Let’s start at the end with a hi-energy workout from
luminous Lili Damita abetted by livewire Curt Bois. Curt is not the leading man
in The Golden Butterfly (1926) but he is the one who really clicks with the
leading lady both as a dancer – if that is indeed him lifting Lil high and perfectly
straight into the air – but especially as characters; eye-rolls and flicks of
the hands, the little messages sent by friends amidst the power play around
them: these two truly belong in a nightclub, they’re performers and not actors,
speaking to us in cabaret-code across the years of dull rom-coms and worthy
romantic winners.
Given a choice between marrying uptight restaurateur Andy
(Nils Asther) or overly-casual inherited-millionaire Aberdeen (Jack Trevor) I’d
pick Bois’ steadfast André Dubois for Lili every time, even if as a best male
friend over romance.
Jack Trevor, Lili Damita and Curt Bois |
The two shared an undoubted creative bond too and this
film, along with Red Heels and Cab No. 13 are spectaculars that highlight not
just Lili’s extraordinary talent and beauty but also the glamorous world from
which she came. The sets are stunning and her dresses jaw-dropping – this is
GIF-gold once these films get released in the kind of quality seen in tonight’s
35mm BFI print.
Lili Damita |
Based on PG Wodehouse’s short story, The Making of Mac’s, it tells the story of a besotted couple, Andy an
undergraduate at Cambridge and Lilian (Lil) who works at his father’s
restaurant a rather staid if high-quality eatery. The film was partly filmed in
Cambridge and the Cam, railway station and colleges are, of course, largely
unchanged. Sadly, his father dies, and
he must quit the dreaming spires for the hard work of running Mac Farland’s
restaurant a rather staid but high-quality institution.
Andy finds out that Lilian has been sharpening her
dancing skills and, what’s more, attracting the attention of Aberdeen who
decides he can turn her into a star after seeing her dance with Bois’ dance-master
André Dubois. As her star rises she and Andy separate and she loses herself in
the thrill of it all, but she hasn’t forgotten Andy even though he’s desperately
trying to forget her.
Personally, I think he’s stubborn and pretty stupid but
none of this spoils the Damita-dazzle and this is possibly the best of the
trilogy although I’d love to see Red Heels on the big screen with Cyrus
Gabrysch’s spirited accompaniment.
Swinging Curt Bois |
Before this, ace-programmer Michelle Facey talked us
through the career of Curt Bois with clips from Wings of Desire, Casablanca
(another Curtiz of course) and a screening of Patent Glue a short comedy he
made in 1909: his career was even longer than Lillian Gish’s – officially the
longest in cinema history. A high-impact character actor who never starred but
always added flavour as in the above film where he’s the only one really on
Lili Damita’s wavelength.
That was the finale, but we have five other sessions on
Day Two, as, according to the Bioscope’s master projectionist Dave Locke, more
film was projected than ever before including 10 features and many, many
shorts.
Lois Wilson, cowed as Lulu |
Miss Lulu Bett (1921), with Meg Morley
This immediately jumped to the top of the weekend’s
charts with a superb performance from Lois Wilson in the lead and smooth
direction from everyone’s third-favourite de Mille… William ranking behind his
brother Cecil and then his daughter Agnes according to Amran Vance’s
introduction.
In its own quite way it’s as powerful as anything we saw with
a story featuring Wilson as the titular Lulu, the family drudge, run down by the
domineering master of the house, her sister’s husband Dwight (Theodore Roberts)
who brooks no challenges from his wife or his two young daughters.
Everyone has written Lulu off – destined for spinsterhood
and chained to the household chores. Lois Wilson is a revelation; emoting in an
understated way and carrying a lot of subtle meaning. She becomes accidentally
married to her tormentor’s brother Ninian (Clarence Burton) – Dwight, somehow not
surprisingly, is both a liar and a Justice of the Peace… and, whilst Ninian is
sincere it turns out that he’s already married, and life threatens to get a whole
lot worse.
Yet Lulu discovers new depths: “The only thing I’ve got
left is my pride and you’ve got to let me keep that…” and she works upwards
from there. As the poet said, you’ve got to hope for the best and that’s the
best you can hope for and Lulu Betts does not disappoint.
Also flourishing was Meg Morley on piano accompanying
with deft flourishes of jazz-age melancholy.
The Silent Enemy (1930) with Lillian Henley
A change of pace now with one of the best-looking films
of the weekend, directed by H.P. Carver and set in the Canadian Northwest,
where the Chippewa tribe struggles to find food before the onset of winter in
the time before the coming of the white man. The enemy in question is hunger and there’s a documentary
feel as the tribe and their animals go in search of caribou to secure their
future. The cinematography of Marcel Le Picard is breath-taking.
The cast was largely native American including Chief
Yellow Robe (Chetoga, tribe leader), Chief Akawanush and Molly Spotted Elk (Molly
Dellis) The rather strapping Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance (Baluk, mighty
hunter) was actually Sylvester Clark Long an African American but it matters
not especially if you can carry off a loin cloth like he can! He’s a
fascinating character in his own right as are the others: given cinema’s
history of black-face/fake-race this film deserves credit for authenticity.
The writer Robert E Sherwood summed things up better than
I can: “High on the list of the cinema’s
nobler achievements are the names of Nanook, Grass, Stark Love and Chang. Now
there is another picture to be added to the distinguished list – The Silent
Enemy. It is beautiful, it is superbly acted, and in many of its scenes
tremendously exciting. It is a permanent, eloquent record of a race that is
vanishing from the earth. Don’t fail to see it.”
Dancing Mothers (1926), with Cyrus Gabrysch
There is no hierarchy of “It” you either have it or you
don’t but there’s something about Clara Bow that fills the heart with superior
levels of joy; it’s partly human pattern recognition as you react to an
unconscious display of emotion but it’s also a recognition of one of the best
actors in cinema. I don’t mean technically
but I do mean naturally, and Clara Bow can radiate in my general direction
every day.
She doesn’t steal this picture from Alice Joyce, who is
superb technically and emotionally, but you find it hard to ignore Clara
whenever she’s on screen. In the end, though, the narrative forces Alice centre
stage and in an unexpected way…
It’s an interesting film not just for its emerging star
and Alice Joyce shows what a fine dramatist she was: a very professional job
all round, high-quality generational comedy that asks, once again, if parents
are really people.
The Emporia Gazette described Clara Bow as “a real little
modern." Which I think is undeniable.
Bobbie Rudd with Johnny Butt - his "adopted" dad and Tom Coventry. Harry Green on the right. |
Messing about on the river: films from the
banks of the Thames with Lillian Henley and Meg Morley
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI introduced
a series of shorts and a feature all based on Old Father Thames.
Lieutenant Lilly and the Splodge of Opium (UK 1913) was off its head years before Fairbanks’
Coke Ennyday whilst Broken in the Wars
(UK 1918) was more serious being about a charity scheme to help veterans start
their own business. It featured Henry Edwards and Chrissie White who was in
most things at the time.
Trips and Tribunals
(UK 1918) starred Lupino Lane and was a whole mess of tribulations. Up the River with Molly (UK 1921) sounded
like a throw-back to Sparrows (Mary
Pickford’s character Molly escaping up the river…) but it was far gentler
following a man and his dog (yay!) on a trip up the Thames. The Haunted Hotel (UK 1918) is part of a
series of Kinekature Komedies using a special lens to create distortion: gimme another
splodge of opium maan!
The finale was Sam’s Boy (UK 1922) with Lillian Henley on
excellent, sparkling form. Directed by Manning Haynes and starring the
legendary Johnny Butt – and a host of increasingly familiar faces on location around
the Thames Estuary and along the Kent coast and there were docks and old pubs
too… I was transported by an admitedly daft tale about a boy named Billy who adopts the ship's captain (Butt) as his father.
Again, this section was presented with support from the
AHRC project ‘British Silent Cinema and
the Transition to Sound’ and of the British Silent Film Festival.
Turksib (1929) Costas Fotopoulos
Now for a real change of pace and Viktor Alexandrovitsh
Turin extraordinarily rhythmic “propagandist” documentary about the building of
the Turkestan–Siberia Railway. The editing and cutting are mesmerising, and Turin
manages to create such momentum by selecting images of things happened or about
to happen: it’s rapid-fire and grabs the viewer from the first few cuts before leaving
you exhausted and rather pleased that they completed the 1445 miles construction
“on time.”
This was also due to a positively Stakhanovite contribution
from Costas who, even though he hadn’t seen the film before, piled in cluster
after cluster of artful arpeggios and fluid, fast playing never once running
out of crescendos!
And then onto our grand finale with Lili and Curt.
A superb weekend and, knowing how hard the organisers,
helpers, Cinema Museum staff and all the contributors work I don’t take
anything for granted. As Neil Brand said during his introduction on Saturday
this is a fantastic event and we are so lucky to be able to celebrate silent
film in this way.
It is the Silver Age of Silent Film and it continues in
just two days with Au Bonheur des Dames
(1930): details on the website!
Thanks Paul. First time I have ever been confused with Tony Fletcher though - Amran
ReplyDeleteAh, must get my glasses checked!!
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