That Riviera touch… Tih Minh (1919), Gaumont Blu-ray

All good things come to those who wait (mostly) and I’ve often hoped to see Louis Feuillade’s magnificent fifth serial film (after Fantômas in 1913-1914, Les Vampires in 1915-1916, Judex in 1916 and La Nouvelle mission de Judex in 1917) in better quality than the fuzzy version on YouTube which looks like it was copied from VHS by a camcorder 400 metres across the road in fading light and with a failing battery… miracles so happen and this new disc is A Thing of Utter Beauty!

 

This is a dazzling 4k transfer from the 2019 restoration by L'immagine Ritrovata, of the 35mm nitrate negative from the Cinémathèque française film archive, completed with a reversal duplicate held by Centre National du Cinéma, and it looks absolutely like it was filmed yesterday. It’s rare to see such detail and to feel the century melt away as you watch the performers inhabit their roles and the familiar spaces of Nice, with such clarity. The Palais de la Jetée and the beautiful Crystal casino may be long gone but this is very much a travelogue for the jewel of the Riviera, magnificent views, glorious mansions and the warm breeze of a Mediterranean mistral running through the relentless, if gentile, pace of the storyline.

 

Scoring for six hours and 24 minutes is a challenge but Julien Boury has produced a tour du force of melodic invention which playfully drives alongside the narrative with strong major themes for story and character. Boury knows his film scoring and there are some gorgeous lines on harp and flute for our lovely heroine, and then a nod towards John Barry dynamics for the arrival of the British diplomat in episode five. It plays out at just the right pace – this is a marathon and not a sprint after all – and retains interest in its subject with sincerity, economy and an instinctive musicality. The score is played out with a chamber group consisting of piano, string and wind instruments with the odd found sound used sparingly and always to good effect. I wish I knew more but bravo Julien!

Mary Harald

Tih Minh is, for me, an advance on Feuillade’s previous epics with rich characters and tighter plotting that relies less on improvisation than say Les Vampires. The cast of characters as introduced, mostly, in Episode One: The Potion of Forgetfulness are well realised and fleshed out more too, not just black and white baddies… well, black, grey and white… with beards and definitive motives. Before that we have a Prologue as explorer Jacques d'Athys (René Cresté) returns from the Orient with a new fiancé from Laos, Tih Minh (Mary Harald) to be greeted by his mother (Madame Lacroix), sister Jane (Lugane) and maid Rosette (Jeanne Rollette) who is romancing his faithful, cheeky, manservant Placido (Georges Biscot).

 

Very little is known about Mary Harald who it seems was a British subject born in Hong Kong and who only acted in French films as far as the internet can tell. Possibly she was mixed race, it’s hard to tell, but that could account for her only acting in France but… that’s pure speculation. Whatever, she is very good indeed, telling many a story with restrained yet emotionally fulsome expressiveness whether under the influence of enemy pharmaceuticals or delighting in her new world and new family. She, as the title suggests, is the star and the story is all about the post-war Empire and Britain’s enduring challenge from Germany but also communism and just plain old bad guys with graduated tints of evil.

The Doc, Dolorès and Kistna up to no good

These baddies are… the mysteriously bearded “Asian” Kistna (Louis Leubas), Doctor Gilson (Gaston Michel) and the La marquise Dolorès (Georgette Faraboni) who has the real dash of stylish super-vixen, biting a rose with menace in the introductory segment. What they’re about is disrupting the old order… undermining the British Empire and controlling minds with chemical concoctions. They also hold a cellarful of chemically controlled young women… for what purpose we can only guess but there is some nudity revealed at this point… and, whilst you’d never see that in a British or American film at this point, it is a reminder that down the same avenue as entertainment is the darkened rue latérale of exploitation.

 

Jacques d'Athys is soon called away on another expedition and long months pass before the start of the first episode proper. The action begins in Monte Carlo Casino where Lord Stone is breaking the bank with a sea of great faces set by Feuillade as the backdrop for his triumphs. As with so many subsequent scenes down the years, the winner is soon turned loser by unscrupulous hands; the game is rigged with Kistna and Gilson soon to relieve him of his winnings. Stone is found unconscious on the Nice promenade minus his money and his memory in what proves to be just the latest such case in a summer which has also seen a number of young women disappear.

 

Mary Harald, René Cresté and Lugane

At the Villa Circe Kistna and Gilson read the reports of their misdeeds with interest and note the impending marriage of the returning Athys to his “charming Annamite” Tih-Minh. They also have a letter from someone called Rao, head servant of the Great Lord Ourvasi, in London advising them that the explorer has brought back a book, the Nadolaya, on his latest travels and this has more importance than he realises… The book had been stolen from Ourvasi who had written the location of a great treasure in the front of the book in an ancient text and, worse than that, in pencil. When Kistna does pay a visit and ask to borrow the document a surprisingly proactive Placido decides to erase the scribblings with a rubber before handing it to his master’s guest. Thus begins the protracted push and pull between the two sides… with twists and turns far too many to mention.

 

There are kidnappings and re-kidnappings, brainwashings and druggings, as science detection wends its steady way through the series. It feels so much like the precursor of the adventure series of the 1960s, like the Avengers (no, not the ones with capes, although Diana Rigg worse one occasionally), The Saint and 007… In episode two, Two Dramatic Events During the Night, Dolorès uses telepathy to help Doctor Gilson cheat at cards whilst trying to drug Athys with a poisoned pendant. All mod cons for modern spies!

 

Georges Biscot plays loveable manservant Placido

This is also about intelligence though, and the badguys always seem to end up on step ahead of the good. Les Vampires’ star Édouard Mathé turns up as Sir Francis Grey, the aforementioned British “diplomat” who is the only one who can decipher the script which, luckily, Athys has photographed. He arrives in time to be picked up by Kistna’s henchmen who end up getting him committed to a mental asylum, Feuillade and co-writer Georges Faure have no shortage of ideas. Grey is highlighted in episode five, At the Asylum and Placido in episode four, The Man in the Case and the focus is on a more structured, novelesque, approach to the serial.

 

Tih-Minh delivers shakes and stirs, and it really is all thriller, no filler with quality maintained throughout with a tip of the hat to the cinematography of Léon Klausse which contributes so much to this gorgeous confection.

 

I ordered my copy from Amazon France and it arrived within a few days, there’s also a Blu-ray of Judex and many others all with sous-titres Anglais… how can you resist? They have ways of making you forget your bank balance…

Nice promenade as was with the pier and Crystal Casino on the top right!

Édouard Mathé

Jeanne Rollette

 

 

 

Mabel undercover... The Floor Below (1918), Daan van den Hurk, Nederlands Silent Film Festival

 

She was born knowing more about comedy and comedy routine than any of the rest of us ever learn... Charlie Chaplin

 

It says in the programme notes for the NSFF that Mabel Normand is sometimes considered the female Chaplin but, given that she, along with Henry Lehrman, directed the Kennington clown in some of his first films in Hollywood – his Tramp persona first appearing in Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914) – maybe Charlie was the male Mabel? He certainly respected her abilities as the above quote suggests. This aside, there’s no doubt that Normand was one of the most successful directors, writers and actors of the teens who, according to Adela Rogers St. Johns would have been a success in any era of film.

 

By 1918 Mabel had moved into features and produced the biggest grosser of the year with the uproarious Mickey. This was the last of nine features Normand made in 1918 and The Floor Below was the third and it comes in at almost 78 minutes compared with Mickey’s 93 and Wikipedia’s 60?! It was considered lost for a long time until being rediscovered "in the estate of a Dutch collector" by the Nederlands Filmmuseum in 2005 – they also found Gish and Valentino’s Beyond the Rocks there too. It was screened at the NSFF and now again after restoration in 2018 and it looks great.

 

Amabel Ethelreid Normand aka Mabs

Given how few of Normand’s features survive, we’re very lucky to have The Floor Below and, whilst it’s not as good as Mickey, it does show another side to Mabel’s performance with less slapstick and more acting with expressions that almost never fail to remind me of Stan Laurel: direct to camera, a crestfallen look, a sniff, the edge of tears, hands moving helplessly as the hopelessness of her situation overwhelms. It’s impossible for the audience not to respond with sympathy and once she’s got you, the laughter’s not far behind. And, in this case, it’s definitely Stanley who’s the male Mabel… he copied her without much doubt.

 

There are many of these jolting moments in this charming if slightly predictable and film… and the spirited orchestral score from Daan van den Hurk uplifts the film with emphatic force, picking up on Mabel’s energy when the narrative slows and making the audience feel like we’re as invested in this story as much as our great grandparents would have been. Writing about the 2007 screening, Jay Weissberg essentially saw Clarence Badger doing the same thing by allowing Normand’s fun-loving personality to shine through. Goldwyn Studios were rapid-prototyping Mabel to be a more dramatic star and this was very much a work in progress… which is fascinating in itself.

 

Mabel plays a cheeky (natch) copy girl at a big American newspaper, she’s called Betsy Donnelly (oh, those Oirish!), name shortened to Bep probably because she has plenty of pep! We first see her shooting craps with the elderly delivery boy on the floor behind her desk as the rest of the floor is busy and her boss, the publisher (Willard Dashiell) is discussing a recent spate of robberies on Madison Avenue with his ace reporter, Mr Spitsfinder (Romaine Callender – nothing gets past him). Spitsfinder bemoans the lack of police cooperation as his boss hands him a piece describing the detectives as helpless against the “bold and shrewd” criminals who seem to be one step ahead, possibly using inside knowledge.

 

Louis R. Grise, Mabs, Willard Dashiell and Romaine Callender

The Police suspect that the mission house of the rich but benevolent Hunter Mason (Tom Moore), The Good Harbour, could be the heart of the operation. The boss tells Spitsfinder to stay close to the police station in case anything breaks. Meanwhile in editorial, the paper’s agony aunt, Florrie Fredericks aka Janus Stuppel (Louis R. Grise - I think) is involved in a running feud with Bep! Things get out of hand after she starts reading out his latest advice in mocking tones only for the Publisher to crunch his chewed cigar in her general direction prompting one of those “Stan Laurel” moments as she turns on the waterworks, dabs her hankie to her nose, forgetting that’s where she’d hidden the dice…

 

“…and it will prevent thousands going into poverty and crime.”

 

Meanwhile, at The Good Harbour, “the one bright spot in a drab part of town”, designed to assist “derelicts”, we find the good Mr Mason stopping off on route to the opera, to explain his plans for expansion to his mother (Charlotte Granville) and his Uncle Amos (Lincoln Plumer). They’re impressed but his fiancée, Helen Harrison (Helen Dahl), “a designing woman, who looks from the man to the fortune beyond…” is most distressed at the inhabitants and looks down her well powdered nose at the whole enterprise… We’re even more sure she’s a wrong un when she goes downstairs and immediately embraces Mr Hunter’s PA, Monty Latham (Wallace McCutcheon). Such wicked folk, clearly intent on making bad with Mr Hunter’s fortune in their different ways. As Helen buries herself in Monty’s arms, two strange men poke their heads in only to be moved on by a wave of his hand.

Helen Dahl, Tom Moore, Charlotte Granville and Lincoln Plumer

 

“You’re all wrong Hunter! Once a crook always a crook… Environment may keep ‘em straight, but they all fall when tempted…” warns Uncle Amos, almost quoting from Tory Party literature. Hunter makes him a wager of a thousand dollars that he can straighten out even the finest thief…

 

Meanwhile Bep pushes her foe too far and temporarily gets sacked before being selected as exactly the right person to go undercover with the Hunter’s to find out who’s doing what to whom and why after Spitsfinder overhears a suspect being interrogated by the police after arrest at the Good Harbour and who has plans of the Vandervent building – the next robbery? To be honest… this is as clunky as it reads and there were probably more elegant ways of getting Mabel into position…

 

If only we had and inconspicuous person who wouldn’t arouse suspicion…

Florrie Fredericks vs Bep!

She affects her own introduction after one last confrontation with the male, pale and stale agony aunt which leads to the police being called and her scaling the side of what turns out to be Hunter’s mission house… She bumps into him and their chemistry begins as a cop pursues her into the Mission and she asks Hunter for help; he duly obliges. For Bep this is the chance to get the dirt on the Morgan operation and for him it’s a chance to win his bet with his uncle for Bep is surely the “fine thief” he was looking for to reform. A position of mutual mistrust, but clearly something more as Bep makes him a fine breakfast after a night kipping on the couch.

 

Spitsfinder is delighted with this fortunate event and tells her to sit tight and dig in to understand which of the party is involved, convinced that Hunter Mason is somehow involved Cue Mabel as the fish out water in the family mansion as he tries to make a lady out of her. Cue also a thousand expressions of disquiet and comedy outrage… as the cultural cringe unravels and haughty Helen and mendacious Monty are exposed by Bep’s pep!

Mabel is given plenty of opportunities to improvise her way towards a more disciplined persona and as Jay says, director Badger allows her the room to do this. It’s a compelling watch because of Mabel but it’s also still entertaining as a cultural and crime caper after the twists and turns of the opening half. Normand looks to have already transitioned to a subtler comedic actress and that’s no surprise given her first five year were not just with Mack Sennett but also DW G.

 

Mabel gives us The Look

Another important part of the Normand legacy from when she was up there with Mary, Lillian, Norma and Gloria and full props to Daan van den Hurk for the colourful score which even online, made this feel like a real event; one of the highlights of the online festival.

 

* Adela Rogers St. Johns, quoting from a conversation with Charlie Chaplin in Love, Laughter and Tears. My Hollywood Story, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, 1978, p. 69.

 

Trade ad from The Moving Picture World 

 

Blood and Sand (1922), Daan van den Hurk and Tijn van der Sanden, Nederland’s Silent Film Festival

To the Spaniard, the love of the bullfight is inborn. A heritage of barbarism – its heroes embody the bravery of the knights of old…

 

Enter Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella for the opening screening of this year’s Nederland’s Silent Film Festival, playing a bullfighter and a Latin lover with a sexuality as exotic in his own way as Pola Negri (don’t mention the funeral) and other Europeans deployed by Hollywood to break boundaries and post-Victorian taboo. Valentino’s Juan Gallardo is driven by desire in life and love, and whilst being a masculine ideal is also at the mercy of his passions when torn between his true love Carmen the wanton Doña Sol, a spoilt, rich man-killing vamp who dominates and discards at will.

 

Blood and Sand leaves you emotionally rung with its derivative charm, wearing its Bizet firmly on its embroidered sleeve, elevated by superb performances and, as we now know, Dorothy Arzner’s innovative editing making us feel the heat of the bullfight even when matador, the bull and “the beast with ten thousand heads” are thousands of miles apart. As festival director, Daan van den Hurk said, no bulls were harmed in the making of this film, but it seems so purely because Arzner’s editing of stock bullfighting footage and Fred Niblo’s shots is seamless. The frenzy and the threat feel real as Juan takes on man and beast in a “sport” the film clearly disapproves of.

 

Daan was also multi-tasking, providing stirring accompaniment with the assistance of flamenco guitarist Tijn van der Sanden whose fleet fingered flourishes added diegetic immediacy to the film as well as dramatic flavouring. I loved the way the two worked together and it sounded fantastic on my new speakers, not as good as live but hopefully one day we’ll all be in the same room.

 

Meet the family

June Mathis wrote the screenplay based on Thomas Cushing’s smash hit play, which was itself formed from Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’ novel, Blood and Sand. It tells the tale of a poor boy from Seville, Juan (Valentino), “a son of the people” whose natural bravery enables him to become a toreador. His humble beginnings are set out complete with wise and loving mother Angustias (Rose Rosanova), sister Encarnacion (Rosita Marstini) and comedy brother-in-law Antonio (Leo White). Despite being called Zapaterin, Little Shoemaker, Juan has no interest in learning his father’s trade and dodges working with Antonio, a saddle maker, in order to go play at bullfighting.

 

Juan and friends head off to Andalucia where the locals enjoyed watching the amateurs from Seville. Juan does well but one of his friends is not so lucky with a watching bandit, Plumitas (Walter Long), accompanied by a title card noting that bandits and bullfighters both “risk life to gain a livelihood.” Juan avenges his friend’s demise and is not discouraged, dreaming of building his mother a fine house when and if he succeeds.

 

Naturally Juan gets talent spotted and ends up impressing the crowd mightily on his debut including his childhood sweetheart Carmen (Lila Lee) and the two grow close as his career advances and marry.

 

He searched deep into men’s hearts, ever willing to excuse weakness and, in a master ledger, recorded the lives of those who interested him.

And he can dance...

 

Throughout proceedings, a local philosopher keeps popping up, almost at random… Don Joselito (Charles Belcher) “a student of humanity” who will act as a guide to the morality of events passing comment and offering advice… ultimately condemning bullfighting. That beast with ten thousand heads… the audience bloodlust driving the barbarism that costs lives.

Gallardo’s success makes him the idol of Seville’s café culture and he gains a manager (Fred Becker) along with a matador, El Nacional (George Field) who “fought for living and not for glory” as well as a popular picador, Potaje (Jack Winn) and old Carabato (Gilbert Clayton) who served Juan “in order to cling to the arena and retain his pigtail” – worn by the fraternity. The film may disapprove of the sport, but it takes a delight in the details.

 

There’s a lovely scene in one of those cafes when we get the chance to see Valentino dance – he had made his way initially in Hollywood by dancing and teaching dance – and you can see his poise on the dance floor alongside and a dancer named Rosa. The women gets just too close though and Juan’s loyalty to Carmen makes him push her onto the floor… it’s a foreshadow of things to come.

Rudolph and Lila Lee

 

Men were Doña Sol’s hobby. A bullfighter was a new experience.

 

Time passes and Juan is famous across Spain, and he catches the eye of the daughter of the country’s bull-breeder, Doña Sol, played by the “exotic” Nita Naldi, who was born Mary Nonna Dooley to Irish parents in New York…  Juan’s reaction to this new attention is primal, and he willingly accepts her gift of a ring given by Cleopatra to Ceasar… he’s flattered but still loyal to his wife, but Doña Sol is not easily dissuaded.

 

The two begin an affair, with Doña Sol dragging out the dark aggression in the man, a strange sadomasochistic edge to his fifty shades of betrayal. He doesn’t feel comfortable in her world of refined hypocrisy and artificial emotions, but he can’t resist the animal games she makes him play.

 

A page from Don Joselito’s book reads: Juan Gallardo has reached his goal. Will success spoil him or will his love for little Carmen overcome the plaudits of the populace and the cruelty of the national sport?

 

Which sets up the finale perfectly!

Rudolph and Nita Naldi

Blood and Sand has Glamour and Alvin Wyckoff’s cinematography captures some lovely atmospheres, Juan’s wooing of Carmen, the mock action in the stadia and the streets supposedly in Seville. Valentino has the star power and is able to convey humour as well as sexuality, he doesn’t take himself too seriously – an attractive feature for most of those watching – but he is passionate beyond reason when push comes to shove. Here his masculinity is used against him by the vamping Naldi… who else could carry this all off and still remain heroic?

 

The version screened was from a Lobster print of the David Killiam restoration which is shorter than the recent version released by Kino on Blu-ray. This has the tinting restored and comes in at over 25 minutes longer with a smashing score played by the Monte Alto Orchestra and a booklet including an essay from noted Valentino expert Donna Hill. Well worth purchasing if you haven’t got it!

 

And remember, as Don Joselito says, Happiness and prosperity built on cruelty and bloodshed cannot survive.