Masques d'artistes

Kino Lorber in partnership with Paramount has just released another title in an ongoing series of silent movies from the Paramount vaults which started back in 2017 with THE COVERED WAGON and BEGGARS OF LIFE. This time it's William Wellman's YOU NEVER KNOW WOMEN, an engaging comedy-drama that was his penultimate film before the monumental WWI epic WINGS which made his reputation. Clocking in at a tight 71 minutes WOMEN tells the story of an unlikely love triangle between a Russian acrobat (Florence Vidor), her associate (Clive Brook) and a wealthy man about town (Lowell Sherman).

A rich cad falsely takes credit for saving a young woman from a falling girder at a construction site. He then follows her to a theater where she is performing with a troupe of Russian acrobats. The troop is led by a magician who is clearly patterned after Harry Houdini. He loves her but is too shy to express it. The cad is not. She responds to the cad's attention which depresses the magician. All this takes place on the eve of a very dangerous stunt involving handcuffs and a locked box dropped into the NYC harbor. The trick goes awry, the cad shows his true colors, and it all leads to a satisfying conclusion.

WOMEN was Wellman's 10th film and he is already showing what he could do with a camera and with the imaginative staging of scenes that carry the story without distracting from it. The performances from the 3 principals keep us engaged and there is wonderful comic support from vaudeville veteran El Brendel and a performing goose. The story may be old hat but the treatment of it is not. While the title is taken from one of the title cards, it is very misleading along with the original poster art which is replicated on the cover. In the story it is the woman being manipulated, not the two men.

This restoration is taken from a copy of an original 35mm print in the Paramount archives and it looks very good. You can tell it's original by the title cards which are all of a piece and suffer from very minor print deterioration. The new music score from Donald Sosin has a slightly Russian flavor that adds to the overall enjoyment one experiences. Not a major film from one of classic Hollywood's legendary directors but one that would be an ideal introduction to silent movies for a modern audience. The background commentary provided as an extra from the director's son is very informative...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

This almost-forgotten film wraps romance, adventure, comedy and melodrama in one exciting package! Screened at the Fall Cinesation in Saginaw, MI in 2001, You Never Know Women revolves around a romantic triangle involving two members of an acrobatic troupe (Vidor and Brook) and a rakish ne'er-do-well (Sherman). William Wellman keeps the story moving while providing time for comic relief by El Brendel. While Brook is a bit stiff, Vidor is lovely and Sherman is perfect as the top-hatted cad. Particularly exciting is a scene involving a Houdini-like stunt performed by Brook. This film deserves to be on video/DVD!

You know as soon as he shows up that Lowell Sherman is a suave rotter. It was his signature role in the movies, and had been since he played the City Slicker in Griffith's WAY DOWN EAST. When a worker saves Florence Vidor from being crushed by a falling girder and she faints in his arms, Sherman steps from a saloon car and pushes him aside. He takes on the heroic role himself as an entree into Florence's world of of a touring Russian vaudeville troupe and, he hopes, her.

There are complications to his quest: the loyalty of the closed world of the troupe, and the doglike love of Clive Brook, the troupe's magician. Of course, she loves him -- like a brother -- and is fascinated by the debonair Sherman.

It's a movie about illusion and the revelation of the realities behind them. Brooks throws knives at Miss Vidor, without endangering her; he turns her into a butterfly floating through the theater; he makes her vanish from one spot and appear in another; he escapes from water traps.... until he doesn't, and reality is revealed.

William Wellman was coming off a string of unsuccessful movies, and other people who talk and write about his films think this one about a small world and intruders is the first stirring of his auctorial voice. I think he was assigned a project and discovered he liked its themes. He would return to it again and again, a theatrical world that outsiders just don't understand, in movies like A STAR IS BORN, LADY OF BURLESQUE and BUFFALO BILL: tough, bitter and mocking tales about how people protect their own.

He certainly shows us the community. The shots of the troupe in performance are close-ups or shot from the wings. The clear implication is that outsiders don't see what's going on. It's stage illusion (or perhaps movie illusion), and unless you're part of the troupe, you never see the reality.

I wasn't expecting this film to be as much fun to watch as it is. The backstage storyline features extravagant costumes, sets and makeup, and delightful comic bits. The audience cheered when a painting on a curtain "came to life" in a comical way. Some of the bits used were obviously stolen from Houdini, but it's always fun to see them filmed, even if Harry isn't there. A favorite player was the performing goose, who wears prop spectacles and hats when onstage. Director William Wellman knows how to put activity into a frame, so even during some of the slower conversational parts, there are often acrobats whirling by in the background. But he also knows when to tone this sort of thing down; the dramatic, emotional moments are allowed to have space. A scene where someone is trying to flee danger is shot in an effective, film-noir manner.

The players acquit themselves admirably. Florence Vidor is luminous, and, as Jeanine Basinger has written, created a heroine who is an interesting hybrid of the independent flapper and the traditional damsel-in-distress. Clive Brook is highly sympathetic as the intelligent lover. I was less sure of Lowell Sherman's casting: I couldn't figure out what Vidor's character would have seen in him. However, it's possible that a more appealing actor would have stacked the deck too heavily against Brook; both leading men were about 40 at the time of filming. (I was surprised to find that Vidor was close to 30; she appears 15-20 years younger than the men, perhaps partly due to makeup and lighting.)

The one thing I didn't like about the film was the suggestion that women who don't love the "right" man should be punished for it. I think the storyline did a decent job of resolving this issue--I can't explain without spoilers--but given the murderous intentions of some incel types, that's not a good idea to champion (which was also true then).

The lighting was magnificent in many scenes. The version I saw also had some beautiful tinting. I hope the film will be played often, so more people can enjoy it.