Clara take a bow... Poisoned Paradise: The Forbidden Story of Monte Carlo (1924), NFPF Restoration Streaming

“Nothing but the highest praise can be accorded Clara Bow… Her performance both when she is at the heights of exaltation, and when she is cast into the depths of despair, is nothing short of inspired. There is every reason to suppose that she will become a great favorite in a short time, and her performance in this picture will do much to put her there.”

Exhibitors Trade Review

 

It’s true, there’s nothing that makes this film so thoroughly enjoyable than the emergent presence of Clara Bow and it seems that this was as remarkable then as it still seems now. Written by Waldemar Young, the film is based on the 1920 novel Poisoned Paradise: A Romance of Monte Carlo by Robert William Service a Preston born lad who went to Canada where he became known as the Bard of the Yukon. In reality he spent little or no time in the Gold Rush but having been posted there by his bank, he soon picked up plenty of stories. After success, he certainly spent ample time on the Riviera and could have been inspired by any number of bad nights on the tables of the Casino.

 

Service knew how to tell a popular tale and with sentences rich in imagery and emphatic subtext - portents of destiny - you can see why he was so successful: "Strange! Always drawing. Did I ever tell you that your father was an artist?" In the film this sentiment is echoed after the opening scene of a suicide of his father who shoots himself after losing his all. The portentous intertitles lead us into the narrative from the get-go.

There was a boy in London...

Young Hugh and his fatally ill Mother find out the elder Kildaire has passed away after leaving them to pursue the dream from which he was distracted… “You too will be an artist, but you must be brave my little son: for you have a hard, hard life in front of you…” the rest of the story is trailered right there, who could resist turning the page, or waiting for the next reel. 

“There was a girl in Paris…” shifts the scene with similar economy to Margot, a young girl living in poverty, collecting a bottle of cheap wine in a bar and watching as a local woman, Madame Tranquil, returns with success from Monaco: “God bless Monte Carlo – I bring back a fortune – champagne for all…” Margot takes the bottle to her grandmother who, promptly chases her with a kitchen knife for trying to eat some bread. She falls down the stairs chasing Margot and dies. Luckily Madame Tranquil decides on the spot to adopt her with her new wealth.

Strange how like the whirring wheel Life itself is… the hazards… the final click of the ball of destiny…

It's all a façade!

To Monte Carlo and the Casino! Unchanged season after season, down the magic years… where we meet hustler Monsieur Martel – sometimes called “The Rat” – played by Raymond Griffith with the excess of verve you’d expect. He’s spotted near the roulette by Krantz (George Andre Beranger), the secret service officer who escorts him out of the building as we switch to a grown-up Margot about to throw away her savings on the unforgiving tables remind me how I once took ten Euros into the Casino and came out with eleven… we broke the bank! 

Clara’s reaction shots are all consuming as she loses and she looks fabulous dressed in a mink stole and with a top hat. Then it’s time to visit the grown-up Hugh (Kenneth Harlan), living the life of an impoverished artist in Monte Carlo where usually the only artists are conmen and not painters. Things are looking up though as he’s just sold a painting and can now afford to eat. He’s living in the same Hotel as Margot and The Rat and is as big a mug as you might expect falling for an old line from one Mrs Belmire (Carmel Myers) for whom he ends up paying for dinner. 

Back at their rooms, Margot is in misery, broke and with The Rat harassing her. It’s not just her though and the rogue has been stealing from other guests too forcing Hugh to leave his wallet on a chair and hi door ajar in an attempt to lure the thief into making a move. Sadly, it’s Margot, desperate, who cracks and grabs his stash but he can’t help but feel sorry for her after she tells him her misfortunes – Bow again excelling with her emotions bursting through that expressive prettiness, she’s hypnotic. No wonder then that it is then that Hugh has A Brainwave! 

I have it! Since mother died I have no one – you shall come and be my housekeeper!

 

Clara Bow and Kenneth Harlan

As brother and sister… exclaims the intertitle as they set up home with Hugh’s room divided by a curtain to protect his housekeeper’s modesty but, surely, no one can seriously believe that even with an especially acute artistic temperament, he cannot have missed the ever-so-slightly-gorgeous flaw in his plan…?

Ah well, he’s soon distracted by another man of improbable motives in the form of Professor Durand (Josef Swickard) who has come to break the Bank of Monte Carlo and avenge those who had fallen under its spell. He has worked out the perfect mathematical formula to predict when the numbers will come up and whilst it is another crazy plan we just know that this one is going to work. 

In another shock development, Hugh hears that he has sold all of his paintings and, despite feeling that the Prof is a one sandwich short of a Monet Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe, decides to fund his project. At the same time Hugh doubles his money at the Casino and gets the bug, impressed with his luck. Margot is not impressed but plenty of others are namely Mrs Belmire who Hugh still sees as a romantic interest. Of course, this means that he has her firmly in the “sibling” zone, even though Margot has grown rather fond of the big lug… she calls his bluff and threatens to go off and set up her millenary shop in Paris but something tells her she needs to stay.

The rock on which it stands is built of human skulls! …I shall destroy it!

Mr Griffith, the Rat!

It is, as you can tell, a very bitty narrative but things start to firm up in the second half of the film as all of the connections are revealed and the other “artists” try to work out how the Professor keeps on winning. It’s enlivened by the performances of Griffith and Bow especially and there’s a lovely scene when Martel comes a calling to take advantage of Margot when her “brother” is away and she absolutely batters him – it’s something we love to see in silent film, a “nasty woman” taking charge of the situation! In comparison Kenneth Harlan seems too old for the part but is solid enough although I don’t believe he could even hold a paintbrush.

For such a low-budget movie some of the exterior sets do seem rather extravagant and it suddenly struck me that we might be witnessing the leftovers from Erich von Stroheim’s Foolish Wives (1922) and this turns out to be the case with footage borrowed as per the notes on the NFPC page on which you can watch the film. Apparently the studio told the press that the star were being sent to Monte Carlo but they forgot to mention it was the one built, no doubt way over budget, by “Von”. Nevertheless, it does add some atmosphere to the tale. 

Ben Model perfectly recreates the contemporary feelings of the film with a spirited, playful accompaniment that indicates he’s clearly having a ball playing along with the dazzlers on screen. All in all, a very entertaining experience and one you can have for free at the NFPF site which isright here. As it’s that time of year they would appreciate support in funding this and further restorations and you can send them a Christmas gift at this location. It’s better to give than receive and they are the Professors of Preservation who have definitely found the right formula!

About the Restoration (from the NFPF site): “UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Stanford Theatre Foundation worked from the only surviving element of Poisoned Paradise, a deteriorated 35mm nitrate print. Two missing sections were replaced with stills and intertitles, some derived from the source novel (courtesy of David Stenn). The preservation, which also recreated the film’s tinting scheme, was funded by Saving the Silents, a collaborative project organized by the NFPF and supported by the Save America’s Treasures program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Park Service. Further funding was provided by the Stanford Theatre Foundation. A recent NFPF grant funded scanning and digitization of the preservation print.”

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Responsible gambling...

Detectives in drag...

So, you stay on one side of the curtain and I'll be on the other... you'll be like my sister/mother/housekeeper...