The Haunted House (1921)

Keaton's hands are glued to his pockets... don't ask.

Directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton
Starring Buster Keaton and Virginia Fox
Produced by Joseph M. Schenk Productions

Buster runs the teller window at the local bank, but he's not very good at it.  He tricks the time lock on the vault to help a pretty girl, gets himself caught in the vault door and pours glue all over his hands and the money he's distributing.  The latter incident actually helps foil a bank robbery.  Buster's hands are stuck in his pockets so he cannot "put 'em up," and when he finally tries to give the robbers the loot, it sticks to everyone's hands and feet. 

The robbers make their escape to a house they have rigged to appear haunted and frighten off the police.  Keaton, who is inadvertently blamed for the robbery, escapes and seeks refuge in the same house.  Can Keaton foil the robbers and clear his name?

This is my least favorite Keaton film thus far.  The opening with the glue has a couple of amusing moments, but is repetitive and not particularly inspired.  I did enjoy Keaton's solution for freeing his fellow employee from being glued on the floor.  Other than that, the first half is pretty dull.

The second half which takes place at the "haunted" house is marginally better, but still not as great as One Week or his work with Fatty.  There's an inventive gag with a staircase that turns into a slide, but frankly it's overused and wears out its welcome pretty quickly.  There's an incredible visual of the robbers assembling a body that comes to life that is really a sight to behold. The rest of the gags primarily involve the robbers running around the house in sheets.  Again, some smiles, but not many laughs.

There is a fun coda at the end as Keaton has a near-death experience and ascends the staircase to heaven, only to discover stairs have the same design as the haunted house.  It was a moment I saw coming, but still loved the execution of.

Keaton's previous comedies were funny and relentless.  The Haunted House is more amusing and tedious.  Still, I cannot wait to see more of his work.

**1/2 out of *****

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The Sheik (1921)

Don't make me angry...

Directed by George Melford
Starring Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres and Ruth Miller
Produced by Paramount Pictures

Ahmed is a powerful Arabian sheik.  When he says jump, his followers say how high.  When he wants the casino to himself, the casino closes.  And when he wants Lady Diana in his harem, she'd best get in line with the idea.

Of course, Diana is a wealthy, independent Englishwoman and wants no parts of this.  Ahmed, not willing to take no for an answer, kidnaps the woman and makes her a servant.

Eventually, Omair, an enemy of Ahmed, decides he wants the woman for himself and HE kidnaps her.  Ahmed, now realizing he is in love with Diana, mounts an attack on Omair's stronghold to win the woman back.  Can Ahmed save Diana?  And will she reciprocate his feelings?

All right, first, let's talk about the good stuff.  There are a couple of action set pieces here that are well done, particularly Ahmed's attack on Omair's lair at the end.  It did a great job of ratcheting up the tension throughout and the final fight between Ahmed and Omar was great.

As to the rest, I didn't care for this one at all.

I came into The Sheik looking forward to my first dose of Rudolph Valentino.  He's billed as a magnetic personality that brought people back to his romantic adventures over and over again.  His name is synonymous with the male ideal.

For me, the dude simply has crazy eyes.  I mean look at this:

Or this:

Or this:

This is the way he looks throughout the entire movie.  If there's a reason for women swooning, I do not get it.  His acting took me right out of the movie for its running time.

In terms of story, this is borderline misogynistic.  At one point, he says he does not understand why making Diana suffer is not bringing him pleasure.  He forces her to wear certain clothes and serve him.  By the mid-point of the film, she has become subservient to him.  When the two profess their love at the end, you don't know if she's fallen for the sheik or if she's suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

Finally, at the end of this film, just as you are about to have an interracial romance, it is revealed that Ahmed is actually European and was adopted by a Mideast sheik.  So it's no longer taboo for them to be together!  I am sure this was necessary in 1921, but it struck me as just silly.

I had high hopes for this one based on the reviews, but was ultimately disappointed.

** out of *****

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Destiny, or Der müde Tod (1921)

The wall of Death's garden

Directed by Fritz Lang
Starring Bernhard Goetzke, Lil Dagover and Walter Janssen
Produced by Decla-Bioscop AG

Death has come to a small town for some real estate.  He's inquiring about the land next to the cemetery.  He's interested in planting a garden. After some deliberation, the town decided to sell to the stranger.  He surrounds his new garden with a 100 foot high wall with no visible way in.

A young, very-much-in-love couple comes to the town and eats at a local establishment.  The stranger sits at their table and watches them.  When the woman enters the kitchen for a moment.  When she returns, she finds that her fiance has left with the ominous man.

She runs to the garden, searching futilely for a way in.  Then, she sees the ghosts of the recently departed descending the hill toward the wall.  She sees her man.  The ghosts pass silently through the wall.

But the woman has a plan.  She creates her own near-death experience to gain access to the garden.  Death is surprised to see her as it is not her time.  She implores him to release her fiance as love is stronger than death.

The chamber of candles

Death is willing to negotiate.  See, he looks upon his job as a curse and if love truly could conquer death, he'd be free.  He leads the girl to a chamber of candles, each one representing a life.  When the flame dies, so does the person. 

He shows her three candles.  If her love can keep just one of the flames from being extinguished, she can have her love back.  Can she keep the candles lit?  And will Death honor his side of the bargain?

Destiny is a gorgeous film filled with big ideas about life and death and visuals to match.  Above is a description of the framing story, but there is a significant time spent with the lives of the people represented by the three candles.  Each of those individual tales is compelling, but my favorite was the third with its elements of magic and the supernatural.

The acting does what it needs to do.  The "stranger" played by Bernhard Goetzke provides the right balance of menace world-weariness.  The young couple (Lil Dagover and Walter Janssen) are very good in the framing story, but shine playing multiple roles in the three interior stories.

Gorgeous

But it's the visuals and story directed by Lang that make this film soar.  I love the wall surrounding Death's garden.  I love the chamber of candles.  I love the magic carpet and magic wand of the final tale.  A prison tower turning into an elephant with a cage on top?  Brilliant to watch.

My overall thoughts?  How has this not been remade?  It's gorgeous and full of ideas that were original in their time.  Terry Gilliam needs to get on this project stat!


***** out of *****


Watched on Netflix Watch Instantly
Photos from Six Martinis and the Seventh Art

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1921: An End for Fatty

1921.  World War I officially ends setting the stage for the 20s to roar.  Adolf Hitler becomes Fuhrer of the Nazi party, setting the stage for the next great war and a number of Indiana Jones adventures.  And in pop culture news, the first Miss America pageant is held in Atlantic City.

In film news, the big story was the fall of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.  After signing a contract with Paramount, Arbuckle threw a large party to celebrate in San Francisco.  A few days later, little known actress Virginia Rappe died.  Allegations swirled that Arbuckle sexually assaulted the actress.  It did not matter that he was never found guilty.  Media attention and sensational stories ended the career of one of comedy's biggest stars.


In other film news, Charlie Chaplin makes his first feature film, The Kid.  Heartthrob Rudolph Valentino begins his ascension to the ranks of leading men with The Sheik.  D.W. Griffith makes Dream Street, widely considered to be the first sound film.

What are watching?  The Kid and The Sheik for certain.  Griffith's Orphans of the Storm, Fritz Lang's Destiny, and Cecil B. DeMille's The Affairs of Anatol are all available on Netflix Watch Instantly.  I'm also going to try to see Henry King's Tol'able David and The Three Musketeers with Douglas Fairbanks.

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The Last of the Mohicans (1920)

NOTE: I'm only going to give general impressions of this one.  The transfer I saw was terrible.  Almost turned it off bad.  Westlake Entertainment is responsible for it.  The starting print may have been bad, but there are points when half the frame is not even on the screen. Ugly.

Directed by Maurice Tourneur
Starring Theodore Lorch, Harry Lorraine, Nelson McDowell
Produced by Maurice Tourneur Productions

The Last of the Mohicans is a film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's novel.  The story focuses on a love story between an Indian warrior and a British commander's daughter set against the backdrop of battle and betrayal at Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War.

Noble Mohican Uncas and his father attempt to warn the British of the impending attack by the French and Huron tribe.  Cora and Alice Munro head to Fort Henry to meet their father, but are betrayed by their Huron guide, Magua.  Fortunately, the Mohicans and their friend Hawkeye happen upon the women and attempt to lead them to the fort.  What follows is a series of adventures with the Munros taken captive and the Mohicans mounting a rescue, ultimately leading to a showdown between Uncas and Magua as Cora's life hangs in the balance.

I previously saw Tourneur's The Blue Bird (1918), one of my favorite films of the previous decade.  And I love Michael Mann's 1992 adaptation with Daniel Day Lewis (yes, it is flawed, but the soundtrack and the ending chase remain amongst my favorites in cinema).  So, needless to say I was excited for this one.

What a disappointment.

Little of Tourneur's visual inventiveness from The Blue Bird is here.  It's a fairly straightforward telling of the story.  It is very different from the 1992 version with the central romance here being an interracial one as opposed to the modern tale's focus on Hawkeye.  It's well-edited and appears to be well shot, but it's pedestrian compared to the director's previous work.

The acting in this is just bad.  Barbara Bedford as Cora has no reaction to anything.  She is just blank throughout.  No emotion at all.  And that is critical because you have to buy that three different characters would be fighting for her.

A lot of the rest of the movie is hard to judge.  The print was bad enough that in medium and long shots you could not differentiate the characters.  All of the British characters looked exactly the same in their scenes.  That made it tough to follow.  Here's a sample shot:

or

Try reading that

I am not going to do a formal star review of this one because of the viewing issues.  My impressions of it were not good, but it seems unfair to judge based on the transfer I saw.

Watched on Netflix DVD

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Just Pals (1920)

The pals hanging out

Directed by "Jack" Ford
Starring Buck Jones, Helen Ferguson, George Stone
Produced by Fox Film Corporation

Bim is the town bum.  No one associates with him.  Parents advise their kids to be careful or they may grow up to be Bim.  He sleeps in a hay loft all day and complains that watching people work makes him tired.  His only interest is in the pretty school teacher Mary Bruce, but she only has eyes for the local banker Harvey Cahill.

One day, a runaway boy named Bill gets caught riding the rails through town and Bim intervenes to protect the boy.  Bim takes Bill under his wing, much to the dismay of the town.  Mary advises Bim that his ward should be going to school so off Bill goes to be educated.  However, Bill is bullied by the other boys because of Bim's social status. 

Bim decides to try to get a job, but he needs a uniform.  Bill attempts to steal one from a rail car, but the train takes off with Bill on board, forcing the boy to jump and injure himself.  The town doctor sees there is a reward for the missing boy and conspire to take Bill from Bim.

All of this, plus a conspiracy by Cahill to embezzle funds from the memorial fund run by Mary and a bank robbery that Bim finds himself smack in the middle of?  Can Bim go straight?  Or will he end up hanging from a tree limb, wrongfully accused?  And who is Bill's dad?

John Ford = horses

Just Pals is a really enjoyable series of adventures in the life of a loveable loser.  The plot is cliche today (man on the wrong path has his life changed by the unexpected introduction of a child).  However, this is really well done.  John Ford is the director here and seems incapable of shooting a bad frame.  I've included a couple of extra pictures with this one simply because of how beautiful this one was in its simplicity.

There are a lot of genres here: drama, comedy, mystery, western.  None of the transitions feel jarring.  The plot move at a breakneck pace and there is a lot of forward momentum and character moments of the course of a 50 minute running time.

The acting is also great.  Buck Jones is fantastic as the lead.  He is funny, sympathetic and has that charm that no matter what he is doing at any moment, he's always likable. George Stone plays Bill and is a natural actor.  Bill's every action in the film feels completely organic to the plot.  The other characters are pretty generic, though I did find the local law enforcement officer to be hysterical throughout.

A simple moment, perfectly framed

By the end, Bim is the only one in town who is actually without blemish.  Mary gives Cahill the money from the fund, despite her better judgment.  The townspeople all end up at a prayer meeting where no one gives to the collection plate.  Bim is a bum, but he's the only person with a heart of gold.

I really liked this film.  It's a simple tale, simply told, but I think that is its virtue.  Great acting and great directing go a long way.

**** out of *****

Watched on DVD from Netflix

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Way Down East (1920)

The amazing ice floes ending from Way Down East

Directed by D.W. Griffith
Starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess
Produced by D.W. Griffith Productions

Anna Moore lives with her mother in the country.  The poor family needs money and Anna heads off to visit her rich relatives in Boston for a loan.  The extended family is less than thrilled to see their country bumpkin niece show up.  Anna sticks around for a ball and meets Lennox Sanderson, who we are told has three specialties: "ladies, Ladies and LADIES".

Lennox proposes to Anna and all seems well.  Except Lennox tells his betrothed to keep it a secret, then pays someone to pretend to be a priest and marry them.  Off they go on their honeymoon and, after a few reluctant moments, the sham marriage is consummated. 

The marriage of course results in a pregnancy, which forces Lennox to come clean.  Anna is on her own and gives birth to a boy.  But the boy is sick and dies in short order.

Anna is now a social pariah (having a baby and no husband is a big no-no) and is evicted from her room.  She wanders into another town where she meets up with the Bartletts and finds work on their farm.  She keeps her past a secret from them, but catches the eye of the Bartletts' son David.  She resists his advances, ashamed of her past.

Soon enough Lennox ends up at the estate across the street from the Bartletts.  Will Anna's secret be revealed to her new adoptive family.  And can David love her in spite of her past?

Way Down East is the tale of two movies.  One has impressive acting by the two main leads and a climax as visually stunning and engaging as any I have seen in the silent era.  The other is pretentious, in need of editing and full of characters who appear to be in a different movie.

Let's talk about the first.  Lillian Gish is easily now my favorite actress of the silent era thus far.  She is natural in most scenes, but when the emotional moment comes, she goes for it.  And it never seems over the top.

Richard Barthelmess is someone I hope to see more of.  He is great as David, underplaying his role for much of the movie.  He is pitch perfect in his confusion when Anna's secret comes to light, then he is fantastic in his rage at Lennox when he discovers the circumstances behind Anna's pregnancy.

If a 2-1/2 hour movie can be saved by a ten minute ending sequence, this is one comes as close as any.  Anna runs from the Bartletts' home into a winter storm, ultimately collapsing near an icy stream bank.  The ice breaks away from the shore and large chunks of the ice start flowing down river.  David chases her onto the river, jumping from ice chunk to ice chunk to reach Anna before the ice floes go over the waterfall.  It's a thrilling chase, masterfully edited and perfectly acted.

Unfortunately, the film has a lot of problems as well.  Griffith has developed this annoying habit with his language.  It's flowery as though written by someone who wishes he were a poet, but doesn't have the skill.  A sample:

Time and place - in the story world of make-believe
Characters - nowhere - yet everywhere
Incidents - never occurred - yet always happening

Beyond the language, his film style conveys a sense of over-the-top imagery that is out of place.  At one point, a bird lands on Gish's shoulder, demonstrative of her goodness and harmony with nature.  It's unnecessary.  The audience is already on her side. 

A lot of the secondary characters are completely unnecessary.  The Bartletts are surrounded by townsfolk who attempt to serve as comic relief.  Unfortunately, it's hard to make the audience laugh at the inept constable when you've just killed off our heroine's baby. 

Finally, there is one moment in its sheer lunacy I need to point out.  The Bartlett patriarch, Squire, is told secondhand that Anna had birthed a child out of wedlock.  He is angry, but his wife says he needs proof.  So the next morning he gets up bright and early and rides a sleigh to Anna's former town.  He arrives at noon.  He walks into her old room and ask the landlady if it's true.  She confirms it in two sentences.  He then goes back out, gets in his sleigh and drives back.  The guy just went ten hours round trip to have a 90 second conversation.  And that is proof.  It's completely unnecessary in the story.  He could have just acted on the initial claim and you could have had the same result.

You could have cut this movie by almost half and had a lot of the same impact.  A lot of the opening 45 minutes is plodding and unnecessary.  There's a lot of melodramatic filler throughout the movie that could have been lost and I would not have missed it.

It's hard to say whether this is good movie or bad movie.  There are moments I loved and moments that were painful to sit through.  I guess I'd give it a middle of the road:

**1/2 out of *****

Watched on Netflix Watch Instantly

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The Mark of Zorro (1920)

Directed by Fred Niblo
Starring Douglas Fairbanks, Marguerite De La Motte, Naoh Beery
Produced by Douglas Fairbanks Pictures

California's natives are being oppressed.  The Spanish Governor and the armies are merciless with the poor and if some of the more well-off families are starting to feel the pinch.  Of course, oppression also serves to create a champion for the people and California's champion is the mysterious Zorro.

Members of the army sit in taverns discussing the mysterious "Z" carved onto the cheek of one of their comrades.  Sergeant Gonzalez brags about how he will take down the mysterious masked man.  Into this scene walks Senor Diego Vega, the son of a rich and respected of Californian society.  Vega is a weakling who cannot stomach the idea of violence and Gonzalez continues his rant against Zorro.  Diaz leaves, but soon the masked man appears. 

The army men draw swords, but Zorro draws a gun and herds them all behind the bar.  He challenges Gonzalez to a duel.  The ensuing battle finds Zorro playing the part of cat to Gonzalez' helpless mouse.  Zorro is vaulting over tables and onto mantles, mocking his opponent the entire time.  After having his bit of fun, the mysterious swashbuckler makes his escape.

Zorro's antics do not sit well Captain Ramon.  Ramon is a skilled fighter and is pursuing the hand of Lolita Pulido, a rich family whose fortune is threatened by the Governor.  The Pulidos would rather see their daughter marry Vega in order to secure the family fortune.  Lolita of course has an encounter with Zorro and now she only has eyes for the bandit.

Can Zorro unite the caballeros against the Governor and his men?  Who will win the hand of Lolita?  And just who is the mysterious Zorro?

This.  Was.  Awesome.

This is my favorite version of Zorro (though I have not seen the 1940 version yet).  Fairbanks is amazing in the title role.  Leaping over obstacles, climbing walls, using every object at his disposal to elude and torment his would-be captors.  The guy is Bruce Wayne.  He has the playboy secret identity. He has the mask.  He even has his own version of the Batcave.  No wonder a viewing of Zorron played prominently into Batman's origin.  It's all here.

Zorro proves to be a comedic hero as well.  He's not content to simply escape the army; they have to look like fools in the process.  When he leaves the tavern at the beginning, the army leaves to pursue him. So he reenters the tavern through a window and waits for them there.  When he's being chased later, one of his pursuers gets stuck on a fence.  Zorro doubles back to free the man, but the soldier never turns to see who freed him and continues on his merry way.

I liked Fairbanks turn as Vega as well.  He is constantly playing with his hat and thinks he can win the hand of the girl through magic tricks.  Very funny stuff.

It's not a perfect film.  There are moments that drag.  Zorro must give a rousing speech at the end that kills a lot of the momentum the film had.  The ending is very contrived with the army announcing they are now inexplicably with Zorro.  Still, The Mark of Zorro is a great, fun movie for all ages.  The first real swashbuckler!

****1/2 out of *****

Watched on Netflix Watch Instantly

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