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| “Women! God, how he hated them!” |
Mamas' don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys
Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks
Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such
Mamas' don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys…
That was Wayland Jennings advice but at this stage it’s
way too late for those of us riding alongside William S Hart as he blazes his
trails in a strand that celebrates this most accomplished of silent actors and a
genre that seemed to emerge fully-formed from the get-go.
Today we had two of not-so-wild Bill’s films In the
Sage Brush Country (1914) and The Aryan (1916) which, it has to be
said took a surprising turn. Hart’s roles include a number where he was on the
wrong side of the , only to be rescued by the love of a good woman but it’s interesting
that’s heroes can be anti from this age of territorial opportunism; the
USA was founded on men who sometimes broke the law as evidenced by Alphonso J.
"Al" Jennings – a genuine cowboy and criminal who made films based –
seemingly – on his exploits, such as The Lady of the Dugout (1918). Al
received a full pardon from President Teddy Roosevelt in 1907 as he had fought
against the Spanish as a Rough Rider. Is it any wonder we British struggle to
understand some American Presidents when it is the land of the free, i.e. strong,
where second chances are always available… for the right kind of man.
In Sage Brush..., Hart starts off as wrong ‘un Jim
Brandon who robs the Wolf Creek stage of a payroll intended for The Lost Hope Mine
owned by Frank Wilding (Herschel Mayall). Wilding decides to use his daughter Edith
(Rhea Mitchell) as the next courier as the bad guys would never suspect a
woman. Brandon overhears the plan and from then on it’s only a matter of time
before chivalry kicks in, over is attained and forgiveness obtained through
good deeds. Crucially Brandon’s bad guys are trumped (ha!) by *real* bad guys,
Mexicans, and they are just that bit more naturally dastardly aren’t they…
This was only the second film Hart directed and his
attention to detail is apparent through costume and set design. It’s pacey and
he’s magnetic as usual – a man with a classical theatrical background, channelling
the spirits of America’s ground-breakers.
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| Bill and Bessie |
The Aryan (1916), is a relatively recent discovery
from Argentina – the same store in which the missing parts of Metropolis
were found – and is more overt on the subject of race with Hart being described
at one point as leading “his people” – Aryans – on to the promised land of the
West. He must also overcome a deepfelt aversion to the opposite sex… who he blames
for the loss of his fortunes.
Hart’s Steve Denton is a successful prospector who falls
for the combined evils of drink and gambling and, with the sensual distraction
of Trixie, “The Firefly” (Louise Glaum) he gets ripped off. He drags Trixie
with him as punishment – a bit extreme you say? – well, it is that kind of film.
Trixie had intercepted a telegram for Steve saying that his mother was dying
and he must race back to see her… a device Hart added based on his own
experience of continuing to run his theatre in 1909 when in the same situation.
It adds extra motivation for his hatred of Trixie but his
punishment is unusual and ill-founded. The years pass and Denton switches off
compassion and when a party of starving travellers arrives he refuses them food
and shelter: it’s every man for himself in his America. Well, it is until a Christian
woman in the form of the impossibly pretty Bessie Love gets his attention: she
is Mary Jane Garth and the clue’s in the name. A conversion occurs and morally
refreshed by the spirit MJ has brought he not only helps this all-white convoy
but leads them onwards to the promised land.
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| Promotional booklet for The Aryan |
The scenario was co-written by one C. Gardner Sullivan who
inserted the strands about the then-popular (cf a film by Mr Griffith…), pseudo-scientific
racial philosophy which occurs in the latter part of the film whilst the more
straightforward melodramatics of the first was down to Hart: bad women and
greed all lumped together.
Gunter Buchwald and Frank Bockius formed a musical posse,
riding side-saddle for the great man as he wrangled with his troubled
conscience, women, men and bad fortune. The Western and the music so heavy with
eternal emotional truth.
“Unforgettable are the extreme long shots of battles
staged on the Värska military exercise fields. They evoke the Olympian visions
of Griffith in The Birth of a Nation and America.” Antti Alanen
If it was all tumult out West, way, way out East we had
war as Russia invaded Estonia in The Young Eagles (Noored Kotkad) (1927).
Estonia declared independence from Russia following the 1917 revolution but
they had to fight off both the Soviets and the Germans in the War of
Independence, which lasted until 1920.
Today Estonia is about half the population of Wales and
the fact it could martial a fighting force to fight off two of the strongest
nations in Europe was remarkable. The story focuses on the “Young Eagles”: rich
student Tammekänd (Arnold Vaino), blacksmith Laansoo (Juhan Nõmmik), and poor
farmhand Lepik (Ruut Tarmo). All volunteer for the army and we see their
journey through the ups and downs of what becomes a spectacular conflict near
the climax with, as Alanen’s quote suggests, a huge battle scene filmed with
the aid of the Estonian Defence League who provided both men and armaments.
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| Three eagles on their shirts... |
The story is a bit flat initially and director Theodor
Luts could have cut a chunk log the running time but it none-the-less a moving
story and an educational one. This is one of the delights of Pordenone – it’s
an education not just in the history of film but of the history in the films.
For a young nation this film must have meant so much. At
a time when my country constantly crushes its laurels with an arse-full of
ignorance and assumptive authority, this film reminds us how hard some have
fought to genuinely take back control.
Heroic accompaniment was supplied by Mauro Colombis on
piano and Frank Bockius on percussion; positively aerobic!
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| What would Wm S Hart have said? |
We were also showered with shorts today; I’m loving the
animated Victorian Flipbooks sections and also the return to the Nasty Women shorts
especially the eternally naughty Leontine as played by Sarah Duhamel here seen
in Enfant Terrible (1911) and On Holiday (1910). Accompaniment was from Daan
van den Hurk.
We also had the first of the Weimar Shorts stream which,
actually now I mention it, did indeed feature a lot of streams and water in
general including one nine-minute section of a ship at sea. There were some fascinating
close-up sequences of bodily fluids too – Germanic versions of F Percy Smith’s microscopic
landscapes. Accompaniment was from Jose Maria Serralde Ruiz.
There were other films but there was also wine to be
drunk and conversations to be had… in Pordenone you have to get the balance
right!
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