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The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Behind the mask, the man with the thousand faces
Lon Chaney was "the Man with the thousand faces". Nevertheless, in this film, we have to wait for forty-five minutes before being able to see his made-up face. Before that, he wears a mask. But it was worth waiting. We have rarely seen such a hideous face. There is ugliness, wickedness, but also despair in this face. This hideous face shows the hideous but tortured soul inside. As we do not always see his face, Lon Chaney uses his hands a lot. These are very expressive and help very much in the story. What about the story? There is a curse which struck the Opera Garnier in Paris. A ghost rules it. This ghost had the diva Carlotta (Mary Fabian) replaced by a young singer: Christine Daaé (Mary Philbin). But since she has been promoted, Mary Daaé has troubles with the Phantom. She has to love him. But she cannot, she loves another man: Raoul de Chagny (Norman Kerry).
Once again, Lon Chaney plays a frustrated lover. Erik (the Phantom's name) - and later Alonzo in The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927) - loves but is not loved back. And when Christine takes off his mask, we understand why. (Her disgust is certainly not faked: in an effort to give us a true effect of Mary's surprise - and disgust -, she discovered his face at this very moment!) One has to say that this face is quite disturbing: it is said that a few spectators fainted when they saw his face. The use of color is also very important in this film. A few filters are used - like in other movies: blue for the night, yellow for the sun... - but here, the ball scene was entirely shot in real colors. And thanks to the work of the great Kevin Brownlow (his name be praised!), we can now see a very good copy of this film and enjoy ninety-four minutes of Lon Chaney: no more fog, nor blur, nor any sign of film deterioration. And the shadows... Sometimes, we could think we are in a 1920s German movie. At first, the Phantom himself (itself?) is a shadow in a dark setting. And this shadow is scary enough to make the dancers flee with fear. We do not know if he really exists. This is one of Lon Chaney's most significant roles. You cannot forget Erik, this evil angel, who is a sort of Mephisto's doppelganger in the Faust which is played in the Opera. Lon Chaney - just like in The Penalty - suffered a lot for this character: his nose bled and he used rubbers and small hooks to create this distorted face. But Chaney will be Chaney! Despite his appearance, Erik is not a ghost. He is very human: he is in love. A desperate lover. Everything in his attitude shows his despair. First, he thinks Christine loves him for what he has done to her. But then he discovers it is not true. She tells him she loves him - to save Raoul - but he realizes it is nothing but a lie. So he has nothing to lose anymore. And his final scene - the only possibility left for such an insane character - is full of despair. And his last laughter rings us a last bell: "Humour is the politeness of despair."
The Penalty (1920)
Leave from Satan's Book
A traffic accident. Young doctor Ferris (Charles Clary) operates on the young boy : both his legs need to be amputated. But it is a misdiagnosis. A youth misdiagnosis which can have fatal consequences...
Twenty-seven years later, in San Francisco, maybe the richest city in the States. Even the mobsters are rich. Blizzard (Lon Chaney) is their chief. Blizzard is a cripple: no feet, no knees... He walks thanks to clutches. But Blizzard is not only a mobster: he is a music lover. He is also a great piano player whose girlfriends play (voluntarily?) the pedals for him. His last pedal player: Rose (Ethel Grey Terry). But Rose is an undercover federal agent: she must discover his dark schemes. Because Blizzard cannot forget what happened to him as a child. He wants to take revenge, and get his legs back. And Rose falls really in love with him.
Her is a film which helped (unintentionally) the creation of the Motion Picture Production Code: - In the five first minutes of the film, we can see a violent death; - the killer (James "Jim" Mason) is a drug addict and a bit neurotic; - the main character is really a very bad man; - he uses violence against women; - policemen are killed; - there is a naked woman! So, everything is here to create a wonderful gangster movie, with - last but not least - Lon Chaney, "the Man with a thousand faces". But this time, Lon Chaney does not use any visible make up. He only uses - with great talent - his face. He can laugh and suddenly wear a sad or threatening face or vice versa. He has never had and will never have again such a threatening face. He really looks evil. He is evil. Chaney's other performance is his walk. He uses clutches or bare hands but walks on his knees (his legs tied behind). It is a very painful experience, especially when he has to jump down a stool or slide down a ramp, falling on his knees. This film is the first of a series in which Lon Chaney plays crippled characters - mostly with Tod Browning - using or not make up : The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Rupert Jullian, 1925); The black Bird (1926), The Road to Mandalay (1926), The black Bird (1927) and West of Zanzibar (1928), directed by Browning. The French title (Satan) is more relevant than the American title. the Devil is always present in the movie: -The chief of police talk about "a cripple from Hell"; - Blizzard calls himself "Satan"; - Blizzard is referred as the Beast (number 666?) in the inter-titles; - Blizzard is chosen as model by the doctor's daughter who wants to create a bust of Satan; - Blizzard rules the underworld (do I need to explain?).
But the end of the film is a bit naive: Blizzard is cured and becomes a good man. Society gives him another chance: he will marry Rose and use his great intelligence for Good rather than Bad. Unless Fate gets involved...
The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
Chinese torture
It all started very well: Boris Karloff, Myrna Loy and Lewis Stone on the same movie! We could start dreaming. Boris Karloff is Fu Manchu: doctor in philosophy, Right and Mathematics. Rather an intellectual. Rightful heir of Lon Chaney, he has a magnificent head for a villain. Because Fu Manchu is the villain. He spent most of his life seeking a golden mask (the one in the title) and a great sword which belonged to Genghis Khan. Therefore, he'll be able to raise an army and throw out of his country all invaders (mostly English people). Myrna Loy is Fah Lo See, Fu Manchu's daughter. She is a beautiful Asian with light eyes (???). Like her father, she is as cruel as she is beautiful. Fu Manchu is the prototype of the Asian villain as we could imagine it in those days: slanted eyes, peaked eyebrows, with a long thin drooping mustache, long sharp nails, and wearing a magnificent shiny outfit. Last of those stereotypes: Fu Manchu has a sharp sadistic brain which aims to a certain refinement in cruelty. A distinguished villain: in his manners as in his cruelty. Opposite Fu Manchu, stands Lewis Stone as Naylan Smith of the British Secret Services. He is brave, dynamic and very strong. With him, we can see Sheila Barton (Karen Morley) and her fiancé Terry Granville (Charles Starrett), two other strong characters with strong minds (especially Sheila).
It all starts with an exceptional expedition, just as in Lost World (Harry O. Hoyt, 1925), in which we could also see Lewis Stone. Here ends the comparison. The MGM had to produce horror and monster movies. But after Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932) which was a great flop, they asked Charles Brabin to try something else. Unfortunately, it did not work very well. Even if Boris Karloff is a great Fu Manchu, we expected something else, something better. There is something missing in this film which made Frankenstein and Dracula smashing hits. Maybe a certain unity in the story. There is one and only Tod Browning, or James Whale. So Charles Brabin sinks in the story like in a swamp, mixing elements with no great success: Fu Manchu, a great distinguished mind, is surrounded by a bunch of fanatics which seem to have escaped from Arabian Nights! Therefore, it is difficult for us to believe in this story. The settings too, reinforce the fact that it is not likely: we can see very classicist Oriental furniture and very modern rooms (as they thought them in 1932), with no teal link (Fu Manchu is not Dr No!). Moreover, the actors - especially Charles Starrett and Karen Morlay - do not always act very well. What a pity: the original idea of this story was good. And we can see great Chinese torture worth the shot : the bell, the crocodile scale, and the silver fingers are quite amazing. Spectators in 1932 have certainly been pleased with such scenes! But such tortures will not last when the Hays Code arrives. And these tortures cannot help with the story. Fu Manchu is a fantastic character, very well achieved (and his daughter too). But a good villain only does not make a great film. This villain needs a strong hero against him. Here, the heroes are too weak to stand a chance. Another reason why the movie is not as great as it should be: it "only" lasts sixty-eight minutes. It is too short for such a story. Too bad.
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
So, they call me "Concentration Camp Ehrhardt"?
Warsaw, august 1939. The theater company led by the GREAT Jozef Tura (Jack Benny) is rehearsing a new play: Gestapo, a mockery of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. And in the evening, they perform Hamlet, where the same Tura tries to be the young Danish prince. Every time he starts his famous soliloquy, Stanislav Sobinsky (Robert Stack), a young aviator walks out... To meet Maria Tura (Carole Lombard), his wife ! Meanwhile, the war breaks out, and the company has to kill a traitor. Once the man is dead, someone has to take his place to meet the Gestapo chief, Erhardt (Sig Ruman). Guess who will take his place? Yes, the grrrreat Tura himself! Then, we have a series of quid pro quo and fool's games, while the Nazis organize their deadly activities.
Can we laugh at everything? Lubitsch confirms that we can. And it was a very difficult thing to do at that time : when the movie is presented in February 1942, it's been three months since the Americans declared war to Japan and Germany. The story of the film was very close and up to date for the spectators. Hitler had become a real enemy for the actors in the film, and the spectators of the movie halls. At that time, Hollywood had started to make films about the war in Europe. When the film was shot, Pearl Harbour had not yet been attacked. The public opinion had to be ready to enter the war with England against Germany. But other films had been presented to the American audiences: Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) or The long Voyage home (John Ford, 1940), for example. Here, the two facts contributed to its success: the up-to-date context and the tragic death of Carole Lombard... In a plane crash: "what can happen in a plane?" was her last words in the movie before they were taken off. Therefore, To be or not to be has become instantly a very strong propaganda film with its topic and its message: "the Resistance will remain and hold on against the Nazis". But this is Lubitsch, so everything seems very light: very little blood is spilled, a few realistic elements, and a very large amount of comedy. Even in the most tense moments, a little something can evacuate it and bring us laughter. The situation comedy is the basis of the movie. The situation gets weirder and weirder, the characters are less and less at ease as the film goes on. We start with a little cheating between husband and wife (which is not very important): a comedian meets a young man while her husband performs Hamlet's soliloquy, a fake "secret" code ("to be or not to be"), and we end up with the intervention of Hitler himself! Moreover, the Nazis are very ridiculous, and above all Erhardt and Schultz (Henry Victor), his subordinate! The actors chosen to play in this film are very relevant. They create this comical mood which enlightens the film, and especially Jack Benny. Tura is a poor actor and a jealous husband, but nevertheless, he manages to perform the role of his life while defending his country. Carole Lombard is a wonderful actress, but here, Benny is stupendous. He is the main character of the film. Last reason why this film is great and very funny, the quotes: "What he did to Shakespeare we are doing now to Poland." (Erhardt) "So they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt?" (Jozef Tura, then Erhardt) "What a husband doesn't know won't hurt his wife." (Anna) "Shall we drink to a blitzkrieg? - I prefer a slow encirclement." (Professor Silesky & Maria Tura) And, of course: "to be, or not to be"!
Der letzte Mann (1924)
Rise and fall
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's wonderful direction. Karl Freund's living camera. Walter Röhrig's half-expressionist settings. And Emil Janning's performance. Everything which makes this film unforgettable. This is one of the greatest films of the silent cinema. Pure cinema: only images, no inter-titles. Well, just two: to warn us at the beginning; to explain that the end was so depressing that they had to shoot another one. This is what we call a universal film.
It is also a very simple story: a hotel doorman sinks and becomes a bathroom attendant.
What makes this film great is the way this story is told. We follow each level of the old man's downfall. This small and common story becomes a great classical tragedy. This man with his shiny costume is no ordinary doorman: he commands the army of the people receiving the customers in the hotel with his whistle. He is not a doorman, he is the Marshall Hindenburg! But Time gets a grip on him. He is now a weak old man. He cannot carry suitcases like before. He is "degraded". He cannot wear his uniform anymore: it will rot in a cupboard. Now, he will look after the hotel bathroom, in the basement. Everyone in the hotel is above him: professionally and physically. He now has the lowest job in the hotel. Moreover, he sometimes has to crawl on the floor to clean it. Now that he works in the basement, we can say that his job has become an inferno. But one has to save the face: nobody must know what happened to him. Before coming home, he brings his old costume and wears it in front of his daughter and the neighbors. Unfortunately, his secret is revealed and everyone mocks him. Even his daughter. He cannot come back home. So he stays in his bathroom, alone, forgotten. Maybe waiting for death. This is the first ending. But as I said previously, the producers thought it was a bit too pessimistic (or was it too realistic?). So they shot another one.
I cannot believe in this second ending.
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
After the bridge...
Unforgettable The magnificent Murnau. In my opinion, his most impressive film. There is a threat flying upon us all through the movie. And the special effects increase this threat: the coffin closes itself and moves without any help, door which opens or closes without any human intervention... And of course, all these shadows and lights which are Murnau's touch, and a constant touch in the German cinema at this time. This is Dracula. And even better than Dracula: Orlock (Max Schreck). Terrifying Orlock, frightening Orlock, captivating Orlock. A shadow became flesh and blood. With two incisors (in the later Dracula movies, his canine teeth will replace them) which help him suck his victims' blood. Nosferatu, it is above all a strange mood, a worrying atmosphere: thanks to its characters and settings.
The first important location is Wisborg, a port city, where a plague has spread since the arrival of a phantom ship. In this boat, a few coffins containing Orlock's body and his native soil, and also a few contaminated rats. The second important place is Orlock's castle, with its crypt where he can rest during the day. This is where everything starts. This is where Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) is kept prisoner after his blood had been sucked. He will escape this castle, but it will be a rough time for him. In Wisborg, Orlock lives in a huge windy house without any windows. But he does not care. He needed a house in front of Hutter's which could allow him to spy on his wife, the one with such a beautiful neck... The last important - and probably most impressive - location is Hutter's house: its stairs, its bare wall, and the room where the fatal vampire attack takes place.
Hutter - Harker in Bram Stoker's novel - sells a house to a strange man: count Orlock. He is the vampire's first victim (in the film). He has a wife, Ellen (Greta Schröder) - Mina -, a beautiful woman with black hair. His boss, Knock (Alexander Granach) - Renfield - has sealed a deal with Orlock, which made him his servant. Ellen, the vampire's new victim, risks the eternal damnation, but is eventually saved. But to what cost? And Orlock. The central character. He drives the cart which brings Hutter to his castle. We can only see his great and staring eyes. Hutter is worried also by his appearance: tall, bald, with pointed ears, thick eyebrows and very long nails, also dressed in black. He does not make big gestures: only his natural pose scares us. He is the personification of terror: - when he appears on the deck of the boat, film in a low angle, giving the impression of someone (something?) bigger, and even more frightening ; - when he walks up the stairs towards Ellen's room, his black shadow on the bare wall increases once more the terror. Therefore, when he is hit by the sun rays, everyone feels relieved.
I could talk to you about the premonition of such a movie: the brown plague which spread over Germany a few years later. But I will not. Let us appreciate this movie and consider it as it is: simply a masterpiece. No other vampire movie reached such a splendor. Except maybe Vampyr, by Carl Theodor Dreyer. But this is another story.
City Lights (1931)
The silent film testament
This is certainly one of the most sensual films of all time. Chaplin turned in it a festival of senses. - Smell: no real reference, but something puzzles me when the elephant crosses the screen (and the street). - Taste: this is a film where they eat a lot. They eat spaghetti in the restaurant; they eat at the rich man's house; the tramp eats his lunch; and of course, he brings food to the girl. - Hearing: she hears him passing by, although he tries to be silent. Then she (thinks she) hears him leave in the car. When the statue is revealed, people are talking in a microphone. But we do not understand a thing. Only the tone of the voices are recognizable: a low tone for the man, a high-pitched tone for the woman. This was also the occasion to make fun of the talkies, Chaplin remaining a silent movie director. Nevertheless, Chaplin uses sounds to increase his comical effects: when he swallows spaghetti, or blows against his will the whistle, the boxing gong... - Touch: this is the sense of communication for the girl. This is how she knows who she is talking to. This is also by touching him that she realizes that he is the man who looked after her. The first time she meets him, she touches his jacket put a flower in his buttonhole. This is also the same thing she does when they finally meet. She wants to give him a flower and money, but he refuses. By touching, one last time, his jacket, she recognizes him, and is filled with emotion (who would not be?). - Sight: the most important sense, of course. First, we watch. And what do we watch? A blind girl. She has an empty look when we meet her. When he talks to her, he cannot help miming his words. Of course, it is for us spectators that he makes all these gestures. But he is also very enthusiastic when he talks, so he has to mime everything he says. And when he leaves her, he cannot help spying on her through the window, standing on a barrel. Finally, their last look at each other is one of the most moving I have ever seen. She is sad (is she disappointed?), he seems half-sad/half-annoyed by this situation.
Anyway, this film is also a great love story (like in most Chaplin movies). This little man will do whatever he can for the girl he loves. He will even steal - and go to prison - for her. But this is an impossible love. They will not end together. Indeed, when they finally meet, her first reaction to this tramp is mockery. She laughs at him with the other girls. She even offers him money. You cannot love someone you pity. The other reason this ending is quite sad is the role of the flower. This nice flower suddenly dies in his hands. As he realizes she has changed, the petals are falling. This flower, symbolizing their relation (a link between past and present), is no more. He is not what she expected. They do not belong to the same world.
Last, their final discussion (which we do not hear): "You can see now. - Yes, I can see now." There is definitely a double meaning in these words. No luck for him. Unfortunately.
Scaramouche (1923)
Sparkling looks
A year after The Prisoner of Zenda, Rex Ingram shoots another film with more or less the same team. This time, it takes place during the French Revolution. So we can se Alice Terry (Mrs Ingram), Lewis Stone and Ramon Novarro. But when you look closely, you can recognize Edward Snitz, John George, Edward Conelly... Scaramouche is the film where the story and the History collide. The story is the one of André Louis Moreau (Ramon Novarro), an orphan whose friend, a fighter for freedom, is killed in duel by the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr (Lewis Stone). Moreau is also in love with Aline de Kercadiou (Alice Terry), the niece of the man who raised him. The History is the one of France. But it is rewritten by Hollywood. So, when you are French, you do not recognize your History. Before, there was Griffith's French Revolution (Orphans of the Storm, 1921), now there is Ingram's. This time, Robespierre is not a communist, but we can see a very ugly Danton (George Siegman), with his "pock-marked" face. There is also a very peculiar Parisian crowd: savage, shouting, bloodthirsty and greedy for aristocratic heads to fall. There are also the historic characters: Louis XVI, his wife Marie-Antoinette (and their children), Danton and Marat (Roy Coulson), and a young officer who watches silently, Napoleon (Slavko Vorkapich). Fortunately, we are interested in the story. Ramon Novarro is young, bold and handsome; Alice Terry is beautiful and cries easily; Lewis Stone is, as usual, very straight-up, and also a sort of villain, for he kills Moreau's friend. Once more, we have a fencing dual, but this time, it is better than in Zenda. But what strikes the spectator are the glittering eyes. In the first sequence, a dead man is brought back home. He was killed by the tyranny. We see his wife crying, the tears glittering in her eyes. Later, Moreau's eyes will glitter, when his friend is killed by de la Tour. IN every great moment of the film, we have these glittering eyes.
Time and space have a very strange aspect in this film. Indeed, when you know France, you do not understand everything. It seems that the likelihood has been put aside. The events happen in three locations: Gavrillac (a village in Brittany), Rennes and Paris. Gavrillac is the place where Moreau and Alice grow up . Rennes is where Moreau speaks about Freedom. This is also where he meets Marat, another famous actor of the Revolution (who does not look like him at all, except the cloth he wears on his head). Paris is where everything really happens, where everyone meets. This is where the Assembly is meeting; where the play Figaro-Scaramouche (written by Moreau) is performed; where Aline, de la Tour and Moreau finally meet. Unfortunately, if we recognize very well each location, there is a big problem of space: in 1789, you cannot ride from Rennes to Paris in one day! Nevertheless, the characters of the film can be on Sunday in Gavrillac or Rennes and on Monday in Paris! As for the Time of the film, I would prefer not to talk about it. One date is right: August the 12th, 1792. When the people of Paris invades the Tuileries Palace, creating in the same time a real bloodbath.
Despite all this, this Scaramouche movie has much charm. The fencing duel may be shorter than in George Sidney's movie (Scaramouche, 1952), it is nevertheless a great moment. The final revelation is quite amazing, and the actors were really well chosen. And, despite the fact that Moreau (and the script) is naive, we feel quite happy for him at the end.
Haunted Spooks (1920)
"go down the Mississippi River several miles then turn right"
When you "go down the Mississippi River several miles then turn right", you find a superb mansion, with all its black servants - including a young child (Ernest Morrison). The girl (Mildred Davis) has inherited. But there's still one small problem: she has to marry someone if she wants to live in it. There is another slight problem: her uncle who lives in this house and does not want to go away. He would rather keep it for himself. Far away from this mansion, another young girl is being courted by two young men. Both of them will fight to get the girl! Once this matter is settled, the winning young man (Harold Lloyd) is about to propose her. But it happens that she loves another man. Meanwhile the young girl's (Mildred) advocate, seeking a husband for her, meets the young man and takes him to her, before he tries (again) to commit suicide. So, they get married and move to their new Southern home. But when other stories end at this point, this one starts: the uncle does not want to leave and arranges to make them think that the house is haunted...
Here again, every situation is exploited to make us laugh: the boys fighting, the trip South in a car, and, of course, the ghost hunt. The film is funny from the very beginning. The opening credits, apart from describing who made the film and who played in it, describe briefly but with humour the situations and characters: the girl, the boy, the uncle (no names); the location (first sentence of this article); and the time ("too late for snowballs - too early for June roses"). The inter-titles keep the same humorous spirit: each quote is accompanied by a cartoon which increases the comical effect. When the advocate introduces the young man we can read: "I've brought you a husband, a minister, a ring and a cook book. Each element of the sentence is drawn from very small (husband) to very large (cook book). But we have to wait for the second half of the movie to understand why the film is called Haunted Spooks. In the first part, the central story is the one of Harold, who, saddened by his unhappy love affair, tries several times to commit suicide (fortunately, he fails in every attempt): - blowing his head; - being run down by a streetcar; - jumping in the water with a stone tied to his collar; - drown himself; - being run down by a car.
And then we have what we expected: a funny ghost chase with the more than well-known shot of Harold Lloyd, extremely scared by a ghost with his spiky hair standing up on his head!
This was the fourth film where Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis played together. Three years later, they will get married, again. But this time, it was for real.
The Cameraman (1928)
The swan song
In New York, Buster (Keaton) is a public photographer. You can get your picture taken for ten cents. While he is taking a picture, a big parade takes place: many people gather and among them, Sally (Marceline Day) a young woman who works for the News department at the MGM. The crowd is so big that he is pressed against her, smelling her perfume... After the crowd disappears, he offers to take her picture. She agrees but has to go leaving him with her photograph. When he visits her at work, he decides to be a cameraman... Then he will be able to see her anytime! But you do not become a cameraman just like that: you have to learn how to do it. First, it is an expensive job: he has to buy a camera. Even if he gets the cheapest one, he has not got any money left. Then you have to move the handle the right way: this gives a sequence where you can images moving forwards and backwards, an overprinted ship in a street, and a sequence where the picture is multiplied. A very surrealistic movie which does not please the MGM News director. But Sally still encourages him to go on. She even accepts a date with him. But things do not work as expected. Still, she gives him a last chance : go and film the Chinese New Year. You can guess how it will end...
This film is Keaton's penultimate movie. The talkies are coming: The Jazz Singer was released by the Warner Bros Company. This is Keaton's swan song. There is much melancholy, and even sadness in this story. Everything falls apart. Anything he tries is a failure. Even when he wants to end it all and go back to tintypes (he sends his last film to the studio) : instead of being mocked, he is hired! Nevertheless, this film contains great scenes: the stairs, the swimming-pool, the Tong war... Moreover, Keaton teaches us a great reporting lesson: he show us how things work behind the scene. He even rearranges the fights during the Tong war (nobody does that...), but still close to the fighters, risking his own life! As I said earlier, it is his swan song. Kea ton will be less and less important in the film industry. And the last sequence has something prophetic in it: the film ends where it started, with a big parade which he thinks has been organized for him! But this was the day Lindbergh was celebrated after he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. His next movie will be Spite Marriage. Sadness and melancholy will be stronger. Meanwhile, let us enjoy this movie as it is: a very fine comedy, one of Keaton's best.
So, enjoy!
The Crowd (1928)
Someday, my time will com
John (James Murray) and Mary (Eleanor Boardman - Mrs Vidor) are two, faces in the crowd. They meet, they get married, they have children. A common story. But in the cinema, nothing is common.
We are more interested in John. He is a good little boy full of promises. He will become someone important. Unless
Unless his father dies, which happens when he is 12. Now we switch the figures. John is 21. He lands in New York convinced he is different and will tame this city. Meanwhile, he works as an accountant in an insurance company. But he studies at night, to become – still – someone important. One evening, his friend Bert (Bert Roach) invites him to Coney Island with two girls. At first, he refuses but in the end, he accepts. There, he meets Mary. They kiss in the Tunnel of Love. They are soon to get married. Despite Bert's pessimism, their marriage lasts. They have two kids. One day, John has a brilliant idea for an advertisement. He gets 500 dollars. He calls his children to celebrate this great moment. This is when Fate intervenes: their little girl gets run over by a car. Misfortunes will multiply, and John will have to fight the Crowd of those who did not want to be different.
This film by King Vidor is not what we call a joyful film. It is very different from what the MG was offering to the movie audiences. Showing normal people was not a very good marketing product. It was not well accepted to show ordinary people and a sad ending. Therefore, Vidor held on and this ending is one of the nine endings which were shot. This is the least sad ending (the least bad ending?): John does not reach his goal. He will never be someone important. Just a face in the crowd, among many (many, many
) others. This is why the film is very interesting. We can see a quick romance. Quick, because the whole society demands it. everything goes fast: cars, trains and people going to work. Therefore, people have very little time for themselves, or to build something. The crowd is a huge wave which overwhelms everything. The peak hours are a moment which show this very well. When the clock strikes the end of the day's work, you can see crowds of people rushing to the elevators or the undergrounds alone or as couples. But John just want one thing: being different. He feels superior to the others. He thinks he has a mission, a great purpose. And this feeling starts irritating the others. He even mocks the poor guys who have to juggle to make (a bit of) a living, advertising for a restaurant. But would he have mock them if he had known that one day, he would have to do the same thing? As soon as John enters New York, things are different. Vidor picks up a building, the camera travels from bottom to the top, stops in front of a window, and then enters: desks, desks, desks... Hundreds of them! So he goes on, forward, to one desk: John Sim, 137. And he takes this man - a face in this desk crowd - and brings him to the light. We are going to learn everything which makes him a man: his life, his dreams, his wife, his kids, his (step) family... And his misfortunes! (Vidor will recall the emotion of the little girl's death in another movie - Hallelujah - when another child dies) Even if this child brings him his misfortune, the other brings him anew hope: he is completely desperate, on the brink of suicide when he realizes that his other child LOVES him. His son wishes to become like him! This was what he needed. Now we know he will get better and better. But to get better, he will have to accept to be just a member of the society like anyone else, and therefore be just a face in the crowd. And he accepts it. The story is over. The camera goes backwards revealing us the crowd of people around him, again and again, till he disappears in this overwhelming crowd. Vidor has put him back where he originally belonged.