• Fragment of the “lost” Tod Browning/Priscilla Dean film The Exquisite Thief
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:39 pm
by Salty Dog
White Tiger also includes Raymond Griffith in a supporting role.
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 3:11 pm
by alicefaye
White Tiger involves a band of jewel thieves who employ a chess-playing automaton to gain entry into the homes of the wealthy.
I wonder, is this where Charlie Chan In The Wax Museum got the idea from? I always found the chess-playing dummy aspect to be a bit of a sore thumb.
Otherwise, White Tiger sounds particularly fascinating, a little more so than Drifting. I must say I've learned more about the world of silents as a part of this community than I ever did reading about them.
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:36 pm
by Frame Rate
alicefaye wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 3:11 pm
I wonder, is this where Charlie Chan In The Wax Museum got the idea from?
The original inspiration was a real-life, historical scam that reportedly "checkmated" such VIP's of yesteryear as Ben Franklin and Napoleon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk
Two terrific French films (1927 and 1938) were later based on a popular 1926 novel that also fictionalized the invention and exploitation of the deceptive contrivance. The silent was restored by Brownlow & Gill and the talkie recently came out on a French DVD.
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:45 pm
by alicefaye
Frame Rate wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:36 pm
The original inspiration was a real-life, historical scam that reportedly "checkmated" such VIP's of yesteryear as Ben Franklin and Napoleon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk
Two terrific French films (1927 and 1938) were later based on a popular 1926 novel that also fictionalized the invention and exploitation of the deceptive contrivance. The silent was restored by Brownlow & Gill and the talkie recently came out on a French DVD.
Fascinating! Thank you for a little history lesson. I feel as though I'd read about this contraption somewhere before but not in enough depth to really remember it. It makes the Turk's appearance in that Charlie Chan movie more sensible as well, as the entire titular museum's naturally based around historical personages both famous and infamous.
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:11 pm
by bgp
Loving these Kino announcements as of late!
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 5:27 pm
by DavidWelling
Woo-hoo!!!! I'm in for anything with Priscilla Dean. This here is a double dose. I've seen White Tiger, and yes, the bonus of getting Raymond Griffith in the film makes it especially good. Kino, keep them coming!
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 8:14 am
by silentsaregolden
Salty Dog wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:39 pm
White Tiger also includes Raymond Griffith in a supporting role.
Supporting role, yes, particularly since Priscilla Dean was the bigger star at the time. But I’d like to suggest he should be elevated to a little higher status as “costar” in this one since his screen time and contribution to the film are equal to Dean’s. It’s an excellent film, and Griffith is superb in this dramatic role.
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:01 pm
by silentfilm
Universal didn't think much of
White Tiber (1922) when it was filmed. It was shelved for about a year before it was released. It was a freelancing, non-comedy role for Griffith.
Re: Drifting/White Tiger from Kino Classics
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:55 pm
by Jim Roots
A small point of interest: White Tiger is the film in which Griffith uses accurate Sign language to say (falsely, for story purposes), "I'm deaf."
He also uses a few other signs in this film, but without the guidance of Granville Redmond (as he had for You'd Be Surprised), they are mostly either gibberish or fake. Seeing that clear "I'm deaf", though, is an electrifying moment for those of us who are.
Jim