Acadian fire… Evangeline (1929)

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and is patient,

Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman’s devotion,

List to the mournful tradition, still sung by the pines of the forest;

List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy.

In 1755 British soldiers deported a group of French-Canadians, Aradians, who refused to join with the Empire in fighting their French challengers. The communities were forcibly removed from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island – up to 11,500 from a total population of 14,000… one of the first large-scale population redistribution and a large scale operation for the British.

In 1847 the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem that follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.

It became the poet's most famous piece and remains one of his most enduring works in spite of the inevitable historical inaccuracies... since when have poets been required to be historically accurate?

Never-the-less thousands of lives were lost and the British were responsible for a high-mountain of human misery.

In 1929 Edwin Carewe made a film version starring Dolores del Rio, shot in Louisiana and more about the poem than the history. The film was silent but featured a Vitaphone soundtrack – don’t you just love transitional technology: always some great innovation but never as prosaically-practical as the eventual winning technology!

Delores sings?

For this Milestone DVD the majority of the sound disks were used which adds tremendously to the atmosphere and authenticity if not the hi-fidelity. You get to hear Miss del Rio (or someone else) sing and as with all things Vitaphone, the soundtrack is not directly synched with the dialogue just music, songs and sound effects. There are a few audio segments missing and so pianist Philip Carli filled in sympathetically for Hugo Riesenfeld’s music.

The impression quickly gained from this film is one of scale as well as poetic emotional sweep: this is definitely a tone poem and not a book adaptation and the rhythms are quite operatic: Evangeline is found singing to herself as she works away in her impossibly sweet cottage whilst her love Gabriel (Roland Drew) sweeps into the harbour not on wings but posed heroically on the bow of a fishing boat.

Roland Drew sweeping...

We see Father Felician (Alec B. Francis) strolling along the harbour surrounded by innocents and accompanied by lengthy dolly shot that introduces the town of Grand Pre in Acadie, then the toothless fiddler Michael (Bobby Mack) who will provide much comic relief even played against the stern Notary Rene la Blanc (George F. Marion).

To the main players, the alpha leader blacksmith Basil (James A. Marcus), father of Gabriel and the richest farmer in the town, Benedict Bellefontaine (Paul McAllister) and his son Baptiste (Donald Reed) who, for all his charms can’t prevent Evangeline’s heart beating for Gabriel even for a second: theirs is a steadfast passion – far more than that as we will see..

Cheers!

Now the sailor is returned it is a time to celebrate and Edwin Carewe directs a cast of thousands with aplomb and there are some gorgeous set-pieces captured by the cameras of Robert Kurrle and Al M. Green. A marriage contract is drawn up and signed in good humour and the community gathers again to witness the wedding of the year.

Meanwhile, the British have been getting set for war with those pesky Frenchies and the time has come to force them off King George II’s soil. The British Governor-General (Louis Payne) impresses the need for the Arcadians to join in the fight but they are reluctant to battle their fellow Frenchmen.

The march to the church

Now, dear reader, this is one of those moments in film historicals when the delicate Brit must look away in shame (my clan were variously Irish and Scottish at this point or Shropshire peasants so I’m taking no blame) but that aside, there’s no doubt this film is as kind to the “Mother country” as it could be. Most of the blame for the bad behaviour is laid at the table of Colonel Winslow (Lee Shumway) whose rogue, hot-headedness leads to the worst of consequences: the reality was far more organised and shameful.

The British army arrives just as Evangeline and Gabriel are being married – with hundreds of heavily-armed red-coats descending on the thousands of peaceful revelers (a bit like an early nineties rave after the Essex Constabulary turn up at 3AM Eternal…). The men are ordered into the church in which they are told they will pay the price for their insubordination: they will all be deported south and have their families broken up and their property destroyed.

Acadia burns as the boats start to take its citizens away

This genuinely-shocking development changes the tone of the film – and things get a whole lot darker form this point on as things kick off in a desperate struggle inside the church only halted by the appeals of Father Felician.

British guns mean that there can be no compromise and the community is dispersed - with contemporary images of mass-displacement all too fresh in the mind, this is, again, unsettling. The Army is relentless, not giving a fig for man, woman or child and the families and the lovers are split and taken away on boats.

As long as waters flow, their love will endure...

The months roll by and we follow Evangeline as she follows her search for her Gabriel: theirs is a true love and one that will endure “as long as waters flow…” You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be pulled in by this one and sometimes melodrama just works in spite of yourself.

Great composition and camerawork...

The film is lovely to look at and has the air of unreality required to match the poet’s phrases. Roland Drew and Delores del Rio make for a lovely lovelorn couple – the latter may not be one of the very best actors but she has an ethereality all of her own and is easily the stand-out performer.

Dolores del Rio

It’s also great to hear her “sing” her song – a theme apparently written by Billy Rose and one Al Jolson.

Evangeline is available from those nice Milestone people and is available direct from their shop – shipping is quick and very reliable!

Buy the Milestone DVD!

Gloria and Rudy… Beyond the Rocks (1922)

There are very few people who are so famous they can be recognised by their first or last name only and even fewer who 90 years after their heyday can still be identified this way… here are two of them and what a combination they make…

This film was lost for a long time and in her autobiography Gloria Swanson named it as one of the three works who disappearance she regretted most. Luckily for the rest of us it was found in the Dutch archives in 2003 and then restored and released by Milestone films. You can see why Miss Swanson was so fond of it; she plays the romantic lead opposite Rudolph Valentino and wears some of the gorgeous gowns she was renowned for. Rudy can’t fail with his wardrobe either.

As the New York Times review put it “Gloria Swanson can wear clothes. So can Rudolph Valentino. And the talents of each are given full play…" but the reviewer did not consider it an interesting photo play: “Not (for) those who want a little character and a little truth in their entertainment, anyhow.” I’d disagree even if only on the grounds of the rather large characters acting on the screen: this is primary source material that confirms so much about the nature of contemporary stardom.

Directed by Sam Wood and based on a story by Elinor Glyn, Beyond the Rocks is an undemanding romantic drama which successfully relies on the magnetism of its two leads and their ability to convey the nobility of duty chosen over love. “We must be stronger than our love…” is the central call and naturally the whole audience is willing them not to be… but with so many unlikely surprising shifts and co-incidences – like Paul Auster on speed and without the existential depth – we can be sure that “fate” will find a way to relieve them of their self-sacrifice,

A typical English scene...

Gloria plays Theodora Fitzgerald the youngest daughter of the retired Captain Fitzgerald (Alec B. Francis) who lives in modest comfort in a Dorset fishing village. She has two half-sisters whose mother was clearly less good looking than hers and who see her as their meal ticket to an easy life: she must be married well.

Theodora is out in a rowing boat not far from the yacht of a rich playboy Lord Hector Bracondale (Rudolph Valentino) when she suddenly falls into the water – maybe there was a freak wave? Oddly enough for a dweller on the coast, she doesn’t appear to be a good swimmer and, spotting her difficulty, Hector dives into the drink to rescue her.

Once on dry land the Captain recognises her noble saviour as do her sisters who dismiss him as not the marrying kind (yes, but he’s rich enough girls!). There’s an instant spark as Theodora gifts him a damp but fragrant Narcissus and he departs eye’s sparkling with delight.

But business is business and well-to-do but middle aged Josiah Brown (Robert Bolder) is chosen as the man to marry and through duty to her, sweet but dim, father, Theodora goes through with the wedding even after Pa offers her a way out (are you blind man: why would Gloria Swanson want to marry a dumpy man twice her age!?).

Robert Bolder

They head to Europe on their grand tour of a honeymoon and, Josiah being too clapped out to climb, Theodora goes off mountain climbing with new friend American adventuress Jane McBride (Mabel Van Buren).  Theodora slips whilst taking a photograph – so careless – but once again Lord Hector is amazingly on hand to come to the rescue… it’s as if Fate’s trying to tell them something.

Hector follows them to Paris and grows closer to Theodora as the two wander through the gardens of Versailles he tells her of the love between a coachman and a noblewoman. Briefly Hector and Theodora imagine themselves as the two lovers before coming back to reality as Hector makes his move… The two pull apart almost immediately and stare disconsolate at the ground: they cannot be a couple and they resolve to be “stronger than their love” in order to protect Theodora’s marriage.

Gertrude Astor

Hector goes away but and confesses all to his sensible sister Lady Anna Anningford (June Elvidge) but when she arranges a party and invites the Brown’s he arrives intent on stealing a kiss from Theodora in the evening’s pageant.

Theodora is strong and writes letters to her husband and to Hector. She leaves them in the hall for collection where Hector’s one-time girl Morella Winmarleigh (Gertrude Astor – who would cross with Gloria on more than one occasion…) switches them: Joseph will get Hector’s letter and vice versa. Oh calamity!

No spoilers: what happens next I won’t reveal but you may not be a million miles off with a guess or three.

Henny Vrienten's musical score greatly enhances the action helping Valentino and Swanson to rise far above the limitations of the storyline.

The Milestone DVD is available direct or from Amazon.com.

Alec B. Francis is good too!

Borzage directs Boardman… The Circle (1925)

This film, stylishly directed by Frank Borzage, finds Eleanor Boardman’s character trying to avoid repeating the mistakes of previous generations, just as she was in the previous year’s Wine of Youth. Kenneth B. Clarke’s script was based on W. Somerset Maugham’s successful stage play from 1921 so, it was very much a comedy of contemporary concerns.

Post war(s), with the century still young, generational politics were arguably broader and more entrenched than at any previous time… after all, there was so much freedom wasn’t there  and, for some, the means to take advantage of it.

Young Joan Crawford

The film starts thirty years in the past as the young wife of Lord Clive Cheney (Derek Glynne) decides to run away with his best friend – the “best man” at their wedding - Hugh Porteous (Frank Braidwood). Young Lady Catherine is played by a very young Joan Crawford in one of her very first film appearances… fresh faced and wide-eyed, Joan looks a million miles away from Johnny Guitar and Baby Jane…

She takes the fateful step and abandons her husband and their son Arnold to follow her heart… Hard not to feel heartbroken those she leaves behind especially as Clive seems a decent – if distracted - sort.

The family seat

Fast forward three decades and we see her son’s wife, Elizabeth (the eruditely elegant Eleanor Boardman…), contemplating the same escape. Young Arnold has somehow grown up into Creighton Hale (who always reminds me of an effete Ernie Wise… sorry Little Ern and sorry Mr Hale…) who seems entirely detached from his own marriage, squinting cluelessly behind his monocle.

Creighton Hale and Alec B. Francis

The object of Elizabeth’s affection is the altogether more dashing Edward 'Teddy' Luton (Malcolm McGregor) who has won her heart with his readiness to act and masculine wiles.

But, aware of the family history, Elizabeth has arranged for Lady Catherine to visit in order to see what thirty years have done to her relationship: has true love endured or fermented into middle-aged bitterness?

Arnold is all a jitter having not seen his mother for so long and Elizabeth is anxious to know how her potential choices might pan out… neither has told Lord Clive…

On their way...

Borzage’s delicate touch enlivens the tension as he cuts with increasing frequency to shots of the back of the older couple’s car as they speed towards the meeting… a bit like the shark in Jaws.

Then, stone me, Lord Clive has returned from hunting, deciding that he can get better shooting done at home. There’s a lovely confusion as the family try to rest his loaded shotgun from his hands… a foretaste of the anger that surely  must about to be unleashed.

Eleanor Boardman and Alec B. Francis

But, as Lord Clive (Alec B. Francis) gradually learns the truth about his impending house guests, his mood remains cheery… perhaps his experience of the last thirty years hasn’t been the bitter one we expected. Certainly he views this as an opportunity to set his daughter-in-law on the right track… even though we can’t really believe bumbling Arnold has any chance.

Lady Catherine "Kitty" Cheney (Eugenie Besserer) and Lord Hugh "Hughie" Porteous (George Fawcett) duly arrive and before long start to pick holes… and argue… is this what has become of their pure passion?

Lord Clive takes it all in his stride as a game of bridge descends into bickering, Elizabeth is distraught and starts to worry that this is how she’ll end up. Teddy gets frustrated whilst Arnold grins on the side lines… but we’re sure young love will win out in the end… or will it?

It’s hard not to view Maugham’s tale as smart-Alec with its twists and deliberate turns and maybe things would have been more believable had it been Glynne playing Arnold instead of Hale. He has his moments but it’s difficult to credit his later change in character and, frankly, Elizabeth would have been unlikely to succumb to his new-found macho charms.

Eleanor Boardman

But… go with the flow. Boardman is excellent as always, blowing everyone else of screen with her intelligence and control. But credit must also go to Eugenie Besserer who is very moving when forced to gaze upon the photographs of her younger self… George Fawcett grumps along splendidly for most of the movie but he excels in this moment: confronted with the cause of their love and reminded of its enduring truth.

George Fawcett and Eugenie Besserer

I watched the Warner Archives DVD which comes from a very clear print and is accompanied by a new orchestral score from Garth Neustadter which is very effective overall and rather spritely, sometimes too much so, when it threatens to leave the story behind as it hurries to whip us along with the narrative.

Essential viewing for fans of Borzage and Boardman and for those who have to see more of the young woman who came to be the biggest star… After all, unlike the audiences of the time we all know exactly what Joan Crawford looked like thirty years later…
 

Yes, well... it's not exactly post-feminist...

Norma Talmadge… Smiling Through (1922)

Smiling Through (also Smilin’ Through) was a box office smash in 1922 – 6th highest grosser after the likes of Robin Hood, Blood and Sand, Manslaughter – and, at this point its star, Norma Talmadge, was arguably second only to Mary Pickford.

Having raved about Mary I must return to Norma for she could act with a subtlety and a believable force unmatched by most contemporaries. And, as with Miss P she had a like-ability, energy and common touch that struck a chord with millions.

Smiling Through was based on the 1919 Broadway play staring Jane Cowl, who also co-wrote with Jane Murfin under the male pseudonym of Allan Langdon Martin. It was a play about eternal love that wrestled with the impact of the Great War… after such carnage you had to hope there was something more to life than death.

The story is a simple one and undoubtedly populist. As the New York Times review pointed out “…it is entirely sentimental, and it is well done. Those who like photoplays deliberately sentimental will be attracted to it…”. Moving Picture World pronounced that "Smilin' Through is a personal triumph for Norma Talmadge…” whilst also commenting that it will make good box office: “…a safe, satisfying success.”

It’s interesting to put this melodramatic and emotive film in the context of the period: a well-made, professional film that more than met business objectives and enhanced the status of its star. Modern viewers may find the production simplistic and too sugary but, at the time, people wanted the sweet stuff… We still need it now but the wrapper’s different.

Underneath the sweet was quite a lot of sour… Smiling Through’s main male character, John Carteret (played by Wyndham Standing) lives in hate following the tragic murder of the love of his life on their wedding day. Moonyeen (played by Norma) is a young Irish girl who has fallen for this upright English gentleman, but she has also unwittingly stole the heart of Kenneth Wayne (Harrison Ford… “no, not that one”… never gets old…).

Wayne tries to murder Carteret at the wedding but only succeeds in killing Moonyeen after she throws herself in front of her true love. Her death is a tragedy echoing the untimely ends met by so many at this time - the audience and film, cannot let this be the end.

This is told in flashback someway into the film. The story starts many years later with Carteret an old man obsessed with his memories and his hatred of all things Wayne. He still dreams of his love though and holds a doll against the moonlight to see the shadow of Moonyeen against his garden gate.

He adopted Moonyeen’s niece, Kathleen (also played by Norma) and she is the one bright point in his life. Yet, into their midst comes Jeremiah Wayne (Ford again) who has returned from a life in America and is unaware of the bad blood.

 

There's a lovely scene when Kathleen and Jeremiah meet at a ball in Dunstable. Kathleen rebuffs the advances of earnest Willie Ainsley (Glen Hunter) and pulling a variety of comedicalyy-disgusted faces, she manages to get the newcomer to invite her to dance.

The two go off to talk and fall in love but Carteret finds them and refuses to sanction their relationship. Undeterred they begin to meet in secret, aided by Doctor Owen (Alec B. Francis) who wishes his best friend would forgive and forget.

But Carteret is not going to change his mind even when Jeremiah joins up and leaves for France in 1914.

The Great War passes and Kathleen waits anxiously for her lover’s return but Jeremiah has been wounded and does not want her to marry him out of pity. Carteret is more than happy to accept this – the man has a heart of stone!

He starts to get his come-uppance though as Kathleen blames him for Jeremiah’s distancing… and Carteret tells her just why he hates the Waynes. But it’s not enough to convince her and she resolves to leave him.

Spoilers ahead: Left alone with friends and family alienated by his hatred, Carteret finally asks his friends for help in re-uniting the young couple.

There’s not a dry eye in out living room as Jeremiah proposes to Kathleen in the manner she instructed him to before the war. Talmadge’s emotional display here is so very impressive, she seemed to specialise in close up transitions from sad to happy and her huge dark eyes shine with relief and compassion.

Meanwhile, Carteret plays dominoes with his old pal the Doctor and, at last released from his emotional cage, he is joined by the spirit of Moonyeen. They are, at last reunited in the afterlife and, Moonyeen says that if only people knew what follows after death they’d spend their whole lives smiling through…. sentimental but reassuring to a population still mourning the deaths of millions.

Directed with efficiency by Sidney Franklin, Smiling Through was filmed largely on set – apart from a brief location shoot when Kathleen is first encountered a Californian inlet passing itself off as Ireland. This enclosure reflected its Broadway origins and adds to the cosy feel.



The cast is good, especially Alec B. Francis, whilst Harrison Ford excels especially as the bad Wayne, but it is Norma’s show and she dominates every scene she’s in always reaching out to the watcher with her expressive features, dancer's poise and those shininng eyes.

The print I watched was pretty good with the exception of some bleaching and peripheral damage after about an hour. It’s to be hoped it gets a clean up and proper release at some point - I’ve seen worse official releases from the twenties.

Catch it if you can and settle back to fully appreciate the skill and appeal of Norma Talmadge, a major contributor in the development of screen acting and a great, intelligent, entertainer.

And for those who think this blog is sometimes a little random... the reason Norma Jean (see previous post) was called Norma is because her mother was a big fan of Miss Talmadge.