mmipyle

"The Eternal Struggle" (1923) stars Earle Williams, Pat O'Malley, Renée Adorée, Barbara Lamarr, Wallace Beery, Josef Swickard, and others in a story of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I must admit that I almost shudder whenever I see it's another one of...those. There's going to be snow and snow shoes and Mounties mounted or on a sled and treachery and treacherous this and that and this and that...

What I was extremely happy about was the fact that Joe Harvat has saved this film from oblivion and the doom of dust to dust. And he's done a really superb job! What's also really good is the fact that we have another Renée Adorée film, another Barbara Lamarr film, another Wallace Beery film, and we get to see silent star Earle Williams who was a pinnacle star at the beginning of feature films in his hey day and Pat O'Malley who seems to have been in half of the films of the silent era (but who's rarely even a footnote in film stories about the silent era today: not to be confused with J. Pat O'Malley, he still is credited with 450 films!!). As for Josef Swickard - - - I think of the last seven or eight silent films I've watched, he's a key character in most of them! Who'd a thunk it?

Let's begin by saying that this film is really of its day - - - the 20s. It's dated in that respect, but it's also a legacy because of that. So, here's what's up: after the first twenty or twenty-five minutes I was ready to turn this thing off. It not only got boring - really boring - but was getting repetitive to the point of - - - intense boredom. Then - - - suddenly the piece took off, as if I'd been on a tarmac waiting for the traffic to clear so I could take off. The film got going. Nay, it got ripping! It ripped and ripped and ripped. Suddenly we were in the water in a canoe on rapids - - - and I mean RAPIDS! This kept a-going for quite some time and I could hear David Drazin's piano really cranked up and keys a-flappin', and I was transported just as if I were in a theater in the silent days.

Not a great film, but if you stick it out to the end this will give you your popcorn's worth. Thanks, Joe! A good evening.

I had a VHS tape of "The Bat" (1926) once, but it never played correctly after a first watch, and the first watch quality wasn't very good anyway, wobbly, washed-out, and the tape stuck often. Last night I watched the new Undercrank restoration Blu-Ray, and the watch was really a pleasing experience. I only recently watched the re-make, "The Bat Whispers" (1931) and found it a very nice experience, too, the photography especially remarkable. The earlier silent version now shows several issues of dating rather badly if taken at face value without historical qualification. With that qualifying addition, however, this must have been a really fun romp in 1926, yes, lacking the impressionistic varnish of earlier and even contemporary German films nearly of this ilk, but somewhat following productions like the prior year's "The Monster" and the following year's "The Cat and the Canary". The absolutely enormous doors of the home of the banker where most of the film takes place are astonishing! Except that close scrutiny will find them nearly cardboardy or cheap, thin wood when closed on a couple of occasions when they bent or wobbled! The acceptance of certain kinds of sets in the early days, reminiscent of a stage play, is what lessens this film for a modern audience considerably. I think the sound version a mere four years later does a better job. Still, the restoration is magnificent and is certainly worth any silent film buff's time. Some of Louise Fazenda's comic emoting will be found too much for many today, though put in perspective again with other like films of the era, it follows in the tradition of the stage. The beginning of the film will confuse for awhile, but I think it is purposefully put at us that way to introduce quickly all the characters, then to have them unraveled until the surprise ending. The accompanying score by Ben Model who also produced this restoration is outstanding and lends an air of what it must have been originally in a theater in 1926. Kudos to the photographers of "The Bat", Arthur Edeson and Gregg Toland, and certainly to the director, Roland West. Settings by William Cameron Menzies, as in all of his films, are those of genius for the day.

The film's stars are George Beranger, Emily Fitzroy (who steals all acting honors for the film), Jack Pickford, Louise Fazenda, Eddie Gribbon (a type very dated for today's viewing), Robert McKim, Jewel Carmen, Tullio Carminati (his face of lead plods us through the whole), Sojin Kamiyama (token comic Yellow foil who'll make modern audiences blush or cringe or get angry in the face of "The Yellow Peril"), and others. This offers murder, robbery, all sorts of crime played both comically and very seriously, and lots of differing characterization, many types of which are tropes by modern standards, but were no doubt nearly original to this "dark house" genre.

Can be shown to silent film lovers with pleasure, but caution about some of the characters of the time. For a modern film class, probably not the one with which to begin.

Great job, Ben!

"7th Heaven" (1927) was the first of twelve pairings of Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. They were, without question, the most popular pairing in film from this moment to the middle of the 1930s when Myrna Loy and William Powell became that qualifying pair. Now, you'd have to have a heart made of titanium not to feel the romantic power of this film. It was one of three different films in the original 1927-8 Oscar nominations that won for Janet Gaynor the "Best Actress" award. And - deserve it, she did! Frank Borzage won the award for "Best Director". And he deserved it as well! The acting, the direction, the photography, nearly everything, are all nearly perfect. Most of the film is done in a limited number of sets, but the story itself propels itself along at a good clip for just a couple of minutes shy of two hours.

Farrell is a sewer worker in Paris, Gaynor and her sister (Gladys Brockwell) each sometime prostitutes who live in the squalor of the poorest area of Paris. Farrell and Gaynor meet in the direst of positions, with Brockwell literally whipping and strangling her sister right at a sewer cover. Farrell puts a stop to Brockwell's sadistic behavior and practice; Gaynor is taken to Farrell's loft at about seven stairwells up. Gaynor considers it Heaven compared to what she's been used to. One thing leads to another and they fall in love. Meanwhile, Farrell is "promoted" to street washer, out of the sewers. Eventually Farrell and Gaynor marry. You'll have to watch to see what this "maneuver" means. It's a glorious scene. But - just as it's happening, WWI is declared and Farrell and his male friends are instantly called up to duty. They have fifteen minutes to get to the station and leave. Yes, just as he's marrying Gaynor! WWI occurs... Will Farrell and his buddies survive? Will all end in the same romantic way that the progress has been going? The ending may be a bit much for some today only because it happens too rapidly. It has to be considered that the film was originally 12 reels, but released at only 9 reels. That's about 30-35 minutes, and I'm certain that there were scenes leading up to the finale that compensated for the quickness which now concludes the show. Still, it's a WOW...

I haven't watched this in over 35 years. I am SO-O-O glad I watched it again. It's a 10 out of 10. A beautiful film. I think it's Borzage's finest film. Yes, there are definitely dated things about all of it. It's 1927, for Pete's sake! For that year in the history of film-making, it's a piece of genius. Not just highly recommended - a must see.

Everybody else in the film does a superlative job and are wonderful to watch. Other main characters are played by George E. Stone, Ben Pard, David Butler, Albert Gran, Marie Mosquini, and Emile Chautard. Just two years later, Butler went on to direct Gaynor and Farrell in "Sunnyside Up". For the record, too, Frank Borzage's entire family participated in 7th Heaven - as actors and co-director - five more of those Borzages!