Revisiting The General (1926)

A few months ago, 100 Years reviewed Buster Keaton's classic film The General. The verdict at the time was I liked, but did not love the movie. I also worried that my reaction was based on some preconceived notions going in. I was committed to revisiting the film in the future.

The perfect opportunity to give the film a second chance came up this weekend. Moviate out of Harrisburg sponsored a showing at the Ned Smith Center with live musical accompaniment from the Reese Project. So off I went. The verdict?

I love The General.

Obviously, seeing it projected enhanced the experience, but there was more to it. A lot more.

For one, the print shown was 20 minutes shorter than the one I watched before. And the edits were all of the things that bugged me. Gone was the prologue setting up Keaton's love for his train. The idea that Johnny Gray may be choosing between a girl and a locomotive was silly, and not in a good way.

Gone too was the extended explanations of the Union plot. We already know everything we need to know. The Union stole the train and it's up to Keaton to get it back.

The sleeker cut keeps its focus on Buster's athleticism and comedic timing and both deliver. He can make you laugh as he leaps across trains, or he can slay you with a simple look at the right moment.

There were two other aspects of the presentation that sold me. First, The General played to a packed house. Comedy, more than any genre (except maybe horror), benefits from the communal experience a public showing can provide. The crowd was laughing and it was infectious.

The coup d'grace for me was the reaction of my nine-year old son. He was in stitches from the beginning and kept howling throughout. It's amazing to experience a silent film that can be so affecting for every generation.

I loved The General. I could say more, but my son summed it up best. Twenty minutes into the film, he leaned over and simply stated: "Dad, this is awesome!"

Indeed it is.

Revised rating ***** out of *****

Image from Silent Era

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Wings (1927)

Directed by William A. Wellman and Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast (uncredited)
Starring Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers and Richard Arlen
Produced by 

Jack Powell is a day dreamer. He stares at the sky dreaming of what it would be like to soar through the clouds. Unable to fulfill his fantasy, Jack satisfies his urges by focusing on hurtling along the roadways in his custom-built race car. The car does more then scratch his thrill-seeking itch; it's also a vehicle for his attempts to impress Sylvia, the beautiful focus of his romantic gestures.

Unfortunately, Sylvia only has eyes for the local rich boy, David Armstrong. Sylvia indulges Jack a little, but it's clear that she sees him as a boy and doesn't want to break his heart. David feels secure enough with Sylvia to let it slide.

Still, Jack thinks he is in the hunt for Sylvia. He doesn't notice his awkward attempts to woo Sylvia are not working. The same way he does not notice his beautiful neighbor Mary Preston making eyes at him.

All of these romantic dreams are thrown aside when the reality of World War I intrudes. Jack and David head off to become pilots. At basic training, the competitive Jack pushes and prods David until a fistfight erupts. Jack wins but is impressed with David's spirit. The former rivals become fast friends.

Soon the duo are on the frontlines, flying patrols and sorties for the US of A. Will they survive the brutality of war? How will the conflict change them? And... Why is Mary in France?

Wings was the very first Oscar winner for Best Picture and in many ways it's a prototypical of the Academy Awards today. It's a sweeping wartime epic. It features some technical innovation with fantastic aerial combat scenes. And it features some strong performances, especially from the leads.

It also has some significant plot issues, including an unnecessary subplot and a sequence in its second act which is just annoyingly corny.

What's good here is really good. The aerial combat scenes feature real biplanes flying and it all has a weight and chaos that feels authentic. During the film's extended climactic battle, the camera takes you inside the cockpit to see both the determination and horror of what the pilots go through. The film goes the extra mile to make it all real and it works better than most modern films featuring aerial combat. There is no way to get this effect with CGI or even miniatures.

The two main leads are critical to making us buy the melodrama and both fit their parts beautifully. As Jack, Buddy Rogers comes out the gate perhaps too naively boyish, but once he befriends David, he is pitch perfect. We feel his arc from wide-eyed kid to grizzled veteran and it centers the picture.

The real star is Richard Arlen as David. He is understated throughout, but you can sense the burden he feels from his upper class parents. The army and his plane are an escape and his friendship with Jack is the type of relationship he could never have in his normal world. When Arlen is flying his commandeered German plane and Jack starts shooting at him, you feel the anguish and desperation of the moment through Arlen's acting.

The direction here is fine. A lot of the heavy lifting is done by the pilots with cameras strapped to their planes. The ground scenes are for the most part by the numbers, but there are the occasional flourishes, like early in the film when the camera is attached to the swing David and Sylvia are on. As the camera moves back and forth, we see Jack's arrival in staccato movements that create a slight tension in the scene that would be otherwise absent.

There are two romantic subplots in the film and neither of them really work. The main source of antagonism between Jack and David is their love of Sylvia. While much is made of the rivalry, it's clear that Sylvia loves David and Jack never had a shot. There's no real conflict because the end is never in doubt. To make matters worse, Sylvia herself barely registers as a character. She's an abstract concept, but we never know what the appeal is.

Worse yet is Clara Bow's role in the film. It's just not necessary. In the beginning, she's pining for Jack, but he is so engrossed by fast cars and Sylvia, he barely acknowledges Mary's existence. The boys go off to war and Mary is forgotten for a bit.

Then we get Mary's adventures in the army (she joined up and is driving a truck in France). She survives a bombing. She bumps into a ridiculously drunk Jack in Paris and saves him from going off with another woman. Finally, Jack returns to the States after the war and is ready to love her.

There are really two problems here. First, this is Jack and David's story. Mary is not involved in that at all. She barely interacts with Jack and certainly doesn't have anything to do with David. All of which means the filmmakers have to shoehorn her into the tale...

...which leads to the second issue: Jack and Mary's scenes together in Paris. They are by far the worst moments in the film. Jack is on leave with some other soldiers at a Paris club.  He starts literally seeing bubbles coming out of people in his drunken stupor. And he cannot stop talking about bubbles. It's supposed to be funny, but it's just dumb. We get a ridiculous series of coincidences: Mary seeing Jack in the first place, a woman offering Mary a dress to seduce Jack, the military police walking in at the wrong moment. The direction is clumsy and feels completely out of place with the rest of the movie.

Wings is melodrama, but it's damn good melodrama. You could edit out Clara Bow almost entirely and the film would lose nothing. Wings is about the brothers we find when the chips are stacked against us and the bonds forged by war. Oh, and there are dogfights. Lots and lots of glorious dogfights.

**** out of *****

NOTE: We previously saw Gary Cooper in a small role in It.  He's here again in a small role again as a veteran, but ill-fated pilot.  

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The Unknown (1927)

Directed by Tod Browning
Starring Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford and Norman Kerry
Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

The circus comes to town with all of the standard acts. Horses fly around the ring. The strong man impresses with feats of strength. And the ringmaster keeps the show moving along.

There is one very unique act. A rotating plank is brought to the center of the tent. At one end, the beautiful Nanon stands. At the other, Alonzo sits with a gun and knives. Alonzo takes aim with the gun and, after pulling the trigger twice, Nanon's gown falls to the floor. Then, the knives fly and bury themselves in the board around the scantily clad woman, narrowly missing her. The crowd goes wild.

Not impressed?

What if I told you Alonzo had no arms?

Yes, the circus sharpshooter is accomplishing all of these feats with his feet.

We learn Alonzo is in love with Nanon. For her part, the girl likes Alonzo, but she's settling for him. Nanon has spent her life being pawed by man after man due to her beauty and now is repulsed by the notion of being touched. A guy without arms is a convenient way around her bizarre phobia.

That doesn't stop Malabar, the circus strong man, from making passes at Nanon at every opportunity. Unfortunately, he doesn't know about Nanon's fear and is constantly grabbing her arms. She recoils in terror.

Alonzo has a secret of his own. When he undresses, we find two perfectly usable arms bound tightly to his body. He's a criminal on the run from police and has a disfigurement that is easily identifiable: two thumbs on his left hand. The armless circus performer gives him the perfect cover.

Alonzo's love for Nanon is complicating things. If she even hugs him, his secret may get out. Mix in a nosy circus owner and Alonzo seems to be living on borrowed time.

Just how far will Alonzo go to protect his secret? And what will he do if Nanon overcomes her phobia and falls for another man?

So here is my recipe for awesome soup:

• Start with a base of Tod Browning, director of Dracula and Freaks
• Stir in Lon Chaney and bring to a boil
• Top with a pinch of early Joan Crawford
• Serve

This film is pure fun with a ridiculous plot that seems plausible thanks in large part to a brilliant lead performance from Chaney as Alonzo. Part of the joy is seeing how the character uses his feet convincingly throughout. The character's feet become hands, holding cigarettes and forks and absentmindedly stroking his chin when he is thinking.

More than that however, Chaney's face gives us everything we need to know about what the character is thinking. The performance is so controlled in many ways, but any hint of restraint restraint is more like a wild tiger on a leash. Even when he casually smiles, you can see the utter disgust floating in his eyes. This is easily one of the best performances of the 1920s.

Joan Crawford shines in an early role as Nanon. She is saddled with a ridiculous phobia of men's hands, but her performance sells it.

Browning's approach with the camera is straightforward and static, but with Chaney in the lead, it's the right approach. Camera moves would distract from the constantly changing landscape of his lead actor's face.

The Unknown is short at less than an hour, but paced like a great episode of The Twilight Zone. To say anymore is to spoil the tale's fun twists. Sometimes you just need to scratch a genre itch. The Unknown is a perfect remedy.

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

NOTE: A word of warning: there are a lot of reviews that ruin the most fun parts of this one. Definitely recommend going in cold.

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A Couple of Alice Comedies (1927)

Directed by Walt Disney

Once more, I step into the abyss that is the Alice comedies from Walt Disney.

In Alice's Circus Daze, we see a variety of scenes from the big top, including a rubber man and a lion decapitating his tamer then playing keep away with the head. The short culminates with a tightrope walker balancing Alice atop a dozen chairs.

In Alice the Whaler, our heroine commands a whaling vessel. The crew faces challenges from swabbing the deck to finding eggs on the open sea. The finale has a cry of "Thar she blows!" as the crew tries to take down the powerful whale.

First question: Why is Alice even in these anymore?

When the comedies started, they were an interesting mix of live action and animation. They were never as interesting or clever as the Out of the Inkwell series, but I saw the potential and stuck with it.

It's devolved into cartoons that barely even remember Alice is supposed to be in them.

Take Alice's Circus Daze for example. We get a scene of Alice preparing for her act. She's off in the corner of the screen while the zaniness happens around her. She's not involved at all. Then in the end, it's a wide shot with Alice as pixels at the top of the screen cut with extreme close ups of her face.

Alice the Whaler is worse. Her role in the short is only to react to what other characters are doing. There is almost no interaction between the live performer and her cartoon environment and cohorts. There's a monkey swabbing the deck; cut to a closeup of Alice reacting. Julius spots a whale; cut to Alice reacting.

All of this would be fine if the animation was interesting or funny. It's not. There are a couple of inventive moments like a janitor removing a giraffe's spots to polish them or the mouse on the boat nailing the goat to the deck, but none of it made me laugh. It didn't even make me smile. At best, there are moments that are interesting.

This is the end of the Alice shorts and I for one could not be happier to see them gone. Walt Disney moves on to Oswald and ultimately Mickey (and you can see echoes of the famous rodent in both Oswald and the mouse in the Alice comedies). As a step in the evolution of Disney animation, these Alice shorts serve a purpose. As entertainment? Not so much.

Alice's Circus Daze *1/2 out of *****
Alice the Whaler * out of *****

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Sunrise (1927)

Directed by F.W. Murnau

Starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor and Margaret Livingston

Produced by Fox Film Corporation

In a small coastal farm community, summer comes and with it, an influx of vacationers. At the end of the season, the tourists all head back to the city. 

All, that is, except one woman.  She has spent her vacation fooling around with a married farmer. 

The man (no one here has a name) makes an effort at discretion, but the entire town knows, and his wife spends her evenings sobbing into a pillow in their child's room. 

The time comes for the mistress to head back to the city and she asks the man to sell the farm and come with her. The man asks what should happen to his wife. The woman suggests a drowning made to look like an accident. 

The husband is initially distraught by the idea, but some kisses get him on board. He returns home and suggests a romantic excursion across the water. The previously ignored wife is so thrilled with the attention she agrees immediately and off they go. 

The husband rows the boat vigorously into the water and seems crazed as the moment approaches. He drops the oars, stands and slowly approaches wife. He lunges for her as her face turns from joy to horror. She realizes what is about to happen. And then...

He can't do it. 

Whether it's love or simply knowing it's wrong, he stops himself. He grabs the oars and heads for the closest shoreline. 

No sooner does he beach the rowboat, then his shaken wife takes off with the husband in pursuit. They board a trolley and he implores her not to be afraid of him. 

They disembark in the city and he directs his shell-shocked wife through the busy street to a nearby restaurant. He offers her a sandwich and she hesitantly accepts, marking the beginning of a magical evening. 

Over the course of their hours in the city, they rediscover their love. He buys her flowers  They happen upon a wedding which reminds them of their vows. He gets a shave and feels pangs of jealousy as another man hits on his wife while he is confined to a barber's chair. They engage in common rites of dating: he trying to win a prize for her at the carnival, she pulling him onto the dance floor. 

In the end, he is recommitted to his wife, and she has forgiven him. They head back to their boat and row for  home. 

Unfortunately, storm clouds are on the horizon.  Literally.  A squall capsizes the boat and the husband finds himself alone on the shore. 

Did his wife survive?  And what will become of the woman from the city?

There is a saying critics throw around with regard to directors they like. They'll say "Fill-in-the-blank could direct the phone book."

It's an expression I hate, but after watching Murnau direct The Last Laugh and now Sunrise, I am convinced the man could turn the yellow pages into a suspenseful drama. 

There is almost no story here. Once the husband doesn't kill his wife, the trajectory of the story goes on autopilot. We know what happens to this couple. It's just a matter of how we get there. 

With Murnau directing, we take the most interesting route possible. His city is a fantasy world in every way. At every turn, the couple receives exactly what they need to mend their broken relationship. None of it feels real, but here that's a beautiful, whimsical thing. 

The film is also not so syrupy that it forgets who its characters are. The man was capable of violence against his wife and we see that dangerous side of him throughout the film. He threatens the man who hit on his wife with a knife. And he almost kills his former mistress in his rage near the end of the film. The fact that he gets a happy ending doesn't mean his fundamental nature has changed. 

As you'd expect with Murnau, there is a technical virtuosity here unmatched by most silent films. The camera swoops above crowds and follows the couple through bustling city streets, the cars just missing the lovers and the camera. And when the man is pondering the prospect of murder, his mistress appears as a ghostly apparition to caress and kiss him. 

As much as I love the film, it has problems. The middle act of the couple rediscovering their love could have been edited down. There's a scene of the husband chasing down a piglet and being treated as a hero when he catches it that seems too nonsensical. Because we know where these scenes are going, the pacing could have been a little more brisk. 

I also came to hate George O'Brien as the husband. His acting has the subtlety of a hammer to the head. How his wife stuck it out is a mystery. 

Sunrise has a reputation as one of the greatest silent films ever and its esteem is well-deserved.  As with The Last Laugh, it's a story told with minimal title cards, but you never feel lost. Everything you need is right there on the screen. I cannot recommend this one enough. 

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

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Metropolis (1927)

Directed by Fritz Lang
Starring Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel and Gustav Fröhlich
Produced by Universum Film (UFA)

In the distant future, a gleaming city pulses with life and energy.  Its denizens seem to enjoy a non-stop party.  It's seemingly utopia...

...Except that the city depends upon a working class that is sentenced to live underground operating the city's massive machinery.  The workers aren't happy, but they are far too busy to even think about a rebellion.

That is, until Maria enters the picture.  She is trying to educate both classes that there may be a better way.The path requires the two sides to understand one another, a seemingly impossible task.

Fortunately for her, Freder is enthralled by both Maria's message and her beauty.  He's the son of Joh Fredersen, the man who lords over the city, controlling every movement and pulse.  Freder switches places with a worker so he can help.

The whispers of revolution are reaching Joh's ears and he takes a desperate action. He throws his lot in with Rotwang, a mad scientist who has created a robot that can look and act human.  Joh wants to replace Maria with this Machine Man.

Rotwang agrees, but only because he sees the opportunity for vengeance.  Years earlier, the scientist fell in love with Hel, but she chose Joh.  He still carries the grudge and now is the perfect time to act by using faux-Maria to cause a riot?

Can the metropolis survive?  And will Freder realize his destiny of uniting the upper and working classes?

Metropolis is one of two movies that gave me the confidence to even start these reviews.  I have seen this and Nosferatu before starting the 100 Years of Movies, which made me think I knew what I was getting into.  Of course the last year and a half has blown every assumption I made out of the water (in the best possible ways).

That said, this was new to me because a) it's probably been over 15 years since I saw Metropolis and b) this is the brilliant extended version with newly discovered scenes so I had not really seen this before.

Most striking for any viewer is the production design which manages the feat of being timelessly futuristic.  It's our world years from now and it will seemingly always be our world years from now.  The buildings tower over everyone and everything and the subterranean machines are massive enough to swallow up humans whole (literally).  There are even small touches like the Gardens we find our hero in at the start of the film that are idyllic and alien.

While the on-screen action follows the romance and political intrigues of Freder and Maria, it's Joh Fredersen and Rotwang's personal struggle that embody everything the film is about. The two men pursued the same woman (Hel), with Joh ultimately winning out.  Some tragedy befell Hel after she gave birth to Freder.  Joh has never forgiven himself for her death and Rotwand has never forgiven his colleague for both stealing and losing the object of their mutual desire.

Hel's memory hangs over the entire film.  Joh controls the city, but is disconnected from it, lording over the city and its inhabitants from a large office that towers over the city.  He can barely look at the son who reminds him so much of his lost love.

Rotwang is clearly the villain of the piece, but I feel a touch of sympathy for the miscreant.  He maintains a twenty foot tall shrine to the woman he lost to Joh.  He devotes all of his days to creating a robot he can craft into Hel's image, even losing his hand for his efforts.  He's clearly mad, but in a delusionally romantic way.  Rotwang resents Joh, but he's not about to act on it. In fact, he's starts out bragging to Joh that he will bring Hel back and keep her for himself this time.

What really sets Rotwang over the edge is losing Hel again to Fredersen.  Joh decides that the best way to attack the nascent insurgency is by replacing Maria with Rotwang's Machine Man, the robot meant to become the scientist's personal Hel.  Rotwang begrudgingly goes along, but hatches his own plan to bring down the city, Joh and his son Freder.

Of course, we have not talked much about Freder who is our on screen hero. Frankly, I find him a bit of a bore.  We see him in the Pleasure Gardens at the start of the film, but once he sees the workers being oppressed, he immediately picks a side.  There's no conflict.  He's just...well, good.  And honestly, he's kind of dull.  The character hits every beat the story needs him too, I just wish it gave him more to do.

Freder's love of Maria is more like a platonic friendship.  He follows her around with puppy dog eyes, but she has a rebellion to foster. However, her approach is more Martin Luther King than Malcolm X.  Her protests are non-violent, imploring the rich in the city above to see the workers as their brothers.

Maria herself has a dull monotony to her.  That is, until she is replaced by the Machine Man version of Maria.  From that moment on, Brigitte Helm just devours every scene.  Her performance is off-kilter with even her eyes seeming to go all directions at once.  From the moment Maria's doppelganger is introduced, there is never confusion about which one you are looking at.

Lang's vision is ambitious and his direction is every bit up to the task. I love the editing and shot selection. The way he juxtaposes the glitz and glam of the surface against the grime and monotony of the underground city shows us the flaws of both worlds.

At its core, Metropolis is a potent piece of political subversion packed into a candy-coated sci fi action movie shell. The conclusion of the film is not that the workers and the rich should be equals; it's that they need to connect and understand one another. You don't leave Metropolis feeling like the workers will stop running the machinery, or that the rich will take a few shifts below ground. It's all about understanding the plight of your fellow man and making things better by degrees.

If the movie has any failing, it's in the way it bludgeons you with the whole brain-hand-heart message. It never feels genuine or like real things humans would say.

The other plot contrivance that bugs me is the way every worker leaves their children behind, and then later express genuine surprise when that is pointed out. It's silly and the acting goes over the top to sell us on it. I never buy it.

Still, these are minor concerns. Metropolis is more than a five star film. It makes you wish the scale went higher, or that you could lower every other film by a star. It's not a great silent, but a great and timeless film.

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

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A Couple of Oswald Shorts from Disney (1927)

Produced by Walt Disney

In addition to the Alice comedies, Disney started producing cartoons featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. In watching a couple, I'd note that they are even more saccharine than the Alice shorts (particularly as Oswald thus far avoids violence and racism).

As for plot, these don't really have them. Trolley Troubles follows Oswald as he attempts to deliver a trolley car full of cats to a destination we never learn. In All Wet, he runs a beachside hot dog stand and becomes a lifeguard to impress a female bunny.

Both are fine in a smile-inducing way, but there's not a genuine chuckle to be had. If I had to pick, I'd say All Wet is slightly better just for the way it handles the hot dogs.

All Wet ***
Trolley Troubles **1/2

Both are embedded below:

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Educational Films: 1927 Edition

So, I am searching YouTube for 1927 films and I come upon the film below.  My two immediate reactions were: 1) this may be the greatest thing ever and 2) how did I not know about this before.  I plan on doing future editions in this series, but this will be hard to top.

My favorite moments include the implied ghost closing the garage door to asphyxiate the mechanic, the fact that you should call a doctor or the gas company to deal with someone who succumbs to carbon monoxide, and the acting of the gentleman who gets the electric shock.  But the true hilarity comes just before the nine minute mark.

Without further ado, Artificial Respiration:

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