My 300 silents (long list)

Nice list, Mike, and most of what I'd suggest has already been
mentioned. I do note that you don't list THE MERRY WIDOW; TCM runs it
occasionally and I'm guessing that you may already have a recording.
Ditto for THE PATSY, which is a lot of fun, particularly for Marion's
wicked parodies of Pola Negri, Mae Murray, and Lillian Gish. SO THIS
IS PARIS is a must-see Lubitsch, and TCM runs THE CONQUERING POWER
(Ingram) now and then. I don't remember if you listed the '21 CAMILLE
or '22 SALOME, but both of those are must-sees, if only for the
bizarre sets and art direction.
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

"mikegebert@gmail.com" (mikegebert@gmail.com) writes:
> I'd never be able to keep track of the shorts.
>
> What counts as a feature is sort of arbitrary-- I suppose the line is
> somewhere around 40 minutes, but there may be things shorter than that
> on there. I figure hours of Les Vampires only counting as one makes
> up for it.
>
Mike, are you counting only the films you've seen in theatres?
Or are you including stuff you've seen on TV, DVD, VHS, and
that weird guy down the street's house (Reg Hartt, if you had
happened to be a Torontonian, which I know you're not!)

Jim
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

On Oct 2, 10:50 pm, Lloyd Fonvielle <navigareNOS... RemoveThis @cox.net> wrote:
> mikegeb... RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:
> > It's stupid that I've never watched The Marriage Circle.
>
> It's one of the great films.
>
> Here's a review to whet your appetite:
>
> http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/28/2901602.html

That's a great photo of Adolphe Menjou! If you have an original, I'd
love a high resolution scan for the a.m.s. calendar some year.

Rodney Sauer
Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
www.mont-alto.com
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

There's going to be a new version of The Eagle???????

On Oct 2, 6:50 pm, "mikegeb...@gmail.com" <> >Riders of the Purple
Sage
>
> > The Eagle
>
> Waiting for the new version, now.
>
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

On Oct 4, 1:48 am, "rod...@mont-alto.com" <rod... DeleteThis @mont-alto.com>
wrote:
> On Oct 2, 10:50 pm, Lloyd Fonvielle <navigareNOS... DeleteThis @cox.net> wrote:
>
> > mikegeb... DeleteThis @gmail.com wrote:
> > > It's stupid that I've never watched The Marriage Circle.
>
> > It's one of the great films.
>
> > Here's a review to whet your appetite:
>
> >http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/28/2901602.html
>
> That's a great photo of Adolphe Menjou! If you have an original, I'd
> love a high resolution scan for the a.m.s. calendar some year.
>
> Rodney Sauer
> Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestrawww.mont-alto.com

For me, "The Marriage Circle" is a very enjoyable but old fashioned
fantasy. I like to contrast it with De Mille,s 1918"Old wives for new"
which I consider to be as fresh and modern as today,s headlines. I am
sure that a remake would bring deafening howls of protests because it
presents such a brutal ( but so true) picture of a fat middle-age
slob of a wife.
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

rodney.TakeThisOut@mont-alto.com wrote:

> On Oct 2, 10:50 pm, Lloyd Fonvielle <navigareNOS....TakeThisOut@cox.net> wrote:
>
>>mikegeb...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>>It's stupid that I've never watched The Marriage Circle.
>>
>>It's one of the great films.
>>
>>Here's a review to whet your appetite:
>>
>>http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/28/2901602.html
>
> That's a great photo of Adolphe Menjou! If you have an original, I'd
> love a high resolution scan for the a.m.s. calendar some year.

You can find a hi-res scan of it on the wonderful Dr. Macro site:

http://www.doctormacro.info/

It's in the galleries section.



Mar de Cortes Baja

www.mardecortesbaja.com <http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog>
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

On Oct 3, 1:01 pm, sir michael cat <mccro....DeleteThis@adam.com.au> wrote:
> On Oct 4, 1:48 am, "rod...@mont-alto.com" <rod....DeleteThis@mont-alto.com>
> wrote:

> For me, "The Marriage Circle" is a very enjoyable but old fashioned
> fantasy. I like to contrast it with De Mille,s 1918"Old wives for new"
> which I consider to be as fresh and modern as today,s headlines. I am
> sure that a remake would bring deafening howls of protests because it
> presents such a brutal ( but so true) picture of a fat middle-age
> slob of a wife.

I never thought of The Marriage Circle as old fashioned. Without
giving away much to those who haven't seen it:

When you compare how Florence Vidor reacts to being kissed by a man
who isn't her husband (basically "Oh, for Pete's sake. You again.
Please, just go away before you embarass yourself further.") to how a
D.W. Griffith heroine, or even a DeMille heroine, would have reacted,
it's very modern. The film's attitude that sometimes divorce is, in
fact, the best solution to a mismatched marriage, is more advanced
than the DeMille pictures where divorce is tried but turns out to be a
mistake -- it would have been better for one partner to change to
match what the other expects. In the DeMille films, it doesn't seem a
stretch to have either the husband or the wife (depending on the film)
change their personality, maybe because the original bad personality
traits seem overplayed and artificial. But the characters played by
Adolphe Menjou and Marie Prevost seem so real in their cynicism and
callousness respectively that it would be inconceivable that they'd
decide to start pleasing each other and just get along.

Rodney
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

On Oct 4, 4:38 am, "rod...@mont-alto.com" <rod....DeleteThis@mont-alto.com>
wrote:
> On Oct 3, 1:01 pm, sir michael cat <mccro....DeleteThis@adam.com.au> wrote:
>
> > On Oct 4, 1:48 am, "rod...@mont-alto.com" <rod....DeleteThis@mont-alto.com>
> > wrote:
> > For me, "The Marriage Circle" is a very enjoyable but old fashioned
> > fantasy. I like to contrast it with De Mille,s 1918"Old wives for new"
> > which I consider to be as fresh and modern as today,s headlines. I am
> > sure that a remake would bring deafening howls of protests because it
> > presents such a brutal ( but so true) picture of a fat middle-age
> > slob of a wife.
>
> I never thought of The Marriage Circle as old fashioned. Without
> giving away much to those who haven't seen it:
>
> When you compare how Florence Vidor reacts to being kissed by a man
> who isn't her husband (basically "Oh, for Pete's sake. You again.
> Please, just go away before you embarass yourself further.") to how a
> D.W. Griffith heroine, or even a DeMille heroine, would have reacted,
> it's very modern. The film's attitude that sometimes divorce is, in
> fact, the best solution to a mismatched marriage, is more advanced
> than the DeMille pictures where divorce is tried but turns out to be a
> mistake -- it would have been better for one partner to change to
> match what the other expects. In the DeMille films, it doesn't seem a
> stretch to have either the husband or the wife (depending on the film)
> change their personality, maybe because the original bad personality
> traits seem overplayed and artificial. But the characters played by
> Adolphe Menjou and Marie Prevost seem so real in their cynicism and
> callousness respectively that it would be inconceivable that they'd
> decide to start pleasing each other and just get along.
>
> Rodney

You are right . My viewing was several years ago .
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

rodney.DeleteThis@mont-alto.com wrote:

> I never thought of The Marriage Circle as old fashioned. Without
> giving away much to those who haven't seen it:
>
> When you compare how Florence Vidor reacts to being kissed by a man
> who isn't her husband (basically "Oh, for Pete's sake. You again.
> Please, just go away before you embarass yourself further.") to how a
> D.W. Griffith heroine, or even a DeMille heroine, would have reacted,
> it's very modern. The film's attitude that sometimes divorce is, in
> fact, the best solution to a mismatched marriage, is more advanced
> than the DeMille pictures where divorce is tried but turns out to be a
> mistake -- it would have been better for one partner to change to
> match what the other expects. In the DeMille films, it doesn't seem a
> stretch to have either the husband or the wife (depending on the film)
> change their personality, maybe because the original bad personality
> traits seem overplayed and artificial. But the characters played by
> Adolphe Menjou and Marie Prevost seem so real in their cynicism and
> callousness respectively that it would be inconceivable that they'd
> decide to start pleasing each other and just get along.

Agreed, and in some ways its wry view of a good marriage is even more
modern -- it says that happily married people have to trick each other a
little, lie to each other a little and look the other way a lot. Not a
trace of Victorian piety or idealism here -- just practical common sense
and goodwill. It's all very wise and grown-up stuff -- and for
Hollywood, that's cutting-edge in any era.




Mar de Cortes Baja

www.mardecortesbaja.com <http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog>
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

I don't remember, but yes, about 12 or 13 years ago, my wife and I
were in Toronto, saw ads for Robin Hood at the Toronto Cinematheque,
and went there... only to find it consisted of Reg's 16mm projector
and second hand easy chairs.

We overcame our initial inclination, which was to assume we had been
lured there to be murdered, and watched it. I do recall that the
program notes contained a large section xeroxed from The Parade's Gone
By on the fighting falcons scene... which was not in his print.
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

"mikegebert@gmail.com" (mikegebert@gmail.com) writes:
> All silent features-- theaters, DVD, TCM, and in the case of Robin
> Hood... Reg Hartt's house.


Seriously? You attended a screening at Reg's house?

How long did the harangue last?


Jim
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

sir michael cat (mccrohan@adam.com.au) writes:
> On Oct 4, 1:48 am, "rod...@mont-alto.com" <rod....DeleteThis@mont-alto.com>
> wrote:
>> On Oct 2, 10:50 pm, Lloyd Fonvielle <navigareNOS....DeleteThis@cox.net> wrote:
>>
>> > mikegeb....DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:
>> > > It's stupid that I've never watched The Marriage Circle.
>>
>> > It's one of the great films.
>>
>> > Here's a review to whet your appetite:
>>
>> >http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/28/2901602.html
>>
>> That's a great photo of Adolphe Menjou! If you have an original, I'd
>> love a high resolution scan for the a.m.s. calendar some year.
>>
>> Rodney Sauer
>> Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestrawww.mont-alto.com
>
> For me, "The Marriage Circle" is a very enjoyable but old fashioned
> fantasy. I like to contrast it with De Mille,s 1918"Old wives for new"
> which I consider to be as fresh and modern as today,s headlines. I am
> sure that a remake would bring deafening howls of protests because it
> presents such a brutal ( but so true) picture of a fat middle-age
> slob of a wife.
>

De Mille made a whole bunch of silents with the same plot,
which is summed up in the titles: Why change your wife / Don't
change your husband / The marriage circle / Old wives for
new, etc. He churned them out as if he were a Canon copier
machine.

And all of them are more or less saved by the man's sheer
bravado and flamboyant spectacle. The verve and stylishness
he brought to practically everything he filmed in the silent
era make him one of the most reliable and entertaining
filmmaker of the time, even if he was never a groundbreaker
or an innovator.

If he's not considered a legitimate "auteur", it's sheer
snobbery against someone who never aspired to mournful,
dirge-like, "serious art".


Jim,
who likes mournful, dirge-like, serious art ... just not
from DeMille, please.
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list) 

James Roots filted:
>
>De Mille made a whole bunch of silents with the same plot,
>which is summed up in the titles: Why change your wife / Don't
>change your husband / The marriage circle / Old wives for
>new, etc. He churned them out as if he were a Canon copier
>machine.

Nice choice of brand name there....r


--
Lindsay Lohan died for your sins.
 >> Stay informed about: My 300 silents (long list)