Showing posts with label Herbert Brenon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Herbert Brenon. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Herbert Brenon’s The Spanish Dancer (1923)

My review of the new Blu-ray release of The Spanish Dancer was just published by Film International. My review is titled "Florid in a Good Way: Herbert Brenon's The Spanish Dancer (1923)". This Paramount film, directed by Herbert Brenon, stars the wonderful Pola Negri. Check it out HERE.


Besides directing The Spanish Dancer (1923), Brenon also directed Peter Pan (1924), Beau Geste (1926), The Great Gatsby (1926), Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928) and Louise Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men (1925). Coincidentally, both the version of The Spanish Dancer found on the Milestone Blu-ray and The Street of Forgotten Men were directed by restored by Robert Byrne, the subject of my previous blog. Byrne is not only a heroic film preservationist, but, he is also a hero to anyone who has an interest in Louise Brooks. 

Besides Pola Negri, The Spanish Dancer also stars the dashing Antonio Moreno (the original, original Latin lover type). Also in the cast are two of Louise Brooks' leading men, Adolphe Menjou and Wallace Beery. Each appeared in two films with Brooks, Menjou in A Social Celebrity (1926) and Evening Clothes (1927), and Beery in Now We're in the Air (1927) and Beggars of Life (1928).

The disc's product description reads: "Pola Negri (The Wildcat) was already an international star. Antonio Moreno (The Searchers) was her equal in terms of talent and sex appeal. The director Herbert Brenon (Beau Geste) was one of the greatest directors of his day and he was assisted by his cinematographer, James Wong Howe (Hud). Together, they created one of the great romance epics of the silent era. Restored by Eye Filmmuseum, The Spanish Dancer (1923) is a joy to behold. The film is action-packed, witty, and romantic with huge sets and a cast of thousands. Brenon keeps the adventure going full steam ahead while Negri and Moreno show why they were huge stars of their day. Includes a new orchestral score by Bill Ware!" There is also an audio commentary by film historian Scott Eyman, an interview with the composer Bill Ware, and a restoration demonstration.

As I say in my article, The Spanish Dancer likely isn't Brenon's very best film (among a treasure chest full of gems), but still, it is well worth watching. Here are a couple more pics from the film, courtesy of Milestone, who sent me a review copy of the disc.

Adolphe Menjou (left) and Pola Negri in a scene from The Spanish Dancer


Kathlyn Williams and Wallace Beery (right) in a scene from The Spanish Dancer

The Spanish Dancer is available on Blu-ray through Milestone and is available on amazon.com and other major retailers.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Saturday, August 5, 2023

The Street of Forgotten Men screens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York

The Street of Forgotten Men will be shown on August 7th at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The special screening of the recent restoration of the film, will feature a special musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin. More information about this event can be found HERE.

As just about any Louise Brooks fan might know, The Street of Forgotten Men  is a 1925 film which marks Brooks' screen debut. Even though her on screen time is just a couple of minutes, this Herbert Brenon film is well worth seeing. I could say more, but much of wat I could say can be found in my just about to be published book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond.

The NY MOMA website states:

"The Street of Forgotten Men. 1925. USA. Directed by Herbert Brenon. Screenplay by Paul Schofield, John Russell. With Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, Neil Hamilton, Louise Brooks. Restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, from a print held by the Library of Congress. 76 min.

Herbert Brenon’s 1925 urban melodrama holds its place in film history as the first screen appearance of Louise Brooks, unbilled but unmistakable as a gangster’s moll whose sudden appearance enlivens the film’s final reel. Brenon, one of the most acclaimed directors of the ’20s (Beau Geste, A Kiss for Cinderella) here works with material that might have been written for Lon Chaney and Tod Browning: Easy Money Charley (Percy Marmont) makes a solid living posing as a one-armed amputee begging along the Bowery, but his heart of gold is awakened when a dying prostitute asks him to look after her young daughter—who quickly grows into beautiful Mary Brian, causing problems for everyone involved. The film was shot largely at Paramount’s Astoria studios, with a couple of side trips to Fifth Avenue."


THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sunday, May 8, 2022

San Francisco's The Street of Forgotten Men

Someone once said, "all history is local." If true, then that applies to the movies, and film history. It also follows that film criticism is more than what reviewers in New York or Los Angeles might say about a particular film. How a movie is received in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia or San Francisco also matters. 

On May 10th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen its new restoration of Herbert Brenon's  The Street of Forgotten Men. This special screening marks a return to The City for this once well regarded silent film which was first shown in San Francisco nearly 100 years ago. More information about that special screening can be found HERE.

The Street of Forgotten Men revolves around a group of pretend handicapped beggars, and stars Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, and Neil Hamilton. Also appearing in the film is Louise Brooks, who made her screen debut in an uncredited bit part in this sentimental and strange melodrama.

Set and shot in New York City, The Street of Forgotten Men premiered at New York's Rivoli Theater on July 20, 1925. A few weeks later, the film made its Bay Area debut at the Granada Theatre (1066 Market Street, at Jones) in San Francisco, where it opened on August 8 and played for a week. It was a successful, and much ballywho'd run.


The Street of Forgotten Men kicked-off the what was known locally as the "Greater Movie Season," an annual event reportedly unique to San Francisco which encouraged the public to attend and enjoy the movies. This city-wide promotional campaign was supported by not only the movie studios - but also city officials, the press, and various civic organizations. Along with screenings of the season's best new films, there was also a parade and other activities. The “Greater Movie Season meant something in this town,” Variety noted later a few weeks later. “Twenty stars came up from Hollywood,” and there was a “big parade with floats from the various studios, corps of usherettes, bands, police escorts, and civic and public officials.” Notably, the horses, chariots and characters from Ben Hur also took part in the parade.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “The Tens of Thousands of San Franciscans who lined Market Street yesterday morning and who crowded into the Civic center to welcome the visiting Motion Picture Stars who came from Los Angeles to help inaugurate Greater Movie Week, also paid tribute to Fay Lanphier, 'Miss California,' who left yesterday to compete at Atlantic City for the title of 'Miss America.' The movie stars gave Miss Lanphier a rousing send-off and wished her 'Luck'." The crowd was estimated at more than 30,000. Among the Hollywood celebrities in attendance were Renee Adore, Lew Cody, Corinne Griffith, Claire Windsor, Marie Prevost, Ben Turpin, Syd Chaplin, Paulette Duval, Ernest Torrence, Jean Hersholt, Ronald Colman, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. A portable broadcast station was also set up - suggesting the parade was broadcast on the radio.

Despite it's sometimes dour theme, and despite the competition, The Street of Forgotten Men did well at the box office. According to Variety, the film “came in hitting on all six.” The trade journal added that a good promotional campaign provided for a strong opening, and business held up during its week-long run in San Francisco. Variety reported the film took in $21,800 during its seven days at the Granada, ranking it second in The City. Supporting the film was an Al. St. John comedy short, Red Pepper, and on the stage were Ralph Pollock and the Granada Synco-Symphonists, Ukulele Lew, and other entertainers.

The Street of Forgotten Men beat out Douglas Fairbanks in Don Q, Son of Zorro at the Imperial, and D.W. Griffith's Sally of the Sawdust at the St. Francis (among other offerings), but fell just a bit short of Fine Clothes, a First National film also featuring Percy Marmont at the Warfield. Fine Clothes topped The Street of Forgotten Men – but only by $700.00. The latter’s success, Variety suggested, was due largely to the opening act at the Warfield, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians. That stellar musical group, one of the most popular acts of the day, “dragged ‘em to the box office.”

The Street of Forgotten Men was widely praised in the local press. Writing in the San Francisco Bulletin, A. F. Gillaspey noted, “For fine dramatic detail, for unusualness, for giving us a glimpse into a world we never see and into the other sides of characters we simply pass in pity on the streets, The Street of Forgotten Men is a photoplay revelation.” That review was echoed by other local critics. Dudley Burrows, writing in the San Francisco Call and Post, thought “The Street of Forgotten Men is more legitimately dramatic, and less frankly melodramatic than The Unholy Three,” a similarly themed film. Curran D. Swint of the San Francisco News stated, “Here we have an underworld drama, stark and naked in its picturing of the beggars and fakers who prey on the public in the name of charity.” 

George C. Warren of the San Francisco Chronicle praised the film's director. “The Street of Forgotten Men, to which Herbert Brenon has lent the magic of his skill at direction, [and] his ability to poeticize even the most sordid theme.” Idwal Jones of the San Francisco Examiner praised the film's star. “Marmont can make any picture pleasing, and does well in this unaccustomed role. The extreme of realism abounds in scenes wherein the fakers transform themselves into cripples and go out and impose upon the charitable.”

The Street of Forgotten Men returned to San Francisco for a handful second-run showings over the next twelve months. Other showings in The City include screenings at the New Fillmore (Oct. 12-14, 1925) and New Mission (Oct. 12-14, 1925), Coliseum (Nov. 2-4, 1925), New State (Mar. 7, 1926), and Majestic (Aug. 31, 1926).

Two other Bay Area screenings are also of note. One took place in neighboring Oakland, when the film played at the American theater September 5 through the 11th. On opening day, two of the stars of The Street of Forgotten Men came to town and made a special in-person appearance to promote the film and participate in Oakland's celebration of its Diamond Jubilee.

The Oakland Tribune thought the film "a vivid document of life along the Bowery." The Oakland Post-Enquirer thought the film had an unusual plot, while the Oakland Morning Record noted the picture had been acclaimed by Eastern critics and was said to be even greater than Lon Chaney's The Miracle Man -  a comment echoed in other reviews and articles from around the region and the nation.

A few weeks later, the film opened in San Jose at the Liberty theater for a short, three day run (Sept. 23-26). The local newspaper, San Jose Mercury Herald, thought the film had " . . . a series of smashing scenes that reveal the genius of Herbert Brenon." It also took note of a local screening with special purpose. On September 25, the San Jose Mercury Herald wrote, “Because the film drives home a lesson that every man should take to heart, the management of the Liberty invited members of the Pastor’s union, heads of clubs and civic organizations and others prominent in community life to attend a pre-view of the picture Wednesday morning at 10’oclock. These men and women were in an excellent position to thoroughly appreciate the value of such a screen story. And without exception they endorsed the picture not only as pointing a moral, but also as a superb piece of art.”

The Street of Forgotten Men showed all around the San Francisco Bay Area - in Berkeley, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Palo Alto, and elsewhere throughout the next twelve months. Other showings took place at the Ramona in Walnut Creek (Aug. 15-16, 1925); New Stanford in Palo Alto (Aug. 23-24, 1925); Sequoia in Redwood City (Aug. 26-27, 1925); Strand in Los Gatos (Aug. 27-28, 1925); Princess in Sausalito (Aug. 27-28, 1925); Hub in Mill Valley (Aug. 30-31, 1925); Orpheus in San Rafael (Sept. 12, 1925); Tamalpais in San Anselmo (Sept. 12, 1925); Virginia in Vallejo (Sept. 14-15, 1925);  California in Berkeley (Sept. 23-26, 1925); Novelty in Martinez (Sept. 24, 1925); Garden in Burlingame (Sept. 27, 1925); California in Pittsburg (Sept. 27-28, 1925); Casino in Antioch (Sept. 29, 1925); Regent in San Mateo (Oct. 10, 1925); Majestic in Benicia (Oct. 20, 1925); Chimes in Oakland (Oct. 23-24, 1925); Glen in Mountain View (Nov. 3-4, 1925); Fremont in Oakland (Nov. 5-6, 1925); Strand in Berkeley (Nov. 9-10, 1925); Lorin in Berkeley (Nov. 19-20, 1925); Oaks in Berkeley (Nov. 21, 1925); Royal in South San Francisco (Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, 1925); Lincoln in Oakland (Nov. 30 - Dec. 1, 1925); Casino in Oakland (Dec. 10-11, 1925); Strand in Oakland (Dec. 14, 1925); Rialto in Oakland (Dec. 21-22, 1925); New Piedmont in Oakland (Dec. 22-25, 1925); Liberty in Oakland (Jan. 10, 1926); Palace in San Leandro (Jan. 11-12 and Jan. 19, 1926); Hayward Theatre in Hayward (Jan. 25-26, 1926); Granada in Oakland (Feb. 1-2, 1926); Palace in Alameda (Feb. 1-2, 1926); Richmond in Richmond (Mar. 8-9, 1926); Berkeley Theatre in Berkeley (Apr. 7-9, 1926); and Peoples in Oakland (July 11, 1926). 



Louise Brooks’ part in The Street of Forgotten Men is small. She is on screen less than five minutes. Brooks is not listed in the credits, and that may explain why few noticed her one short scene. In reviews of the film, no San Francisco or Bay Area critic – let alone any national critic – noted Brooks’ debut performance. The lone exception was the Los Angeles Times. Its anonymous reviewer commented, “And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the 'blind' man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes. She was not listed.” Those two sentences mark the actress’ first film review.

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Actors in uncredited bit parts in The Street of Forgotten Men, part 4 Louise Brooks

On May 10th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen its new restoration of Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men - Louise Brooks' little seen first film. More information about that special event can be found HERE

This month, and ahead of that special event, I am running a few excerpts from my forthcoming book, The Street of Forgotten Men, from Story to Screen and Beyond, which I expect will be published later this year. This excerpt is the forth of four focusing on some of the actors who had uncredited bit parts in The Street of Forgotten Men. Here, I profile Louise Brooks (1906-1985).

Louise Brooks never intended to become an actress. She had started as a dancer, performing locally in her native Kansas before joining the Denishawn Dance Company and later George White Scandals. Following her return from London in February 1925, she landed a job as a dancer in Louie the 14th, a musical farce produced by Florenz Ziegfeld. She began to make a name for herself, and by June of that year, Brooks was a featured member of the chorus in the Summer edition of Ziegfeld’s Follies, whose other cast members included future film stars Will Rogers, Lina Basquette, and W.C. Fields.

The Follies were widely celebrated, and all manner of notables turned out to see the shows; some of them made a bee-line to the performer’s dressing rooms, including Brooks’. Key among them were writer Herman Mankiewicz, film star Charlie Chaplin, and producer Walter Wanger, the latter a Paramount talent scout. Wanger was dazzled by Brooks. According to the Barry Paris biography, he had heard Edmund Goulding (the British-born screenwriter and director then working in the States) rave about her, and so Wanger and Townsend Martin (a writer and another dressing room visitor) arranged to test her for a role in The Street of Forgotten Men, which was already filming at Paramount’s Astoria Studios on Long Island. Brooks agreed, thinking she might shoot movies during the day and dance in the Follies at night.


Brooks’ screen test was overseen by director Allan Dwan. It went well, or at least well enough, with the result being Brooks was given a bit part as a moll, a companion to Bridgeport White-Eye (played by John Harrington).* Brooks started work on the film on May 20, and appears in the second from last scene in the film, in which there is a brawl in a bar. Brooks’ scene lasts just 4 minutes. Not surprisingly, no reviewer or critic took notice of Brooks, except for an anonymous Los Angeles Times writer who said, “And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the ‘blind’ man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes. She was not listed.”

Throughout her career, Brooks reportedly didn’t bother to see herself act on screen. The one exception, seemingly, was her bit part in The Street of Forgotten Men. In a late 1928 interview with Pour Vous regarding her just completed role in Die Büchse der Pandora, Brooks told the French magazine that she had not seen the German film, as it was a principle for her “not to go see herself on the screen. ‘I did,’ she said confidently, ‘during my first film. I won't do it again, though I can't say why. Seeing myself gives me an uncomfortable feeling’." 

Later in life, Brooks said little about her first film, except to acknowledge her role in it. In Lulu in Hollywood, she dryly commented, “In May, at Famous Players-Lasky’s studio, in New York, under Herbert Brenon’s direction, I had played with no enthusiasm a bit part in Street of Forgotten Men.”

Truth-be-told, Brooks’ acting is a bit much in her screen debut. At first, she was asked to be solicitous, and she vamps. Then, feigning fright as a brawl begins, she retreats across the barroom floor like a frightened though graceful dancer. The novice actress thought she had done poorly, but Brenon and various studio executives did not. 

Despite any self-consciousness she might have felt, Brooks must have thought her acting not so bad that she wasn’t willing to accept a compliment. In 1928, after she became an established star, the Spanish film magazine El Cine carried a syndicated bit about her debut and her reaction to praise sent by a fan. “Louise Brooks must have been very satisfied when she received her first fan letter from a girl in Brooklyn who said she saw her in The Street Men, because after reading it, she immediately took a photograph of herself that she had hanging in her dressing room and sent it to the girl in thanks.” 

* Brooks path to an acting career may have been more circuitous than suggested. Four days prior to beginning work on The Street of Forgotten Men, the aspiring actress accompanied Herbert Brenon to the 1925 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. The race, filmed as a newsreel by Fox, was won by Flying Ebony.

NEXT IN THE SERIES: THE LITTLE CHURCH AROUND THE CORNER

Monday, April 18, 2022

Actors in uncredited bit parts in The Street of Forgotten Men, part 3 Whitney Bolton

On May 10th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen its new restoration of Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men - Louise Brooks' little seen first film. More information about that special event can be found HERE

This month, and ahead of that special event, I am running excerpts from my forthcoming book, The Street of Forgotten Men, from Story to Screen and Beyond, which I expect will be published later this year. This excerpt is the third of four focusing on some of the actors who had uncredited bit parts in The Street of Forgotten Men. Here, I profile Whitney Bolton, who played a bum in an early bar room scene. Although uncredited, I am sure Bolton appeared in the film. However, I am not 100% sure that I have correctly identified him. The still shown below pictures the individual I believe to be Bolton - the scruffy individual in a coat and hat standing alongside star Percy Marmont. (Notably, the individual I believe is Bolton is the youngest down-and-outer in the saloon, which lends some circumstantial evidence to my claim.)

Whitney Bolton (1900-1969) started out as a sports reporter in Spartanburg, South Carolina before moving to New York City in 1924, where he eventually found employment with the Herald Tribune and later Morning Telegraph. As a journalist, he became well known. In 1925, a wire service story noted in that addition to his newspaper work, Bolton also found time to take “minor roles on the silver screen,” including, according to his later claims, The Street of Forgotten Men.

Over the next few years, Bolton continued his association with the movie world. A 1927 bit in a Walter Winchell column mentioned Bolton had accompanied actress Josephine Dunn to a newspaper ball, and a 1929 article noted his presence among the illustrious of the stage and screen at a meeting of the Theatre Guild in New York City. 

As a celebrated critic and “star reporter,” Bolton also took a stab at Hollywood, where he worked as an occasional screenwriter; his best-known efforts were contributions to If I Had a Million (1932), Apartment House Love (1932), 42nd Street (1933), and The Spirit of Culver (1939). Follow this LINK to read Bolton's IMDb page. Bolton also continued working as a journalist / syndicated columnist into the 1960s.


In four different syndicated columns dating from the 1950s and 1960s, Bolton recalled his entry into films, writing in 1963, “When I first came to New York and was trying to get a job on a newspaper, I paid the rent and put scoff on the table by being a movie actor in two films, The Unguarded Hour and The Street of Forgotten Men.” (The Unguarded Hour is a lost, 1925 American silent directed by Lambert Hillyer and starring Milton Sills and Doris Kenyon.)

In a 1958 remembrance of director Herbert Brenon, who had just recently died, Bolton detailed how the two met. “At a party given for Miss Negri, I was sitting out a waltz when this gentleman came along, sat alongside and we started to talk. He asked me what I did and I told him I was waiting for an opening on The Herald Tribune. He said it might be a long wait, and how about acting in a movie he was about to make for Paramount? I said, well, now, that was a nice thing to suggest but I was not an actor and didn’t know anything about acting. He said: I wish heartily some of the so-called actors were as candid.
And the next Monday morning, at 8 o’clock, I was at Astoria, Long Island, ready to act, no matter what. The picture, The Street of Forgotten Men, was an item about the Bowery, its professional beggars and fake cripples. The star was a Briton named Percy Marmont, I showed up hair-cutted, shaved and in the best suit I could get at Brooks Brothers, a new pair of Frank Brothers shoes, a knit tie, with a neat pearl pin in it, and a supply of bewilderment.

Herbert Brenon, the man I am talking about and at that time one-third of the Great Three: Griffith, DeMille, and Brenon, took one look and turned pale. His Irish face betrayed his concern.

‘My dear young man,’ he said. ‘Your clothes are impeccable, your mustache is waxed and you have shaved to the skin. You look like a junior member of the Union League Club. I had you down to play a besotted young bum in a sordid Bowery saloon. You were to share a table with two young ladies playing unfortunate girls in a distressing profession. You won’t do at all this way.’ I played it the Scott Fitzgerald way: cool, detached, casual.

‘That’s all right. Mr. Brenon,’ I said. ‘I wouldn’t have been much help to you, anyway.’ ‘But you are going to be,’ he said. ‘I insist.’

He clapped his hands and people came running. He told a wardrobe man to get me a torn, soiled, bedraggled suit, dying shoes, a ragged cap. He told a makeup man to give me a three-day stubble of beard and to put some dirt on my face. He had the hair-man do things with scissors that gave me a look of not knowing even how to spell the word comb. I became, in 15 minutes, a bum, a filthy, furtive, no good bum. I also became an actor for five days at $25 a day. It was a princely income.

Marmont and I became friends in a lasting way and Brenon, seeing me around at parties in the following years, always spoke courteously and pleasantly – but he never asked me to act for him again.”


I wasn't able to find any images of Bolton from the 1920s with which I might compare his features with those of some of the background players in The Street of Forgotten Men. However, I did find this image from the 1950s, which was published in a movie magazine. Notably, the later day Bolton in this image has prominent cheeks, which somewhat matches the features of the actor seen in the second screen grab. If any descendants of Whitney Bolton could provide a picture of him from the 1920s, that would be great.

By the way, Whitney Bolton was married to a real star, radio, stage, and screen actress Nancy Coleman (1912-2000). Check out this bio of her HERE

In the clipping below, from the 1930s, Whitney Bolton's name is listed among the "Famous Authors" included in the yellow box, along with Noel Coward, Tiffany Thayer, Max Brand and Zane Grey, etc.... That is pretty good company.

 
 
 
 NEXT IN THE SERIES: LOUISE BROOKS

Thursday, March 31, 2022

More on the newly restored Louise Brooks film The Street of Forgotten Men

Pop Matters has just published my article on the newly restored Louise Brooks film, The Street of Forgotten Men. Please check it out.

The piece, "Restored Silent Film The Street of Forgotten Men Debuts Louise Brooks," looks at the film and the efforts that went into its preservation. I spoke with Robert Byrne of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, who led the team that restored the film, creating a "filmic bridge" to replace the missing second reel.

The restored film will premiere at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at the historic Castro theater. (Runtime: 74 min -- Print Source: SFSFF Collection -- Format: 35mm) More information about that event can be found HERE.


The May 10th screening will be accompanied by the great Donald Sosin. He has been creating and performing silent film music for fifty years, playing for major festivals, archives, and DVD recordings. He has been resident accompanist at New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Museum of the Moving Image, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. His scores are heard regularly on Turner Classic Movies and his music accompanies films on more than fifty DVD releases. Donald has performed at SFSFF since 2007.

Image credit: Pamela Gentile

Friday, March 16, 2012

Did you see Street of Forgotten Men at Cinefest ?


If you were at Cinefest 32 and saw last night's presentation of The Street of Forgotten Men, this blog would love to hear from you. Please post your thoughts or observations about the film and its screening in the comments field below. What did you think?

The image below depicts actor Percy Marmont  (left) and director Herbert Brenon on the set of the film in May, 1925. More background on the movie at examiner.com


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Street of Forgotten Men decidedly impressive


Cinefest the annual movie convention held in Syracuse, New York will screen Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) on Thursday, March 15th at 8:55 pm. This is a rare opportunity to see Louise Brooks in her very first screen role. Unfortunately, this acclaimed film is not on DVD and is seldom shown. Don't miss it. Here is what the critics thought of the film when it was first released:
The Street of Forgotten Men dips into the dark pools of life. It shows you the beggars of life - apologies to Jim Tully - and in showing them it shows them up.” -- Mildred Spain, New York Daily News

“An absorbing story, done by a cast of people who really know how to act and directed in a skillful manner by Herbert Brenon.” -- Dorothy Day, New York Morning Telegraph

“It is a startling tale of Bowery life, of the soiled, tawdry ladies and broken men of the underworld. . . . Percy Marmont was an ideal choice for the difficult leading role, and his work, as usual, is quiet, clean cut and convincing. Mary Brian is a sweet peaches and cream heroine. . . . Direction and photography are splendid, making the movie decidedly worth seeing.” -- Roberta Nangle, Chicago Tribune

“This story is decidedly impressive, out-of-the-ordinary and interesting and we believe that it will be quite generally liked.” -- C. S. Sewell, Moving Picture World

“For fine dramatic detail, for unusualness, for giving us a glimpse into a world we never see and into the other sides of characters we simply pass in pity on the streets, The Street of Forgotten Men is a photoplay revelation.” -- A.F. Gillaspey, San Francisco Bulletin

“Here we have an underworld drama, stark and naked in its picturing of the beggars and fakers who prey on the public in the name of charity.” -- Curran D. Swint, San Francisco News

“Percy Marmont, as a bogus crippled beggar . . . has a role that is more closely akin to his great interpretation of Mark Sabre in If Winter Comes than any since the Hutchinson novel was put upon the screen. All of which means that this artist again has an excellent role for the display of his rare genius.” -- Washington Star

“ . . . it will go down as one of those rare films, beloved of the true blue fan, that contain such a wealth of choice parts as to make of nearly every player an outstanding artist.” -- Los Angeles Herald

“The Bowery in the days of long ago is faithfully transcribed to the screen in this story dealing with the lives of the professional beggars who prey on the easy-going public. Herbert Brenon, with the aid of a fine cast, headed by Percy Marmont, has made a gripping and entertaining picture.” -- M. B., Photoplay 


The Street of Forgotten Men was a big hit just about everywhere. Nearly nine months after it’s initial release, the film was still in circulation in the United States. Appearing as an added feature at this 1926 Toledo, Ohio showing was the House of David Band. This musical group was part of a nearby religious community based in Michigan whose members refrained from sex, haircuts, shaving, and eating meat. As followers of the Christian Israelite faith, the group’s touring musical acts were sometimes described as “Shaveless Sheiks of Syncopation.”  

Monday, March 12, 2012

Street of Forgotten Men shows at Cinefest in Syracuse


Cinefest, an annual movie convention held in Syracuse, New York is set to screen one of the more unusual films from the silent era, Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men (1925). Long thought lost, this "underworld romance" has seldom been seen since its debut 87 years ago. The Library of Congress holds one of the only surviving prints, and representatives of the LOC will bring their copy to Cinefest for this rare screening.


Described at the time as "strange and startling" and "a drama of places and of people you have never seen before," The Street of Forgotten Men tells the story of a gang of professional beggars whose underworld headquarters is known as a "cripple factory." Led by the colorfully named Easy Money Charlie (played by Percy Marmont), the gang preys on public sympathy by disfiguring themselves and feigning various disabilities. 

The Street of Forgotten Men also tells the story of a Bowery Cinderella, played by winsome Mary Brian, whose life is linked to these con artists as well as to a young millionaire, played by handsome Neil Hamilton. (Yes, that Neil Hamilton –  Commissioner Gordon from the 1960's television series, Batman.)

Set in the Bowery and shot in part on the streets of New York City, the film is a mix of old-fashioned melodrama and gritty realism. It was based on a short story by George Kibbe Turner, a muckraking journalist and novelist of the time. In its review of the film, the New York Daily News stated "The Street of Forgotten Men dips into the dark pools of life. It shows you the beggars of life – apologies to Jim Tully – and in showing them it shows them up." On the other coast, the San Francisco Bulletin noted "For fine dramatic detail, for unusualness, for giving us a glimpse into a world we never see and into the other sides of characters we simply pass in pity on the streets, The Street of Forgotten Men is a photoplay revelation."

The film's most unusual scenes occur when this band of beggars check into work and are fitted with fake bandages, artificial arms and legs, false high heeled shoes and other trick paraphernalia for the luring of sympathetic coins into battered tin cups. Canes and crutches along with signs that read "I Am Blind" and "Please help a cripple" lend atmosphere to the group's "changing room." According to studio press sheets, a mendicant officer and 20-year veteran of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charity served as advisor for scenes shot inside the dingy cripple factory.

Though the film and its source material was a look back at the Bowery and the practices of the disreputable down-and-out, a 1926 article in the New York Times reported that the film may have in turn inspired a group of fake beggars. "The police are investigating the speakeasy. It was recalled that several months ago a motion picture, The Street of Forgotten Men, . . . showed just such an establishment for equipping 'cripples' as that described by Williams, and the police thought the movie idea might have been put to practical use."

Aside from its strangeness, there is much to recommend in The Street of Forgotten Men. The film was shot in the Astoria studios on Long Island, as well as on location in 1925 New York City. One memorable scene – when Marmont and Brian come across the character known as Bridgeport White-Eye – was filmed on a busy Fifth Avenue near Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Shot with a concealed camera, the unaware crowds passing on the street along with images of shops and businesses from long ago – including a vegetarian restaurant – prove striking. According to press reports from the time – which should be taken with a grain of salt, the appearance of pathetic-looking actors dressed in disheveled attire drew spontaneous donations from passers-by not realizing a motion picture was being filmed. Another memorable scene with a good deal of local color takes place at the still standing Little Church Around the Corner on East 29th.

Two performers not listed in the film's credits also made their mark in The Street of Forgotten Men. One was a dog named Lassie. (This bull terrier-cocker spaniel mix predated the more famous Collie.) A 1927 New York Times article about the canine stated, "It is said that the death of Lassie in The Street of Forgotten Men was so impressive that persons were convinced that she must have been cruelly beaten. Her master, Emery Bronte, said that the dog seemed to enjoy acting in the scenes, and that after each 'take' she went over to Mr. Brenon and cocked her head on the side, as if asking for a pat or two." Regrettably, one of the seven reels of The Street of Forgotten Men is missing, and not all of Lassie's scenes are extant. 

The other performer who made an impression was Louise Brooks, who was dancing with the Ziegfeld Follies when she agreed to play a bit part in The Street of Forgotten Men. Though not credited, the film marked her screen debut. As a moll, Brooks' role was slight – she appears on screen for only about 5 minutes. Nevertheless, her brief role drew the attention of an anonymous Los Angeles Times reviewer who singled out the actress when they wrote, "And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the 'blind' man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes." This was Brooks' first film review.

Like the film, the director of The Street of Forgotten Men has fallen into the shadows of history. Herbert Brenon enjoyed a long career which lasted from 1912 to 1940, but today he is one of those early directors who is largely forgotten though deserving of greater recognition. The Street of Forgotten Men was made shortly after Brenon made the film for which he is best remembered, Peter Pan (1924). His other notable efforts include The Spanish Dancer (1923) with Pola Negri, Dancing Mothers (1926) with Clara Bow, Beau Geste (1926), The Great Gatsby (1926), God Gave Me Twenty Cents (1926), and Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928) with Lon Chaney. All were big hits.

Though little known today, The Street of Forgotten Men was well regarded in its day. Marmont, a leading star of the silent era, was singled out for his exceptional Lon Chaney-like performance, and director Brenon was praised for his realistic depiction of Bowery life. The National Board of Review named the film one of the best pictures of 1925, and it was picked as one of the best of the year by newspapers around the country. This rare screening gives Cinefest attendees an opportunity to see a film which should be on DVD.
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