This posting is late, for which I can only apologise, but
I found myself in crisis and desperate to see the restored version of the film
Lubitsch made directly after it, Forbidden Paradise (1924) only to
discover, from reading this very blog, that I’d seen it in 2018. In the cut and
thrust of silent film watching these things can happen, an overdose of
Ruritanian comedies, too much Pola (is that even possible?) and perhaps a Touch
of the Lubitsch’s can all contribute but you never lose that Lubitsch Feeling
which is why his extremely coherent body of work can confuse your random-access
memory?
I was pointed towards Forbidden Paradise after
reading the director’s biographer Joseph McBride* on this run of early Hollywood
films. He is disappointed in Three Women in comparison with the more
experimental and engaging film that followed it, Ernst’s third in his first
full year in America and fourth overall after starting with Rosita in
1923. McBride notes “intermittent felicities…” but marks down Three Women’s
“clumsy construction, uncertainty of tone and lack of inspiration…” in
comparison to the excellence of The Marriage Circle, the first of the
1924 hattrick.
Watching this good-looking release on the Kino-Lorber
Blu-ray I wouldn’t have expected to agree with most of these sentiments based
on the pacey and touch-filled opening sequences but the narrative does lose its
way and we also get precious little screen time for the third woman, Marie
Prevost whose presence does lift the last third of the film, it’s just a shame
she isn’t given more to do. This is a Lubitsch though and it’s like a rushed
early Beatles album or an off-colour Vermeer; it’s still very good and
entertaining.
Pauline Frederick
Based on the 1914 novel Lillis Ehe (Lilli's
Marriage) by Yolande Maree (originally Iolanthe Marès) part of a popular
series of “moral” novels set in the Berlin demimonde and clearly appealing to
Lubitsch’s interest in the compromised classes. Here there is bad behaviour
amongst the civilised high society now relocated to New York City, as human
frailty feeds human greed and innocence is taken advantage of and corrupted by
the dishonest and cruel although one wonders how Lew Cody can’t be spotted a
mile off so slight are his charms in comparison to say Adolphe Menjou?
Anyway… what we do have going for this film is the
formidable Pauline Frederick as Mrs. Mabel Wilton and the film kicks off with
her character carefully weighing herself on the scales against a stark black
backdrop which allows us to focus on her ongoing concerns about getting old… a proto-Smouldering
Fires moment for the fabulous-looking 40-year-old. Still, it’s how you’re made
to feel and especially by a society that favours sheen over substance.
Have you any idea how much wealth is represented by
that woman you have just held in your arms?
Mabel attends a vast charity ball for the Eastern Red
Cross Committee at a “Waldorf Astoria” impressively designed and choreographed
by Lubitsch complete with slides, merry-go-rounds and jollity on a grand scale.
An eye-catching attendee is penniless but for some reason desirable Edmund
Lamont (Lew Cody) who dodges his creditors and makes a beeline for Mabel after
helping her off the slide and being advised by his pal/also creditor Harvey (Willard
Louis) about her three-million-dollar fortune.
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| Lew Cody |
Cue some “touches” as the $tar-struck Edmund looks on
Mabel’s jewellery, focusing item by item as Lubitsch reveals his heart’s desire
even as he begins the process of seducing his target. There are pretty young
women all around him but he only has eyes for Mabel’s diamond necklace, gold
rings and dazzling bracelet. Gradually the images run together and it’s all
Edmund can do to stop himself from fainting. Greed! He offers her a
nightcap and accompanied by Harvey, who acts as a somnambulant chaperone after
polishing off all the chocolates – another trademark visual ellipse - the three
head to Mabel’s home. Her ardour is finally cooled by a letter from her
daughter Jeanne (May McAvoy) who reminds her that she’ll be 18 in a few days…
her mother suddenly feels very old and stares at the mirror.
So far so good, and there are a lot of delicious moments
at Jeanne’s party in Berkeley, California as lovelorn Fred Armstrong (Pierre Gendron)
tries to find the right moment to give his sweetheart the $500 bracelet he’s
had to pawn his watch for and pledge his troth. His progress to this goal is
interrupted and thwarted by split-second misfortunes as Lubitsch plays out a
dance of frustration with said watch repeatedly being pulled from and returned
to Fred’s pocket… as his last chance is lost when she opens her mother’s
present of a diamond bracelet.
Why have you come without my permission?
Her mother’s present depresses Jeanne with its crass over-compensation
for lack of attention and even when she returns home she’s unwelcomed by Mabel
who is far too busy being romanced by the man who she’s just gifted $100,000
for sure-fire investments to. This inattention soon becomes heavily ironic
when, after saying she was too busy to spend time with Jeanne, Lamont also makes
his excuses and sees the daughter instead. As Mabel mopes alone at home, Harvey
spots his pal with a younger woman at a nightclub only to realise that it was
Jeanne the next day whereupon he informs Lamont of the daughter’s worth as the
betrayals mount up.
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| May McAvoy and Pierre Gendron |
Now, there are various ways this could all play out and
this is where the story diverges from could have been a more satisfying and
believable analysis of mother-daughter relationships, faithless gold-diggers
and their good-hearted molls – Marie Prevost could have rescued things – but this
descend into unlikely melodrama.
Frederick and McAvoy give things a good shot and what we
do see of Prevost is, of course, eye-catching, but it was still early days for
Lubitsch in this new environment and a lot more was in store.
Back to Lew Cody… he does his best but he doesn’t quite
convince as sophisticated enough to win the affections of either let alone both
women, and I’m quite sure Marie Prevost’s character would have him exactly
where she wanted him. All this said, Cody has his own style and was apparently
a great raconteur, highly popular, a pal of Buster’s and the husband to be of Mabel
Normand. Given a better scenario his character and its arc could have been much
more compelling.
Three Women is still well worth watching though and I would
love to see it on the big screen as opposed to just the splendid Kino-Lorber
Blu-ray which comes with a stirring new score from Andrew Earle Simpson and an
excellent commentary track from Anthony Slide.
It’s available direct from Kino or other online retailers selling US worldwide.
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| Marie Prevost abides... |
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