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.

Day of Silents Announced for Saturday, December 2

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has announced its annual "Day of Silents" will take place one month from today, on Saturday, December 2 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. More information may be found HERE.

Star turns by Anna May Wong, Rudolph Valentino, and Pola Negri! Centennial celebration of Harold Lloyd's Safety Last! A brilliant collection of animated shorts by Dave and Max Fleischer, Walt Disney, and other geniuses of the form! And a proto-noir featuring pre-Thin Man William Powell! All in our holiday-season live-cinema event A DAY OF SILENTS, coming to the Castro Theatre, San Francisco on Saturday, December 2. Like SFSFF's annual festival, A Day of Silents showcases a variety of superb titles from the silent era, all set to superb live musical accompaniment by the likes of Wayne Barker and Nicholas White, Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and the Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble!

Tickets and Passes are on sale now at silentfilm.org

 

THE PROGRAM:

Saturday, December 2, Castro Theatre

More information, tickets and passes at silentfilm.org

10:00 AM

OF MICE AND MEN (AND CATS AND CLOWNS)

A collection of animated shorts, 1908–1928

Some of the most creative films from the silent era came out of an inkwell! Our collection includes animated shorts from 1908–1928, films that outshine much of what followed. For sheer audacity and pure joy, these films by cartoon masters Including the Fleischer brothers, Pat Sullivan, and Walt Disney, can’t be beat!

Fantasmagorie (1908, d. Émile Cohl)

How a Mosquito Operates (1912, d. Winsor McKay)

Adam Raises Cain (1922, d. Tony Sarg)

Amateur Night on the Ark (1923, d. Paul Terry)

Bed Time (1923, d. Dave and Max Fleischer)

Felix Grabs His Grub (1923, d. Pat Sullivan)

A Trip to Mars (1924, d. Dave and Max Fleischer)

Vacation (1924, d. Dave and Max Fleisher)

Alice’s Balloon Race (1926, d. Walt Disney)

Felix the Cat in Sure Locked Homes (1928, d. Pat Sullivan)

Live music by WAYNE BARKER and NICHOLAS WHITE

12:00 NOON

THE WILDCAT (Die Bergkatze)

1921, d. Ernst Lubitsch

Pola Negri, Victor Janson, Paul Heidemann

Before director Ernst Lubitsch left Germany to ply his famous ‘Touch’ in Hollywood, he made a series of comedies that gave hints at what was to come. The Wildcat is his last German comedy and his most riotously zany. Subtitled ‘A Grotesque in Four Acts,’ Wildcat makes use of extravagant set design and eccentric frame shapes that lend a surrealistic edge to its antic energy. Pola Negri’s Rischka leads a gang of mountain bandits who ambush Lieutenant Alexis (Paul Heidemann) on his way to the local fortress, leaving him pant-less (and smitten) on the ice. Film writer John Gillett called the film “both an anti-militarist satire and a wonderful fairy tale.”

Live music by MONT ALTO MOTION PICTURE ORCHESTRA

2:15 PM

THE EAGLE

1925, d. Clarence Brown

Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Banky, Louise Dresser

Clarence Brown's rousing film displays a perfect blend of elements—romance, swashbuckling, a modicum of humor, and the great Rudolph Valentino! Not to mention the splendid production design by William Cameron Menzies and gorgeous camerawork by George Barnes. After Valentino's Russian lieutenant rejects the amorous attentions of Catherine the Great (Louise Dresser), she orders him arrested. Instead, he flees and becomes a masked avenger intent on righting the wrongs visited upon his father and his countrymen by loutish nobleman Kryilla Trouekouroff (James A. Marcus). But the nobleman has a beautiful daughter (Vilma Banky)...

Live music by WAYNE BARKER

4:15 PM

PAVEMENT BUTTERFLY (Großstadtshmetterling)

Germany/Great Britain, 1928/1929, d. Richard Eichberg

Gaston Jacquet, Anna May Wong

Luminous Anna May Wong goes from a fan-dancing carnival act to an artist garret and finally to the French Riviera where she accompanies a wealthy art patron around Monte Carlo, draped in haute couture. Wong left Hollywood in search of roles more fitting her talents than the racially-circumscribed ones at home. This Weimar title showcases her magnetism—when Wong is onscreen, you can't look away.

Live music by the SASCHA JACOBSEN ENSEMBLE

7:00 PM

SAFETY LAST!

1923, d. Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor

Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis

Harold Lloyd's bumpkin salesclerk comes up with a publicity stunt that will bring attention to his department store and earn him the money to marry his sweetheart—scale the 12-story building like a human fly! Shot in downtown Los Angeles, the stunt has given us one of the most iconic images of the silent era—Lloyd precariously hanging over the city street, dangling from a broken clock. James Agee wrote: "Each new floor is like a new stanza in a poem; and the higher and more horrifying it gets, the funnier it gets."

Live music by MONT ALTO MOTION PICTURE ORCHESTRA

9:00 PM

FORGOTTEN FACES

1928, d. Victor Schwertzinger

Clive Brook, William Powell, Olga Baclanova

Heliotrope Harry (Clive Brook) and Froggy (William Powell) are partners in crime—genteel armed robbery—at least until the cuckolded Harry commits an even bigger offense. Before Harry goes to prison, he leaves his baby girl on the doorstep of a wealthy couple to keep her out of the clutches of his no-good wife Lilly (Olga Baclanova) and tasks Froggy with keeping close tabs. But Froggy is no match for Lilly...

Live music by the SASCHA JACOBSEN ENSEMBLE

Get Lost in the 1920s at the Toronto Silent Film Festival

Louise Brooks had long had a connection to Toronto, Canada. She first visited the city in April, 1924 as a member of the Denishawn Dance Company, performing for two nights at the historic Massey Music Hall. And of course, her various films played in various theatres in Toronto throughout the 1920s and 1930s. 

After Brooks moved to Rochester, New York in the late 1950s, she spent many an evening listening to radio broadcast out of Toronto, notably the CBC. She also gained friends and followers among Canada's film historians, and herself became a patron of the Toronto Film Society. Brooks even penned some film notes for screenings put on by the group. (An entire chapter devoted to Canada will be included in volume one of my forthcoming, two volume work, Around the World with Louise Brooks.)

I mention all this as a prelude to mentioning that the Toronto Silent Film Festival, Canada’s only silent film festival, is set to take place November 11-13, 2022 at the Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles Ave.). If you live in Toronto and have never been, why not check it out. More information may be found HERE or at www.torontosilentfilmfestival.com

Though this year's festival is not showing any Louise Brooks films (maybe next year? maybe The Street of Forgotten Men ?), but they are showing films by and featuring individuals with whom Brooks worked, namely Herbert Brenon, Wallace Beery, Adolphe Menjou and Thomas Meighan. They are also showing films starring Brooks contemporaries, namely Gloria Swanson, Pola Negri, and Lya de Putti.  I wish I could be there! This year's five film program includes a gripping real life adventure, a bunch of wild comedy shorts, screen divas, and a noirish thrillers  -- each film paired with talented accompanists to make each film screening a one-of-a-kind experience.

SOUTH 1919 UK
NEW 2K REMASTER B/W WITH TINTING AND TONING, 88 MIN
DIRECTOR: FRANK HURLEY
ACCOMPANIST: MORGAN-PAIGE MELBOURNE

1000 LAFFS: MACK & MAYHEM
120 MIN WITH INTRODUCTION
ACCOMPANIST: JORDAN KLAPMAN

THE SPANISH DANCER 1923 USA
96 MIN RESTORED B/W  WITH TINTING
DIRECTOR: HERBERT BRENON
CAST: POLA NEGRI, ANTONIO MORENO, ADOLPHE MENJOU, WALLACE BERRY
ACCOMPANIST: MARILYN LERNER

WHY CHANGE YOUR WIFE? 1920 USA
90 MIN
DIRECTOR: CECIL B. DEMILLE
CAST: GLORIA SWANSON, THOMAS MEIGHAN, BEBE DANIELS
ACCOMPANIST: TANIA GILL

THE INFORMER 1929 UK
99 MIN
B/W, TINTED
DIRECTOR: ARTHUR ROBISON
CAST: LARS HANSON, LYA DE PUTTI, WARWICK WARD, CARL HARBORD
ACCOMPANIST: BILL O'MEARA

The Louise Brooks Society blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival Day of Silents Announced

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has announced its annual A Day of Silents event for Saturday, December 3 at San Francisco's Castro Theatre. True to its live-cinema tradition, the SFSFF is presenting six programs all with live musical accompaniment! Tickets and Passes are on sale now. More information, including a full rundown of films, may be found HERE.

 

"Comedy wins the day starting in the morning with KEATON'S MECHANIZED MAYHEM—three brilliant shorts by Buster Keaton—accompanied by pianist Wayne Barker. Following Buster is Ernst Lubitsch's effervescent FORBIDDEN PARADISE with Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra accompanying. The centerpiece show of the evening is King Vidor's Hollywood satire SHOW PEOPLE starring Marion Davies with cameos by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and John Gilbert—also accompanied by Mont Alto. But the serious doesn't take a back seat, three riveting dramas fill out the bill. SFSFF's restoration of Musidora's POUR DON CARLOS portrays the civil war in late 19th-century Spain. The Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble will accompany. Cecil B. DeMille's incendiary THE CHEAT—the film that made Sessue Hayakawa a star—will be accompanied by Wayne Barker. And the last show of the evening, THE TOLL OF THE SEA, is a restoration of this earliest-surviving two-color Technicolor film. Anna May Wong in beautiful color! The Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble will accompany."

 

 

The Glories of Poland's KINO Magazine, part three

If you are anything like me (and I realize most people aren't), then you may enjoy surfing the internet and browsing old newspapers and magazines, especially international publications. I like doing so on occasion. In particular, I enjoy looking at old film magazines. They depict a world gone by. A time and place no longer. But what's more, you never know what you will find - rare and unusual images, little known interviews with favorite stars, and more. 

I am drawn to publications from Eastern Europe, especially publications from Poland. (I am of Polish heritage.) One of my favorite magazines to look through is KINO, a Polish film magazines. A small archive of the magazine, dating from the 1930s, can be found online HERE. (Warning, this archive can be problematic to navigate.)

What is especially notable about this magazine (especially in the early 1930s) is its striking, sometimes avante-garde cover art, which utilizes a muted palette and employs portrait photography and illustration, as well as moderne and art deco designs, collage, coloring, patterns, layers, geometric forms, abstraction, "exoticism" and a varied layout (i.e. title placement). It is also worth noticing the predominance of angles over curves. (As the decade progressed, KINO covers were less bold, and began to resemble the covers found on other magazines of the time.)

I found a bit of material about Louise Brooks, of course, as well as many attractive magazine covers which I wanted to share - both because they depict favorite movie stars, but also for their swell graphic design. There are so many interesting images that I need divide this post into a few parts. 

This is part three. (See the previous blog post for part two.) I will start with a couple of Louise Brooks related covers and go from there. This first cover depicts William Powell from around the time he starred in The Canary Murder Case, which in Poland was titled Kryyk z za Swlatow. (See the end of the previous post for stunning image of Brooks as the Canary, which was published in KINO.) The second cover depicts Louise Brooks two-time co-star, Adolphe Menjou.

William Powell 1930

Adolphe Menjou 1930

Anna May Wong 1930

Nina Mae McKinney 1935

Lya di Putti 1931

Gloria Stuart 1937

Mae West 1935

Myrna Loy 1936

The Glories of Poland's KINO Magazine, part two

If you are anything like me (and I realize most people aren't), then you may enjoy surfing the internet and browsing old newspapers and magazines, especially international publications. I like doing so on occasion. In particular, I enjoy looking at old film magazines. They depict a world gone by. A time and place no longer. But what's more, you never know what you will find - rare and unusual images, little known interviews with favorite stars, and more. 

I am drawn to publications from Eastern Europe, especially publications from Poland. (I am of Polish heritage.) One of my favorite magazines to look through is KINO, a Polish film magazines. A small archive of the magazine, dating from the 1930s, can be found online HERE. (Warning, this archive can be problematic to navigate.)

What is especially notable about this magazine (especially in the early 1930s) is its striking, sometimes avante-garde cover art, which utilizes a muted palette and employs portrait photography and illustration, as well as moderne and art deco designs, collage, coloring, patterns, layers, geometric forms, abstraction, "exoticism" and a varied layout (i.e. title placement). It is also worth noticing the predominance of angles over curves. (As the decade progressed, KINO covers were less bold, and began to resemble the covers found on other magazines of the time.)

I found a bit of material about Louise Brooks, of course, as well as many attractive magazine covers which I wanted to share - both because they depict favorite movie stars, but also for their swell graphic design. There are so many interesting images that I need divide this post into a few parts. 

This is part two. (See the previous blog post for part one.) I will start with a Louise Brooks related cover and go from there. This first cover depicts Wallace Beery in an image taken from the 1927 film, Now We're in the Air.

Wallace Beery 1930

Colleen Moore 1930

Brigitte Helm 1932

Gary Cooper 1930

Buster Keaton 1931

Pola Negri 1935

Pola Negri 1933

Krystyna Ankwicz 1932

Krystyna Ankwicz 1936

a Polish actress 1933

The Glories of Poland's KINO Magazine, part one

If you are anything like me (and I realize most people aren't), then you may enjoy surfing the internet and browsing old newspapers and magazines, especially international publications. I like doing so on occasion. In particular, I enjoy looking at old film magazines. They depict a world gone by. A time and place no longer. But what's more, you never know what you will find - rare and unusual images, little known interviews with favorite stars, and more. 

I am drawn to publications from Eastern Europe, especially publications from Poland. (I am of Polish heritage.) One of my favorite magazines to look through is KINO, a Polish film magazines. A small archive of the magazine, dating from the 1930s, can be found online HERE. (Warning, this archive can be problematic to navigate.)

What is especially notable about this magazine (especially in the early 1930s) is its striking, sometimes avante-garde cover art, which utilizes a muted palette and employs portrait photography and illustration, as well as moderne and art deco designs, collage, coloring, patterns, layers, geometric forms, abstraction, "exoticism" and a varied layout (i.e. title placement). It is also worth noticing the predominance of angles over curves. (As the decade progressed, KINO covers were less bold, and began to resemble the covers found on other magazines of the time.)

I found a bit of material about Louise Brooks, of course, as well as many attractive magazine covers which I wanted to share - both because they depict favorite movie stars, but also for their swell graphic design. There are so many interesting images that I need divide this post into a few parts.  

This is part one. I will start with a Louise Brooks cover and go from there.

Louise Brooks 1932

John Gilbert 1930

Ramon Novarro 1930

Charlie Chaplin 1931

Buster Keaton 1932

Pola Negri 1931

Colleen Moore 1930

Clara Bow 1930

Greta Garbo 1934

The next post will feature even more covers. Of course, there are many other interesting / appealing / unusual interior illustrations. Here is one that I came across that intrigues me to no end - a caricature and poem related to Garbo. Can anyone transcribe and translate the verse?

Happy Birthday Pola Negri

Happy Birthday Pola Negri, the Polish-born actress who achieved worldwide fame during the silent and early sound eras. By most accounts, Pola (born Apolonia Chalupec) came into the world on this day in 1897. She began her career in Europe, making early films in Germany before moving to the United States and signing with Paramount. She was a near contemporary of Louise Brooks, and worked with some of the same actors and directors. Pola was also considered a great beauty, and reportedly had affairs with both Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino. Her last screen credit was in Walt Disney's The Moon-Spinners (1964). Read her Wikipedia page HERE.

At times, Pola Negri resembled Louise Brooks just a bit. At other times, she look like a dark haired Garbo. Most of the time, however, she looked like Pola!

Want to learn more? Here are some worthwhile books. I recommend each.