There are a number of really fine films being shown at this year's
San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Some of them may be familiar to silent film buffs (like the Buster Keaton and Lon Chaney films), while others are likely not (Victor Fleming's
Wolf Song (1929), starring Gary Cooper and Lupe Velez, or the films from Bali and Japan). For me, it's those little known gems which prove themselves a revelation. And make attending this world class festival necessary. I detailed the schedule of films in an earlier LBS blog
HERE.
I haven't seen all the film which will be shown, but I have seen a handful of them. The
Ukiah Daily Journal just published my article on one of the films which will be shown, Clarence Brown's
The Signal Tower (1924). Louise Brooks devotees might take note that the film's two stars, Virginia Valli and Wallace Beery, also appeared in later Brooks' films. Valli appeared in
Evening Clothes (1927), while Beery appeared in another "train film,"
Beggars of Life (1928). Both actors are pictured below in one of the film's most dramatic scenes.
The director of
Beggars of Life was William Wellman. His earlier film,
You Never Know Women (1926), will also be shown at the Festival. Long thought lost, this backstage story is a bravura work - and according to his son, the success of this film got Wellman assigned to direct
Wings (1927), the first film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. I enjoyed
You Never Know Women immensely. If you can't attend the Festival, be sure and track down the DVD, recently released by Kino. It is brilliant! Really brilliant stuff!
For me, the one film I saw that proved a revelation was
Tonka of the Gallows (or
Tonka Šibernice), from 1930. It is a Czech film which stars Ita Rina, an attractive Slovenian ingénue. This rarely seen gem -- a parable of the cruelty that comes from small-mindedness -- tells the story of a country girl who becomes a prostitute in Prague where an act of
selfless generosity -- spending the night with a condemned man -- marks her as
a pariah. This exceptionally filmed film also has a Louise Brooks connection. Prague-born actor Josef Rovenský, Thymian’s father in
Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
, plays the condemned man in
Tonka of the Gallows. The SFSFF sums things up when it states "Made as sound was taking over the industry,
Tonka of the Gallows
is a tour-de-force of silent-era filmmaking from Czechoslovakian
director Karel Anton, who here has made his best work, always tempering
style to serve the larger story."
Tonka of the Gallows is a moving film, one which I hope to see many times in the future.
G.W. Pabst, who directed Louise Brooks in both
Diary of a Lost Girl and
Pandora's Box (1929), directs another of the films to be seen at this year's festival,
The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927). Set against Russia’s post-revolution civil war, the story follows Jeanne
Ney (Édith Jéhanne) who flees to Paris when her diplomat father is
killed after receiving a list of Bolshevik agents from the duplicitous
opportunist Khalibiev (Fritz Rasp) -- a list that contains the name of
Jeanne’s lover (Uno Henning)! Rasp played the villainous seducer of Thymian in
Diary of a Lost Girl. He has one of the more memorable faces in early German film.
Ahead of time, I also had the chance to see the Monta Bell directed
Light of Old Broadway (1925), starring Marion Davies, as well as
Brownie's Little Venus (1921), starring Baby Peggy, but found both not as enjoyable as I have other films starring either Davies or the diminutive Baby Peggy. King Baggot's
The Home Maker (1925), starring Alice Joyce, was interesting from a sociological point-of-view. It tells the story of a frustrated housewife who must go to work when her less than successful husband is disabled. She is a success, and the tables are turned.
One other film which I enjoyed a great deal and which also proved to be something of a revelation was the John Stahl directed
Husbands and Lovers (1924). Lewis Stone is the not-so-doting husband to Florence Vidor’s devoted
wife in this splendidly nuanced, briskly directed comedy that features the
quintessentially caddish Lew Cody as the other man. For me, Vidor's performance was an eye-opener. She is appealing and has a manner that draws one into her character. I certainly want to see more of her films.
I am looking forward to this year's Festival, which starts later today. I am also looking forward to seeing some films for the first time -- like the Italian diva vehicle
Rapsodia Satanica (1917), and the first ever Italian feature,
L'Inferno (1911). And though I have seen it before, once a number of years ago after meeting Fay Wray, I am also excited to see the Paramount restoration of Erich von Stroheim's
The Wedding March (1928), starring Fay Wray; this special presentation will be introduced by Wray's daughter, Victoria Riskin.
And there's also Ernst Lubitsch's
The Oyster Princess (1919), starring Ossi Oswaldo, and another early German film,
Opium (1919), starring Werner Krauss and Conrad Veidt, and
Japanese Girls at the Harbor (1933), which the
Village Voice described as “A knockout. Shimizu’s stunning tale of passion, crime, and decadence
[is an] exhilarating triumph of ... experimental style [and] also a
precious portrait of the great port city of Yokohama.” And there's . . . . .
For those interested, I will be signing copies of
Louise Brooks the Persistent Star following the Saturday, 10:00 am showing of the Marion Davies film,
The Lights of Old Broadway. My book signing is expected to start around 11:15 am.More information
HERE.
