John Ford Retrospective - Cameo Kirby (1923)

CAMEO KIRBY (1923)

Starring:  John Gilbert, Gertrude Olmstead, Jean Arthur, Alan Hale, Peter Burke, Phillips Smalley, Eugenie Forde, Eric Mayne, Richard Tucker, W.E. Lawrence, Jack McDonald

Writer:  Robert N. Lee (based on the play by Booth Tarkington & Harry Leon Wilson)

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

B&W, 1h 10m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on:  October 21, 1923 by Fox Film Corporation.

My experience:  YouTube

I don't think I can honestly give a proper review for this film, as the only transfer I could find of this film was of horrendous quality.  It looks like a VHS rip of a copy of the film that would have been shown on Portuguese (Brazilian?) television in the 1980s or 1990s.  On top of that, there is no soundtrack to be heard, so believe me when I say it was a chore to sit through.  

The story as far as I could tell has John Gilbert as the title character, who is unfairly accused of killing Colonel Randall (Eric Mayne), and with the help of his assistant/friend Moreau (Alan Hale), must convince the family of the deceased of his innocence before wooing his love (and the victim's daughter), Adele Randall (Gertrude Olmstead).  Jean Arthur, who would become a star in the 1930s, plays a judge's daughter in a small (perhaps overbilled) role.

Like I said, the film was really hard to watch.  I caught moments that would have been quite impressive to see on the big screen in 1923 (namely a race between four steamships, which looks like it was shot for real, and not using miniatures, and some nice camera trickery involving a wishing well).  But I can't honestly say that this was worth the 70 minutes it took to watch.  I won't give it a review, as I think the degraded elements of the print and lack of any kind of soundtrack affected my concentration and hence judgment of the film.  For completists only.  

John Ford Retrospective - Just Pals (1920)

JUST PALS (1920)

Starring:  Buck Jones, Helen Ferguson, Georgie Stone, Duke R Lee, William Buckley, Edwin B Tilton, Eunice Murdock Moore, John B Cooke

Writers:  John McDermott (story), Paul Schofield (scenario)

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

Music:  SILENT (contemporary score by Jonathan & Alexander Kaplan)

B&W, 50m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on:  November 18, 1920 by Fox Film Corporation

My experience:  Ford at Fox DVD box set

Aside from being the first extant non-Universal film directed by Jack Ford, this is also the earliest surviving record of Ford moving into the contemporary world, cinematically (true, Bucking Broadway was technically set in contemporary times, but it was an odd mash-up of classic western and modern melodrama, in which cowboys literally rode into a New York City hotel ballroom to help their friend get his girl).  In Just Pals, Ford indulges in his taste for sentimentality, but also takes aim at the hypocrisy of humanity.  

It is a truism for Hollywood films that there are often multiple films about the same topic coming through the pipelines and sometimes being filmed at the same time.  In my own lifetime I can remember the volcano movies of 1997, Volcano and Dante's Peak; the asteroid hitting Earth movies of 1998, Deep Impact and Armageddon; and two biographies of Steve Prefontaine within a year and a half of each other, 1997's Prefontaine with Jared Leto and 1998's Without Limits with Billy Crudup.  All this encompassing two years in the late 1990s.  This has been going on forever, apparently, as 1920-21 had no less than three films detailing the friendship of a ne'er do well older man and a younger boy who he takes under his wing:  The Kid, with Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan; My Boy, with Coogan again, this time with Claude Gillingwater as his caretaker; and this little nugget right here, Just Pals.

In this one, Buck Jones is Bim, the town bum of Norwalk, a fictional town on the Wyoming-Nebraska border, who takes odd jobs but is content to while away his time in the loft of a barn, dreaming of the local schoolteacher Mary (Helen Ferguson) but not really doing anything with his life.  While idling near the railway tracks one day, he witnesses a young boy get violently thrown off a train, and comes to his rescue.  After a hilariously futile attempt at giving him a bath, he approaches Mary, who agrees on the condition that the boy, whose name is Bill (Georgie Stone), goes to school.  Mary, in an act of kindness (or wilful stupidity), has given the money for the school's memorial fund to her boyfriend, Harvey Cahill (William Buckley), who owes money to an outlaw gang.  Meanwhile, Bill tries to steal some clothes to help Bim get a job, but badly injures himself in the process.  He is taken to the house of a new doctor in town, Dr. Stone (Edwin B. Tilton).  The new doc is not as above board as he seems, however, as he and his wife (Eunice Murdock Moore) scheme to make some money off the kid and sell him to someone who posted an advertisement in the paper.  Things come to a head when the school board asks for the money for the memorial fund, Mary doesn't have it, sends Bim to town to find Harvey, who runs away, Mary attempts suicide while Bim claims to the sheriff (Duke R. Lee) that he stole the money.  Add into that a car crash, two new strangers in town, and an all's well that ends well ending, and in less time than it takes to watch an episode of The Crown you've got your average seriocomic 1920s melodrama!

There isn't anything here that knocks the viewer over the head screaming "Directed by John Ford" - but there are little touches here and there, including the ending in which man and child literally walk off into the sunset together, which is beautifully shot in sihouette.  Rather, Ford enlivens this relatively harmless programmer by taking potshots at the local hotshots.  You know the kind, who run the town and moralise constantly, but rarely practice what they preach.  The stereotypical small town mentality, of people sticking their noses where they don't belong, is put in the spotlight.  The good people of the town fervently go to church, but at the end of the sermon after the offering plate has been passed, the head usher finds that once again, there's hardly any money in the plate.  Bim is looked down upon by people who are far richer, and far worse, people than him.  There is also a running gag with an ineffectual town constable, played by John B. Cooke, who is always saying "the law will take care of this" but never actually does anything.  This pays itself off hilariously at the very end of the movie.

There are some things that triggered me, such as the selfish doctor and his wife (so much for the Hippocratic Oath) and a scene where a little boy is about to drown a bunch of kittens in a burlap sack, but other than that there's nothing really wrong with this movie.  It's a relic from a bygone time, with a slower pace.  I love these old movies, so it was worth the watch for me.  If you're into silent movies, or would like to see a different early Ford film than was typical of that era, or have an hour to kill, I recommend.  Otherwise, your mileage may vary. 

Five beneficent bums out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - Hell Bent (1918)

HELL BENT (1918)

Starring:  Harry Carey, Duke R Lee, Neva Gerber, Vester Pegg, Joe Harris

Writers:  Jack Ford & Harry Carey (based on a story by Harry Carey & Eugene B Lewis)

Cinematography:  Ben F Reynolds

Music:  SILENT (Blu-Ray score by Zachary Marsh)

B&W, 53m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on July 6, 1918 by Universal Film Manufacturing Company

My experience:  Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-Ray

I suppose I'm in the minority when it comes to this one.  Many of the reviews I've read online discuss how Hell Bent is a giant leap forward for Jack Ford, and while I don't deny that it has its moments, it seems to me that at times Ford is playing in a toy box.  Having discovered different ways of filming and telling his story, I feel that Ford is throwing everything he's learned up to that point into a blender and seeing what sticks.  

The story, as with many of that day and age, is simply told.  We are introduced once again to Harry Carey as Cheyenne Harry, a card sharp who arrives in the town of Rawhide after running from the law after a poker game shootout.  He falls in love with Mary (Neva Gerber) -- for some reason called Bess on the Blu-Ray cover and on IMDB -- whose brother Jack (Vester Pegg) has been fired from his job at Western Union.  Jack, unfortunately, is a lazy ne'er do well, and Mary must take a job as a dance hall girl at a saloon in order not only to make ends meet, but to send money to their mother, who needs money for an operation.  Through the course of the film, Harry and Mary fall in love, Harry becomes best friends with fellow good-bad guy and kindred spirit Cimarron Bill (Duke R Lee), and runs afoul of stagecoach robber Beau Ross (Joe Harris) and his gang, which now includes Mary's brother Jack.  All's well that ends well of course, as they usually do in these silent westerns, but perhaps not for everyone?

The film starts off in a pretty self-reflective way for its time, as it begins with a letter stating that the public is tired of a perfect man, and wants ordinary protagonists who have both bad and good in them.  It then cuts to a really cool shot in which the camera zooms in on the painting "A Misdeal" by Frederic Remington, and with some exquisite posing and matchwork, becomes a live action representation of said painting, from which the action proceeds forthwith.  Good start so far, but Ford doesn't seem to know when to quit, as he uses a massive amount of irises and screen matting, which while I understand to a certain extent why he does it, is almost too much of a good thing, and draws too much attention to its usage. 

There is a wonderful meet-cute between Harry and Cimarron Bill, as they take turns kicking each other out of a hotel room before becoming fast friends.  Their relationship contains a much-needed sense of humour to the film, as well as some bittersweet moments.  I don't know if audiences of the time were aware, or if it was even intended by Ford, but there seems to be a slight tinge of homoerotic longing on the part of Cimarron Bill for Cheyenne Harry.  Early in the film, the two drunkenly sing a duet of the classic song "Sweet Genevieve", which seems like a one-off attempt at humor but pays itself off in heartbreaking style at the end of the film.  Many of Ford's film are notable for being classic examples of male bonding, and focuses on the closeness of the male characters, often to the exclusion of the women in the film, but this is the strongest case I've found yet for potential romantic longing in such a case (that's portrayed in a serious, honest way and not the usual overly effeminate depiction of homosexuality in classic Hollywood films).

There are some cool shots in the film.  The wagon chase down a hill is particularly effective and excitement-inducing, and there is also a really cool shot of the shadow of horses on a hill.  The camera is pointed at the ground, and at first the audience is not quite sure what they're looking at, and then the shadows creep across the screen, and it's a glorious moment.  

I also need to point out the rousing, rollicking and yes, sentimental score by Zachary Marsh on the Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-Ray.  There are a few themes and through lines he uses throughout the film, that call earlier scenes back to mind, and I definitely appreciated it.  Many contemporary silent film scores, while very good in their own right, focus on the action itself, almost as if someone is playing at a piano or conducting a band while watching the movie live (which makes sense, as this is often the way they did things back in the silent era).  Marsh makes this movie feel *scored*, and it really adds a lot to the film.

Parts of the film are hard to follow, especially during Harry and Beau's trek through the sand dunes, and I never really got the attraction between Harry and Mary.  So while I don't think I enjoyed this film as much as others, it still has something to offer, and at less than an hour long, is short enough that if it's not for you, it's not a complete waste of your time.

Five and a half connubial cowboys out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - Bucking Broadway (1917)

BUCKING BROADWAY (1917)

Starring:  Harry Carey, Molly Malone, LM Wells, Vester Pegg, William Steele, Gertrude Astor

Writer:  George Hively

Cinematography:  John W Brown, George F Reynolds

Music:  SILENT (contemporary score by Donald Sosin)

B&W, 53m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on December 24, 1917 by Universal Film Manufacturing Company.

My experience:  YouTube

For his fourth feature film (and second in this series, the other two -- The Secret Man and A Marked Man being lost), John Ford stretched his wings a little bit.  Still safely ensconced in the western genre in which he cut his teeth, he added a little bit of comedy to the mix in Bucking Broadway, which is an odd mix of classic western and Keystone cop-style comedy.  Does it work?  To a certain extent, it does ... but the switch from one to the other halfway through comes across as a bit abrupt.

Harry Carey returns as Cheyenne Harry, although it's doubtful that this iteration of Cheyenne Harry is the same as the one we saw in Straight Shooting.  Perhaps Ford and Carey created the Cheyenne Harry multiverse almost a century before the word was even invented?  At any rate, Carey's character this time is again in love with Molly Malone's character, this time called Helen.  He has gotten her father Ben's (LM Wells) blessing for her hand in marriage, and things seem to be going smoothly ... up until an oily big city player named Eugene Thornton (Vester Pegg) shows up and woos the fair Helen, absconding with her to New York, not unwillingly it must be said.  Cheyenne Harry follows, and with the help of kindly pickpocket Gladys (Gertrude Astor) attempts to win back his love.  Add a bunch of marauding cowboys to the mix and then things really go off the rails ...

I need to state firstly that I actually quite liked this movie.  I wouldn't call it any great shakes in the masterpiece department, but there are a few nice cinematic touches courtesy of the master, and it kept me entertained.  There is one shot about seven minutes in that quite impressed me for its depth of field, especially considering this was 1917 and Ford wasn't to work with Gregg Toland for another 23 years.  In it, there are two characters on horses in the foreground on top of a high hill.  Behind them down in the valley you can see a herd of cows being herded, and off in the distance on top of a mountain there are a two other horses meandering atop another hilly plateau.  It's a wonderful use of what came to be known as the 1.33:1 Academy ratio, making exquisite use of the full frame.

Even in these early films, Ford uses inserts wonderfully to help develop character.  There are multiple closeups of Harry's hands fidgeting as he asks Ben for his daughter's hand in marriage, and later there's a beautiful shot of Ben's hand on top of the two lovers', effectively giving his consent without saying a word.  Well, of course he didn't say a word; this is a silent film.  But I digress!

I must draw attention to some nice juxtaposition as well, where Ford balances comedy and drama to near perfection, keeping the audience on edge and in suspense the whole time.  Harry is trying on a wedding suit at the tailor's, being interrupted in the altogether by a local spinster.  These scenes are interspersed with scenes of the slick city dude gradually winning Helen over with his overbearing propositions.  The audience is in the position of laughing at the outrageous antics at the clothing store, while simultaneously being made aware that plots are being put in place to undermine the raison d'etre for the hilarity.  I don't know the last time I've been so uncomfortable laughing.

Another thing I noticed is that all the scenes in the first half of the film, out west in Wyoming, look very authentic, even the interiors.  When Harry gets to New York to try to win back the woman he loves, I noticed that the set looks just like what it is:  a set.  It's almost as if Ford intentionally made his NYC hotel room look like a two-dimensional stage set; is he making a comment on the inauthenticity of big city life?  The final scene, when Harry's cowboy friends run roughshod over Eugene Thornton and his city slickin' friends in the hotel ballroom is a tad absurd and over the top, to be honest, but funny nonetheless.

One of the things that grated on me was the fact that Helen seemed to have no autonomy whatever.  She seemed to exist solely to do what others -- specifically the men in her life -- told her to do.  Granted, this is a silent film from before women were even able to vote in the United States, but I found it frustrating nonetheless.  I actually much preferred the character of Gladys, portrayed by Gertrude Astor.  She is her own person and actually has her own agenda rather than mindlessly following others.  Perhaps Harry should have taken a chance on her ... but that would probably not have pleased the censors at that time.

Bucking Broadway has its moments for sure.  Is it a perfect film?  Not on your life.  That's not to say it doesn't have its charms.  It can be over the top in its comedy and quaint and old fashioned in its values, but the same can be said for much of Ford's work.  It's an interesting development in the career of Ford, who would always have a knack for over the top comedy.  In future films, he would be able to integrate it into his films a bit more fluidly.

5 equus ex machina out of 10.