“Patriotism is not enough…” Dawn (1928), Stephen Horne, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto Day 7

This was one of the most moving films we’ve seen this week and all the more so for two ending beings shown, one from the Belgian digital transfer and the other from the BFI’s 35mm copy. There are differences between the two, not just the warmer tones of the film but also in the way that Nurse Cavell meets her end… the inevitability of violent death by gunshot.

Sybil Thorndike is outstanding as Nurse Edith Cavell and that final walk, her eyes wet with mortal fear, are truly heart-wrenching, bringing tears for the second time this week (the other occasion being the children of Vienna maimed by war). Stephen Horne played an absolute blinder with bass drum punching out Cavell’s final few paces in the first version and the piano taking the lead for the second. The accompaniment has to be as precisely judged as the action on screen and both were in step to devastating effect.

The Belgian version is the uncensored cut of what was a highly-controversial film… there was still plenty of sensitivity about this infamous episode and clearly, as the UK version shows, possible offense had to be limited.

This is not easy though especially when you have an actual member of Cavell’s team, Ada Bodart, playing herself… history as film, film actor as her own history.

"Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."

After Dawn, a section on those Nasty Women was more than welcome and I especially laughed at the last, She's a Prince (1926) a crazy-cross-dressed, paparazzi-dumping, case of mistaken royal identity starring Billy Franey as the sorority “girl” formerly known as Prince and Alyce Ardell as… the “prince” formerly known as Alice.

The Swedish Challenge strand continues to impress and Thora van Deken (1920) featured a powerhouse performance from Pauline Brunius as the title character. She is fighting to protect her daughter’s inheritance by hiding her former husband’s will and Brunius display of determination in the face of her dubious action and motherly love is so… human. She was wrong but we are on her side… Brunius has the kind of face that can hold a movie on its own twisting conflicted emotions across strong features that fail to hide her darting eyes. This is why Swedish cinema was indeed “challenging” – completely naturalistic performance matched with films that deal in moral questions in a realistic and compelling way.

The restored print was more 2020 than 1920 and a delight to behold. It was a kind of Blue but emotions were melting through…

Maud Nelissen accompanied with pensive piano lines which perfectly matched this absorbing play of conscience and forbearance. I’d never heard of actress of film until this week and that, my friends, is what this show they call Le Giornate is all about!

On to the evening and two films from people I know and in films I’ve seen.

The Vampire, Philip Burne-Jones

Rudyard Kipling’s The Vampire was written to accompany the exhibition of a illustration by his cousin Philip Burne-Jones depicting a female vampire; another link between cinema and painting as per Tableaux Vivants. This vampire is a sexual predator draining her partners of their energies, funds and self-respect. The poem begins with the line A fool there was… and warns against the folly of falling for women who “…could never know why and could never understand!” decent family society presumably.

It is not a hugely complex story but it has one massive power point: Theodosia Goodman aka Theda Bara who turns what could have been a run of the deMille Victorian morality tale in to very modern sexual picaresque. Her vamp is working her way through male batteries like there’s no tomorrow and lives only for herself and yet she’s doing it in style! We want to go to Theda’s parties, hang out at the clothes store for the endless fittings her cool, cool, cool clothes demand and tell the straights to just go hang!

Theda is a punk rocker, Theda is a punk rocker, etc...

Theda is punk – Siouxsie, Poly and Pauline Murray would be nothing without her approach to mascara – and has a wit that just blasts everyone else off screen. Yes, there are deeper meanings to the struggle between family and pheromones but we’d all like a friend like Theda… er, wouldn’t we?

This was a much better print than the one used for the old Kino DVD although the source material is sadly not perfect. Still a real thrill to see it projected and to have accompaniment from Philip Carli with the premier of his new score for quintet! The music was as closely fit as one of Theda’s dresses and played off the humour as much as the drama just as Theda and, indeed, you and I… Philip played piano and was joined by David Shemancik, Günter A. Buchwald, Romano Todesco and Cristina Nadal. They are Theda’s band for her next all-nighter!

Last up was another who took sexual liberation a major cinematic step forward with Pola Negri in Mania, her third film of the week and her first film (?). This is not the playful Pola of Carmen but an equally passionate one who follows her heart into all kinds of trouble. A matchgirl spotted as the face of the brand, she falls for the artist’s muso buddy and, two stars of kind of born as Mania uses her “connections” to get her guy a break… Needless to say he doesn’t appreciate it and, as is usual – Theda being the exception… the woman pays.

I’d seen Mania before at its UK premier in 2011 and it is a very impressive restoration with some gorgeous close-ups of our heroine and without her trademark eye makeup… but it’s not the mascara that maketh the woman it’s the personality! Pola is also “punk” as it happens: fresh, to the point and boundless…

New Negri vehicle opens in London to rave review! … Mania (1918)

Last night I attended the UK premier of Mania starring Pola Negri. The film, full title Mania, The History of a Cigarette Factory Worker, was made in 1918 and was believed lost for almost a century…rediscovered and expertly restored, it was presented with much fanfare at the Barbican.

A short film showed how the restoration had painstakingly been completed, with firm adherence to the rules of film restoration - no digital cheating allowed here. Then the Polish cultural attaché and president of the Filmoteka Narodowa took turns in introducing a film that not only showcases the strength of Poland’s greatest movie star but also the technical skills of what was a Hungarian/German/Polish co-production…highly appropriate given Poland’s new position as President of the Council of the European Union.

This combined with a receptive and well informed full-house audience, created a mood of genuine excitement as we witnessed the first ever showing of this film in the UK…just 93 years after it was made.

The Polish pride in this reassertion of the power of one of cinema’s primordial brands was clear with this show being one of a number of “premiers” in major cultural centres across Europe. A new score has been written by Jerzy Maksymiuk, who also conducted, as the Wrocław Leopoldinum chamber orchestra performed it with gusto and contributed greatly to the sense that we were watching this film in a wholehearted way, almost in the casual manner you would watch a contemporary movie…no deference made to age, style or soundtrack.

This effect was further supported by the amazing work done on creating a strikingly clear print; it can hardly have looked much different when the German premier was held back in November 1918.

All of this served to do real credit to the undoubted star of the evening, Ms Pola Negri herself. One of the greatest stars of this era and a name often seen more than experienced, Negri had an amazing amount to offer. I listened recently to a recording of her contemporary, Theda Bara, talking of the need to “pantomime” in the absence of sound and with largely static cameras. It reminds you of the restrictions these actors had to work under. No wonder some appear to be over emotive to modern eyes and yet with the likes of Lillian Gish and Asta Nielsen they are able to convey the story without crossing the line of exaggeration.

To these names I would add Pola Negri’s. An expressive face, soulful eyes and with a dancer’s grace…she was a master of controlled expression. Considering that she was only just 20 at the time she shows a high degree of expertise in her playing; she carries the majority of the story and is a believable presence in what could easily have been a melodramatic affair.

She plays Mania a cigarette factory worker who is picked to be the new face of their advertising. In the artist's studio where she is being painted for the campaign, Mania meets a young composer, Hans, (played by Arthur Schroder) with whom she falls in love. Mania starts to mix with the local aesthetes and at one of their, splendidly realised, parties, she encounters the hawkish Morelli (Werner Hollmann... with menace!) who is a wealthy patron of the arts.

Entranced by Mania’s dancing, Morelli determines to have her for himself. He prevents Hans’ opera from being performed and Mania is forced into a dreadful choice: is she willing to sacrifice her love for Hans in order to help him succeed?

There are twists and turns as the tale resolves itself in the most dramatic of circumstances. I won’t tell you how because you’ll want to experience this “new release” all for yourselves in your local cinemateque!

This felt like a recognisably modern movie and proof of the fact that the medium was really hitting its stride by the end of the Great War. Directed by Hungarian Eugen Illés, there are some great close ups, outdoor shots and excellent overall visual cohesion. This is helped by superb scenic design by one Paul Leni, famous later for directing expressionist classics such as Waxworks and art directing many more.

A very polished (sorry no pun intended) and enjoyable performance all round. Maybe not a great film but still a real gem pulled off with verve by a genuine star of transcendent quality.

Watch out for this Negri girl she’s going places!

Catch Mania on its tour - there are details and also a brief trailer on the Filmoteka Narodowa website. Then join me in waiting for its DVD release next year!?