Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers

Kino Lorber's 

Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers Blu-ray Set

curated by Shelley Stamp

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In collaboration with the Library of Congress, Kino Lorber and film historian Shelley Stamp have curated an impressive and comprehensive collection of early female directed films. Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers is a 6 disc Blu-ray set (also comes in DVD format) that contains over 50 films ranging from shorts, feature films and incomplete movies. The set also includes 8 short informational documentaries, various commentary tracks and original music. What began as a Kickstarter campaign now is is a bonafide piece of film history that any movie buff would be proud to own.

We talk about Pre-Codes, that time period after the silent film era and before the strict enforcement of the Hays Code, when filmmakers had more free rein on releasing films with explicit content. But what about the pre-studio era of silent films? In the early days of motion pictures, the art form wasn’t taken seriously. This opened doors for African-American, Jewish and Female filmmakers to use their creative talents in a new field. Being a film director was a viable career for women because there was no set gender standard. According to film historian Cari Beauchamp, there were over 100 movie studios in the 1910s and between 1920 and 1933 those consolidated into only 7. Along with the male-dominated unions and guilds that sprung up during this time, female filmmakers were shut out making room for the male directors who would take over Hollywood. For one glorious period in early film history however, there was an output of great films that ranged in breadth, depth and subject matter.

“The films that these female pioneers wrote, produced, and often directed have an emotional depth one doesn’t find in other films.” – Ileana Douglas

Included in Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers are 58 of these films, each offering a look into an incredible time in the early history of film. Each disc is arranged by theme and a handful of the films included are exclusive to the Blu-ray set which makes that one even more valuable. With 80% of silent films lost, it’s incredibly important to appreciate what we have and that includes incomplete films. According to Rob Stone, Moving Image Curator for the Library of Congress, fragments tend to languish in vaults and are even more forgotten than whole surviving films. I’m grateful that the Pioneers set includes fragments as well films with some damage, restored to the best of the ability of the preservationists who worked on this project.

Each of the 6 discs contains extras, either commentary tracks or documentaries, averaging about 15 minutes each, on different subjects. These documentaries add real value to the set and I encourage you to watch them before tackling any of the films. They provide context and background information that is crucial to appreciating the movies you are about to see. The talking heads in these docs include principal curator Shelley Stamp as well as other curators, film historians, experts, archivists, preservationists, etc. My only small critique is that these extras start rather abruptly and could have used a short intro for more ease in viewing.

In addition to the docs and commentary is a 76 page booklet which includes an introduction by Ileana Douglas, an essay on the history of female filmmaking by Shelley Stamp, essays on the restoration and spotlights on one particular film and one particular filmmaker, information about the Women’s Film Preservation Fund and a thorough index of credits for the films included in the set. It’s a substantial booklet that reads like a film history book on its own. Another element that adds a lot of value to the set is the original music by silent film accompanists and composers such as Ben Model, the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra, Renee C. Baker, Makia Matsumura, Maud Nelissen, Dana Reason, Aleksandra Vrebalov, etc. I was particularly struck by the score for Back to God’s Country (1919) by Dana Reason and Salome (1923) by Aleksandra Vrebalov.

Going through the Pioneers set was an education in itself. It’s feminist film history in a box. These trailbrazers set a precedent that film history has forgotten and it’s up to us to make sure those lessons are not lost. The subject matters range from gender identity, marriage, adultery, birth control, religion, sexual abuse, etc. However not all of these directors were progressive proto-feminists. Lois Weber for example was a former missionary and had very conservative views. As we’ve learned over the years of studying the history of film, the more perspectives the better.

Some of my favorite films in this set include Mabel Normand’s comedies, Alice Guy Blache’s rags-to-riches-to-rags short A Fool and His Money (1912), Zora Neale Hurston's ethnograph vignettes of African-American life in rural Florida circa 1928, Lois Weber’s controversial feature Where Are My Children? (1916) (starring Tyrone Power Sr.!), Weber’s marital drama Too Wise Wives (1921) (featuring a very young Louis Calhern), Nell Shipman’s Back to God’s Country (1919) (she’s my favorite of the early female filmmakers) and Nazimova’s fantastical Salome (1923).

The Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers set contains the following:

Disc 1: Alice Guy-Blaché 
Disc 2: Lois Weber
Disc 3: Genre Pioneers
Discs 4 & 5: Social Commentary
Disc 6: Feature Films Era

Directed by Alice Guy-Blaché 
Greater Love Hath No Man (1911)
Tramp Strategy (1911)
Algie the Miner (1912)
Canned Harmony (1912)
Falling Leaves (1912)
A Fool and His Money (1912)
The High Cost of Living (1912)
The Little Rangers (1912)
Burstup Homes' Murder Case (1913)
The Coming of Sunbeam (1913)
A House Divided (1913)
Matrimony's Speed Limit (1913)
The Ocean Waif (1916)

Directed by Lois Weber
On the Brink (1911)
Fine Feathers (1912)
From Death to Life (1912)
Hypocrites (1912)
The Rosary (1913)
Suspense (1913)
Lost By a Hair (1915)
Sunshine Molly (1915)
Idle Wives (1916)
Scandal (aka Scandal Mongers) (1916)
Where Are My Children? (1916)
Too Wise Wives (1921)
What Do Men Want? (1921)

Directed by Helen Holmes
Hazards of Helen Ep. 09: Leap From the Water Tower (1915)
Hazards of Helen Ep.13: The Escape on the Fast Freight (1915)
The Hazards of Helen Ep. 26: Wild Engine (1915)

Directed by Grace Cunard
Purple Mask, The; Episode 5, Part 1 (1917)
Purple Mask, The: Episode 12 (Vault of Mystery) (1917)
Purple Mask, The; Episode 13, Part 1 (The Leap) (1917)
A Daughter of "The Law" (1921)

Directed by Mabel Normand
Caught in a Cabaret (1914)
Mabel's Blunder (1914)
Mabel Lost and Won (1915)
Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1916)

Directed by Nell Shipman
Back to God's Country (1919)
Something New (1920)

Directed by Ida May Park
The Risky Road (1918)
Bread (1918)
Broadway Love (1918)

Miscellaneous
49 - '17 (1917) directed by Ruth Ann Baldwin
The Colleen Bawn (1911) script by Gene Gauntier
That Ice Ticket (1923) directed by Angela Murray Gibson
Ethnographic Films (1929) directed by Zora Neale Hurston
The Call of the Cumberlands (1916) directed by Julia Crawford Ivers
Motherhood: Life's Greatest Miracle (1925) directed by Lita Lawrence
Eleanor's Catch (1916) directed by Cleo Madison
Her Defiance (1916) directed by Cleo Madison
The Song of Love (1923) directed by dir. Frances Marion
Salome (1923) produced by Alla Nazimova
The Red Kimona (1925) directed by Dorothy Davenport Reid
Linda (1929) directed by Dorothy Davenport Reid
When Little Lindy Sang (1916) directed by Lule Warrenton
The Cricket (1917) directed by Elsie Jane Wilson
The Dream Lady (1918) directed by Elsie Jane Wilson
Curse of Quon Gwon: When the Far East Mingle with the West (1916) directed by Marion E. Wong

Extras/Short Documentaries
An Introduction to Series
About the Restorations
Alice Guy-Blache
Lois Weber
Mabel Normand
Serial Queens
Social Commentary
The End of an Era

Thank you to Kino Lorber for sending me a copy of Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers for review.

Found at Mostly Lost Vol. 2

Found at Mostly Lost Vol. 2

On sale October 30th

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Earlier this year at the TCM Classic Film Festival I attended a presentation on the Mostly Lost workshop and let’s just say I was utterly fascinated. For those of you unfamiliar with Mostly Lost, it’s a film identification workshop run by the Library of Congress at their National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, VA. Started in 2012, the workshop gathers historians, experts and fans to collaborate on identifying silent and early sound films. These are movies, pulled from the LoC’s film archive, that are missing titles or other identifiers or have been previously  misidentified. Attendees are encouraged to shout out anything they recognize whether it’s an actor or actress, a film studio logo, a location, a period style of dress or hairdo, car models, or anything that will provide some information about the film. Live music, by silent film accompanists like Ben Model, is performed at these screenings. Attendees bring laptops, smartphones, books, etc. to help them in their research. This sounds like such a fun workshop especially for any film historian who loves research. It's also another way in which the Library of Congress contributes to film preservation and knowledge.

Thanks to Ben Model and his distribution company Undercrank Productions, a selection of films identified during the workshop are now available on DVD! In Found At Mostly Lost: Volume 2, Model offers 10 shorts ranging from 7-22 minutes in length. These films were identified by the Mostly Lost team during 2015-2017 workshops and features new piano scores by accompanists Philip Carli, Andrew E. Simpson and Ben Model.

Do Me a Favor (1922)

The DVD includes the following:
Adolph Zink (1903) - Thomas A. Edison Co. - 11 minutes
And the Villain Still Pursued Her; or the Author’s Dream (1906) - Vitagraph - 8 minutes
Derby Day (1922) - Monty Banks - 12 minutes
Do Me a Favor (1922) - Snub Pollard - 10 minutes
The Faithful Dog; or, True to the End (1907) - Eclipse - 8 minutes
The Falling Arrow (1909) - James Young Deer - 8 minutes
Fresh Fish (1922) - Bobby Bumps (animated)  - 7 minutes
In the Tall Grass Country (1910) - Francis Ford, Edith Storey - 10 minutes
The Noodle Nut (1921) - Billy Bletcher - 8 minutes
The Sunshine Spreader (1920s) - 22 minutes

Monty Banks and Lucille Hutton in Derby Day (1922)

My favorite film of the collection was Derby Day, a hilarious 12 minute short starring Monty Banks as a guy who just wants some lunch. In his pursuit for food, he gets caught up in random, bizarre situations that culminate with him racing in a local Derby. The only downside to the short is that it came with German title cards, one of which I stopped to translate online just to figure out what was going on.

Another comedy short I enjoyed was The Noodle Nut, a zany story about two noodle factory workers vying for the hand of one woman. They compete to sell a pack of 5 foot long noodles to a Mack R. Roni, a noodle buyer. The man who sells the noodles gets the girl. Things go awry and hilarity inevitably ensues.

Fresh Fish was an interesting short, a mix of live action and animation. This cute story features a young boy hand cranking an animated movie while his cat watches on. Within the animation is the story of a boy going fishing with his dog. Eventually the animated dog and the live action cat interact with each other.

The collection also features a few dramas. My favorite of those was The Faithful Dog, a tragic tale of a blind beggar and his beloved companion who sticks with him to the bitter end. I also enjoyed In the Tall Grass Country, a modest story of a country boy in love with a girl who has mistaken his sister as a rival love interest.

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Found at Mostly Lost: Vol 2 DVD goes on sale 10/30/18. This would make a great gift for the silent film enthusiast or film history buff in your life.

Thank you to Ben Model of Undercrank Productions for sending me a copy for review!

Silent Movie (1976)

This post is sponsored by DVD Netflix

"What's the matter with you? Don't you know who I used to be?" 

Once celebrated film director Mel Funn is working on his comeback project. With the help of his best buds Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman) and Dom Bell (Dom DeLuise) they set out to make his dream happen. The trio stop by Big Pictures Studios to meet with the Studio Chief (Sid Caesar). Rival studio, Engulf and Devour, run by Engulf (Harold Gould) and Devour (Ron Carey), wants to put Big Picture Studios out of business. Funn offers Studio Chief his idea to save the company: the first silent movie made in over forty years. What could go wrong? With Studio Chief in the hospital, Funn and his crew set out on an adventure to get the biggest stars to be in their picture.

Silent Movie (1976) pokes fun at the film industry while paying homage to the silent films that started it all. This backstage comedy is 99.9% silent. Only one word is uttered and of course the actor to speak it is renowned mime Marcel Marceau. Because why not? Silent Movie is filled with hilarious gags, physical comedy that will leave you in stitches. It has one of the best line-ups of guest stars of any movie. In addition to Marceau, the comic trio recruit Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Liza Minnelli, Anne Bancroft (Mel Brooks' wife) and Paul Newman. Each cameo comes with its own highly entertaining comedy sequence. My favorite one was with Liza Minnelli. Brooks, Feldman and DeLuise dress up in suits of armor and enter the studio commissary where Minnelli has lunch. The trio don't know how to move gracefully in their clunky armor and chaos inevitably ensues. I watched that one scene four times before I could even move on to the rest of the film. It's that good.

On the heels of the success of Blazing Saddles (1974), his homage to Westerns, and Young Frankenstein (1974), his homage to classic horror, Brooks was in a position to tackle another genre, one near and dear to his heart.

"I never cared about religion, but I prayed to silent movies. It was my contact with things soulful. I'd go [to the silent movie theater] as often as I could." - Mel Brooks

According to Brooks biographer Dale Sherman (Mel Brooks FAQ), the idea came from writer Ron Clark who presented it to Brooks at a party. Brooks wasn't so sure about Clark's idea. How would a silent movie appeal to a modern audience? According to Sherman, Clark suggested "a movie in color, set in the current time, with all the modern camera techniques available, and with big movie stars... but without sound."

Brooks worked with Clark on the script and added his previous collaborators Rudy De Luca and Barry Levinson to the project. 20th Century Fox was on board with the idea, thanks to the nostalgia boom of the 1960s nad '70s and Brooks' recent box office success. However, just to be safe, the studio wanted Brooks to record sound. Just in case the whole silent movie aspect didn't pan out. But Brooks was confident it would work. The only sound added was Marceau's single word of dialogue, John Morris' score and synchronized sound for the various gags.

Then there was the cast. DeLuise and Feldman, Brooks' co-stars, were on board early on. Bernadette Peters, who plays Brooks' love interest, replaced Madeline Kahn who had to drop out. Then there were the guest stars. Brooks couldn't offer them much money. However, it wasn't a lot of work and it was a great opportunity to be featured in a movie poised for box office success. Caan, Reynolds, Minnelli and others agreed because who wouldn't want to work with Brooks circa 1976? Steve McQueen wanted the Paul Newman part but when he heard it was taken and that his friendly screen rival would be in the picture, he bowed out.

Silent Movie was made for $4 million and grossed over $36 million. It got mixed reviews but a lot of laughs.

Disclaimer: As a DVD Nation director, I earn rewards from DVD Netflix. You can rent Silent Movie on DVD.com.

The Kinetophone: A Fact! A Reality!: Talking Pictures from 1913!

Jack's Joke (1913)
Photo Credit: courtesy Undercrank Productions/Library of Congress

Before there was the Vitaphone there was Thomas Edison's Kinetophone. Over a decade before Al Jolson proclaimed "you ain't heard nothing yet" in The Jazz Singer (1927), Kinetophone brought talking pictures to audiences. The technology was a marriage between the Kinetoscope and the Phonograph. According to silent film accompanist Ben Model,

"Showing the films in theaters involved a complex system involving a hand-cranked projector connected by a system of pulleys to a modified Edison cylinder player at the front of the theatre, operated at both ends by technicians connected by head-sets. The Kinetophone films, like the early Vitaphone shorts, were of theatrical or vaudeville acts, dramatic scenes and musical performances."

Over two hundred Kinetophone shorts featuring vaudeville acts, musical numbers, short dramas and other theatrical productions were released. The first ones premiered in New York on February 17, 1913. Only 8 of these shorts survived and 105 years later those 8, plus a 3 minute Kinetophone lecture, are available to the general public for the first time.

Model's distribution company Undercrank Productions has recently released The Kinetophone: A Fact! A Reality!: Talking Pictures from 1913, on DVD. It includes:

The Edison Kinetophone

The Musical Blacksmiths

Nursery Favorites with the Edison Players Quartette Orchestra

The Deaf Mute: A Military Drama

The Edison Minstrels

The Five Bachelors

The Old Guard

Jack's Joke

The Politician

As a bonus the set also includes the 24 minute documentary: So Amazingly Perfect They are Really Weird: The History and Restoration of Edison Kinetophone Films. The doc is hosted by George Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager for the Library of Congress. Willeman discusses at length the history behind the Kinetophone technology and provides background on the players featured in the various shorts.

Each short is roughly six minutes long and features synchronized sound. The only exception to this is The Politician which is still missing its sound cylinder. Preceding each short is a brief introduction presented in the form of title cards. These include information about the source materials, restoration and synchronization of the short film. Any syncing issues are flagged up.

I've watched a few of these Kinetophone films before at Capitolfest in 2016. It was great to see all the surviving Kinetophones in one collection. With the exception of Nursery Favorites, these have not been released to the general public since their premiere in 1913!

These Kinetophone shorts are more than just curios from the past. They're an important piece of film history. This treasure trove from a forgotten era of filmmaking is one classic film enthusiasts will want to get their hands on.

The Kinetophone: A Fact! A Reality!: Talking Pictures from 1913! DVD is available from Undercrank Productions. Many thanks to Ben for sending me a screener to review.

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Check out my red carpet interview with Ben Model at the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival. He discusses at length about some of the upcoming releases from Undercrank Productions.

The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille (2016)

The Ten Commandments (1923)

In 1923, Cecil B. DeMille and his crew headed to the Nipomo Dunes of Guadalupe, California, a small town 160 miles north of Hollywood. DeMille brought with him carpenters, electricians, sculptors, painters, set decorators and many more to build a giant set for his new film The Ten Commandments (1923). His crew got to work on building a 900 feet wide and 100 feet tall set which included 20 Sphinxes and four 35 ton statues of Ramses. It was one of the biggest sets in movie history. Too big to build on the Paramount Studio lot, DeMille needed a wide open space that could double as Egypt and the Guadalupe dunes was just the location. The whole project was one of Biblical proportions well-suited for a film director whose approach to films was nothing less than epic. Too large to move back to Hollywood, the set's fate was up in the air. What would DeMille do with it? If he left it there, rival filmmakers would discover it and take advantage of their masterpiece to make their own movies. DeMille would have none of that. So he decided to bury the set, the entire set, in the sands of the dunes.

"If, a thousand years from now, archaeologists happen to dig beneath the sands of Guadalupe, I hope they will not rush into print with the amazing news that Egyptian Civilization... extended all the way to the Pacific coast of North America. The sphinxes they will find were buried there when we had finished them." - Cecil B. DeMille

Fast forward 60 years later. It was the early 1980s and filmmaker Peter Brosnan and his team had set out to find the buried set of The Ten Commandments. It was a project that would be plagued by setbacks and bureaucratic red-tape. Brosnan's documentary, The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille (2016), tells the story the archaeological dig that spanned over 3 decades. What seemed like a relatively straightforward dig became anything but that. The film also explores the making of DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1923). Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Brosnan and his team searched for those who worked on the film and Guadalupe locals who either witnessed the production or were extras on the set. As a result of their work to capture these stories, Brosnan provides a plethora of archival footage. In this we find lots of interviews with extras, witnesses and with other figures including Agnes DeMille (Cecil's niece), screenwriter Jesse Lasky Jr., actor Pat Terence, actress Leatrice Joy (audio only) plus many of the people involved in the archaeological dig. There are also contemporary interviews with Peter Brosnan, his team members including Bruce Cradozo, Richard Eberhardt, Kelvin Jones, and DeMille's granddaughter Cecilia DeMille Presley. And to my surprise the documentary also covered the making of the 1956 version of The Ten Commandments which helps complete this almost century long story.

What the film lacks for in production quality it makes up for in a riveting story. The archival footage of the dig and the last surviving witnesses to the 1923 filming add much value to this documentary. I was riveted by the story of Brosnan and his team's quest to uncover the buried set. This is a fascinating documentary and well worth the time of any serious classic film buff.

The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille is now available for digital download. I encourage you to give this one a try. You can find the movie on iTunes.

Additional links: My review of The Ten Commandments (1923).

Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016)

It's a cinephile's dream to unearth a trove of silent gems. Films unseen for many decades, written off as lost forever are brought to life again. When this event occurs usually one or two films are found in someone's attic or shed. Sometimes these discoveries happen in lands many miles away from birthplace of the film. We hear about newly discovered silents, sometimes entire films, sometimes just fragments, coming from South America or Australia.

"Dawson had an idle, captive audience ready to be entertained." - Dawson City: Frozen Time

Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada is over three thousand miles away from Hollywood. It's an isolated city in the heart of the gold rush territory of the north. Once a gambling town that suffered from countless fires, it eventually became the home of a small community of just under 1,000 people. In the 1910s and 1920s, Dawson City residents were captivated by the silent films shown at their local athletic center's family theater. Dawson was the end of the line for film distribution. Back in those days, film distributors would send out nitrate prints for rental periods. After the rental period was over, the theaters would send back the prints. Because Dawson was so far away, it would sometimes take 2-3 years to arrive in Dawson. Not only was it cost-prohibitive to pay to get the prints back, by then the distributors were no longer interested in them. The local Dawson bank was in charge of making sure the films were only screened during that rental period before locking them up. As the years passed they ran out of room. Crates of nitrates were set ablaze, dumped in the Yukon river and just over 500 reels were used to fill a pool in the local athletic center.  Over 50 years later, those reels, buried in permafrost and forgotten were unearthed.

A nitrate reel unearthed from the permafrost. Dawson City: Frozen Time. Photo source: Kino Lorber

"The world outside of Yukon flickered through their screens."  - Dawson City: Frozen Time

Director Bill Morrison's new documentary Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), explores the discovery of those 500 reels but also the history of Dawson City and it's long connection with Hollywood. The documentary has no narration and only a couple of interviews at the beginning and the end of the film. Most of it watches like a silent movie. It's made of photographic images shot in the Ken Burns style as well as a plethora of film clips, many of which are Dawson City film finds. Morrison and his team expertly weave together photographs, film clips, captions and ethereal music. Audiences will learn about the early days of Dawson City, time spent there and in the Yukon by known Hollywood figures such as Sid Grauman, Fatty Arbuckle and William Desmond Taylor. We learn about volatile medium of nitrate film and the neglect of silent film in the talkie era.

When you watch this documentary, you get a sense of how movies made the world seem smaller and more accessible. I'm fascinated by how the filmmakers were able to incorporate so much relevant footage. For example, director Alice Guy-Blache is briefly profiled and not only do we see film footage of the Solax Film Laboratories fire (she was co-founder and director of that laboratory) but also a clip from one of her silent films that was uncovered in the Dawson City find. Some might find this film a bit quirky with its lack of talking heads and narration. The music at times is surreal and ominous. I enjoyed all these elements but for some who are used to traditionally styled documentaries it would be important to know this before diving head first into the film.

Dawson City: Frozen Time is an expertly crafted documentary and a fascinating story of one small town and their extraordinary find. It's well worth the time of any hardcore cinephile.

Dawson City: Frozen Time screened earlier this year at the TCM Classic Film Festival and I unfortunately wasn't able to attend that screening. I put it high on my wish list of new documentaries to watch and it did not disappoint. The film is currently on theater tour across the country with screenings books from now until early September. You can find future screening dates here. Kino Lorber will be releasing Dawson City: Frozen Time on DVD in the near future.

Thank you to Kino Lorber for sending me a screener for this film!

Zaza (1923)

In 1923, Gloria Swanson was a bonafide star. She had over 40 films under her belt and a few more years of silent film fame ahead of her before the industry transitioned to talking pictures. Then there is her fabulous comeback with Sunset Blvd. (1950) which is a completely different story.

Hollywood director Allan Dwan, inventor of the camera dolly, had his eye on Zaza, a French play by playwright duo Pierre Berton and Charles Simon. The play was a major hit, capturing the end of the Gay Nineties of Paris for future generations. It was adapted into film a couple of times before Dwan got his hands on it. Dwan convinced Adolph Zukor of Paramount to buy the rights for a film adaptation and he had one star in mind for the lead role: Gloria Swanson.

Dwan and Swanson had met briefly at a Hollywood party before but had never worked together. The director's reputation preceded him and Swanson knew well that he had worked with countless other big name film stars. It was inevitable that they would work together. However Swanson was worried that Zaza would prove to be just another period costume picture. She'd been in several leading up to 1923. According to her autobiography Swanson on Swanson, Dwan told her "I want your costumes to be authentic and exciting, sassy and vulgar, and Norman Norell will give me exactly what I want." In this film adaptation, Dwan and his team switched things up to portray the story in a more modern setting with costuming to match.

Swanson was so excited for the role that she delayed having minor surgery in New York City to be in the film. Dwan convinced Paramount producers Jesse L. Lasky and Adolph Zukor to speed up the filming schedule for Swanson's sake. They found a mansion on Long Island that doubled as a French chateau. Swanson stayed in actor Richard Bennett's NYC apartment and commuted to Astoria and the mansion for filming each day. This was back when Paramount had a studio in Astoria, Queens and did a lot of filming on Long Island.

To star alongside Gloria Swanson, Paramount enlisted H.B. Warner, an actor whom contemporary audiences will recognize as Mr. Gower from It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Back in the early '20s he was a well-known stage actor and went on to play Jesus Christ in Cecil B. Demille's King of Kings (1927). Also in the cast is Mary Thurman who plays Florianne, Zaza's on stage rival. Tashman had much promise as a film star but tragically died in 1925 at the age of 30 when she caught pneumonia while making Down Upon the Suwanee River (1925). (Side note: that film also stars Charles Emmett Mack who also tragically passed away while making another film two years later.) Fans of Helen Mack will delight in seeing her at the age of 10 playing the role of Lucille Dufresne.

Zaza (1923) is a story about famed soubrette Zaza (Gloria Swanson) who dreams of performing in Paris and falling in love. She has her eye on patron of the arts Bernard Dufresne (H.B. Warner) but her drunk Aunt Rosa (Lucille La Verne) is trying to persuade her niece to snag Duke de Brissac (Ferdinand Gottschalk) instead (after all he has a nice wine cellar!). Zaza is a temperamental star, quick to bouts of anger and loves to drive her rival soubrette Florianne (Mary Thurman) mad with jealousy. Both Zaza and Florianne want Bernard but what neither of them knows is that he's married and unavailable. However, Bernard can't help himself and gives into Zaza's charm. She wins him over at her French chateau where she is recovering after a fall. They spend time together before Bernard is called away for a position in Washington D.C. He's been estranged from his wife who comes back into the picture only when she sees his prospects increased. Eventually Zaza discovers that not only is her love Bernard married but he also has a charming little daughter Lucille (Helen Mack). She can't bring herself to break up the family and she runs away from Bernard. The story becomes less about life about the stage and more about the romantic drama caused by Zaza and Bernard's passionate love for each other. The story doesn't end there and you'll have to watch the film to find out what becomes of the two.

Gloria Swanson as Zaza

Even though Dwan promised Swanson that this wouldn't be another costume picture, Zaza (1923) is kind of another costume picture. My fellow vintage fashion enthusiasts will delight in the extravagant and sometimes ridiculous fashions donned by Gloria Swanson in the film. Imagine the merchandising that could have resulted from this film? Swanson wears Z-shaped earrings and a bracelet with Z mark on it that could have easily been sold to young women who wanted to be as fabulous as Swanson. Swanson wears a fantastic flower dress, dons an outlandish feathered hat, 1920s shoes that are to die for and in one scene she has what looks like about 50 earring type jewels dangling precariously from threads of teased hair. It must be seen to be believed.

Gloria Swanson as Zaza. Photo source: Pinterest

The film starts out as a comedy but quickly turns into a romantic drama. It was quite enjoyable and worth watching especially if you have an interest in Gloria Swanson. It does have his bad moments including one racist remark uttered by Zaza and an unfortunate scene with a hunchback. This is one of those films in which the history of the movie is even more interesting than the plot.

Swanson worked well with Dwan and they went on to make 7 more films together. The play Zaza was adapted several times including a 1938 version that starred Claudette Colbert and Herbert Marshall. Zaza revitalized Gloria Swanson's career, which had been in a funk after all those costume pictures, and it catapulted her fame. Any anonymity she enjoyed prior to Zaza was long gone.

Zaza (1923) is available on Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber. The music for the film is by my favorite silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis whom I've written about on this blog numerous times. He adapted the music from the original 1923 cue sheet.

Thank you to Kino for sending me a copy of this film for review.

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror Review

On a chilly evening on the eve of Halloween, scores of people made their way towards Symphony Hall in Boston for a truly spectacular event. F.W. Murnau’s classic horror movie Nosferatu (1922) would be projected on a gigantic screen that hung above the orchestra pit. A new score, created by eight Berklee College of Music students under the supervision of renown professor Sheldon Mirowitz, would be performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra and conducted by legendary Keith Lockhart. It was a magical evening full of fun Halloween costumes and incredible music.

The event started with an introduction by Berklee president Roger H. Brown. He told the audience that Berklee is the only college where you can major in film scoring for your undergraduate degree. The school has worked with the Coolidge Corner Theatre over their years for their Sound of Silents series. The students compose an original score for a silent movie and perform the music live in accompaniment with a screening of a film at theatre (see my review of their performance of Sunrise here). The school graduated into a new relationship with the Boston Pops Orchestra and Keih Lockhart.

If you're from Boston you are well acquainted with the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, something us locals look forward to every Independence Day. Whether your on the Esplanade watching it live or sitting at home watching it on TV, it's not an event to miss. Just watch this clip of the Boston Pops performing the 1812 Overture as fireworks light up the sky. It'll give you goosebumps.

Even thought I've lived in this state all of my life I have never seen the Boston Pops perform live nor have I been inside Symphony Hall. Before the event started, Carlos and I were craning our necks to take in the splendor of the hall's interior. It's an enormous space and according to the BSO's website, “Symphony Hall [is] the first auditorium designed in accordance with scientifically derived acoustical principles.” It's enormous but because of the way it was constructed the music fills the space.

 

After Brown's speech he introduced Sheldon Mirowitz, professor of film scoring at Berklee who has a long resume of TV and film scoring credits as well as three Emmy nominations. Mirowitz gave a very eloquent speech. He brought up the question: why do we need horror movies? His answer: we need to see our fear to better understand it. This is spot on and exactly why so many of us watch not only horror films but pretty much any film. They help us process reality.

After Mirowtiz's speech it was time for the show. The orchestra tuned up and conductor Keith Lockhart came out. I used to play in a school orchestra when I was much younger (second violin, hey!) so I love watching all of the rituals that go with orchestra performances.

I had high expectations for this event especially having been so moved by Berklee's performance of Sunrise (1927) back in 2010. The Symphony of Horror event did not disappoint.

The beautiful music filled up the massive hall and there was a dramatic moment in the middle that just blew me away. There were all sorts of sound effects to go with the action on screen. The rats crawling, the horse trotting over the fields, the drummer/messenger toward the end and pretty much any shot of Count Orlak was accompanied by some creepy music. The orchestra made good use of their percussion instruments!

There were two guest performers accompanying the Boston Pops. One was Rob Schwimmer who played the Theremin and Michael Bierylo who performed the Moog Synthesizer. The Theremin was the hit of the evening. We overheard several patrons talking about it or mimicking it’s trademark sound as we all exited the hall.

Symphony Hall capacity is 2,700 and the space was almost full. I estimate that there were about 2,500 people there for the event. This is by far the largest classic film event in size I've ever been too. The audience reaction was for the most part very good. We all applauded after each of the five acts, an extra applause for the wonderful dramatic moment in the middle and a standing ovation at the end. This is the longest continuous piece of music the Boston Pops has every performed and there was no intermission so I give them credit for their ability to keep us enthralled with their music. I would have liked more dramatic moments but the music has to match the film's pace and content.

Professor Mirowitz sat a few seats away for most of the piece and I noticed him looking around to take in the audience's reactions to the film and music.

Silent films are often an endurance test of an audience’s patience, suspension of disbelief and their attention. Not everyone could hack it and we did notice some people leaving before the film was over.  The couple sitting next to us grumbled most of the time and left half-way through. It's their loss.

Lots of folks attending the event got into the Halloween spirit and were wearing scary costumes. Even a couple of the ushers dressed up. The audience members ranged widely in age: little kids, teens and young adults all the way to older folks. The whole spectrum. And there were a lot of couples, Carlos and I included.

There is a long tradition of scoring Nosferatu (1922). Most of Hans Erdmann's original score for the film has been lost and the film itself only survives because of sheer luck. All original prints were destroyed because of a copyright dispute; the story is basically Dracula without calling itself Dracula. Copies were eventually found and Nosferatu eventually became the cult classic that it is today. Did Murnau ever think that this film would be presented in such a way almost 100 years after it was made?

I'd be remiss to not point out the excellent work done by the Berklee students who created the score for Nosferatu. Congratulations to Amit May Cohen, Matthew Morris, Elena Nezhelskaya, Emily Joseph, Hyunsoo Nam, Joy Ngiaw, Jungwan Han and Victor Hong! When the eight students took the stage at the end of the event the crowd erupted in applause.

Thank you to the BSO for inviting me to cover this event. Carlos and I had a blast!

#SymphonyofHorror The Boston Pops and the Berklee College of Music team up to give Nosferatu (1922) a new score

What: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror  #SymphonyofHorror
Where: Symphony Hall in Boston, MA
Who: Keith Lockhart, The Boston Pops and eight student composers from Berklee College of Music
When: October 30th, 2015 at 8 PM (blood drive from 2-7 PM)
How: Tickets available at Bostonpops.org. $37-$47

The Boston area is no stranger to Halloween screenings of F.W. Murnau’s silent horror film Nosferatu (1922). There at least one or two a year held locally with live musical accompaniment. What makes this particular event special? A new score. And not just any new score! One created by eight composers, Berklee College of Music students from all over the world, in collaboration with Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops.

Years ago I attended a screening of Sunrise (1927) at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. It was a similar to the Nosferatu event. Eight student composers from the Berklee College of Music composed a section of the score, conducted their individual pieces as an orchestra performed the final overall score in accompaniment to Murnau’s classic film. Not only was it one of the best classic film screenings I have ever been to, in my original review I called it “one of the most fantastic experiences of my life.”

Needless to say I have high hopes for Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror! Here are some of the highlights of the event:

1 – Diverse group of student film composers from all over the world.
2 – Score created under the direction of Professor of Film Scoring Sheldon Mirowitz and Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops.
3 – The renowned Boston Pops Orchestra will be performing the score, conducted by Keith Lockhart.
4 – The score was fine-tuned with the Symphony Hall acoustics in mind.
5 – The event will be turned into a short documentary called “The Making of Nosferatu”.
6 – This will be first time the Boston Pops Orchestra has ever accompanied a full-length silent film. It’s also the longest piece they’ve eve performed.
7 – Nosferatu will be screened from a HD digital transfer with 4K Christie projectors. The film is from the best source material from the Murnau estate.
8 – Brigham and Women’s Hospital will be hosting a blood drive from 2-7 PM at Symphony Hall before the event.
9 – Attendees are encouraged to dress up in Halloween costumes.

Below is the full press release of the event with more detail. I will be there to cover this event so expect to hear more from me soon! Follow hashtag #SymphonyofHorror on Twitter too.

There is another great screening of Nosferatu (1922) with my friend Jeff Rapsis who will be accompanying the film at the Somerville Mudflat Studio on October 24th !

From the Boston Pops Press Release:

“Over Halloween weekend, on Friday, October 30, at 8 p.m., the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart, in collaboration with Berklee College of Music, will bring the classic 1922 silent horror film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror to the Symphony Hall stage, with an entirely new full symphonic score composed by Berklee’s finest student film composers. Nosferatu on Halloween is a groundbreaking, unprecedented collaborative project in which eight of Berklee’s finest student film composers will write a full-length symphonic score, under the direction of Professor of Film Scoring Sheldon Mirowitz, for what is widely considered the greatest silent honor film of all time, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922). The Boston Pops, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, will perform the score live-to-picture the night before Halloween. Tickets for Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, ranging from $37 to $47, are available at www.bostonpops.org or by calling 888-266-1200. Performance starts at 8 p.m.

The eight composers featured in the Nosferatu project are among the very best Film Scoring majors studying at Berklee College of Music today; they are students in college’s Scoring Silent Films course taught by Sheldon Mirowitz (Outside Providence, Missing in America): Amit Cohen (Israel), Wani Han (South Korea), Emily Joseph (United States), Victor Kong (Malaysia), Matthew Morris (Canada), Hyunsoo Nam (South Korea), Elena Nezhelskaya (Russia), and Joy Ngiaw Jing Yi (Malaysia). The student composers have worked closely with their teacher/adviser, Mr. Mirowitz, who began the project by composing the basic themes and superstructure for the work; each student composer then uses these themes to compose the music for the section of the movie they have been assigned (seven sections in all, each about 12-15 minutes in length). This approach—with all the sections (written by eight different composers) sharing the same themes—is how the score has coherence and integrity and comes across as a unified film score.

Video clip highlights of the October 30 performance will be featured on www.bostonpops.org shortly after the performance takes place. In addition, Berklee College of Music is creating a short documentary entitled “The Making of Nosferatu,” which will include excerpts from the rehearsal and performance and will be featured at www.berklee.edu.

Keith Lockhart (Source: Boston Pops)

QUOTE FROM KEITH LOCKHART, BOSTON POPS CONDUCTOR

“Nosferatu is universally acknowledged not only as the greatest silent horror film, but also as one of the most influential films of all time, so creating a new full symphonic score to this iconic cinematic masterpiece is definitely a daunting undertaking,” said Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart. “We at the Boston Pops are excited to embark on this new collaboration with Berklee College of Music and are thrilled that it represents the most significant project in Boston Pops history in the area of presenting student-composed work.

Our hope is to offer a new dimension to the film for fans of Nosferatu and to introduce this amazing motion picture to movie lovers who might not otherwise be aficionados of the silent film genre. The project will also put a spotlight on the special role a film score plays in the silent movie genre--reinforcing how the music conveys not just mood and atmosphere, but supports the entire narrative of the film, making the score feel even more essential than in modern day film. And the timing couldn’t be better … setting the mood for a perfectly fantastic Halloween in 2015.”

FURTHER DETAILS ON THE BOSTON POPS/BERKLEE NOSFERATU PROJECT

The October 30 concert presentation of Nosferatu will present a new take on a relatively recent Boston Pops tradition of presenting movies at Symphony Hall with lush soundtracks performed live by the virtuosic musicians of the Boston Pops Orchestra; this is the first time in the history of the Boston Pops that the orchestra will accompany the presentation of a full-length silent film. The new score to Nosferatu will be the longest, continuous piece of music the Pops has ever performed. It is certainly the most extensive performance of a student-composed work by the Pops in its history. The presentation is part of Berklee’s Signature Series of concerts, in addition to being a featured event on the Boston Pops calendar.

Most major Silent Films had original scores performed live by an orchestra at their premiers, and Nosferatu is not exception—Hans Erdmann's has been lost and what remains now is a modern reconstitution of his score. But, with all Silent Films, the attraction for composers is great to compose new scores for these classic films, and over the decades many composers and musicians have written or improvised their own soundtracks to accompany Nosferatu. Few, however, have harnessed the power of a full symphonic orchestra to accomplish this task, much less augmented it with the signature sounds of classic electronic instruments like the Theremin and the Moog Modular Synthesizer, and brought the whole experience to the concert hall. The film being used for the Boston Pops/Berklee collaboration is a recent, high-definition digital transfer of the best source material, from the Murnau estate. It will be projected by two of the finest 4K Christie projectors available.

FROM BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC: WHY SILENT FILMS?

Silent film presentation, whether by collaboration with the Boston Pops, or in a performance by the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra, is the most direct, visceral means of experiencing the power of the film composer’s craft. Silent film is the ultimate challenge for a film composer. A silent film score must, in concert with the actors and staging, convey the narrative and emotional messages of the film. Scoring for silent film exercises and builds the film composer’s skills in a way that exceeds the task of composing for projects that employ dialogue and other sound. These are some of the greatest films of any era, whether sound or silent. The act of composing and performing a new score reinterprets and renews these classics for each succeeding generation. The computer technology employed in composing, and performing them live-to-picture, is completely up-to-the-minute. The only thing old about the art form of silent film music presentation is the date on the film. As a learning exercise, silent films, and Berklee’s Scoring Silent Films course, represent a rigorous and demanding test of those who would compose for film, television, video games, or any other long-form film/video form. It is superb means of explaining and demonstrating to young musicians the film composer’s task, while showing the heft of Berklee’s own film composition program.”

Cinefest, Part II: The Films

Read Part I here.

Thursday at Cinefest was a warm-up; it didn’t quite feel like a first day at a festival. I spent most of the day traveling, hanging out with my friend Jonas, drinking a gin and tonic and when I had some energy I took in a couple of films. I caught the tail end of The King of the Kongo (1929), Chapter 10. This serial has been restored chapter by chapter and #10 was presented with its original soundtrack and in the best shape possible. In attendance was Cinefest regular Leonard Maltin. This would be the first of many sightings. The only full screening I caught on this day was the Hal Roach short Lucky Beginners (1935). It was comprised of talented unknowns who won a contest to be filmed for this variety show style short. At this point I was feeling the effects of travel fatigue and while I made my bet attempt to watch Janet Gaynor in The Return of Peter Grimm (1926) I realized I needed more than anything.

This was a good call because by Friday I was refreshed and ready to tackle a full day of rare cinematic treasures. In fact, I caught the entire first block, which started with the Vitaphone short Service Stripes (1931), a military comedy with musical numbers. The first feature of the day was the pre-code Men on Call (1931) starring Edmund Lowe, Mae Clarke and William Harrigan. This rarity was so rare that most of the organizers hadn’t seen the film. But just because a movie is rare doesn’t mean it’s good. Men on Call is a morality tale typical of the era. A woman must be punished for her sexuality but when it comes to light that it was all a misunderstanding everything is okay in the world. This was an okay film with a too-neatly wrapped up ending. I love films that showcase a particular job or industry. The Men on Call in this film were coast guards.

Me and the Boys (1929)

I was very eager to watch the next film on top; the jazz short Me and the Boys (1929). It was considered lost for many years. Luckily for us it was unearthed in 2013. Although it usually takes several years for a film to get funding for restoration, there was so much excitement for this two-song treasure that it all came together very quickly thanks to Hugh Hefner, Cinefest and the Vitaphone Project. The UCLA Film & Television Archive had screened it earlier in the week at their own festival and, after a faulty start, all of us at Cinefest got to delight in this rare jazz era wonder.

Cinefest had two Hal Roach shows with shorts and footage from Dick Bann’s personal collection. I caught the first of these two shows. It kicked off with Las Fantasmas (1930), an Our Gang movie in phonetic Spanish. As someone who is fluent in Spanish can tell you, the Spanish was pretty bad. Jackie Cooper’s was the worst. One of the actors seemed to be a native speaker and he’s pretty much the only person I could understand. I loved when one of the Our Gang members exclaimed “y, como!” which is the Spanish translation for “and how!”. We also saw a coming attractions trailer promoting There Goes My Heart (1938), introduced by a very young Ed Sullivan, unedited TV footage from the 1950s of the Hal Roach studio before it was torn down, more unedited footage of the old Our Gang introducing the new generation, a beachside family comedy Dad’s Day (1929) starring Edgar Kennedy and the zany Charley Chase comedy short Crazy Feet (1929) which featured Thelma Todd.

Speaking of Thelma Todd I had the pleasure of meeting Scott, a Cinefest regular and a funder of a variety of Vitaphone shorts. He was wearing a watch once owned by Thelma Todd. It was a present from her comedy partner Patsy Kelly. It was definitely a geek moment to see a treasure like that up close!

Thelma Todd wearing the watch in Top Flat (1935)

After lunch we were all treated to the presentation “The Story of Color in the Movies” hosted by film historian Eric Grayson. We saw examples of a variety of color processes including Pathe stencil (each frame painted by hand), Kinemacolor, 2-strip Technicolor (red and green), Cinecolor, Kodachrome, Eastman Color and 3-Strip Technicolor. The goal with color film was to get the technology right so that the filmmakers had the same ease and functionality of black-and-white filming. There were a lot of failures along the way. Cinecolor couldn’t focus, Eastman color would turn red with age, you couldn’t make negatives, and thus prints, with Kodachrome , 2-strip Technicolor had glue problems and Kinemacolor required expensive equipment and a trained technician. 3-strip Technicolor was considered the best because it ran the full gamut of color but it had issues including color leeching. It was a fascinating presentation. There was a Q&A afterwards and I learned that East of Eden (1955), shot in Warner Color, a version of Eastman Color, aged so poorly that it had to be digitally restored and original negatives are pretty much useless.

Up next was the Fox film The Painted Woman (1932). It’s a drama set in the South Seas and it reminded me of pre-code favorites Red Dust (1932) and Safe in Hell (1931). The Painted Woman, Peggy Shannon, is on the lam and being blackmailed by a ship captain. When she learns he is lost at sea, she marries sea rover Spencer Tracy. This one has a very similar plot line to Safe in Hell but with a much happier ending.

Image via Nitrate Diva

One of the highlights of the festival was the bizarre Warner Bros. film The Second Floor Mystery (1930). Directed by Roy Del Ruth it stars Grant Withers and Loretta Young. I’ve never seen a mystery take so many twists and turn as this one did. It was really quite the head scratcher but enjoyable nonetheless. Loretta Young never looked so beautiful and her meet-cute with Grant Withers (they quibble over strawberries and grapefruits while having breakfast at separate tables) is adorable.

The first screening after Friday’s dinner break was The Bride of Finklestein. This was a new short made in the style of the 1930s. It’s a Jewish Bride of Frankenstein meets Wheeler & Woolsey. It was a bit of a gamble to screen this in front of the Cinefest audience but we all enjoyed it.

One of the highlights for me was Richard Barrios’ A Song in the Dark presentation. I’ve read Barrios’ books A Song in the Dark (the definitive guide to early musicals) and Dangerous Rhythym so I was excited to see what he had to offer. Barrios’ presentation included some great clips including the first ever musical number filmed: the New York Philharmonic playing Tannihauser by Wagner in 1926. There were also clips from Rio Rita (1929), Broadway Melody of 1929, Let’s Go Native (1930), March of Time (which was never released but fragments exist in other films), Golden Dawn (1930), College Humor (1933), The Cuckoos (1930), Glorifying the American Girl (1929), It’s a Pleasure (1945), The Dolly Sisters (1946), She’s Working Her Way Through College (1952) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). I was secretly hoping for the I Want to Be Bad number by Zelma O’Neal from Follow Thru (1930) but no such luck. It was probably shown at a previous Cinefest. I had a blast at Barrios’ presentation. He ended it with a surprise clip, a tribute to Cinefest:

Needless to say everyone got a bit teary eyed. After that epic presentation I had no more energy and had to call it quits for the night. This meant I missed watching Norma Shearer in Lucretia Lombard (1923) but seeing as I had a copy at home I promised myself a private viewing later.

Private viewings are a thing at Cinefest. Many folks bring their own projectors and have invitation only screenings in their hotel rooms.

Annette D'Agostino Lloyd and Jeff Rapsis

The Saturday of Cinefest started off with a bang. I went to the morning screening of Harold Lloyd’s Welcome Danger (1929). Originally filmed as a silent, it was converted to a talkie to meet the current demand. Most folks know the talkie version and the silent version we saw not quite an original but the best that could be put together, is considered far superior. Prior to the screening there was a presentation by Harold Lloyd historian Annette D’Agostino Lloyd (no relation). She discussed the history of the film and how we came to see the silent film version today. The ever-talented Jeff Rapsis delivered an energetic performance and his musical accompaniment received a standing ovation from the audience. And let me tell you it was well deserved. In fact all of the music performed during the festival was quite a treat to hear. Good music and rare films; Cinefest was spoiling us.

Immediately after we had a lunchtime presentation by James Layton and David Pierce, authors of The Dawn of Technicolor. This presentation is also being held at the TCM Film Festival but that one will be 90 minutes where as the Cinefest presentation was shortened to an hour. They figured the well-schooled audience would be bored by information they already knew. But at the end we all realized we would have liked to have seen the entire 90 minute presentation.They showed clips of It’s a Great Life (1929), Show Girl in Hollywood (1930), Sally (1928), The Doll Shop (1929) and The Show of Shows (1929). I learned that the coming of sound spurred an interest in color in film. Color was used to enhance production value and in really early cinema it wasn’t economical to make a film 100% color. One or two scenes, a grand finale or most of the picture would be filmed in color but at least something would be black-and-white.

There were several book signings at Cinefest. I got my copies of Barrios’ books signed and I also bought a copy of Layton & Pierce’s The Dawn of Technicolor.

After an extended lunch break, I came back to watch Sea Sore (1934), an RKO short and the Fox film My Lips Betray (1933) starring Lilian Harvey and John Boles. Harvey was a star in Europe but an unknown in Hollywood. My Lips Betray was to be her break out film but it didn’t quite do it for her. Harvey plays Lili, a performer who is desperately trying to get a job so she can pay her rent. By chance she gets a ride in “his majesty’s car” and her neighbors start a rumor that she’s the king’s favorite. The King, played by John Boles, is intrigued and falls in love with spirited but confused Lili. The plotline of this film reminded me very much of The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), right down to the beer garten!

Before the big Colleen Moore extravaganza, we all had some fun watching an odd little WWII wonder Tea Making Tips (1941). We quickly discovered we’ve been making tea all wrong!

Joseph Yranski, a friend of Colleen Moore, spoke a few words before that evenining’s special screening. Yranski was instrumental in finding the once lost Syntethic Sin (1929). The film came together when it was discovered that Ron Hutchinson from the Vitaphone Project had the last sound disc and Yranski had the movie from the Milan Archive. Because the film is missing the first 5 sound discs, an accompanist played music for the most of the film and then stopped when the 6th disc played. The film was great fun. Colleen Moore plays Betty Fairfax, a young actress desperate to make it big. She gets a part in a show put on by her love interest Donald (Antonio Moreno) but she lacks the life experience that would make her part believable. So she goes to the city in search of sin. For contemporary fans of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, this silent wonder will be a real treat. It’s ending is a bit of a let down and there is a black-face number that is way too long but otherwise Synthetic Sin was the sinful delight we all expected it to be.

Poster of Synthetic Sin at Cinefest

On the last day of Cinefest, I only had time to catch one movie. The Big Broadcast (1932) brought radio to screen. I thought this one might be more of a variety show but they worked in a plot. The storyline was boring and strange. I just wanted to see the acts! Musical numbers performed by the Boswell Sisters, Kate Smith, Cab Calloway and my personal favorite the Mills Brothers in addition to the main star, crooner Bing Cosby, made this one of the highlights of my trip to Cinefest. I didn’t realize the Mills Brothers were in the film so I squealed with delight when I saw them in the opening credits.

The Mills Brothers

Before we packed it up and called it a day, we stayed for most of the Cinefest auction. It was hosted by film critic Leonard Maltin who did a great job keeping us all entertained even when the items for sale were not that interesting. Items for sale included a James Cagney bookplate, 8mm and 16mm movies, laser disc sets, books, slides, posters and anomalies like a George Burns doll. The big ticket item while I was there was a Gene Autry guitar with case and chord selector. From what I heard afterwards, the also sold all of the projection equipment used for Cinefest. A few items didn’t sell but most objects found new owners.

It was sad to say goodbye to Cinefest, and to Jonas too. I had a wonderful time at this festival and I only wish there was another one to go to. Thanks for the memory Cinefest!