Le temps des cerises

Poor Jack Kelly (William Haines) is a lowly stock clerk--but a wonderful golfer. Through circumstances to inane to get into he gets into a posh country club, becomes a top golfer and acts like a rich man. He meets beautiful rich Allie Monte (Joan Crawford) and falls in love. However he can't marry her and will have to eventually return to his poor life. What to do?

To be truthful this picture is a yawner. The situations and characters are boringly predictable and the 2008 "restored" version is in utterly dreadful shape. Lousy music score too. But this is one of the few chances to see Haines and Crawford together. Haines was the top box office draw of the late 1920s. He was tall, VERY handsome and a good actor. Crawford was very young, beautiful and also a good actor. Her and Haines were best friends. Haines career was destroyed due to homophobia--he refused to dump his male lover and was fired. But Crawford and him remained life long friends and you can see here how they really clicked together and worked well. They both play opposite each other easily and their good looks and acting carry them through. The film is seriously one big snooze--but worth catching for Haines and Crawford. I give it a 6.

This was my first crawford film. it was also the first time i watched a silent picture. mayb it was the golf, mayb the title. in any case, i loved it.

SPRING FEVER is a silent comedy that plods along with too many dull scenes on a golf course, occasionally enlightened by some good comic glances from WILLIAM HAINES and some nice reaction shots from the wealthy golf set, including a very young JOAN CRAWFORD (without the thick eyebrows and overpainted mouth).

But the story is formula stuff, much like other Haines comedies that I've seen, whereby he struggles to prove himself (all for the sake of winning the girl) and goes through a series of Harold Lloyd-like situations before the clinch in the final reel.

TCM's print shows quite a bit of film damage, so apparently they saved this one for restoration just in time. Some of the title cards are quite amusing but the background score imposed on the film is pretty tiresome before it's over.

The best that can be said for this vehicle is that it shows Haines had the makings of a very good romantic leading man (in the Cary Grant vein when it comes to comedy), and his chemistry with Joan Crawford is evident from their first scene. In real life, they were great friends--and she helped him when the studios had to drop him because he refused to silence his homosexual lifestyle--whereby Crawford remained friends and gave him permission to design her new home which led to a new career for Haines in Hollywood.

As for the film itself, it was hardly worth saving--very thin on plot and not a comfortable viewing experience due to the often poor quality of the print.

Mr. Waters is a frustrated golf enthusiast. Jack Kelly works for him as a shipping clerk. He gets angry when Mr. Waters fires his father and drives a golf ball through a window. Instead of being mad, Mr. Waters is taken with his golf swing and invites him to a country club. At the club, he is taken with Allie Monte (Joan Crawford) but she sees right through him.

Joan Crawford is quite young here and almost unrecognizable since I've never seen her as a young woman. I'm also struck by the fact that silent film era comedies don't really work without being broad slapstick. The man had to drop trousers to get close to a laugh. It's a matter of timing. Comedy needs the verbal timing and there's nowhere for a silent film to deliver that. As for the romance, it's pretty standard. This has some good misunderstandings and hurdles. This is fine.

Spring Fever (1927)

*** (out of 4)

William Haines plays a poor shipping clerk who just happens to be a master at the golf game. His boss (George Fawcett) eventually gets him into a rich country club so that the golf wizz can teach him a few things but Haines quickly becomes the talk of the club. No one knows his secret, that he's poor, and this might cause trouble when he falls in love with a rich girl (Joan Crawford). Earlier in the year I watched the Haines/Crawford film West Point, which was a decent movie but this one is a lot better. The film has all the trappings of your typical romantic comedy with a mix of melodrama but the film works overall due to the two stars. Haines is certainly an interesting actor with his strange performances but they grow on me the more I see them. Crawford is the real standout here as she delivers a fine performance and is quite funny and charming. Fawcett, who appeared in many Griffith pictures starting with Intolerance, adds nice support as well. I've seen countless silent films in my life but the highlight in this film is something I haven't seen before. There's a scene when the two are on their honeymoon where they close the curtain and this turns the room totally dark. We then see them talking, via the title cards, which are arranged on the opposite sides of the screen in the direction that the characters are speaking. This is a minor effect but it works wonderfully well.