Doomsday

Though you wouldn't guess it from the title, "Doomsday" (1928) is a romantic melodrama set in the English countryside. This Paramount production was directed by Rowland V. Lee, a dull director who had arrived to the studio from Fox two years prior to this. It is based on a novel from 1927 by Warwick Deeping, but feels like the source material could be 100 years older.

The protagonist of the film is a woman named Mary, played by Florence Vidor, former wife of King Vidor. Mary has a decision to make. She can either marry for love, and end up with the handsome Gary Cooper, who is poor and manages a farm called "Doomsday", or she can marry for money, and become the wife of a much older man. Because this is an American silent film, we know there is only one correct answer, but Mary goes and chooses the wrong one. Can she correct the mistake?

There are a million silent romances with the same plot. This is a bland telling of the story. Director Lee is not visually an interesting filmmaker, and he doesn't get much out of the actors either. Cooper's career was on the rise, but this did nothing to him. "Arnold Furze" is also a rather odd character name for him. The contemporary press gave the film negative reviews, and I can see why. This probably felt old-fashioned and spiritless back then as well.

If you're looking for the reason as to why Gary Cooper was so popular when he wasn't a very good actor, you've got to watch him in a silent movie. He was young, handsome, tall, heavily made up, and didn't have to open his mouth. He was a far better actor when he only relied on his glances rather than his words, and he didn't seem nearly as afraid as he did during his talkies. Audiences grew loyal to him, just like they did with Joan Crawford when she was young and pretty, and they stuck with him even when they heard him talk.

In Doomsday, he plays a poor farmer who can't give the woman he loves a good life. Florence Vidor is being courted by the wealthy, older Lawrence Grant, but she isn't attracted to him. She's very attracted to Gary, and they share a steamy scene in a haystack. She marries Lawrence, and soon learns the painful lesson that money can't buy happiness. I guess she didn't know the title of the movie. Check this old silent movie out to see why Gary Cooper was a hit!

For all the advances in technique and technology that we saw in the silent era, even up to the advent of talkies some titles continued to reflect what some modern viewers describe as "simpler entertainment for a simpler time," with comparatively unsophisticated storytelling and film-making. Of course, the same could be said of no few movies in subsequent years, but the point is that even from the start this 1928 picture seems to carry that ethos. 'Doomsday' makes more significant use of intertitles than some of its contemporaries, especially to convey - perhaps unnecessarily - every small idea and line of dialogue that could and maybe should instead be communicated by the image alone. The cinematography also feels more than not like the application of a basic "point and shoot" method. And of course the narrative itself, for any additional thoughts that flesh it out, certainly sits on the uncomplicated side of things: a woman living a humdrum life falls in love with one man, but is impelled to marry another who will offer her a more comfortable life. Rich and captivating narrative fiction this is not.

Of course, not every film needs to be a revelation. None of this is an inherent mark against Rowland V. Lee's film, though it's safe to say that this is something less likely to appeal to those who aren't already enamored of the silent era. In fairness, though nothing here is especially remarkable, there are some smart moments nonetheless. Every now and again Lee sets his sights on a small detail that demonstrates some swell shot composition, and which is endearing in and of itself. In the first half of the feature, as protagonist Mary weighs the pros and cons of wealthy Fream versus hard-working Furze, there's a wonderful subtlety to a scene of a few minutes where Mary realizes the life Furze seems to be offering her, and the shrewd sequencing alone is very revealing without any need for explanatory intertitles. And while of anyone here Gary Cooper obviously has the lasting star power and name recognition, I really think it's Florence Vidor who stands out most in 'Doomsday,' performing with splendid nuance and emotional depth that handily outshines her fellow cast members.

In other regards, though, the picture is just less impressive. The story is suitably compelling, with classic themes of love versus luxury, superficiality versus substance, and how women are treated by the men who would claim to admire them. These themes and story ideas are so classic, in fact, that we've seen them time and again before and since, and when you get right down to it the iteration here feels quite stripped down and straightforward. Some moments, or lines of dialogue (as expressed in intertitles) are more notably appreciable than others, but the broad tenor of the movie remains, and it's rather narrow. Moreover, it doesn't seem to me as though 'Doomsday' truly knows the values it wishes to communicate; Fream and Furze are both unlikable in different ways, and Mary is stuck in the middle because obviously a woman who isn't attached to a man has no worth of her own. (Since tone doesn't easily come across in the written word, please note that the last bit was sarcastic.) And for as ably made as this is in a very general sense, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that Lee's direction may sadly be the weakest element of all. It's not outright bad, and it bears repeating that he illustrates some keen intelligence in that capacity. Too many scenes are just distinctly flat, however, bereft of the feeling and weight that would make them matter, or simply bear a spark of vitality. Elsewhere, Lee makes use of close-ups or other relatively novel inclusions that come off as, well, empty novelties, and meaningless embellishments. A film was successfully made, but it's not one that challenges or inspires in any way.

I don't think this is bad. There is value here. I just don't believe there's enough to allow this to stand particularly tall, or to stand out in a crowd. The intent is earnest, but the execution lacks the vibrancy to let that earnestness be felt, and despite some bright spots the whole comes off as too unworked and unpolished to specifically earn one's favor. There are far worse ways to spend one's time, by all means, yet there's no major reason to check it out unless one is either a diehard fan of those involved or a moviegoer who loves early cinema - and even then, this is a lesser creation, or at least a middling one. 'Doomsday' is okay, but its flaws and shortcomings stack up and drag it down, and this is something best left to the curious for a lazy, quiet day.

Dame Mary Viner ( Dame Florence Vidor ) lives life full of drudgery in her ordinary cottage together with her infirm father. She also has two neighbours in the vicinity with different but yet similar interests in her. The first suitor is Herr Percival Fream (Lawrence Grant), an old millionaire who offers Mary a life of luxury the day she accepts his marriage proposal to marry him. This would allow her to change occupations on that day - from washing, cleaning and sweeping to more elegant tasks, like wearing "haute couture" gowns or to bear the guests who come to dinner at night.

The second one is Arnold Furze (Gary Cooper), a young but poor farmer who only can offer Mary the same dreary life and his love… and believe this German aristocrat, in spite of the fact that he is handsome Cary Grant in his twenties, that's a poor deal … obviously Dame Mary, like all smart girls around the world, have always preferred to wear Manolo's rather than gumboots.

The most interesting aspect of "Doomsday", directed by Herr Rowland V. Lee and starring the popular star Dame Florence Vidor (who ended her silent career when the talkies appeared) as well as the promising actor Herr Cooper, is that it is a film with implied sensuality, elegant and discreet. As an example of these erotic, silent matters, there are two remarkable and subtle scenes in the film. There's Mary and Arnold kissing each other passionately in a hay pile. And when the same Mary wants to divorce Herr Percival because their marriage wasn't, ehem… consummated, there are the many close-ups of Herr Gary Cooper's smile and teeth with libidinous glances among those lovers.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must offer to one of his fat German heiress a life of luxury… thanks to her money.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

Mary Viner (Florence Vidor) has worked all of her life to support herself and her father (Charles A. Stevenson), and she hates housework. It seems that marriage is the only way to escape the mundane life she lives, and she has two prospects. One is a local farmer named Arnold (Gary Cooper), a good-looking man who Mary is severely attracted to. The other is a wealthy older man (Lawrence Grant) who can provide Mary with a life of luxury. Mary is torn between a life of hard work filled with love and a life of no responsibility without love.

Director Herr Rowland V. Lee does an excellent job of editing here. His use of odd close-ups, like that of a man's torso with no head or just a person's eyes, make for interesting viewing. The photography is beautiful. Cooper fans seeing this film simply to see their favorite star will not be disappointed. He is strikingly beautiful in this film. But it also has a good story and a charming star in Vidor.