Hitchcock 9 Part 2

The Hitchcock 9 returned to the Bay Area with a two week run at the PFA in August.  I saw six of the nine films in June at the Castro Theater.  That series was organized by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.  I was able to watch the three remaining films during the PFA series.

One film in the Hitchcock 9 gets a third screening in the Bay Area in the upcoming months.  The Lodger plays at the San Francisco Symphony on Halloween.

The Farmer’s Wife starring Jameson Thomas & Lilian Hall-Davis; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1928)

Downhill starring Ivor Novello; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1927)

Champagne starring Betty Balfour; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1928)

Alfred Hitchcock directed all three films.

Immediately after seeing each of the three films, I was left unimpressed.  One good thing about waiting (or more accurately procrastinating) to blog is that I am able to think about the films some more.  I am typically more charitable towards the films after some delay between seeing the films and writing about them.  Such was the case with the Hitchcock 9.

The Farmer’s Wife is a comedy.  The eponymous farmer is Jameson Thomas who plays widower Samuel Sweetland.  When his daughter gets married, Sweetland decides it is time to find a new wife.  He feels confident that his prospects are good and with the help of his housekeeper Minta (Lilian Hall-Davis), comes up with a list of suitable potential brides.  The first thing I noticed was that Hall-Davis (the lead actress in Hitchcock's The Ring) is noticeably more attractive than the would-be wives.  Not only is she more attractive but she is more well adjusted.  However, she is the housekeeper and Sweetland, a landowner, merits a wife of higher standing than a mere domestic.

With a list of four women in hand, Sweetland goes-a-courtin'.  One after another they reject him and in hilarious manner.  Humbled and dejected, Sweetland returns home and his new state of mind allows him to see Minta in a new light.  Fifth time is the charm when Sweetland asks Minta to marry him and she accepts his proposal.

The plot and ending of The Farmer’s Wife is easily identifiable from a distance.  The comedic brushstrokes are a little too broad for my tastes but three weeks later, I am still able to recall (with a smile) some of the scenes.  There must be something about the film I like.

Downhill was based on a play written by David L'Estrange which a pen name for Ivor Novello & Constance Collier.  Novello plays the lead role of Roddy Berwick, a boarding school (or was it university?) student.  The son of a wealthy family, Roddy is a popular student but it also leads to his downfall or slide downhill as the title alludes.  Roddy, due his family's wealth, is falsely accused of impregnating a local salesgirl.   Rather than deny the charge, Roddy takes the rap for his best friend.  His best friend would lose his scholarship if he accepted responsibility.  In fact, the girl was never pregnant and I wonder if the charge wasn't rape.  Hitchcock abstains from detailed intertitles during this scene.  Roddy is expelled from the school for the charge.  What about paternity and child support issues?

Roddy's father is upset with his expulsion.  It seems he could just money the issue away but instead Roddy leaves in a huff or was he kicked out?  As you can see, some of the details escape me.  Roddy takes a job as an chorus boy and falls for the star of the show.  When he comes into some money from an inheritance, the actress (Isabelle Jeans) agrees to marry him.  She quickly burns through his money and cuckolds him.  Once again, he leaves in a huff.

Next, he ends up as a "taxi dancer" in a Paris nightclub.  This scene is amazing.  I'm certain that some of the "women" were men in drag and I thought it was incredible that they would depict and a bi/gay nightclub in 1927.  I felt it was clear that Roddy was "gay for pay" with the patrons but every other source I have seen refers to this scenes as a nightclub for older women.  Regardless, he is once again taken advantage of by the madam of the club.

This sends Roddy on his final descent where he ends up delirious and homeless.  Again, it's unclear to me if the final scene where he is reunited with his father is "real" or a hallucination.

Given that Novello was gay, I once again wonder about the Parisian nightclub scene.  Somewhat simplistic in plot, Hitchcock's skill was in full display in two memorable scenes.  After being expelled and quicked out of the house, we see Roddy dressed in a tuxedo so we think he is doing well.  Then the camera pulls back and we see he is a waiter in tux; not doing so well.  Then we see him surreptitiously taking a wallet and we think he has fallen to quite a low station in life.  Then the camera pulls back even more and we see his is a chorus dancer.

The second scene which is memorable is at the Parisian nightclub.  Just when Roddy appears to have made a genuine connection, the nightclub curtains are pulled open revealing sunlight.  Like vampires, the grotesque patrons are exposed and go scurrying off.

In Champagne, Betty Balfour plays "The Girl," an American heiress who, with her pilot, flies her "aeroplane" on a one-way trip midway across the ocean to catch the ocean liner carry "The Boy" (Jean Bradin).  The Boy happens to be the boyfriend.  Betty wants to marry The Boy seemingly to spite her father who is concerned that The Boy is only interested in Betty's money.  The father concocts a ruse and tells Betty that the family fortune (made in the champagne business or bootleg liquor) has been wiped out in the stock market.  The film was released about a year before the 1929 stock market crash.

As  a result of a separate quarrel, Betty and The Boy are taking a break from their relationship.  Betty finds work at a swanky nightclub as a flower girl (one of those women who sells rose or carnations to patrons for the lapel buttons).  It's not lost on Betty or the audience that this the type of club she would have frequented as a patron and now she is working there.

Since the beginning of the film, there has been a suspicious looking man (Ferdinand von Alten credited as The Man) hanging around Betty.  He shows up at the nightclub and his intentions are unclear.  Betty fears the worst but he appears to have Betty's best interests at heart.  The Boy shows up and once again argues with Betty over her job and he storms out.  Betty and The Boy have a volatile relationship.  Later, The Boy and The Father return.  The Father reveals to Betty his deception.  Betty is angry at both of them although I'm not sure of The Boy's complicity.  In a moment of pique, Betty asks The Man to take her back to America since he is traveling there the next day.  He agrees and they drive from Paris to the Normandy coast to board the ocean liner.  Once on board, The Man locks Betty up in her cabin (although there were two beds) from the outside but conveniently leaves the key in the lock.

A few minutes later, The Boy arrives in the cabin and Betty conks him on the head before realizing who he is.  They reconcile again but The Man returns and interrupts the couple.  This time The Father is with the The Man.  It turns out The Man is some sort of detective who has been hired to look after Betty.  The good news is that The Father now approves of The Boy and Betty marriage to him.  As the couple discuss wedding plans, another argument ensues.

Of the three films, my opinion of The Farmer’s Wife has improved the most.  My opinion of Champagne has changed the least.  I didn't think it was that funny and to say it was contrived would be an understatement.  Betty Balfour was definitely game but I found the film limp and lacking.

From the entire Hitchcock 9, my favorite film was The Manxman with honorable mentions for Blackmail and The Lodger.  My opinion of The Pleasure Garden also improved considerably in the 2.75 months since I watched it.

You Have the Right to Remain Silent

In the week after the 2013 San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) ended, I saw two additional silent films.

The Oyster Princess starring Victor Janson & Ossi Oswalda; directed by Ernst Lubitsch; silent with intertiles; live accompaniment by Rodney Sauer & Britt Swenson; (1919)
Battleship Potemkin; directed by Sergei Eisenstein; silent with intertiles; live accompaniment by Cameron Carpenter; (1926)

The Oyster Princess was preceded by a short film.

Cops starring Buster Keaton & Virginia Fox; directed by Edward F. Cline & Keaton; silent with intertitles; (1922)

Rodney Sauer & Britt Swenson are two-fifths of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.  Sauer plays electronic keyboard and Swenson plays violin.  The Oyster Princess played at the Smith Rafael Film Center the day after the SFSFF ended.

Battleship Potemkin played at Davies Symphony Hall the weekend after SFSFF ended and was presented by the San Francisco Symphony.  Carpenter played the pipe organ in Davies Hall.  It was the first time I had heard the organ or seen a “film” in Davies although I'm 99.99% certain they screened a DVD.  I should also mention I received a discount (50%?) on the ticket price from a San Francisco Independent Film Festival (Indiefest) promotion.

The subtitle for The Oyster Princess was “a grotesque comedy in 4 acts.”  Actually, on IMDB, the film is listed as My Lady Margarine.  The director of the film, Ernst Lubitsch, was known for the “Lubitsch Touch.”  That phrase means many things to many people but for me, the closest definition comes from  Roger Fristoe.  I quote from The Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch:  “A subtle and souffle-like blend of sexy humor and sly visual wit.”  If “a grotesque comedy” seems incompatible with "a subtle and souffle-like blend of sexy humor and sly visual wit," that's because it was.  Oyster Princess was made in 1919 and I can only assume Lubitsch was not yet aware of his touch.  He would go on to direct films for an additional 30 years after Oyster Princess.

The plot deals with caricatures of American wealth & avarice and a case of mistaken identity.  Mr. Quaker (Victor Janson in a flashy, over-the-top performance) is the obscenely rich American businessman who made his fortune in canned oyster. That makes his daughter, Ossi (Ossi Oswalda, aka The German Mary Pickford), the titular Oyster Princess - spoiled, sheltered and single.  When Ossi reads that a friend of hers has married a count (in real life, Oswalda was married to a baron), she demands from her father, a prince for her husband.  Through a matchmaker, they find Prince Nucki (Harry Liedtke) who is deep in debt.  He is anxious to marry when told his potential fiancée is incredibly wealthy.  He sends his friend Josef (Julius Falkenstein) to act as his intermediary.

When Josef arrives at the Quaker mansion, he is mistaken for the prince.  Ossi is in such a rush to top her friend, she drags Josef to the altar and she won't let him get a word in edgewise (even “I do”).  Ossi marries “Prince Nucki” and returns home to inform her father who is “not impressed.”  That is Mr. Quaker catch phrase throughout the film.  Hosting a lavish but hastily arranged wedding reception, Quaker reluctantly introduces his son-in-law, Josef gets drunk and Ossi seems to have little interest in consummating her marriage.  Meanwhile, the real Prince Nucki become restless waiting for Josef and goes out with his friends where he proceeds to get drunk as well.

The next morning, Ossi hosts a breakfast for Multi-Millionaires’ Daughters Association Against Dipsomania.  Dipsomania was the medical term for alcoholism at the time.  Nucki, still inebriated, shows up at the Quaker mansion where the women assume he is a dipsomaniac in need of treatment.  Ossi literally wins a fistfight with the prize being the privilege to treat the handsome, young dipsomaniac.  Ossi decides to begin treatment in her bedroom.  Although mightily attracted to each other, Ossi takes her wedding vows seriously and Nucki doesn't want to risk his nuptials with pre-marital infidelity.  At this point, Josef rouses from his alcohol induced slumber and notices a stranger in his wife's bedroom.  When he realizes it is Prince Nucki, he lets them in on the his true identity and makes the legally dubious claim that Nucki & Ossi are already married since he signed the marriage license under Nucki's name.  Later, Nucki & Ossi sneak off to assert their conjugal rights.  Later, the ever curious Mr. Quaker checks in on his daughter in her bedroom and finally exclaims, “Now I'm impressed!”

There are several scenes from this film which stand out in my memory.  Most of them have to do with the wealth and excesses of the Quakers.  They have an army of servants and at one point, a regiment of maid bathe and dress Ossi like a factory assembly line.  As I mentioned, Victor Janson seems to be having a ball as the crass, cigar chomping, fat cat.  Curt Bois who lived to be 90 and whose final film appearance was in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire turns up as a Cab Calloway-like band leader whose toe-tapping music induces "a foxtrot epidemic" at Ossi's wedding reception.

There was humor in the film but I came in expecting “The Lubitsch Touch” and this was anything but that in my opinion.  I won't say I disliked the film but will say I was disappointed.

§§§

I saw Cops at the Red Vic in 2010 when Dennis Nyback came to town.  Dennis Nyback seems to have gone silent as his blog has not been updated since last year.  I recall that program at the Red Vic and enjoyed it although I didn't say anything about Cops in my post at the time.  I recall some of the scenes when I watched it the second time but I don't feel Cops is one of Keaton's better two-reelers.  The most memorable scene involves Keaton being chased by hundreds of policemen and was impressive for the number of extras used in the scene.

I guess once again, I've seen too many films for my own good.  Compared with the three Keaton films screened by the SFSFF in February at their winter event, Cops came up short. It's the same set of characters - Keaton's porkpie hat character, Virgnia Fox as the girl, Joe Roberts as the foil and co-director Edward F. Cline but Keaton in Cops did not inspire the same sense of empathy or sympathy as the February films.  In addition, the gags weren't as funny.  Oh well...even a subpar Buster Keaton film is worth a trip to San Rafael.  I'd much rather see Cops a third time than many of the films I've seen since starting this blog.

§§§

Battleship Potemkin was the first film I have seen at Davies Symphony Hall.  As I mentioned, I'm pretty sure it was digitally projected.  What the medium, the picture quality was not very good.  However, organist Cameron Carpenter was quite entertaining.  Sporting a partially grown-out mohawk and a sequined jumpsuit, Carpenter looked more like a rock star.  Carpenter isn't your father's silent film accompanist.  Compared to the Castro or Stanford, the Davies organ appears to have more foot pedals.  Maybe it was because the organ was elevated so that you could clearly see Carpenter's movement.  At the Castro & Stanford, the organ descends into the orchestra pit so it's clear what the organist is doing with his feet.  Carpenter's feet were move frantically and the sequins were reflecting light during the opening piece which did not accompany the film and I do not recall the title or the composer.

After a short introduction which focused on the musical pieces and during which Carpenter admitted to not knowing much about the film, the grainy images of Battleship Potemkin commenced.  I've seen Battleship Potemkin before.  It was a very memorable night as the screening was hosted by the San Francisco chapter of the Freedom Socialist Party.  The music from the DVD gave the scenes on the battleship a certain grandeur.  I originally likened it to Victory at Sea.  The scenes didn't seem so memorable this time.  For all of Carpenter's showmanship, his performance fell short of the standard set by SFSFF.

At SFSFF screenings, the music truly accompanies the film.  The change in tempo or volume is timed with the images on the screen.  Carpenter was simply playing a set piece with the film images seemingly an afterthought.  The music was primary and the film secondary.

Battleship Potemkin stood up well to a second viewing.  The number of extras used in the filming is staggering.  Essentially revolutionary propaganda, Battleship Potemkin makes little effort to personalize the characters.  In contrast, The Weavers at the 2013 SFSFF spent more time humanizing the revolutionaries.  However, Battleship Potemkin has a crucial advantage over The Weavers - Eisenstein's genius with imagery and montage editing with the highlight being the Odessa Steps sequence.

After seeing Battleship Potemkin at Davies, I'm not sure if I'll see additional films presented by the SF Symphony.