goldensilents

I agree with you. TCM has ignored many classic silent era war films. Also, early talkie war films or films touching on the Great War. Where was The Last Flight with Richard Barthelmess on this three day schedule? Or Richard's far better and grittier version of The Dawn Patrol (aka Flight Commander)? Why only show the later Errol Flynn version?

I haven't been on that site in years so forgive my ignorance, but: does this guy Jason operate as a bootlegger? What would be the point of doing this kind of thing, putting up a website claiming he has this rare film and that rare film, if it wasn't to have people email him for copyrighted films that have never been released officially and that he has no legal right to conduct transactions on?

He's prettier than she is.

Someday I'll get around to this one. First read about it months ago on the site and it looked interesting, esp. if you like British history.

A very enjoyable little picture. But maybe my tv picture is on the dark side because I could barely make out some scenes, especially the ending.

Maybe TCMWeb meant bandwidth drain, not memory? You post a lot of links to photos on different boards, Jeff, including mine. If many web pages are being viewed at the same time with your photos you could reach and exceed a daily bandwidth limit that they have for their accounts. I don't know what that limit might be, if any, because I pay for my own servers and have a massive amount of bandwidth allowed, but it might be listed on their website in an FAQ or something.

>Or maybe the pre-code version with Joan Blondell HAHA! That one was a bomb! She probably WANTED to forget that one, if she ever saw it.

There are some pictures of John Gilbert which should never be colorized and the famous one with his arm up on the wall is one of them. It's beautiful just as it was originally created in crisp black and white.

Maybe she meant the Red Skelton version. LOL!

"Between pictures I go away. I think that is the best way to achieve happiness in Hollywood, the only way to keep one's perspective. If you stay too close to the motion picture colony you lose your sense of values." - Helen Twelvetrees Some things never change.

I watched the avant-garde French film *M?nilmontant* (filmed from 1924 through 1925 and released in 1926), directed by Russian emigre Dimitri Kirsanoff. It was the first film I watched on the Experimental Films disc one that I checked out through Netflix. I'm not the biggest avant-garde fan in the world but this film was very engrossing, combining montage shots, double exposure shots, static shots, hand held camera shots, many closeups, and great footage of Paris in the 1920's, etc. There were no title cards, but then there were no opening credits either, which leads me to wonder if at one time there were titles and opening credits but they were lost. There is a "Fin" (The End) card at the end though which looked original, so who knows? Maybe it was designed not to have any opening credits or title cards. (spoilers) The film begins with a brutal axe murder (which isn't really shown, just suggested by a quick montage of images) of a husband and wife by (I suppose) the wife's lover. Neighbors come and drag the killer away and then stand around the dead couple while their two daughters come running back from playing with their cat to find the terrible scene. The two sisters bury their parents and go to Paris to live, in the M?nilmontant section of the city (where they filmed *The Red Balloon* years later). They become artificial flower arrangers in a shop and seem to be happy together in the city, living in a modest apartment. Both girls fall for the same cad of a fellow. He first flirts with the younger sister (played beautifully by the director's stunningly gorgeous wife, *actress Nadia Sibirskaia*, who looks like a combination of Lillian and Dorothy Gish). He gets her pregnant and then goes after the older sister, who isn't as attractive. The younger sister goes off to have her baby at a charity hospital. After she gives birth she is despondent and considers suicide, standing by a bridge holding her baby and preparing to jump. She comes to just in time and sits in a park, where an old man shares with her his bread and sausage. She holds the baby and cries and nods her thanks to the old man, who never speaks to her. Time passes and the younger sister, still homeless and carrying her baby in the cold, comes upon her sister street walking. She goes to her sister and shows her the baby and her sister begins to cry and holds the baby. The sisters forgive each other, embrace, and move on together down the street. As they walk away, the cad who had gotten the younger sister pregnant sees them in the distance and tries to run to them -- but another woman whom he had obviously been sleeping with runs after him and kills him by striking his head with a brick. Justice is served, but in an odd way. It looked to me as if the cad had a moment of conscience and wanted to make things right by the sisters, but fate, resulting from his own bad behavior, stood in his way. I wish I could say I liked the whining modern score that accompanied the film but I found it annoying. Why are so many avant-garde films given these types of atonal, discordant scores? They bother my ear drums. I think this film could use some cleaning up too. There were too many splice marks between almost every scene, and artifacts galore. Here are some snapshots I made up from the film. When I watched this film, before I looked it up on the IMDb, I said to myself, "Wow, whoever made this film was in love with this actress!" and then later I found out I was right: the director was married to the actress.

Could you be remembering scenes from Viola's movies that were in the documentary *Hollywood*? I haven't watched in awhile but I think there was some footage from some of her rare films. As far as I know the majority of her films are lost, more's the pity. Yes the film with the flowers is from *Revelation*. I colorized a beautiful alternate still from that film a few years ago. And here is Viola as an old lady being interviewed for the *Hollywood* series.

Thanks, I thought it was Louise but on closer examination I think you're right. The print was on the dark side. In the very last shot I couldn't even make out the face of who was shown. Was it Joe Cook at the very end?

10:15am Rain or Shine (1930) A young woman inherits her father's financially troubled circus. Cast: Joe Cook, Louise Fazenda, Joan Peers, William Collier Jr. Dir: Frank Capra BW-88 mins, TV-G Hey! this one was *very* entertaining, I really enjoyed it. It had everything: old tunes, funny vaudeville routines, great circus acts and a fantastic climax with a huge circus tent burning to the ground and Louise Fazenda being rescued. I was sitting on the edge of my seat, literally!

You know what they always say about those lousy organ scores: they breed like rabbits.

We all also forgot Loretta Young! No one has mentioned her yet. *Midnight Mary*. Mmm. Mmm. Great performance!

I used to write up a lot more reviews than I do these days. I simply don't have the time. I'm not even on my own message board as much as I used to be. Maybe things will get better once everyone is home for summer vacation and I'll have more breather space to THINK. haha!

*Dirigible* is just ok, but you might like it more than I did. I seem to have most of the precodes they are showing tomorrow already although I haven't watched them all. I have a compunction to record but don't always find the time with 4 children at home and 2 dogs to sit and watch films. I can just imagine how much catching up time I will get to once we retire. lol

Very nice site.

So far I haven't had any problems at all. If I had purchased all the discs I have rented for one low flat fee per month I would have spent several hundred dollars! My husband is thrilled that I can save so much money now too. If you get a substitute disc like for The Garden of Eden then you should contact them and tell them the problem. There are constant reminders of that all over the website. They want to fix any problems you have because they don't want to lose your business. If you remain silent then the next person is going to get the same substitute disc. They don't know of a problem unless you bring it up.

Just a reminder: there are a whole slew of precodes on tomorrow for a big part of the day. Check the schedule.

Everyone has mentioned a great group of precode ladies. There's one who is missing: Irene Dunne. Yes, she is more likely to be remembered today for her romantic screwball comedies during the Code years, but she also played in some heavy duty precodes as well.

I just joined Netflix two weeks ago. Frankly I should have done it two, three years ago, I would have saved myself a fortune buying silents. I have about 15 silents in my Netflix "queue" right now and will probably have more soon. Does anyone else here have Netflix and which silent titles are in your "queue"? Also, have you watched some titles on their site in their streaming player option? How did you find the resolution and functionability of their player?

Thank you very much Freddy. My name's Jill. Ya'll welcome to call me that if you want.

Well I guess we'll know soon enough. Meanwhile there are always more movies to watch.