Yearly Archives: 2012

The Scarlet Letter

Posted on November 14, 2012 by John Grant

Colleen Moore plays Hester Prynne in the 1934 film version of “The Scarlet Letter,” the classic novel by William Hawthorne.  The producers (Larry Darmour Productions) made the film independently using the RKO Ranch in Sherman Oaks, California, while MGM provided … Continue reading →

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Paths to Paradise

Posted on November 11, 2012 by John Grant

It’s been said (by Walter Kerr in “The Silent Clowns”) that Raymond Griffith is fifth in the pantheon of great silent film male comedians, after Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon.  After seeing a wonderful film called … Continue reading →

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The Wedding Night

Posted on November 8, 2012 by John Grant

My further investigation into the films of Anna Sten brought me to “The Wedding Night,” the picture she made in 1935 with Gary Cooper.  Cooper plays a fiction writer in New York City, Tony Barrett, whose latest novel is rejected … Continue reading →

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Quality Street

Posted on November 5, 2012 by John Grant

After seeing Marion Davies in a terrific silent film called “The Patsy,” from 1928 (at the 2012 Pordenone Silent Film Festival), I eagerly awaited the arrival of an earlier film, “Quality Street,” from 1927, in my mailbox.  Davies stars in … Continue reading →

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Family Day

Posted on November 2, 2012 by John Grant

A German silent film comedy called “Familientag im Hause Prellstein,” from 1927, features a family feud over an inheritance.  When Sami Bambus learns that his gambling debts far exceed his fortune, he decides to fake his own death.  His plan takes … Continue reading →

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Hands Up!

Posted on October 28, 2012 by John Grant

Raymond Griffith, one of the forgotten comedy stars of the silent era, starred in a 1926 film called “Hands Up!”, a funny comedy about a Confederate spy working to steal Nevada gold before the Union gets it.  The gags come … Continue reading →

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The Girl With the Hatbox

Posted on October 25, 2012 by John Grant

Who knew that Moscow had a room shortage in 1927?  That’s when Boris Barnet made “The Girl With the Hatbox,” a Soviet silent film that features Anna Sten as Natasha, a milliner who travels to Moscow to sell her hats. … Continue reading →

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Heavenly Days

Posted on October 22, 2012 by John Grant

In 1944, RKO Radio Pictures made a Fibber McGee and Molly vehicle called “Heavenly Days.”  Jim (Fibber) and Marian (Molly) Jordan play a daffy couple who decide to take a trip to Washington to tell the Senate how to run … Continue reading →

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The Viking

Posted on October 19, 2012 by John Grant

In the transition from silent pictures to sound, Hollywood studios released mostly silent pictures with synchronized soundtracks and various sound effects.  I recently saw an MGM film from 1929 that employed this hybrid approach, and it also added the glory of “two-strip” … Continue reading →

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The Weavers

Posted on October 16, 2012 by John Grant

Under the program title, “The Canon Revisited,” the Pordenone Silent Film Festival presented “Die Weber (The Weavers),” a 1927 German film directed by Frederik Zelnik.  The story concerns a revolt by the mistreated weavers at a factory in a small … Continue reading →

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