John Grant

After watching Lissy Arna in Gerhard Lamprecht’s 1928 film “Under the Lantern,” I looked forward to seeing her in a similar role in “Harbor Drift,” a 1929 film directed by Leo Mittler. Arna again plays a prostitute who sees an opportunity for wealth when a rich woman drops a string of pearls on the street. An old man beggar (Paul Rehkopf) picks up the pearls but the prostitute spends the rest of the film trying to get them. Mittler creates immediate tension by giving us a close-up of the pearls and the reactions of the prostitute and the beggar. It’s clear that both view the pearls as a solution to their impoverished lives, but the rich woman walks on unaware of the significance on other’s lives her pearls will cause.

Lissy Arna and Sig Arno in “Harbor Drift.”

The Prostitute, unnamed in the movie, spends most of her time in a nightclub frequented by a “fence” known as “The Receiver,” played by Sig Arno.  The Receiver gives off a snake-like appearance, and when The Prostitute mentions the pearls, it whips up considerable interest. The Receiver is not the kind of criminal boss you can promise things to and not deliver; The Prostitute’s promises to produce the pearls fan the flames of desire in him and puts pressure on everyone involved.

He feels “If I could only vomit I would free samples of cialis be so much better”. You can buy these accessories to make your penis erect. best price on viagra Stuffy Nose, Blocked Nose Home Remedies There are hop over to this site tadalafil for women several home remedies for nose blockage which are convenient to consume. In physical association, anxiety should be reduced to viagra canada pharmacies reduce discomfort. Even though the pearls may help The Beggar escape poverty, he views them as a symbol of good luck and he’s not in a hurry to sell them. The Beggar lives in a shack by the docks with a jobless roommate the movie calls The Unemployed Man (Fritz Genschow). The old man views the pearls as a talisman that will continue to bestow good fortune upon him.

The Prostitute is also pressured by her landlady, who demands that The Prostitute pay the back rent.  By chance, The Prostitute encounters The Beggar and The Unemployed Man at a nightclub. She plans to romance The Unemployed Man to convince him to reveal the hiding place of the pearls. Things get complicated when she actually falls for The Unemployed Man, but she may be in too deep to avoid tragic consequences.

As the penultimate film presented at the 2014 San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF), the screening emphasized the power of German cinema and provided a nice thematic comparison to Under the Lantern. However, in Under the Lantern, society and misplaced family values prove to be the undoing of Arno’s character. In Harbor Drift, which is my favorite film shown at the 2014 SFSFF festival, the decisions of Lissy Arna’s character bring about tragic and ironic consequences.

“The Girl in Tails (Flickan i frack),” a 1927 silent film from Sweden directed by Karin Swanström, deftly separates general society and its strict boundaries from the dreams of a girl, Katja (Magda Holm), who just wants an evening gown to wear to a ball. What seems trivial becomes a cause celebre for her when she realizes that her father lavishes all the attention and familial love on her brother, who owns a closet full of fancy suits, while she must traipse around in dowdy dresses. Katja begs her father for the money for the evening gown, but when he refuses to help her, she attends the ball anyway in her brother’s tuxedo. This aggravates the town matriarch, Widow Hyltenius (Karin Swanström), whose rage at the offense chases Katja out of town.

Magda Holm, with Einar Axelsson, is “The Girl in Tails.”

The story begins as Katja must tutor her daft fiancé so he can graduate from  secondary school. The fiancé, Count Ludwig von Battwhyl (Einer Axelsson), seems continuously bemused and hardly a good match for the headstrong Katja. Curry (Erik Zetterström), Katja’s privileged brother, spends his days in idle pursuits while Katja’s father, Old Karl Axel (Nils Aréhn), dotes on him. Katja manages to teach the Count enough to help him graduate, so the couple decide to throw a fancy ball. Widow Hyltenius, who seems to be a combination of mayor, police chief and social arbiter in Katja’s village, allows the ball. Things turn sour when Katja realizes her father won’t give her an evening gown.
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Katja arrives at the ball in Curry’s tuxedo, which scandalizes Widow Hyltenius and everyone in town. Katja drinks brandy, smokes cigars, and even dances with a woman, which sends all the stuffy folks reeling. Katja, an afterthought in the village prior to her appearance at the ball, then becomes the subject of newspaper articles bemoaning the new immorality. Katja and the Count then head to a women’s institute out in the countryside to recover from the stigma. The institute employs female experts in various scientific and literary pursuits such as poetry, philosophy, psychology and botany. It gives off an image of a lesbian utopia where the women discuss the pertinent issues of the day. The title card even describes them as a “wild hoard of learned women.” However, they receive Katja and the count warmly and Katja even decides to work there as a servant. 

Judging from at least one of  characters at the women’s institute, who lounge around in men’s clothing and smoke cigars, Katja could wear tails or anything else she wants. If only her father would have bought her a dress, the whole  mess could be avoided. But the real lesson Katja learns is that she must accept herself. Director Swanström’s Widow Hyltenius learns a valuable lesson at the end too, and one would hope Katja’s village can finally develop a more mature attitude.

Any fan of the great Japanese Director Yasujiro Ozu would enjoy “Dragnet Girl (Hijôsen no onna),” an interesting 1933 silent movie that screened at the recent San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF). The previous Ozu films shown at the festival concerned family stories that included lots of scenes involving children at home and in school. Dragnet Girl, Ozu’s attempt at an American-style gangster film, stays firmly in the adult world and includes a good deal of posturing and violence. Staying staying away from Ozu’s typical themes regarding the nuances of Japanese society and culture, the director instead gives us his version of one the staples of Warner-brother s style moviemaking, complete with a conflicted gangster and a desperate moll who would do anything for him.

Kinuyo Tanaka (left) and Joji Oka star in “Dragnet Girl.”

Tokiko (Kinuyo Tanaka), the title character, loves Joji (Joji Oka), a former boxer and local crime boss. Tokiko’s emotional reactions contrast with Joji’s stoic character, but they give off a “made-for-each-other” quality that’s a staple of romantic couples in both film noir and gangster films. One day, an admiring young boxer, Hiroshi (Kôji Mitsui), arrives and says he wants to join the gang. Joji indifferently allows him in the gang, but Kazuko is obviously out his realm and unaware of the dangers he’ll face hanging out with gangsters.
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One day, Hiroshi’s sister, Kazuko (Sumiko Mizukubo) asks Joji to release Hiroshi from the gang and send him home. Perhaps because Kazuko acts so humble, sweet and sincere — qualities missing in Tokiko’s character — Joji begins to fall for her. Ozu does not present a precise scene that indicates this, but instead uses Tokiko’s jealous reaction to let the audience know about the change. The world Tokiko and Joji live in is a stifling blend of boxing gyms and nightclubs, with American boxing posters hanging on the walls and people dressed in American fashions. Kazuko represents gentile Japanese culture that hastens the undoing of Tokiko and Joji’s gangster lifestyle.

As the film goes on, Joji reveals a natural inclination to reform. Kazuko also influences Tomiko to change her ways when she realizes she’s stuck in a dead-end world with the man she loves. An American movie gangster character would fight on until death, but Ozu keeps the police at a distance while he sorts out the main problems between Tomiko and Joji. Perhaps because Joji is more of a brooding silent type instead of a pillar of strength (like James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson), he seems more like a victim of circumstances than a true participant in his own possible demise.

Max Linder, the gifted French comedian who may have ranked among the giants of silent film comedy had he not committed suicide, gives a perfect example of his considerable gifts in “Seven Years Bad Luck,” a film from 1921. Linder plays Max, a fun-loving man about town engaged to be married to Betty (Alta Allen). He arrives home after a drunken binge and in the midst of sleeping off his drunkenness, a servant breaks his full-size mirror. Eager to cover it up, the servant cleans up the broken parts and helps Max Linder perform his famous “mirror gag.” In this hilarious sequence, the servant mimics every move Max makes in front of the “mirror.” Max slowly begins to figure out the ruse, and does some quick flinches to throw the servant off. However, it takes time for Max to catch him and the joke pays off again and again.

Max Linder (left) performs the mirror gag in “Seven Years Bad Luck.”

Living in the moment as cialis generic overnight we age, is not an option, but rather a necessity. The tablet again contain tobacco flavor but does not consist of risky ingredients. pdxcommercial.com cheap viagra This method may be effective for some but not everyone with erectile dysfunction gain satisfactory results price of levitra from simply taking pills. Garlic is beneficial for women buy tadalafil from india pdxcommercial.com reproductive health. Eventually, Max visits Betty at her house, where he becomes so spooked by her little dog that he hides it in a vase. Betty calls off the engagement, and then allows Max to come back. While waiting for her, Max puts on a record and begins to wildly dance with the maid. Betty sees him and again calls off the engagement. At this point, I wondered why the handsome and debonair Max wants Betty in the first place, put he refuses to give up his quest for her. Max sets off on a train trip but doesn’t have a ticket, which provides us with a long sequence and foot chase through the moving train. At one point, Max puts a stocking over his face and wears a servant’s uniform to get away from the angry conductor. Despite his predicament, Max still finds time to flirt with one of the female passengers, who seems more than willing to oblige his interest.

Max causes further hijinks at the train depot, where his impersonates a station agent under the admiring eye of the agent’s own daughter. At this point, I assumed the much-in-demand Max would get over Betty and move on to another woman. But by an extraordinary coincidence, Max meets up with Betty again. The program notes for the 2014 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, which screened the film, says the lack of commercial success for Seven Years Bad Luck helped set off Max Linder’s depression. I find it hard to believe that Linder could not find an audience for this crowd-pleasing film. It contains a good story, plenty of comedy, and good direction from Linder himself. The mirror gag alone makes it worth watching.

One of the nice things about seeing the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) and the Pordenone (Italy) Silent Film Festival in is that I’ve seen some very funny and interesting Soviet films. The Pordenone festival showed a funny Anna Sten film from 1927 called “The Girl With a Hatbox,” in 2012. “Cosmic Voyage” screened at this year’s SFSFF festival along with “The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks,” a 1924 film that satirizes the incompatibility of American values and attitudes to the ideas of a new socialist state.

Porfiri Podobed plays Mr. West in “The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks.”

Porfiri Podobed, looking a lot like Harold Lloyd (and wearing his glasses), plays John West, an American businessman and President of the YMCA who arrives in Moscow with his faithful bodyguard Jeddie (Boris Barnet). Jeddie, a no-nonsense cowboy, immediately becomes flummoxed by the curious form of travel (horse-drawn sleigh) through the Moscow streets. A series of mishaps occurs that separates the two Americans, and Mr. West becomes entangled by a group of con men who are clearly not Bolsheviks. The con men, pretending to be Soviet officials, give Mr. West the worst possible impression of the Soviet capital, as they try to take his money and entangle him in other illegal schemes.
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One ruse used by the gang features actress Aleksandra Khokhlova as a countess with seduction on her mind. Naturally, these con games don’t work because of Mr. West’s naiveity. The gang seems intent only on embarrassing Mr. West, but the broad slapstick emphasizes a threat of violence. Director Lev Kuleshov, who pioneered Soviet montage cinema, uses quick editing techniques to keep the audience off-balance. The film moves so swiftly that I was thankful the filmmakers used some funny sight gags early to remind us of the theme. Kuleshov wanted to show that American’s do not understand Russia, and he emphasizes that with some funny pictures in one of Mr. West’s American magazines. In these images, the Soviets look like fur-wearing savages.

The climax of the film comes down to whether the real Bolsheviks can rescue Mr. West from the con men, and whether Mr. West will find Jeddie. Despite it being an American style comedy with a lot of slapstick, the filmmakers take time in the end to give us propaganda about the Soviet Union. The real Bolsheviks are so clearly more gracious and accommodating to Mr. West that they take him on a tour of Moscow that includes includes views of the university, the Bolshoi Ballet and a workers’ parade. This tour so inspires the gullible Mr. West that he plans to hang a picture of Mr. Lenin on his office wall back home. There’s no telling what effect that will have back at the YMCA.

Gerhard Lamprecht, prodigious film director and writer who worked from the silent cinema era to the late 1950s, can be compared to Hollywood’s Allan Dwan. Studios regarded Dwan and Lamprecht as sure-fire directors who could produce effective works in any genre. Although they worked with many of the cinema’s great stars, neither of the 2 directors managed to reach the heightened status of other directors such as Fritz Lang or John Ford. There is no “Metropolis” in Lamprecht’s oeuvre, but his movies offer multiple rewards and powerful themes about forgotten and misunderstood people.

From left, Hubert von Meyerinck, Lissy Arna, Mathias Wieman and Paul Heidemann in “Under the Lantern.”

“Under the Lantern,” Lamprecht’s 1928 film which screened recently at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF), tells the story of an unfortunate Berlin woman driven by difficult circumstances to work as a prostitute. The film stars Lissy Arna as Elsa Riedel, who lives with her stern father (Gerhard Dammann). Elsa wants to marry her sweetheart, Hans (Mathias Wieman), but her father forbids the marriage and locks Elsa inside the house. When Elsa escapes, her father cuts off all contact with her and she’s forced to rely on Hans for support. Although Hans comes from a good family, the uncertain economy in these Weimar Republic times puts a strain on their lives. Another complication occurs when Hans’ roommate, Max (Paul Heidemann) becomes attracted to Else.
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Else, Hans and Max decide to do a vaudeville horse act for money, with Else acting as the attractive stable mistress. Soon, the sleazy club manager lusts after Else and she bends to his advances. When he experiences financial ruin, it forces Else to hit the streets to survive. The title refers to the place a prostitute stands while waiting for customers; Else’s descent proves to be swift and deep. Lissy Arna’s performance as Else is riveting, helped by Lamprecht’s remarkable mise-en-scene. In a remarkable montage sequence, Lamprecht shows Else’s finery, such as fancy lace nightgowns, jewellery and gourmet meals. This becomes a reminder of the fleeting gains made by Else’s choices in life.

Like so many similar films involving romance and decline, Else’s story could have turned out much differently. At one point, her father sends the police to bring her home because she’s still a minor. But Else runs off and is essentially made homeless until she accepts the invitation of the theater owner. From then on, Hans and Max form a perception of Else that keeps her downtrodden for the rest of the film. Because we care so much about Else, it makes the story more heartbreaking to know how much Hans let her down.

So many interesting things happen in Anthony Asquith’s 1928 silent film “Underground,” that it’s difficult to categorize it as anything but quintessentially British. Most of the movie takes place at a London underground tube station, and the two main male characters work for the London transit system. Brian Aherne plays Bill, a uniformed tube station worker who instantly falls for a passenger named Nell (Elissa Landi). Bill spends his days watching the escalator to make sure passengers get safely on and off it. First, the film shows crowded trains, and the social conventions of when to offer a seat to a fellow passenger. Then, we see the mad rush of people getting off the trains.

Brian Aherne and Elissa Landi find romance in “Underground.”

On the train, pretty Nell catches the eye of Bert (Cyril McLaglen), a gruff and aggressive electrician who works at the power station. She sells scarves in a retail shop, where Bert goes to pursue her only to find that Nell prefers the company of Bill. Bill and Nell’s budding romance starts off with a date on the top of a double-decker bus, and the couple seem oblivious to the danger of Bert’s stalking behaviour. After Bert confronts Bill in a pub and comes up short in a fight with him, Bert decides to ruin his reputation. We learn that a perfectly nice but emotionally unstable dressmaker, Kate (Norah Baring), who lives in Bert’s boardinghouse, likes Bert a lot and wants to be his wife. They concoct a scheme to have Bill implicated in a sexual advance towards Kate. This episode eventually leads to tragedy and the film’s thrilling climax.
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Asquith makes excellent use of the tunnels of the London Underground, with their dark shadows, to give the film an expressionist feel. It’s unfortunate for Bill and Nell that they make this chance encounter with Bert, but the film’s theme makes it clear that you’ll never know who you might meet on the Underground. Asquith, a master at editing, pieces together such rich scenes that I could feel the whirl of these commuters as they rush to and from their shopping and appointments with little kind thoughts about the hundreds of people in step with them.

I watched the movie as part of the 2014 San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. After previously seeing this film and “A Cottage on Dartmoor” at the 2013 Pordenone Silent Film Festival, I can certainly recommend any of Anthony Asquith’s films. His directing career spanned from “Shooting Stars (1928)” to “The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964),” and included over 35 feature films.

While watching “The Epic of Everest,” the 1924 silent film about the attempt by George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine to reach the summit of Mount Everest, I became awed by the spectacle of the mountain while wondering about the foolishness of man. The British film about the British mountain-climbing team takes its time telling the story in detail about the adventure and subsequent disappearance of Mallory and Irvine while climbing Mt. Everest.

A scene from “The Epic of Everest.”

The film gives us a spooky reminder in gray and mostly white about the vastness and unforgiving nature of the mountain. With so much of the landscape covered in snow, director and cinematographer John Noel decided to tint some of the scenes in red and blue, adding an eerie contrast and beauty to this remarkable, unforgiving and deadly landscape. The mountaineers took their approach from the Tibetan side, where Noel took the liberty of filming some very hardy villagers living close to the mountain they call “Qomolangma,” which means “mountain goddess.” We see the villagers performing their tribal customs and doing normal things such as herding animals. The title cards tell us that the natives spread butter on their children’s skin to ward off the effects of the sun and the cold. Noel seems to present these people as an oddity to the viewers, but as the tragic story unfolds, their customs, motivations and technology seem more natural and effective than Mallory and Irvine’s expedition.
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In a successful attempt to climb Mt. Everest, one might expect a view from the top and a flag to be planted at the summit. However, this expedition failed miserably and Noel’s record of the events includes a maddening amount of conjecture about the mountaineer’s fate. That’s because the camera did not go with them all the way. Noel stayed behind while Mallory and Irvine trudged on. The cameraman and director filmed off into the distance while the title cards offered tentative and hopeful reports about the journey. The ice shelves, the peak, and the valleys presented in lonely long-shots reinforced the mystery of both the men’s disappearance and the power of the mountain.

I saw this film, a recent restoration by the British Film Institute (BFI) National Archive, at the 2014 San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF). Bryony Dixon, representing BFI, said at the Castro Theater (San Francisco) screening on May 31st that the film emphasizes the influence of British silent filmmakers in producing quality nature films. SFSFF presented another quality British nature epic at the 2011 festival, when they screened “The Great White Silence,” the 1924 film that contains extensive footage of Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated 1910-1911 attempt to reach and return from the South Pole.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) screened “The Good Bad Man” at 10 AM on Saturday morning, May 31, 2014. I don’t know why this crowd-pleasing 1916 film featuring the acting talents of Douglas Fairbanks and Bessie Love played so early in the day, but it certainly could have secured a featured night-time spot even among this year’s impressive SFSFF schedule. The title says it all; it’s a Western about a good man and potential hero who does slightly bad things that pit him against both lawmen and other outlaws.

Douglas Fairbanks is tied up in “The Good Bad Man.”

Fairbanks, who wrote the story, plays a bandit named Passin’ Through, who steals things such as a train conductor’s ticket punch in one robbery, and some groceries in another. He’s both playful and serious, like all of Fairbanks’ characters. A painful memory of what made Passin’ Through an orphan drives him to pass along his loot to unwanted orphans, although he keeps the conductor’s punch for himself. One day, Passin’ Through visits a shantytown village and bandit’s encampment, where he meets the innocent, yet eager, Amy (Bessie Love). Without trying hard, Passin’ Through wins her affection and she gleefully dons his cowboy hat. A rather nasty villain named The Wolf (Sam De Grasse) also covets Amy, which causes a staredown and trouble with Passin’ Through.
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This conflict with The Wolf, who travels with his gang, and the romantic story could easily carry the plot forward, but the film makes a shift to tell us about Passin’ Through’s background. We soon meet Marshall Bob Evans (Pomeroy Cannon), who knows what drives Passin’ Through. The Marshall may be willing to bend the rules to allow Passin’ Through to redeem himself. The story gives us a flashback to fill in the blanks before our hero decides to take on The Wolf’s gang. Naturally, the outnumbered Passin’ Through encounters some precarious situations before he can restore order.

Allan Dwan directed The Good Bad Man and Victor Fleming provided the cinematography. They also worked together in the same roles in “The Half-Breed,” a 1916 Douglas Fairbanks film.  Dwan directed Fairbanks in several other films, including “Bound in Morocco (1918)” “Mr. Fix-It (1918),” “The Iron Mask (1929)” and “Robin Hood (1922).” Many respected film critics and historians point out that Fairbanks mostly directed himself, but it’s interesting to see such a fruitful collaboration with one director. We can thank SFSSF, Cinémathèque Française, and the Film Preservation Society — who made the restoration of the film possible — for rewarding the SFSFF’s early Saturday audience at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.