Were sound re-issues of silents in the 1930's successful?

[Frederica]

Well, they say Tyrone Power, Joe Louis, two of her skating partners, and three hubbys!

In real life she may have been hot stuff, but on screen she's up there with June Allyson among the least alluring stars ever.

I always wondered who June Allyson appealed to, I find her career inexplicable. (I haven't spent all that much time ruminating on Sonja Henie, and I intend to keep up the good work). Was Allyson marketed to women? If she was, the marketing missed me by a mile.

[earlytalkiebuffRob]

I don't think it is really fair to compare the addition of a soundtrack for 1930s reissue with colorisation. The main problems would be with cropping, deletion of scenes and projection at an incorrect speed. I recall a Polytechnic showing of Griffith's WAY DOWN EAST was preceded by a statement that it was the 1930 re-issue and that it would be shown without the sound so we could experience the film as it was meant to be shown! Luckily the film survived this foolish mistreatment.

As 'silent' films were usually shown with music and sometimes sound effects, it seems pedantic to quibble over this. What is important, surely is the quality of the presentation. Also, one's experience of these films without soundtracks would vary from cinema to cinema and print to print.

And regarding the 1939 TUMBLEWEEDS, which I enjoyed, my only grouch was the condition of the film. Was it taken from a worn print, or was the 1939 print on the rough side? I would guess the former, and would hope that better material is extant.

[Jim Reid]

I have 16mm prints of the 1931 MGM re-release versions of The Big Parade and Ben-Hur. There's some differences in content (especially with Ben-Hur) but since both were such late silents they look perfectly fine at 24fps.

[Changsham]

Well, they say Tyrone Power, Joe Louis, two of her skating partners, and three hubbys!

In real life she may have been hot stuff, but on screen she's up there with June Allyson among the least alluring stars ever.

I always wondered who June Allyson appealed to, I find her career inexplicable. (I haven't spent all that much time ruminating on Sonja Henie, and I intend to keep up the good work). Was Allyson marketed to women? If she was, the marketing missed me by a mile.

More likely marketed as good wife material for boring men.

[Frederica]

I always wondered who June Allyson appealed to, I find her career inexplicable. (I haven't spent all that much time ruminating on Sonja Henie, and I intend to keep up the good work). Was Allyson marketed to women? If she was, the marketing missed me by a mile.

More likely marketed as good wife material for boring men.

Really? Hunh. Wouldn't all that perky become painful after a while? But whatevs, back to sound re-issues.

[Daniel Eagan]

I always wondered who June Allyson appealed to, I find her career inexplicable. (I haven't spent all that much time ruminating on Sonja Henie, and I intend to keep up the good work). Was Allyson marketed to women? If she was, the marketing missed me by a mile.

More likely marketed as good wife material for boring men.

Really? Hunh. Wouldn't all that perky become painful after a while? But whatevs, back to sound re-issues.

To a certain subset, perky = banked fires.

That subset might wonder, or hope, that Allyson's screen persona wrestled with sublimated desires because her outfits always seemed a size too small.

[Frederica]

More likely marketed as good wife material for boring men.

Really? Hunh. Wouldn't all that perky become painful after a while? But whatevs, back to sound re-issues.

To a certain subset, perky = banked fires.

That subset might wonder, or hope, that Allyson's screen persona wrestled with sublimated desires because her outfits always seemed a size too small.

Really?? Banked fires? (Boggle.)

[Harlett O'Dowd]

I always wondered who June Allyson appealed to, I find her career inexplicable. (I haven't spent all that much time ruminating on Sonja Henie, and I intend to keep up the good work). Was Allyson marketed to women? If she was, the marketing missed me by a mile.

I always thought of June Allyson as part of Mayer's utopic vision of andy-hardyish Americana. Safe and comforting in a way that Lawrence Welk was safe.

I admit I find her OK in a couple of musicals but haven't seen - or looked for - much of her film catalog.

[entredeuxguerres]

...That subset might wonder, or hope, that Allyson's screen persona wrestled with sublimated desires because her outfits always seemed a size too small.

It's been pointed out to me (something I'd never have noticed myself) that for the modern miracle of bust enhancement, she had no need.

[Mike Gebert]

andy-hardyish Americana

First time I read that as anhedonia-ish, which works too.

[radiotelefonia]

Rare poster for a Jackie Coogan silent film reissue in Spain from 1953. I don't know what is the film (it is also unknown by sites that have being selling the more conventional poster) although I did manage to get an exact exhibition date.

HOJA OFICIAL, Monday, May 18, 1953 (Barcelona, Spain)

[Brooksie]

It looks like Eric Hoyt has recently written an interesting looking book on the topic of theatrical reissues. Here's the description from the website (http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520282643) - there is also a sort of video introduction/summary at http://vault.commarts.wisc.edu:

Hollywood Vault is the story of how the business of film libraries emerged and evolved, spanning the silent era to the sale of feature libraries to television. Eric Hoyt argues that film libraries became valuable not because of the introduction of new technologies but because of the emergence and growth of new markets, and suggests that studying the history of film libraries leads to insights about their role in the contemporary digital marketplace.

The history begins in the mid-1910s, when the star system and other developments enabled a market for old films that featured current stars. After the transition to films with sound, the reissue market declined but the studios used their libraries for the production of remakes and other derivatives. The turning point in the history of studio libraries occurred during the mid to late 1940s, when changes in American culture and an industry-wide recession convinced the studios to employ their libraries as profit centers through the use of theatrical reissues. In the 1950s, intermediary distributors used the growing market of television to harness libraries aggressively as foundations for cross-media expansion, a trend that continues today. By the late 1960s, the television marketplace and the exploitation of film libraries became so lucrative that they prompted conglomerates to acquire the studios.

The first book to discuss film libraries as an important and often underestimated part of Hollywood history, Hollywood Vault presents a fascinating trajectory that incorporates cultural, legal, and industrial history.

Interesting that a distinction is made between reissues (driven by exhibitors) and revivals (driven by studios); not a factor I had considered before.

[buckley]

Rare poster for a Jackie Coogan silent film reissue in Spain from 1953. I don't know what is the film (it is also unknown by sites that have being selling the more conventional poster) although I did manage to get an exact exhibition date.


It might be Peck's Bad Boy(Coogan, 1921, directed by Sam Wood).