Reviews

Alta costura is a 50s Spanish drama detective story, more a drama than a typical noir. It is not specially well acted, nor a bad film either. Its main interest is seeing fashion models by famed couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga. The film shows plenty of them, as it mainly happens in a fashion house during the afternoon the new collection is shown to prospective clients.

The modeling show is interspersed with the stories of the designer, who is foccused on selling his creations, and those of his mannequins, which represent different types : the newcomer raised to fame who is marrying for money and tries to clear out her past (Lyla Rocco), a reconverted tell-it-like-it-is gypsy dancer (Laura Valenzuela), the experienced world-wise Kiki, top model of the moment, who takes advantage of her position to get from life what she wants (María Martín), the practical and disillusioned one (Dina Sten), and the one who is marrying for love (Mónica Pastrana), whose only concern is her boyfriend´s position. When an ex-boyfriend is killed, the police appears at the business, and the girl´s troubles are told while he waits for the fashion show to finish.

María Martín, who plays Kiki, has a typical Spanish type that offers a funny realistic contrast with those of her costars (Lyla Rocco had been Italy´s beauty queen), in this not outstanding movie that could have been better if the detective´s part had been enhanced, the murderer being disclosed during the last minutes and contributing only the excuse for the story. Thus, its main interest is seeing the models.

This is the story of the making of "The Lumberjack", a 1914 short feature that itinerant Filmmakers from Paragon company shot in Wausau, a small town in Wisconsin, with the inhabitants as nonprofessional actors. The director interviews those still alive who were in it or who are in some ways connected to it. We are shown the locations, views featured in the film, old and new buildings. The director interviews a man who recovers old timber floating in the river, since the lumber mills were long gone in 1983.

Pianist Louise Elster, with an excellent timing and sense for silents, supplies both background music and some of the nicest moments in the documentary, with her lively interpretations and remembrances of an era long gone. It is great to watch how she enjoys her playing and easily adapts it to each moment´s mood in the picture.

Interviewing a woman who was featured in the wedding scene is somewhat shocking, as she is seen in 1910s fashions and hairdo, which makes a sharp contrast with seeing her in color in 1983. Watching a silent "talk" after all those years is an interesting experience, that helps fill a gap in our conscience about movie making.

It is of interest to those who like silents, though a bit slow paced, and helps connect us with a black-and-white (albeit tinted !) past, when songs were made about people wearing tulips and big red roses on their Sunday clothes.

"The Lumberkack"(1914) has survived. Those interested look at the film´s IMDB entry.

Félix Lope de Vega Carpio, one of the main writers of the Spanish Golden Century, created a strong femenine character in his verse play "La moza de cántaro" (The pitcher´s maid) ("cántaro" is a Spanish baked clay jug to carry and drink water and keep it cool).

The film version, starring Paquita Rico as Doña María, a lady who won´t hesitate to disguise as a man to avenge an offence inflicted to his old father by an ambitious suitor, does not retain the play´s witty dialogues, but is effectively (and freely) adapted into a costume adventure. Here our heroine dresses as a man to fight a duel at night, is recognised and must run away and live on her wits, aided by a gentleman who believes she is her absent brother. Unabashed by this turn of fortune but not at all prepared to share a room with a man, she runs away once more and travels to Madrid, where King Felipe IV (Ismael Merlo) resides. There, working as a tavern maid and keeping her self-pride high, she will fight both for her liberty and choice of man keeping her family´s honor.

When this picture was made in 1954, the Spanish cinema under Franco´s regime had favored and accumulated a tradition of historical (and often grandiloquent and dramatic) pictures. This is no exception, but blends history with comedy and folklore because of its leading lady, Miss Paquita Rico.

With a few songs to show her singing and dancing talents wisely interspesed along the story, her lively personality fits the character well, and gives strength and spark to the action, which really evolves around her as her gentleman suitor (Peter Damon) is not precisely sparkling. Florián Rey was an experienced leading director of folklorical themed movies in both pre- and post-war Spanish cinema,and he contributes to this film being not an outstanding but a well made one, both entertaining and with a good rhythm. Rey had been married to Imperio Argentina, one of the most famous actresses of Spanish cinema and a famed tonadillera (popular songs singer), and they made many similar themed and successful pictures together. The settings by Sigfied Burmann greatly help in achieving the ambience. But the main merit of this picture should go to Lope de Vega, who created one such interesting, amusing and modern play. Read it and find out for yourselves.

Sweet, loveliest 18 year old Deanna singing a tribute to nurses with a WWI song, in this short made for the November 1940 Red Cross call through the nation.

Red Cross annual fund raising calls were customary on Armistice Day (Nov. 11th.).

Deanna was asked twice to contribute, first in 1938 (short "A Friend Indeed") and then again in 1940. Many other actors starred in Roll Calls through the years since the silent era (Mary Pickford and Doug Fairbanks among them).

Don´t miss this opportunity to listen to her in a less-known footage. It is only to regret that the other performers in the Warner benefit gala are just seen flashed through, so the acts can not be enjoyed.

Thanks to Australian CATHS for giving us all this treasure !

Conrad Veidt deserved a documentary so it is with interest that this one was found. Yet, it has been disappointing.

It goes though his pictures with partiality, insisting in certain ones while others are barely mentioned. It is narrated in first person with a heavy accent, which does not help. The narrative on his life typical of documentaries (birth, early years, marriages, exile from Nazi Germany) is missing except than saying that he insisted on portraying Nazis as mean.

This is a mere review of his filmography from a personal point of view.

Overall, too much speech on Jews and Nazis and too little on his artistic merits as an actor.

And beware, it is FULL of SPOILERS showing critical moments and also the end of many of his movies, in case if you haven´t watched them.

It is good that someone has cared to make an hommage to this great actor, but a Youtube video would better suit this purpose. Lacking research.

I watched this picture many years ago and was enthranced. I had read the novel in my teens and have always remembered it as it also caused a deep impression on me. Madame Defarge knitting before the guillotine, the long trial, the contrast between the chaotic France and the organised England... Happily one doesn't have to choose between them, but can equally enjoy both and mix them. For the book always explains you more about the characters, their wishes and motivations, but the images bring them alive, though some are always supressed from the novel. I am for the magic in pictures. Some have it, some don't. This certainly does. Tyrone Power would have made a great Darnay, and certainly a better oponent for Colman, who is superior in his role, than Donald Woods. Elizabeth Allan could have had a better part as her role remains quite superficial, but this also happens in the book. Edna May Oliver offers a thrilling duel in the last part. And if you don't know the story, don't let anybody tell you how it ends! A fantastic movie to enjoy.

A silent & early sonorized movie from 1932, where Leni Riefenstahl is actress, screenwriter and director. The movie has a rare beauty that lingers through the years. The plot is a fairy-tale one : a young and lonely girl mistaken by her neighbours for a witch is genuinely fascinated by the mysterious blue light emerging from the magic mountain; she meets and befriends a mountaineer equally interested in the secret, but for quite different reasons, and so the drama begins. The story is in fact the collision between the maiden's free soul and civilisation, which seems to specially appeal Riefenstahl's independent spirit. It is better that each one makes an opinion as one pleases after watching this visually beautiful movie. Based upon Gustav Renker's "Bergkristall" (The Glass Mountain). A sportive Leni climbs the ridges by herself.

This is a 1914 uncomplicated version of the famous tale. The stage production is quite simple, the plot develops with seveal abrupt changes, and other characters could have been better displayed, yet one more time Mary Pickford both entertains and interests us with her art. It is not one of her best pictures, nor one of her best known ones, but it has the simple charm of a children´s tale.

A curiosity about this picture is that Owen Moore, her first husband, plays Prince Charming. They eloped to be married in 1911 and would divorce in 1920; the same month of their divorce, Mary married Douglas Fairbanks.

I bought this 1933 picture because I was curious to see the first Errol Flynn movie role. He is playing Fletcher Christian in the historically based Bounty mutiny. He is supposed to be himself a descendant of Christian, which gives an added interest. If you expect a good adventure movie, a kind of an Australian Captain Blood, then you'll sure be disappointed. Better see the Clark Gable or Marlon Brando versions. This is more like a Flaherty documentary, although more amateurly delivered. Image quality is quite defective, specially at the beginning, and rythm is sometimes boring. Real sequences depicting places where the Bounty left its trace constitute the majority of the picture, and between them the dramatised story is now and then added (and abruptly ended). An ancient mariner (Victor Gouriet) remembers the adventure and tells it to a tavern audience. Captain Blight (Mayne Lynton) figures in only a couple of scenes, but Flynn hasn't got much more; the detailed story of the breadfruit plant is left aside. The characters are superficially approached, but this seems to be the producer's intention, giving more time to show Tahitian habits and life at Pitcairn at the time. And it's in this sense that it's worth viewing. Many descendants of the mutineers are shown, as well as community-based island life and their struggle against the wild sea. The alleged remains of the Bounty can still be seen through the clear waters in the natural bay where it lays. I guess the real adventure was in fact lived by the film crew.

Funny is to notice the fact that the picture consistently anticipates producer Charles Chauvel & wife future style, which would develop between long-feature and documentary films.

Don't be mistaken : this is a Barrymore movie, and Sherlock Holmes just the anecdote. Based on a theatrical play, this adventure has the interest of introducing Holmes and Watson in their youth, when they are both students and collaborate in solving a college incident which will have consequences in their future. One of the best scenes is when Holmes examines his own knowledge about life, yet it does not have continuity. Holmes deductive methods and abilities are only anecdotically mentioned although they are what made the character famous, so readers will be disappointed. This is my main criticism.

Being John Barrymore the leading actor you can expect romance and adventure and a glamorous hero. Well, I would have preferred more adventure and less romance being about Sherlock Holmes. The action follows the trend of the times, approaching earlier silent serials in an uncomplicated way. Moriarty, who is played by Gustav von Seiffertitz, looks as a really mean villain but one wonders why as quite more evil would be expected from him, resembling more a Dickens headmaster than the dangerous and intelligent head of a secret criminal system. If you have this in account, the film is just a nice picture if not specially true to the Conan Doyle spirit. As always poor Watson is undervalued and does not receive much attention, yet Roland Young fits quite well and could have offered much more. We meet a young William Powell in a secondary part. Carol Dempster is all right if not impressive as the lady in distress.

The image quality is quite good (thanks to a restored copy) and one can see it was made with generous means as the production design shows (see Moriarty's underground quarters or Baker Street apartments).

Yet as this movie was belived to be lost for many years it is a real pleasure to watch it and a luck to have it with us.

First, as a 3 D enthusiast, I cannot but congratulate Panamint for having issued this excellent restoration in wonderful Technicolor. The image quality is plainly excellent and the 3D effect stunning. For those who want to watch a fragment, go to their website. There's a region B edition for those not having a multi-region player.

There are various 3D specially made shots like throwing things to the camera, a burning wooden roof falling onto us and so on, they fit well into the story and are not overdone.

The extras are the original trailer and a short publicity one with Miss Fleming praising 3D, plus a later interview by Pat Boone. The booklet is also carefully prepared with the story of the making of the film, actors and director's commentaries and press notes and stills.

Second, the story is a simple one (a millionaire with a broken leg deliberately abandoned in the desert by his wife and lover), being the always interesting Robert Ryan one of the reasons that makes it better. Rhonda Fleming's beauty and flaming hair are impressive as much in the Mojave scenery as in her golden bathing suit (too short the swimming pool scene!), she and William Lundigan are correct players, but Ryan is better and the story is centered on him and the way he evolves from being an unsatisfied spoiled rich man through his fighting for survival. DON'T expect too much action as the trailer could have made believe. This is more a psychological movie, it's practically on three people and the desert that it's all about. But it's well directed by Roy Baker and well done, given its scarcity of means -and players.

I can only recommend it to anyone interested in 3D movies, while expecting new more issues like Bwana Devil, Sangaree, The Stranger Wore a Gun, Miss Saddie Thompson and so on. For the moment, don't miss Man in the Dark, and if you want a major 3D with no budget limitations try Kiss me Kate from MGM !

Be aware this is the second version (early talkie) of a silent picture, although the DVD cover is from the silent one. They both feature the same story played by the same actress (Mae Murray), but in quite different circumstances. The first was made in 1921 and released next year, directed by her then-husband Robert Z. Leonard and with a luxurious look. This silent version is supposedly lost. Some photographs exist showing the peacock gown featured in this DVD cover, which pertains NOT to this picture.

Miss Murray was an ex-Ziegfeld girl famous in the 1910s and 20s for the way she staged her dances and for her make-up (she was known as "the girl with the bee-stung lips", her star faded and is said to have been the inspiration for Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard). She partnered in Tiffany Productions, responsible for the two versions.

The story offered here has its main point of interest in Miss Murray's character having or having not been unfaithful to her brand-new husband; a secondary point for some may be to see Jason Robards Sr. Playing this role. There could be another one in a Spanish early Technicolor dancing sequence (Tiffanny also made Mamba trying to compete with newly assembled MGM), stills of which also exist, but this has been plainly DELETED, leaving a noticeable gap leading to an abrupt and rather unbelievable ending. Aside from these, I can see no other qualities. The story is outfashioned even for its time (but probably not for 1922) and it resents a total lack of rythm, "running" at a tedious pace. The image quality is poor. The sound equals it. Miss Murray looks unatractive and cheap. Even so, judge for yourself, as it may be the only chance to have an idea of this picture.

Peacock Alley is the name some hotels name their lounges or restaurants, like the Waldorf at N. Y. or the Willard Hotel in Washington. If you look at the pictures, it might have been this one the inspiration for the first sequences.

By the way, if anyone knows of an available copy of the 1921-2 silent version I'd be glad to know it (UCLA/LoC are said to own some fragments).

ATTENTION ! For those wanting to watch the missing TECHNICOLOR dance sequence, go to the link at the External Links section.

One of the few thrillers originally intended to be released in 3D, this movie sums up the joined assets of having been made by a respected studio (Columbia), offering good performances by thoroughly good actors - specially Edmond O'Brien who holds most of the film going on-, and raising an interesting if a bit constricted story filled with excitment, mystery and a thrilling action finale at a roller coaster. The first part, beginning with a brain surgical intervention on our leading man resulting in amnesia which will bring him so much trouble, could have been more developed since it offers an interesting contrast to his prior behaviour. The plot is good enough, and its relatively sparse settings are counterparted by its technical achievements, dynamic chases and a treasure hunt. Ted de Corsia and his partners and Audrey Totter as a bewildered girlfriend add realism to the story.

The 3D effects are wisely combined with the plot. They include bullet shots, a frontal car crash, falls and many other tricks better not to be advanced. Here is where Lew Landers ability as a director is shown, as he does not let the movie loose its rhythm.

But aside of these various effects the film is equally interesting watched in 2D version, making it a good noir movie.

The Twilight Time restoration is excellent with good image quality, and the much appreciated inclusion of the original (non-3D) trailer, which doesn't reveal anything about the picture but the secrecy under which such innovative productions were then made, intended to create expectation.

As for the 3D effect, when first watched on a 3D TV, though, it was quite disappointing, because it was hardly noticeable. Nevertheless, after a meticulous search the right TV was found in one specific Sony HD model, and all at once the 3D magic came to life. You feel like you could grasp the objects on the Psychiatrist's desk, notice many small details in close-ups, and sense the depth in many scenes. I can only share my enthusiasm. Splendid !

Be aware that different TV models from the same brand may show strong differences in 3D effects, so don't give in. Wish I had found this information in some other review, it would have been very useful to have it beforehand.

A bit expensive, but worth it. Let's hope it sells good enough and encourages the producers to issue new titles (Bwana, Fort-Ti, and so on). Don't miss other less known 3D jewels as Inferno, Dragonfly Squadron or MGM's Kiss Me Kate while we wait for more !

This is an interesting 3D with a British touch, and it's a luck that Kino Lorber and the 3D Film Archive have jointly taken the task of restoring it. As explained in the extras, it was shot in 3D but never released that way in its time, as the 3D trend had declined. So now we can enjoy watching it as it was intended to be screened.

The story, whether 3D or normal viewing, is interesting enough. A federal agent joins forces with a British Scotland Yard colleague to catch a band of synthetic-diamond makers and rescue the scientist who has joined them. Both agents also doubt if the scientist's daughter is willing to help or only trying to fool them. Contrasting with Philip Friend who effectively plays his less emotional British counterpart, Dennis O'Keefe adds the spark to the pair; he does not only act but also directed this picture, and both jobs he does well.

Not only the polarized version is great, also the anaglyphic one (complimentary glasses are included) offers a nice medium-depth effect. The image is sharp if a little grained, and compared to the unrestored version (both shown side-by-side in the extras as usually) contrast is improved - good for the restoration team. The 3D effect is much more apparent with the polarized glasses, though.

A sample of the anaglyphic version can be watched at Youtube (see External Links section).

An otherwise very British style picture with sober acting, no over-use of 3D visual tricks, more documentary-style than American productions yet with a well balanced amount of action.

So good that they have restored it. Another treat for 3D affectionates. More 3D classics coming, please!

One does not expect Portuguese cinema to excel at a noir; but this is an accomplished example. A well made picture with an engaging plot, good performances and effectively ambienced.

It is directed by Ladislaus Vadja, an Hungarian emigré who would make several interesting pictures, several of them coproductions around Europe ("The Golden Madonna", "El Cebo"). He is beter known for his Spanish career, specially for "Marcelino, pan y vino" or "Mi tío Jacinto". In fact he handled many different styles, with varied results.

In this picture he effectively manages to give us more than a good story. As Inspector Moisés (excellent Joao Villaret) slowly pulls the thread of the mystery of a murder tried to be covered as a car crash, a contrasted portrait of a man (stock exchange gambler Joao Ramón Esmoriz, played by Rafael Durán) unfolds. His personality is reconstructed by the way he was viewed through the varied people who knew him : his best friend, his business associates and the three very different women in his life.

The action takes place mostly in a home interior during morning hours, with an only flasback interspesed. Yet the sets and ambience are so well achieved, it´s definitively a noir film. Aided by Maria Clara´s evocative voice singing a couple of fados.

Two simultaneous versions of the film were shot, according to Spanish actress Mary Carrillo memoirs. She remembers having travelled to Portugal to shot her scenes playing Amable (played by Maddalena Sotto in the Portuguese version) at Lisbon studios. This makes sense, as in the available Portuguese version, well known leading man Rafael Durán, who has a distinctive voice, is dubbed. He plays the key role of financier Joao Romano (or Juan Ramón) Esmoriz, deemed as unscrupulous by some and loved by others. The rest of the cast is likely to be the same, Joao Villaret renamed Juan Vilaret in the Spanish release (see movie flyer in the image gallery). This is a good bet, as only a handful of scenes needed to be shot twice and the rest could be dubbed. The technical team is mainly Spanish, while most of the cast is Portuguese.

Virgilio Teixeira, who would become leading men in Spanish cinema a decade later, plays Miguel d´Aguiar, Joao´s childhood friend and business associate, in love with Joao´s fiancée played by big eyed Portuguese actress Carmen Dolores. Italian actress Paola Barbara plays a Countess who becomes Joao´s business contact to rich investors, and petite Maddalena Soto plays Amable, the cafe singer to whom Joao confides his worries. The three women different physical types are seen together in the picture, adding credibility to the story. There are many more realistic touches, starting with the tired inspector wanting to go home after a night ward but having to stay instead and set his mind to work on how to solve the murder.

All in all, a very interesting but little known noir to be discovered and enjoyed. And deserving an English subtitled release.

Oh, Doctor! Tells the story of a highly hipochondriac young man who, convinced that his life will be shortly ending and provided with an insurance, decides to take risks in life, to his new nurse's concern. The story is not bad, but the real point is in the acting. Reginald Denny is convincing and charming as a neurotic young man who gradually discovers life. His is a sober yet amusing manner, in the style which would be later followed by Cary Grant, so this is not a vaudevillian nor a slapstick comedy, but an elegant one, yet filled with great surprising gags. Mary Astor plays the nurse and her serious expression only makes it better. Denny played different types of roles and silent comedy is one of his less known accomplishments.

The Grapevine DVD image quality is fair enough for a Grapevine release, they don't use to be high standards. Part of the footage seems to be missing, as there are a couple of abrupt changes.

Highly enjoyable.

Light musical comedy set in a bakery business, with a couple of Busby Berkeley coreographies and lots of Eddie Cantor gags and numbers, helped by Charlotte Greenwood as a physical trainer, whose tall stature makes a comic contrast with Eddie. He stars as a false medium's assistant who is mistankenly taken by an expert and hired by the bakery owner, sucessfully transforms the business into a sort of show-cafè and then tries to prevent it to be robbed by the medium's gang (which includes a young George Raft), while falling in love with the boss' daughter (Joan Clark).

This is a simple but charming film showing why Colleen Moore became a star and an incarnation of the Flapper. She plays a working class girl who likes dancing and night life and dates with her boss-to-be (Neil Hamilton) without any of them knowing this. They like each other but will have to deal with doubts on their mutual behavior. The plot is not much, but the acting is fresh, the action follows a good pace and Miss Moore is natural, vivacious and convincing. The rest of the cast is also good, specially Bodil Rosing playing her sympathetic mother.

This film and Synthetic Sin were supposed to be lost but were located in Italy and carefully restored starting in 2012, and finally reissued for us all to enjoy. Thanks to the Vitaphone team, Warner, UCLA and Bologna archives, and to Joe Yranski, a film historian who gave the connection to locate the films. And this one is certainly worth it! The image quality is superior, a pleasure to watch as it should have been in its day. Even for a late silent from 1929 which was released with an added sonorized soundtrack with Vitaphone syncronized discs. This adds plenty of jazz music of the moment. The dialogues (titles), settings and clothes are amazingly modern, with a ceiling mirror ball in the dancing hall far ahead the 70s ones and high heeled sequined shoes. Mischa Auer, Andy Devine and Jean Harlow can be been spotted as extras.

As a whole, highly recommended, and deserving to be known.

The main reason to buy this film is because Nino Martini, an Italian operatic tenor who made only a handful of movies along his life, stars in it.

This is the story of the Gerards (Genievève Tobin and Reginald Denny), a rich couple who have fallen apart because of the husband's continuous "patronage" of young and beautiful girl artists. His wife decides to counter-attack patronizing some young and attractive singer herself. So she calls Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink, who suggests Nino as the protegée. After listening to him sing Mrs. Gerard quickly accepts, and he is sent to Paris to study. There he meets a ballerina (Anita Louise) and they fall in love. Then the Gerards come in, and Kathleen Gerard also falls in love with him, bringing troubles in.

It is a nice musical comedy but has some abrupt cuttings that make the story a bit awkwark sometimes. Anita Louise seems miscast as a poorly acting classical ballerina, opposite a sparkling Geneviève Tobin who makes one think the roles should have been reversed. Nino Martini was never the best of actors, yet his charm lays in his unpretentious personality as much as in his singing. Reginald Denny has a limited and not precisely nice role, given the chance he who was a skilled and elegant comedian could have done much more. Geneviève Tobin is by far the most engaging of them all. There's also the added interest of seeing and even listening to Mme. Schumann-Heink, a famous Bohemian mezzo-soprano in her only credited film (she appeared in a silent too) singing one of her best loved tunes, Silent Night, at the piano. She died shortly after that same year the film was released (1936), before a young girl named Deanna Durbin had her first big chance to impersonate her in the biography that was to be started but would never be made in the end. There are plenty of songs, both operatic and romantic, for Martini to show his artistry. If you want more of him, don't miss The Gay Desperado which is better, fresh and funny and Leo Carrillo and Ida Lupino make it very much so. It's such a luck this previously hard to find film has been recovered for rerelease.

This is a typical post-war picture showing a reconstructed Berlin and avoiding any depth and least of all any social criticism, just trying to show the city as modern, beautiful and attractive to tourists. The infamous wall had not yet been built, and although East and West-Berlin frontier limits are clearly seen and subway travelers are warned when crossing them, policemen from both sides work hand-in-hand to catch a couple of evaded gunmen.

A few selected spots are shown, leaving historical ones (and any ones connected with the Nazis) off. In one sequence, "Nie wieder Krieg" (never again war) can be read painted in big letters on a wall. Also what is left of the Allied-bombed Kaiser Wilhelm church (Gedächtniskirche)is shown on top of the Kufürsterdamm avenue where the hotel of this story is located.

The film is composed of several stories involving the passengers of a plane having had to land in Berlin instead of Kobenhavn for a couple of days. Sonja Ziemann and Walter Giller play a famed photographer and his wife about to get the divorce, then there are three young scientists on their way to a polar post, one of them looking for a former girlfriend, and Márta Éggerth as an opera singer who left an unfinished story in the city and will now find out what happened. Hans Leibert as a nervous businessman about to become a father and a black jazz group are secondary characters. Ivan Petrovitch, who played with Márta in Blume von Hawaii in the 1930s, has a significant role too. As the different stories develop, we are taken to the Zoo, the Waldbühne entertainment gardens, Postdam, the Stalin Avenue in the new part of the city, and a bit of nightlife too.

As a whole, nice entertainment if one does not expect much more. The color photography retains its brightness in the DVD edition.

The best of the picture is Miss Eggert´s singing an operatic aria and an Hungarian song, and the most interesting is to have a look at the city itsef. It is late 50s and you can still see a lot of reconstruction and ruined buildings and churches, and new buildings between old ones.

This is a recovered treasure for all those who love the theatre and who want to learn about its main representatives in an era before motion pictures existed and filming performances became possible. Of Henry Irving, Sarah Bernhardt and their contemporaries we have only blurred voice recordings and some silents if we are lucky. Most of these silents are from a very early stage when cinematic art was still developing, and often try to copy the play as it was, instead of adapting it to a different media. And this can be sensed both in the sets and in image quality. Most of these actors had a melodramatic style of delivery, with ample and dramatic gestures. A style that now seems outdated. Later films like The Perils of Pauline (1947) would take excellent profit of it.

Not such a case with William Gillette. He practiced self-containment and rejected superficial melodramatic gestures, yet his plays are full of drama and also sense of humor. That Sherlock Holmes became maybe his most famous role, backed up by Conan Doyle´s complete approval, does not detract from the fact that he was also an author, and when he staged Sherlock Holmes he adapted the character to his own liking.

This means we have a personal Holmes, who, if having some resemblance to the character, is not the least the most truthful to the novels. Not at all. If you expect that, you´ll be disappointed. This is Gillette´s personal Holmes, same as John Barrymore´s Holmes (1922) was more Barrymore than Holmes. Also the picture was conceived as a chapter serial, and this must be kept in mind, the story slowly progressing and offering few surprises.

The film has some weak points : relegating Dr. Watson (who plays quite a decorative role), practically ignoring Holmes´deducting skills, presenting very bland villains and an even weaker Moriarty who does little evil at all, an equally inconsistant heroine (who does nothing but suffer, and is presented as held a prisoner then manages quite easily to go out at her will), a much too long story for telling little at all, and (oh my God) Gillette even takes the liberty of making Holmes fall in love! (He nicely asked permission to do so, and Conan Doyle gave him absolute freedom).

Then we have the strong points : watching Gillette himself is a privilege. Since we cannot sense the power of his stage presence, we can have a look at what he should be like. And the result is, one wishes to enjoy more of it. Also, the sets are designed with careful detail and performances as a whole are good.

The Cinématheque workers who mislabelled the can and allowed such a treasure, believed lost for 80 years, to survive and reach us all, should be given as much credit as those who finally discovered what it really contained and brought it to light, and also those others who have devotedly restored William Gillette Sherlock Holmes.

William Gillette wrote Secret Service for the stage, and played the lead role in it, Captain Thorne, in 1895. When the Civil War broke out he was only a child, but having lost a brother in the conflict, this story is likely to have been important for him. He wrote his plays very carefully, giving full details on sound effects (he patented a device for cavalry hoofs), stage setting and lighting. He was known for his way to set furniture so that the audience felt like being inside the play. And as an actor, he was known for a distinctive style, because he played in a gesture-restrained and naturalistic manner very different from the melodramatic trend of most of his contemporaries. Gillette, who loved theater from his childhood, wrote plays in other genres, such as The Comforts of Home or Too Much Johnson (a comedy later filmed by a young Orson Welles and team). In his later years he also did some radio broadcasts, like a seemingly lost one of his most famous impersonation, detective Sherlock Holmes, which he adapted for the stage with Conan Doyle´s approval and played over and over for more than 30 years to audiences who never got tired of him. Even in a silent movie.

But Secret Service is a drama, and a suspenseful one from its beginning to the very last minute. Set in 1861, it tells the story of two Northern Secret Service agents trying to send false orders, and of their Southern counterparts trying to prevent it. A tense tempo marks the development, with occasional breaks provided by secondary characters Caroline Mitford and the youngest Varney boy. The father, at the battlefront, is a Southern general. An elder brother is lying in bed at home, severely wounded, while the youngest is willing to go to battle, specially since Caroline turned him down because of not having enlisted. Then there´s their sister Edith, who is falling in love with Captain Thorne, brought to their home wounded and now recovered and about to leave. The mother deals with it all amidst bandage-making and housekeeping. Cannonades in the background and action in the foreground. The ethics of war and personal ethics collide, bringing difficult choices to deal with. Difficult and dramatic choices. And an open ending.

This being told, this filmed version has both strong and weak points, as has the 1931 one starring Richard Dix. It is faithful to the written play in both dialogues and stage setting. It succeeds in creating a tense athmosphere all over. Only both Captain Thorne and his opponent Mr. Arrelsford are too melodramatically played by John Lithgow and Charles Kimbrough respectively (watch Richard Dix for a contrast). The telegraph officer in charge, a secondary role, plays it in a much more normal way. In fact, it is Mrs. Varney who is completely in her place in all of her appearances. Her daughter Edith is played by a young Meryl Streep with both sensitiveness, charm and intelligence, and we can understand her moments of despair and not consider them as overacted. The youngest Varney brother is an impulsive teenager, so it is understandable that he gets carried away. Caroline Mitford is also well portrayed by Mary Beth Hurt, if at first the character, maybe because the way she drags on her Southern accent, may seem a bit more than simple-minded. Between the acts, musical interludes with Civil War songs are performed by some the actors, including Meryl Streep who looks lovely and sings beautifully. As a whole, it is an interesting adaptation, and it would have been much better if it had not been overacted by the main masculine characters, both physically and in the way they deliver their dialogues (and this also predisposes to take party, while the original play has one of its strengths in that it does not). The way the author tried to avoid.

This is the commentary on the German version. For the English one see Talk about Jacqueline (1942).

Jacqueline, a rich young woman, travels around the world living life her way and doing as she pleases, flirting and leaving when she feels men become too possessive. They follow her but she avoids compromise and jumps into a new adventure. She is on magazine covers and people talk about her, not at all in the same way they do about men who behave just the same. But she does not care. Until she meets a different type of man : doctor Michael Thomas, a reserved researcher just returned from the East. She tries to seduce him, falling in love in the process. When her past is about to be discovered she covers back in her younger sister June. June lives modestly in Paris studying music, and when Jackie feels homesick she visits her. They are fond of each other and June makes her no reprovals. If Jackie chooses to commit and change her life it won´t be easy, but June will be there.

This German version has a complexity lacking in the English one, a deeper lecture. There are moments of comedy, but as the story progresses dramatic sense takes over. It has also a well staged production design; when in England, the ample castle interiors and open hunting grounds contrast with the modest and sheltered June´s apartment in a Parisian quartier on top of many stairs, far enough from the worldly circles Jacq usually moves in, and it is there where her relationship with Michael will develop. A museum sequence is beautifully shot from the top. We see Jacqueline both bewildered then troubled after she dates Michael, her feelings much more clearly shown than in the English version. Vera Engels, an elegant actress, does the type of the sophisticated, determined and seductive woman and gives an emotive performance on the moment of her crucial decision. Albrecht Schoenhals, if somewhat too restrained, also does the type as the doctor (and he was one in real life) is a solid but rigid man. And Sabine Peters as June offers an adequate contrast to her worldly sister, if only a bit too modest for a rich girl (straight blond hair and hardly an evening dress). No wonder she and Michael feel attracted -and that´s another difference to the English version. Also the girls´cousin Leslie has only a bit part here, while in the English version he and his mother help develop the story and the castle sequences have much more importance. Michael´s sternfulness makes Jacqueline increasingly anguished, to a critic point indeed. Her whole life bouleverses because of her new found love (arguable as it may be why she falls in love with this type of man), and only another dramatic shake will be able to settle things again, if it´s not too late...

This is a different version of the previous German film Man spricht über Jacqueline from 1937. It is, though, quite different apart from the basic plot lines. This English version is undoubtedly a comedy, while the German one has a considerable amount of drama.

Jacqueline is a rich young woman who travels around Europe seeking adventure and having fun, occasionally returning home to England, only to soon leave again. Men fall for her and one after another go after her, but she loves no one, leaving as soon as they try to catch her. She does not care if people talk about her -and they do. No regrets and no compromise. That is, until she meets Michael Thomas, a mysoginous doctor back from the wild who has strict moral views on how women should be like -precisely what his mother wasn´t- and does not react to her charms. Jacq makes a point to get him, despite her cousin Leslie´s warnings, and feels increasingly attracted to him. Yet knowing how he feels she decides to hide her past, relying on her otherwise discrete sister June for help.

The main difference between the two versions relies in the approach to this situation. This 40s version takes profit of the honest try on June´s side to help Jacq (Carla Lehmann) out of trouble, even if this means take the blame herself for her sister´s misbehavings in order to preserve her chance of happiness, and we can also see the troubles she gets into to convince Michael (Hugh Williams) that she is a "woman of the world". Joyce Howard makes the most of it, and offers us a comedic vein really enjoyable to see. Even so, sooner or later Jacqueline will have to tell Michael the truth. Will she run as she has always done or will she face it?

Having watched both versions I´ve also written a review on the German one where its different approach is addressed.

Jackie Cooper was 19 when he made this picture, where he plays a character his same age, Tiny Barlow, no longer the glamour child star that ten years before won the audience´s hearts playing Skippy (a real Jackie Cooper success); not even the youngster who had a though rival in Melvyn Douglas for Deanna Durbin´s affections in That Certain Age (1938). He is now a grown-up boy capable still (or will it not be so?) to offer a good performance. When the story begins his character works as a soda barman and is mockingly referred to as "Glamour Boy" by one of the teenage players. He wants to come back to the movie business, but "in a big way". And he finally gets his chance, not in front of a camera but as a coach for child actor Billy Doran (Darryl Hickman), who at Tiny´s own suggestion is going to play a new version of Skippy. Billy is all but a simple child, yet both boys go on very well since their first meeting and so Tiny is in again. William Demarest as daddy Doran continuously clashes with his highly intellectual son, Walter Abel is the studio boss bound to intermittent lullaby singing, and Edith Meisner the efficient and sceptical secretary.

The problems start when Tiny meets the lovely aspiring actress and singer Joan Winslow (Susanna Foster), who will also get her chance as a result of the insubordination of the studio´s teen female star, Brenda Lee (Ann Gillis). As she and Tiny come to like each other, Abel orders them to stay apart, threatening to fire Tiny. Young Billy, wanting to help him, reacts plotting a scheme to make things turn to his wishes, and this is what the second half of the picture is about.

Susanna Foster, on the other side, was 16 when she made this picture and, same as her role, a promising new star possessing a wonderful voice with an astounding high range. She was being trained by Universal as a replacement for rebellious Miss Durbin, who precisely in 1941 was fighting against the studio to get more control on her pictures and would be on suspension for that reason (notice the coincidence). Little did they suspect that in real life Susanna would quit Hollywood even sooner that Deanna, that is, before she was 20 (Cooper, on the contrary, would successfully keep making pictures until old age). This was only her third picture and turns out to be one of the best. Because she is glamorously presented, sings several operatic and mostly melodic songs (starting with Sempre libera - another intended comparison with Miss Durbin ?) and is not second fiddle like she had been in the Great Victor Herbert and would be in several of her few future movies. This film also offers her a good story, a good cast and beautiful songs, and easy as it might seem all these ingredients were hardly seen together in her other pictures (only a dozen).

So we have a double interest : on one side, the story of a grown-up child actor conscious of his past glory, striving to come back to movie business and teaching a younger sosias to play his own former role, while trying to share the fortune and affections of the feminine new promise; and on the other, the double lecture with plenty of parallelisms to real situations of the time, with the chance to see what´s going on in the studio lot, including school lapses for young players (even if they´re already married), viewing the rushes, meeting colleagues (like Cecil B. DeMille) and seeing how scenes are being shot from both the players and the technician´s side. This double story greatly adds to the interest of a musical comedy entertaining enough for itself, and makes it one of the best pictures Susanna Foster ever made. One that decidedly deserves to be watched and better known.