http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/schedule.html
Schedule
Short subjects will be presented before select programs. Titles are subject to change without notice. In case of inclement weather, check the reservation line no sooner than three hours before show time to see if the movie has been cancelled.
Saturday, January 23 (7:30 pm.)
CHILDREN OF DIVORCE (Paramount, 1927)
A young flapper tricks her childhood sweetheart into marrying her. He is in love with another woman, who he didn't marry her for fear the marriage would end in divorce, as his parents did. Silent film with live musical accompaniment by Andrew Simpson.
Directed by Frank Lloyd.
With Clara Bow and Gary Cooper.
35 mm, black & white, 70 minutes. Print the Library of Congress film lab.
Culpeper, VA: CHILDREN OF DIVORCE (1927)
-
silentfilm
- Moderator
- Posts: 12397
- Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:31 pm
- Location: Dallas, TX USA
- Contact:
Bruce,
Hey, does Criterion know that this is the Von Sternberg most wanted on DVD? Because the majority of fans haven't seen it. I'll wager that most of them have seen the old Paramount VHS releases of DOCKS OF NEW YORK and THE LAST COMMAND, and probably UNDERWORLD too. The mere presence of Clara Bow and Gary Cooper would sell 5 times more copies than the other three films would combined.
Hey, does Criterion know that this is the Von Sternberg most wanted on DVD? Because the majority of fans haven't seen it. I'll wager that most of them have seen the old Paramount VHS releases of DOCKS OF NEW YORK and THE LAST COMMAND, and probably UNDERWORLD too. The mere presence of Clara Bow and Gary Cooper would sell 5 times more copies than the other three films would combined.
=============Gagman 66 wrote:Bruce,
Re: CHILDREN OF DIVORCE: Josef von Sternberg only shot retakes on a film already completed. It is NOT a Josef von Sternberg film per se. If Criterion is accepting suggestions for a Sternberg collection, I would far prefer they fill it out with a genuine Sternberg film—THE SALVATION HUNTERS, for instance (which I have never seen). And if they could include the recovered fragment of the otherwise lost THE CASE OF LENA SMITH (1929), I'd be in Heaven.
yer pal Dave
-
silentfilm
- Moderator
- Posts: 12397
- Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:31 pm
- Location: Dallas, TX USA
- Contact:
http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/entert ... irl/50771/
The original ‘It Girl’
Contributed photo
SHE HAS ‘IT’: Clara Bow stars in “Children of Divorce” playing Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Allison Brophy Champion, [email protected] , (540) 825-0771 ext. 101
Published: January 21, 2010
Updated: January 21, 2010
» 2 Comments | Post a Comment
The paradoxical Brooklyn-born silent film starlet Clara Bow (1905-1965) emulated sex on the silver screen.
In doing so, the wildly popular actress “upended the whole ritual of courtship,” said Bow biographer David Stenn, contending that it was she, in fact, who launched America’s sexual revolution decades before the wild and free 1960s.
On and off the screen, if Clara Bow wanted a man, she would go after him, unlike the “good girls” of the time, he said.
Her influence rubbed off onto popular culture.
Bow was also independent, self-supporting, generous and “a major talent,” said Stenn, author of 1988’s “Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild.”
Without question, she was a tragic figure as well.
But Stenn doesn’t like to talk Ms. Bow up too much. He wants folks to go see her for themselves.
She comes to the big screen in the Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater Saturday night for a rare showing of her silent film, “Children of Divorce” (Paramount, 1927), with Andrew Simpson on piano.
“Sex symbols to that point had been foreign and exotic,” said Stenn, a New York-based writer and television producer who counts among his credits a stint with Fox’s Beverly Hills 90210.
“Clara Bow brought sex into America’s backyard,” he said, referring to some of her movie titles — ‘Daughters of Pleasure,’ ‘My Lady’s Lips,’ ‘Kiss Me Again’ and ‘Get Your Man.’
At one point, she was “engaged” to three men at one time: actors Gary Cooper and Gilbert Roland and “Gone With the Wind” director Victor Fleming. At the time, “engaged” was a euphemism for being romantically involved, Stenn clarified.
Bow starred in 58 movies from 1922-1933 and was Hollywood’s first sex symbol, he said, noting she always played working girls, that is, a waitress, manicurist, etc. Audiences, male and female, loved her, he said, noting, “The men wanted to be with her and the women wanted to be her.”
Impressively, Bow was the original “It Girl,” a term coined by English writer Elinor Glyn to describe her in 1927’s “It.”
“She didn’t break the mold, she created the mold,” Stenn said.
Today, when something is “It” it means new or hot, he said, but that’s not what “It” originally meant.
“You can’t explain what she has,” Stenn said, “but what she has makes her different and better than everyone else.”
And yet underneath all of Bow’s carelessness and abandon was a deep sadness and intense emotionality, he said, stemming from her horrific childhood. To say that Bow was not wanted is putting it lightly.
“Her mother tried to kill her and her father molested her,” said Stenn, who interviewed Bow’s friends and associates when researching her biography and was granted access by her family to her personal records. “She came from the slums.”
Bow never hid her past though and it was her boldness on screen and in real life that made her a threat to a lot of people in the business, he said. In fact, she was considered an embarrassment in Hollywood and wasn’t invited to her own movie premiers.
But it was the emotional power behind Bow’s beauty that made her one of the most naturally gifted actresses of all time, said Stenn.
Bow not only survived, but she transcended, retiring at age 26, buying a huge ranch in Nevada, marrying and raising two sons. Her films are like “great art,” Stenn said, because they are not dated and continue to gain new fans.
For modern followers, he went on, Bow is like “The Sex in the City” girl of the roaring 20s.
Her role in “Children of Divorce” is atypical, he said, in that the movie is a drama, meant to be shocking because of its subject matter. For Bow’s character, the movie ends tragically.
Of the 58 movies she was in, only about 30 survive, Stenn said, noting that Saturday’s screening in Culpeper was a special event.
“There is a moment in the film that is the acumen of silent screen acting,” he said, referring to Bow’s dramatic ‘triple take’ in one fleeting scene. “It’s this idea that you didn’t need words because you could convey all the words on your face. That kind of power is what makes those people so different.”
Want to go?
The Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater presents Clara Bow in “Children of Divorce” (Paramount, 1927) Saturday night at 7:30.
Make reservations for the free show at (540) 827-1079 ext. 79994.
The original ‘It Girl’
Contributed photo
SHE HAS ‘IT’: Clara Bow stars in “Children of Divorce” playing Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Allison Brophy Champion, [email protected] , (540) 825-0771 ext. 101
Published: January 21, 2010
Updated: January 21, 2010
» 2 Comments | Post a Comment
The paradoxical Brooklyn-born silent film starlet Clara Bow (1905-1965) emulated sex on the silver screen.
In doing so, the wildly popular actress “upended the whole ritual of courtship,” said Bow biographer David Stenn, contending that it was she, in fact, who launched America’s sexual revolution decades before the wild and free 1960s.
On and off the screen, if Clara Bow wanted a man, she would go after him, unlike the “good girls” of the time, he said.
Her influence rubbed off onto popular culture.
Bow was also independent, self-supporting, generous and “a major talent,” said Stenn, author of 1988’s “Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild.”
Without question, she was a tragic figure as well.
But Stenn doesn’t like to talk Ms. Bow up too much. He wants folks to go see her for themselves.
She comes to the big screen in the Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater Saturday night for a rare showing of her silent film, “Children of Divorce” (Paramount, 1927), with Andrew Simpson on piano.
“Sex symbols to that point had been foreign and exotic,” said Stenn, a New York-based writer and television producer who counts among his credits a stint with Fox’s Beverly Hills 90210.
“Clara Bow brought sex into America’s backyard,” he said, referring to some of her movie titles — ‘Daughters of Pleasure,’ ‘My Lady’s Lips,’ ‘Kiss Me Again’ and ‘Get Your Man.’
At one point, she was “engaged” to three men at one time: actors Gary Cooper and Gilbert Roland and “Gone With the Wind” director Victor Fleming. At the time, “engaged” was a euphemism for being romantically involved, Stenn clarified.
Bow starred in 58 movies from 1922-1933 and was Hollywood’s first sex symbol, he said, noting she always played working girls, that is, a waitress, manicurist, etc. Audiences, male and female, loved her, he said, noting, “The men wanted to be with her and the women wanted to be her.”
Impressively, Bow was the original “It Girl,” a term coined by English writer Elinor Glyn to describe her in 1927’s “It.”
“She didn’t break the mold, she created the mold,” Stenn said.
Today, when something is “It” it means new or hot, he said, but that’s not what “It” originally meant.
“You can’t explain what she has,” Stenn said, “but what she has makes her different and better than everyone else.”
And yet underneath all of Bow’s carelessness and abandon was a deep sadness and intense emotionality, he said, stemming from her horrific childhood. To say that Bow was not wanted is putting it lightly.
“Her mother tried to kill her and her father molested her,” said Stenn, who interviewed Bow’s friends and associates when researching her biography and was granted access by her family to her personal records. “She came from the slums.”
Bow never hid her past though and it was her boldness on screen and in real life that made her a threat to a lot of people in the business, he said. In fact, she was considered an embarrassment in Hollywood and wasn’t invited to her own movie premiers.
But it was the emotional power behind Bow’s beauty that made her one of the most naturally gifted actresses of all time, said Stenn.
Bow not only survived, but she transcended, retiring at age 26, buying a huge ranch in Nevada, marrying and raising two sons. Her films are like “great art,” Stenn said, because they are not dated and continue to gain new fans.
For modern followers, he went on, Bow is like “The Sex in the City” girl of the roaring 20s.
Her role in “Children of Divorce” is atypical, he said, in that the movie is a drama, meant to be shocking because of its subject matter. For Bow’s character, the movie ends tragically.
Of the 58 movies she was in, only about 30 survive, Stenn said, noting that Saturday’s screening in Culpeper was a special event.
“There is a moment in the film that is the acumen of silent screen acting,” he said, referring to Bow’s dramatic ‘triple take’ in one fleeting scene. “It’s this idea that you didn’t need words because you could convey all the words on your face. That kind of power is what makes those people so different.”
Want to go?
The Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater presents Clara Bow in “Children of Divorce” (Paramount, 1927) Saturday night at 7:30.
Make reservations for the free show at (540) 827-1079 ext. 79994.
Bruce Calvert
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com
-
silentfilm
- Moderator
- Posts: 12397
- Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:31 pm
- Location: Dallas, TX USA
- Contact:
http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/lifest ... ing/51222/
Bow breaks it down in ‘incredibly rare’ LOC screening
Flick Picks - Allison Brophy Champion/Community Columnist, abrophy(at)starexponent.com
Published: January 28, 2010
Hollywood’s original “It Girl” was all that and then some in the Saturday night silent on Mount Pony.
Clara Bow’s allure was obvious in “Children of Divorce” from 1927, even though the movie, otherwise, was more than melodramatic.
Gary Cooper contributed greatly to the on-screen fuss, starring as Bow’s reluctant love interest in one of his earliest credited films.
Interestingly, the two were willing lovers off screen.
Though Cooper went on to win Oscars for his roles in “High Noon” and “Sergeant York,” he was more comical than anything in “Children of Divorce” though it wasn’t supposed to be a comedy.
Getting divorced was so taboo back then and it was even worse for the kids, who got left behind in European nunneries while their unattached parents partied.
It really messed up Cooper’s character later in life — his facial expressions bordered on maniacal.
Turns out, he was so bad in “Children of Divorce” he was fired from it no less than seven times, according to nitrate film specialist Larry Smith, who introduced the film Saturday in Culpeper.
Many of Cooper’s scenes had to be shot over and over and over and over again, making for a very difficult production.
Likewise, restoration of the original nitrate negative from which “Children of Divorce” was preserved was a very difficult process. That’s because when the Library of Congress acquired it in 1969 it came to them with missing inter-titles, image loss and decomposition. The negative had even been lacquered in some spots.
“So when it was copied using the state-of-the-art resources available at the time, there were problems printed in,” Smith said.
It wasn’t until 2000 that the LOC resumed restoration of “Children of Divorce” and by then ¼ of the nitrate negative had melted. In addition, the lacquer caused splices to break open and the emulsion to crack as it bent over the rollers, Smith said.
All told, LOC film specialists spent more than 200 hours restoring the negative, generating the best sole surviving print worldwide. Considering its back-story, the film looked pretty remarkable on the big screen on Mount Pony.
It was certainly an “incredibly rare” viewing experience, as Smith noted, made even more enjoyable with house musician Andrew Simpson at the piano.
Bow, however, stole the show and rightfully so.
Bow breaks it down in ‘incredibly rare’ LOC screening
Flick Picks - Allison Brophy Champion/Community Columnist, abrophy(at)starexponent.com
Published: January 28, 2010
Hollywood’s original “It Girl” was all that and then some in the Saturday night silent on Mount Pony.
Clara Bow’s allure was obvious in “Children of Divorce” from 1927, even though the movie, otherwise, was more than melodramatic.
Gary Cooper contributed greatly to the on-screen fuss, starring as Bow’s reluctant love interest in one of his earliest credited films.
Interestingly, the two were willing lovers off screen.
Though Cooper went on to win Oscars for his roles in “High Noon” and “Sergeant York,” he was more comical than anything in “Children of Divorce” though it wasn’t supposed to be a comedy.
Getting divorced was so taboo back then and it was even worse for the kids, who got left behind in European nunneries while their unattached parents partied.
It really messed up Cooper’s character later in life — his facial expressions bordered on maniacal.
Turns out, he was so bad in “Children of Divorce” he was fired from it no less than seven times, according to nitrate film specialist Larry Smith, who introduced the film Saturday in Culpeper.
Many of Cooper’s scenes had to be shot over and over and over and over again, making for a very difficult production.
Likewise, restoration of the original nitrate negative from which “Children of Divorce” was preserved was a very difficult process. That’s because when the Library of Congress acquired it in 1969 it came to them with missing inter-titles, image loss and decomposition. The negative had even been lacquered in some spots.
“So when it was copied using the state-of-the-art resources available at the time, there were problems printed in,” Smith said.
It wasn’t until 2000 that the LOC resumed restoration of “Children of Divorce” and by then ¼ of the nitrate negative had melted. In addition, the lacquer caused splices to break open and the emulsion to crack as it bent over the rollers, Smith said.
All told, LOC film specialists spent more than 200 hours restoring the negative, generating the best sole surviving print worldwide. Considering its back-story, the film looked pretty remarkable on the big screen on Mount Pony.
It was certainly an “incredibly rare” viewing experience, as Smith noted, made even more enjoyable with house musician Andrew Simpson at the piano.
Bow, however, stole the show and rightfully so.
Bruce Calvert
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com
-
greta de groat
- Posts: 2780
- Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:06 am
- Location: California
- Contact: