Flickers in Time

The Jazz Singer
Directed by Alan Crosland
Written by Samson Raphaelson, Alfred A. Cohn, Jack Jarmuth
1927/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Opening Title Card: In every living soul, a spirit cries for expression – – perhaps this plaintive, wailing song of Jazz is, after all, the misunderstood utterance of a prayer.

Well, I waited this long to see the first talkie.  It didn’t amount to much.

The Rabinowitzes have been cantors at a synagogue for four generations.  The current cantor (Warner Oland) is determined that his son Jakie will follow in his footsteps.  However, young Jakie sneaks off whenever he can to sing in saloons. When Dad strikes Jakie for his latest indiscretion, he runs away vowing never to return.  This breaks his mother’s (Eugenie Bessemer) heart.  Dad disowns Jakie.

Jakie makes it big thanks to sweetie Mary Dale (May McCoy).  But just as he is headed for his first opening night on Broadway, Dad falls ill and needs to find a replacement to sing on Yom Kippur.

Most of the elements of this movie irritate the hell out of me.  First, I just cannot comprehend the appeal of Al Jolson.  I suppose he can carry a tune, but his delivery is completely over the top.  He also seems annoyingly full of himself.  I don’t think any of his songs can be called “jazz”.  The story and its emphasis on long-suffering motherhood is melodramatic to the max.  Just an historically important dud in my book.

Chicago
Directed by Frank Orson
Written by Lenore J. Coffee; titles by John W. Kraft; story by Maurine Dallas Watkins
1927/US
Cecil B. DeMille Productions
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTub

William Flynn: Cut the bull! I’m not your husband – I’m your lawyer!

This story has been remade so many times because it’s a good one.

Roxie Hart’s (Phyllis Haver) husband Amos (Victor Varconi) is totally besotted by the totally amoral gold digger.  Her lover (Eugene Palette) is fed up with her, however.  You don’t walk out on Roxie though and loverman winds up with a bullet in his chest.  Roxie calls Amos in a panic and the poor sap is up to his ears in trouble trying to help her.

The story proper concerns Roxy’s trial, which rapidly becomes a media circus.  Roxie’s lawyer is a money grubbing shyster and the prosecutor is running for public office.  Our heroine loves the publicity.

This story originated in a Broadway play and was remade as Roxie Hart (1942) with Ginger Rogers and the Bob Fosse Broadway musical and movie Chicago.  It’s a gritty, funny satire on the print media and the justice system that resonates to this day.  The performances here are all spot on.  I had not seen Varconi before and found him very appealing.  I had to keep rubbing my eyes and asking myself is that really Eugene Palette?  I thought the running time could have been trimmed by 20-30 minutes without harm but other than that thoroughly enjoyed the film.

Cecil B. DeMille is thought to have directed most if not all of this film.  He was talked into taking his name off the credits because the story was not compatible with the message he was sending with The King of Kings released the same year.

Clip – Eugene Palette and Phyllis Haver

My Best Girl
Directed by Sam Taylor
Written by Allen McNeil, Tim Whalen, and Hope Loving from the story by Kathleen Norris
1927/US
Mary Pickford Productions/United Artists
IMDb page
First viewing/You Tub

Maggie Johnson: I love you, Joe… but I can never, never marry you.

Every romcom trope is utilized in Mary Pickford’s last silent film.

Maggie Johnson is a lowly stock room clerk in a big department store.  She meets and falls in love with Joe Grant (Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers) who is a new hire.  Unbeknownst to her, Joe is actually the owner’s son and has been placed there to see how he can do incognito.  Also unbeknownst to her is that his parents are eager to anxious to announce his engagement to a woman from their social set.  Misunderstandings ensue.

I’m not a huge Mary Pickford fan but this is a cute film. Pickford would go on to marry Rogers after her divorce from Douglas Fairbanks in 1936.

The Patsy
Directed by King Vidor
Written by Ralph Spence from a story and play by Barry Conners
1928/USCosmopolitan Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

Patricia Harrington: [dreamily gazing up at the sky] Isn’t that a marvelous moon?
Tony Anderson: Not bad, for a town this size.

Marion Davies is adorable in this silent comedy.  Throw in Marie Dressler and you’ve got a winner.

The Harrington family consists of Pa (Dell Henderson), Ma (Dressler), older daughter Grace (Jane Winston) and teenager Pat (Davies). Ma and Grace are mercenary snobs.  They both browbeat poor Pat and Pa.  Pat is a lovable but awkward goofball.  In addition, she has a giant crush on Grace’s beau Tony (Orville Caldwell), who hardly knows she exists.  Pat goes to Tony for romantic advice and is told to get a personality.  Her attempts make her look slightly insane. But …

I don’t associate King Vidor with comedies but this one is quite fun.  Davies is a talented comedienne.  Dressler is more severe than the usual but very good.  Some of the gags go on for too long near the end but I was thoroughly entertained.  Well worth a try.

According to IMDb, this film gave Dressler, who was in a career slump, a much needed boost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GlSgXaGncw

Marion Davies impersonates Mae Murray, Lllian Gish and Pola Negri

Underworld
Directed by Josef von Sternberg and Arthur Rosson
Written by Charles Furthman and Robert N. Lee; story by Ben Hecht
1927/USA
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

I saw this more than a week ago before I went on vacation.  It started off incredibly strong.

George Bancroft plays a crime kingpin. Drunkard Clive Brook witnesses him committing a bank heist and eventually becomes Bancrofts’s friend and loyal minion. Evelyn Brent is Bancroft’s moll.  Intrigue, violence, and a love triangle ensue.

I absolutely loved the first half of this movie which is nice and sordid. The last half is a bit too melodramatic for my taste. I’m always glad to see George Bancroft on a cast list and he is excellent here. Clive Brook is absolutely outstanding as the drunk but once the melodrama starts he starts overacting. I remember not liking Brook in anything before so was impressed overall.  There is some good German expressionist lighting. Overall a good movie.

Whenever I see one of von Sternberg’s early films I wonder what he would have done if he had not been sidetracked by his fascination with Marlene Dietrich.

Ben Hecht won the first Academy Award given for Best Writing, Original Story.

The scene where Clive Brooks’s acting starts to go downhill (some might think it’s a spoiler)

Speedy
Directed by Ted Wilde
Written by John Grey, Lex Neal, and Howard Emmet Rogers
1928/US
The Harold Lloyd Corporatio (Distributed by Paramount)
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Harold “Speedy” Swift: Aw, Jane – why worry about losing a job on Saturday, when we can go to Coney Island on Sunday?

Yet another 1929 Oscar-eligible film with a segment at Coney Island!  And an excellent one at that.

Harold “Speedy” Swift (Harold Lloyd) is an earnest young man who is prone to mishaps and unintentionally causes chaos everywhere he goes.  He is in love with Jane Dillon (Ann Christy), the granddaughter of “Pops” Dillon who is the owner/operator of the last horse-drawn street car in New York City.  Pops is allowed to keep his route as long as his car is run once every 24 hours.

After Harold is fired from one in a series of very short jobs, he takes Ann for a fun-filled day at Coney Island.

A syndicate is trying to put together a merger of the streetcar business and must buy up the small operators if it is to succeed.  After Pops is unwilling to sell out except at a high price, a gang of thugs is hired to board the car and do away with the old man.  Harold, who can’t get married until Pops is settled, determines to run the car and save the day.

Harold also gets a job as a taxi driver who is forced for one reason or another to drive at a breakneck speed through the streets of New York.  Both goals result in some spectacular  chases.

This was Harold Lloyd’s last silent film and it’s a dandy.  If you don’t smile at one gag you have only a few seconds before you are laughing at another. The high-speed chases are truly incredible and ahead of their time.  Lloyd is constantly making a fool of himself while also being a real hero.  I think the only other Lloyd film I have seen is The Freshman.  I will have to remedy that some day.

The film has been beautifully restored.

Lonesome
Directed by Paul Fejos
Written by Edward T. Lowe and Tom Read from a story by Mann Read
1928/US
Universal Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

Jim: I’m only an ordinary working stiff. And I’m so tired of being alone that I can’t even stand my own company.

Dipping my toe into watching movies again with this sweet and well-made romance.

You are never more alone than when you are living alone in a big city.  Telephone operator Mary (Barbara Kent) and machinist Jim (Glenn Tyron) are both lonesome and their friends are all paired up.  Separately, they hear the music of a truck advertising a July 3 day of fun on Coney Island and decide to give it a shot.  Of course they meet and fall in love in just a few hours.  But fate seems to work against them.

I liked this a lot.  The direction includes some nice modernist cinematography to emphasize that crowded feeling. I found similarities to both The Crowd (1928) and Sunrise (1927) in the shots perhaps because they both feature days in a carnival atmosphere.  The lead actors are appealing and the love story is touching.

The film has been beautifully restored with tinted scenes and a bit of spoken dialogue.  To see the restoration on YouTube pick the version with Spanish subtitles.  All the English intertitles are preserved.  The other one has dubious “music” and an inferior print.

The Cat Creeps
Directed by Earle C. Kenton
Written by Edward Devin and Jerry Warner
1946/UK
Universal Studios
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

If cats could talk, they wouldn’t. – Nan Porter

I’ve vowed to get back to watching a movie a day again after a long time of distraction during the move into my new house.

I started slow with earliest movie in the “Cat Movie Collection” now on the Criterion Channel, “The Cat Creeps” (1946). It’s a Universal B movie with very little to recommend it. Sort of a failed attempt at combining mild horror with a mystery and a bunch of lame romcon banter. The only bright spot was Noah Beery Jr. who I always like.

False advertising