The Artist (2011)

In 1927, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is world famous as one of the biggest movie stars around.  After the premiere of his latest film, he steps outside to greet the crowd of adoring fans and ends up having a run-in with fan Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo).  Their encounter is photographed by the press and winds up being featured on the front page of Variety.  Peppy is more than a fan, she’s an aspiring actress who winds up getting hired as an extra at Kinograph, the studio where George works.  When George sees that Peppy is a talented dancer, he gets her a bit part in his new movie.  The two of them hit it off and Peppy quickly finds herself getting bigger and bigger parts.  But with the advent of sound films, George finds himself pressured to make talkies, a transition he does not want to make.  He leaves the studio to produce his own silent films, but finds that he can’t compete with the new talkie stars like Peppy Miller.  He loses everything, but with help from a friend, he finds the potential to reinvent himself to a new audience.

The Artist is easily my favorite movie of 2011.  Not that I saw many new releases this year, but anyway.  I loved everything about it — the acting, the cinematography, the story, the direction were all top notch.  I most often hear the plot of The Artist described as being like Singin’ in the Rain meets A Star is Born, and although that is a pretty good way to describe it, don’t think that it’s just a rehash.  It does have elements of both, but it stands well on its own and I had no problem judging it independently from those. It also isn’t just an endless parade of homages to other silent films, either.  Director Michel Hazanavicius clearly did his silent film homework, but very much made it his own.  In this article, Hazanavicius names six movies that inspired him to make The Artist, and I never would have guessed Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld or Lon Chaney’s The Unknown were among his influences for it.

Fans of silent films are bound to recognize characters and events in the movie as being inspired by real people and events.  The character of George Valentin was essentially John Gilbert but with Douglas Fairbanks’ on-screen image.  Although Gilbert didn’t hesitate to make the transition to sound the way Valentin does, his career did fall into a rapid decline after fighting with Louis B. Mayer and something similar happens to Valentin.  When Valentin wants to continue making silent films, he produces and finances one on his own, reminiscent of how Gilbert wrote 1932′s Downstairs for himself when he was tired of being given lousy movies.  Peppy Miller was definitely meant to be a Clara Bow, Colleen Moore type, but with a few moments of Greta Garbo thrown in.  Yes, at one point, Peppy even says, “I want to be alone.”  And when she wants to help George get work again, she demands that he be cast as her leading man, just like how Garbo got John Gilbert cast in Queen Christina.

Right now, it’s looking like The Artist is shaping up to be the top contender to win Best Picture at the Oscars.  But when a movie gets as much acclaim as The Artist currently is, sooner or later, there will be a backlash against it and I can tell you right now what some of its detractors will say.  If it does indeed win, there will be some who will say that it won just because being a silent film was such a novelty, it won for being a novelty.  And even if it doesn’t win, they’ll just say all the hype was because it was a novelty.  I can feel that argument is coming, so I’m just going to go ahead and comment on how absurd and condescending that idea is right now.

Speaking as somebody who routinely watches silent films, the idea of watching a movie without spoken dialogue isn’t a novelty to me, even if it is a modern movie.  I would have been just as eager to see this one even if it did have dialogue.  The concept of a modern silent film might be more of a selling point to others, but I highly doubt they’re going to like it purely because it’s a silent.  At no point in time have I ever liked a silent film just because it was silent and neither have any of the other silent film fans I know.  We’re not that easily amused, and that attitude reminds me of how NBC tried to capitalize on the success of Mad Men by green lighting The Playboy Club, thinking audiences would tune in just because it was set in the 1960′s, too.

I watch silent movies because I appreciate that method of storytelling, but there has to be a good story being told.  The Artist is much more than just a silent film; it also has a wonderful story, an excellent cast, strong direction, and beautiful cinematography and those are perfectly valid reasons for it to be getting the acclaim it is.  If the story isn’t your cup of tea, or even if you’re just not into silent movies, that’s just dandy, but to write it off as a novelty or a gimmick is completely ridiculous.

The Hollywood Revue of 1929

Before I saw The Hollywood Revue of 1929, I think the words I’d heard most often used to describe it were “historical curiosity.”  I’d also heard those words used to describe movies like The Broadway Melody, but they didn’t deter me from watching it and actually kind of liking it.  But after actually seeing The Hollywood Revue of 1929, I can safely say that it is, indeed, a historical curiosity.  All it is is a series of musical numbers and skits put on by MGM to show off their stable of stars and their shiny, new talkie technology.  For me, it was worth checking out just because I did have an interest in seeing things like Joan Crawford’s dance number and Norma Shearer and John Gilbert doing Romeo and Juliet.  There’s a certain charm to a lot of early talkies that’s kind of endearing to me and I got a kick out of some of the skits, but it’s really not anything spectacular.  It’s very dated, there’s no plot, and because it is a very early talkie, the sound quality is rather shaky.  Unless you’ve got a serious interest in film history or at least in one of the stars in this movie, I imagine it’d be pretty torturous to sit through.  But if you’d like to at least get a taste of it, there are plenty of clips on YouTube:

Queen Christina (1933)

Who better to play a Swedish queen than the Swedish queen of cinema herself, Greta Garbo?  Christina is crowned Queen of Sweden at the ripe old age of five after her father is killed in battle.  As she grows up, she loves her country so much that she turns down romantic relationships so she can dedicate herself to being the best ruler she can be.  But sometimes, the pressures of being a ruler get to be too much for Christina and she likes to get away.  She dresses in men’s clothing and sneaks out-of-town.  While she’s out, she meets the Spanish envoy, Antonio (John Gilbert), who has gotten stuck in a snowdrift.  She helps him out and she runs into him again that night when they check into the same inn.  But since the inn is so crowded because of the snow, Antonio has to room with Christina.  He doesn’t realize that she’s really a woman until that night.  But when he finds out, he’s very attracted to her.

Christina and Antonio spend a few blissful days at the inn snowed in, but Antonio still doesn’t know that she’s the Queen.  He remains clueless until he arrives at the palace to present his embassy to the Queen.  When one of the Queen’s suitors realizes that Christina prefers Antonio to him, he tells the public that the Queen is in love with a Spaniard.  Everyone gets all riled up about it and Christina decides that she wants to be a regular person.  She wants to live life on her own terms and be free to love whomever she pleases.  She abdicates the throne and decides to go to Spain with Antonio.  Unfortunately, just before he was to leave for Spain, Antonio is fatally wounded in a duel and dies in Christina’s arms.

Queen Christina is one of the most unconventional women in the pre-code era.  First of all, there’s the fact that the real Queen Christina liked both men and women, that wasn’t something made up for the sake of having a more scandalous movie.  Even though she ultimately falls in love with John Gilbert’s character in the movie, we also see her kiss her lady in waiting.  Queen Christina was also famous for behaving in a very masculine way.  She preferred wearing pants and had no desire to get married or have children.  The real Queen Christina abdicated the throne to be able to be an openly practicing Catholic, though, not for love like in the movie.

Christina isn’t the only remarkably pre-code woman in the movie.  Christina’s lady in waiting, Ebba, also likes men and women and is having an affair with Christina as well as a man.  When Christina and Antonio are at the inn for the first night, Elsa helps them settle in and openly flirts with Christina.  When Antonio asks her if she’s a good girl, she replies, “Only when I don’t like someone.”  Such a true pre-code line!  Queen Christina is also one of the few movies I’ve ever seen where the idea of a woman having lots of lovers is actually celebrated.  When Christina and Antonio are at the inn, they witness a couple of guys get into a fight over whether the Queen has had six or nine lovers.  The guy who insisted it was nine thought it was insulting to suggest the Queen had a mere six lovers in one year.  When Christina declares that they’re both wrong, the correct answer is twelve, the whole bar erupts in cheers!

Queen Christina is one of my favorite Garbo talkies.  What made Garbo such a perfect actress for silent films is that she could say so much using only her face, words were completely unnecessary.  The great thing about Queen Christina is that she gets two exquisite, very famous scenes where all she does is emote.  We also get one last chance to see her work with her greatest co-star, John Gilbert.  Again, we see here that his voice and his acting were not the disaster that popular legend might lead you to expect.  Queen Christina took the best elements of Garbo’s silent films and reinvented them for sound.  Garbo and Gilbert still made a great team and Garbo never lost her ability to use her face to tell stories once she started making talkies.  None of the magic had been lost.

Downstairs (1932)

If you work for Baron Nicky von Burgen (Reginald Owen) and Baroness Eloise von Burgen (Olga Baclanova) long enough, you will be treated like family.  So when their longtime butler Albert (Paul Lukas) marries Anna (Virginia Bruce), their maid, the Baron throws them a lavish wedding.  During the reception, the family’s new chauffeur Karl (John Gilbert) shows up and we know right away he’s up to no good when he runs into Countess De Marmac (Hedda Hopper), his former employer with whom he had an affair.  Little do we know just how evil he really is.  That night, Albert is called into work on his wedding night after another butler gets drunk on the job.  When Anna is alone, Karl makes his first move on her by telling her a made-up story about how she reminds him of his dead mother.  But Anna isn’t the only woman in the house he tries to start something with.  He also sleeps with Sophie, the cook, and the Baroness.  He’s not terribly interested in Sophie, though, he only uses her for money.  He makes friends with Albert, but continues to pursue Anna.  One day, Karl gives Anna a piece of the Baroness’s jewelery.  When the Baroness confronts her about wearing her jewelery, Karl steps in and says he gave it to her as a gift and subtly reminds her that he’s got dirt on her.  The Baroness drops the subject and Karl endeared himself closer to Anna with that move.

The Baroness is now keen to get rid of Karl.  So when she knows Albert is listening, she mentions to the Baron that she thinks Anna and Karl are having an affair.  Later, just before the Baron and Baroness are set to leave on a boating trip, she tells Albert to go ahead and get rid of some of the staff while they’re gone.  But before they leave, the Baron changes his mind and decides he wants Albert to come on the trip with him, leaving Anna and Karl alone for the duration of the trip.  Karl takes Anna out for dinner, gets her drunk, and finally gets her to give into his advances.  When Albert comes home, he fires Karl and Anna admits to what happened.  But before he leaves, Karl goes to the Baroness and threatens to reveal their affair unless she keeps him on board and she relents.  Humiliated, Albert goes to the Baroness to resign, but she tells him what Karl has done and begs him to stay.  Karl plans to leave the next day, but not before he gets more of Sophie’s money.  He tries to convince Anna to leave with him, but she refuses.  Karl and Albert end up getting into a huge fight and when the Baron is in the room, Anna forces Karl to give Sophie her money back.  Karl finally leaves, but he only moves onto another victim.

Wow!  I have to say, there are a lot of extremely unlikable characters in pre-code movies, but John Gilbert as Karl is one of the most impressively deplorable characters I’ve ever seen.  He is just so incredibly shameless and ruthless!  And John Gilbert plays him extraordinarily well!  And he should, considering he wrote the story himself.  If you only really know John Gilbert as a silent film actor, then you should definitely check out Downstairs.  His performance here dispels the widely spread story that John Gilbert had a terrible voice and acting style for talkies.  Clearly his lack of success in talkies had more to do with him daring to cross Louis B. Mayer because, as can be seen here, there is nothing wrong with his voice or his acting.  Considering he had to resort to writing a story and selling it to MGM for $1 just to get a good talkie role speaks volumes of just how much Mayer had it out for him.

Virginia Bruce was also great, gotta love the very pre-code scene where she confesses to cheating on her husband and blames him for it.  I also liked seeing Olga Baclanova playing a fairly honest and likable character since the only other movie I’ve seen her in is Freaks, where she was anything but honest and likable.  All in all, a darn good movie.  Not only one of John Gilbert’s best talkies, but a real highlight in his whole career.

My Top 100, 70-61

Welcome to week four of my 100 favorite movies!  This week is going to be my most 1970s centric bunch of movies of this countdown.  I’ve got two of the biggest hits of the 70′s along with one set in the 70′s.  Appropriately, this week’s list starts with number 70…

What’s on TCM: August 2010

It’s August, and that can only mean one thing: Summer Under the Stars!  Like 31 Days of Oscar, Summer Under the Stars never disappoints and I’m definitely excited for this year’s schedule.  There are plenty of days dedicated to showcasing some SUTS mainstays like Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Henry Fonda.  But this year they’re really mixing things up and spending nearly half the month focusing on people who have never been part of SUTS before, including John Gilbert, Ethel Barrymore, and Gene Tierney.  Not only are there lots of stars who are new to SUTS, there are also tons of movies being premiered this month.  I counted a grand total of 54 TCM premieres in August, 19 of which are on Thelma Todd day alone.

Here is a complete list of the stars featured this month.  To get the complete schedule, you can download a copy here.