GETTING MARY MARRIED Blu-Ray

[drednm]

Grapevine Video has issued a Blu-Ray edition of Marion Davies' Getting Mary Married (1919) and I suppose an upgrade to the old DVD they issued some years back. In poking through some old external drives a few months ago, I found the original, massive (mis-labeled) video files from Library of Congress that I bought years ago. I asked the Hardys if they were interested. Anyway, I think the new edition should be a noticeable upgrade. Here's an article the New York Times ran in April 2013 about the original DVD release. Can this really have been 6 years ago?

Getting Mary Married

It’s looking to be a good year for Allan Dwan (1885-1981), the pioneer American filmmaker, who began directing in 1911, when movies were seldom more than 10 or 12 minutes long, and worked without a break for half a century. After directing over 400 films he reluctantly retired after making a science-fiction film, “Most Dangerous Man Alive,” that was released in 1961, when Dwan was 76.

His extraordinary career is the subject of an exhaustively researched recent biography by Fredric Lombardi, “Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios” (McFarland), and in June he will be the focus of an extensive retrospective organized by Charles Silver of the Museum of Modern Art. And unexpectedly a print of a complete version of Dwan’s delightful 1919 comedy “Getting Mary Married,” starring a young Marion Davies, has just turned up on DVD from the collectors’ label Grapevine Video.

Where the partial print at the Library of Congress (three reels out of five) frustratingly ends with the heroine still trapped, thanks to the terms of an onerous will, in the Boston home of her stuffy, calculating uncle and his family, it’s good to be able to report that Mary does indeed get married in the full version.

Dwan captures this not entirely unexpected happy ending in a wholly unexpected final shot. It begins with what seems to be a formal portrait of Mary standing alone in her bridal gown, then bursts into life as the camera pans away from what turns out to be a mirrored reflection, toward the real Mary, who is joined by her groom (Norman Kerry) in a more tightly framed image that conveys their closeness and shared joy.

Combining camera movement and an expressive use of depth of field, the shot neatly condenses the narrative arc of the entire film. That story moves from Mary’s imprisonment in the stifling Park Avenue apartment of her stepfather (who loses his life in a brilliantly timed bit of black comedy involving an open elevator shaft) to the moment when she can finally proclaim, in a written intertitle, “I am free!”

Formally, it’s also a very unusual shot for a film of 1919, and “Getting Mary Married” has several other such moments, which suggest the range of Dwan’s stylistic innovations. Trained as an engineer at Notre Dame, he never stopped looking for technological solutions to artistic problems. His 1915 feature “David Harum” contains one of the earliest camera movements in American film (a reverse dolly shot, improvised by placing the camera on the back of a car), and there is evidence to support Dwan’s contention that he designed the complex mechanism (an elevator on wheels) that allowed D. W. Griffith to capture the shot that slowly revealed the gigantic scale of the Babylon set in “Intolerance” (1916). As sound, color and wide-screen came along, Dwan effortlessly adapted each new development into his range of expressive techniques — one reason his career lasted 50 years without tipping into quaintness.

But he was also a sensitive director of actors, following Griffith’s lead in insisting on an ever more naturalistic, restrained performance style. “Getting Mary Married” is full of examples of Dwan’s relaxed yet concentrated manner. With a single, seemingly casual gesture — Mary pokes the mattress in her new Boston bedroom, and finds that it’s very hard — Dwan at once disposes of pages of exposition. Mary is obliged to spend a year in Boston in order to inherit her stepfather’s estate, but if the Boston relatives can drive her out before 12 months are up, the money will go to them. When Mary pokes the mattress, it reveals just how ruthless (and metaphorically unyielding) the Bostonians are, and suggests, with Mary’s smile of recognition, the reserves of insight and resilience that will see her through.

According to a Library of Congress study some 760 American feature films were released in 1919; “Getting Mary Married” is one of the 160 — a mere 22 percent — that survive in any form. That gap will never be completely filled in, but surprises are always possible. Most likely they will come from private collectors like Edward Lorusso, who generously provided the print for the Grapevine release. Thank you, Mr. Lorusso. And what else have you got?

[WaverBoy]

Yay! I’m glad my suggestion has borne fruit! I’ll be ordering this very soon. And since for some reason Grapevine hasn’t updated their New Releases section with this yet, here is the direct link to purchase:

http://www.grapevinevideo.com/getting-mary-married.html

So much silent Marion Davies available on DVD and Blu-ray, thanks to Ed, Ben, and Jack! And Warner Archive too, although it would be nice if they would upgrade their three Marion titles (THE RED MILL, THE PATSY, and SHOW PEOPLE) to Blu at some point.

Ben, is there any chance of upgrading THE BRIDE’S PLAY, BEAUTY’S WORTH, or LITTLE OLD NEW YORK to Blu?

[BenModel]

Probably not. It would take Blu-ray-R to be possible with my MOD distribution company, then there’s the cost of re-authoring the disc - film and menus - for BR.

A lot of work and a bit of fund-raising tor the possibility of a small bunch of fans re-buying the film.

Ben

[bgp]

I recommend avoiding their blu-ray of this film. Just received it today and the video is riddled with interlacing (!?!) and has a stuttering ghosting effect during motion. It seems they are using some bad software or incorrect settings. The video should not be interlaced (this is HD format, not 480i DVD). A shame as the print looks pretty good, I will be returning my copy.

[bgp]

Here are screen shorts regarding this blu-ray release (would have posted them earlier but had some internet issues this week)

[Ken Mitchell]

Does anyone know if this interlace issue was sorted out by Grapevine? I'm hovering over the 'buy' button in the Grapevine sale but then remembered this post.

[WaverBoy]

Does anyone know if this interlace issue was sorted out by Grapevine? I'm hovering over the 'buy' button in the Grapevine sale but then remembered this post.

I’m guessing not. I bought this and it indeed looks terrible because of the ghosting effects, no reason to upgrade from the DVD when it’s not an upgrade but in fact a downgrade.