The Master, Restored

The British Film Institute has restored nine silent and early sound films from the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.

The films are:

The Pleasure Garden
Blackmail
The Ring
The Lodger: A Tale of the London Fog
Downhill
Easy Virtue
The Farmer's Wife
Champagne
The Manxman

An additional treat can be found in the restorations; an extra twenty minutes of footage from The Pleasure Garden were discovered, allowing the BFI not only to restore the film, but lengthen it, too. Blackmail is being released with a score by Neil Brand - and he's amazing; I've heard his impromptu piano accompaniment to several silent films at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone.  

Hats off to Martin Scorsese and his Film Foundation, which raised most of the money for the restoration! The BFI will hold a festival of all Hitchcock's films during the London Olympiad, and two actors from his films - Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie) and Bruce Dern (Marnie, Family Plot) will speak at the event.

The Cheat

I found this to be a very interesting film, despite Fannie Ward's over-the-top arm gestures and horrified eyes.

Ward plays a married woman who lives to be seen and admired; we first see her out shopping for clothes and arguing with her husband that she simply won't give up her way of life - which includes not only shopping for horrendously expensive clothes, but keeping company, as they used to say, with an ivory baron (played by Sessue Hayakawa).

This is one of the things that intrigued me - the movie was made in 1915, and a high-society woman is associating with a man of a different race. I'm sure she wouldn't do it if he weren't rich, of course, but the same can be said of many Caucasian men. Even more intriguing, the film was re-released in 1918, and the Hayakawa character was changed from Japanese (as he was in the original) to Burmese.

Why? Because Japanese-Americans objected to the way a Japanese man was portrayed in the film.

This was the same time The Birth of a Nation was raising hell due to its almost unbelievable racism, with a fledgling organization called the NAACP protesting mightily - and with the fullest justification - against the way the black characters were shown.

That's what interests me, apart from the technical aspects of both movies. They both showed non-Caucasian characters in an unfavorable light, and they both received criticism for it. In 1915. Long before the civil rights movement; when the States were still segregated. Even then, there were organizations setting the stage for reform.

Back to the movie, it had some fascinating lighting techniques that Griffith never used, but then, it's not Griffith; it's DeMille. The two leads are a bit much, especially Ward, but Hayakawa is perfect and perfectly cast. Ward and Jack Dean, who played her hard-working husband, were married offscreen the following year; they remained married until his death in 1950. Ward and Dean join the ranks of the Forever Silent, neither of them ever having made a talkie film.

Lumiere

It's almost too perfect that the Lumiere Brothers got into filmmaking in the very early years. Lumiere is French for "light", an essential quality in creating a photograph or moving picture.

I found a few of their shorts on YouTube today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nj0vEO4Q6s&feature=related

I love watching these candid views. You aren't looking at pumped-up, undernourished, botoxed, surgically altered, overly-tanned mannequins dressed up (in modern fabrics sewn by modern machines) to look like the people of 1895. You're looking at 1895 as it really was. A train pulls into a station, and people get on it. A boat arrives at a dock, and the passengers disembark, with some of the men smiling and tipping their straw hats to the camera. A group of men sit at an outdoor table, having drinks. A young boy plays a trick on a man who is watering his garden.

These are the images of 115 years ago, before World War I blasted that sort of life away forever.

Silent discovery!

I love it when a movie from the silent era is found, since we have so few of them left. Recently, one was found on eBay.

Morace Park found a listing for an old film, and decided to bid on it. He found the container more interesting than the old film, but the contents have proven to be the real find here.

£3.20 bought the item. Inside the container, Park (who deals in antiques as a sideline) found a Charlie Chaplin film. The title read, "Charlie Chaplin in Zepped". Park searched online for this title, but drew a blank.


Park's neighbor, John Dyer, once worked for the British Board of Film Classification, so Park turned to him for help. The two of them investigated the film's history, and why nobody had ever even heard of it.


The film combines live-action footage of Chaplin and dreamlike animation; true to its name, it concerns an attack by a Zeppelin (very topical at that time, since Germany began attacking Britain by air in 1915, using the selfsame aircraft).

The film also bears a reference to the Essanay studio, where Chaplin worked eearly in his career, before various conflicts caused him to break with the company.

Hammad Khan, a documentarist, has gone with Park and Dyer to Los Angeles. The latter two are in town in a search for more information; Khan is (naturally!) making a documentary.

Michael Pogorzelski, director of the archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has also viewed the film, stating that "It is an extremely interesting find." He also refers to it as a previously unknown and uncataloged Chaplin film.

He thinks Essanay may have cobbled together the film by using footage from other films Chaplin made for the studio and adding newer footage of Zeppelins, as well as creating the animation. He refers to it as "either piracy or entrepreneurship – depending on which side of the fence you're on."

Film historian David Robinson has assessed the value of Zepped at anywhere from £3,000 to £40,000.

Pogorzelski states that the film (a 35mm nitrate print) must be transferred to safety stock, adding that the Academy has volunteered to do this work, though the film should stay where it was found, in the UK.

Edna Purviance

Once leading lady to Charlie Chaplin, now all but forgotten. A dedicated group of film lovers have started an online petition to have Edna given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

If you want to sign the petition, click here.

Francis X. Bushman

The life of silent star Francis X. Bushman has finally been written!

Author Lon Davis, who recently published Silent Lives (a series of short biographies of silent stars), has finally completed a project that took almost 30 years.

Bushman (1883-1966) is best remembered for his role as Messala in the 1925 version of Ben-Hur. Unlike many stars of the silent era, he didn't have a problem adjusting to talkies... but the talkies may have had some problems adjusting to him. According to Bushman himself, he made an enemy of Louis B. Mayer, that same mogul who is rumored to have ruined the career of superstar John Gilbert. Evidently, Mayer hated Bushman's attitude; Bushman attempted to get more money during the shooting of Ben-Hur, and afterwards, found so much difficulty finding work that he placed the blame at Mayer's door.

At the age of 13, Davis met Beverly Bayne, Bushman's second wife. She had little, if anything, good to say about Bushman, but Davis was fascinated; this is when he began to research Bushman. Lon and his then-fiancee, Debra, began to co-author the manuscript in the early 1980s; they met Bushman's last wife, Iva, who kindly allowed them to view and even handle some of Bushman's silent-film paraphernalia (much of which they shipped to the Smithsonian later). The book was finished in 1983, but remained unsold until it was published by Bear Manor Media.

What happened to Bushman's career?

To hear Bushman tell it, it was because he made a powerful enemy out of Louis B. Mayer. In 1917, Bushman starred in Mayer’s first production, "The Great Secret," a serial that was something of a flop. When he was making "Ben-Hur" in the mid-twenties for the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer company, Bushman alienated Mayer by holding him up for more money when the production was stalled. After a few major movies at the end of the twenties, he turned to radio for the next two decades.
He did state that he loved the 1959 remake of Ben-Hur, and even helped to promote the film.

Will we see more of Bushman's films now?

I hope so!

For Charley Chase fans

The most common reaction is "Who?" The second most common reaction is, "Oh, you mean Charlie Chaplin, don't you?"

Nope, Charley Chase. He was another silent comedians, not one of the Big Three, but very popular. A recent article states that his collected works are now available on DVD.

Write Jordan Young states:

"To my mind there are two kinds of people—those who love Charley Chase, and those who never heard of him. All Day Entertainment's Becoming Charley Chase, recently released by VCI Entertainment, is a 4-DVD box set affectionately put together by people who are clearly in the first category; it’s not the work of a soulless corporation trying to make a fast buck, like so many video releases these days.

"This collection should do much to bolster the reputation of this most unjustly underrated comedian of the 1920s and ‘30s, perhaps best remembered now for an uproarious cameo in Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert. One disc is devoted to Chase’s embryonic 1915 work for Mack Sennett; two discs are comprised of 1924-1925 shorts made at Hal Roach Studios; and a fourth samples his efforts directing other comics, including his brother James Parrott (who himself directed many of Charley’s comedies, as well of some of Laurel and Hardy’s best), Will Rogers and Snub Pollard. Our Gang, whose earliest comedies Chase supervised as Director General at Roach, are seen as guest stars in The Fraidy Cat.

"Even the Chase aficionado who has all or most of these 40-odd comedy shorts in 8mm, 16mm, Laserdisc or VHS will find the box hard to resist. There are new scores for all titles, with some highly entertaining and imaginative work by the Snark Ensemble, Ben Model, the Redwine Jazz Band, and the West End Jazz Band. There are also optional audio commentaries on all films by a gaggle of Chase historians and film scholars; a 45-minute documentary, The Parrott Chase; and an archival interview with Chase's daughter June.

"The quality of the films is erratic but not for lack of effort; producer David Kalat notes how he acquired six prints of one especially poor-looking title, and choose the best of the lot. We’re fortunate so many of Chase’s silent shorts exist, as the tantalizing fragments of some lost ones remind us... A DVD set of his ‘30s Columbia shorts is in the works; meanwhile, for more on Charley visit the definitive website."

As always, I'm DELIGHTED to see more silent films coming out on DVD. We just don't have enough; DVD hasn't yet caught up to VHS in terms of the number of films available, especially those from the silent era. I always love sharing the news of another silent release.

Hot news!

This from the Associated Press:

Early 20th century films found in Polish cellar

Fri Aug 21, 12:03 pm ET

WARSAW, Aug 21, 2009 (AFP) – Several rare early 20th century Swedish, German, Italian and American movies have been discovered in a cellar in southern Poland, the country's national film library said Friday.

"They are going to undergo cleaning and conservation, before being watched, identified and archived," library spokeswoman Justyna Jablonska told AFP.

The Polska newspaper reported that experts have identified several cinematic gems in the metal boxes discovered in a parish building in the city of Sosnowiec.

The newspaper said they included the 1913 "Gränsfolken" (People of the Border), adapted by Swedish director Mauritz Stiller from a novel by French icon Emile Zola, as well as "Zwei Himmelblaue Augen" (Two Skyblue Eyes), released in 1932 by Germany's Johannes Meyer.

In addition, Polska said, the films include a 1929 German version of the Sherlock Holmes adventure "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Richard Oswald, one from the long-running Italian series "Maciste", which began in 1914 and starred Bartolomeo Pagano.

Experts reportedly also discovered parts of a 1913 movie by Germany's Otton Rippert, who often worked with Fritz Lang.

The collection belonged to the parish priest Father Jerzy Barszcz, a local film buff who began collecting movies after World War II, and who died in 2004, Polska reported.

Exciting to learn for all lovers of early film!

Olive Thomas

Olive Thomas is an interesting (and sad) chapter in silent film. Lillian Gish was the consummate actress. Mary Pickford was the eternal, annoying little girl. Louise Brooks was a sex symbol. Garbo was the lady of mystery.

Olive was the tomboyish character, yet with style and class. Her film career was woefully short - only four years - but by the time she had made her final film, The Flapper, she was a confirmed star.

Olive had one of those rags-to-riches backgrounds. She married her first husband when she was only sixteen, divorcing him a few years later. She moved to New York City and won a beauty contest; this led to her being offered a job in the Ziegfeld Follies. (At late-night parties, Olive would appear wearing only balloons, which the rich men would pop, one by one, with their cigars.)

The film world wasn't far away in those days, with as many films being shot on the East Coast as on the West. Olive made her first film in 1916, and in October of that year, she married Mary Pickford's younger brother Jack. Jack was also in film, though he would never achieve the heights that his sister did. With Olive now a member of the industry, they often found themselves shooting on opposite coasts, putting a strain on their marriage; another problem was caused by Jack's frequent philandering.

In 1920, Olive and Jack sailed for Europe to give their marriage another try. Olive had confided to a friend, not long before this, that she didn't know if she could take being married to Jack any longer.

In the dead of night, in Paris, Olive went into the bathroom and swallowed a solution of mercury bichloride. She woke Jack to tell him what she had done; he administered first aid, and called for help. It was too late; after several days of agony, Olive died in a Paris hospital. She had been blinded by the solution, which had also burned through her vocal cords.

Jack, with Olive's body, sailed for New York. His boat was met by his sister Mary; Jack burst into tears and said, "I've never had to see anyone die before." Olive was buried in the Pickford family plot, but her name wasn't put on the stone.

Her last film, The Flapper, was a perfect showcase for her talent. She played Ginger King, a teenager from Florida who is sent to a boarding school in New York State. The character of Ginger has a real talent for getting into dramatic situations, which she milks for all that they're worth. Olive truly shines in this role, and the film gives us views of a long-gone New York City.

Much has been made of Olive's death, especially in light of the fact that her marriage was on the rocks. Was it suicide? I doubt it. Olive had thought nothing of divorcing her first husband, who, to all accounts, didn't cause her any of the problems that the irresponsible playboy Jack Pickford had. She may have felt that it was her duty to try to make things worth; this is plausible. Yet suicide by means of mercury bichloride is a rash step. (On the other hand, the "Biograph Girl", Florence Lawrence, committed suicide by eating ant paste.)

My feeling is that she got up late one night, thirsty, went into the bathroom, and drank what she thought was water. As for the solution itself, mercury bichloride was used in those days for acne; it was mixed with water and applied to the skin.

It was also used for syphilis, which, evidently, Jack had - and had passed on to Olive.

I think Olive deserves much better than to be relegated to the status of a Pickford in-law. She was very talented, certainly far more talented than the grungy-looking Jack, and I'm sure she would have been one of the greats. Timeline Films has made a very good documentary about Olive; click on the link at the bottom of this page to find out more. (One of the fascinating things about the documentary is that it contains film footage of Olive with two other actresses, sitting on some steps. One actress is Chaplin's one-time leading lady, Edna Purviance. The other is Virginia Rappe, who would die so dramatically the year after Olive did.)

Sad news

I hope that Bob Mitchell's family won't mind me putting this text here:

Bob Mitchell was born in Los Angeles on October 12, 1912. He began piano study at four and pipe organ at the age of ten. He accompanied silent movies beginning in 1924 (at age twelve) until 1928 when sound replaced live music. At eighteen he was the youngest candidate to receive the degree of Fellow of the American Guild of Organists (F.A.G.O.). He was a scholarship winner at Eastman School of Music and the New York College of Music and still found time to sing and play on his own radio show in New York City.

Returning to Los Angeles, he founded the Mitchell Choirboys in 1934 - which continued for nearly 70 years. They performed in some one hundred motion pictures, most notably Going My Way, The Bishop's Wife, and White Christmas. They toured extensively - five times abroad and once around the world, and made thousands of radio and TV appearances.

Bob served overseas in the Navy during World War II, and was pianist/organist for Meredith Willson's Armed Forces Radio Service Orchestra.

He served as staff pianist/organist at several Los Angeles radio stations - KFI, KHJ, KECA, among others, and on TV with Art Linkletter's House Party, The Jack LaLanne Show, and even The Mitchell Choirboys Show. Bob and the choir were featured in the Academy-nominated short film Forty Boys and a Song, and he was honored on Ralph Edwards' This Is Your Life.

Bob was organist for four years for the Dodgers and Angels at the then new stadium, the only person to 'play' for both the National and American leagues at the same time. He was Musical Director for many religious institutions over his 87 years as a professional musician, and most recently regularly exciting his many fans at the Silent Movie Theater (on Fairfax Blvd.), Hollywood. Bob passed away peacefully on Saturday afternoon, July 4, 2009.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

It's coming up soon! July 10 - 12 at San Francisco's Castro Theatre, built in 1922.

Click here to see what's playing. I noticed that several of the films on offer were shown at Pordenone last October. Anyone who wanted to attend Pordenone, but couldn't, has the opportunity to see some of the movies that were shown there.

I think we should have more such festivals. Every capital city should have one, and large countries should scatter them nationwide. Each month should bring another festival, and not just a few movies, but a rich offering of silent-era movies.

(On a side note, while I do appreciate the fact that some filmmakers like to make modern-day short silent films, I never get anything out of watching them at festivals. I prefer to have only vintage films shown, and nothing recent.)

This may be the biggest festival until Pordenone this October. I've never been to it myself, so I can't vouch for it, but the combination of silent films and San Francisco has tremendous appeal.

The Man Who Laughs

This is one gorgeous movie.

I saw it a few years ago, and I wonder why it took me so long. It's a late-era silent (1928) with the incomparable Conrad Veidt as the title character. It seems that Gwynplaine (Veidt) is the son of a man who pissed off the King of England in a very serious way; the father is sentenced to the Iron Maiden, while the son is given to a band of gypsies who excel in plastic surgery.

The gypsies carve a permanent smile in his face before abandoning him, alone and friendless. Finding a blind baby still clutched in her dead mother's arms, he takes the baby and eventually finds a home with a traveling show. Gwynplaine, as an adult, becomes a part of the show and is known, of course, as "The Man Who Laughs".

This is such an atmospheric film, with many touches of the German Expressionists (and one of Expressionism's best-known actors), matched by a fascinating, bizarre story. Veidt is always excellent, and even Mary Philbin gives a good performance as the blind Dea, the woman he loves but feels he doesn't deserve.

The film is dark, the story is consistently interesting, and everything just works. An interesting footnote is that Veidt's appearance - hair slicked back, face constantly smiling - provided the inspiration for the comic-book character of the Joker, nemesis of Batman, though Gwynplaine is a highly sympathetic, tragic character. Veidt had to wear wire hooks to hold his mouth in place, which prevented him from speaking. (There is some talk that Lon Chaney was originally cast in this role, which makes perfect sense, given his talent for strikingly original makeup.)

One of the things that interests me about this movie is the fact that it does have a soundtrack, though you don't hear the actors speaking their lines. Some of the sound is synched; some is a musical score. One romantic scene has a woman's beautiful voice singing. It's a far cry from the primitive sound that was, even then, taking over the film business.

Best of all, the film is available on DVD!

Flicker Alley

Big news!

Flicker Alley has released a John Gilbert double feature on DVD. The two films are Bardelys the Magnificent and Monte Cristo.

I don't know what else is in it; I know that we can count on the good people at Flicker Alley to throw in all kinds of delightful goodies, though. The first film is one I saw last year at the Pordenone festival, and I loved it. One reel was missing, so when it was restored by Lobster Films in France, they used stills to recreate the story during that scene. Bardelys is about a 17th-century Parisian nobleman who finds himself betting an acquaintance that he can "make" a young noblewoman of the country fall in love with and marry him. And that's just the beginning of the story.

I've never seen Monte Cristo, but Gilbert is in it. That's good enough for me.

Pordenone '09

Some of the films to be shown are already on the Giornate's site. The opening event will be Erich von Stroheim's The Merry Widow, starring John Gilbert and Mae Murray.

An article about the making of the film, written by Kevin Brownlow, accompanies the listing. It seems that the movie encountered enormous problems almost every step of the way, with Stroheim disappointed in the leading man who was foisted upon him (according to Gilbert, they eventually became friends after a little drinking session), and wonder boy Irving Thalberg calling the shots.

You can see a short clip of the waltz scene on YouTube, with the lovely melody "Love Unspoken" on the soundtrack. The video is scratchy, and I hope that the print they show at Pordenone will be better; the good people at the Giornate have a real genius for finding the best existing prints of the films they present.

That's the main news from the Giornate. Not much else to report.

John Gilbert - where is his tribute?

I've seen documentaries of other stars - Mary Pickford, most notably, Greta Garbo, Theda Bara, and even a lesser-known name to modern audiences, Olive Thomas.

Why haven't I seen a John Gilbert documentary?

If there is one, I haven't heard of it. John Gilbert certainly deserves one; I'd be willing to bet that his daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain (author of the Gilbert biography Dark Star - would help with it.

As I mentioned in my post about John Gilbert, he was one of THE stars of the silent era, especially in his teamings with Garbo; I don't think I've ever seen her heat up the screen except when paired with her one-time fiance. He become the leading Hollywood heartthrob after Valentino's death, made film after film in the '20s, and then fell into a decline that ended with his sudden, tragic death.

Let's see this man get the tribute he so richly deserves.

Today in silent film history

Raoul Walsh is born Albert Edward Walsh in New York City, 1887.
Dorothy Gish is born in Massillon, Ohio, 1898.

Alice Guy-Blache, the first woman director

Alice Guy was born in Paris, the fifth child in her family. Her parents lived in Santiago, Chile, but her mother traveled to Paris for the birth. Guy's grandmother in Switzerland cared for her until she was three or four years old. In 1877, Guy's mother collected her and brought her to Santiago, where Guy met her father for the first time.

Around 1879, her father took her back to France to enroll her in boarding school, where two of her sisters were studying. In 1884, the chain of bookstores her father owned in Chile were bankrupt; her parents returned to France, and Guy was enrolled in a less expensive boarding school. Her brother, who had been sick for some time, died, soon followed by her father.

In 1894, Guy washired by Léon Gaumont, to work for a photography company owned by Felix Richard. When, shortly thereafter, Richard lost a patent suit and went out of business, Gaumont bought his inventory and started his own company, with Guy working for him.

On March 22, 1895, Gaumont and Guy were invited by the Lumière brothers to view their cinématographe - a 35mm motion picture camera - in action.

This was when the turning point came in Guy's career. She persuaded Gaumont to let her direct a film using the Gaumont camera. In 1896, Guy wrote, produced, and directed La Fée aux choux (The Cabbage Fairy).

In 1897, Guy was made the head of film production, which would be her job until 1906. By that time, she had produced more than 400 films.

From 1902 to 1906, Guy directed more than 100 phonoscènes, which were films made for the chronophone (a synchronized-sound system introduced by Gaumont in 1902). In 1906, Herbert Blaché, a manager at Gaumont, acted as Guy's cameraman. On Christmas Day, 1906, the two became engaged - Guy was 33 and Blaché was 24.

In 1907, the two married and when Blaché was sent to the United States on business, Guy resigned in order to accompany him. The two were unsuccessful in their attempts to create a chronophone franchise, but in 1908, Blaché was hired by Gaumont to manage a studio in Flushing, New York that would produce English-language phonoscènes.

In 1910, Guy created a company, Solax, renting the Gaumont studio space. By 1912, Solax had become so successful that Guy built a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, at an alleged cost of more than $100,000. The company produced two one-reeler films per week. At least half of the films made were written and directed by Guy; she also oversaw all the production. At that time, D.W. Griffith was working at Biograph, a few miles away.

On March 1, 1913, Dick Whittington and His Cat was released. It was three reels (45 minutes) long, with a $35,000 budget.

In June of 1913, Blaché's contract with Gaumont ended and Guy made him president of Solax so that she could concentrate on writing and directing. Three months later, Blaché resigned and started his own film company, Blaché Features. The company used the Solax plant, inventory and actors, so that the two companies were easily confused for some months. Eventually, Blaché Features outstripped Solax in terms of production.

From August 1913 to August 1914, Blaché and Guy took turns in producing and directing three- and four-reel films for Blaché features. In the time period of 1914-1916, feature-length films of five reels or more were in increasing demand. Guy and Blaché joined production company Popular Plays and Players. The films were shot in the old Solax Studio in Fort Lee, which at that time still belonged to the Blachés.

In 1916, after two years of cooperation, the Blachés decided to end their work with Popular Plays and Players. Guy directed seven feature films, including The Ocean Waif.

In 1917, the Solax studio was rented to other companies. Guy, now 44, was a highly-regarded film director, but her recent films hadn't enjoyed commercial success.

In 1918, Blaché found Guy work in directing The Great Adventure for Pathé Players. This film is commercially successful. That same year, Blaché moved to Hollywood with Catrine Calvert, an actress who had starred in four films under Guy's direction. Guy moved into a New York City apartment.

In 1919, Léonce Perret hired Guy to write and direct Tarnished Reputations, at a rate of $2,000 for six weeks of work. The film actually took ten weeks to complete, during which time Guy came down with the Spanish influenza, which killed four coworkers. Blaché, then in New York, invited her to join him in California.

In 1920, Guy and her children moved into a Los Angeles bungalow. Though Blaché didn't live with them, he hired Guy as his directing assistant on the Alla Nazimova films The Brat and Stronger than Death.

Tarnished Reputations opened on March 14, 1920. It was the last film that Alice Guy-Blaché would direct.

After a turbulent life after directing, Guy died on March 24, 1968, in a New Jersey nursing home, aged 95.

She isn't just the first woman director. She was one of the first directors ever, starting in the film business at the very beginning, well ahead of the far more famous D.W. Griffith. She is said to have made more than 400 movies, of which only one-fourth survive.

Come to think of it, concerning the enormous numbers of silent films lost to us, that's an above-average survival rate.

So, then, why is there so little about her? Where is the DVD set of her films? The TV specials about her? Why is she barely remembered these days?

I'd like to know.

Mary Pickford

Little Mary, America's Sweetheart.

I don't like her.

This will probably prove to be an extremely unpopular statement among silent film fans, but it's true. I don't like Mary's doe-eyed expressions or her endless little-girl roles. I know that in real life, Mary was a very shrewd businesswoman, one who knew how to get paid for her work.

That doesn't mean her work was exceptional; it just meant that Mary knew how to get what she wanted. I read that most of the budget for A Romance of the Redwoods went to pay Mary's salary. And this was in 1917. Before three more years had passed, of course, she had cofounded United Artists. She was the highest-paid star in the world.

Well, so what? When I watch her, I feel as if her real-life business sense had spilled over into her screen performances. It looks to me as if she's crafting each performance with the utmost care, not to be the best she can be, but to keep the audience hooked and the money machine in top operation. She just doesn't ring true to me, particularly in her early films, when despite claims that she brought a naturalistic style of acting to the screen, she makes the common mistake of striking a dramatic pose with her arms over her head. Quite a few actresses who made far less money than Mary were doing the same thing. Years later, when she finally played her last little-girl role in Sparrows, she raises her hands over her head in horror. Didn't learn much, did she?

She's simply a neat little package, always adorable, makeup always perfect. She appears on the screen, milking the character for all she's worth. The only time I've ever seen her play an unattractive role - and unattractive it is - is in the film Stella Maris. According to the documentary I watched, most of the crew didn't even recognize her when she appeared on set, hair dull, no makeup, completely opposite to her usual look.

Now, if Mary had done this more often, I might have more respect for her. As it is, I don't feel that acting was her life's passion. Unlike Lillian Gish, who went to great lengths to make her performances the best she could make them, Mary strikes me as someone who viewed acting as a means to an end, said end being financial security. She knew she was in the right profession, and rather than working for it, she made it work for her.

Metropolis

Rumor has it that Metropolis is going to be remade.

I've seen it. I saw it before the rest of the footage was discovered in Buenos Aires last year. I watched Brigitte Helm's unforgettable performance in her dual role.

And I can't stand the thought of it being remade. I don't know who had this particularly stupid idea, but if you're reading this, you lack imagination. You lack creativity. You shouldn't be making films.

Why?

Because you're remaking a classic. Hell, you're remaking a film. That's more than enough. Want to make a classic? Make your own movie. Don't ride someone else's coattails in a vain attempt to make a name for yourself. If you can't write your own films - and a lot of people can't; there's no shame in that - then adapt a work of fiction that's never been made into a film before. Do something ORIGINAL. Make a film that will be a showcase for your own talents and that of the people involved.

DON'T remake someone else's triumph and try to pass it off as a tribute to a superior filmmaker. Fritz Lang was a groundbreaker in filmmaking; if you can't be one yourself, don't try to redo what he can do, DID do, better. The era in which Metropolis was made had a definite impact on the appeal of the film, then and now. This era is not the same; this era has its own distinctive mark.

Make a real film. Make something that's never been done before. Be DARING. Any idiot can do a remake, and many idiots do. Don't be one of them.

Lost

One of the saddest things about the silent era; so many films from that time no longer exist. I read somewhere that the guesstimate is 80 - 90%.

That is one GRIM statistic. For all of the great films that still exist, how many more are gone? No wonder we get excited at the news that the missing footage of Metropolis has been found. I wouldn't mind taking a tour of screening rooms, old movie theaters, and the houses of theater owners, in the hope of finding even one reel of a missing film. I'm that intent.

I know that the AFI has a list of "Most Wanted" of the lost films, but I couldn't find it online; I found many mentions of it, but not the list itself.

Here are some of mine:

The Miracle Man
The Greatest Thing in Life
London After Midnight (I've seen this referred to as perhaps the most famous lost film of them all)
Remodeling Her Husband (starring Dorothy Gish and directed by none other than her sister, Lillian; her only film behind the camera)
Cleopatra
The entire epic of Greed
The Boy in Blue
Number 13

Chaney! Gish! Murnau! Hitchcock!