The Little American (1917)

Incredible imagery from DeMille

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Starring Mary Pickford, Jack Holt, Raymond Hatton
Produced by Mary Pickford Company

Our last movie of 1917 is DeMille's The Little American, a melodrama set against the backdrop of World War I.  Angela Moore (played by Pickford), a young woman literally born on the Fourth of July, is wooed by two suitors, one French and one German.  When war breaks out, the men return to their native lands to serve their countries.  Angela is soon called to her ancestral home in France to care for a sick aunt.  On the way, her boat is torpedoed by a German submarine, but she survives to reach France and find both of her suitors.  Who will she pick?  And will they survive the war?

Okay, this is melodrama and propaganda.  Angela carries a miniature American flag in her dress and is constantly waving it in the face of her aggressors.  She is literally caught between both sides of the war, but there is no mystery as to the filmmakers' sentiments.  The Germans are barbarous and French are gallant.  If you are an American and choosing a side, there really is no choice.

There are some set pieces here that are remarkable.  When the ship carrying Angela is torpedoed in an episode evocative of the Lusitania's fate, the interior of the boat pitches and begins filling with water in an incredible effect.  Later, as the life rafts are lowered and people plummet into the icy waters, the lighting only heightens the tension and dread.  There are moments here that are clearly evoked by James Cameron almost 90 years later in Titanic.

This being a melodrama, Angela's French suitor conveniently ends up in her home in France and plants a hidden phone for communicating German military positions.  Moments later, the French retreat and the Germans establish their headquarters in the same mansion.  Of course, the Germans include Angela's other would-be boyfriend Karl Von Austreim (played by Jack Holt).  He recognizes her as he is attempting to rape her.  Seriously.

Over the course of the rest of the film, the Germans make despicable decisions with Holt in the background overacting his mental anguish.  He disagrees with the choices, but is powerless to go against his superior officers. However, when Angela's life is threatened, the film becomes unconventional.  Karl sides with Angela and the two are about to be shot, when the French save the day (thanks to Angela's intelligence efforts).

The two then wander through a bombed out town, complete with a barely standing church and the striking image of the crucifix.  When the church falls to one last bomb, Jesus remains standing with his arms outstretched above him, no longer on the cross.  It's a powerful moment, particularly given the propagandist nature of the film.

DeMille is clearly hitting his stride as a director here. The film is amazingly cinematic and visually exciting.It's the closest thing I have seen to a modern day action film, with the sinking of the luxury liner, the Germans chasing Angela through the house and the bombing scenes at the end.

The one issue (besides the overacting by the male leads) in this movie I had was the music that the DVD company included with the movie.  It feels like they just bought a CD of silent film music and walked out of the room.  The music almost never conveys a mood that matches what is happening on the screen.

The Little American is a good film, held back by some slow patches and some acting that, while typical of the silent era, is very distracting.  Mary Pickford, in a very different role from our previous film, is fantastic throughout. She is understated, yet passionate.  She does a fantastic job of standing in the U.S. in its struggle to choose a side, while entering World War I.

Watched on DVD through NetFlix
Photo from The Oscar Site

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Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)

Rebecca exercising her lack of patience

Directed by Marshall Neilan
Starring Mary Pickford, Eugene O'Brien, Helen Jerome Eddy
Produced by Mary Pickford Company

Time for Mary Pickford in a classic children's movie.   Sunnybrook Farm is failing and Rebecca's mother sends her to stay with her two stern aunts.  Rebecca (Mary Pickford) has a series of adventures in the town of Riverboro, selling soap, reciting poetry at her school and putting on a circus.  During each of the episodes in her life, she encounters new people and everyone involves learns something in the process.  Can Rebecca find love and get the better of Minnie Smellie?

If you are a modern film viewer, you have seen this before.  Rebecca is Pollyanna.  She's Annie.  She's Heidi.  She's that girl that through her precociousness one ups her rivals, teaches life lessons to passerbys and melts the heart of the most jaded elders. 

The revelation for me in this film was Mary Pickford.  She is a brilliant actress in this movie, wearing every emotion on her incredibly expressive face.  When she arrives at her aunts' house, she is confused and nervous, then deeply saddened, then finding the humor in her situation, all in the span of moments.  There's never a title card.  It's simply there in her cries, her arched eyebrows, her smile.

Rebecca's approach to life earns her the eye and affections of Adam Ladd (Eugene O'Brien) in a romance that proves to be... creepy.  Even though Pickford is 25, she plays a 17-year-old and looks the part.  O'Brien is clearly much older and it's unsettling to watch the two pine for each other throughout the film.It requires a three year leap forward at the end of the film to bring this plot thread to a resolution.


Overall, the film itself is well shot. Marshall Neilan uses close-ups and editing to effectively convey the story.  He also uses some unusual camera angles that definitely take advantage of his expressive lead.  In one moment in particular, Rebecca starts interacting with a photo of her dead grandmother and the camera angle shifts to a perspective that gives the audience a great peek into Rebecca's mind.  It's a small detail, but one I appreciated.  On the other hand, toward the end of the film, there are some scenes shot at night that include quick cuts that rendered the action nearly incomprehensible.

I was previously unfamiliar with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, but I did enjoy this film for what it was.  Movies like Annie and Pollyanna are not amongst my favorites, but I can appreciate them for what they are.  The story will be very familiar to viewers and the resolution is a little too pat (there's never really a transition from stern to loving in the aunts; it just happens).  Still, it is well shot and Mary Pickford is great in the title role.  Even if you just watch a couple of the vignettes from Rebecca's life, it's worth it to see the biggest actress of the time working her magic.

Watched on YouTube (78 minutes in seven parts)
Photo from Virtual Learning Connections

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The Dinosaur and the Missing Link, A Prehistoric Tragedy (1917)

An early King Kong screen test?

Directed by Willis H. O'Brien
Produced by The Edison Company


The Dinosaur and the Missing Link is a short animated film that follows the efforts of three prehistoric would-be suitors of Miss Araminta Rockface. As The Duke and Stonejaw Steve fight for her affections, the "unassuming hero" Theophilus Ivoryhead swoops in to sweep her off her feet.  But when the evil Missing Link steals the evening's dinner, they all are called upon to hunt for more.  Can they work together to put food on their primitive table?  And what do the Missing Link and a dinosaur have to say about that?

Willis O'Brien!  So excited to find this. O'Brien is best known for animating the 1933 version of King Kong, amongst my favorite films of all time.  This is very short film by the master animator, but you can see a lot of Kong in O'Brien's Missing Link, particularly as he scales a tree.  The stop-motion animation is amazing and unlike anything I have watched since starting my journey through the century.

And the animation has to be great.  Because the story is very slight.  The tale is meant to be funny, but at its best, is barely smile worthy.  When Ivoryhead takes credit at the end for the Missing Link's death, you see the set up of the moment a mile away.

Still this is definitely worthwhile if only for seeing the incredible early animation work of O'Brien.  And it's less than seven minutes so it should be easy to catch.

Watched on YouTube
Photo from Silent Movie Monsters

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Easy Street (1917)

The Tramp may be in over his head

Directed by Charles Chaplin
Starring Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell
Produced by Lone Star Corporation

The tramp is resting outside of a mission when he is drawn in by the beautiful music of the congregation.  He decides to reform from his criminal ways and sees an opening on the local police force.  His first assignment? Easy Street, a lawless slum in a constant state of brawling.  Can the diminutive tramp bring order to the chaos and win the hand of the pretty reformer?

Easy Street is my favorite Chaplin film yet.  First, it has a great plot.  Watching the tramp move from would-be criminal to reformed citizen to police officer provides some great comedic moments, but also some unsentimental social commentary.  There are small touches throughout.  Charlie sheepishly returning the collection plate he was about to steal.  Catching a poor, hungry woman stealing food and, rather than arrest her, stealing more for her.  Pinning his badge to the overworked father.  There is also a surprisingly unflinching look at a character's drug use as well as moments of domestic violence.

The centerpiece of the movie rests on the antagonism between Chaplin's policeman and Campbell's bully.  There is an amazing long take (complete with a tracking shot) of the tramp's arrival on Easy Street, the bully's threatening attitude toward him and the criminal's ultimate comeuppance.  Just when the seriousness and grittiness of a moment becomes too much, a lamp post bends as though made of rubber and the audience can laugh and smile again.  The movie does an amazing job of balancing these various themes and moods.

I also loved Campbell's scene in the police station.  He was presented as a menacing figure before that, but when he breaks out of his handcuffs and begins tearing through the station, he becomes a force of nature. It's preposterous and funny, but it also communicates a real sense of the danger Charlie faces later.

While it may have been nice to see a more expansive setting, the small confines of Easy Street help us track all of the action in the last third of the film.  Chaplin is being chased by Campbell throughout the block and we always have a sense of where the characters are and where the exits may be. The chase is very inventive and, as with many Chaplin films, like something out of a Warner Brothers cartoon come to life.

Chaplin's progression from vagabound to respected hero is my favorite of his tales to date.  I love watching his growth as an artist and can't wait to get to the features later in his career.  I recommend this one (and it's only 24 minutes which is the length of a sitcom sans commercials).

Watched on NetFlix Watch Instantly
Photo from Clown Ministry

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The Butcher Boy (1917)

Fatty Arbuckle + Buster Keaton = Awesome

Directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al St. John, Josephine Stevens
Produced by Comique Film Company

The Butcher Boy chronicles the romantic rivalry between Fatty and Slim for the love of Amanda, daughter of the general store manager.  The movie starts in the general store and follows Fatty, the butcher boy, through his interactions with customers.  When the manager gets angry and sends his daughter away to boarding school, Fatty and Slim hatch their own plans to find their love.  But men are not permitted beyond the gates of the boarding school.  What will Fatty do?

This is Buster Keaton's first movie and he is hysterical in his small piece of screen time.  He plays a customer buying a bucket of molasses.  When Fatty asks for payment, Buster explains the money is in the bottom of the molasses-filled bucket.  Fatty pours the molasses into Buster's hat and retrieves the money.  Buster then finds the hat stuck to his head and his feet stuck to the floor.  While the description may sound ponderous, the execution is funny and both actors do an amazing job of wringing every drop of laughter out of the set up.

The main plot however follows Fatty's amorous gaze at Amanda. There is some great physical humor as Fatty nonchalantly tosses knives and meat that land with precision.  Arbuckle is a large, but agile presence in the film, vaulting counters and flying about on ladders.  I loved the general store sequence.

Once the action moves to the boarding school, we get Fatty and slim in drag.  There is a lot of manic energy to these scenes and they are certainly amusing, but they are not funny and, by the end, the gags become repetitive.

On the whole, I'd recommend The Butcher Boy (particularly the first half).  Keaton's scene is very funny and there is a food fight that is visually captivating (it involves flour).  Keaton is a bit player in the second half, but he like the other actors spend their screen time racing around without much else to do.

Watched on YouTube
Photo from Silent Era

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1917: A Comedy Legend Debuts

Buster Keaton: Member of my shame list

Leaving behind 1916 (which I really had fun with) and moving on. And a lot is happening in the world in 1917. The U.S. is pulled into World War I and Hollywood supports the effort by having its biggest stars attend Liberty Bond rallies. T.E. Lawrence (aka, Lawrence of Arabia) led Arab forces against the Turkish army, which becomes important to film fans much later.

In terms of film, not as much was happening in 1917. However, a comedy star gets his first film credit as a bit player in Fatty Arbuckle's The Butcher Boy. Buster Keaton is often mentioned in the same breath as Charlie Chaplin and, while he's not the headliner here, this is the film that put him on the path to stardom. Keaton is another one on my personal shame list. I know I have seen clips of Keaton (notably from 1926's The General), but I have not seen an entire movie featuring the actor.

In other film news, Cleopatra starring Theda Bara was the top grossing movie of the year and Chaplin joined Mary Pickford in the million dollar contract club. Director John Ford made his first western The Tornado (which is unfortunately considered a lost film). For Superman fans, Max Fleischer invents rotoscoping, which turned live action movements into cartoons. Fleischer is most known (to me anyway) for his amazing cartoons starring the Man of Steel. And the Lincoln Motion Picture Company becomes the first African American owned studio.

So what are we watching? Definitely, The Butcher Boy. And Easy Street, featuring Chaplin. There's not a lot that excites me beyond that. The Little American, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Mary Pickford is available through Netflix. I'll also try to track down Tom Sawyer.

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