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    Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan's Guide
    Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan's Guide
    Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan's Guide
    Ebook472 pages3 hours

    Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan's Guide

    By John Howard Reid

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    About this ebook

    Around 500 movies from the silent and early talkie era are now available on DVD. Of course this figure includes shorts as well as features, plus 40 or 50 films that are available in multiple versions. This handbook reviews 178 movies, dating from 1918 through 1934, that are now available to purchase in DVD format from reputable suppliers. Almost all these 178 films are full-length features that showcase stars like Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Clara Bow, Lon Chaney, Louise Brooks, Charles Chaplin, Joan Crawford, Colleen Moore, Harold Lloyd, Gary Cooper, William Powell, Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Norma Shearer, Buster Keaton, Shirley Temple, Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Colman, Lillian Gish, Marion Davies, and Wallace Beery, who are still top favorites with all motion picture fans. In addition, however, it's very pleasing to note that players like Laura La Plante, Charles Ray, Alice Terry, Pola Negri, Mary Miles Minter, Rod La Rocque, and Mabel Poulton are also featured on a large number of discs. These stars were extraordinarily popular in their day and are just waiting to be re-discovered by today's movie lovers. Full credits and current release information are provided for each film. And the DVD itself is rated for quality on a scale of one to ten. Purchasers will save the price of this book by following just one of the author's recommendations. It's disappointing to buy a DVD and then find the picture and/or sound quality is so poor that the movie cannot be enjoyed. A further bonus is that the book is illustrated with some beautiful black-and-white photos from the Barrie Pattison Gallery of vintage movie stills, one of the best and largest private collections in the world. P.S. Some of Clive's points are well taken in his review below, but I do think his complaining about the inclusion of "Bad Girl" rather odd. A DVD release of this most important film had been announced shortly before the book went to press. It was therefore included. And as a matter of interest, the DVD is of course NOW available from the supplier indicated! And, as intimated in the book, a fine movie it is too! CLIVE'S REVIEWS: The problem with most DVD catalogs is that they age quickly, with new releases coming out all of the time. However, this is not the case with silent films and early talkies where new releases are limited to 3 or 4 a month. So for the fan of the silents and early talkies, this book is a one of a kind find. The author has listed many films, both the well known and obscure, listed a synopsis and some interesting background information on the film, stars, and directors, and even included reproductions of old movie posters. Best of all, the author tells you where you can find these films on DVD, and the quality of the reproduction. The manufacturers are not limited to just the major studios, Kino, and Criterion. He also includes such vendors as Grapevine Video, which has been selling silents for over thirty years. Now for my minor complaints. The author has a few articles for films that, at the time this catalog was printed, had no DVD release at all. For example, he goes into great detail about Borzage's "Bad Girl", which is a great film, even though at the end of the article he mentions - correctly at the time - that there was no DVD release. There are other films that deserved mention that were omitted, such as 1929's "It's A Great Life" and "Lights of New York", the first all-talking picture. However, I still recommend the book both as a buyer's guide and as just an all-around interesting read to those of us fascinated with the films of this much ignored era in Hollywood history... Roy Salmons in "International Movie Making" writes: "This book is ideal for historical research or simply for the movie buff. The 178 films reviewed list actors, directors and technicians. Another winner from John Howard Reid!"

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Howard Reid
    Release dateApr 29, 2011
    ISBN9781458050748
    Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan's Guide
    Author

    John Howard Reid

    Author of over 100 full-length books, of which around 60 are currently in print, John Howard Reid is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Merryll Manning series of mystery novels, anthologies of original poetry and short stories, translations from Spanish and Ancient Greek, and especially books of film criticism and movie history. Currently chief judge for three of America's leading literary contests, Reid has also written the textbook, "Write Ways To Win Writing Contests".

    Read more from John Howard Reid

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    • 5/5
      “Silent Movies & Early Sound Films on DVD” by John Howard Reid is a wonderful guide to classic movies that can be found on DVDs. The movies are listed in alphabetical order, but it doesn’t need to be read that way. I started off reading from the beginning, but then found myself randomly selecting pages and reading them from top to bottom.Mr. Reid definitely knows his stuff when it comes to silent movies and early sound films. Each movie lists the actors and the roles they played, director and crew, copyright date, and usually a synopsis and notes. I particularly like it when the author puts in his own comments about a movie. Sometimes his comments are scathing such as his review of “Don’t Be Nervous” where he states that it “is an excellent example of Educational at its worst. “ He can also praise as in the film “Sunrise” where he says that it is “simply one of the best movies ever made, Sunrise is both an invigorating and heart-warming, yet sometimes comic and intensely dramatic experience.”I don’t know much about silent movies or early talking movies, but reading this book makes me want to go out and find many of them. Mr. Reid’s enthusiasm is very contagious and his knowledge is immense. This book is a great resource and could be a fun way to revamp movie night in the home.**This book was received for free through Goodreads First Reads. That in no way influenced my review.**

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    Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD - John Howard Reid

    SILENT FILMS

    & Early Talkies on DVD

    A Classic Movie Fan’s Guide

    John Howard Reid

    ****

    Published by:

    John Howard Reid at Smashwords

    Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid

    ****

    All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

    Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

    ****

    Original text copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.

    Enquiries: johnreid@mail.qango.com

    ****

    Table of Contents

    A

    All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Lew Ayres

    Arizona Express (1924) Pauline Starke

    B

    Baby Take a Bow (1934) Shirley Temple

    Bad Girl (1931) James Dunn

    Battling Butler (1926) Buster Keaton

    the Bat (1926) Jack Pickford

    the Bat Whispers (1930) William Bakewell

    Beggars of Life (1928) Wallace Beery

    the Big House (1930) Chester Morris

    the Block Signal (1926) Ralph Lewis

    the Blue Bird (1918) Tula Belle

    Bright Eyes (1934) James Dunn

    Broadway Melody (1929) Bessie Love

    Broken Hearts of Broadway (1923) Colleen Moore

    C

    the Canary Murder Case (1929) William Powell

    Captain January (1924) Hobart Bosworth

    Cat and the Canary (1927) Laura La Plante

    Cavalcade (1932) Diana Wynyard

    the Champ (1931) Wallace Beery

    Change of Heart (1934) Janet Gaynor

    the Charlatan (1929) Holmes Herbert

    Cimarron (1930) Richard Dix

    the Circus (1927) Charles Chaplin

    City Girl (1929) Charles Farrell

    Clash of the Wolves (1925) Charles Farrell

    Cleopatra (1934) Claudette Colbert

    Coquette (1929) Mary Pickford

    Corsair (1931) Chester Morris

    the Crackerjack (1925) Johnny Hines

    Cruise of the Jasper B (1926) Rod La Rocque

    D

    the Dawn Patrol (1930) Richard Barthelmess

    the Death Kiss (1932) David Manners

    Devil’s Island (1926) Pauline Frederick

    the Devil To Pay (1930) Ronald Colman

    Disraeli (1929) George Arliss

    the Divine Lady (1929) Corinne Griffith

    the Divorcee (1930) Norma Shearer

    Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) Fredric March

    Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925) Douglas Fairbanks

    Don’t Be Nervous (1929) Lloyd Hamilton

    Doubling in the Quickies (1932) Lloyd Hamilton

    Down to the Sea in Ships (1923) Clara Bow

    Dress Parade (1927) William Boyd

    E

    the Eagle (1925) Rudolph Valentino

    Easy Street (1917) Charles Chaplin

    Evangeline (1929) Dolores Del Rio

    the Eyes of Julia Deep (1918) Mary Miles Minter

    F

    the Fair Co-Ed (1927) Marion Davies

    a Farewell to Arms (1932) Gary Cooper

    Feel My Pulse (1928) Bebe Daniels

    the Florodora Girl (1930) Marion Davies

    Flying Fool (1929) William Boyd

    F.P.1 antwortet nicht (1932) Hans Albers

    F.P.1 Doesn’t Answer (1933) Conrad Veidt

    a Free Soul (1931) Norma Shearer

    Free To Love (1925) Clara Bow

    the Freshman (1925) Harold Lloyd

    G

    Grand Hotel (1932) Greta Garbo

    H

    Hands Up! (1925) Raymond Griffith

    the Hazards of Helen (1915) Helen Holmes

    Hotel Imperial (1927) Pola Negri

    Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) Lon Chaney

    I

    the Ice Flood (1926) Viola Dana

    In Old Arizona (1929) Edmund Lowe

    It Happened One Night (1934) Claudette Colbert

    J

    Jungle Princess (1920) Juanita Hansen

    Just Travelin’ (1927) Bob Burns

    K

    the Kid Brother (1927) Harold Lloyd

    the Kiss (1929) Greta Garbo

    L

    Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925) Irene Rich

    the Last Chance (1926) William Bill Patton

    Lighthouse by the Sea (1924) William Collier, Jr

    Light in the Dark (1922) Hope Hampton

    Lightning Hutch (1927) Charles Hutchison

    Little Church Around the Corner (1923) Claire Windsor

    Little Women (1933) Katharine Hepburn

    the Locked Door (1929) Rod La Rocque

    the Lodger (1926) Ivor Novello

    the Lookout Girl (1928) Jacqueline Logan

    the Lost World (1925) Wallace Beery

    Love ’Em and Leave ’Em (1926) Evelyn Brent

    the Love Flower (1920) Carol Dempster

    M

    Man from Beyond (1921) Harry Houdini

    Man from Oklahoma (1926) Jack Perrin

    Mantrap (1926) Clara Bow

    the Man Who Laughs (1928) Conrad Veidt

    McKinley at Home (1898) William McKinley

    the Mark of Zorro (1920) Douglas Fairbanks

    Metropolis (1927) Alfred Abel

    Mexicali Rose (1929) Barbara Stanwyck

    the Michigan Kid (1928) Renée Adorée

    Montana Moon (1930) Joan Crawford

    Morocco (1930) Gary Cooper

    Move Along (1926) Lloyd Hamilton

    My Lady of Whims (1925) Clara Bow

    N

    No Man’s Law (1927) Barbara Kent

    the Notorious Lady (1927) Lewis Stone

    O

    Office Wife (1930) Dorothy Mackaill

    Oliver Twist (1922) Jackie Coogan

    Oliver Twist (1933) Dickie Moore

    One Way Passage (1932) William Powell

    One Week (1920) Buster Keaton

    Orchids and Ermine (1927) Colleen Moore

    Our Blushing Brides (1930) Joan Crawford

    Our Dancing Daughters (1928) Joan Crawford

    P

    Parisian Love (1925) Clara Bow

    the Perfect Clown (1925) Larry Semon

    Phantom of the Opera (1925) Lon Chaney

    Possessed (1931) Joan Crawford

    Prisoner of Zenda (1932) Lewis Stone

    R

    the Red Raiders (1927) Ken Maynard

    Return of the Rat (1929) Ivor Novello

    Robin Hood (1922) Douglas Fairbanks

    S

    Safety Last (1923) Harold Lloyd

    the Saphead (1920) Buster Keaton

    the Safety Curtain (1918) Norma Talmadge

    Saturday Afternoon (1926) Harry Langdon

    Scaramouche (1923) Ramon Novarro

    the Sea Squawk (1924) Harry Langdon

    Secret of the Blue Room (1933) Gloria Stuart

    Secrets of a Soul (1926) Werner Krauss

    the Sheik (1921) Rudolph Valentino

    Sherlock Holmes (1922) John Barrymore

    Show People (1928) Marion Davies

    the Sign of the Claw (1926) Ethel Shannon

    Skinner’s Dress Suit (1926) Reginald Denny

    Smouldering Fires (1924) Pauline Frederick

    Soldier Man (1926) Harry Langdon

    Son of the Sheik (1926) Rudolph Valentino

    South of Panama (1928) Carmelita Geraghty

    Sparrows (1926) Mary Pickford

    Speedy (1928) Harold Lloyd

    the Squaw Man (1914) Dustin Farnum

    Stand and Deliver (1928) Rod La Rocque

    Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) Buster Keaton

    the Strong Man (1926) Harry Langdon

    Suds (1920) Marry Pickford

    Sumurun (1921) Ernst Lubitsch

    Sunrise (1927) George O’Brien

    Surrender (1931) Warner Baxter

    Sweet Adeline (1925) Charles Ray

    T

    Tabu (1931) Anna Chevalier

    Taming of the Shrew (1929) Mary Pickford

    Tarzan the Tiger (1929) Frank Merrill

    Ten Cents a Dance (1931) Barbara Stanwyck

    Tess of the Storm Country (1922) Mary Pickford

    Thief of Bagdad (1924) Douglas Fairbanks

    Three Musketeers (1921) Douglas Fairbanks

    Through the Breakers (1928) Holmes Herbert

    Tol’able David (1921) Richard Barthelmess

    the Tong Man (1919) Sessue Hayakawa

    Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) Harry Langdon

    the Trial of Mary Dugan (1929) Norma Shearer

    Tumbleweeds (1925) William S. Hart

    U

    the Unchastened Woman (1925) Theda Bara

    Underworld (1927) George Bancroft

    Up the Ladder (1925) Virginia Valli

    V

    Vagabond Lover (1929) Rudy Vallee

    Venus of the South Seas (1924) Annette Kellerman

    Viva Villa! (1934) Wallace Beery

    W

    Warning Shadows (1927) Ruth Weyher

    West-Bound Limited (1923) Ralph Lewis

    When Knighthood Was In Flower (1922) Marion Davies

    Whistlin’ Dan (1932) Ken Maynard

    White Gold (1927) Jetta Goudal

    the White Sheep (1924) Glenn Tryon

    the White Sister (1923) Lillian Gish

    Wild Beauty (1927) Hugh Allan

    Wild Horse Mesa (1925) Jack Holt

    Wings (1927) Clara Bow

    the Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) Vilma Banky

    Within Our Gates (1919) Evelyn Preer

    Wizard of Oz (1925) Larry Semon

    Wolf Blood (1925) Marguerite Clayton

    the Woman He Scorned (1929) Pola Negri

    a Woman in Grey (1920) Arline Pretty

    a Woman of Affairs (1928) Greta Garbo

    a Woman of the World (1925) Pola Negri

    --

    All Quiet on the Western Front

    Lew Ayres (Paul Baumer), Louis Wolheim (Katczinsky), John Wray (Himmelstoss), Raymond Griffith (dying French soldier), George Slim Summerville (Tjaden), Russell Gleason (Muller), William Bakewell (Albert), Scott Kolk (Leer), Walter Browne Rogers (Behm), Ben Alexander (Kemmerich), Owen Davis, Jr (Peter), Beryl Mercer (Mrs Baumer), Edwin Maxwell (Baumer), Harold Goodwin (Detering), Marion Clayton (Miss Baumer), Richard Alexander (Westhus), G. Pat Collins (Lieutenant Bertinck), Yola D’Avril (Suzanne), Renée Damonde, Poupée Androit (French girls), Arnold Lucy (Kantorek), Bill Irving (Ginger), Edmund Breese (Herr Meyer), Heinie Conklin (Hammacher), Bertha Mann (Sister Libertine), Bodil Rosing (watcher), Joan Marsh (poster girl), Tom London (orderly), Vince Barnett (cook), Ellen Hall (young girl), Arthur Gardner (student), Fred Zinnemann (student), Wolfgang Staudte, Jack Sutherland, Robert Parrish, Daisy Belmore.

    Directed by LEWIS MILESTONE. Adapted by Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, Lewis Milestone from the 1927 novel by Erich Maria Remarque (pseudonym of Erich Paul Remark). Dialogue: Maxwell Anderson and George Abbott. Additional dialogue: Del Andrews. Photographed by Arthur Edeson and Tony Gaudio. Dialogue director: George Cukor. Supervising film editors: Lewis Milestone and Maurice Pivar. Film editors: Edgar Adams, Edward L. Cahn and Milton Carruth. Art directors: Charles D. Hall and W. R. Schmidt. Additional photography: Karl Freund. Special effects: Harry Lonsdale, Frank H. Booth. Foley artist: Jack Foley. Boom operator: Jack Bolger. Music synchronized and scored by David Broekman. Assistant director: Nate Watt. Story editor: C. Gardner Sullivan. Titles for silent version: Walter Anthony. Sound recording engineer: C. Roy Hunter. Sound mixer: William Hedgcock. Associate producer: George Cukor. Producer: Carl Laemmle, Jr.

    Copyright by Universal Pictures Corporation 17 May 1930. U.S. release date: 24 August 1930. New York opening at the Central: 29 April 1930. U.K. release date: October, 1930. 14 reels. 140 minutes.

    SYNOPSIS: Conscripted German youths find war is neither glorious nor adventurous.

    NOTES: Won the annual awards for Best Picture and Best Director, presented by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Also nominated for Best Writing (lost to Frances Marion for The Big House), and Best Cinematography (lost to Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van Der Veer for With Byrd at the South Pole).

    Winner of the Photoplay Gold Medal — Best Film of the Year — voted by the moviegoing public of America.

    Winner of the Film Daily poll of American film critics for 1930.

    Winner of the National Board of Review citation for Best Film of 1930.

    Winner of the Picturegoer Seal of Merit for an Outstanding and Exceptional Motion Picture.

    Second place (to With Bryd at the South Pole) on Mordaunt Hall’s Ten Best in The New York Times.

    COMMENT: Erich Maria Remarque’s semi-autobiographical novel, Im Westen Nichts Neues, was first published in Berlin in 1927. Other Remarque books that have been filmed include Drei Kameraden as Three Comrades, Der Weg Zuruck as The Road Back, Flottsam as So Ends Our Night, a short story Beyond as The Other Love, Arch of Triumph as The Arch of Triumph, Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben as A Time to Love and a Time to Die.

    In its original form, All Quiet on the Western Front ran 140 minutes. This has now been restored. Continuity, however, is still somewhat jerky and abrupt. The film is constructed along the lines of a stage play with a fade-out at the end of each scene replacing the curtain fall. There is a tendency to make the individual scenes run too long, and despite the large amount of action footage — fully half-an-hour of the film would be solid action — the accent is firmly on dialogue. The pace is slow, sometimes excruciatingly so by modern standards, though this was contrived quite deliberately both for contrast with the sudden bursts of action and also to emphasize the dreariness and monotony of front-line sub-existence. Nonetheless, Milestone’s technique often seems uncompromisingly dated and this could prove a drawback for 2009 audiences.

    Available on DVD through Universal. Quality rating: 10 out of ten.

    --

    the Arizona Express

    Pauline Starke (Katherine Keith), Harold Goodwin (David Keith), David Butler (Steve Butler), Evelyn Brent (Lola Nichols), Anne Cornwell (Florence Brown), Francis McDonald (Vic Johnson), Frank Beal (Judge Ashton), William Humphrey (Henry MacFarlane, David’s uncle), Bud Jamison (helpful motorist), Otto Hoffman (desk clerk).

    Director: THOMAS BUCKINGHAM. Screenplay: Fred Jackson, Robert N. Lee. Based on the stage play by Lincoln J. Carter. Photography: Sidney Wagner. Executive producer: William Fox.

    Copyright 13 March 1924 by Fox Film Corporation. U.S. release: 23 March 1924. No recorded New York opening. 7 reels. 6,316 feet.

    Grapevine DVD, tinted, toned and stretch-printed, runs 82 minutes.

    SYNOPSIS: This rather complicated but easy-to-follow plot deals with a sister’s many valiant efforts to save her brother from the gallows, despite all the attempts by the real criminals to prevent her reaching the Governor in time to prevent the scheduled execution.

    COMMENT: A prolific writer of blood-and-thunder melodramas, Lincoln J. Carter specialized in railroad settings. Although his plays were not acclaimed by the critics (in fact they rarely opened in New York), they were extremely popular with touring companies before World War One. The Arizona Express was one of his most famous offerings, and here, considerably expanded, it has been brought to the screen with at least three times as many thrills.

    Director Thomas Buckingham is another forgotten man who deserves to be re-instated. That The Arizona Express is so successful is due not only to its many edge-of-the-seat action highlights (all of them breathtakingly staged against real locations), but to the skill with which the movie has been cut and paced and to the fine acting Buckingham has elicited from his players. The only disappointment is Pauline Starke, who displays plenty of stamina but little charisma.

    AVAILABLE on DVD through Grapevine. Quality rating: 8 out of ten. Presented on the original tinted stock, with a first-rate music score.

    --

    Baby Take a Bow

    Shirley Temple (Shirley), James Dunn (Eddie Ellison), Claire Trevor (Kay Ellison), Alan Dinehart (Welch), Ray Walker (Larry Scott), Dorothy Libaire (Jane), Ralf Harolde (Trigger Stone), James Flavin (Flannigan), Richard Tucker (Carson), Olive Tell (Mrs Carson), Paul McVey (Daniels), Howard Hickman (Blair), Eddie Hart (sergeant of detectives), Guy Usher (captain of detectives), Samuel S. Hinds (warden), Lillian D. Stuart (Annie), Mary Gordon (neighbor), One Reed, Garland Weaver, Marilyn Granas (stand-ins), Gordon Carveth, W. Laverick, Chic Collins (doubles), John Alexander (rag-picker).

    Director: HARRY LACHMAN. Screenplay: Philip Klein, E. E. Paramore, Jr. Based on the stage play Square Crooks by James P. Judge. Photography: L. W. O’Connell. Art director: Duncan Cramer. Costumes: Royer. Songs by Bud Green (lyrics) and Sam H. Stept (music). Additional song by Lew Brown and Jay Gorney. Incidental music: David Buttolph. Orchestrations: Emil Gerstenberger. Stock music: J.S. Zamecnik. Dance director: Sammy Lee. Music director: Samuel Kaylin. Sound: George Leverett. Producer: John Stone. Executive producer: Winfield Sheehan.

    Copyright 20 June 1934 by Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy, 29 June 1934. U.K. release: December 1934. Australian release: 1 August 1934. New Zealand release: 26 January 1935. New Zealand length: 6,955 feet. 77 minutes.

    SYNOPSIS: Ex-criminal Eddie Ellison (James Dunn) has a hard time going straight.

    NOTES: Shirley Temple, acknowledged as the best juvenile performer of 1934, received a miniature statuette from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Awards Ceremony at the Biltmore Hotel, 27 February, 1935.

    The stage play opened on Broadway at Daly’s on 1 March 1926, and ran a surprisingly successful 144 performances. Russell Mack starred as the jittery ex-thief who tries to go straight, although everything conspires to send him back to jail. The play was directed by Albert Bannister, and produced by Bannister in association with Elmer Powell.

    COMMENT: Although this was Shirley’s 23rd film, it was her first starring vehicle at Fox, following her success on loan-out to Paramount for Little Miss Marker.

    For many years, all prints of this film were thought to be lost as the original negative and master prints were destroyed in a laboratory fire in 1935. However, a projection print in good condition, with only about 3 minutes of footage missing, credit and end titles complete and only a few minor scratches throughout, has come to light and from this a dupe negative has been made. From this unpromising material, the present colorized but otherwise very satisfactory, digitally restored release prints derive.

    Unfortunately, the film itself does not repay all this trouble, but at least it will not gain a totally undeserved reputation as a lost masterpiece by default.

    Besides its curiosity value, Baby Take a Bow boasts a cast of seasoned players — all of whom over-act atrociously. There is some excuse for this theatricality, however, in view of the melodramatic nature of the script. The whole film resembles an enthusiastic but distinctly amateur stage production. In fact, the script makes few attempts, other than the intriguing opening sequence and the roof-top climax, to open up the action of the original stage play.

    Harry Lachman’s direction, for the most part, is disappointingly routine. Lachman was (and is still regarded as) a most distinguished painter in the post-impressionist tradition, but there is nothing in this movie that betrays an artistic eye. True, L. William O’Connell’s photography does bring off a few attractively sinister effects with cross shadows on the faces of Ralf Harolde and Alan Dinehart, but otherwise the film has little visual appeal. In fact, production values generally are rather mediocre. In short, the Shirley Temple presented here isn’t half as attractive as she was to become in her succeeding Fox pictures.

    It’s interesting to note that in overseas markets, such as England and Australia, neither this film nor Shirley achieved either a good press or box-office success. However, her next film, Now and Forever, in which she was billed third to Cooper and Lombard, proved to be a great money-spinner everywhere. [Available on DVD through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. Quality rating: 9 out of ten].

    --

    Bad Girl

    James Dunn (Edward Collins), Sally Eilers (Dorothy Haley), Minna Gombell (Edna Driggs), William Pawley (Jim Haley), Frank Darien (Lathrop), Paul Fix, Irving Bacon, Eddie de Vorska (expectant fathers), George Irving (Dr Burgess), Edward Hearn, Lorin Raker (male nurses), Aggie Herring (seamstress), Louis Natheaux (Thompson), Sarah Padden (Mrs Gardner), Frank Austin (neighbor), Billy Watson (Floyd), Charles Sullivan (Mike).

    Director: FRANK BORZAGE. Continuity and dialogue: Edwin Burke and Rudolf Sieber. Based on the 1928 stage play by Vina Delmar and Brian Marlowe from the novel by Vina Delmar. Photography: Chester Lyons. Film editor: Margaret Clancey. Art director: William Darling. Costumes: Dolly Tree. Producer: Frank Borzage.

    Copyright 18 July 1931 by Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy, 14 August 1931. 8,046 feet. 89 minutes.

    SYNOPSIS: A year in the lives of two young married people in New York’s tenements. The movie has considerably changed both the plot and the title character of the stage play. Bad Girl is now a purely exploitive title. There is no bad girl in the picture.

    NOTES: Feature film debut of Broadway stage star, James Dunn. (He had previously appeared in five movie shorts).

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected Frank Borzage for Best Directing (defeating King Vidor’s The Champ, and Josef von Sternberg’s Shanghai Express), and Edwin Burke for Adapted Screenplay (defeating Sidney Howard’s Arrowsmith, and Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde).

    Bad Girl was also nominated for Best Picture (defeated by Grand Hotel), and was placed 4th in The Film Daily poll of U.S. film critics (after Cimarron, Street Scene and Skippy). It was selected by The New York Times as one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1931. The stage play opened on Broadway at the Hudson on 2 October 1930 and ran a very moderately successful 85 performances. Sylvia Sidney played the title role, while Paul Kelly did the husband. Marion Gering directed.

    COMMENT: Love in Manhattan, as seen by that virtuoso of the romantic, Frank Borzage, who won the year’s most prestigious award, as did scenarist Edwin Burke. In the matter of popularity, the film elevated James Dunn and Sally Eilers to a plateau rivaling that of the resident Fox lovebirds, Gaynor and Farrell.

    — Don Miller.

    OTHER VIEWS: As Don Miller states above, Frank Borzage was not only Hollywood’s king of romance, but a superlative craftsman who could play on the strings of an audience’s emotions like a master violinist. His own temperament echoed the image of a confirmed sentimentalist. A quiet man, Borzage (pronounced Bore-zaig/ie, the zaig rhymes with plague) never raised his voice on the set and never drew attention to himself. Untutored visitors always assumed he was a script clerk or continuity assistant.

    Yet any critic who writes a book on Romance in the Cinema will always place Borzage’s name at the top of the list. He really believed in what he was doing. In fact, he persisted in his adoration for Romance even when it was out of fashion. In this instance, of course, the movie struck a timely chord with Depression audiences.

    Oddly, In the free-and-easy, pre-censorship Hollywood world of the early pre-code 1930s, Borzage and his very clever scriptwriters Edwin Burke and Rudolf Sieber cleaned up Delmar’s play, changing characters and plot to an enormous extent, even though there was absolutely no pressure on them to do so. They succeeded in making Bad Girl far more romantic, if almost equally realistic. In fact, it’s not the romance that seems artificial, but the occasional comic relief. In the stage play, the heroine, a little Bronx stenographer (Sylvia Sidney), is an unwed mother who is forced to marry a petty racketeer (Paul Kelly), whom she tries to reform.

    The film version bears only one vague relationship to the stage play, namely the fact that two young people get married and settle down in a New York apartment. Otherwise, it is completely different in every respect. Mordaunt Hall in his review in The New York Times even goes so far as to state that the only adverse criticism he could make of Bad Girl was its strangely unsuitable title. He was being sarcastic, of course. He knew perfectly well how the title came about. He continues: However, that is of small importance, for many a poor picture has boasted a good title.

    This must-see movie, is now available on a 10/10 Fox DVD set.

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    Battling Butler

    Buster Keaton (Alfred Butler), Snitz Edwards (his valet), Sally O’Neil (his girl), Walter James (the girl’s father), Bud Fine (girl’s brother), Francis McDonald (Battling Butler), Mary O’Brien (wife), Tom Wilson (trainer), Eddie Borden (manager).

    Director: BUSTER KEATON. Screenplay: Paul Girard Smith, Al Boasberg, Charles H. Smith, Lex Neal. Based on the book of the 1923 Broadway musical by Stanley Brightman and Austin Melford. Technical director: Fred Gabourie. Photography: Bert Haines and Devereaux Jennings. Electrical effects: Ed Levy. A Buster Keaton Production, presented by Joseph M. Schenck.

    Copyright 30 August 1926 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. U.S. release: 19 September 1926. New York opening at the Capitol: 22 August 1926. 7 reels. 6,970 feet. 77 minutes.

    COMMENT: Although robbed of its delightful songs by Douglas Furber (lyrics) and Philip Brabham (music), Battling Butler more than makes up for this unavoidable lapse by casting one of our favorite character players, Snitz Edwards, in a major role. He is wonderful; and it’s to Keaton’s credit, both as a fellow comic and as the director, that he allows Snitz to steal many of his scenes. In fact, Keaton and Edwards make a great comedy team. Except for one or two sequences, they don’t play against each other, they play with each other—a feat that is more difficult to bring off successfully.

    Following the construction of the stage musical, the film splits neatly into two halves. Tom Wilson’s harassed trainer, who expertly pits himself against the seemingly hopeless Keaton, supplies much of the comedy in the second half until the star unexpectedly turns the tables in a grand climax especially written for the film. In the play, the McDonald character simply drops out and doesn’t return at all. It could be said that the stage musical actually ends on rather a limp note plot-wise, but this problem has now been cleverly licked.

    Doubtless due to the fact that comic fight scenes have been done to death by just about every comedian you could name in sound films, Battling Butler is not wholly prized among Keaton addicts, but I regard it as one of his best outings.

    AVAILABLE on DVD through Kino. Quality rating: 10 out of ten.

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    the Bat

    Jack Pickford (Brooks Bailey), Emily Fitzroy (Cornelia Van Gorder), Jewel Carmen (Dale Ogden, her niece), Louise Fazenda (Lizzie, her servant), Sojin (Billy, another servant), Robert McKim (Dr Wells), Lee Shumway (assault victim), Tullio Carminati (Moletti), Arthur Housman (Richard Fleming), Eddie Gribbon (a private detective), George Beranger (Gideon Bell), Charles Herzinger (masked man).

    Director: ROLAND WEST. Screenplay: Julien Josephson. Titles: George Marion, Jr. Adapted by Roland West from the 1926 stage play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, which in turn was based on the 1906 novel The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Photography: Arthur Edeson. Art director: William Cameron Menzies. Film editor: Hal C. Kern. Special effects: Ned Mann. Assistant directors: Frank Hall Crane, Thornton Freeland. Producer: Roland West.

    Copyright 23 March 1926 by Feature Productions, Inc. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Mark Strand: 14 March 1926. 8,219 feet.

    SYNOPSIS: A mysterious criminal, identified as The Bat, is at large in a cavernous but spooky old mansion leased to a wealthy spinster and her niece. A faithful but frenzied servant is also on hand. The niece attempts to introduce her lover, a bank teller suspected of embezzlement, into the household as a gardener because he believes the real criminal has hidden the loot in a secret room. Three detectives and a calculating doctor complicate matters.

    NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Morosco on 23 August 1920 and ran a colossal 878 performances. Effie Ellsler starred as Miss Van Gorder, supported by Mary Vokes and Edward Ellis. The play was directed by Collin Kemper, who also co- produced with Lincoln A. Wagenhals. Mrs Rinehart adapted the play into a novel, The Bat, in 1926. Movie headliner Jack Pickford was Mary Pickford’s brother.

    AVAILABLE on DVD from Alpha. Quality rating: 7 out of ten. See The Bat Whispers (next page) for Comments.

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    the Bat Whispers

    William Bakewell (Brook), Una Merkel (Dale Van Gorder), Grayce Hampton (Cornelia Van Gorder, her aunt), Maude Eburne (Lizzie, her

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