The Little American

Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Little American,” made in 1917, stars Mary Pickford as Angela Moore, an American caught up in World War 1.  A Prussian named Karl Von Austreim proposes marriage to Angela  before leaving to join his German regiment in the French campaign.  Angela accepts Karl’s proposal, but remains neutral about the war, even though she’s soon called to France to run  her deceased aunt’s opulent  household.

Mary Pickford is menaced by German troops.

During Angela’s  journey to France, a German submarine sinks her passenger ship.  Angela survives and makes it to her dead aunt’s mansion in Vandy, France — just as the Germans attack and take over the house.  The Germans rape the servant women, and Karl corners Angela to do the same, but he suddenly recognizes her and draws back.  As an American, Angela remains unharmed.  However, after seeing the Germans execute some of the Vandy townsfolk, Angela drops her neutrality and spies for France.
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The film presents the German troops as cruel monsters committing crimes against humanity and property as they march across France.  The war footage seems realistic, especially when the Germans and their tanks thrust into the town of Vandy.  There must have been plenty of recent war footage to use, but DeMille preferred to shoot the war himself in his studio.  The war lasted until late 1918, so this film reflected the deep-seated hatred of Germany at the time.   However, Angela seems too forgiving of Karl at the end.  Perhaps DeMille wanted a lighthearted wrap-up to a rather tense and thrilling story.

 

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Street Scene

“Street Scene,” basically a filmed play from 1931, features a rather static camera trained on the front steps of a tenement apartment building as neighbors interact with each other for gossip, dreams and news of the day.  The numerous characters include a biddy with an opinion of everyone (Beulah Bondi), a cheating housewife (Estelle Taylor) and her attractive daughter (Sylvia Sidney).  The depression era drama focusses on the problems people of different ethnic backgrounds encounter when they live too close to each other.  A Jewish family, an Irish family, and an Italian family all interact through open windows or on the front steps.

Characters interact in "Street Scene."

Sidney, who plays Rose Maurant, likes the smart and sensitive Jewish pre-law student Sam Kaplan (played by William Collier Jr.).  She sees great potential in Sam, but he wants to chuck his future and run away with Rose.  Rose’s father suspects his wife’s infidelity with a milkman, so he adopts an authoritarian stance that makes things worse.  The gossip about Mrs. Maurant and the milkman eventually leads to tragic consequences.
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Although stiffly filmed, the Elmer Rice play won the Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and it addresses the serious problems faced by tenement dwellers in hard economic times.  King Vidor directed it, and he excels at portraying gritty reality combined with preachy sentimentality in his early sound films.  Vidor later filmed another Depression era story called “Our Daily Bread” in 1934.  I wonder if the characters in Street Scene knew that things would get a lot worse before they got better.

 

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Ivan the Terrible, Part 2

“Ivan the Terrible, Part 2,” from 1958, follows the career of Ivan as he continues to unify Russia despite interference from the boyars (noblemen).  Ivan’s repressive efforts against the boyars leads to intrigue involving Prince Vladimir, Ivan’s nephew and the son of Ivan’s Aunt, Efrosinia.  The hapless Vladimir becomes Ivan’s pawn as the Tzar evolves into a ruthless tyrant bent on avenging the poisoning death of his wife and queen, Anastasia Romanovna.

Ivan, right, crowns Vladimir

Director Sergei Eisenstadt filmed Part 2 in 1946, but Josef Stalin banned it.  It finally came out in 1958, although Eisenstadt died in 1948.  Part 2 is impressively visual and heartfelt, with strong performances by Nikolai Cherkasov as Czar Ivan and Serafima Birman as Efrosinia.  Eisenstadt used very few exterior shots, preferring to center the action in a monastic castle full of low arches.  The director focuses on the actors’ faces continually, just as he does in “Ivan the Terrible, Part 1.”  In fact, the faces come so close to the camera that it almost seems like the movie is in 3D.
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At a pivotal point in the film, the movie suddenly changes from black and white to color.  The colored sequence portrays a banquet in the Tsar’s honor, complete with dancing and acrobatics.  The movie returns to black and white to follow the story of the continual  intrigue between the Ivan and the boyars — with a cunning ploy that vanquishes Ivan’s enemies.

The movie also includes flashback sequences, which show how the boyars’ abuse affected the mind of the young Czar.  As Ivan narrates, he relates how the boyars “showed their hatred of the grand duke of Moscow.”  Ivan’s mother, Elena Glinskaya, poisoned by the boyars, dies in front of him.  The young Ivan’s painful facial expression of loneliness and fear dissolves to the adult Ivan, who says, “That’s how I came to be an orphan, alone and abandoned.”  Eisenstadt focusses on the characters rather than historical elements such as battles and treaties, which makes the drama more riveting.  Ivan the Terrible is truly revealed.

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Ivan the Terrible, Part 1

Director Sergei Eisenstein’s 1944 masterpiece “Ivan the Terrible, Part 1,” presents a strong but brooding protagonist as Ivan, who unifies feuding principalities in Russia’s 16th century to fight the Kazans, Germans and other enemies.  But as Czar Ivan struggles to consolidate his power, the boyars, a conniving bunch of hypocrite noblemen, work to undermine him.

Nicolai Cherkasov, as Ivan, casts a giant shadow.

Eisenstein tells the story with speeches and reaction shots, along with lots of expressive shadows.  The shadows appear to move independently of the characters, which implies that their projection fans much larger than the czar into the realm of history.  Perhaps this wartime Soviet film meant to imply that the strength of the Russian state stems from the heart and soul of struggle and not from a political figure.
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It may not be easy to watch this slow moving exercise in mannered poses and shadows, but I could not stop watching it and I want to watch it again soon.  The film captures the feeling of those exotic times when chaos and intrigue reigned under constant threat of invasion, and every man seemed to be out for himself.  Despite the biographical context, the film stresses that one idea unites rather than one man unites.

I expected the film to present a climatic battle scene when Ivan’s army goes up against the Kazans, but except for a few explosions and flying arrows, the battle ends quickly.  The real battle, the force of Ivan’s ideas of a citizen revolution against the boyars, is ably told by Eisenstein’s static filmmaking style.  Ivan the Terrible, Part 1, is terrific.

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Kiki

“Kiki,” a movie made in 1926, stars Norma Talmadge as an ambitious singer who crashes a stage review, makes a nuisance of herself, and ends up falling in love with Monsieur Victor Renal, the theater manager (Ronald Coleman).  One normally does not think of Norma Talmadge as a comedic actress, but she goes all out in full slapstick mode for the starring role here.

Norma Talmadge is Kiki

In real life, the police would arrive, gather Kiki and her personal belongings, and escort her out of Renal’s life forever.  But the great thing about Kiki is that we don’t have to listen to a long and drawn out explanation of why Renal tolerates her.  It’s a silent movie.  At the beginning, we see her selling newspapers on the street.  Later, Renal discovers she’s homeless, so he feels sorry for her.
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Kiki refuses to leave Renal’s mansion, and even feigns an illness that leaves her comatose with “catalepsy,” a nervous condition characterized by rigidity and indifference to pain.  The doctor says it could last two years.  In a hilarious bit, Talmadge endures being lifted and repositioned as she remains as stiff as a statue.  Luckily, this extended comedy business finally leads to the romantic conclusion.

Clarence Brown, the director, made such silent classics as “Flesh and the Devil” in 1926 and “A Woman of Affairs” in 1928.   He also directed sound films such as “National Velvet” in 1944 and “The Yearling” in 1946.  Actors loved working with the six-time Academy Award nominated director.  Greta Garbo called him her favorite director.  So, with Brown directing, it’s no surprise that Norma Talmadge connected in this comedy role.  However, the film did not do well at the box office in 1926

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Paid to Love

Howard Hawks made a silent film in 1927 called “Paid to Love,” in which the king of a small Balkin country and an American businessman pay a cabaret dancer (Virginia Valli) to woo bashful Crown Prince Michael.  The prince, played by George O’Brien, prefers fixing cars to women, which concerns the king (Thomas Jefferson).  When the businessman (J. Farrell MacDonald) threatens to pull out of a loan agreement unless the crown prince marries, the king agrees to find a woman to inflame Michael’s passion.

Virginia Valli and George O’Brien

The king and the businessman find Gaby (Valli) in the worst kind of Paris clip joint imaginable, full of con men, thieves and murderous types.  She pretends to stab her boyfriend in front of horrified tourists and drops the knife on the king’s table.  However, the wily businessman sniffs out the ruse and determines to hire Gaby to woo Michael.  She returns with the king and puts on her performance for the crown prince.
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William Powell plays Michael’s brother, Prince Eric.  Displaying his usual confident and bombastic style, Powell’s Eric makes a play for Gaby, leading to much confusion in the kingdom as she mistakes him for the crown prince.  Michael and Gaby turn out to be attracted to each other, which is a great surprise considering the differences in their social status.

Gaby really possesses a violent streak, but O’Brien as Michael plays it so straight laced in this comedy that we believe he’ll remain eternally devoted.  As with all love stories that involve a con (such as Preston Sturges’ “The Lady Eve” from 1941), we also must believe the victim will forgive the con when he or she finds out about it.  This usually happens in Hollywood romantic comedies.

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Pordenone Silent Film Festival

The 31st Annual Pordenone Silent Film Festival — scheduled for October 6-13, 2012 — in Pordenone, Italy, announces its program.  This years festival includes silent films in the following categories:

  1. Charles Dickens, 1812-2012
  2. Italian Rediscovery
  3. The Komiya Collection (From the National Film Center in Tokyo)
  4. The Silent Films Of Anna Sten
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  6. German Animation
  7. The Canon Revisited – 4th Edition (Silent cinema classics)
  8. Early Cinema: The Corrick Collection – 6th Edition (Films from 1900 to 1912)

The following link — Pordenone Silent Film — contains more information, but the festival did not yet release a schedule.

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A Girl in Every Port

“A Girl in Every Port,” a good silent comedy film from 1928, features Louise Brooks as a French circus performer (Marie) who comes between two extremely close male friends.  The film begins as Spike (Victor McLaglen), a sailor, hits town, romances a girl in waterfront bar, and sees an anchor pendant on her wrist.  Although not the brightest matey on the sea, Spike correctly surmises another sailor (Salami) owns the girl’s heart.  When Spike goes on to meet other girls in other ports, he finds that Salami (Robert Armstrong) beat him to every one.

Victor McLaglen and Louise Brooks

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Salami recognizes Marie immediately as a con woman he knew and romanced once on Coney Island.  Spike is about as dumb as they come, a big lout in the style of Lenny in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” published in 1937.  Of course, this movie pre-dates Steinbeck’s novel, and so do many of the buddy pictures of the 1920s and 1930s.  Ultimately, though, the normally violent Salami redeems himself with the audience by showing his gentle side at a pivotal moment in the movie.  I like the succession of port girls, evidently prostitutes, lounging around in waterfront bars from Hong Kong to Central America.  Myrna Loy, in an exotic turn, plays “A Girl in China.”

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I Love You Joe

I remember seeing Joe at Penn State a couple of decades ago.  As he walked down the Pattee Library steps, I and a group of my friends asked him if he had any words for us.  “Keep learning,” he said.

RIP.
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The great Joe Paterno.

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Fazil

A Howard Hawks’ silent film, “Fazil,” from 1928, concerns a relationship between an Arab sheik (Fazil) and a free-spirited Parisienne woman named Fabienne (Greta Nissen).  Business pursuits bring Fazil to Venice, where he falls in love with Fabienne at first sight.  But the premise, about a two opposites attracting each other, is more serious than most, and it leads to a tragic and ill-fated romance.

A harem girl in "Fazil."

Opening in the Sahara desert, where Fazil (George Farrell) and his men hunt down a deserter, the film immediately portrays the Arab sheik as a ruthless but passionless character.  He orders the execution of the deserter, and then scorns a woman offered as a marriage partner.  He proclaims that a horse or a camel would be more useful.

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As Fazil learns about the role of women in the free-spirited west, he realizes he could never allow his wife to live in such a society.  He bolts back to Arabia, leaving Fabienne behind.  When Fabienne follows him there, she visits his harem — a spectacular and sexy scene with exotic women in various stages of undress.  Fazil agrees to dismiss the harem girls and live with Fabienne, who becomes a virtual prisoner in Araby.  But just as Fazil could not adjust to France, Fabienne rebels as she remains confined to Fazil’s mansion.

The lovely Greta Nissen supposedly did not become a phenomenal success in sound pictures because of her heavy accent.  But her looks command a great deal of attention in this movie, and she looks gorgeous in both her western and eastern costumes.  Farrell does not look like an Arab sheik, but the character actors populating Araby help make the location shots more convincing.

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