Why Be Good? (1929)

I had the joy of experiencing the 1929 synchronized sound film Why Be Good? in a movie theatre. It features a wonderfully effervescent performance by Colleen Moore with studly support from Neil Hamilton (who some might remember as Commissioner Gordon in the Batman TV series). The story is somewhat akin to Clara Bow's earlier classic It but the film is so modern you'd swear it was filmed later - like today.

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The Flapper (1920) and Olive Thomas

I have no idea why this film is called The Flapper because it has no flappers (or flapper dresses); in fact, it was made in 1920 before the term was even used on a regular basis. At the most, star Olive Thomas (a one-time Vargas and Ziegfeld girl) attempts to vamp her man as she acts like (and wears a dress similar to the one) Theda Bara wore in A Fool There Was. The story is a piffle about a teenager from a girl's school, the adult she finds exciting (silent child sex?) and a robbery, but it is fascinating to see Thomas whose death (from accidental poisoning shortly after this film was made) was the first of the Hollywood tragedies to be sensationalized by the media - which ultimately lead to the enactment of the Production Code.

See The Flapper in its entirety

See my Pinterest page for a slew of
pictures of Olive from throughout her life and career.

Olive Thomas in Love's Prisoner - unfortunately incomplete -
ends with a title card explaining the missing footage.

This episode of Beatrice Fairfax is Olive Thomas's first screen role.

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The Unchastened Woman (1925)

Heeding my own advice, I lost myself in the mystery of Theda Bara in The Unchastened Woman. Although made after her most prosperous years were behind her, it is clear the titular Caroline, a married cock teaser who hides the existence of a two year old son from her husband, is a post cursor to the vamp Bara so profitably portrayed for Fox Corporation in the teens. The movie is surprisingly risque and engrossing and Bara is fascinating to watch when given the opportunity.

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Jeanne Eagels And The Letter (1929)

(Eugenia) Jeanne Eagels, a theatre and film actor who died at age 39 from a mix of booze, pills and heroin, is best remembered for a salacious 1957 film biography starring Kim Novak and her performance as Leslie Crosbie in the 1929 film of the W. Somerset Maugham play The Letter (for which she is also recognized as the first actor posthumously nominated for an Academy Award). Eagels plays Leslie Crosbie who kills her lover, claims rape to her husband and is jailed, a story with more than a few similarities to the 1928 play Chicago in which Eagels was cast as Roxie Hart but quit during rehearsals. Although Katherine Cornell originated the Crosbie role on Broadway and not Eagels (who did originate the role of Sadie Thompson on Broadway in W. Somerset Maugham' play Rain), Eagels is convincing in a crazed sort of way and the film feels contemporary - with a visceral end that must have been a real shock back then because it was a real shock right now.

Watch The Letter now from archive.org

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The Golem (1920)

If the story told in The Golem moved any slower it would be running backwards. Despite its reputation as a horror classic and pre-cursor to James Whale's 1931 film Frankenstein, Paul Wegener's (director and monster) film is overwrought, overacted and seemingly anti-Semitic - not surprising as it is, after all, a German silent film. The most interesting things about the film (whose story of reanimation is steeped in Jewish folklore) are its expressionistic sets, the cinematography by Karl Papa Freund, and the similarities it holds with the real time horror classic Pumpkinhead - yes, I wrote Pumpkinhead.

...Pandora's Box (1929)

Pandora's Box is a classic, they-don't-make-them-like-that-anymore film that couples the luminous presence of Louise Brooks, the intelligent direction of Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and the artful cinematography of Günther Krampf with modern themes and a smart screenplay. For a silent film from 1929, you can't get better than this one. And, despite it's technical age, it feels younger than springtime.

...The Broadway Melody (1929)

The Broadway Melody was the first talker to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and, although it might not be the best picture now, there are a few things worth watching. Bessie Love chews up the scenery in a much-heralded performance, the toe dancer is awesome, and the interstitial titles lend an air of pre-code riskiness. Ultimately though, it is decidedly OF its time and worth a look for historical purposes only.