THE THEODORE HUFF MEMORIAL FILM SOCIETY
Programs for November, 1957; Room 10-D, Adelphi Hall, 74 Fifth Avenue (at 14th Street) at 7.30 p.m.
Tuesday November 19th
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| WHAT DRINK DID |
(Biograph, 1909) One reel. Directed by D.W. Griffith. |
Starring Florence Lawrence, with Gladys Egan and Adele de Garde as the children; players appearing as extras include Mary Pickford, George Nicholls, Owen Moore and Tony O'Sullivan.
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Florence Lawrence subjects are somewhat of a rarity today, and in this one the movies' first real "star" is in fine fettle. Mary Pickford, her successor at Biograph, is also seen in two very brief shots as a working girl leaving a factory. The film is one of Griffith's several preachments against the evils of drink -- a cause that presumably didn't concern him too much, but which he found useful in his mass production days at Biograph. During his years of peak creativity, he seemed to switch to the opposite extreme, attacking the bluenoses who saw evil in liquor. Yet it seems that the subject did have a certain fascination for him, since he returned to it in the early 30's when he made The Struggle. What Drink Did is pretty powerful stuff for 1909, and D.W. has no hesitation in loading the dice a bit to get the point across. Before the father discovers drink, he is both harder-working and neater than all of his co-workers; on the first "morning after" he is already too surly even to be pleasant to his uncomprehending children! Biograph's original publicity material further strengthened the film's punch by a florid quotation from Shakespeare dealing with the "madness" brought on by drink! Most of the film's exteriors were shot in Fort Lee, which seemed to have a positive plethora of saloons in 1909!
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| SLIPPING WIVES |
(Hal Roach-Pathe, 1927) Two reels. Directed by Fred Guiol
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Photographed by George Stevens; supervised by F. Richard Jones
Edited by Richard Currier
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| Starring PRISCILLA DEAN, with Herbert Rawlinson, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Albert Conti. |
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Made just before Roach joined MGM, and also before Laurel and Hardy were established as a team, Slipping Wives is a curious little comedy. It was one of a group made by Roach under the delusion that big name stars were what two reel comedies needed. Unfortunately, the only stars who agreed with him were those who had begun to slip badly -- like Priscilla Dean here, erstwhile "Virgin of Stamboul" for Universal, and now no longer of much importance. Roach even tried to get Griffith to direct comedies for him in this period, but Griffith quite naturally, and with some indignation, refused. To our knowledge, this is the only print of Slipping Wives in existence, but that is not why we are showing it. As a comedy, it is only occasionally really amusing, and often falls flat. What makes it really interesting is the work of Laurel and Hardy, playing against each other rather than with each other. Hardy, minus his moustache, and playing the sort of role that Jimmy Finlayson normally essayed in these comedies, is far from the Hardy that we all love, but Laurel is pretty much the same as ever! Making the film doubly interesting, we feel, especially as a commentary on the rapid development of Laurel and Hardy, is the fact that it was remade by them as a talkie. We'll be playing both films together and the comparison is really quite striking.
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| THE FIXER-UPPERS |
(Hal Roach, 1935) 2 reels. Directed by Charles Rogers. |
Starring LAUREL & HARDY, with Charles Middleton
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And here's the remake -- essentially the same in story, but completely reshaped to fit Laurel and Hardy's now-established characters, and to eliminate some of the solo bits of business. Charles Middleton, taking over from Herbert Rawlinson as the jealous husband, also gets far more humor from a role now drawn in much broader vein.
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- INTERMISSION -
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| RAFFLES |
(Hyclass Producing Company, 1917); 75 minutes; directed by George Irving |
Scenario by Anthony B. Kelly based on the stories by B.W. Hornung and the play by Eugene Presbrey.
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| Starring JOHN BARRYMORE as RAFFLES, with Frank Morgan, Kathryn Adams, Mathilde Brundage and Evelyn Brent. |
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Raffles has been brought to the screen several times, the 1930 version with Ronald Colman perhaps being the best (just as Colman's Bulldog Drummond of 1929 was easily the best Drummond film). Next to the Colman version however, Barrymore's film was the best of all the others, being far superior to those with House Peters (a singularly dull version, shown by this society some years ago), Georges Barraud and David Niven. Vitagraph also made a short Raffles around 1904, and a little later Raffles was curiously supplanting Moriarty as the no.1 menace in some Scandinavian Sherlock Holmes adventures. Most versions of Raffles have stuck pretty closely to the original story-line, an unremarkable one for the most part, and thus the whole entertainment stands or falls by the personality of the star involved.
Barrymore of course is perfectly cast as the dashing amateur cracksman. Apart from this one, none of his pre-20's films seem to have survived, and it's good to see such a young and debonair Barrymore again. And it's amusing too, to note that even then - and in cinematic trifles - he was playing to the hilt and using all the mannerisms which he was later to exploit in running the gamut from Beau Brummel to Jekyll and Hyde. All of his little tricks and gestures are here - the jaunty walk, the whimsical stare with the head cocked at an angle, and the sudden switches from bland complacency to insane rage (hardly appropriate in Raffles, but enjoyably present nonetheless). Barrymore is just wonderful, and nobody else has much of a chance. Evelyn Brent has merely a couple of scenes in this version, which, however, has obviously been slightly shortened.
Barrymore's breezy playing helps the film from becoming too stagey, since most of the action does take place indoors. The sets and decor are quite elegant however, and the camera work is of a high order. The plot is of course laid in England, and for the most part the illusion is well-maintained. A cricket match is particularly convincing, as are most of the other exteriors. At one point, New York's Players' Club sees service as Raffles' London apartment. Only once is realism shattered -- that when we look from the window of Raffles' apartment and see the New York Public Library in the background!
Acquiring film these days often takes on an aura of international espionage a la Dr. Mabuse -- this print, by devious means, arrived from France, and is equipped with both French and English titles. Some of the grammatical and spelling errors in the French "English" are really quite delightful! One complete reel has only French titles, but of an elementary nature that should present no difficulties to our informed and cultured audiences.
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