Review of Peter Pan Screening in Culpeper VA

[George Kincaid]

http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/entert ... een/44338/

Peter Pan glitters on the silver screen


The previously-unknown Betty Bronson steals the show as Peter Pan in the 1924 silent film by Paramount.
Allison Brophy Champion, [email protected], (540) 825-0771 ext. 101
Published: October 1, 2009

Joyful youth soaked the Library of Congress Theater on Mount Pony Saturday afternoon at a rare screening of the silent “Peter Pan” from 1924.

It was real movie magic, coated in glitter.

Based on J.M. Barrie’s immortal story of fierce pirates, flying Darling children and tiny fairies, the 85-year-old version was the very first “Peter Pan” movie of the 11 made so far.

The story, then, is well familiar and yet seeing the silent was to see “Peter Pan” anew — all soft tints and sparkles, innocence and whimsy.

Composer Andrew Simpson, music professor at Catholic University, added an important layer to the delightful screening with his dazzling piano accompaniment that put each classic character in its rightful place. He says it’s a lot of fun to play and that was easy to hear.

The stars of “Peter Pan,” likewise, were impossibly gorgeous starting with silent movie star Esther Ralston as Mrs. Darling who’s something close to an angel. Virginia Faire — yes that’s her real name — flitted around full of grace as Tinker Bell, leaving trails of stars and sparkles behind her.

Mary Brian as the kind and vigilant big sister Wendy, so wanting to be in love, shines bright in her own right. But the hands-down showstopper was Betty Bronson, a previously unknown actress hand-selected by Barrie to play Peter Pan.

According to LOC nitrate film specialist Larry Smith, who introduced Saturday’s matinee, Bronson got the part because she had trained for the Ballet Russe with famed choreographer Michael Fokine and her grace and innocence were unmatched.

That poise and virtue translated superbly to the big screen and it was not a stretch to imagine Bronson as the little boy who refused to grow up.

And yet, we all know there’s a hint of sadness to “Peter Pan.”

Here’s an especially poignant exchange between Wendy, Michael and Peter, as depicted on the title cards taken directly from dialogue in Barrie’s play:

“Though the children stayed away for many moons, the beautiful mother always left the window open for them to fly back,” says Wendy. “I do like a mother’s love, don’t you?”

“I do just,” replies Michael.

But for Peter, there’s something deeper: “Wendy, you are wrong about mothers. When I flew back to my mother, the window was barred, and there was another boy asleep in my bed.”

As if emerging from a dream, “Peter Pan” ends with the children defeating Captain Hook, portrayed by the larger-than-life Ernest Torrence.

They return to the safety of their nursery, where their beautiful loving mom eternally waits. Peter flies away back to Never Land and the aesthetic beauty of the film is not easily forgotten.

Amazingly, the silent “Peter Pan” was almost lost to time for good, vanishing for years. Noted film preservationist James Card writes in his book “Seductive Cinema” about how he discovered a single print of it stashed away in a vault of decomposing nitrate film in a theater in New York.

The Museum of Modern Art restored it and the beautiful tinted print shown Saturday in Culpeper was restored from that one-of-a-kind copy.

Who says fairies aren’t real?

[rudyfan]

Saw this on the bigger than tv screen at my one and only visit to Cleveland for Cinefest, and it was magical. It still is, in fact.

[drednm]

I agree.... I have a copy of this. Very nice print and a truly charming film.

[Gagman 66]

PETER PAN is wonderful and it is nice that this movie actually is on DVD from Kino. But Herbert Brenon's follow up A KISS FOR CINDERELLA is every bit as good. In-fact it is quite arguably the most charming and magical family film ever made prior to the 1939 THE WIZARD OF OZ It is that good. This is why it truly needs and deserves to be properly restored, scored, and released on official DVD to be rediscovered by the masses. In a side note, why hasn't the 1924 PETER PAN ever been shown on TCM? At least I have never seen it.

[drednm]

Jeff.... I plan to watch A Kiss for Cinderella this weekend.

[Jenny Paxson]

Saw this on the bigger than tv screen at my one and only visit to Cleveland for Cinefest, and it was magical. It still is, in fact.
_________________
Donna Hill

I'll bet you meant Columbus -- Cinevent - yes? I was one of the lucky ones to see it there, at the Neon Moives in Dayton AND last week in Culpeper!

[drednm]

I watched the 1925 Herbert Brenon film A Kiss for Cinderella starring Betty Bronson as a London waif named Jane and Tom Moore as a kindly policeman. Based on a play by J.M. Barrie of Peter Pan fame, this one is set against London during World War I. The Cinderella sequence is actually a dream Bronson has while she sleeps on a sidewalk during a snow storm.

At 105 minutes, I thought the film was way too long despite the intended whimsy. I have not read Barrie's play so I cannot tell how much of the stage material Brenon used. Contemporary audiences probably expected a similar follow-up to Brenon's Peter Pan, which was filmed the year before. That marvelous film made Bronson a star; this version of Cinderella, however, was a flop.

In the long run, it's a nice little film filled with Brenon touches. Aside from Bronson and Moore, the only other name actors (to me) are Esther Ralston as the Fairy Godmother and Flora Finch as one of the stepsisters.

The copy is ok but degraded in a few spots. Overall this looks like an expensive production. There's a terrific line during the glass slipper scene where Moore says something about Cinderella always walking on kisses.

Brenon apparently did not retirn to whimsy. Some of his films after this one include Dancing Mothers, Beau Geste, The Great Gatsby, and Sorrell and Son.