Jason watches THE HIDDEN FORTRESS

Okay, this is stretching way back in my forgotten archives. Forgot to write this up, but I saw Kurosawa's THE HIDDEN FORTRESS a couple of months ago at the Stanford. It's Kurosawa, so it's awesome. It's also loosely one of the inspirations for STAR WARS, so...well, it's fun to notice some things. And it's just a cool story with some funny characters. I shouldn't have to sell you on this.

Running Time: 126 minutes
My Total Minutes: 405,583

Jason goes to the Stanford Theatre for a Clara Bow double feature

Once again, catching up with what I saw a month and a half ago. The Stanford Theatre did a summer-long series of weekly silent films, and I only caught this one, a double feature of Clara Bow, the original "It" girl.

PARISIAN LOVE (1925): A tale of crime, romance, and betrayal among the street people of Paris. In particular, the violent street toughs known as "apache," which for odd reasons dating back to my college days I happen to know is pronounced a-POSH, not a-PATCH-ee, like the Native American tribe. But that's beside the point.

POISONED PARADISE (1924): The forbidden story of Monte Carlo. More theft and romance, as Margot LeBlac (Bow) loses all her money and becomes a housekeeper for struggling artist Hugh Kildair. The plot also involves an eccentric mathematician with a magic winning formula for gambling and thieves who want to steal his formula. And, in another odd connection to my schooling, it's based on a novel by Robert W. Service. I went to a high school in Anchorage, AK named after him (Poisoned Paradise, not being set in the frozen north, is somewhat of a departure for  "the Bard of the Yukon")

Dennis James rocked the Mighty Wurlitzer, of course, and I only regret I didn't see more of this series (and that I took so long to write this that I'm sure I forgot many details I should have included.)

Total Running Time: 159 minutes
My Total Minutes: 370,474

Jason goes to the Stanford for COBRA WOMAN and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943)

After seeing the silent, Lon Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925) on Friday night, I just had to go back to Stanford for the 1943 Claude Rains version. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. It was the second half of the double feature I saw.

COBRA WOMAN (1944): First up was this fun little flick that I had never heard of before. Maria Montez stars as Tollea, a Pacific Island girl who is about to marry her boyfriend Ramu (Jon Hall) but instead she is kidnapped (by a mute Lon Chaney, Jr., in a role that made me realize what a large, physically imposing man he was.) Turns out she was the secret heir to the throne of Cobra Island, a mysterious volcanic island where the natives worship a king cobra and trespassing by a stranger is punishable by death. And in her absence, her evil twin sister Naja (also played by Maria Montez) has been an incredibly cruel high priestess who routinely sacrifices her own people to the volcano. So Ramu has to go and rescue her, along with his native pal Kado and a monkey. Yup, there's a monkey involved, and it's all a lot of fun. And in beautiful Technicolor.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943): And then for the main event. In this version of Phantom, Claude Rains is a violinist in the Paris Opera's orchestra. He's a gifted musician and has been there 20 years. But his hands aren't as fast as they used to be, and so he is dismissed. Of course, he should have a fortune saved up from all his years in the opera, but he's been secretly paying for Christine Dubois' (I guess they didn't want to have to pronounce Daae?) music lessons. So his livelihood now rests on his ability to sell his concerto.

Anyway, that's just the setup and it already feels too spoiler-y. Rest assured Claude Rains gets horribly burnt by acid and becomes the Phantom. And he terrorizes the opera while advancing Christine's career. And a combination of her policeman friend and her leading man (both of whom are trying to woo her) try to track the Phantom down. That's one of the things that really struck me, compared to 1925 Lon Chaney version--it's almost more of a love-triangle comedy than a horror film. The other thing that struck me was how little was done in the Phantom's underground lair. So much more of the action takes place in the rafters and rigging above the opera instead of underground. And, of course, I was struck by the brilliant bright Technicolor (a possible reason for so little of it to be underground--why hide the beautiful Technicolor in the dark underground shadows?)

But that brings me to the real importance of last Saturday's show. It was shown on silver nitrate film instead of acetate. To emphasize the significance of that, there are only a handful of theaters in the world that play (or even that legally are allowed to play) silver nitrate films. That's because silver nitrate films are flammable nearly to the point of being explosive (watch INGLORIOUS BASTERDS for a demonstration of this.)

But silver nitrate film does produce a better image. So the colors were supposedly brighter, more vivid, crisper, and shimmered more than regular film (or digital.) And the image was certainly exceptional, but I'm not sure I would've noticed anything if nobody had told me in advance that it was silver nitrate. Now I'm told that actually by 1943 the silver content in the film was so low that the difference between it and acetate is marginal. Also I'm told that the difference is greater in black and white film. So I have officially lost my silver nitrate virginity, but now I want to see even older films--and black and white ones--on silver nitrate.

Total Running Time: 163
My Total Minutes: 302,523

Jason watches PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)

And with Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer, of course.

This is Lon Chaney at his best. Not just in the grotesque makeup transformation, but in his oddly compelling and sympathetic portrayal of the Phantom. The big unmasking scene is brilliant, and his whole network of underground tunnels and traps is a whole lot of fun. And I was surprised to find there's a good deal of comic relief in it. Lots of fun.

Oh, and the masquerade ball was in Technicolor (apparently 5 sequences were shot in color as well, but in the version last Friday this was the only one in color,) which is pretty important since the Phantom shows up with a skull mask and wearing all red--a pretty obvious reference to Poe's The Masque of the Red Death. That was very cool.

I should also note that this was the silent version of the 1929 re-release, which was the sixth release of the film. Each time it was cut down a bit from previous versions, and in the 1929 version they added a sound bit in the beginning with a man holding a lantern and introducing what has led up to the events you are about to witness (BTW, the industry term for a talking scene inserted into an otherwise silent movie is a "goat gland" scene. Don't ask me why.) Anyway, I say this was the silent version because due to some technical glitch or mistake, there was no sound for the goat gland scene. But we did get to hear Dennis James rocking the Tocatta and Fugue in D minor, so that was cool.

Running Time: 85 minutes
My Total Minutes: 302,361

Jason watches FOOLISH WIVES

At the Stanford Theatre, with Dennis James rocking the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. And it was pretty awesome.

Of course, it's all about Erich Von Stroheim. He directs and stars (and is credited as the author of the novel-within-the-film) as a count/conman in Monte Carlo. He lives off counterfeiting and from the money he swindles from the rich ladies who pass through the town. Especially the wife of the U.S. Ambassador.

But to understand the movie, you have to understand how it was made. After a couple of successes, he was given carte blanche by Universal to make whatever he wanted. So he made the first film ever to cost over $1,000,000. He obsessed over verisimilitude to the point where the underwear of his military uniform needed to be authentic (it is never seen on screen.) And his final edit was 32 reels (~8 hours.) Universal cut it in half, then thought about it for a year, then cut it in half again, down to 7 reels. Fortunately, there were two different 7 reel cuts that survived and have been pieced together as best as possible. The final result ran 2 hours and 22 minutes (~9-10 reels.) But it means the end result is choppy and poorly paced, but contains individually brilliant scenes (my two personal favorites are the mirror scene and the crying scene, both showcasing Von Stroheim at his conniving best.) I know it's crazy to say I wish the 8 hour cut survived so I could see it, but that's the honest truth. I'm sure the original was brilliant and although it would be an all-day marathon with more than a few intermissions, I'm sure the time would fly right by. Well, one can only wish.

Running Time: 142 minutes
My Total Minutes: 299,755

Jason watches THE WIND

I first saw this back in 2009 at the SF Silent Film Festival. Here's what I said back then:

The feature was a Lillian Gish drama, THE WIND. This was Gish's last silent film, and the last film in Hollywood for Swedish director Victor Sjöström [note: credited as Victor Seastrom].  When it was released (in 1928), it was critically mixed and a commercial flop, and ended Gish's relationship with MGM. However, she got the last laugh when it was added to the National Film Registry in 1993. Gish always talked about how this was her hardest film to make, and well in to her 80's and 90's (she lived to be just short of 100) she was touring with this film and others. In those tours the accompanist was the acclaimed organist Dennis James. For the performance last Saturday, the accompanist was also acclaimed organist Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer, plus sound effects artists on two wind machines (plus a few other effects, like a cap gun that did a great job of making the audience jump). By the way, Dennis performed for two films of the festival, but was in the audience watching the other 10 (for at least a few, in the row right behind me). He's a fan, he's very personable, and told some funny stories about Lillian Gish (like how she advised him never to get married). He's not just a great musician and silent film accompanist, he's officially a cool guy.

Now (finally) to the film. Gish plays Letty, a girl from Virginia who's moving out to Texas to live on her cousin's ranch. While still on the train, the fierce winds appear as a character as much as a force of nature. When she arrives, as the beautiful new lady in town she attracts the attention of all the neighbors. That's not so bad. The bad thing is she attracts the wrath of her cousin's wife, Cora. She's not just jealous of the attention her children pay to Letty, she's jealous of the attention her husband pays to her (um...nothing happens. And gross, they're cousins!) She's kicked out of the house with no place to live and the relentless wind driving her madder and madder every minute. She agrees to marriage, but it's a loveless marriage of convenience. At least, it's loveless on her end, he loves her but she's disgusted by him. In a way, her home becomes a prison with the wind as the ever watchful guard (there, I kept the prison theme going one more movie!) Well, there's a climax with yet another suitor who just can't give her up no matter how married she is, and finally she learns to love the wind (after all, any force of nature that will bury a body is a friend of mine).

The version of THE WIND we saw had a happy ending, but an original ending--with Letty going mad and walking off into the wind--is rumored to exist (and there are also rumors that the original "going crazy and walking off into the desert ending is just a rumor and never existed).

Well, other than the fact that we "only" had Dennis James on the Wurlitzer last Friday, no wind machines or cap guns, it's still pretty much as I said before. Although this time, I picked up a little more tenderness from her for her suitors (and her eventual husband.) She is definitely (although innocently) flirting with them ever so slightly. And the fact is, she didn't enter the marriage intending for it to be loveless. She just figured it would take a little time for her to warm up to him. The key scene for me was when he tried to push himself on her too quickly and she says, "Oh, now you made me hate you. I didn't want to hate you." That scene figured much more prominently in my reading this time. Interesting how the same movie can feel slightly different every time you see it.

Running Time: 81 minutes
My Total Minutes: 297,392

Jason watches WAY DOWN EAST (1920) at the Stanford Theatre

Two of the greatest of the greats of silent film teamed up in this (and many other films)--Lillian Gish and D. W. Griffith. And they made an excellent, epic broad and effective melodrama with equally broad comedy. Lillian plays Anna Moore, a naive country girl who is tricked by a rich playboy Lennox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman.) He stages a fake wedding, while she just thinks they're getting married in secret. Then he has his way with her and leaves her pregnant, alone, and humiliated. The baby dies, which is bad enough, but due to her past she has to live in secret and never marry another man (okay, this is1920, you have to look at it from 1920 standards.) She gets work at a simple country farm run by a hard, moral Squire Bartlett (Burr McIntosh) and his kindly wife (Kate Bruce.) They also have a very handsome son David (Richard Bartelmass,) which would be nice if she were marriageable. Oh, and Sanderson happens to live right across the street, making everything awkward.

A romance between the Squire's niece Kate (the lovely Mary Hay) and a visiting professor studying butterflies (Creighton Hale) provides comic relief. And the busybody maid who finds out about Anna's past provides the tragedy, culminating in a famous scene with Lillian lying, freezing on an ice floe.

By the way, the ice floe scene actually left Lillian with lifelong nerve damage in her hand. And yet, she claimed this wasn't the most difficult movie to film. That was THE WIND (1928)--coincidentally playing on August 17th at the Stanford.

Dennis James rocked the mighty Wurlitzer organ with the original 1920 score, and it was fantastic. The film was actually a reconstruction of the original 1920 premiere. A few scenes were missing and replaced with text and production stills illustrating what was supposed to be on screen. Interestingly enough, Griffith was famous for going back and re-editing his movies long after their initial release (even after donating them to the Museum of Modern Art.) So this reconstruction was guided by the original score--it had all the information on the order and length of every scene. It's an interesting thing to think about the next time you get upset that George Lucas went off and changed STAR WARS again.

Running Time: 145 minutes (estimated, because I forgot to set my stopwatch. And, in fact, I'm pretty sure this is an underestimate.)
My Total Minutes: 196,154

Jason watches ROBIN HOOD (1922)

At the Stanford Theatre, with Dennis James rockin' the Mighty Wurlitzer organ with the original score written for the movie. He introduced it as a score that many self-professed scholars claim is lousy. It's repetitive, it sets mood more than matching the actual action. But Dennis didn't care, he's a purist and historian who will play the original music. And for what it's worth, I thought the score worked just fine (with Dennis livening it up a bit so it wasn't quite so repetitive.)

As for the story, Douglas Fairbanks plays Robert, Earl of Huntingdon who later becomes Robin Hood (but not until halfway through the movie.) Wallace Beery plays Richard the Lionhearted. Against them are Prince John (Sam De Grasse) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Paul Dickey.) Maid Marian is played by Enid Bennet, who is appropriately in danger quite often, but not given much more to do. The first half is pretty slow, as King Richard and Huntingdon lead their army on a crusade, Gisbourne and Prince John plot against them, and when Huntingdon escapes and finally returns to England, he finds a band of men opposing John's tyranny hiding in Sherwood Forest, just needing a leader to guide them. So he becomes Robin Hood, and the fun really starts. The sets are huge and grand (it was the first movie to cost over $1 million) and while allegedly Fairbanks was afraid he would be overshadowed by the sets, ultimately he has a grand time as an eternal child climbing the walls and sliding down the curtain.

Oh, and as someone who grew up with the Disney animated Robin Hood, I can say that the Merry Men in this version are even merrier with all their dancing, jumping, and pirouetting.

Running Time: 127 minutes

My Total Minutes: 276,570

Jason watches THE TIME MACHINE and FORBIDDEN PLANET

It was a super-cheesy dumb blonds in sci-fi double feature at the Stanford.

First up, THE TIME MACHINE (1960) roughly followed the trajectory of H. G. Wells' novel. Sure, you have to gloss over the idea that the Eloi, some 800,000 years in the future, still speak English. And I love the thinking behind a movie that in 1960 predicted London would be nuked into oblivion in the distant future of...1966. As far as the dumb blond, that would be Eloi Weena, played by Yvette Mimieux. Of course, maybe this is a bit unfair, since all the Eloi, by nature of their characters, are sort of idiots. But in all seriousness the mannequin was a more compelling female lead.

And the second half was the classic alleged adaption of Shakespeare's The Tempest--FORBIDDEN PLANET. What's not to love--electronic theremin soundtrack, Robby the Robot, monsters from the Id, an unrecognizable dark-haired Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon as the reclusive survivor Dr. Morbius (and finally some recognition for the scientific contributions of philologists!). And, of course, Anne Francis as the dumb blond Alta Morbius.

Once again, of course, the dumb blond character is really just naive, and there's a good reason behind it. In this case, she's led the ultimate secluded life, with just her father and Robby the Robot to keep her company. It's still just striking how there are no strong female characters in either movie. Apparently girls in the 50's and 60's didn't need role models.

Total Running Time: 201 minutes

My Total Minutes: 253,920

Jason goes to the Stanford Theatre to see Buster Keaton's ONE WEEK and THE GENERAL

Every other Friday for the rest of the current calendar (i.e., at least until mid-September), the Stanford is doing double features of Buster Keaton classics with the magnificent Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer organ.

Sure, I've seen both of these many times, even multiple times on the big screen, even multiple times with live music. I know them pretty darn well. So I'm not even going to bother summarizing them. But I just couldn't pass up a chance to see Keaton on screen with Dennis James accompanying. Ummm...please ignore the fact that I turned up the chance to do just that twice already in this series. In my defense, the first time was during the SF Silent Film Festival, so I was up watching silents at the Castro. And the second time...I just flat out forgot.

Oh, I will say Dennis James always does a great job giving a little introduction to the film--interesting facts, contemporary reviews, etc. I never knew before that THE GENERAL is loosely based on a true story of Union spies who hijacked a train and went on a spree before being captured. Keaton's big change was telling it from the point of view of the South, and particularly one plucky southerner Johnnie Gray (Keaton) who despite his slight stature manages to outwit them all. Now who's up for a road-trip to Cottage Grove, Oregon to see where this was shot?

Total Running Time: 126 minutes

My Total Minutes: 246,702

Jason watches CLAUDIA and THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE

So I'm a little ashamed to admit that despite living right across the bay for 10 years and having a cousin who lives near there, this was my first time going to the Stanford Theatre. It's a really nice place, and in the middle of their current program I caught a Dorothy McGuire/Robert Young double feature.

In the first movie, CLAUDIA, Dorothy McGuire plays the title role of a flighty free-spirited very young newlywed (Robert Young plays her husband) who has just moved out to the country. She's kind of a ditz, and doesn't know the first thing about running a farm. She's got separation issues from her mother who still lives in the city. And she drives her husband crazy by flirting with an English (British English, no less) writer just to make him jealous. It's a fast paced, funny little movie with plenty of slick dialog. It's a bit stagy, not surprising given that it was adapted from a play (McGuire reprised her stage role for her film debut).

Next was a melodrama, THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE. McGuire uglies it up to play a homely girl who comes home and takes a job working in a honeymoon cottage that--depending on which local legend you believe--is either haunted by a witch or enchanted with the spirit of true love. Robert Young shows up with his fiancee, just before his commission comes up and he has to go fly in WWII. Over a year later, he comes back horribly scarred, and his disfigurement leads him to seek refuge in the cottage, hiding from his family and his fiancee, who screamed when she first saw him (incidentally, she quickly turns around and swears her love for him. I kinda felt sorry for her--she reacted with shock and as a result is left out in the cold alone). His only comfort comes from a blind piano player (who was likewise injured in battle) and, of course, Dorothy McGuire. Ultimately they decide to marry, although they both feel guilty thinking they're taking advantage of each other. And so, their love makes them beautiful to each other. As I said, a bit of an overwrought melodrama.

Total Running Time: 182 minutes

My Total Minutes: 193,213