What's The Last Silent Movie You Watched? [2020]

[R Michael Pyle]

After having refreshed my memory of "Moulin Rouge" (1928) a couple of nights ago, last night I put in "Piccadilly" (1929), also directed by Ewald André Dupont, and starring Anna May Wong, Gilda Gray, Jameson Thomas, Cyril Ritchard, King Hou Chang, and others, including Charles Laughton in an uncredited bit in his first film, and even Ray Milland, Jack Raine and John Longden in uncredited and nearly unrecognizable parts. The cinematography was again done by Werner Brandes, and this time he outdid himself, as this is one of the most beautifully filmed silent films in early British cinema. As a side note, Brandes' filming of moving shadows becomes a recognizable trademark, just a tad artsy-fartsy, but beautiful nevertheless. The film begins at the Piccadilly, a club, from lunch time through the long hours of the night, where the dance team of Mabel (Gray) and Victor (Ritchard) wow the crowds day after day. Victor leaves (actually, he was going to be fired anyway!) for New York, and he thinks Gray will go with him. She won't. She's contented to be the star at the Piccadilly, plus she actually loves Jameson Thomas who runs the club. But there's a problem in the scullery... The problem is young Anna May Wong, a Chinese girl. She's about to be fired when Thomas has a brainstorm. He's sort-of-seen Wong dance...and now he gives her a chance to prove herself. Needless to say... But - she has ambition, too. Oh, and she has a friend, Jimmy (Chang), whom she demands come with her as her musician. But what also comes to the fore is the underlying force of jealousy. It rears its head in places we don't quite see places altogether - yet. The filming of this theme of jealousy is done in subtle, but constant increments, and photographically like a series of stills that stick in the mind while the fluidity of film advances. What constantly amazes in the film is the mise-en-scene, a capturing of place and scene and social standing that seem to be known by the director and cinematographer well. The viewer in the 21st century can feel a sense of place and time past that's like viewing a history book on film.

The ending may yet come as a surprise to many viewers. It won't to others who've seen such things on film for decades. It's extremely well done. Anna May Wong is magnificent. The viewer can't take eyes off of her when she's on screen. Gilda Gray's no slouch, either. She has a chiseled face that is put to good use for the camera by Brandes. Jameson Thomas plays a genuine 20's British overcivilized humbug who's more of a cad than we realize at first, but who can be boring at times. He played the part for years on film. The worst this film should rate would be 8/10. I'd give a 10/10, but not everyone will be as wowed as I am by this film. My print is beautifully restored and toned with some light tinting here and there, too - gorgeous.

[R Michael Pyle]

"The Soul of Youth" (1920) would be laughed off of the screen by any seven year old drug pusher today. Any thirteen year old street boy today would wince, then sneer and walk away from such a film. The problem is, any street youngster of 1920 would have wrinkled up his face and mocked the film, too. Yet the film is actually quite a marvel. It's storytelling is not only compelling, but very much worth the watch, not only when it was made, but still today. There are not only as many, but more youngsters from 7 to 15 who have no parents and are treated without love, without respect by surrounding society, and without hope by most, TODAY, as there were then. William Desmond Taylor - best known by his own unsolved murder - with the writing of Julia Crawford Ivers and real-life then legendary youth judge Ben Lindsey (who plays himself in the film) - tried to not only bring attention to the problem inherent in many orphan children of his time, but did it with a veneer of entertainment and a story that looked at things most people in the theater went to the theater to get away from. He was most successful! This 100 year old story isn't just a naive, exploitative exposé; rather, it very seriously attempts to show what the put-upon, unloved child of 100 years ago was exposed to. For its day, it's gritty. Lewis Sargent, the 16 year old star of the show, plays a dirty, tough 14 year old whose veneer is hard as nails, but whose insides are screaming for what he comes to discover is genuine love, not the kind of infatuation two people attracted to each other have, but the love of people for their fellow human beings. Sargent is supported by Ernest Butterworth, Jr. in a part equally touching. The side story of political corruption that begins and ostensibly ends this film has Clyde Fillmore, Grace Morse, Lila Lee, William Collier, Jr., and Claude Payton as the participants. It's a stale story, but well told anyway with the inclusion of Sargent and Butterworth helping to bring its storyline to a successful conclusion.

This film appears on American Film Treasures III on volume I. I bought this set when it first came out in 2007, but I've not watched but perhaps 1/5th of its contents. Shame on me. It's a golden gate to some very fine entertainment. This particular set is devoted to social issues of the early twentieth century and has over 50 films, shorts and features, on 4 volumes, and includes a commentary booklet.

[Big Silent Fan]

After having refreshed my memory of "Moulin Rouge" (1928) a couple of nights ago, last night I put in "Piccadilly" (1929), also directed by Ewald André Dupont, and starring Anna May Wong, Gilda Gray, Jameson Thomas, Cyril Ritchard, King Hou Chang, and others, including Charles Laughton in an uncredited bit in his first film, and even Ray Milland, Jack Raine and John Longden in uncredited and nearly unrecognizable parts. The cinematography was again done by Werner Brandes, and this time he outdid himself, as this is one of the most beautifully filmed silent films in early British cinema. As a side note, Brandes' filming of moving shadows becomes a recognizable trademark, just a tad artsy-fartsy, but beautiful nevertheless. The film begins at the Piccadilly, a club, from lunch time through the long hours of the night, where the dance team of Mabel (Gray) and Victor (Ritchard) wow the crowds day after day. Victor leaves (actually, he was going to be fired anyway!) for New York, and he thinks Gray will go with him. She won't. She's contented to be the star at the Piccadilly, plus she actually loves Jameson Thomas who runs the club. But there's a problem in the scullery... The problem is young Anna May Wong, a Chinese girl. She's about to be fired when Thomas has a brainstorm. He's sort-of-seen Wong dance...and now he gives her a chance to prove herself. Needless to say... But - she has ambition, too. Oh, and she has a friend, Jimmy (Chang), whom she demands come with her as her musician. But what also comes to the fore is the underlying force of jealousy. It rears its head in places we don't quite see places altogether - yet. The filming of this theme of jealousy is done in subtle, but constant increments, and photographically like a series of stills that stick in the mind while the fluidity of film advances. What constantly amazes in the film is the mise-en-scene, a capturing of place and scene and social standing that seem to be known by the director and cinematographer well. The viewer in the 21st century can feel a sense of place and time past that's like viewing a history book on film.
My print is beautifully restored and toned with some light tinting here and there, too - gorgeous.

When the film was released in America, it first required editing to satisfy censors who were offended by the interracial (black,white) dance scene. Titles had to be changed to make this part of the story ambiguous. They even reversed the film so it would seem everyone was driving on the right side, and not left as it is in England. Looking carefully, you can see the words on posters (lining the buildings) are reversed.
I now have a copy of this, plus a copy (from a 16 mm print) of the original uncensored British film and both contained the same musical score, complete with sound effects. I imagine this music was provided on the film when it was released. Traffic noise and sounds inside the Chinese Restaurant (when Shosho meets with Jim) added charm to the story.

In my unrestored copies, when Shosho does her Oriental dance, she dances to Oriental music and applause can be heard afterwards. Not so for the restoration. The music doesn't fit the dance and the film goes Silent when the dance ends.

The restored image is quite good, but the redundant musical score (without Oriental music) was disappointing.

[FrankFay]

The restored image is quite good, but the redundant musical score (without Oriental music) was disappointing.

Neil Brand..When the restoration played at Cinefest in syracuse Brand improvised an effective score - if somewhat anachronistic- but he missed the mark on the DVD

[boblipton]

Manslaughter (1922): So I looked at the 1930 remake of this movie, and realized that although I had seen the 1922 version, I had no memory of it. Easy to remedy! Now, to copy the plot recap from my review of that and edit it slightly to fit.....

Leatrice Joy is the rich, careless girl who runs down a police officer; Thomas Meighan is the District Attorney who is first her lover, and then her prosecutor; Lois Wilson is the subplot, Miss Joy's maid, placed in prison for stealing Miss Joy's jewelry and pawning them....so she can send her sick son, under doctor's orders, to a warm climate.Meighan suggests mercy rather than justice to Miss Joy, but at first she's too angry, and later, too hung over.

There are the usual Demille scenes of people having a great time getting drunk in wild costumes, and even worse, dancing; later, during Meighan's summing up, there's a flashback sequence in which barbarians in hairy vests and winged helmets break into where the Vestal Virgins are sleeping one off. Finally, there's redemption for the ladies in vague homilies and multi-denominational Christianity, Meanwhile, Meighan has been been going through his own spiral, thanks to the demon rum, but there's hope even for him, in the love of a good woman.

My vague and sarcastic gassing is not intended to put down this version, so much as to be entertaining while giving away as little as possible to those who have not seen this movie. Let's be honest: there are some people whose opinion is worthwhile who claim this is the worst movie Demille ever made. I can see why. It's at the end of his cavort-for-six-reels-and-repent-in-the-seventh phase, and the public was growing a tad tired of them by this point. I don't think it's worse than any of the others. In fact, I think it rather typical. Had public tastes not changed, he would have kept on making them.

No, if there are issues, it's that remaining with the same format meant Demille's evolution from one movie to the next had to be incremental rather than revolutionary. Also, I don't think Miss Joy brings much to the part that a more skilled comedienne might have. However, Bebe Daniels was off doing comedies for another division of Paramount, and Gloria Swanson likewise. Contrariwise, Meighan is fine, and Miss Wilson, while poorly served, doesn't let the side down. The result is an entertaining movie that if not the overwhelming success that Demille had grown used to by this point, is certainly worth your time.

Bob

[FrankFay]

I'd say Leatrice Joy was quite a skillful comedienne but this just isn't her film - though she and Lois Wilson do some solid acting once the antics settle down and they are both in prison. Joy was much better served by clever concoctions like "For Alimony Only". She didn't have Swanson's charisma, but her forte was reactions & sly smiles. Also- no one did the boyish look as well as she did.

[boblipton]

I'm a great fan of For Alimony Only. In many ways, Miss Joy reminds me of Ann Sheridan, or perhaps the other way around. Whether she's bussing dishes in They Drive By Night or sneaking husband Cary Grant onto the troop ship by making a wig out of horsehair, in I Was A Male War Bride, Miss Sheridan doing what she's doing because it needs to be done, and what else can you do? It's not exactly comic. Rather it's everyone else around her being having issues and being hysterical and you can stop now, because it's done. Miss Joy is the same way in her 'comic' roles; while Clive Brooks is moaning about Lilyan Tashman's alimony, Miss Joy goes out and gets a job. It's simple, it's elegant and it's obvious.

In Manslaughter, she's mostly annoying. It's not her fault. It's the way the part is written.

Bob

[Battra92]

David Drazin's score quotes extensively from "Kerry Dance." Of course.

THANK YOU! All evening I've been trying to remember the name of that and my wife (who is a bit more musical than I) wasn't able to identify it either (though that may be because I tried to "sing" the melody for her.)

But I too watched the Marie Doro double feature.

Lost and Won: The first film on the disc is basically the sort of film that one reel in you have a good idea of how the whole picture will work out but you don't care because it's so much fun. Doro is a poor girl who sells newspapers. She has a buddy in the newspaper business but finds a benefactor in the form of Elliot Dexter who has made a bet to his friends that he can trick them into thinking a poor girl is well bred.

It's a silly little picture and I was definitely entertained, although I felt the poor editor character kind of got "friend zoned" unnecessarily but meh, it's hard to pick at that when you have a picture where a girl with one year schooling can be a detective/reporter by the end of it.

Castles for Two: I think I liked this picture better because it was more good natured fun. Interesting that this was a riches to pretend rags while the last picture was rags to pretend riches.

It's a silly picture all around and I think the others have summed it up better than I can. I am just happy to have seen it.

One cool side note is that these pictures are some of the few directorial efforts of one Frank Reicher: aka Captain Englehorn in King Kong!

Doro was absolutely delightful in these films. It's hard to not fall for her as she seems to be the sort of pure model of femininity (as defined at the time) and her beauty is very hard to overlook. Sad that her pictures are otherwise all lost. I'd love to see more of her.

I really enjoyed the disc and I'm so happy Ed was able to put it out on DVD for all of us to enjoy. I look forward to whatever he decides to introduce us to next.

[greta de groat]

It's been very pleasing to see the positive reactions to Lost and Won and Castles for Two. Back when i was a teenager pouring over Daniel Blum's Pictorial History of the Silent Screen, a few of the faces that reached out from the pages and grabbed me were Pauline Frederick, Alice Joyce, Florence LaBadie ... and Marie Doro. I remember the bit in Chaplin's autobiography about his crush on her, that and a few stage picture with William Gillette were just about all i mentions i heard of her for 40 years. In the meantime, i was able to do a lot of research on Frederick and Joyce and watch most of their extant films, and Ned Thanhauser has brought Florence LaBadie back into circulation and i could even chip in a few bucks for a grave marker for her. But Marie Doro remained a mystery. Back in the alt.movies.silent days, Lost and Won played at one of the festivals and there was a brief flurry of commentary about it, then it disappeared again. It's been great to finally see her, great to see that she was indeed a great beauty and a great charmer, and great to see so many other people also appreciating her. I think

The Heart of Nora Flynn

also exists, and may have also played at a festival in the past.

Thanks, Ed and Joe, for a great project choice.

greta

[drednm]

Thanks for the kind words......

A quick search shows that The Heart of Nora Flynn (1916) survives at Eastman, Common Ground (1916) at BFI, and Heart's Desire (1917) at LOC.

This assumes the LOC database is correct (and it usually is) and does not mean the films are in good shape.

[boblipton]

Thanks for the kind words......

A quick search shows that The Heart of Nora Flynn (1916) survives at Eastman, Common Ground (1916) at BFI, and Heart's Desire (1917) at LOC.

This assumes the LOC database is correct (and it usually is) and does not mean the films are in good shape.

Has anyone here seen any of these and will report on its condition?

Bob

[Frame Rate]

When the film was released in America, it first required editing to satisfy censors...

It's been several years since I compared the versions, but I suspect some, if not all, of the initial re-editing was done at Elstree, since there repeatedly are shots which begin and end at different points but don't seriously affect the narrative -- and some shots seem to come from different takes. If so, that would be a rare (for the period) accessible example of a British studio creating a separate "foreign" negative -- rather than just letting some cheapjack American distributor run off its own dupe negative (more contrasty and fuzzier) from a release print and then mercilessly hack it down to bare-minimal, second-feature length.

[Frame Rate]

When the film was released in America, it first required editing to satisfy censors...

It's been several years since I compared the versions, but I suspect some, if not all, of the initial re-editing was done at Elstree, since I recall there being various shots which begin and end at different points but don't seriously affect the narrative -- and some shots seem to come from different takes. If so, that would be a rare (for the period) accessible example of a British studio creating a separate "foreign" negative -- rather than just letting some cheapjack American distributor run off its own dupe negative (more contrasty and fuzzier) from a release print and then mercilessly hack it down to bare-minimal, second-feature length.

[oldposterho]

Got to see my first Buster Keaton MGM film with 1929's Spite Marriage. Not terrible, not good, the true revelation being Dorothy Sebastian who was a real sport throughout and her early acrobatic training was put to good use.

There were moments where my finger inched towards the fast forward button but it ultimately never made it there. Buster did it so much better in other films though.

[Dave Pitts]

East Side - West Side (1923), a minor indie which did not get reviewed by either Variety or the NYT. Directed by Irving Cummings and starring Kenneth Harlan (Zzzzzz) and Eileen Percy. It's a standard soaper with the plot of rich man/poor girl, along with rich man's bitchy mother. At 53 minutes, it's a starchy but watchable show.
Percy is attractive, but her character is written as so prim and repressed that it's hard to stay interested in her. Harlan is one of those smoking jacket type of leading men (like the equally proper and even duller Eugene O'Brien) that became early 20s matinee idols until a more virile crowd nudged them out. Illustrated title cards are of interest, but cinematically, it's not much, with very few close ups, looking as if it was filmed quickly from budget concerns.

[Battra92]

Got to see my first Buster Keaton MGM film with 1929's Spite Marriage. Not terrible, not good, the true revelation being Dorothy Sebastian who was a real sport throughout and her early acrobatic training was put to good use.

There were moments where my finger inched towards the fast forward button but it ultimately never made it there. Buster did it so much better in other films though.

To use a line from the documentary A Hard Act to Follow "It had the Keaton touch ... for the last time."

He did okay films after Spite Marriage but never did a film as good as Spite Marriage, at least not in a starring role.

[Jim Roots]

Got to see my first Buster Keaton MGM film with 1929's Spite Marriage. Not terrible, not good, the true revelation being Dorothy Sebastian who was a real sport throughout and her early acrobatic training was put to good use.

There were moments where my finger inched towards the fast forward button but it ultimately never made it there. Buster did it so much better in other films though.

To use a line from the documentary A Hard Act to Follow "It had the Keaton touch ... for the last time."

He did okay films after Spite Marriage but never did a film as good as Spite Marriage, at least not in a starring role.

I agree with you. I'm always a little surprised at the lack of enthusiasm for Spite Marriage. No, it's not one of his best, but the stage show in the first reels kills me every time I watch it, and it includes the extended scene of Buster struggling with the unconscious Sebastian which apparently kills everybody else watching it (it's "just okay" in my opinion), so it's hardly a loss, let alone a dead loss. Sometimes I wonder if people aren't too eager to shove it into the class of mediocre talkies that followed it, simply because it's part of the MGM package of mediocrities and therefore guilty by association.

Jim

[T0m M]

Got to see my first Buster Keaton MGM film with 1929's Spite Marriage. Not terrible, not good, the true revelation being Dorothy Sebastian who was a real sport throughout and her early acrobatic training was put to good use.

There were moments where my finger inched towards the fast forward button but it ultimately never made it there. Buster did it so much better in other films though.

To use a line from the documentary A Hard Act to Follow "It had the Keaton touch ... for the last time."

He did okay films after Spite Marriage but never did a film as good as Spite Marriage, at least not in a starring role.

I agree with you. I'm always a little surprised at the lack of enthusiasm for Spite Marriage. No, it's not one of his best, but the stage show in the first reels kills me every time I watch it, and it includes the extended scene of Buster struggling with the unconscious Sebastian which apparently kills everybody else watching it (it's "just okay" in my opinion), so it's hardly a loss, let alone a dead loss. Sometimes I wonder if people aren't too eager to shove it into the class of mediocre talkies that followed it, simply because it's part of the MGM package of mediocrities and therefore guilty by association.

Jim

It's been a while since I've watched these films but I always thought that Spite Marriage faired poorly in comparison to his 1st MGM release, The Cameraman. It's evident that MGM executives exercised more control over Spite Marriage, which along with The Saphead are probably my least favourite of Keaton's silent feature films. Still, even a mediocre Keaton has flashes of brilliance and warrants viewing.

[Battra92]

Germinal; or, The Toll of Labor (1913) Based on Emile Zola's masterpiece about life, death and strikes in a coal mine this film was definitely not the feel good movie of the day. In fact it felt rather heavy due to the subject matter.

This was a well made film for 1913 but I feel it could've benefited from a few more intertitles. I actually had to read a synopsis of the book to understand what happened in parts. I suspect in 1913 France most people probably knew the story.

1913 is an odd year for film because they are quite far from the days of the nickelodeons but aren't quite there to what we can call a more modern picture; at least this one wasn't there anyway.

From what I've read it was an important film in history and I'm glad I was able to see it but I don't know that I'd recommend it.

[R Michael Pyle]

"Variety" [original title "Varieté"] (1925) stars Emil Jannings, Lya de Putti, Maly Delschaft, Warwick Ward, Alice Hechy, Georg John, and many others, and is directed by Ewald André Dupont. This was made in Germany, and though it has a cosmopolitan cast, is intertitled in German. A signature of Dupont silents is the use of incredibly flexible and creative photography (cinematographers here were Karl Freund and Carl Hoffmann) and weaving the picture around the story, then letting the story pour out of its web. The 2015 Kino Lorber Blu-Ray release restored by Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, toned and tinted, is visually dazzling. All the German intertitles have English subtitles at the bottom for the English/American release. As usual Emil Jannings does what any good actor is taught never to do - mug, mug, mug - and not only gets away with it, but eats the camera and digests the viewer simultaneously with nary a belch. He's hypnotic to watch. Lya de Putti equals every bit of showmanship of Jannings with her portrayal of a throw away wench who becomes affectionate towards and the affection of Jannings, a man married with a young child. Jannings is the proprietor of a very cheap side-show, fair style, because he broke his legs years past as a mainline trapeze performer with his wife. Now he's reduced to fair style shows. de Putti enters his life. Jannings abandons his wife and child and runs away with de Putti where he sets up a side-show with de Putti the main attraction. A former acquaintance sees the show and realizes that Jannings and de Putti could become part of the team Artinelli. Artinelli were two famous trapeze artist brothers, one of whom is now crippled. The remaining brother, played by Warwick Ward, has the two join him at a mainstream performance venue and they become famous. But...Artinelli has designs on Putti...

It's not difficult to see where this will go, but the getting there is Hitchcockian. The story just doesn't have as many twists and turns. Rather, its heat gets to the boiling point over a good amount of time and event. For some, this may end up being a good telling of the same ol' same ol'. For others, like me, it will be a great pleasure to watch. I must admit that I found the surrounding premise's framework has a strange hole in it. The story begins in prison...Jannings has served ten years for his crime, but he's never told anyone WHY he did the crime. The story is told in flashback so that we, as viewers, and the warden, as listener to the story, can find all out. WHY DIDN'T JANNINGS EVER TELL WHY HE DID THE CRIME? And...at the beginning the warden mentions that his wife is willing to sign papers for his release. WHY WOULD SHE??? WHY??? Oh, well, it's gripping, even with holes where the fingers slip through...

[Roscoe]

Got to see my first Buster Keaton MGM film with 1929's Spite Marriage. Not terrible, not good, the true revelation being Dorothy Sebastian who was a real sport throughout and her early acrobatic training was put to good use.

There were moments where my finger inched towards the fast forward button but it ultimately never made it there. Buster did it so much better in other films though.

To use a line from the documentary A Hard Act to Follow "It had the Keaton touch ... for the last time."

He did okay films after Spite Marriage but never did a film as good as Spite Marriage, at least not in a starring role.

I agree with you. I'm always a little surprised at the lack of enthusiasm for Spite Marriage. No, it's not one of his best, but the stage show in the first reels kills me every time I watch it, and it includes the extended scene of Buster struggling with the unconscious Sebastian which apparently kills everybody else watching it (it's "just okay" in my opinion), so it's hardly a loss, let alone a dead loss. Sometimes I wonder if people aren't too eager to shove it into the class of mediocre talkies that followed it, simply because it's part of the MGM package of mediocrities and therefore guilty by association.

Jim

SPITE MARRIAGE has that one really chilling moment, unique in my experience of romantic comedies, during the extended sequence on the boat, where Buster rescues Sebastian (by this point in the story he knows how badly she's treated him and rescues her only out of basic human decency). The rescue accomplished, they're sitting there next to each other, Sebastian with her arms around Buster's neck. Buster sits for a moment, and then very deliberately removes her arms from around his neck and turns away from her -- "I saved your life, sure, but keep the hell away from me, lady" is the clear message.

[earlytalkiebuffRob]

Last night's trawl found me watching SLUMS OF BERLIN / THE FIFTH ESTATE (1925) a German melodrama with strong elements of social comment. Two men leave prison after three years: one returns to his old ways and haunts, the other, Robert Kramer tries to rebuild his life. His father (obsessively poring over his stamp albums) turfs him out, and he discovers that his fiancée has married a pompous, well-heeled oaf of a businessman.

Trudging after work, his clothes get shabbier and shabbier, until a fellow at a night shelter tells him where to find work if he can sew. He can, but the work is mending old clothes then finding out he will get paid in drink. Attempting suicide, a nearby prostitute stops him, and his luck changes from then on...

Although the plotting of SLUMS is rather predictable, the film paints a horrifying picture of what it is like to fall under the radar of work. It is not always clear whether his problems are due to lack of work or his prison record, but it is nevertheless a harrowing example of what life was like for many people then and to a certain extent today. The copy I watched had German intertitles with English subtitles which made the experience more satisfying than the writer on IMDb who had reviewed a copy from a Blackhawk print, which had English titles as was possibly abridged. The director, Gerhardt Lamprecht, directed CHILDREN OF NO IMPORTANCE the following year, and to me should be worthy of further research.

Incidentally, one scene in SLUMS where a derelict wishes he had some rags to sell seemed familiar, and I think it was echoed in CHILDREN.

(WILL EXPAND ON THIS FILM)

[Jim Roots]

Edition Filmmuseum has Die Verrufenen (Der Funtfe Stand) (English: The Slums of Berlin or The Fifth Estate) available on one of its two sets of Gerhard Lamprecht films. The same set also has Die Unehelichen (English: Illegitimate Children). That makes it a very worthwhile set to order, and I recommend it.

Die Verrufenen stars Bernhard Goetze, who is not a New York City murderer like his namesake, but rather one of Fritz Lang's favourite actors -- you know him better as Death in Lang's Destiny and as the detective in Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. He's too stolid and grim in this film for my taste, but he's certainly as effective as always.

I would also recommend EF's other Lamprecht set, Menschen untereinander and Unter der Laterne (English: The Folk Upstairs and Under the Lantern, and no, that's not a typo in "Folk" -- it is a collective singular in the original title.) Both are more dramatic than the films on the other set and are completely absorbing.

Jim

[R Michael Pyle]

I recently watched the kino-Lorber release of "Variety" (1925). On the same Blu-Ray as an extra is "Othello" (1922) with Emil Jannings, Werner Krauss, Ica von Lenkeffy, Theodor Loos, Ferdinand von Alten, Lya de Putti, Magnus Stifter, and Friedrich Kühne. Although I watched this on VHS years ago, I'd forgotten nearly everything about it. Although many on the IMDb think that this version is outstanding, I found it unsatisfying. The first third of the film is simply pedestrian, and the version on the Blu-Ray has English intertitles that in some instances are absolutely ridiculous, and one in particular is nearly nonsense. The next third of the film picks up in direction and action and begins to be a tad more like its origin, Mr. Shakespeare. The last third plays out the play as it is written, but...and this is what I found most disappointing...at a seventh grade level. The quality of the scenario as compared to the play is third rate. And Emil Jannings...one of the world's greatest actors of the early twentieth century and one of my own favorites to watch in silent film...I thought if he bulged those eyes out any more they'd pop! I'm sitting here eating a salad as I write this, and a couple of jumbo pimento stuffed olives are looking directly at me, and I can't eat them now because all I see is Emil Jannings' bulging eyes. Now I can't finish my salad. Sorry, but I have said before: I think the greatest male performance I've ever watched on film was Laurence Olivier's "Othello" from 1965. He far, far, far surpassed Jannings. Period.

[R Michael Pyle]

"Webs of Steel" (1925) is the terminology given to a complex running line of railroad track in the eponymously named film starring Helen Holmes. Simple and aimed at every age of the audience, this 57 minute long film makes no pretensions at anything except good entertainment. The story's actually stale, but director J. P. McGowan (husband of Holmes) knows how to keep the viewer attending on the goings-on no matter what the story's inherent former tellings might be. Holmes was already 32 when she made this film, and yet she plays someone around 21 or so - and successfully plays the part, may I add... Her ability to do stunts, and very dangerous ones at that, hasn't lessened an iota from the days she was doing those same things in the middle teens in serials, of which she was one of the queens. One in the film, where she is holding on to a railroad trestle while she also has bundled to her both Lassie Lou Ahern and a dog, is quite literally death-defying. Before she died, Ahern made the comment that at age 5 (which she was when she made the film) she probably shouldn't have done the stunt, but she had fun doing it! The story itself is one of romance by a man who has a past, but he is trying to clear himself of the bad parts of that past by somehow proving he was innocent of criminal negligence on another railroad line. The part is played by Bruce Gordon, a stunt player himself and director who was in several dozen Westerns and other films like this one. We only know he was born sometime around the turn of the twentieth century in South Africa, and he was probably younger than Holmes. Fine for the part, though. Also in the show are Spec O'Donnell, Arthur Morrison - as the scheming baddie of the piece - and Andrew Waldron. Waldron is fascinating in that he was 78 when he made this film, and he plays Holmes' father, so he's probably 50 or so character-wise, and he actually pulls it off. The man was born in 1847, and he only lived another seven years after making this film. If one looks at his credits, it becomes clear he was closely associated with J. P. McGowan, as he appeared in several films where McGowan was director or an actor or both. Somewhere in the film supposedly Walter Brennan appears, but I looked for him and never saw him. The railroads - a grand specialty of McGowan who began working on railroads in his native Australia at an early age - are the genuine stars of the show outside of Holmes. If you like a railroad movie with plenty of action and a good guy, a good girl, a baddie, and a couple of other foils for fodder for a quick thriller watch, this one offers all of that. My print is from Alpha, so it's cheap. But the quality of the print is only good at best, never great, and so it's a watch to relax to just before dozing off at midnight.

[Jim Roots]

"Webs of Steel" (1925) is the terminology given to a complex running line of railroad track in the eponymously named film starring Helen Holmes. Simple and aimed at every age of the audience, this 57 minute long film makes no pretensions at anything except good entertainment. The story's actually stale, but director J. P. McGowan (husband of Holmes) knows how to keep the viewer attending on the goings-on no matter what the story's inherent former tellings might be. Holmes was already 32 when she made this film, and yet she plays someone around 21 or so - and successfully plays the part, may I add... Her ability to do stunts, and very dangerous ones at that, hasn't lessened an iota from the days she was doing those same things in the middle teens in serials, of which she was one of the queens. One in the film, where she is holding on to a railroad trestle while she also has bundled to her both Lassie Lou Ahern and a dog, is quite literally death-defying. Before she died, Ahern made the comment that at age 5 (which she was when she made the film) she probably shouldn't have done the stunt, but she had fun doing it! The story itself is one of romance by a man who has a past, but he is trying to clear himself of the bad parts of that past by somehow proving he was innocent of criminal negligence on another railroad line. The part is played by Bruce Gordon, a stunt player himself and director who was in several dozen Westerns and other films like this one. We only know he was born sometime around the turn of the twentieth century in South Africa, and he was probably younger than Holmes. Fine for the part, though. Also in the show are Spec O'Donnell, Arthur Morrison - as the scheming baddie of the piece - and Andrew Waldron. Waldron is fascinating in that he was 78 when he made this film, and he plays Holmes' father, so he's probably 50 or so character-wise, and he actually pulls it off. The man was born in 1847, and he only lived another seven years after making this film. If one looks at his credits, it becomes clear he was closely associated with J. P. McGowan, as he appeared in several films where McGowan was director or an actor or both. Somewhere in the film supposedly Walter Brennan appears, but I looked for him and never saw him. The railroads - a grand specialty of McGowan who began working on railroads in his native Australia at an early age - are the genuine stars of the show outside of Holmes. If you like a railroad movie with plenty of action and a good guy, a good girl, a baddie, and a couple of other foils for fodder for a quick thriller watch, this one offers all of that. My print is from Alpha, so it's cheap. But the quality of the print is only good at best, never great, and so it's a watch to relax to just before dozing off at midnight.

It has Spec O'Donnell! What more need be said in its favour?

Jim

[R Michael Pyle]

You wouldn't happen to have freckles, would you, Jim? I just wonder, because you call O'Donnell a "clueless, cement-headed doofus" [as he appeared in "Call of the Cuckoo"] in your book The 100 Greatest Silent Film Comedians.

[Jim Roots]

You wouldn't happen to have freckles, would you, Jim? I just wonder, because you call O'Donnell a "clueless, cement-headed doofus" [as he appeared in "Call of the Cuckoo"] in your book The 100 Greatest Silent Film Comedians.

But I said it lovingly!

Jim

[R Michael Pyle]

Calm down, big boy...just joshin'... It's getting cold here in the Midwest; just needed to warm up my claws a bit...

[earlytalkiebuffRob]

Edition Filmmuseum has Die Verrufenen (Der Funtfe Stand) (English: The Slums of Berlin or The Fifth Estate) available on one of its two sets of Gerhard Lamprecht films. The same set also has Die Unehelichen (English: Illegitimate Children). That makes it a very worthwhile set to order, and I recommend it.

Die Verrufenen stars Bernhard Goetze, who is not a New York City murderer like his namesake, but rather one of Fritz Lang's favourite actors -- you know him better as Death in Lang's Destiny and as the detective in Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. He's too stolid and grim in this film for my taste, but he's certainly as effective as always.

I would also recommend EF's other Lamprecht set, Menschen untereinander and Unter der Laterne (English: The Folk Upstairs and Under the Lantern, and no, that's not a typo in "Folk" -- it is a collective singular in the original title.) Both are more dramatic than the films on the other set and are completely absorbing.

Jim

Thanks for the tip, although I'm not buying many DVDs at the moment. partly due to a heavy backlog and partly for financial reasons, although a friend sold me his Blu-Ray set of Columbia film noir as it was slightly defective and going rather cheap!