Marie Prevost is… Up in Mabel’s Room (1926), Günter A. Buchwald & Zerorchestra, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto Streaming, Postscript...

Gary dearest, I thought you were so naughty but I’ve found you are so nice… 

Sounds just like a movie.

 

Oh, this was so much fun and with accompaniment recorded right at the start of this year’s festival at the screening in Teatro Zancanaro, Sacile, it had that live energy some of the streaming films don’t always get, although, to be fair this was an ensemble, with the local group Zerorchestra improvising alongside Günter A. Buchwald’s piano and violin. I had planned to be there for the festival but a last-minute Covid infection put paid to all that leaving me to relish the Giornate’s online offering and imagine everything I was missing… the films, the gelato, the relaxed late night’s discussing the films and much more. This film was the perfect finale for the streaming version though, setting us up for a physical return in 1923, sorry, 2023!

 

Directed by E. Mason Hopper, this perfectly executed farce was based on the play by Wilson Collison and Otto Harbach from 1919, and like every successful comedy of this type it relies on perfectly executed performances and timing, whether from the performers and director or in the editing suite. There’s also some exceptionally pithy title cards courtesy of F. McGrew Willis’ script and Walter Graham’s text… and if a picture paints a thousand words, the expressions on Marie Prevost’s face are a British Library’s worth of inuendo!

 

Harrison Ford and Marie Prevost

Marie plays Mabel Ainsworth returning from Europe on a cruise-liner, who has just divorced her husband, architect Garry (The Original Harrison Ford) after finding him in a lingerie department buying what she presumed was a present for another woman. Big mistake Mabs, as young Garry was buying you a silky see-through with both your names on it… too late she decides that he’s a keeper not a creeper and she knows she must do right by him, whether he likes it or not. Remember that embroidered nightware though, it will be important later. Also important will be her meeting on board with man-about-town Carl Gerard (Arthur Walkers) and his rather less outgoing spinster sister, Henrietta (Maud Truax).

 

Among new friends Gary Ainsworth was posing as a bachelor. He figured his secret marriage in Paris was like a vaccination… it hadn’t taken.

 

To Garry’s office where we meet his neighbours, Insurance Broker Jimmy Larchmont (Harry Myers) and his fearsome wife, “his top-go signal”, Alicia (Sylvia Breamer) who announce a party to celebrate their six-month anniversary, as so many don’t make it to their first, cue wince from Garry. Next to them is Leonard Mason (Paul Nicholson), a gay bachelor who is in love with vivacious Sylvia Wells (Phyllis Haver) who rather takes a shine to Garry, even as the latter advises his pal Paul on how best to broach the subject of asking her on a date. 

Harrison and Phyllis Haver

These characters all have elements of a classic farce set-up, which is completed when Mabel arrives just in time to hear that Garry has clearly told them all he’s a bachelor… Information is power and we all know the young draughtsman hasn’t a chance, but at this point the poor sap doesn’t though and rebuffs his ex-wife’s advances when she pops into his office on the grounds that they’re no longer wed and kissing would just not be proper. All the same she catches him unaware winking at his office assistant Simpson (Arthur Hoyt) causing Garry to worry that he’ll gain a reputation as “a swivel-chair sheik…”

 

The El Rey Night club was one of those places where twenty dollars wouldn’t buy enough food to widen a worm’s waistline.

 

One celebration leads to another after Garry is shocked to see his secret ex arrive at the Larchmont's party at the El Rey club with the Gerards. Mabel has so successfully rubbished the good name of her previous husband that the men promise to exact revenge if they see the swine. Garry panics and proposes to Sylvia, using the engagement ring which his lovelorn pal his pal Leonard had given to him for safekeeping. As usual, Mabel is the quicker thinker and extracts the maximum torture from the “bachelor boy” as she talks of her unknown previous husband and the special gift he had given her; perhaps Sylvia would like it as a wedding gift? 

Arthur Walkers, Maud Truax, Sylvia Breamer, Phyllis, Paul Nicholson and Harry Myers 

From this comes an invite to the Mason’s for a weekend away, to celebrate the new couple's engagement and which will involve combinations of most couples in ways that I’d need a spreadsheet to fully transcribe. The misunderstandings fly thick and fast as Garry, aided by his valet, Hawkins (William Orlamond) set out to recover the incriminating lingerie – the “doo-dad” – from Mabel’s room before she uses it to blow his cover and his fresh and instantly regrettable, engagement.

 

You’ve been hanging on her door all day, you’re a regular doorknob!

 

Cue grown men hiding under beds, dancing as if wearing ladies’ lingerie (I know) and being assaulted by three women in search of imagined burglars… it’s a richly comedic closing segment that would have been hilarious to watch with an audience instead if on a laptop with my family checking I was OK after every few minutes of snorting. Sooner or later, everyone ends up in Mabel’s room…

Listen baby, I can explain everything so that even you can understand it!

  

It’s a classic farce and fascinating to see the Anglo-American tradition expressed so well in silent film. Hopper directs with precision and great timing which, as we all know, is the essence of good humour. He has a cast of great reactors; shock, stunned, outraged, surprised and even frightened all freely expressed and played as perfectly as the instruments in Günter and the Zerorchestra accompaniment.

 

Talking of which, the boys in the band were perfect and spirited and the fact they were improvising in front of an audience adds extra frisson and humour. The music is perfect in tone for this delightful comedy and also great for dancing… who wouldn’t want to cut a rug with Marie and Harrison.

 

A band not unlike Günter A. Buchwald & Zerorchestra

Prevost is, as every time I watch her, pitch perfect, full of sass and perky emotion, she’s not only the best winker in Hollywood but one of the most endearing comedians of her age. She’s the queen of emoting on clue, that perfect timing again, but also thoroughly likeable and believable. She should have gone on to be huge in the wise-cracking pre-codes and throughout the thirties but it wasn’t to be.

 

Still, with films as strong as this to display her wit, beauty and talent she won’t be forgotten and when she’s recalled it will be in the knowledge that, despite her early passing aged 40, she was capable of creating so much cinematic happiness.

 

Blessed are the Kickstarters… Zander the Great (1925), Edward Lorusso with Ben Model

Even with the vast majority of silent films lost, there continue to be new discoveries or at least new re-emergences and re-evaluations. Edward Lorusso wrote in his excellent book, The Silent Films of Marion Davies published in 2017 that this film was “largely forgotten” and was only extant outside of the archives on a grainy grey-market VHS copy from Videolibrary. Mr Lorusso was clearly not going to let that lie and proceeded to set up a funding campaign via Kickstarter, his 17^th and 8^th for Marion which duly brought in double the backing after being funded in just four hours.

 

He was thus able to create a new scan of the 35mm print from the Marion Davies Collection in the Library of Congress which is not only in very good condition but also contains the original tints making this one of the loveliest looking digital offerings. Ben Model provides an expertly improvised organ score and the plan is to release the film more widely through his company, Undercrank Productions. So, even if you missed this project, you’ll be able to see what is yet another truly entertaining Davies’ film at some point.

 

Directed by George W. Hill from a script by Lillie Hayward with Editorial Direction from Frances Marion, Zander represented something like a return to “normalcy” as Lorusso wrote, with epic costume drama left behind for a western with a strong moral core. This was the actresses first “Hollywood” film for MGM and allows her to show off her impressive and under-rated range, from comedic Pickford style kidding around as an orphan at the start, to the more dramatic episodes out West, romance and comedy hair cuts that have to be seen to be believed… especially relevant in this age of “Lockdown Haircuts”, if only more of us thought to use a bowl to guide the scissors!

Marion in motion

Marion kicks off in full Mary-mode as Mamie Smith a spirited orphan who has far too much energy to follow the rules of her orphanage in Weeweedin, New Jersey, nor the terrifying Matron (Emily Fitzroy keeping a glacial, straight face almost throughout). Exhibitors Trade Review noted that Marion’s appearance and interpretation were “strongly reminiscent” of Pickford and whilst that’s true, boy does she carry it off well. The same paper was also complimentary about Hill who was apparently the replacement for one Clarence Badger who producer and Davies’ partner and career counsellor, William Randolph Hearst, who also burned his footage before bringing in the replacement. Quite what Hearst wanted for Marion is open to interpretation… there’s no way this was going to be a great drama but perhaps he was simply trying to get the best for his friend?

 

Another reviewer, “A.S.” in Photoplay, described this opening section as a “turning point” in Davies’ career and a performance that will “place her in the rank of the Gishes, the Pickfords and Colleen Moore.” She’s certainly a whirlwind with her ponytails, freckles and sheer “bounce”. The perpetual motion Marion is also supported by some smart stunt work with a man in a dress carrying her huge laundry basket and riding her motorbike in dangerous fashion but not quick enough to defeat the modern freeze-frame; a tribute to the quality of the transfer.

 

Rescued by Hedda Hopper

Mamie goes too far and is badly beaten by the sadistic Matron before being rescued by the kindly Mr. Pepper (Richard Carle) before being shipped out from the orphanage to stay with a single mother Mrs. Caldwell (Hedda Hopper), and her small child Alexander whom Mamie calls Zander (who grows up to be played by Master Jack Huff). The house and surrounds look like something out of a fairy tale, especially in the gorgeous lilac tints and there’s some smart business involving a proposal from a local lad which is rejected in silhouette by a fully grown Mamie who wants to marry only for love.

 

Talking of which, Mrs Caldwell has been waiting years for her husband who has gone off to Mexico in search of his fortune and as the years pass she grows frailer as her hopes fade. She gets ill and when he finally writes to callously brush her off, Mamie pretends he’s arranging to meet her after establishing himself in Singletree, Arizona (there’s only one tree, do you see?). As she dies, Mamie promises to take her son to find his father there.

 

Now the film hits its stride as Mamie and Zander evade the attempts of the old orphanage to take in the boy and make their way out West in a battered Ford with both of Zander’s pet rabbits… this is a good film if you like Lagomorpha as, by the time they arrive, the two have become rather more, proving that old jokes really are pretty, pretty old.

 

Harrison Ford is also really good in this film

Mamie seeks refuge in a huge house – a very expressive set design – where she encounters two old hands, “Good News” (Harry Watson) and “Texas” (Harry Myers) who are going to be good for some slapstick whilst also being apart of a gang liquor smugglers. The gang’s leader, of Dan Murchison (Harrison Ford no, not that one… how many times Paul!?) takes an instant disinterest in Mamie until she takes her hat off and is revealed as a woman as beautiful as Marion Davies! A fourth horseman is revealed as Juan Fernández (Holbrook Blinn).

 

Dan’s all for kicking Mamie out until there’s a lightning raid by the local Sheriff, played by Hobart Bosworth who, as all those who’ve seen Behind the Door know, can give bad guys one hell of a beating! Mamie’s the domestic cover they need and there’s more as Dan reveals his real name… yes, he’s Zander’s long lost father and he means to change course.

 

Or. Does he? The bad guys are all relative and there’s a gang leader in the desert called Black Bart (George Siegmann) who’s just as keen as the law enforcement officers to end Dan’s trade in hootch. There’s a lot of moral issues piling up and you can be sure they’ll all be resolved one way or another in a breath taking finish featuring some smashing locations and Marion choking on gusts of sand whipped up under Randolph Heart’s specific instruction: he wanted her to be seen to suffer just as much as Lillian Gish on the ice in Way Down East… and it looks like she did. Amongst her impressive array of competencies seems to be physical resilience; no one can doubt that as troopers go, Marion was real!

 

That's acting, Rudolph!

So it came to pass that Zander the Great is no longer forgotten or grainy and grey, it’s part of our growing appreciation of Marion Davies the star and even if it’s not exactly a classic it is very much a film made by a genuinely classic star… For that Mr Larusso is owed a debt of gratitude by all of us who find the actress charming and highly skilled. Marion is being rehabilitated and I’ve no doubt that Mr Hurst would be pleased to know how much she is still truly loved.

 

The commercial release will be out in early 2022 and you'll be able to order direct from the Undercrank Productions site as this film joins Beauty’s Worth, The Bride’s Play, Little Old New York and the excellent When Knighthood Was in Flower, which was a Ben Model Kickstarter, on the roster. When the going gets tough the tough get Kickstartng and we can only be grateful for the enthusiasm, expertise and passion of both gentlemen!

 

There’s also a fascinating post on Ed’s website, Silent Room discussing the relationship between Chaplin and Davies as well as the former’s stunt work in this film. There’s no evidence of the lion taming scene apart from references in Davies and other biographies and the cue card proves it had gone by the final cut… all signs of wanting to avoid the opprobrium of Citizen Hearst or just a casualty of the widespread changes made by the magnet? Who knows… there are plenty of mysteries left in silent film as PH has so eloquently stated in her recent post about Le Giornate in Pordenone.

 

Forward into the past it shall be then… as always!