Spotlight: John Gilbert

John Gilbert is one of Hollywood's saddest stories, in my book. He was an immensely talented man, with incredible charisma and the seemingly effortless ability to get the viewer to watch him, to the exclusion of the other actors in the frame.

I saw Bardelys the Magnificent at the silent film festival this year. John Gilbert plays the title role, Bardelys, a 17th-century French aristocrat with an eye for the ladies. ALL the ladies. He is also very adept at getting out of these messy little entanglements without sorrow or hurt feelings, and he is completely believable at it. It was the first time I'd seen him in a comedy; the other films I've seen (such as The Big Parade) were dramas.

He was perfect. He reminded me of Douglas Fairbanks, but he was better. His classic stance - legs apart, hands on hips - is one that I've seen Fairbanks use, but John Gilbert would have you believe that he invented it. He doesn't appear to be taking himself too seriously, and that may be some of the charm of his performance and the film as a whole.

Watching a film like this is agonizing in the knowledge that John Gilbert would be gone from us approximately a decade later. I've read various stories about his fall from stardom with the advent of sound, and whatever the reason was, we can all see the effect. Rather than continuing as a leading man, he was relegated to minor roles in B films. No Lifetime Achievement Oscar, no awards from his contemporaries. No long, distinguished career.

In The Show, he truly shines as a dyed-in-the-wool jerk, a classic opportunist, who relentlessly schemes and manipulates to get ahead. I remember a scene where the leading lady (the ill-fated Renee Adoree) asks him plaintively if he's going to see a certain young woman (read: victim) that night. Gilbert glares at her and bites out a "Yes" that you can almost hear.

What a talent we lost! And how ironic that Gilbert spoke so eloquently at the funeral for his friend Valentino, little dreaming that he himself would follow in less than ten years' time.

I'll probably come back to this topic, too. It deserves more writing, more attention. Before I sign off, though, I'll just share with you some information I read recently: It seems that Flicker Alley is going to release a Gilbert double-feature DVD with Bardelys the Magnificent and Monte Cristo, sometime next year.

For more biographical info on John Gilbert, follow the link at the bottom of the page.