Post 811 - Images from the 1927 "Novelization" of Keaton's "The General"

The "novelization" is pretty dreadful, but some of the images in it aren't in general circulation, to the best of my recollection.  So here they all are - (no copyright, all PD images at this point)

Post 720 - Chatting Among Animators Last Night

And the conversation slipped to humorous matters on February 6:

OK, we got to talking about classic comedians last night at the ASIFA coffee, after musing about "just what isn't funny," and the names Harry Langdon and Pierre Etaix percolated up (and I'm afraid, I was the main instigator).  Langdon has gotten a bum rap in the opinion of yr hmbl typst, perpetuated by Walter Kerr in his otherwise amazing 1970s book, The Silent Clowns.  The lack of access to his films has seemed to support the allegation over the years, but his complete silent output has been made available on DVD, and online.  It proves otherwise.  In fact, I contend he was the silent era's equivalent to Andy Kaufman, because, when left to his own devices, he could be utterly surreal.  It didn't hurt that he was also an accomplished cartoonist.

Pierre Etaix was a writer for the French auteur Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle, Les Vacances de Mssr Hulot, Playtime, Trafic) who was a fierce fan of Keaton and later, of Jerry Lewis (The unfinished Lewis "worst film" of The Day the Clown Cried is floating around in truncated form, but it may have benefited by the addition of Pierre Etaix, if such was a possibility).  Anyway - Etaix's films were self-funded, suffering the fate of those of Tati's - when one of them didn't cover costs, the creditors swept in and took possession of the assets - the films - put up as collateral.  As a result, the Etaix gems, and they truly are gems, were unseen in the US until the last decade.  My widdle head went kerBOOM when I came upon them on Turner Classics, and I immediately ordered the whole set, and then sent Etaix a gushing fan letter - only to have it returned a month later because...he had DIED.  It gave me flashbacks to trying to contact Harold Lloyd as a tween in the early 1970s or Tati as a semi-adult in the 1980s.  Anyway, here are some links to the films associated with this rambling note (thank the coffee, the 20 degrees with 30mph winds outdoors, and a dog not letting me out of her sight until she gets fed for contributing to this extensive bit of typing).  SO - if you're interested, here's a way to kill some time!

Harry Langdon:

Three's a Crowd - 15 minutes in inspired a similar scene in "Seule Tod" by yr hmbl typst - this film has him trying for "pathos" in between moments of nitrate decomposition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zemRj97rAek

(warning - there is an unfortunate moment of "blackface" amid the ruins of this movie)

The Chaser - 56 minutes into it is the most bizarre "seduction" ever put to film.  This was his final feature for Warner's to be released - they never released his completed feature after this one, and it is now considered among the "lost films."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6EQOuC2n6Q 

If you want to see how a career can be demolished by alcohol, check out the 1935 feature from Columbia, Atlantic Adventure.  He plays a reporter's sidekick, "Snappy," and he is impaired on-screen to a greater degree than Barrymore managed in Grand Hotel. 

On youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ3XAm99nD8

And now, for Pierre Etaix:

Rupture - 1961 - the consequences of writing to a girlfriend who is no longer friendly - the sounds were recorded in post-production, often provided by Etaix himself because the studio foley man wanted to stick to stock noises.  It's an otherwise silent one-reeler, deliciously fatalistic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxOg4rmhnKM

Happy Anniversary - 1962

Reminiscent of One Week, a young married couple is thwarted in their celebration by the lack of parking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsjIbZ_YD7k&t=10s

Yoyo - excerpt - 1965

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwP8miXVl7I

And the infamous The Day the Clown Cried - a 30 minute assembly of clips, uncovered by David Thrasher during the evening's discussions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0vF8FKuljU

 

A still from "Three's Company" - the creative sequence using the doll as surrogate for Langdon is hampered by severe nitrate decomposition, but you get the idea...

Post 705 - Cinema Program Pages from 1918

Billie Burke - 20 years before she was a "Good Witch" she was a divorced debutante!  And silent movies? Pfah! This one featured a live singer!

 

Post 693 - "The General" Novelization - 1927

Small town libraries don't seem to be the repositories of history any more.  The digital push brushes past tangible artifacts that have slipped from the thin vapor of memory and are no longer deemed significant.

This afternoon I found a volume in the local library's "discard bin."  It may have been remaindered from a local estate sale, it may have been donated and rejected for fund raising purposes.  

The title immediately caught my attention, having recently attended a showing of the Jim Schaub/Ron Pesch documentary, Keaton:Home in Muskegon.  The General is frequently cited among the best silent films ever made, and in terms of comic timing and visual composition, a likely contender as one of the best films ever made in any category.  

I never heard of the author, Joseph Warren, and opened it, expecting to see the exploits of some European count or Great War honcho.  Instead, the cover page told a completely different tale - The General was a contemporary novelization of the 1927 Keaton masterpiece, an expensive epic that, to jazz age eyes, wasn't all that much to get enthused over (the Raymond Griffith film Hands Up! had better reviews), with the dark humor of the battle scenes regarded as positively repelling.   

I'll be scanning the pages in the days ahead to preserve this version of the film, lest my own eventual estate sale be equally incapable of finding the original volume a proper, appreciative custodian.

Thus far, I have only come upon one other novelization by Joseph Warren (of Long Island, according to his prologue to The General): What a Widow! was a novelization of an early Gloria Swanson talkie of the same name in 1930.  Will continue to explore the rabbit hole!

 

(note her producer's name) 

 

Click here for The General (archive.org 4K file - if it takes too long to "fire up" you can just download the file and enjoy it when and where-ever you wish!)

Post 658 - Keaton:Home Documentary Gets Celebrated!

 

Audience Comments - Press Here!

Post 579 - Home for Buster! The Film's Ready for its Close Up

Coming soon to a festival or screen near you!
 

More Information - Press Here!

Phun Pharmacy Phacts for February 2019

Well, maybe a fantasy, after all.  Pharmacists are prone to fantasy, you know, like lunchtime.


http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/UncleStan

An Appreciation of Raymond Griffith - You'd Be Surprised (Paramount, 1926)

Along the lines of Richard Anobile:

First of all, my thanks for Grapevine Video, about the only available source for Raymond Griffith's films, for making these films available to current audiences.  Check them out at www.grapevinevideo.com for many obscure titles that have been overlooked by others and have slid into the public domain...this particular DVD release is from a very good master print.

"The most difficult, the most delicate, the most interesting, and a very worthwhile job is that of making people laugh."  - Raymond Griffith

Nice features of the Paramount comedies of the 1920s include the opening credits.  There's a lot to look at with the title - here, the now-forgotten Raymond Griffith gets a full star credit, the Paramount Logo is re-established, the location of the production is confirmed (here, the West Coast, vs the East coast, where productions tended to pull talent from New York), B. P. "Bud" Schulberg is at the helm, and the sinister eyes seemingly as an afterthought, (one could wonder if the original production was misinterpreted as something far more dramatic by the title artist, or that by 1926  the image was such a cliche that it foretold a tongue-in-cheek adventure?).

Here is where things quickly became interesting - by 1926, Robert Benchley was an established critic for Vanity Fair and had three volumes of essays to his credit.  His "Treasurer's Report" had been a Broadway staple for some time and Jesse Lasky approached him to write screenplays.  Not much seemed to come of this arrangement, but for You'd Be Surprised and two other Paramount films he did create the text for the title cards.  This predates his own film appearances in The Treasurer's Report and Sex Live of the Polyp by two years.

Arthur Rosson comes to You'd Be Surprised after completing another Raymond Griffith film,  Wet Paint, and a Bebe Daniels film, Stranded in Paris.  He appears to have been a Paramount mainstay, with credits often intersecting with Cecil B. DeMille as a second unit director.

Another familiar name to film fans of the silent era is Dorothy Sebastian, known for her relationship with Buster Keaton and appearances in his films Spite Marriage, Free and Easy, and  Allez Oop.  

You'd Be Surprised plays out in real-time, in only three staged rooms.  The image of the gigantic houseboat above is the only real exterior shot in the movie, and the use of an evening time frame further trims narrative expense.  While it is a slickly made film, it was likely a comparatively inexpensive production for Paramount.

The film begins with a montage sequence stressing that an unlucky evening about to unfold.

Phonograph fans will quickly recognize the collectible dancing toy. a variation on "Ragtime Rastus." It linked to the turntable and, through gears beneath the device, made the toy dance.  Other toys had a couple dancing the waltz or tango.

The cat continues its wanderings in the houseboat, with disasters in its wake....

Dropped bracelets...

A lost hand at cards...

A dropped compact, with resulting broken mirror...

But best, with a tete-a-tete being interrupted by the arrival of a wife...all in below-the-knee perspective...

And then, for a finale in this opening montage, a tap on the film's first victim.

Well, that pretty much telegraphs in what's about to happen.

And out the lights go...

That's character actor Roscoe Karns in the tuxedo.  Known for his wise-cracking rapid banter in later movies, it's interesting to see him here in a silent film,

With the elevation of each arriving dignitary, the announcement becomes increasingly formal, but each time the verdict is the same - "Don't touch anything! This is a case for the coroner!"

And with that, the staging is set for the arrival of the star of the program, the coroner, preceded by the black cat -- Raymond Griffith.  It's prescient to Groucho's arrival to head up Freedonia in Duck Soup, 7 years later...

Griffith cuts to the chase - a direct question to the first man he sees

If not you, then who?!

Benchley at work...

Everyone seems to be a straight man in this film, working up their most suspicious expressions....

Sebastian squeezes out every silent screen era signal of guilt and confusion.

There is a lot of back-and-forth business where Griffith takes and returns the badge of inspector, indicating his level of confidence, both for solving the situation and for likely making it to the theatre before opening curtian.

.

Sebastian's hysterics at being told she has just seen a dead body

Thirty years later, in Rear Window, Hitchcock would insert a series of expressionless shots of Jimmy Stewart  and the audience would have different impressions of his emotional state based on what the reactive image would be - here, Sebastian holds the same stare, and Griffith's expression gradually transforms:

The coroner decides he must interview Ms. Sebastian in private.

Another direct question

The staging in this shot is quite nice, arms thrusting inward to touch the chafing dish.

The wounded hand is a ruse, of course, quickly uncovered.

Of course, that's a cue for the cat and a crashing glass globe to center stage.

A suspicious face from above....

And all try to flee through the room containing the first victim's body.

The victim's cuff reveals a smudge clue - a distinct fingerprint!

The lights go out and the cuff vanishes...

The lights go out and the collection of probable suspects vanishes

The cuff appears, but a pointed comment appears as well...

Wherever Griffith bends to the door, the knife instantly appears at that spot.  Nice comic timing.

And then a LOT of cuffs appear...

In comes what appears to be a butler, but is also the human connected to the face in the skylight...he wanders through the scene, rather nonchalantly...

This is a good place to interject some contemporary notes on You'd Be Surprised, from Loew's Weekly of 1926:

"Laughs 'n Gasps Galore in Gay Griffith Farce"

"If you want to laugh one minute and gasp the next - see Raymond Griffith in You'd Be Surprised, which comes here next week.  It is undoubtedly Griffith's best picture since his Paths to Paradise.  As a "Sherlock Holmes" Ray goes through mental gymnastics in the untangling of a murder mystery which would do credit to any sleuth.

"It's hard to say which the picture contains more of -- laughs or thrills. Griffith, a coroner, tries to discover who killed the district attorney.  Instead of solving the mystery he finds himself in the center of a dozen others, and also discovers that he has fallen in love with a girl whom everyone suspects as the criminal.

"The picture's ending will have to remain a mystery because Mr. Griffith has asked those who see the picture to refrain from telling their friends the real murderer's identity.

"Dorothy Sebastian, playing opposite Ray, makes a lovely foil for his emotions.  Earl Williams enacts the deputy district attorney, and Edward Martindel, the attorney.  Arthur Rosson, the director of Wet Paint, was again at the helm.

Some of the deaf mute scenes in You'd Be Surprised are among the funniest ever filmed."

Besides referring to Raymond Griffith as "Ray," this promotional piece shows some disconnect with the actual production - Martindel plays the houseboat millionaire, not a district attorney, nor is there a deputy district attorney character in the film.  Perhaps the publicity was early in production, before the plotlines were completely worked out.

Paths to Paradise is available from Grapevine, but with a missing final reel (the film seems to end abruptly, but the general narrative is still understandable); Wet Paint seems to be among the legion of "lost films."

And the butler is deaf, and Griffith manages to communicate with him as the "coroner's jury" is brought into the main room.  It's an enthusiastic scene, but not one at the level of hilarity described by the studio's promotional material....

The assembled coroner's jury, namely whoever would be walking the streets at night near a houseboat, is sworn in.

Griffith accommodates the jury by having a makeshift dinner.

The butler, now the coroner's assistant, will stand in for the first victim as Griffith tries to recreate the crime for the coroner's jury.

... with the same results...

Things aren't looking good for Sebastian with this exchange.

Pure Benchley

So even Griffith offers to take the place of the first victim for the re-enactment.

The jury frets for his safety...

The police won't permit a complete lights out!

The jury is dismissed at this latest twist in the case....

And Griffith has been among them the entire time.

The man's thumbprint matches the one on the purloined cuff....and it turns out it was the first person Griffith accused, 40 minutes earlier!

"How'd you do that!?"

And, suddenly, Richard Arlen, a year from starring in Paramount's Wings, shows up as a reporter!

For more information about Raymond Griffith, a good place to start is the 1975 book by Walter Kerr, The Silent Clowns in the chapter (#31 in the series!) entitled The Unexpected Raymond Griffith.  Griffith's career didn't survive into the sound era due to damaged vocal chords that didn't permit him to speak above a whisper.  His last role before the camera was as the dying soldier sharing a foxhole with Lew Ayres in 1930's All Quiet on the Western Front.   He produced comedies through 1940, even serving (uncredited) as an electrician on The Wizard of Oz (!!!). 

In addition to You'd Be Surprised, other films that remain available with Griffith also include Hands Up! and Paths to Paradise, where he stars, and White Tiger, Changing Husbands, and Miss Bluebeard, where he appears in secondary roles (all from Grapevine Video).