ALLAN DWAN

[Frederic]

I would like to announce on Nitrateville the publication of my book, ALLAN DWAN AND THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS.

Some basic information on the book is available at my publisher's website at:

http://mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-3485-5" target="_blank

Allan Dwan was both a film pioneer and a higly prolific director who helmed over two hundred films between 1911 and 1961. He was also involved as a scriptwriter, producer or supervisor on numerous other movies.
My book delves into Dwan's life and career in far more detail than has previously been revealed. It covers such little-known areas as Dwan guiding Louise Brooks through her first screen test and Dwan's fight for independence during the increasing consolidation by the studios in the 1920s, as well as the failed effort by Willliam Randolph Hearst to make Dwan his head of film production. The book is also rich in detail in Dwan's collaboratons with Fairbanks and Swanson.The first half of the book deals with Dwan in the silent era when he was highly-paid and well-known; the second half concerns his career in the age of the sound film when he kept a much lower-profile but still did some very fine work including his most famous film, SANDS OF IWO JIMA. Through Dwan's experiences, the reader will also get to see another view of the early decades of the American motion picture industry.

If you check on Amazon.com you can get a roughly thirty page preview of my book by accessing the "Click to Look Inside" feature. (Amazon incorrectly has October 30, 2012 set as publication date, a date set during production that Amazon has been very slow or unresponsive in updating. However, if you scroll down to the third page of the book you'll see that it has a copyright of "2013.")


In conjunction with the publication of this book, the Museum of Modern Art is exhibiting a retrospective of Allan Dwan's movies. You can get an overview of the series and the June schedule at:
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/1374" target="_blank


Finally, Dave Kehr has cited my book in his review of Dwan's 1919 GETTING MARY MARRIED in his DVD column at the New York Times.

You can check that out in this link at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/movie ... paper&_r=3&" target="_blank

Thank you for listening.

Best,
Frederic Lombardi

[Daniel Eagan]

Congratulations, looking forward to your book and to the MoMA retrospective.

[entredeuxguerres]

Had no particularly strong feelings about Dwan until reading Swanson's enthusiastic account in her autobiography of her happy & fruitful collaborations with him--that (being an ardent Gloria devotee) really got my attention.

Was hoping against hope that, among the MOMA selections, I might find the picture that tops my "most eager to see" list, a "million dollar picture of unsurpassed beauty...marvelous gowns, gorgeous locations" : Glimpses of the Moon. (Two special reasons for my eagerness--Bebe Daniels & Edith Wharton.)

[Eric Cohen]

The Glimpses of the Moon(23) features another actress in her prime.
http://nitanaldi.com/filmography-2/" target="_blank
Welcome Frederic. Um, do you have a sister on the West Coast?

[entredeuxguerres]

Um, do you have a sister on the West Coast?

Two, if I'm gathering correctly.

[Frederic]

I would like to say thank you for the good wishes.

I too would love to see GLIMPSES OF THE MOON but as far as I can discern no prints are extant. Perhaps as was the case with GETTING MARY MARRIED a private collector might yet come forward with a print.

There are a couple of good Nita Naldi stories in the book, one of which suggests that Dwan and Naldi had a strong attraction to each other.

As for Swanson, in addition to discussing their collaborations I also note how many in-jokes or references to Dwan's films and associations are in SUNSET BOULEVARD.


And I regret to say that I have no sisters on the west coast or for that matter on the east coast either.

Best,
Fred

[drednm]

I looked into buying another Marion Davies film from LOC just last week. I was interested in Enchantment (1921) but they want nearly $800 for a copy. I'd have to form a a syndicate to get that one off the shelves.

[entredeuxguerres]

I'd have to form a a syndicate to get that one off the shelves.

Or, apply to the White House for a Stimulus Grant.

[drednm]

LOL.... That's probably the only way this film will ever escape the archive.....

[jcp7701]

I see that "The Half-Breed," a Fairbanks film from 1916, is amongst those to be screened.

The run-time is listed as approximately an hour. I thought that only the first few reels were extant. Does this indeed survive complete, or nearly so, given the time listed?

[Frederic]

When I researched my book, I viewed the Library of Congress print of THE HALF-BREED which had four of the original five reels.

This July, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will be premiering a restored version of THE HALF-BREED. As I understand it, the restored version represents a mingling of elements from the LOC print (which had the original titles), the French Cinematheque and Lobster Films.

Best,
Fred

[jcp7701]

Fantastic news about The Half-Breed. Thanks so much! This means that only one of Fairbanks' 1916 films, A Good Bad Man, is lost, although both The Habit of Happiness and Manhattan Madness do have run-times in the thirty-minute range, as per the Grapevine release.

It also means that there are still four Fairbanks silents that I've yet to see: Double Trouble, The Half-Breed, In-Again Out-Again, and Mr. Fix-It. Always a good thing to have more Fairbanks!

[Frederic]

I have the distinct pleasure to tell you that THE GOOD BAD MAN is not lost. I saw a print at the Library of Congress and it is discussed in my book.

MR. FIX-IT used to be available only in a print with Italian intertitles. However, a restored English-language version was premiered in 2011.

But there are indeed some Fairbanks/Dwan films that are lost or exist in only the most fragmented form. Around 2004 the first two reels of the 1918 HE COMES UP SMILING were discovered but they are a wonderful two reels which show Doug in pursuit of his boss' pet canary which has escaped its cage. I have found no sign of the 1918 BOUND IN MOROCCO but it's possible it exists in some archive or collection we're not aware of. Dwan supervised but did not direct Fairbanks in the 1918 HEADIN' SOUTH. The film was directed by Dwan's assistant Arthur Rosson. Kevin Brownlow told me that some years ago he met someone who had one reel of the film but has no idea where that reel is today or if it still exists.

There are also some non-Dwan directed Fairbanks movies among the missing.

[jcp7701]

You continue to make my day with the news about The Good Bad Man! I love when Fairbanks is in a western setting, as the only out-and-out western that I knew to have survived was the Man From Painted Post. Of course, there are western elements in Wild and Woolly, His Majesty the American, A Modern Musketeer, and The Mollycoddle.

I should have specified extant Fairbanks films with the titles that I listed, which are now five in number that I might some day have the pleasure of viewing.

Great news about He Come Up Smiling, too. Looking forward to your book!

[Wm. Charles Morrow]

I went to MoMA this evening to see the Dwan/Fairbanks double-feature, The Half-Breed and A Modern Musketeer. Despite what it says in the online listing, the fragment of The Half-Breed offered in the festival does not run an hour, or anything close to it. The entire program of both films lasted about 90 minutes, by my watch, and restored prints of A Modern Musketeer run just under 70 minutes, so what we saw of The Half-Breed must have been about two reels. Clearly this was not the restored version which combines portions of prints from LOC, the French Cinematheque, and Lobster Films. The title cards appeared to be original, so I would guess this was the LOC material, only.

Even so I’m glad I went, and hope to see the rest of the surviving material one of these days, because even a glimpse of The Half-Breed was intriguing. But frustrating too, because most of the footage is badly decomposed, and looks like it was rescued on the brink of extinction. By the way, the introductory shot of Doug is a familiar one, that is if you know Daniel Blum’s Pictorial History of the Silent Screen: it’s the famous image of Fairbanks in a loin-cloth, on the bank of a river, looking away from the camera. The shot was greeted with a smattering of applause, this evening.

[boblipton]

My timing of the fragment of The Half-Breed this evening was 25 minutes.

A Modern Musketeer, which the audience enjoyed greatly, was credited to the Danish Film Institute and Lobster Films.

Bob

[Wm. Charles Morrow]

A Modern Musketeer, which the audience enjoyed greatly, was credited to the Danish Film Institute and Lobster Films.

Bob

It's a terrific movie, one of Doug's best comedies, I believe. The D'Artagnan prologue is hilarious, and I also love the scene where Doug climbs the church building, all the way up to the top of the steeple. And there's a nice little bit part for ZaSu Pitts!

[Frederic]

I'm very glad to hear that people are enjoying the Museum's retrospective inspired by my book on Allan Dwan

I wasn't at Saturday's screening but after reading the messages from Charlie and Bob I did check with the Museum. The projectionist said that he showed the four-reel print from the Library of Congress.

As I explained in my post of April 24, the restored version of THE HALF-BREED wil be premiering at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in July. I did inquire about getting that print for New York but since the San Francisco Silent Film Festival sponsored the restoration they felt strongly that it should premiere at their event. I think that's totally understandable. I also suggested to the Museum that they get the Dwan-Fairbanks THE HABIT OF HAPPINESS and MANHATTAN MADNESS but both proved unavailable at this time.

Did anyone see Dwan's Flying A shorts shown on Friday with THE FIGHTING ODDS or the one short shown Sunday with DAVID HARUM? The three films from 1912 show Dwan making rapid advances in his command of the still infant medium since he started directing in 1911. If anyone is interested, I will be posting the address for Dana's Driskel's website devoted exclusively to Flying A movies.

Also, for those of you who were able to see both DAVID HAURM and the 1930 talkie MAN TO MAN there is an interesting symmetry between the two films. Again, it's fascinating to see how Dwan was more expressive and refined in his techniques in using similar situations the second time.

Best,
Frederic

[boblipton]

I was at MOMA for both and have recorded several of my impressions for the IMDB. To summarize:

1: The Flying As seem remarkable to me for Dwan's ability to show emotional change by the way he varies the composition.

2: David Harum seems to me to be typical Famous Players stodge, intended for people who already knew the story. It is enlivened by the long tracking shot, which really opens up the stage show, and by Crane's pleasure in performing the role. Given that Dwan's big work in this era was with Fairbanks, who also clearly loved performing, I'm interested in how that was achieved.

3: Fighting Odds is a real stinker. Awful performances and the key plot points are given by title.

4: As near as II can judge, given the poor print, The Half-Breed was an attempt to expand the range of the Dwan/Emerson/Loos/Fairbanks team. Given the heavy handed treatment, it doesn't work particularly well. As for A Modern Musketeer.... still tremendous fun.

Bob

[Javier]

I was at MOMA for both and have recorded several of my impressions for the IMDB. To summarize:

1: The Flying As seem remarkable to me for Dwan's ability to show emotional change by the way he varies the composition.

2: David Harum seems to me to be typical Famous Players stodge, intended for people who already knew the story. It is enlivened by the long tracking shot, which really opens up the stage show, and by Crane's pleasure in performing the role. Given that Dwan's big work in this era was with Fairbanks, who also clearly loved performing, I'm interested in how that was achieved.

3: Fighting Odds is a real stinker. Awful performances and the key plot points are given by title.

4: As near as II can judge, given the poor print, The Half-Breed was an attempt to expand the range of the Dwan/Emerson/Loos/Fairbanks team. Given the heavy handed treatment, it doesn't work particularly well. As for A Modern Musketeer.... still tremendous fun.

Bob

I have always been interested in Dwan's work, so, by little I've seen and reputation on print varies, I am interested to read more about him.

This is a book I will look into.

[Frederic]

Bob,

Thanks for your observations.
Rather than just regurgitating different parts of my book to express my own views let me confine my remarks to DAVID HARUM.

I understand your point about the problems with stage productions being re-created by Famous Players. Dwan said that he had written a script that departed in some ways from the play but that the star William Crane insisted on complete fidelity to the play as he had performed it on stage.

Despite this restriction, Dwan does succeed in adding various bits of cinemtic business to the film aside from the famous tracking shot of Harum greeting people.
The movie opens not with an establishing long shot or close-ups of the characters but with the activities on a breakfast table until an iris opens to show Harum blowing on his saucer.

More impressively, Dwan captures the comic payoff of Harum's horse-trading trick with an adroit use of depth of field cinematography as Harum can be seen reacting in the foreground on his carriage while in the distant background across a pond we see the horse he sold to Deacon Perkins behaving oddly. In fact, the movement of Harum's head cocking backward as he laughs is almost in sync with the horse raising himself on his hind legs. Later, we see a disgusted Deacon Perkins forced to get out of his buggy and lead his horse which Dwan follows with a reverse tracking shot until an iris closes in on the hapless Perkins.
I think the film really begins to sag when it starts focusing on the two young people in the story.

Interestingly, tracking shots are also used expressively in the 1930 talkie MAN TO MAN and Dwan was technically savvy enough to have a microphone attached to the boom so conversation between the characters could be recorded in those shots. But at a key dramatic moment, Dwan was perceptive enough to keep his tracking shot silent.


As for the Flying A shorts, film historian Dana Driskel has a website devoted to Flying A with lots of very interesting information.

The link to the site is at:
http://www.filmandmedia.ucsb.edu/flyinga/" target="_blank

Stephen Michael Shearer, the author of a new book on Gloria Swanson will be introducing the screening of ZAZA (1923)
on Wednesday, June 12 at 8 P.M.

[Frederic]

Javier,

Regarding information on my Allan Dwan book, in the coming weeks and months we should be seeing some reviews of the book.

In the meanwhile, I was very gratified by Dave Kehr's comment in the movie listings of the Friday, June 7 New York Times (p. C19) when referring to the Museum series, he noted, "Frederic Lombardi's superbly researched new biography of Dwan (published by McFarland) provides both the title and the occasion for this monthlong overview of Dwan's rich, lengthy career..."

Of course, that's not a full-fledged review but I have no complaints.

[Saimo]

A nice 460 page dossier on Dwan's films.
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/presenti ... -a-dossier" target="_blank

[BenModel]

Stephen Michael Shearer, the author of a new book on Gloria Swanson will be introducing the screening of ZAZA (1923)
on Wednesday, June 12 at 8 P.M.

Great! Didn't know about this (I'm playing the show).

FYI we ran DAVID HARUM at 20 fps at yesterday's repeat, and it may have played slightly less stodgy than at the show Bob saw when it was run at 18.

Ben

[Wm. Charles Morrow]

Went back to MoMA today for a Dwan double-feature: Manhandled (1924) with Gloria Swanson, which I’d seen before, and East Side, West Side (1927), with George O’Brien, which I hadn’t. It was a treat to see the Swanson comedy again, and the audience enjoyed it well enough, but it was the second film that really left the crowd buzzing. For those who haven’t seen it, East Side, West Side is an action-packed, incident-crammed melodrama that follows the adventures of a young man in Manhattan -- lots of great location filming -- as his fortunes rise and fall and rise again. The story begins with the collision of two boats in New York harbor, and later there’s a subway shaft cave-in, several fights, two boxing matches, and the sinking of a luxury liner. Some nice comic bits spice the mix. And along the way, O’Brien’s shirt gets torn off repeatedly. In short, something for everyone. It’s all beautifully filmed, and the print was a pleasure to behold. Much as I enjoy Swanson in Manhandled, this unusual late silent feature stole the show today.

Splendid accompaniment for both films was provided by the hardest working man in show business, Ben Model. Thanks again, Ben!

[BenModel]

You're welcome, Charlie. More good stuff coming this week. The print of STAGE STRUCK is from GEH and has the 2-strip technicolor sequences intact.

Ben

[Jessica NYC]

I have been to a number of the shows. I enjoyed DAVID HARUM and some of the tracking shots were amazing. The short that went with it was also pleasant. I thought ZAZA was a stinker and MODERN MUSKETEER was fantastic (and lovely print). I had some emails with Ben re THE HALF-BREED. It is entirely understandable that they could not get the new restoration but for some reason they did not get the Rohour material ( Now Cohen Media) which is FAR more complete ( like it has the end). Hopefully the restored print will show up in NYC soon. I am looking forward to STAGESTRUCK having only seen cut versions. The most amazing film for me was not a silent but the 1937 ONE MILE FROM HEAVEN which was sort of all black cast musical with a story about white people wrapped around. I have NO idea how it got made as it probably could not show in 2/3rds of the country at the time but it was incredible.

[Wm. Charles Morrow]

You're welcome, Charlie. More good stuff coming this week. The print of STAGE STRUCK is from GEH and has the 2-strip technicolor sequences intact.

Ben

Really glad I made it to the screening this afternoon. I’ve seen clips and read about Stage Struck, and knew that Swanson plays a lowly waitress named Jennie who imagines herself a great actress, but today was my first look at the full feature. It’s a delightful film, and offers the leading lady’s liveliest and most unusual comic performance. I’ve been looking forward to this one for years, but didn’t want to settle for a poor quality, public domain video. Today’s screening was worth waiting for; the print looked fantastic, and the crowd really ate it up.

(And Ben, what I especially appreciated about your playing was the way you would underscore Jennie’s attempts at drama with a touch of tremolo, a suggestion of “Hearts and Flowers”-style exaggeration which suited her manner perfectly.)

It's been pointed out that Gloria Swanson’s Jennie in this film is like a small town version of Lucy Ricardo, and I could definitely see that. She's hapless and clumsy but desperate to succeed as an actress. Many of the gags are Lucy-like: she watches Lawrence Gray flip pancakes, then when she attempts to imitate him, a pancake lands on top of her head. She checks out Gertrude Astor’s showy outfit, then creates her own rag-tag copy. Most of all, when Jennie finally gets her chance to recite serious verse on stage, in front of an audience, she first has to participate in an undignified girl-on-girl boxing match -- but immediately afterward, doggedly recites her piece, even after Gertrude punches her out. That scene reminded me of Lucy doggedly reciting Shakespeare during Orson Welles’ magic act.

A very enjoyable movie, and an eye-opener where Gloria Swanson's comic abilities are concerned. And as for the director, I’d say that this MoMA series is making it plain that Allan Dwan is -- among other things -- a highly underrated comedy craftsman.

[BenModel]

I kept thinking of Marion Davies while watching STAGE STRUCK, which wasn't helped by the fact that Lawrence Gray bears a bit of a resemblance to William Haines. I thought it was interesting that the whole film was in sepia, and that the exterior night scenes were straight B&W instead of blue.

Ben

[syd]

Alan Dwan's interview is one of
the highlights of the Hollywood:
The Pioneers tv series.

He comes across as cocky as he tells
a story of a hired goon for The Patents
Trust who tried to shut down his production
company.

His story about how he became a director
was portrayed in Peter Bogdonovich's Nickel-
odeon.