Universal: 1925-27
When Universal set up shop it called itself the Universal Film Manufacturing
Company - and it was an appropriate name. The exceptions like "All Quiet
on the Western Front" notwithstanding, Universal has always been concerned
more with commercially packaged "product" -- and it is to their credit that
so much of this machine-tooled work has turned out so entertainingly. They
always gave their customers their money's-worth, and our program tonight
provides a good cross-section of their unimportant but extremely neatly
made "bread-and-butter" product -- some of the tastiest of its kind in the
20's.
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"THE BASHFUL WHIRLWIND" (A Mustang Western, 1925) 2 reels; story by Pierre
Loucks; continuity by Carl Krusada; photographed by
Charles Kaufman; directed by Ernst Laemmle; starring EDMUND COBB, with
Mary Beth Milford, Roy Hughes, Clark Comstock.
There's really little that one can - or need - say about this diverting
little western. Like the Hoot Gibsons, it is not to be taken too seriously
and has a good deal of comedy mixed in with its lively action. It's fact
and well done, with some good hard-riding running inserts of Ed Cobb, who
seems to be handling most of his own rough stuff here, including a transfer
from horse to stagecoach. Cobb is still around incidentally, in very minor
bit roles. Cobb was never a top-line western star, but had a certain following
on a middle level; in sound westerns he played primarily as a heavy, althoug
h occasionally (as in "Arizona Badman") he'd get an interesting off-beat
"good bad-man" role.
"CITY OF STARS" (Universal, 1925) 2 reels; written and directed by H. Bruce
Humberstone.
A short designed to advertise upcoming Universal films (many of which will be
familiar to old Huffians), "City of Stars" was also out to propagate the
theory that at Universal all stars, directors and executives were just one
big happy happy family, under the benign leadership of Carl Laemmle, with the
own aim of bestowing outstanding entertainment of unsurpassed quality on the
moviegoers of the world. And if they made a buck so doing, net was fine, but
of course that was the secondary consideration!' "City of Stars" gets off to
a good start with a portrait of beaming Uncle Carl, and an admirer saying
"With that smile, it's no wonder he has a million friends!". Since its
propaganda value is nil today of course, one can sit back nostalgically and
enjoy the scenes of the old studio (which has changed remarkably little) and
of its stars of the 20's. The studio tour tends to skip rather annoyingly
past all the wonderful standing sets, and too many of these are glimpsed
rather than seen, but there are pleasant introductions to such directors as
William Seiter and Harry Pollard, and stars like Laura LaPlante, Hoot Gibson,
Marion Nixon, May McAvoy, Reginald Deny, Jack Hoxie, Bill Desmond, Norman
Kerry, Patsy Ruth Miller and everybody else within reach - except Chaney, who
was singularly uncooperative about such things, and never had a very high
opinion of Universal anyway! However, as compensation we get to meet the
studio's general manager, Raymond L. Schrock! Some of the things we are
told are a little hard to take -- Norman Kerry, it would seem, is working on
two pictures at the same time, and one or two location scenes (e.g., one from
"Peacock Feathers") actually some 30 miles from the studio are depicted as
being within studio confines! And every picture that Universal had completed,
or was preparing, is shown as being "in production" on this busy lot. But
why quibble? It's a showmanlike little film, and showmanship is something
sadly lacking today.
"ON YOUR TOES" (1927) Directed by Fred Newmeyer; starring Reginald Denny,
with Mary Carr, Barbara Worth, Hayden Stevenson, Frank Hagney,
Gertrude Howard, and Andy Devine and Leon Janney as extras. 6 reels.
One of the later Denny vehicles at Universal, "On Your Toes" is obviously
cheaper and more quickly made than "Skinner's Dress Suit" and "California
Straight Ahead". However, it is also better than "What Happened to Jones"
(a very weak Denny, despite excellent reviews at the time) and "The Cheerful
Fraud" and others that were considered more successful, so on the whole it is
well up to his average standard. There's a little more story than usual, and
more action (Denny is a boxer, and some-of the climactic fight scenes may be
stock from his earlier "The Abysmal Brute"). The plot is a wonderfully hokey
old affair with every cliche in the book, complete with Grandmother Mary Carr
rushing to the ringside as Denny is facing defeat, and giving him the all-
important message which enables him to go in and win! Universal didn't leave
out a single cliche, and we won't spoil your fun by enumerating them; enough
that in these clear-cut and unsophisticated surroundings, they work. It's a
very nicely mounted production, with good photography and performances -- with
lovely Barbara Worth quite a standout. Denny recently remarked incidentally
that he considered Fred Newmeyer (who directed this) a very inferior director,
who left most of the real work to his comedy stars. This may well explain why
Newmeyer's features away from Lloyd and Denny never really amounted to very
much. And since Denny seems a pleasant and unbiased fellow, with a great deal
of respect for Seiter, Pollard and others of his directors, one can assume
that his opinions of Newmeyer have some foundation. One would like to see
"That's My Daddy", considered by many to be Denny's very best picture, and try
to determine just who was responsible for its success. Newmeyer directed it,
Denny wrote it. Outside of Eastman House however, we don't know of a print
floating around at present.
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BONUS ITEM
Tonight's program is somewhat shorter than we had envisioned. But rather than
add other silent material and upset the balance of the Universal "combination",
we decided to put in a little "bonus" item that several of our members have
asked to see, but that has never found a place in a regular program.
The film is "ECHO OF APPLAUSE", a 50-minute history of the movies, done with
taste and seriousness, but not with too much excitement. More footage than is
required is devoted to the history of photography per se, and the movie
material appears only in the last half of the film. Much of it by now
familiar of course, and there are only the briefest of clips from the "big"
films. However, some of the primitives and obscurer films are quite
fascinating, and as long as you don't expect too much, you may find a lot of
enjoyment in this film. It was written and produced in England by James
Anderson, and released there by Warner Brothers.
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. . . . AND AN APOLOGY
As these notes are finished, it is already well into the wee hours of the
morning, and pressure of work has prevented an earlier start on musical scoring.
In any event, 2 of tonight's four prints are a little on the rocky side, and
as much attention will have to be given to keeping them in the projector as
to providing music for them. So as of this moment, it rather looks as though
our scoring will be a rather off-the-cuff affair. Its unfair to the films to
so present them, but sometimes it can't be helped.
Next show - Friday next, May 22: Dietrich and Donat in Jacques Feyder's
KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR; Laurel & Hardy in ME & MY PAL; Charlie Chase in
"SKIP THE MALOU".
Program Notes & Enquiries: Wm. K. Everson, Hotel Bradford, 210 W.70th St.,NYC 23
Committees Edward Gorey - Sandra Everson Charles Shibuk - Dorothy Lovell.
"CRAINQUEBILLE" (Jacques Feyder 1922) 4 reels.
Starring Maurice de Feraudy as Crainquebille, with
Marguerite Carré (Mme Laure); Jeanne Cheirel (Mme. Bayard); Mimés
(Le President Bourriche); Felix Oudart (L'Agent); Mosnier (Le Docteur
Mathieu); Jean Worms (L'Arocat Lemerlé); Roques (L'Agent 121);
J. Forest (La Souris); Francoise Rosay (customer in store).
"Crainquebille" was the very first film shown by the Huff Society, when
it was still a small group of a dozen or so people, back in the early 50's.
We haven't shown it since, and a revival seems long overdue.
"Crainquebille" is usually either completely ignored -- or vastly
overrated. Based on the novel by Anatol Frances it is really little
more than a vignette; just as a longer treatment would destroy its
fragility and casual qualities, so would too much analysis and discussion
lessen the elements of surprise and sudden tenderness that make it such
an interesting movie. Actually made by Feyder more or less as a mov
e to keep pace with the then-flourishing French avant-garde movement, it
makes its points far more tellingly with its completely realistic
aspects than with its oocasional experimental sequences. Quite a lovely
little film, with some very touching moments, it has what amounts to
"neo-realism" long before the Italians coined the phrase and used it
as an excuse (DeSica and one or two others excepted) to cover slovenly
workmanship and lack of imagination. The camerawork is particularly
striking, but as in so many Feyder films ("The Kiss", "Knight Without
Armor", "La Kermesse Heroique") rather inconsistent; a particularly
lovely and uncomplicated image will be followed by a forced, or quite
common-place one.
In England, "Crainquebille" was titled "Coster Dill of Paris"; in the
U.S, it was released as just "Bill". D.W. Griffith liked the film a
great deal, and his unofficial endorsement helped its boxoffice chances
quite a bit. Probably Griffith's interest in the film is responsible
for the very Griffithian foreword, which would seem to be patterned
after the foreword on D.W.'s "The White Rose".
"Crainquebille" has been remade twice: once in 1933, and again in
1954. It is difficult to imagine either of them being more effective
than this slight, simple but sensitive version of 1922.
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"THE MAD WHIRL" (Universal, 1924, 7 reels) Directed by William A. Seiter;
from the story "Here's How" by Richard Washburn Child
(U.S. Ambassador to Italy); adapted by Frederic and
Fanny Hatton; screen treatment by Lewis Milestone; scenario by Edward
T. Lowe Jr. Assistant director: Nate Watt; photographed by Merritt B.
Gerstad; titles by Harvey Thew; edited by Thomas Pratt; Art Direction,
E.E. Sheeley.
Starring MAY McAVOY and JACK MULHALL, with George Fawcett, Marie Astaire,
Alec E. Francis, Myrtle Stedman, Barbara Bedford, Ward Crane, and
Charles King as an extra.
The still from THE MAD WHIRL in Richard Griffith-Arthur Mayor's "The
Movies" leads one to expect a typically frenzied essay in babes, boose
and wild parties. But while those elements are present to a decree,
the film is by no means a film of the "Our Dancing Daughters" or "Walking
Back" school. To the contrary, it is one of the most curiously gentle
and even charming films of the jazz age that I've seen; it is developed
so casually that for a while the basic story-line isn't even apparent;
and then, quite unexpectedly, is produces a quiet power around reel five
that is most effective. I hesitate to say too much about the film for
fear of over-selling it; to me it was one of the most interesting
re-discoveries we've made in some time, and part of that was due to its
totally unexpected approach to the jazz-age, and its civilised, non-
hysterical, yet quite telling condemnation of that era.
William Seiter, who directed the best 'of the Reginald Denny comedies for
Universal, had a wonderful flair for light comedy and it pays off here in
the hectic beach and boose parties. But he had fine dramatic stuff in
him too, and a flair for unspectacular but pleasing compositions and
groupings. Seiter never "milks" a scene, but makes the very most of a
quick image: the delightful scene of Mulhall examining a flapper's
ankles (she is sitting high in a tree) as he looks for May McAvoy for
example; or the lively sequence of May's runaway buggy. (There again is
a pleasant break from cliche, which I won't spoil by describing). What
an added sense of speed and drama Seiter gets by having her buggy race
under a bridge in one direction while a locomotive speeds over it in the
opposite direction. Seiter was never a showy or a spectacular director,
and he rarely seemed to handle more than trifles, but how well his
direction stands up today!
Apart from the authentic nostalgia of a flapper-age film like "The Mad
Whirl", there are so many other pleasing elements: "unnecessary" but
very pleasing little vignettes, like the scene in the ice-cream parlor
where George Fawcett mixes a banana-split. And the performances are all
first-rate - particularly, in the supporting cast, from pert Marie Astaire,
one of the most diverting of all flappers. (Remember her with Harry
Landon in Sennett's "Boobs in the Wood"?).
Sincerely handled all around, extremely well photographed, and equipped
with particularly deft partially-visual subtitles, "The Mad Whirl" is a
most interesting film -- and we'd dearly love to be able to sort out the
sundry writing credits and determine just how much Lewis Milestone had
to do with it all.
Like "Crainquebille", it's a fine toned print, and appears quite complete.
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Program Notes & Enquiries: WM. K. Everson, Hotel Bradford, 210 W.70th St., NYC 23 Committee: Edward Gorey, Sandra Everson, Charles Shibuk, Dorothy Lovell.
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MAY PROGRAMS
These haven't definitely been settled as yet, but you will of course be
notified as usual in the second week of the month. One of the shows will
be, as per requests, a Val Lewton double-bill - THE GHOST SHIP and BEDLAM.
Another show will probably be a pot-pourri of short subjects, as we have
built up another big backlog of really interesting one and two-reelers.
However, more about that in a couple of weeks.
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Note: the diligent researches of Messrs. Kirk Bond and Andy McKay indicate
that last week's mystery item was an excerpt from Robert Wienne's "GENUINE".
We have the posse out now searching for the rest of it, and will report
in due course.
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