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

[wich2]

The ER Burroughs people always carefully guarded their intellectual property rights and they still do.

Which has always been more than a bit ironic ~

~ since Rudyard Kipling was totally correct in charging that the foundation of ERBdom, Tarzan (Lord) of the Jungle, was a blatant ripoff of his Mowgli of the Jungle (Books)!

[drednm]

The Johnstown Flood (1926) is a good silent film with some spectacular flood scenes. The plot has George O'Brien as a young engineer working for a lumber company owned by snarky Anders Randolf. He has a big new lumber contract to fulfill and is going full steam to do so. Although he's warned that the dam (which he owns) is structurally unsound, his lead engineer (Paul Nicholson) tells him it has been repaired. That's a lie, but Randolf is willing to believe it because the dam regulates the river which ensures the logs go downstream. Into this fray come Florence Gilbert, O'Brien's fiancee and Randolf's niece. There's also Janet Gaynor as the young Anna, daughter of a logging foreman (Paul Panzer). She loves O'Brien, but he only has eyes for Miss Gilbert. Others in the cast include Max Davidson as the local department store owner. His role is meant to be comic relief, but the Jewish stereotype gets to be a bit much. There's also Kay Deslys in a dance number during a local show. Among the bit players are Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, and Gary Cooper! Rumor has it that Florence Lawrence is also recognizable.

Special effects aside, the real star here is Miss Gaynor. I had thought she had a small role early in her career, but she's actually the female co-lead and she's excellent. While Gilbert plays it straight as the lovely niece who eventually lands O'Brien, Gaynor's role allows her to do some comedy as the teenager and she gets the big scene when she saves the day (sort of) by galloping through the town on a horse, warning people the dam is about to blow.

[R Michael Pyle]

Had a wonderful time watching "One A Minute" (1921) with Douglas MacLean, Marian de Beck, Victor Potel, Frances Raymond, Andrew Robson, Graham Pettie, and others. Restored to perfection to the point it was almost like watching live television (!), this LOC restored film was a project of Ben Model who also performed the organ accompaniment. The title refers to the remark of Phineas T. Barnum who commented on the fact that there is a sucker born every minute.

MacLean returns from having earned his law degree to his native city, Centerville, Iowa, here to run his late father's drug store. The store is now across the street from a much larger, progressive, and well-funded drug business run by Andrew Robson. On his way back to the city on a train, MacLean had run into and met Marian de Beck who just happens also to be from Centerville - and, yes, of course, the daughter of Andrew Robson, and who also happens to have the same fighting spirit that MacLean has, based on her (and his) favorite rôle model, Abraham Lincoln. They have a very definite mutual attraction to each other.

Well, back in business in the city, the two drug stores compete against each other. Robson tries to buy out the little old-fashioned (and basically out-of-money) store run by MacLean. He nearly succeeds until a last second decision... Eventually MacLean is forced to come up with a plan. Here begins the story really... He concocts a Panacea for all ills...made out of 4 ingredients...and a fifth, too, though that's a sort-of-kicker to the rest of the story... All this eventually is forced to play out in a court of law because MacLean is taken there by those who say he's abused the law by selling phony stuff as a cure-all for everything.

As anyone who has ever watched a comedic film knows, this turns out the way it should.

This was a whole lot more fun than I ever anticipated. MacLean is like watching a younger Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Even looks a lot like him at times. He was immensely popular at one time, but unfortunately most of his films are long gone. The fact that this one is in such impeccable shape is not only remarkable, but its condition is so superlative as to be a great example for someone who's never seen a silent film to watch to learn what the convention of silent film was all about!

Sad to learn that Andrew Robson, who played the competitor in business to MacLean and the father of MacLean's love interest in the film, died the year this film was released at the young age of 53 of a heart ailment. MacLean himself went through 3 divorces and 4 marriages, retiring from acting in 1929 and becoming a producer for several years, then retired in 1938. Marian de Beck is only known to have made this single film. Victor Potel, who admirably co-stars as MacLean's friend and editor of the Centerville newspaper, appeared in over 500 feature films and shorts during quite a career!

Very highly recommended. Very soon to be available through Undercrank Productions on DVD. Super job, Ben! This was a lot of fun. Look forward to watching the other feature and an extra short documentary on Ince Studios on the DVD!!

[boblipton]

Watching One A Minute right now, and took a brief break. I’m about two-thirds of the way through, and am enjoying it greatly. Ben’s score is up to his usual fine standards, and the picture quality is excellent.

Bob

[boblipton]

Bell Boy 13 (1923): Douglas MacLean is the nephew of John Stepping, who owns a bond brokerage house. MacLean wants to marry pretty actress Margaret Loomis. Stepping refuses and disinherits MacLean. When MacLean speaks with Miss Loomis at her hotel, she says a young man should work. Confronted with the prospect of working or starving, MacLean becomes a bellboy at the hotel, whither Stepping comes to track him down.

Looking at this movie, I was struck by how much it resembled the sort of feature that Harold Lloyd was appearing in for Hal Roach; there is even a thrill comedy sequence in which MacLean is perched on a high ledge, overlooking traffic. It’s hardly surprising, as both men were working as light comedians, and making use of the same sort of gags. MacLean’s feature, is perhaps better balanced, in that Stepping gets a funny sequence to show off his comedy chops, as he wanders from hotel room to hotel room, thinking each his own, encountering pretty girls in various states of undress.

After appearing on the stage and as a supporting juvenile, MacLean was hired by Thomas Ince to play the young go-getter in comedies. With his breakout movie, 23 1/2 Hour Leave, MacLean was set in his star persona, a character he would play through the end of the silent era. At that point, he shifted to the role of producer, and continued through 1941. He died in 1967, age 77.

Although his disappearance from the screen made his memory vanish except for a few specialists in old films, his work is strong, and naturalistic. During the 1920s, he starred in more comedy features than the ‘Big Three’ — Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd — put together. working with the Library of Congress, silent film historian Ben Model has released this forgotten comedy and MacLean’s One A Minute on dvd, with his own delightful score.

Bob

[sepiatone]

Watched two different copies of The Wizard of Oz(1925). A dvd copy I bought only because a lady served to narrate the intertitles, and then watched a beautiful slightly tinted copy on YT with different run time but original title cards and questionable footage count to the dvd copy. Speed adjusted on beautiful YT print.

[wich2]

Alas, they still haven't developed Quality Adjustment software...

[sepiatone]

Alas, they still haven't developed Quality Adjustment software...

Youtube, you mean?
yeah, on the sound films it's worse as dialogue is heard before the scene and vice versa. It seems to be getting better though!

[wich2]

(No, I meant that that OZ itself is in woeful need of some kind - any kind! - of improvement, artistically.)

[boblipton]

(No, I meant that that OZ itself is in woeful need of some kind - any kind! - of improvement, artistically.)

How weird to hear the 1925 Wizard of Oz used in the same sentence with “artistically”.

Bob

[R Michael Pyle]

I watched "The Last Laugh" (1924) with Emil Jannings. Also appearing are Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emilie Kurz, Georg John, Hans Unterkircher, Olaf Storm, and many others. Directed by F. W. Murnau, this is not just visually compelling, but simply amazing visually! What is most amazing, though, is the stunning performance of Emil Jannings. If ever an actor has the power of magnetic attraction, it is here. The viewer will not have the power to take his or her eyes off of Jannings as he performs himself through this picture. It is told as half a satire on military in that what Murnau wishes is to have us see in the beginning the overwhelming power of a uniform to draw attention and gain amazing stature, worth, and credit by it. Jannings plays a doorman at the Atlantic Hotel in Germany. He is beginning to show some minor signs of aging and debilitation and, due to the grave importance of how the uniform is viewed by the hotel's upper management, a manager writes up Jannings when he takes a [deserved] break during a driving rain storm after carrying many, many heavy trunks and bags from arriving taxis and delivery vans, and taking others to them. He is then wiped from that job - evidently after many years of service - and given the lowly task of being a men's bathroom attendant and cleaner-upper. He tries to lie off the truth to his wife and his niece, leading to discovery and incredible shame. Then - then a miracle of sorts happens. It seems that a uniform is not the most important thing there is afterall... This is quietly, though not totally, based on Gogol's "The Coat".

For the period in which this was made this is magnificent! Jannings gives a stellar performance that is justly considered classic. My viewing was on Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray. Included in the set is also a DVD in case one doesn't have Blu-Ray. The quality is nearly pristine. It's from the 2003 German restored version.

[Roscoe]

Fritz Lang is supposed to have pointed out that men's room attendants make far more in tips than doormen.

[R Michael Pyle]

Fritz Lang is supposed to have pointed out that men's room attendants make far more in tips than doormen.

If I don't believe that speculation, then I should watch this movie...

[Mike Gebert]

File under Jobs You Couldn't Pay Me Enough To...

[Histogram]

The Johnstown Flood (1926) is a good silent film with some spectacular flood scenes.

I saw the movie a few years ago, around the time that I also happened to be reading David McCullough's non-fiction "The Johnstown Flood", which provides an interesting backstory.

[bobfells]

Re THE LAST LAUGH or in its German title, THE LAST MAN, the "happy ending" was tacked on for the US release or so I understand. It plays absurdly and suggests that the filmmakers were thumbing their noses at the demands of the US distributors. That's OK with me but what impressed me about the ending was that it seemed deliberately ridiculous. Had it been handled a bit more seriously, I think it would have been credible. My two cents.

[Roscoe]

Actually, no, the ending for THE LAST LAUGH was a part of the film from very early on in the production process. A video extra on the Kino release even gives Emil Jannings the credit for suggesting it. I like it a lot, playing a very mean game with audience expectations -- is it any less outlandish for him to have inherited a fortune by accident than it is for him to die a terribly symbolic death at the loss of his status? What's realistic anyway? I've sometimes wondered if a similar game isn't being played at the end of SUNRISE, where the wife's survival feels even more ridiculous than the inheritance.

[drednm]

The Johnstown Flood (1926) is a good silent film with some spectacular flood scenes.

I saw the movie a few years ago, around the time that I also happened to be reading David McCullough's non-fiction "The Johnstown Flood", which provides an interesting backstory.

The ending is missing from the YT copy.... maybe just a minute or so .... hard to tell.

[R Michael Pyle]

Actually, no, the ending for THE LAST LAUGH was a part of the film from very early on in the production process. A video extra on the Kino release even gives Emil Jannings the credit for suggesting it. I like it a lot, playing a very mean game with audience expectations -- is it any less outlandish for him to have inherited a fortune by accident than it is for him to die a terribly symbolic death at the loss of his status? What's realistic anyway? I've sometimes wondered if a similar game isn't being played at the end of SUNRISE, where the wife's survival feels even more ridiculous than the inheritance.

Yup.

Again, it's based on "The Coat" by Gogol...but only based on it...and Gogol is such a laugh-happy writer...leaves the reader with pain from guffawing...

The extra that's included - which is in German with sub-titles - is actually very informative and interesting. I'm glad to have watched it...

[bobfells]

Browsing through the "Screening Room" of LOC Online I came across a Universal Jewel Production that I hadn't previously noticed. The film is THE FIGHTING AMERICAN (1924) aka THE FIGHTING ADVENTURER, starring Pat O'Malley, a radiant Mary Astor, Raymond Hatton, and Warner Oland in one of his typical Asian characterizations years before he played Hollywood's first Asian hero in the Charlie Chan films. Of course, given the easy downloading of this film thanks to LOC, I assumed it was easy to find on Youtube and other online sources. But after spending a few minutes checking the usual places I couldn't find it. Someone said that Grapevine Video issued it but either it was withdrawn or the person confused it with THE FIGHTING COWARD, also 1924 and also with Mary Astor.

A mute print, I added vintage 1920s music to match the jaunty mood of this college romantic comedy that ends up with our hero and heroine in China fighting the local rebels. An introductory title credited to Carl Laemmle warns viewers not to take anything about the story seriously. Indeed, that's an excellent way to approach this film. Given the relatively few silent Universals that are available, this one's a nice gem to discover. Unless you already know of places where it's posted, you are welcome to check out my version that I posted on Youtube.

[Histogram]

The Johnstown Flood (1926) is a good silent film with some spectacular flood scenes.

I saw the movie a few years ago, around the time that I also happened to be reading David McCullough's non-fiction "The Johnstown Flood", which provides an interesting backstory.

The ending is missing from the YT copy.... maybe just a minute or so .... hard to tell.

That's a dirty trick. I saw it (with the ending) in a theater four years ago, https://stanfordtheatre.org/calendars/F ... 01935.html

[FrankFay]

The Johnstown Flood (1926) is a good silent film with some spectacular flood scenes.

I saw the movie a few years ago, around the time that I also happened to be reading David McCullough's non-fiction "The Johnstown Flood", which provides an interesting backstory.

The plot is jaw-droppingly far from the actual events.

[Histogram]

The Johnstown Flood (1926) is a good silent film with some spectacular flood scenes.

I saw the movie a few years ago, around the time that I also happened to be reading David McCullough's non-fiction "The Johnstown Flood", which provides an interesting backstory.

The plot is jaw-droppingly far from the actual events.

The main difference, apart from the fictionalized activity during and after the disaster itself, is the purpose of the dam in the first place. In reality, it was for recreation. The dam created an artificial lake so an up-river, up-scale social club could have yachting and other fun lakeside stuff. Dealing with dam inspection, maintenance, and possible emergencies were nuisances to be dismissed by the owners.

[boblipton]

It’s been decades since I last Saw it, but Our Dancing Daughters (1928) kicked off some late-1920s flapper movies, so I thought “why not”. I had enjoyed it in earlier days, and and enjoyed it this time, too.

Joan Crawford is a good girl, who enjoys a good time. Her sister, Dorothy Sebastian is a good-hearted girl, who thought she was in love several times before marrying Nils Asther, who has forgiven her.... but he keeps forgetting he has. Anita Page is not a good girl, but she's angling to marry a good man, Johnny Mack Brown, who has a lot of money, which is always a good thing, and she lands him... and Joan wanted him.

There had been other movies which showed how the 1920s roared, but here's MGM at its height, making a little picture that turned into a huge hit for them, with a totally old-fashioned and normative message about what men want in wives, and what woman want. It's handled beautifully by Harry Beaumont, with George Barnes handling the camera, with an opening sequence of dancing feet and a cascade of balloons to let the audience know that the good times are rolling.

This was the movie that made Joan Crawford a star. Beaumont and Barnes clearly knew what they had, and shot the entire movie to show off Miss Crawford's two biggest assets: her impromptu, natural dancing, and her immense eyes.

The copy that plays on Turner Classic movies is not in too-notch shape, with some shots out of focus, and wear on the print. It does have a fine, contemporary soundtrack of compiled popular song of the era.

Bob

[R Michael Pyle]

Browsing through the "Screening Room" of LOC Online I came across a Universal Jewel Production that I hadn't previously noticed. The film is THE FIGHTING AMERICAN (1924) aka THE FIGHTING ADVENTURER, starring Pat O'Malley, a radiant Mary Astor, Raymond Hatton, and Warner Oland in one of his typical Asian characterizations years before he played Hollywood's first Asian hero in the Charlie Chan films. Of course, given the easy downloading of this film thanks to LOC, I assumed it was easy to find on Youtube and other online sources. But after spending a few minutes checking the usual places I couldn't find it. Someone said that Grapevine Video issued it but either it was withdrawn or the person confused it with THE FIGHTING COWARD, also 1924 and also with Mary Astor.

A mute print, I added vintage 1920s music to match the jaunty mood of this college romantic comedy that ends up with our hero and heroine in China fighting the local rebels.

Bob, I had the VHS tape from Grapevine until I got rid of all my tapes. Yes, it DID exist once, and with a piano score. I DID replace my tape of "The Fighting Coward" with a DVD, but I've never gone back to look for "The Fighting American". I always thought that "American" finally showed Astor to full advantage, her earlier stuff just puff. She's very pretty in it. You've made me wish to re-visit it possibly.

[Big Silent Fan]

For laughs, we watched Head Winds (1925) with Patsy Ruth Miller. We last saw her in the title role of Lorraine of the Lions (1926), a fun film with well done scenes at sea.
In this film, Patrica's two silly brothers are so concerned about her marrying the wrong man that they contact her lifelong sweetheart, hoping to stop the marriage. He doesn't simply try, Pete masquerades as the groom and kidnaps her, taking her far out to sea.
Head Winds runs under an hour but certainly was filled with elaborately done scenes. At one point, we weren't sure if this was a dream, or had the whole U. S. Navy decided to attack the lone sailing ship and capture it's captain? The masts of the schooner were shelled and Navy ships destroyed when they came too close to shore. There's even a Naval hearing aboard the ship where Pete's charged with all the damage. Like any good Seafaring story, there's a storm at Sea to deal with.

The effort put into the action scenes in the story made it fun to watch.
Watching hundreds of sailors boarding one sailboat was as thrilling as scenes were in Lorraine of the Lions.

[s.w.a.c.]

I saw the movie a few years ago, around the time that I also happened to be reading David McCullough's non-fiction "The Johnstown Flood", which provides an interesting backstory.

The plot is jaw-droppingly far from the actual events.

The main difference, apart from the fictionalized activity during and after the disaster itself, is the purpose of the dam in the first place. In reality, it was for recreation. The dam created an artificial lake so an up-river, up-scale social club could have yachting and other fun lakeside stuff. Dealing with dam inspection, maintenance, and possible emergencies were nuisances to be dismissed by the owners.

The hour-long American Experience episode on the flood is on YT, for anyone who wants to know more of the story.

For some reason, the silent film with O'Brien and Gaynor didn't come up right away when I searched for it on YT, but searching "Johnstown Flood" and the year of the film (1926) brought it up. It looks more watchable than I expected, although I was lucky enough to see the 35mm copy held at George Eastman House in Rochester during one of the Toronto Film Society's weekends there, which makes me hope that it could surface some day for home viewing.

[bobfells]

Bob, I had the VHS tape from Grapevine until I got rid of all my tapes. Yes, it DID exist once, and with a piano score. I DID replace my tape of "The Fighting Coward" with a DVD, but I've never gone back to look for "The Fighting American". I always thought that "American" finally showed Astor to full advantage, her earlier stuff just puff. She's very pretty in it. You've made me wish to re-visit it possibly.

Michael,

FWIW, the LOC print is somewhat worn but is sharp with good contrast.

Bob

[silentfilm]

For laughs, we watched Head Winds (1925) with Patsy Ruth Miller. We last saw her in the title role of Lorraine of the Lions (1926), a fun film with well done scenes at sea.
In this film, Patrica's two silly brothers are so concerned about her marrying the wrong man that they contact her lifelong sweetheart, hoping to stop the marriage. He doesn't simply try, Pete masquerades as the groom and kidnaps her, taking her far out to sea.
Head Winds runs under an hour but certainly was filled with elaborately done scenes. At one point, we weren't sure if this was a dream, or had the whole U. S. Navy decided to attack the lone sailing ship and capture it's captain? The masts of the schooner were shelled and Navy ships destroyed when they came too close to shore. There's even a Naval hearing aboard the ship where Pete's charged with all the damage. Like any good Seafaring story, there's a storm at Sea to deal with.

The effort put into the action scenes in the story made it fun to watch.
Watching hundreds of sailors boarding one sailboat was as thrilling as scenes were in Lorraine of the Lions.

I've got several original stills of Head Winds (1925), all featuring a Chinese crew.


George Kuwa, House Peters, and Patsy Ruth Miller

[boblipton]

I saw Why Be Good? (1929) at New York's Film Forum after its restoration. It's one of three 1920s flapper movies just shown on TCM, so I took another look.

Colleen Moore is a modern girl. She likes drinking and necking and winning dance cups. One evening, she has just won another dance competition at a speakeasy, only for her boyfriend to fall asleep drunk at their table. She heads over to Neil Hamilton's table. He had tried to pick her up earlier, and now he's going to take her home...at 3AM, which worries her mother enough to ask if she's still a good girl.

The next morning, Colleen is fifteen minutes late to her job at the department store. Guess who's the owner's son and the new personnel manager? After Hamilton expresses his interest in Miss Moore to his father, his father expresses concerns about girls these days, with "the drinking, the spooning, the kissing - and - and the broad-mindedness."

Miss Moore's last silent movie has her performing the persona she had established for herself in FLAMING YOUTH. She enjoys the good life, and keeps herself clean, growing angry at the sneers of young men who want the drinking, and the spooning, and the kissing, and the broad-mindedness, but don't want it for their wives. Like many of the flapper movies of the 1920s, it insists that times have changed... but not that much.

Miss Moore is comfortable in the role, while Hamilton comes off as a stuffed shirt. Director William Seiter shows the easy mix of light comedy and social message that would keep him working through his death, and Sidney Hickox's camerawork shows why he was Miss Moore's favorite cinematographer.

Why Be Good? is not novel nor deep. It's still a very enjoyable movie for one of the 1920s' biggest stars before the talkies and the Depression overwhelmed the movies.


Bob