FRIDAY
THE RIVER PIRATE (1928 -- Fox)
HIS DESTINY (1928 -- British Canadian Pictures, LTD)
Lang's science fiction masterpiece about workers/slaves revolting against their bosses in the repressive technological future.
With the motion picture medium barely two decades old, filmmakers were still experimenting with different ways to present a story on the screen. Feature-length films had only recently become commonplace and the movies were still struggling for respectability when noted stage producer Daniel Frohman was publicized as presenting Mary Pickford in this prestigious film adaptation.
VIRGINS OF BALI (1932) (35mm)
MOVIE CRAZY (1932 -- Harold Lloyd)
A filmstruck man is mistakenly invited to Hollywood for a screen test.
ARABIAN NIGHTS (1942 -- Universal)
A TRIBUTE TO LEE DeFOREST: The Father of Talking Pictures
THE BEDROOM WINDOW (1924 -- Paramount)
A young engineer warns the powerful logging interests against building a dam on the Johnstown River. They ignore his warnings and when the dam breaks, the special effects wizards have a field day.
Buddy Rogers is the jazz band leader and bouncy Nancy Caroll is the hoofer in this rare early sound musical and Rogers climaxes the film by playing all the instruments in the orchestra. As befits this weekend, the action takes place in a palatial movie theater!
HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM (1933 -- United Artists)
The Chaplinesque story set in the depression. A bum rescues a girl from drowning, she looses her memory, loves the bum, regains her memory and rejects the bum for her lover, the Mayor of New York.
VANCOUVER AND VICTORIA STREET AND HARBOR SCENES (1907)
CAPTAIN CELLULOID VS THE FILM PIRATES Chapt 4
WHITE TIGER (1923 -- Universal)
11:00 Hitchhiker (77 min)
Leap For Life (10 min)
12:35 Prarrie Pirate (52 min)
Close Harmony (70 min)
2:45 James Cozart (5 min)
Kalem Short (10 min)
With Williamson (60 min)
4:00 Capt. Celulloid -- Part 1 (15 min)
His Destiny (80 min)
Shorts (30 min)
9:00 Metropolis (87 min)
10:40 Madame Butterfly (80 min)
Virgins Of Balli (50 min)
9:00 Vitaphone Short - Plantation Act, Al Jolson
Movie Crazy (84 min)
10:45 Hurricane Express
Borderline (80 min)
Arabian Nights (88 min)
3:00 Gordon Berkow (65 min)
DeForest Shorts (30 min)
4:45 Bedroom Window (80 min)
10:20 Johnstown Flood (60 min)
River Pirate (70 min)
9:00 Captain Celluloid Part 3
Hallelujah, I'm A Bum (90 min)
10:50 D.J. Turner
Street Scenes of Vancuver (12 min)
Captain Celluloid Part 4
White Tiger (75 min)
12:30 Ressurection (80 min)
FRIDAY
THE HITCH-HIKER (1953 - RKO)
DIR: Ida Lupino; SCRIPT: Collier Young and Ida Lupino; PHOTO: Nicholas Musuraca; MUSIC: Leith Stevens. CAST: Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy,
William Talman, Jose Torvay.
A tense parable about the perils of picking up hitch-hikers. Two fishermen pick up a rider who turns out to be a maniacal killer and a chase through the southwest begins.
"Variety" found this to be a sleeper and thought it "excellently conceived and acted but the downbeat quality will keep it from being popular with audiences." The use of a Mexican police officer as a lead character was unusual for the time and, at 71 minutes, shows how effective a suspense film can be when not bloated with costly special effects that pad the running time! The story was inspired by the real life case of William Cook, a kidnapper and hitch-hiking killer who had terrorized California the year before this film was shot.
Lupino was the most successful woman director of the 1950's and 60's. She began directing while on suspension from Warner Brothers. She found it more challenging than acting and her films tended to be edgy and dealt with the shallowness of mainstream, comfortable conservative 1950's lifestyle. She formed her own production company, The Filmmakers, with second husband Collier Young, a former Columbia executive and was able to control her films. Sadly she would direct only seven films but was in constant demand as an actress until her recent death.
May have been shot near Hamilton or Kingston, Ontario.
(35mm -- National Archives of Canada)
DIR: Edmund Mortimer; SCRIPT: Anthony Dillon; PHOTO: George Benoit; CAST: Harry Carey, Trilby Clark (Teresa), Lloyd Whitlock (Steele), Robert Edeson (Don Esteban).
A cowboy becomes an outlaw in order to find his sister's killer. He finds both love and revenge by the end of the last reel.
The plot is conventional in this independent western but watching Harry Carey work his charms in a beautifully tinted and toned print is reason enough to overlook the predictable storyline .
Independent producer Hunt Stromberg was billing himself as "The youngest producing genius in filmland" in the 1925 issues of Film Daily. The ads must have worked because shortly after this film was released, he joined M-G-M and went on to produce some of their biggest hits including the Thin Man series. (16mm)
DIR: William K. Howard; SCRIPT: John Reinhardt, Benjamin Markson; PHOTO: Lucian Andriot; CAST: Victor McLaglen, Lois Moran, Nick Stuart, Donald Crisp.
Innocent reform school youth is befriended by a notorious river pirate. His girl wants him to go straight and the conflict between good and evil drives the well paced narrative.
The story is conventional but has enough interesting moments to make it enjoyable. McLaglen won praise for amiable bad guy and both The New York Times and Variety were pleased with the rough and tumble fight between McLaglen and detective Donald Crisp. The film has a synchronized sound track and ended with an anti-climactic talkie epilog which may not have survived on this print.
Director William K. Howard is an interesting mystery. He was a very competent director who survived the coming of sound, made a number of successful talkies and then dropped out of sight. He studied law, switched to engineering and after graduation from Ohio State, took a job with Vitagraph as a film salesman! After the First World War he went to Hollywood and became a sales advisor at Universal. Becoming a director in 1921, Howard soon made a reputation as a fast, viral action director. He directed a number of "class" films like White Gold with Jetta Goudal for DeMille and Muni's The Valiant. The transfer to sound brought more success from films like The Power And The Glory, Sherlock Holmes and The Cat And The Fiddle but after working for Korda in England in 1936, he had a difficult time finding work after returning to the US in 1937. The reason may have been a studio retaliation for a major conflict with a producer at Paramount. He directed a number of "B" films, missed a comeback chance with Cagney on Johnny Come Lately and directed his last film in 1945. He once said, "those who etch on celluloid live only for a day." Film revivals may extend that time longer than he expected. (35mm -- The George Eastman House)
JAMES COZART INTRODUCTION
KALEM SHORT
WITH WILLIAMSON BENEATH THE SEA (1932)
A filmed documentary/autobiography of the pioneer of underwater photography and film making shot in IB tech.
John Ernst Williamson was actively involved in undersea photography all his life. His father, a sea captain, had developed a deep sea tube made of a series of concentric interlocking rings that stretched out, accordion like, from the ships bottom to provide air and communication to divers. Williamson realized that with a light and attached diving bell, a new world of undersea photography was possible. He was active in many of the early underwater films including Universal's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, the independent feature Wet Gold and Bahama Passage. He also became deeply involved in educational lectures and films showing the wonders of the oceans depths. He provided advise and assistance during the filming of Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea in 1954. Williamson's first daughter, Sylvia, was taken into the photosphere when she was only a few months old and was a major cast member in With Williamson.... Williamson had hoped to produce a live action/animated version of The Water Babies to star Mary Pickford but the it was unproduced. However Pickford became godmother to Williamson's second daughter Annecke Jans, born in 1934.
James Cozart of the Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center has been working on the restoration of this film since director David Francis designated it a preservation priority in 1992. Material had been donated by Williamson's daughter but it was incomplete and some had been cut into smaller rolls for Williamson to use in lectures. The George Eastman House was able to provide a nitrate negative that was in better shape than the safety material. A script was used to recreate the original film and a nitrate master from UCLA provided a bit of missing sound track. A short sequence in the second reel includes a sequence shot on two strip color, probably from one of Williamson's earlier films. As recently as four weeks ago, James was fine-tuning the soundtrack. A more detailed explanation of Williamson and the restoration appears in the Journal of Film Preservation, April , 1996.
We are happy and proud to present this new work on the Temple's big screen. (35mm -- Library of Congress)
CAPTAIN CELLULOID VS THE FILM PIRATES .(1965)
CAST: William K. Everson, Jean Barbour.
This four part adventure is as close to a Republic serial as anyone will ever make. A bulldozer uncovers the complete negative of Von Stroheim's Greed and an evil arch-criminal, The Master Duper, steals it before it can reach "The Film Museum" in Rochester, N.Y. Before you can say "Raymond Rohaur," the super-hero Captain Celluloid leaps into action to put the kibosh on all the Duper's evil activities!!
Film historian, collector and raconteur Bill Everson makes his film debut and his farewell as D.W. Hart. We'll miss you Bill. Happy projecting, wherever you are.
Notes by Eric Grayson
DIR: Neal Hart; SCRIPT: Daniel E.C. Campbell; PHOTO: Alvin Wyckoff, Jack Greenhalgh, Arthur Reeves; CAST: Neal Hart, Barbara Kent, Charles Wellesley, William Quinn (as Thompson).
A cowboy, wrongly imprisoned, escapes to see his dying mother and find the man responsible for his father's death. He saves the warden's daughter, wins the Calgary Stampede, romances the girl and thwarts the villain.
This new restoration was recently completed by D.J. Turner and the staff at the National Archives of Canada. Sadly, reel two has been lost but after locating a copy of the script, a title card has been inserted to cover continuity.
The driving force behind the original production was Guy Weadick, founder (in 1912) and manager of the Calgary Stampede. He organized a number of local businessmen and brought in William Steiner who was a successful distributor in the states rights market.
Once popular western star Neal Hart was hired to star and direct the feature. Hart had starred in what is considered the first true western serial, Universal's 20 part Liberty in 1916. Since 1925, his career declined and this film failed to jump-start his career. He faded into obscurity after the 1939 George O'Brien feature Renegade Ranger. Hart's co-star, Barbara Kent, was a Canadian from Alberta who had enjoyed a successful career in Hollywood which culminated with the classic Lonesome in 1929. In the sound era, she made a number of films including Welcome Danger and Feet First with Harold Lloyd, married Greta Garbo's agent in 1932 and retired in 1948. Charles Wellsley (Ben Baker) appeared in The Lost World (1924) and The Unholy Three (1925) and head cameraman Alvin Wycoff was C.B. DeMille's cameraman from 1914 to 1923.
The film was shot almost entirely on location with the majority of the filming at the Stampede. It premiered at the Palace Theatre in Calgary on December 10, 1928. It played for six days, twice the usual run and the theater orchestra was expanded for the occasion. His Destiny was acquired by Paramount for showing in England. For U.S. distribution, the title was changed to North Of 49 and Synchronized sound on disc was added after being trimmed by more than 1,000 feet.
While the story is standard stuff, the photography is remarkable and the scenes of the Blackfoot Indians actually performing their Sundance ritual give the film a documentary quality. (35mm -- National Archives of Canada)
Assistance provided by D.J. Turner
WEIRD (But Funny) STUFF
Those Glorious Vamps (1929) Wm. C. Menzies
Pistol Packin Mama (1944) Sing-a-long
Bring On The Girls (1937)Vitaphone Bergan/McCarthy
Slow Poke (1933) Stepin Fetchit
The vast majority of nitrate based films are gone but Danish filmmaker Peter Delpeut has assembled this wonderful collage of early film fragments that are the surviving memories of all we have lost over time. They are what remains of films found in the attic of Jean Desmet, the first man to distribute films in the Netherlands. Usable material was carefully restored, retinted and organized according to the intertitles or by theme. To maintain the feeling of the time, the score is composed of classical, operetic or vintage recordings that underscore and support the powerful images. Fragments include decomposing footage of Adam and Eve cast out of Eden, a wonam's breakdown, a handcolored Crusifiction sequence and a small piece from the 1908 Italian The Last Days Of Pompeii. All excerpted sources are identified and dated in the final credits.
The production has just been released on video by Kino but one 35mm print was struck by the American distributers and, thanks to Jessica Rosner of Kino, we are fortunate enough to present it here in its full glory. Enjoy. (35mm)
DIR: Fritz Lang; SCRIPT: Thea von Harbou; PHOTO: Karl Freund; CAST: Brigette Helm (Maria), Gustav Frolich (Freder), Rudolf Klein-Rogge (Rotwag), Alfred Abel (Jon Frederson).
At a reported cost over 7,000,000 marks ($1, 680,000) and using over 2 million feet of negative film, Metropolis was the most expensive picture ever made in Germany to that time. Luis Bunuel, in his review, called it "two films glued together by their bellies" and it is. The plot is trite but the visual impact is still stunning even by today's Lucas/Spielberg standards. The story was supposedly inspired by Lang's first view of the New York skyline and his wife, von Harbou, created the screenplay to incorporate the vision. Lang used all the tricks and tools of cinema to make the film. Detailed miniatures for the city, cars and airplanes on wires, oversized sets, and forced perspective. He achieved the "death" of Maria by forcing compressed air through a closed tube containing a liquid and illuminating it from the bottom. The huge machines were paper mache. The robot (one of the first times one appeared in a movie) was a joined metallic costume and the concentric rings that bring her to life were on wires and hand operated. Of particular note is the Shuftan process which used mirrors to exaggerate size and combine live action with model work. Part of the mirror coating is removed to reveal clear glass. The live action is reflected in the mirror while the camera captures any miniatures or artwork through the clear section, thus blending the composite image.
Sadly, the production lost money and ruined UFA. The state refused any help and the company was purchased by industrialist, press baron and Nazi sympathizer Alfred Hugenberg. Lang fled the Nazis in 1933 and went to Hollywood but von Harbou remained behind to work for Hitler. They later divorced.
The original score, composed for the German premier, will be presented for only the second time in the U.S. The first time was in 1990 at a screening at UCLA. The American premier in 1927 featured a new score written by Ferde Grofe and performed by Paul Whitman and his orchestra. Bob Vaughn has gone to quite some trouble to get a copy from Germany. We will be using the Moroder restoration of the film as it is the most complete version and will allow Bob to include as much of the original score as possible. A newly restored, possibly longer version, has just been received from Germany at the Eastman House but it has German titles and the Eastman staff has not been able to review it or make copies. Maybe in the future we can present it here.
Thanks to Wayne Schutz for his invaluable research assistance.
DIR: Sidney Olcott; PHOTO: Hal Young; CAST: Mary Pickford, Marshall Neilan (Pinkerton), Olive West (Suzuki), Jane Hall (Adelaide), Lawrence Wood (Cho-Cho's father).
The original John Luther Long magazine story of the tragic romance between a young Japanese girl and a callous American naval officer had been expanded into a best-selling novel in 1898. David Belasco soon adapted it to the stage and in 1904 Giacomo Puccini's famous opera version premiered in Milan, coming to the U. S. two years later.
Veteran film director Sidney Olcott ( Ben Hur, 1907 and From the Manger to the Cross, 1912) had been hired away from the Kalem studio by Adolph Zukor for his Famous Players Film Corporation. By the time Madame Butterfly was released late in 1915, directors like D. W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, Reginald Barker, Raoul Walsh, and others were already skilled at building excitement and audience involvement through editing. Olcott, on the other hand, was still making his films in the earlier tradition that appealed to conservative studio bosses, treating the film frame much like a stage proscenium, yet taking good advantage of films ability to use outdoor locations rather than painted sets. His editing is functional, but not especially noteworthy. Instead he concentrates on handling the actors and setting up artistic photographic compositions, seen to great advantage in this lovely 35mm print.
The overall performances are quite expressive, stylized but not overly exaggerated. Pickford is somewhat mannered as the title character, but she does her best and is often very effective in an unusually dramatic role. This rare departure from her successful formula was, however, not a big hit with the general public. (35mm)
VITAPHONE SHORT - PLANTATION ACT Al Jolson
DIR: Clyde Buckman; SCRIPT: Vincent Lawrence; PHOTO: Walter Lundin; CAST: Harold Lloyd, Constance Cummings, Sydney Jarvis.
This was Lloyd's third sound film and is considered by critics and fans to be one of the best films about making movies (comedy subdivision). It would also be the last time he would play the amiable and eager bumpkin seeking fame and fortune in the big city. After the failure of his first two sound attempts, Lloyd decided to make a sound film with interludes of silent, physical comedy and the gags here are as good as his silents. The best one occurs at a social gala where Harold accidentally exchanges coats with a magician but he excels in smaller moments such as the sequence where he constantly botches his lines in different ways at his screen test.
Clyde Buckman was one of the silent screen's best gag writers (he co-wrote and co-directed The General) but Lloyd claimed that Buckman was having a drinking problem and Lloyd stepped in to direct much of the film. Watch for Grady Sutton as a party guest afraid of a mouse at the society gala.
To judge the effect of the film, Lloyd screened a print for an audience of deaf people who responded with laughter throughout and reported no problem following the story. Despite excellent reviews, Movie Crazy failed to perform well at the box office. Horse Feathers, Cantor's The Kid From Spain and even Keaton's sad Speakeasy earned more money in the domestic market that year. Lloyd accused Paramount of poor distribution but Hollywood was suggesting that Lloyd had lost his touch. He would try four more time to mixed results before retiring in 1947 but he would make a highly successful comeback with two compilations of his best work, Harold Lloyds's World Of Comedy in 1962 and Harold Lloyd's Funny Side in 1966. (35mm)
HURRICANE EXPRESS (Mascot Pictures) -- Chapter 8 (35mm)
DIR/SCRIPT: Kenneth McPherson CAST: Paul Robeson, Eslanda Goode Robeson, Hilda Doolittle
In a small European border village plagued by petty jealousy corruption and malice, the paths of a black and a white couple cross. The focus is on the racial and personal conflicts that result from their interaction.
Kenneth McPherson was a noted experimental film maker and respected editor of the film journal Close Up. He knew of Robeson's distress with the racial situation in America and approached him about appearing in an experimental film to focus on racial and social issues. The film would be shot in Switzerland during a short break in Robeson's concert tour. The supporting cast consisted of locals who volunteered to help
Unfortunately McPherson's script was weak and he focused on cinematic techniques. Nevertheless, the presentation of the black and white world was unique for its time. The film presented blacks in human situations rather than the stereotyped ones seen in Hollywood films. Controversy arose over a shot of a white man being lynched for his attentions to a black woman.
The English press praised the film but it was too far out of the mainstream for most audiences. No American company would distribute it and when McPhearson tried for independent showings, U.S. customs agents seized the print. Getting it back proved costly and plans for American screenings were abandoned. In the 1950's, it was included in festivals honoring the avant-garde cinema. (35mm -- The George Eastman House)
CAPTAIN CELLULOID VS THE FILM PIRATES Chapt 2
DIR: John Rawlins: SCRIPT: Michael Hogan, True Boardman; PHOTO: Milton Krasner CAST: Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Sabu, Leif Erikson (Kamar), Billy Gilbert (Ahmad), Shemp Howard (Sinbad).
It's not Sir Richard Burton but with Montez (the Queen of Technicolor) and an IB print, who cares. Rightful heir battles evil brother for the throne and Montez in a story of almost nonstop action.
This was the first time Universal used the three strip tech process and the first pairing of Hall and Montez. They would make five more very successful features together with Cobra Woman as their crown jewel of camp. Watch for Stooge Shemp Howard as a bumbling Sinbad in his declining years and John Qualen as an aging Aladdin. (35mm)
THE GORDON BERKOW FOLLIES OF 1996
DIR: William deMille; SCRIPT: Clara Beranger; PHOTO: L. Guy Wilky; CAST: May McAvoy, Malcolm McGregor (Armstrong), Ricardo Cortez (Delano), Ethel Wales (Matilda Jones/Rufus Rome).
This may be the early version of "Murder She Wrote." A famous and independent female mystery writer saves an innocent man by fingering the real killer, who is... but that would be telling!
William Churchill deMille, Cecil's older brother by three years, has long been lost in his younger brother's oversized shadow. We have shown a number of William's films in Saginaw and with the addition of this little murder mystery, we hope to further restore his luster.
In the early days of the century, William was a highly successful New York playwright. Jesse Lasky approached him about writing a variety review (some called it an operetta) about California but because William was too busy, his agent/mother suggested Lasky use lesser luminary Cecil. The collaboration, which included glove salesman Sam Goldfish (later Goldwyn), was a success as was the Lasky/DeMille partnership. Even after Cecil's success in the movies, William refused to come to Hollywood. He finally came west in 1914 to help Paramount establish a story department. He agreed to stay for three months and remained for forty one years, until his death in 1955. His main emphasis was on a well developed, character driven story and his films all reflect the philosophy of truth. He found a kindred soul in screenwriter Clara Beranger. She wrote most of his films and he married her in 1928. Unlike Cecil, he was a relaxed man who wore a battered hat when he directed and was always called "Pop" on his sets. He mastered sound but seems to have lost interest in directing in the early 30's. After an unsuccessful return to Broadway, he returned to California in 1939 to help the University of Southern California start their drama department. He spent many of his remaining years as a professor at USC.
If William is little remembered today, Ethel Wales is less than a footnote. Her "Variety" obituary listed her simply as a stage and screen actress and gave no credits. She was Cecil's secretary when he was shooting The Squaw Man in 1913 and has been introduced to Saginaw audiences as Grandma Bett in Miss Lulu Bett and as the wealthy mother, Mrs. Cady, in last year's Beggar On Horseback. She appeared in many Paramount productions, including most of William deMille's and at Fox and Pathe. She worked steadily through the silent period but her last film seems to have been in 1930, then she disappears (retirement and/or marriage?). She died in February, 1952 at age 71. (35mm -- Library of Congress)
AN EVENING WITH THE CLASSIC COMEDIANS
Say Ah, Ed (1928) Charlie Bowers
In The Sweet Pie And Pie (1941) Three Stooges
Her Boyfriend Larry Semon, Oliver Hardy
Radio Rampage (1944) Edgar Kennedy
Stop, Look and Hasten (1953) Road Runner
INTERMISSION
Kill Or Cure (1923) Stan Laurel
So You Want To Know Your Relatives (1955)
Joe McDoakes
Wig Wag Grady Sutton
Kid Auto Races At Venice (1914) Charlie Chaplin
Two Tars (1928) Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy
THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD (1926 -- Fox Film Corp.)
DIR: Irving Cummings; SCRIPT: Edfried Bingham, Robert Lord; PHOTO: George Schneiderman; CAST: George O'Brien, Florance Gilbert (Gloria), Janet Gaynor (Ann), Anders Randolf (John Hamilton), Max Davidson (David Mandel).
The Johnstown Flood was noted for its "wow" ending and as the breakthrough film for Janet Gaynor. Reviewers in both Variety and The New York Times built their reviews around these aspects. The Times called it "spectacular" and Variety said it was a "thrill picture" and noted "Janet Gaynor, a newcomer and a corker, wins the lions share of everything as the female Paul Revere."
Gaynor was not really a newcomer, she had been in films since 1925 but most were one and two reelers and none gave her a lead part. Winfield Sheehan, vice-president at Fox decided she possessed the right look, wholesome charm and strong presence to be groomed for stardom. She was born in Philadelphia in 1906 and had worked with Hal Roach and at Universal before her break here. She stood about five feet tall and, at her height of popularity, weighed 96 pounds. After Flood, she hit the bigtime with Seventh Heaven, Sunrise and Street Angel (the films which won her the first "Best Actress" Oscar ever awarded), all in 1927. She made twelve pictures with Charles Farrell and they were linked romantically in the public mind, though not in reality. She easily transferred to sound films and some film historians see her as a bridge between silent and sound films, personifying the values and virtues of Pickford and Gish with the force and inner strength valued in the more "sophisticated" 30's. In 1932 she was voted the second top box office attraction and by 1934 she had risen to number one. She was the highest paid actress in Hollywood, earning over $250,000 a year. When Darryl Zanuck took over the troubled Fox lot in 1935 he balked at her high salary and set her free. But her career was not over, she still had one more classic to make -- A Star Is Born. Selznick and Wellman were looking for an actress who could project sweet and plucky without a high sugar content and they found it in Gaynor. In 1938 she married the noted costume designer Gilbert Adrien and retired. She came out of retirement for one more film in 1957, Bernardine, playing Pat Boone's mother. She was widowed in 1959 and married Paul Gregory (producer of Night Of The Hunter) in 1964. In retirement she became interested in art and had a number of exhibitions at New York galleries in the 70's. She died in 1984. (35mm -- The George Eastman House)
CLOSE HARMONY (1929 -- Paramount)
DIR: John Cromwell, Edward Sutherland; SCRIPT: John Weaver, Percy Heath; PHOTO: J. Roy Hunt; CAST: Buddy Rogers, Nancy Caroll, Harry Green (Max), Jack Oakie, "Skeets" Gallagher (Johnny), and Jesse Stafford and His Orchestra.
Music and the "talkies" were made for each other. By 1929 almost anybody who had ever been associated with the musical theater could find a job in Hollywood. Many of the early musicals were the "Review" type or Broadway adaptations, but the smaller, original musicals like Close Harmony afforded the opportunity to experiment with a more fluid camera and faster pace. They had more sparkle and charm. Of course, when they were bad, like Howdy Broadway, they were excruciating. To fully understand why the Hollywood musical died and needed rejuvenation by Busby Berkley, see Golden Dawn and try imagining an audience leaving the theater singing "My Bwana" or "The Whip Song."
Chevalier's first American film, Innocents Of Paris, was hailed as Paramount's first musical but Close Harmony went into release first and should claim the prize. It was the first all talking feature for Rogers and Caroll and the first directing assignment for Cromwell (the father of Babe's co-star James Cromwell). Rogers went on to a successful, if undistinguished career and married Mary Pickford in 1936. Caroll was not so lucky. Her quick temper and volatile personality ended her career as Deanna Durbin's mother in That Certain Age in 1936. The song "Twelfth Street Rag" was co-written by noted actor/director Spencer Williams, best known as Andy on the Amos And Andy television show. (16mm)
SUNDAY
CAPTAIN CELLULOID VS THE FILM PIRATES Chapt 3
DIR: Lewis Milestone; SCRIPT: S.N. Behrman (story by Ben Hecht); MUSIC: Richard Rogers & Lorenz Hart; CAST: Al Jolson, Harry Langdon, Madge Evans, Chester Conklin, Frank Morgan.
Coming in the midst of the Great Depression and in the shadow of 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933, this Jolson musical was a disappointment and financial flop. The public of the time wanted escapism and this wasn't it. The story was a little too near reality and, with its rhyming-couplet screenplay, a bit confusing, closer to The Beggar's Opera. Songwriters Rogers and Hart followed the lead of Behrman's dialogue and expanded on the style they had used in Love Me Tonight by experimenting with rhyming conversation that they called "musical dialogue." The rhymes and the volatile flow of melodies are so carefully interwoven that the many nuances are swept by too quickly to be fully appreciated. The $1,250,000 production cost was another major reason for the film's failure. A large part of that money went to Jolson who was under a contract with United Artists that paid him $25,000 a week for forty weeks under a three picture deal (the other two were never made). Additional cost occurred when Roland Young became ill and his scenes were reshot with Frank Morgan. Finally, the title song was shot twice with the word "bum" being replaced by "tramp" for the British version where the word "bum" was unacceptable to the censors! Silent comic Harry Langdon contributes strong support as Jolson's socialist pal but was unable to use the film to jump-start his career. (35mm - Library of Congress)
INTRODUCTION -- D.J. TURNER
An example of a Panorama or Panoramic film which was very popular in the early Nickelodeons. An early form of travelogue, the camera was attached to moving vehicles and photographed the passing scenes. Today they are a rich historic legacy. (35mm - National Archives of Canada)
DIR: Tod Browning; SCRIPT: Tod Browning, Charles Kenyon; PHOTO: William Feldew; CAST: Raymond Griffith, Priscilla Dean, Wallace Beery, Matt More (Longworth).