Sweden 3 France 1... "Jenny Hasselqvist Day", Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Day Four

Jenny pirouettes across the stage of the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, she’s so strong and graceful, on point and as totally controlled as you would expect from the World-class prima she was. As maestro John Sweeney accompanies, it feels not so much like Jenny’s day more like Christmas Day: the chance to see her performing the “day job” and on her home stage.

I don’t know why it is that you connect more with some performers than others, but I’ve always found Hasselqvist’s combination of movement and expression especially compelling. She is such a naturalistic actor and that’s Swedish style as evidenced by her co-star in Balettprimadonnan (1916) Lars Hanson but also by Victor Sjöström and Hilda Borgström in Körkarlen (1921) also screened today. This is her first film and made four years before Lubitsch’s Sumurun but already she combines effortlessly alongside young Lars. As with Louise Brooks, she’s simply not bound by time or style, and that’s it!

Young Jenny Hasselqvist and young Lars Hanson...

This is a reconstruction with extensive use of stills accompanying the complete title cards for a film long considered lost. Mr Sweeney deserves so much credit for keeping the narrative flowing through these sequences and when the live action starts he makes the most of every second of Julius Jaenzon’s cinematography and Mauritz Stiller’s direction. There are two sequences of Hassel-dance, a rehearsal in which the peasant-girl Anjuta dances in boots and then the full Monty in the Opera a stunning set piece which I’d guess was Swan Lake? There’s studio footage of Jenny performing The White Rose in the German film Wege Zu Kraft und Schonheit (1925) but it’s great to see her on stage.

As for the film, it’s a proto Star is Born in which Anjuta makes it big with the aid of the sneaky Count Orsky (Richard Lund) who sends her true love, Wolo Czawienko (Lars, Lars, Lars…) overseas to perfect his violin playing and otherwise drives a wedge between the two in order to have her all to himself. It’s not just Jenny who dazzles (I’m saying that purely for balance…) and there’s a great face-off between Wolo and the Count at the end, filmed in blue tinted darkness at a lodge house, with the shutters gradually being opened and Jaenzon filming the seemingly impossible as more light gradually beams into the space.

There was more Jaenzon magic in the Victor Sjöström’s Judaspengar (The Price of Betrayal) (1915) as the film opens with a stunning zoom through a window into a room in which a mother is dying, a child is crying, and a husband finds out the worst for their Doctor: a still life in misery established in seconds of economic direction.

It’s one of only five films extant from the 30 the director had produced up to 1916 and has similar themes to Ingeborg Holm (1913) with the death of a partner bringing financial ruin to a family in a time before a welfare state. It’s a tense thriller with a gruesomely memorable sequence involving a dead body in a bag…

There was more from the Sjöström/ Jaenzon team with Körkarlen (1921) and this was the first time I’d seen it projected with live accompaniment – in this case from Donald Sosin. The Phantom Carriage has a reputation based on the ghost story part but it’s another socially-aware tale based on a novel by Selma Lagerlöf. It’s message that you must hope for emotional maturity before you pass is not necessarily a religious one and Sjöström’s character is surely one of the biggest bastards in film history: he just won’t do a good thing will he? Plus, we could almost smell his dank clothing from the third row… what Astrid Holm’s salvation army worker, Edit, saw in him I’ll never know.

The acting is raw and exhaustingly-convincing, giving a clear win to Sweden on the day and, yes, for me there could be no other result.

Victor Sjöström on the lash

The French did manage to score an impressive consolation goal with Marcel L’Herbier’s adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s L’Homme du Large (1920) which was as aesthetically remote as it’s possible to be from Sjöström’s grit. L’Herbier’s style is his substance (sorry) with, for example, defined colour codes beyond the usual, blue for the sea and red for the city nightclub plus intertitles as an artform, it could all be too much were it not for the brutality of the storyline.Still, it’s interesting to compare with the Swede's treatment of a Henrik Ibsen poem on a similar theme, Terje Vigen.

Baby-faced waster Michel (Jaque Catelain, natch), has grown up spoiled and pointless with his granite-faced father Nolff (Roger Karl) over-indulging him, and ensuring his goal of breeding another man who loves the sea is dashed. Mother (Claire Prélia) knew this would happen and she has made sure that their daughter Djenna (Marcelle Pradot) is made of more substance and spirit.

Michel is led increasingly into the sordid depths of city life by Guenn-la-Taupe (Charles Boyer, oozing class and charm in his first film, watch and learn Jaque, watch and learn…) and further away from the family’s rocky home. Disaster looms as he chases after nightclub performer Lia (Suzanne Doris) and his father and the natural justice of, um, nature await the completion of his fall.

Maud Nelissen's minimalist accompaniment gave space and flavour for the onscreen complexities to breath before a thunderous conclusion of rolling chords that left some feeling storm tossed.

I have previously raved about this film and got lost in the colours after too much tea... it's a film that rewards repeated viewing. 

The Lads (Jaque and Charles on the right) and Les Girls at the club

As we checked to see if our souls still resided in our bodies, it all seemed so far away from the morning in which the USA had established an early lead with the hyper-Hollywood Captain Blood (1924) part of the Kevin Brownlow strand. I heard an American voice behind me say that this was the most polished film so far and that’s so revealing of the difference between the approach between Europe and the States where things tend to be so finely polished and commercialised.

This isn’t a criticism and Cap’n Blood is very entertaining if a tad over-long (phrase of the week?) but what do I know, it was Vitagraph’s most profitable film as reported by Mr Brownlow. Jack Kerrigan was a major player in the pre-studio era and this was his peak as he withdrew from films not long afterwards following much rumour and a car crash. He’s good even though it’s very hard to watch this now without thinking of the Errol Flynn version.

In Alan Moore’s Watchmen, pirate comics are the predominant genre as superheroes are “real” and no one’s impressed anymore… in cinemas, now that the supers are blasting out every few weeks, maybe it’s time for some more pirates? What’s better than the cut and thrust of cutlass and canons blowing up actual ships?

A bit of bother on board...

Philip Carli’s swashbuckling accompaniment was superb, but I couldn’t see if he had a bottle of rum or a parrot on his shoulder.

The second US offering was John Stahl’s Suspicious Wives (Greater Than Love) (1921) which was the strongest of the features shown so far albeit with a very idiosyncratic plot and denouement. Molly King was the star and very impressive she was too as the woman who becomes convinced that her husband is having an affair and runs away to have their baby in secret.

It’s a plea for better marital communication but the case for the mistrust could have been more strongly made and the narrative motivations clearer. This would have prevented perhaps the longest inter-title in history being used to explain the plot at the end…

Daan van den Hurk kept the story grounded with confident lines on the piano; I’d love to listen to his last ten minutes again!

Gallant Mollie King takes it all in...

Two up at the break, Hollywood was blown away by that thrilling Swedish hattrick in the second half… it’s never over till the final whistle, as Sjöström said in the post-match press conference.

Blood, Brutes and Black Bess – Kevin Brownlow’s Vitagraph home movies, Kennington Bioscope

It’s some kind of summer now: the start of the festival season and the Bioscope responded in its unique way with eight films in three hours. Our host Kevin Brownlow wanted to fit in another but most of us had homes to go to.

What we saw was a collection of 9.5mm prints intended for home viewing and which featured condensed versions of their source material ranging from one to three reels from the Vitagraph Company of America. Even stripped of their establishing narrative these films still made sense and were still impactful not least because of some spectacular action including horses racing a steam engine, cowboys, a steam engine ploughing through a forest fire and what looked like a full-scale sea battle.

But we also had Colleen Moore’s unique energy, Victor McLaglen’s physicality and a host of stars with successful careers and who should be better recalled: Irene Rich, J. Warren Kerrigan, Warren Baxter…

The latest in home projection technology!

In order to present these frail wonders on a large screen they had to be projected onto a small screen and fed through the digital projector at the Cinema Museum. The projectionist worked wonders, stopping the frames so the audience could read the intertitles and making running repairs when the celluloid snapped: hats off to Dave Locke who performed his usual wonders.

Black Bess/Black Beauty (1921) accompaniment by Costas Fotopulas

Jean Paige, Dobbin and James Morrison

Starring Jean Paige – later wife of this film’s director, David Smith – as Jessie and James Morrison as hero Harry, this film featured a stunning horse race at the climax as Harry rides the much-travelled black steed across country to outwit the baddie Jack (George Webb) and his inferior horse(-manship).

It’s exciting stuff and even with the under-cranking, showed immense courage from the riders as the race each other over field and fence in order to catch a steam engine.

The Ninety and Nine (1922) accompaniment by Meg Morley

This was Colleen pre-bob and Flaming Youth but she still presents with her trademark endeavour and pure focus even in a film described as “old school” by one contemporary review.

Colleen plays Ruth, whose parents have her lined up for a clearly unsuitable cheater when she, naturally enough, prefers the young and virile Tom (Warner Baxter). The bad suitor tries to fit the more deserving with a cheap charge of theft – employing the local “poor half-wit” to place Father’s wallet in an incriminating suitcase. But Warner’s too quick and stops the con chasing the boy off – not that this stops him being accused by parents who decide that it’s best for Ruth to go away to Forest Hill.

There’s a forest fire on that Hill though and only one man can save the day by driving a train into the heart of the heat…

On the Banks of the Wabash (1924) accompaniment by Cyrus Gabrysch

This was seven reels chopped down to two and there was just enough to capture some good interplay between a young inventor, David (James Morrison) and Dolly (a young Madge Evans who was later to feature in the excellent Dinner at Eight). David has invented a revolutionary device to radio control boats and this almost leads him astray before steadfast Dolly shows him the value of real love.

There is an impressive sequence involving a flood and a rescue from a Mississippi river boat as David’s threatens to cost him everything…

The Man from Brodneys (1923) accompaniment by John Sweeney

Kevin quoted a scathing review from Picture Play which described the audience on this film’s Broadway presentation as being “exceptionally impolite” but we’re a lot more forgiving with a film we’re almost certain never to see in its full form.

What’s left showed a British colonial outpost under attack from scheming “Hindoos” and whilst the mind inevitably conjured up the closing scenes from Carry on up the Khyber, there was some impressive action as the plucky Brits enlisted the help of the exceptionally convenient and well-armed US Navy to win the day!

J. Warren Kerrigan stars as Hollingsworth Chase – we’ll see more of him in a while – along with Wanda Hawley as Lady Agnes Deppingham (not the Deptford Deppingham’s the other lot… the ones in the country) and Alice Calhoun as Princess Genevra.

No doubt Boris would have just loved it!

Behold This Woman (1924) accompaniment from Costas Fotopoulos

This featured Irene Rich as film star Louise Maurel who falls for John Strangeway (Charles A. Post) a lunk of a backwoods boy after her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere – there are no hotels and she has to stay with him and his backwards misogynist father. John follows her to California and glimpses another world in which his now-hipster beard must be trimmed to help fit him in.

There were some fascinating glimpses of period Hollywood as the two attempted to make the bridge between Tinsel Town and Country.  Marguerite De La Motte is also in it and we’ll see her again in a moment.

The Clean Heart (1924) accompaniment from Meg Morley

This was a strange tale involving Philip (Manhunt’s Percy Marmont) working himself into a nervous breakdown and finding solace in the arms of the aforementioned Marguerite as Essie Bickers. As with all these “small” versions you wonder not only how much concrete meaning has been lost in the picture play precis but also how the story itself has been changed.

This seem to be going fine for Philip and Essie until they enter a scenic thatched cottage and suddenly their relationship seems to advance from dreamy to divorce in seconds, as if the building was haunted by past traumas… Then we have drama!

Captain Blood (1924) accompaniment from Cyrus Gabrysch

The film was based on the novel, Captain Blood, His Odyssey, by Rafael Sabatini and was Vitagraph’s biggest success costing a fortune with what look very much like actual, near-full-size galleons sinking, engaging in battle and being blown up in spectacular fashion.

It also featured some rare Brownlow Benshi as KB translated French intertitles using a discrete light pen – all adding to the feeling that we really were being treated to some rare views.

Of the 110 minute original only these 30 minutes survive and we’re lucky to have those.

David Smith directs again and Jean Paige stars again as Arabella Bishop who is surely too good for the bold neo-pirate that is Peter Blood who is secretly a qualified physician! The studio held a ballot for their audience to nominate who should play Blood and Smith was distraught when our old pal J. Warren Kerrigan – remember him from paragraph three? – got the gig: he wasn’t a fan. But JWK does well as the dandy sea-way man…

There’s a huge amount of dramatic doings as you’d expect but whoever edited this all down left in sufficient humiliation of pompous British imperialists and magnificent sailing ships to keep me happy: a grand, albeit mini, adventure!

Big film, massive crew!

As The Screen review said: “Youngsters who revel in the ruddy activities of seventeenth century pirates, will find plenty to think and dream about in this picture.” Count me young then! They went on to find various faults including that “Miss Paige… is a very quiet little lady, intent on showing her profile… She has little real opportunity to act, and is only pretty.”

Best of all: “Charlotte Merriam's eyebrows are of an up-to-date variety, which we might hazard did not exist in those turbulent times.” People: always make sure your eyebrows are up-to-date!

Charlotte's are up-to-date but I'm not sure about Warren's!

The Beloved Brute (1924) accompanied by John Sweeney

A brother from the same mother...

Time was running out but it was decided to end with the bang and crash of Victor McLaglen’s Hollywood debut!

As Mr Mordaunt Hall wrote in his New York Times review: “Although Mr. McLaglen facially is no Ramon Novarro, Ronald Colman or a Rudolph Valentino, he has a sympathetic personality and a wonderful facility for appearing at ease before the inquiring eye of the camera.”

And it’s true, Victor shines on screen with a tremendous charisma which completely overshadows his boxer’s nose - in 1909 at Vancouver fought six rounds with Jack Johnson – he is a heck of a performer who appears to have hit the ground running in this “western with a soul”.

Marguerite De La Motte

Directed by Vitagraph mainstay, J. Stuart Blackton, the sequences we have showed an intense story of brothers lost and found but only after bare-chested wrestling – Charles (Victor) – who does know - letting David (William Russell) - who doesn’t – win.

The two then contest a battle over dancer in search of a better life, Jacinta (Marguerite De La Motte yet again, not that anyone was complaining) - who proved more than capable of looking after herself. Dynamic fun and you just wished there was more: but if this is all we have... that is so much better than nothing!

Yeah, you heard, six rounds with Johnson!

In the end we ran out of time and Kevin promised we’d all meet again for further films. Yes, let’s do this again!

A huge tip of a Ten-Gallon Hat to the Bioscope’s superb musicians too without whom we’d only have half a show – you can find out more about them on the Bioscope site: a remarkable ensemble who play all of the right notes always in the right order, even when faced with unknown films, celluloid snaps and cruel cuts in the action.

This was another special cinema club evening at the Cinema Museum and you know the first rule of Cinema Club is that no one should talk about Cinema Club: but you simply have to!