Four Sons (1928) August 19, 2006
Posted by derek in : Reviews, Action-Adventure , 2 comments
This is a very good movie, just a pity Fox don’t restore it and put it properly on DVD, there are a lot of marks on the print though it certainly didn’t spoil my enjoyment.
This to me is the best of the early John Fords. Basically it tells the story of a German family with a mother and four sons. One of the sons doesn’t like the regimentation of the country and goes to live in the US. This gets interesting when the Great War breaks out. I thought the idea of splitting the family having one son in the US was very clever it gave it an extra dimension as an anti-war or even anti-authority movie.
Nice touch though possibly a little convenient for the US brother to discover his brother Andreas (fighting for Germany) dead on the battlefield but this was beautifully acted.
After the war the mother is invited to the US by the one surviving son. I liked the depiction of Ellis Island and the mother blundering around New York in a daze in the subway etc. Fascinating to see what the mother had to do to enter the US and how this is almost sent up in the movie.
I’m not an expert on these things but I’m unsure was Ellis Island still in existence as a gateway for immigrants in 1928 ? Whatever this was really interesting to see so close to the peak period of immigration from European countries. Lovely Movietone score with great song to accompany the heart warming ending. On the whole a fine film. (3 stars out of 5)
Wings (1927) July 31, 2006
Posted by derek in : Reviews, Action-Adventure , add a comment
Wings (1927) certainly impresses with its action sequences both on the ground and particularly up in the air. They are among the finest in any war film I would say, the depiction of World War I is excellent and exciting. What would have made those dog fights even better would have been a few sound effects, they were I believe in many release prints and in clips in the Hollywood series (A Celebration of American Silent Film, Thames TV, 1979). Not all theatres would have been equipped for such a soundtrack in 1927 but I really believe it would add a lot to the impact of this film though the battle scenes are excellent as they are.
Unfortunately once we get out of the plane the movie I believe hasn’t aged all that well. It’s not headed for a spread-eagled crash but its not really too good. The main problem is the love stories : the love triangle between Buddy Rogers, Dick Arlen and Jobyna Ralston (Harold Lloyd’s leading lady in six features) just isn’t very interesting. Poor Jobyna gets so little to do, she looks delightful but she could really have walked off the set of Girl Shy (1924) its Miss Buckingham all over again. The end of her part of the story is rounded out with a shot of her crying, that’s all.
Clara Bow fares a lot better : it was definitely her presence that kept my interest in the early reels : the lady had sparkle and bounce. I don’t understand how Rogers can’t see that Clara is the girl of his dreams, if I could go on a date with any silent actress I would ask for her phone number. The best bits apart from the combat scenes are definitely those in which she appears though she looks a bit weird dressed up as a soldier. I love the section in Paris and at the Folies Bergere, then Clara being caught in a state of undress in Buddy’s room ! Pity she then disappears for most of the rest of the movie.
As to a comparison with the most famous silent war film : The Big Parade (1925) this didn’t move me in the same way as that did, possibly because I found the back story less believable and Rogers and Arlen are simply not John Gilbert.
For most of the time this appears a bit more hawkish than The Big Parade (1925) though they certainly show the harsh realities of war clearly enough. Still an important film as the first Academy Award winner, I’m delighted to have seen it. (2 1/2 stars out of 5)
The Trail of 98 (1928) July 29, 2006
Posted by derek in : Reviews, Action-Adventure , add a commentBy 1928 MGM had assumed the leadership of the American film industry and they were to be unchallenged until the Second World War.
This typically expansive and epic MGM silent is about the Alaskan Gold Rush. It is sometimes seen on TCM USA. The film stars Dolores del Rio and Ralph Forbes. Harry Carey Snr is the villain (?!) who comes between them. The melodrama takes second place to the very authentic depiction of the privations of the gold rush. No wonder it seems so real,the Klondike scenes were filmed near Denver at an altitude of 11,600 ft and temperatures down 60 below zero, the company actually travelled to Alaska for some scenes.
Director Clarence Brown called the filming the most arduous in his career. As the Hollywood series revealed it was also tragic as six men lost their lives during the production. (2 1/2 stars out of 5)