John Grant

Espionage films in general, including the ones featuring James Bond, owe their inspiration to Fritz Lang’s “Spies,” released in 1928.  The German film stars Willy Fritsch as Agent 326, who springs into action when a diabolical bank manager named Haghi resolves to foil a signed treaty between Germany and Japan.  His plan:  To intercept the treaty, destroy it and cause a war that gives him ultimate power.

Rudolf Klein-Rogge plays the diabolical Haghi in “Spies.”

The security bureau arrests Agent 326, posing as a drifter, and drags him in for questioning.  While there, he unmasks a double agent carrying a miniature camera and we learn that he’s the bureau’s top agent.  The scene shifts to Haghi’s office, where Haghi, played by Rudolf Klein-Rogge, sits in a wheelchair, attended by a female nurse.  Around him, an impressive array of electronic devices keep tabs on what’s going on in the security office.  Haghi calls on a ravishing Russian woman named Lady Leslane, played by Hertha von Walther, to romance 326.  But spies fall in love.  While running from the police, she convinces 326 to hide her, and that leads to a strong romance.

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Supposedly, Lang’s “Metropolis,” released in 1927, failed at the box office so the studio, Universum Film (UFA), limited Lang’s budget on Spies.  So, the contrast between the security bureau’s set and Haghi’s bank office seem doesn’t seem so great.  The screen that alerts Haghi of important news looks like a letter slot, while his intercom system looks like a hose with a funnel attached to it.

Lang does an outstanding job balancing the story, keeping the focus on the Japanese treaty plot while juggling the romantic subplots.  The smarter and diabolical Haghi seems invincible, while Agent 326’s ultimate strength comes from attracting the love of Lady Leslane.  Lang stages a spectacular climax involving a train, and then feeds us key story information that we should have figured out earlier.   The film includes all the expected elements of an espionage thriller, including an all-powerful villain, exotic elements such as the Russian and Japanese interiors, high-tech gadgets, beautiful and very capable women, and an exhilarating and unexpected ending.

Director Arthur Robison makes shadows real in a 1923 German film called “Warning Shadows.”  The film features a wealthy Count (Fritz Kortner) and Countess (Ruth Weyher) who host a party in a 19th century mansion for three gentlemen and a young man.  When an itinerant entertainer shows up at the door, the servants attempt to throw him out, but he puts up his hands and demonstrates his amazing ability to project shadow puppets.  Intrigued, the husband allows the “Shadowplayer” to attend the party and entertain his guests.  The servants hang a sheet on a wall and the entertainment begins.  The film soon develops a dark and horrific theme.

The Shadowplayer entertains the servants in “Warning Shadows.”

Judging from the show the Shadowplayer performs for the guests, he seems to know the intrigue going on at the party.  In the first act, the husband, upon arriving home, finds his wife in what seems like a compromising position with 3 of the guests, but the husband may just be misinterpreting shadows.  Later, when a young man flirts with the wife, the husband cannot contain his jealousy.  Nevertheless, he manages to avoid taking action until the Shadowplayer puts the entire household under a magical spell.

The cast includes two women, both of whom are objects of great attention by the many males in the household.  The Countess flirtatiously prances about and plays the gracious hostess despite her husband’s consistant brooding over the attention she receives.  The male servants find  distraction in the comely maid, who remains completely standoffish to their attention.  The magical happenings on this night infect the relationships of everyone, and the story deteriorates quickly into horror.
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The film uses no intertitle cards, so we’re never prompted beforehand to understand the motivations of the characters.  With no narration or dialogue, we’re left to connect the gestures of the characters with the extremely complicated movements of the shadow figures projected by the Shadowplayer.  The shadows cast by the characters themselves also convey a hidden and dark meaning, as they grow and shrink in proportion to their emotional impact.

The filmmakers and cast must have done a tremendous amount of rehearsing to make this film work.  The Shadowplayer, played by Alexander Granach, projects a sizable number of characters on the wall, and that requires special lighting, timing and practice.  The ensemble cast make sure to hit their spots, and the camera stays back in some scenes to fully record their interplay.  I wouldn’t call Warning Shadows a masterpiece, but it certainly delivers on its daring approach.

Lately, whenever I discuss silent movies, someone brings up “Battleship Potemkin,” the 1925 Soviet movie directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein.  Generally, people ask me about what I think of it, and I tell them that it’s an easily watchable great movie with a compelling theme and striking images.  And, since it clocks in at about 75 minutes, the viewer can see it without devoting a lot of time.  In one hour and 15 minutes, Eisenstein includes a mutiny, a massacre on the Odessa steps (the Giant Staircase), a naval encounter and a good amount of propaganda.

The poster for “Battleship Potemkin.” (Kino Classics DVD)

The movie opens at sea, where the sailors on the Battleship Potemkin perform their duties.  A shipment of meat arrives and the men complain about its quality.  A doctor inspects it, and even though a close-up shows maggots teaming on it, he pronounces it fit to eat.  The cook makes borsht, which the galley staff sets out for the sailors, but the men refuse to eat it.  When the strident Commander Golikov hears of the men’s response, he orders the guards to shoot several of them.  That provokes a mutiny led by Seaman Vakulinchuk, who dies during the onboard skirmish.
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The mutinous seamen get very little reception from the population when they dock at night in Odessa.  They display the body of Sailor Vakulinchuk under a tent near the dock and head back to sea.  The work along the dock goes on, while the small but sad crowd pays respects.  The film shows Vakulinchuk’s dead body; he holds a lit candle in his crossed hands.  Morning breaks, and the title card says, “Together with the sun, news hit the city.”  A woman shouts, “For a spoonful of borsht,” and everyone knows what caused the mutiny. Thousands march towards the body, walking along the jetty and down some steep steps.  We get the sense of something that cannot be stopped.

The filmmakers based the story on an incident on the real Battleship Potemkin in June, 1905.  The film shows a massacre on the Odessa Giant Staircase, but historians cannot say with complete certainty that it actually happened.  The film, although biased, portrays strong emotions while balancing visual imagery and storytelling.  It provides a sense of being on the battleship, and like many Soviet silent films from that period, it glorifies work.  In the climactic scene where the Battleship Potemkin confronts the “Admiral’s Squadron” on the Black Sea, Eisenstadt shows the men changing from sleepy calm, to performing rigorous preparations, to the tense moments at the battle stations.  The film begins and ends with the work on the battleship.

My 93 year-old neighbor, Charlie, tells me he fondly remembers seeing Mary Pickford in 1925 when she visited his hometown of Anaheim, California.  A huge crowd lined up to see her motorcade, and Charlie recalls the excitement of seeing Pickford wave to him.  Luckily, her arrival in Anaheim did not cause riots as it did in London and Paris in 1920.

Mary Pickford and Charles “Buddy” Rogers have dinner at the Merrill mansion in “My Best Girl.”

I got a similar thrill watching “My Best Girl,” at The San Francisco Silent Film Festival Winter Event this month.  The 1927 film stars Pickford as Maggie Johnson, a stock clerk at the Merrill’s Department Store.  One day, the store hires Joe Grant (played by Charles “Buddy” Rogers) for the stock room, but Joe is really the owner’s son sent undercover to prove he can understand the business.  A later film with a similar plot, “The Devil and Miss Jones,” from 1941, stars Charles Coburn as the owner of a department store who poses as a clerk to keep tabs on his workers.  But My Best Girl stays a wonderful and mostly light romantic comedy with enormous chemistry between Pickford and Rogers.
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Pickford married Rogers in 1937, but as Jeffrey Vance (who wrote a biography of Douglas Fairbanks) mentioned at the Castro Theater screening, the relationship with Rogers obviously started with My Best Girl.  Everything Pickford does is so intriguing and watchable that I wondered if she directed her scenes herself.  The director’s credit went to Sam Taylor, who directed the comedy classic “Safety Last,” with Harold Lloyd, in 1923.  Pickford, known as the “Queen of the Movies,” could do everything well.  My favorite scene shows Maggie (Pickford) throwing packages off a moving truck while Joe  (Rogers) frantically runs through traffic to retrieve them.

Maggie’s chaotic home life, which includes bickering parents and a sister who may be dating a gangster, contrasts with the Merrill’s high-brow and stuffy mansion.  Pickford performs wonderfully when Joe convinces her that the Merrills don’t mind if they show up unannounced for dinner.  When they arrive at the Merrill’s mansion, a few winks from Joe lets the butler in on the ruse and the couple begins their dinner.  When Joe’s parents and fiance come home unexpectedly, Maggie’s reaction sets the scene for the romantic conclusion.  Even though Joe lies to Maggie about his real identity, he displays honest feelings towards her that keep him a sympathetic character throughout the film.

“Faust,” the 1926 silent film shown at this year’s Silent Film Festival “Silent Winter,” stars Emil Jannings in an impressive performance as Mephisto (the Devil).  Faust, a learned alchemist, can do nothing after Mephisto delivers the plague to his village.  The villagers implore him to help them, but his traditional medicine does nothing to stem the deaths.  Disappointed, he burns his textbooks, and as the fire consumes them, he reads about the power of the devil.  This leads to a meeting with Mephisto, and Faust makes a pact — his soul to Mephisto in exchange for an end to the plague.  Later, Faust makes an even bigger deal with Mephisto to attain eternal youth.

Emil Jannings as Mephisto councils Gösta Ekman as Faust in “Faust.”

The movie opens with a confrontation between Mephisto and the Archangel, who debate whether it is possible to corrupt the soul of a righteous man.  Mephisto accepts a bet from the Archangel — and if he can destroy what’s divine in one man, the earth will belong to Mephisto.  Mephisto soon comes to earth to bring pestilence down on Faust’s village.  Smoke and fumes reign down as the panicked population sickens; they call upon God and Faust to help them, but the grinning Mephisto holds the power.  Jannings’ Mephisto hovers over Faust for the rest of the film, ruining his life and the lives of the wicked, including a lustful witch named Marguerite who sells love potions to smitten teens.  Marguerite becomes a key figure in the undoing of her niece, Gretchen (Camilla Horn), a local beauty who catches the attention of Faust.
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Faust (Gösta Ekman), in his youthful persona, pursues Gretchen relentlessly while Mephisto uses his power to influence her fall.  Under Mephisto’s influence, Gretchen changes from a chaste and religious girl to a lustful lover of Faust.  This brings tragic consequences to Gretchen, as Faust commits a murder.  A key scene shows the smug Mephisto shouting the murder news out to the sleeping village, as though to announce the change from the divine to the demonic.  Faust and Mephisto flee on horseback while dread descends on the village.

The director, F. W. Murnau, creates a magnificent vision of a demonic world full of smoke and fire.  The giddy Mephisto first appears as an old man and then transforms into a slick young rabble-rouser with a shiny black cape, a slicked back widows-peaked haircut and a long feather sticking out of his hair.  The key theme of the movie, whether it’s possible for the devil to destroy man’s divine nature, is answered emphatically at the end.  During the journey, the intense dramatic flow of the story, the spectacular acting and the effective visual presentation keep the audience enthralled until the end.

Douglas Fairbank’s wonderful “The Thief of Bagdad,” released in 1924, played in front of an enthusiastic crowd today at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.  The movie features Fairbanks as the title character, Ahmed, a witty and athletic burglar, pickpocket and master thief who has his way stealing money and jewels near the great palace of Bagdad.  He soon embarks on a series of incredible adventures that take him from the bottom of the sea to the surface of the moon, while wooing a beautiful princess and finding the world’s rarest treasure.

Douglas Fairbanks with the Princess in “Thief of Bagdad.”

The movie’s tremendous production values and beautiful sets transport the viewer into the exotic world of Bagdad, while the endlessly fascinating story takes many strange turns.  After Ahmed discovers a magic rope, he uses it to climb over the walls of the royal palace.  He’s after a treasure, which conveniently displays right out in the open in a big chest, guarded by fat and sleepy guards.  Ahmed has no trouble pinching the loot, but soon he discovers a beautiful sleeping princess played by Julanne Johnston; smitten, he steals one of her slippers and takes off without the loot.  From then on, the story follows Ahmed’s quest to marry the princess.
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Fortunately for Ahmed, the kingdom sponsors a contest, whereby competing princes from other lands can arrive in Bagdad to woo the princess.  The princes include a cruel and powerful ruler from Mongolia whose aim is to conquer Bagdad.  A mystic predicts that the princess will choose the suitor who touches the palace rose bush.  Ahmed enters the palace disguised as a prince and aggressively courts the princess, but she makes an additional demand that the successful suitor must travel the world to find the “rarest treasure.” Ahmed and the other princes then set out on a fantastic journey to find the treasures, which provide the producers with ample opportunities to display the film’s terrific special effects and fantastic sets.  It’s particularly fun when Ahmed goes to the realm of the mermaids and fights a sea monster, which looks like a giant mechanical bug.

Cast as a Mongol Slave, the wonderful Anna May Wong plays a spy for the Mongol Prince, played by Sôjin.  She easily steals all her scenes, and even takes the audience’s attention away from Julanne Johnston.  Fairbanks must have known her screen power, since he essentially directed the movie, even though Raoul Walsh gets the screen credit.  The movie becomes an incredible tour de force, accented wonderfully by the live playing at the Castro Theater by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.  The Cohen Colllection provided the excellent restoration.