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"The Squaw Man" (1914) was another of those pictures that I had heard about and wanted to have a look at about 50 years before I was finally given the opportunity.

First off, I must say that the Western genre is not top of my list when it comes to selecting something to look at. I think I left Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers et al to my very young days attending the Saturday matinees. Also, funnily enough, I first saw Dustin Farnham in a talking picture before I saw him in a silent.

"The Squaw Man" is talked of as an important picture - but on now having looked at it, I'm blowed if I know why? The background story as to who "The Squaw Man" was seemed to bear a great deal of resemblance to that of "Tarzan" Both it seemed were English noblemen deigned to spend their lives in some place other than a stately home in old Blighty.

The picture was very plodding and the story titles only popped up to give one a very sketchy background in this very implausible melodrama. I found it quite hard to follow at stages as to what was actually happening and why. I suppose dropping off at one stage for a couple of minutes didn't help matters much either.

The acting was of the traffic signal variety with a lot of pointing going on. Generally I found the picture very so-so and was surprised that it was a de Mille picture. To think that just a year later a film such as "Where Are my Children" could be made - which to me - showed a great deal more sophistication in film-making.

Donald Binks wrote: "The Squaw Man" is talked of as an important picture - but on now having looked at it, I'm blowed if I know why? The background story as to who "The Squaw Man" was seemed to bear a great deal of resemblance to that of "Tarzan" Both it seemed were English noblemen deigned to spend their lives in some place other than a stately home in old Blighty.

Not having watched my copy yet, I guess THE SQUAW MAN'S importance is mainly as the first / one of the first Hollywood features and a popular one at the time. Also, in that DeMille had two more cracks at the story, in 1918 and 1931. None of them have much of a reputation now, though there is clearly interest in the beginnings of DeMille's career and that of seeing a feature film which is a century old.

Donald Binks wrote:"The Squaw Man" is talked of as an important picture - but on now having looked at it, I'm blowed if I know why?...

A waste of time, when one could be watching for the 10th time with undiminished delight DeMilles like Why Change Your Wife? or Affairs of Anatole.

I finally got around to watching my Blu-Ray of "Nosferatu". It's still the greatest vampire film ever made and the copy is beautiful. Also liked the documentary on Murnau and the making of the film (even though the commentator stated that "Der Januskopf" was Bela Lugosi's film debut-which it wasn't).
Also watched the Grapevine "Prince and the Pauper" from 1920. It seemed to missing some scenes; in fact, I suspect the whole next to last reel is gone. Even so it was an entertaining and very faithful adaptation of the Mark Twain novel.
Henry Nicolella

Right, The Squaw Man is historically notable as the first feature made in Hollywood, and as DeMille's. I think it's far from great, but entirely watchable, which is an achievement in itself; story flaws are not DeMille's fault and weren't flaws at the time (as noted, it's a common sort of plot for the time, similar to things like Beau Geste or The Moonstone). The 1918 version is lost, the 1931 one is out from Warner Archive. Here's a clip:

The '31 offers, at least, a much better looking "squaw."

Watched The Navigator Saturday morning on the TCM Classic Cruise ship with our own Rodney Sauer and the Monte Alto Orchestra playing wonderful accompaniment. I attended Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde two days earlier as well.

I would have introduced myself to Rodney but the orchestra exited behind the stage and I never saw him elsewhere for the rest of the cruise.

The Navigator started with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo as they have been the corporate owners of the film for decades, but of course the actual film was made when the studio was just Metro Goldwyn. I don't think I've ever seen a logo for Metro Goldwyn; did such a thing exist ?

I believe I've seen it on something early 20s, possibly indeed Lady of the Night as shown here:

http://annyas.com/screenshots/updates/t ... wyn-mayer/" target="_blank

Robert W wrote:
The Navigator started with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo as they have been the corporate owners of the film for decades, but of course the actual film was made when the study was just Metro Goldwyn. I don't think I've ever seen a logo for Metro Goldwyn; did such a thing exist ?

GREED

entredeuxguerres wrote:

Donald Binks wrote:"The Squaw Man" is talked of as an important picture - but on now having looked at it, I'm blowed if I know why?...

A waste of time, when one could be watching for the 10th time with undiminished delight DeMilles like Why Change Your Wife? or Affairs of Anatole.

A trifle harsh (though have only seen WIFE twice [at theatrical showings] and ANATOL is still on the waiting list). A single viewing of THE SQUAW MAN would at least satisfy curiosity, though one may not wish to see it again for a while...

earlytalkiebuffRob wrote:...ANATOL is still on the waiting list...

If it's the Image edition (even though the score isn't as marvelous as that of Mont Alto for Why Change Your Wife), a great pleasure awaits.

entredeuxguerres wrote:

earlytalkiebuffRob wrote:...ANATOL is still on the waiting list...

If it's the Image edition (even though the score isn't as marvelous as that of Mont Alto for Why Change Your Wife), a great pleasure awaits.

Not having a Region 1 player yet, my copy is a download, from YT, I think. I can't recall if it has a music track, but it looks like a decent copy...

Yesterday I must have attended the 'de-luxe' performance as the full orchestra was in attendance for “TheTrail of ‘98” (1928). I was told it was a Western – so I wasn’t particularly looking forward to having to sit through it. I shouldn’t take notice of what people tell me – as I would not class it as a western – more of an adventure story. I wonder though, did Dolores del Rio have anything to do with the film gaining my attention? I thought it was a well told story, was paced well and carefully crafted too for the silent screen. There was high drama which as usual at that time was matched by some moments of comedic relief. I am pleased to say that a lot of this was not the usual banality – but quite in keeping with the picture. Karl Dane and George Cooper carried all this out to good effect. Ralph Forbes was an effective hero and Harry Carey equally effective as the villain. Both men seemed to have a thing for Dolores del Rio - so do I.

The picture certainly impacted the feeling of being there with all these people and the scenes were quite graphic as to scenery displayed. There were also some extremely dramatic scenes mainly towards the end of the picture which were very well done.

There were other scenes in this picture where an older guy befriended an adolescent boy and helped him abscond to the Klondike. He was looking after him in a “very caring way”. Of course it was all innocent but I couldn’t help thinking that today the older man would have been labelled a pedophile. Sometimes in our earnestness to do what we think is right, we just go overboard.

Going back to the orchestral accompaniment, I feel it was contemporary to the picture having I suggest been placed on a "Movietone" soundtrack. Usually singing in the middle of a silent picture irritates me - and at one point a soprano warbles part of the main 'love theme' of the picture. These accompanied Ralph Forbes - and did I tell you Dolores Del Rio was also in the picture? Thankfully I didn't find this too jarring - nor a male choir adding to the martial music used during the 'trekking' scenes. All in all the music was splendidly chosen and added to the overall enjoyment - and I did notice some of the musical jokes as my heard is full of old tunes.

I can recommend this picture as I think I could recommend anything that Dolores Del Rio may be in.

Today I am off to the psychiatrist to see if he can attend to a fixation I have lately succumbed to.

A new one on me, SAILOR'S HOLIDAY (1929) is a shore-leave comedy with sailors Alan Hale and pal George Cooper joining forces with Sally Eilers, whom they mistake for a con artist as she is really looking for her brother as opposed to putting the squeeze on them. It appears to be a silent version of a talkie, as there is an excessive number of titles, particularly in the opening scenes, which are exasperatingly slow. When our heroes are ashore, things improve somewhat, especially as there are some very attractive ladies to attract the sailors' attention. Hale and Cooper seem almost to be presented in a Laurel and Hardy mode, probably reinforced by memories of TWO TARS and MEN O'WAR. Much of the film is taken up with their attempts to escape the Shore Patrol, although the general effect is more silly than funny.

Much of the acting is in the silent tradition (the director was Harold Lloyd regular Fred Newmeyer), so it is not clear yet how much of it was originally talking, tho' there is an organ soundtrack which sounds contemporary. More interesting than entertaining, though Miss Eilers makes a very agreeable female lead. And technical credits include Joseph Kane and Arthur Miller, who would move onto bigger things than this Pathe outing. And watch out for a small unbilled bit from Slim Summerville. According to IMDB Randolph Scott is there somewhere, but I didn't spot him

earlytalkiebuffRob wrote:Another incomplete, but amazing survival from Oscar Micheaux, THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED (1920) features a light-skinned black girl travelling to claim her inheritance. and automatically falling foul of a mulatto hotel-keeper ashamed of his heritage and determined to do the dirt on any black person he encounters. Fortunately her new neighbour is friendly and helpful, though hides his true feelings, believing her to be white. Meanwhile, both of them encounter adversity from a villainous ex-preacher, an Indian fakir and a couple of horse-thieves, who combine to cheat the neighbour by fair means or foul. The foul means is by threats and an attack by the villains disguised as Ku Klux Klan members. Unfortunately, there is some missing footage here, and it is unclear what exactly happens to these horrid individuals.

It's difficult to be entirely fair here, as some of the plotting is a bit uneven in places, but how much of this is due to the writing and how much to the missing footage is impossible to guess, as the ending as it stands comes over as a bit unconvincing. Entertaining and interesting as well as showing Micheaux's use of villainous blacks as well as good ones.

I saw this one several months ago. I wish we had more of Micheaux's work to evaluate. This is honestly my least favorite of his three surviving silents, but it does at least show aspects of black life that mainstream Hollywood wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot pole. The theme of the light-skinned heroine who turns out to be black is a kind of wish-fulfillment for Micheaux, since, according to the biography Oscar Micheaux: The Great And Only, he had fallen in love with a white woman but didn't marry her because of the racial climate at the time. It's a really interesting read.

CJBx7 wrote:

earlytalkiebuffRob wrote:Another incomplete, but amazing survival from Oscar Micheaux, THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED (1920) features a light-skinned black girl travelling to claim her inheritance. and automatically falling foul of a mulatto hotel-keeper ashamed of his heritage and determined to do the dirt on any black person he encounters. Fortunately her new neighbour is friendly and helpful, though hides his true feelings, believing her to be white. Meanwhile, both of them encounter adversity from a villainous ex-preacher, an Indian fakir and a couple of horse-thieves, who combine to cheat the neighbour by fair means or foul. The foul means is by threats and an attack by the villains disguised as Ku Klux Klan members. Unfortunately, there is some missing footage here, and it is unclear what exactly happens to these horrid individuals.

It's difficult to be entirely fair here, as some of the plotting is a bit uneven in places, but how much of this is due to the writing and how much to the missing footage is impossible to guess, as the ending as it stands comes over as a bit unconvincing. Entertaining and interesting as well as showing Micheaux's use of villainous blacks as well as good ones.

I saw this one several months ago. I wish we had more of Micheaux's work to evaluate. This is honestly my least favorite of his three surviving silents, but it does at least show aspects of black life that mainstream Hollywood wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot pole. The theme of the light-skinned heroine who turns out to be black is a kind of wish-fulfillment for Micheaux, since, according to the biography Oscar Micheaux: The Great And Only, he had fallen in love with a white woman but didn't marry her because of the racial climate at the time. It's a really interesting read.

Agreed on 'The Great and Only'. Not having seen any Micheaux until recently, I ordered a copy some months ago, and most engrossing it is too. Scholarly, but not dry or aridly academic, it certainly merited a place on my bookshelves and is very useful to those for whom early black cinema has been a closed book until now.

Robert W wrote:Watched The Navigator Saturday morning on the TCM Classic Cruise ship with our own Rodney Sauer and the Monte Alto Orchestra playing wonderful accompaniment. I attended Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde two days earlier as well.

I would have introduced myself to Rodney but the orchestra exited behind the stage and I never saw him elsewhere for the rest of the cruise.

I'm sorry about that! I strolled about quite a bit, and met quite a few people, and I'm sorry I missed you. You may not have recognized me when I wasn't wearing concert black! Did you enjoy the films?

Unfortunately, with all of our instrument cases backstage, we did need to bow and walk off after the show, but a few minutes later we came back to collect our musical scores and stand lights and to talk to people in the audience. I'm always happy to talk, so if this comes up again, please hang out for a minute! (I'll also admit that after a performance like Jekyll and Hyde, which is a pretty demanding score that we ran without an intermission, my brain may not be functioning at top speed right after the show.)

Several people said I should have given a talk on silent film scoring as part of the cruise, at which it would be much easier to answer questions and chat with people. I'll bring it up with the organizers if we do this again.

I had a great time with the talkie films, especially the "Film Noir" series, since I'm somewhat of a novice in that category. And being able to watch these films introduced by people who star in them gives me some idea of what it must have been like to attend silent film festival screenings in the 1960s and 1970s when many actors and directors were still around. My wife was able to chat with Ann Blyth and her daughters about Mildred Pierce.

The main "Walt Disney Theater" on the ship was excellent, with a hydraulic orchestra lift that kept our stand lights off the screen during the show, yet brought us up for bows after the performance. The architecture of the theater is modeled on the L.A. Art Deco style we're familiar with from vintage movie palaces (as is much of the ship, though occasionally "cartooned up" a bit). And the Disney and TCM tech people really have their act together and were highly professional, using correct aspect ratios and black masking for all of the various films. The exception was the "outdoor by the pool" screenings, where the resolution of the digital LED screen was lower than optimal, but I still enjoyed Mr. Roberts, Cover Girl, and the finale to It Came from Beneath the Sea out under the sky on deck chairs.

Although the Walt Disney theater had 35mm projection originally, they are now doing only digital. That said, I thought it looked fantastic: no visible pixellation, good sound, and plenty of brightness. And, anyway, as one projectionist told me, "I think George Eastman House wouldn't have loaned us 35mm prints anyway... probably the first rule in valuable archival prints is: Don't send them out to sea in a ship."

I think the overall selection of films was perhaps slightly "safer" than at the TCM Festival in Hollywood, but the more "contained" nature of shipboard life meant that you really could run into James Karen or Eddie Muller in the coffee shop, everything was in walking distance, and you could easily wander into any film that interested you without needing to get in long lines and show ticket passes. We'd do this again in a heartbeat.

[/quote]I'm sorry about that! I strolled about quite a bit, and met quite a few people, and I'm sorry I missed you. You may not have recognized me when I wasn't wearing concert black! Did you enjoy the films? [/quote]

I wasn't until The Navigator that I caught your name during the introduction, so there was very little time left on the cruise to run into you since we docked on Sunday. Loved the films, and have always made a point of attending the titles with live accompaniment that TCM has programmed on all of their land and sea festivals. I attend al the TCM Festivals, so next time hopefully I can say hello.


P.S. Thanks to Mike and Jazzman for the Metro-Goldwyn info !

That cruise sounds fabulous!

In the meantime, there are lots of films online these days, here are brief notes on a few i've seen recently

Silks and saddles (1921)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEuQlwKKo8k" target="_blank
Routine horse racing film, though being Australian makes it a novelty. It would be nice to have a lot more horse, though. The leading lady is cute and the older suitor was sympathetic but the rest of the cast is pretty nondescript. There is an aboriginal character, unfortunately named Dingo. Pretty good print for youTube.


Lorraine of the Lions (1925)
http://youtu.be/SLnQO50vfqo" target="_blank
Entertaining jungle flick. Little girl from a circus and her animal friends escape a sinking ship and she grows up to be Patsy Ruth Miller in a scanty jungle dress. Guy in an ape suit wrestles a dead alligator. Her rich grandfather turns to mysticism to find her and is helped by failed mystic Norman Kerry. They find her on an island and she insists on bringing the ape back with her to San Francisco. There's comedy about her inappropriate behavior. Harry Todd has a part as a comic villain lawyer. Should be Lorraine of the Apes, as there isn't much of lions but lots of that special ape who is increasingly upset about not having Lorraine to himself anymore. Have to admit Kerry does fill out jodhpurs and a shirt quite nicely but he still has that revolting mustache. This was enjoyable.


Maciste in the lion's Cage (1926)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8G0UQeevrs" target="_blank
Maciste captures lions for a weird circus/floor show. He rescues a woman in light blackface from slavers and she stows away with him. At first she seems likes she's going to be this dumb fawning racist character, but she adapts well and makes herself useful around the circus--and eventually (SPOILER) ends up with the owner's son, so nice to see miscegenation wasn't taboo in Italian films. There is some intrigue with the circus which i couldn't understand with the Dutch titles, but there was plenty of action so not understanding the motivation wasn't a great loss. Maciste can't really act but he's fun, smoking his pipe and grimacing. He gets to beat up the evil strongman and get his shirt ripped, which is good because clothes just make him look fat.

Maciste contro lo Sceicco (1926)
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... yan+tinlin" target="_blank
Edited down to 33 minutes with Italian narration. On a ship, has a friend, and some woman ends up on the ship and they protect her from the other sailors, but they get her and sell her to Arabs, so Maciste and his friend have to try to rescue her. Lots of fighting. Dumb fun.

Reckless Youth (1922)
http://tinyurl.com/nzfilms" target="_blank
With Elaine Hammerstein plus Constance Bennett, Niles Welch, Huntley Gordon.
This was described as a cautionary tale for flappers starring but could just as well be a cautionary tale for men. The somewhat dimwitted heroine is rebelling against the strict elderly relatives she lives with, so when a rich guy moves nearby, she shows up on his doorstep and says she's running away to the city. He decides to be chivalrous and marry her, so she gets to live in a rich house and buy lots of clothes but refuse to sleep with him so maybe she's not so dumb after all. Since the heroine isn't very sympathetic and the leading man is naive beyond belief, i didn't find it particularly enjoyable. I can't say that Elaine Hammerstein is very compelling but it could just be the part. Missing the first reel.


By might of his right (1914).
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... right-1915" target="_blank
Mrs. Drew's obnoxious college ra-ra brother comes to visit and annoys Sidney, who arranges a little plot with a boxer to get rid of him. Not one of their best, but amusing, and a nice print.


A Window on Washington (1913)
Florence Turner, Charles Kent, Courtenay Foote, Leo Delaney, Tom Powers
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... -park-1913" target="_blank
Pretty good Vitagraph, kind of like The Passerby except the old guy's daughter ran away from home and he's spent years looking for her. Courtney Foot is made up to play Kent's younger self, but apparently not that much younger. One of Kent's better performances, Foote, not so much.


Special Delivery (1927)
http://youtu.be/qB0v4AqNHZY" target="_blank
Eddie Cantor, Jobyna Ralston and William Powell
Routine plot but good for a couple laughs. Cantor has lots of gags as a postman, plus some fun with a life sized doll at a party. He does his little dance steps a lot, plus a full-scale eccentric dance when he wins a dance contest after getting ice down his back. He improvises an evening suit a-la Clara Bow in It. Powell plays the baddie but doesn't have enough to do. Not a very good print.


Hoffmanns Erzählungen (1915)
http://youtu.be/unIz7weEUz4" target="_blank
This gets off to an interestingly paranoid beginning with the young Hoffman being menaced by his father and Dapurtutto (Krauss) as his mothers' apparent lover, Coppelius as an alchemist who wants to steal his eyes, and Dr. Miracle who makes his benefactress dance to her death with his violin. After that it's a fairly ordinary telling of the story, except for some comic byplay with Olympia's hoop skirt.

reel two of THE RAGAMUFFIN.
http://europeanfilmgateway.eu/node/33/d ... Ragamuffin" target="_blank
This looks like it could have been pretty good. Sweet looks unusually petite here. She's working with a couple criminals, who have her break into a righ guy's house. He catches her but doesn't call the police. She takes his picture with her, quits the gang, and gets a job in a dress factory but apparently they all get fired or something. As the reel ends, a little boy steals something and hides in her room and the police are coming after them. Would sure like to seethe rest!


S1(1913)
http://europeanfilmgateway.eu/node/33/d ... h0LTEtNA==" target="_blank
directed by Urban Gad with Asta Nielsen and Charly Berger.
Not sure what's going on (spy thing maybe?), but it's a great print and Asta is always engaging, even though she seems to be just having fun. Some parts are more like a travelogue. Asta isn't shy about taking off stockings and hauling up her skirt to wade in the waves. Stripes everywhere. Ends in a crazy patriotic fervor. German titles.


Defying Destiny (1923)
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... stiny-1923" target="_blank
Monte Blue plays a guy from the wrong side of the tracks with a scarred face who is humiliated by the small town swells. He leaves town and has plastic surgery, and returns with an unscarred face and Norman Kerry's mustache, and is luckily unrecognized by the people he'd been around all of his life as he plots to turn the tables on them. Not bad but could have been better. Irene Rich is an odd choice for the young heroine, not that she isn't always a pleasure to have around. Russell Simpson as the rival has such a severe face that he looks like he should be at Keystone.


The Hidden Way (1926)
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... n-way-1926" target="_blank
Two incredibly naive women take in 3 ex-cons and an unwed mother. Familiar story but generally a solid programmer, though it does get a bit treacly at times, especially when Mary Carr is around. Tom Santschi and Ned Sparks are the standouts in the cast.


Mazeppa,der Volksheld der Ukraine (1918)
http://europeanfilmgateway.eu/node/33/d ... er+Ukraine" target="_blank
With Werner Krauss. Ponderous historical drama. Of course that's kind of unfair since i couldn't read the Dutch intertitles, but without them it's just a bunch of guys in really big mustaches who talk a lot and read a lot of letters. The costumes are kind of interesting, though. I never even got to figure out why he got tied to the horse, that was just a fairly short flashback sequence in the middle of the film. Good print, looks like expensive production.

greta

I actually enjoyed Reckless Youth, but I admit I had to view it with a larger cultural filter on to find the value. For me it was an interesting transitional film straddling the Victorian/Edwardian mores of those simpler times to the looser (and far more entertaining) ethos of the Roaring '20s. That said, at the reptilian brain level I did enjoy the boat sequence, as the oily brother was appropriately creepy. It was painful to watch her desperately cuckolded husband though.

Thanks also for the tip on S1, will be watching that later today as EFG is actually working for me on that one, so time to strike while the video loads.

--Peter

I just saw the silent version of Hitchcock's "Blackmail" as the first showing of the Hitchcock 9 in Toronto tonight. The presentation was excellent with live piano, and the picture was pristine. I much prefer the talkie version however, and greatly missed the knife dialogue in the breakfast scene. The ending although it shows the same footage is open to interpretation and you are not sure if the boyfriend knows. It also kind of ends up in the air.

Showed Harold Lloyd's Hot Water to an appreciative audience, age range from 9-80, at last night's Halloween party. It just proved what we all knew about Lloyd: his films should never be watched alone. Even his "second-tier" silents come alive with an audience.

TerryC wrote:I much prefer the talkie version however, and greatly missed the knife dialogue in the breakfast scene...

Entirely agree--most compelling scene in picture. (Except, of course, Anny in her underwear.)

Last night, I went to MOMA to see two Baby Peggy films: Miles of Smiles (1923), a short comedy, followed by The Family Secret (1924). These were being shown as part of MOMA's 12th annual "To Save and Project" film preservation festival.

I quite enjoyed The Family Secret. It's pure typical 20s melodrama, but that's the sort of thing I enjoy. One surprise was the quality of the production; I always had in my head that Universal in the 20s was pretty weak when it came to production for the most part, so this was a bit surprising to me. The lead actress, Gladys Hulette, was beautifully photographed. Also a treat to see a Universal from that era in (for the most part) 35mm.

Not hard to see why Baby Peggy was popular. She was adorable! Great natural charisma, and they seemed to know how to use her to maximum effect. So wonderful that she's still with us today.

An enjoyable little film.

A double bill of silents in NYC today.

First up was the Film Forum debut of WHY BE GOOD? And it didn't disappoint. I am somewhat of a Colleen Moore novice, having only seen her in the surviving clips of FLAMING YOUTH (where she was unbelievably charming) and in HER WILD OAT (a good film but didn't quite blow me away). In this one, Colleen came to life for me; I finally got what all the hype was about. She was vivacious, cute, sexy, charming, charismatic... in short, all the adjectives you could conjure. A fun film, great soundtrack, a good story, a nice print... worth picking up from Warner Archive if you can't catch it live. I'll certainly be back next week for SYNTHETIC SIN.

The film was preceded by a recently restored short, MANHATTAN SERENADE, which featured Nina Mae McKinney and others in some lively Technicolor numbers.

After that, it was off to MOMA for BARE KNEES. George Willeman from the Library of Congress introduced the movie, and noted that the sole surviving print (which LOC restored) came from a private collector. Whoever that collector is, God bless you sir! This was a real treat. The first 15-20 minutes of this one were as funny as anything I've seen in a long time. And then it settled into your typical flapper comedy/melodrama - albeit a very entertaining one. Virginia Lee Corbin was great. A shame she died so young, and it appears that so little of her work survives.

Seeing these two films in the same afternoon, the key takeaway for me wasn't the wonderfulness of the flapper film, but rather how great the efforts have been of those in film preservation to save these works, restore them, and get them back out there to enjoy. Thanks to the Vitaphone Project, the LOC, and everyone else who makes Sunday afternoons like this possible.

I saw Why be Good? At Film Forum last night, and enjoyed it thoroughly. This must be the epitome of Roaring Twenties flicks—and just about the last one, too, pre-Crash. At the risk of repeating what’s already been said, this film is a delight, with great Deco sets, a peppy jazz score, lots of slangy wisecracks, and Colleen Moore, front and center. She’s adorable, and last night’s crowd loved her. I was there with friends, and afterward we marveled at the amazingly clean print. If there was so much as one splice or jump along the way, I sure didn’t catch it. It was also striking that the use of sound was fairly sophisticated for the time; for instance, during the first party sequence, when two characters break away from the crowd and speak privately in one of the rooms with the doors closed, the music gets softer in a subtle way, and then, when they return to the action, gradually louder. And we all enjoyed the scene where two young men, quite drunk, sing “Sweet Adeline,” and their wobbly singing is approximated by a couple of horn players on the soundtrack.

Last night’s screening was introduced by Ron Hutchinson of the Vitaphone Project, along with Joe Yranski, who was instrumental in getting the film restored and back in circulation. Mr. Yranski knew Colleen Moore, and told some good stories about her. In her last years, it seems, she had an African American butler who was quite flamboyant. (Shades of the stage musical, La cage aux folles.) On occasion, when he would camp it up excessively, she would say: “There’s room for only one queen around here, and that’s me!”

I watched The Hangman's House a couple of days ago and really enjoyed it. It was a good story and well-directed by Ford, I thought. The depiction of the Irish countryside was beautifully done, and contributed much to the mood of the film.

This is the first time I had seen either Earle Foxe or Victor McLaglen. Foxe made an excellent most weasley villain. I liked the little smirk he would get on his face when contemplating something evil. His character reminds me somewhat of Raymond Hatton as John Tremble in The Whispering Chorus, both in appearance and behavior.

I also really liked Victor McLaglen in the role of Citizen Hogan.

Just saw Chaplin's The Kid (1921) on Hulu+ as part of the Criterion Collection. The image was nice and crisp, and it featured Chaplin's original music. Quite funny in parts, touchingly sad in others, and overall charming, except I didn't care for the whole "angels and devils" dream sequence. They have quite a few other Chaplin selections as well, featuring many of his shorts and his other features, even A Woman of Paris.

>Colleen Moore ... she had an African American butler who was quite flamboyant ... she would say: “There’s room for only one queen around here, and that’s me!”<

Shades of the Tallulah Bankhead story:

(Friend): "Um, Tallulah - is that aid of yours, you know... homosexual?"

(Ms. B): "I don't know, dahling - he's never sucked my c**k!"

I finally got to watch SO'S YOUR OLD MAN (1926) with W.C. Fields. I knew that Fields' later YOU'RE TELLIN' ME! was based on this silent, but was still surprised to see just how many details that were identical in the two films. Several of the most memorable lines from the latter film first turned up in this silent version, on cards ("Is my husband dead?"). Also surprised to see how slim and fit Fields appears here, compared to just a few years later (his physical decline was fast, sadly). I enjoyed it a lot, perhaps Fields' funniest silent, to me. YOU'RE TELLIN' ME! is definitely the stronger version, though; Fields' golf routine isn't quite the same without his ad-libs.