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Thursday, August 9, 2018

THE SHOW (1927)

Released a few months before his better-known THE UNKNOWN (a supreme piece of absurd, ironic dismemberment horror), this fine Tod Browning silent has been overlooked. Big mistake! The high batting average for Late Silents holds on this grisly little tale, with John Gilbert, freed from his Great Lover roles, transformed into a despicable/irresistible barker for a carny show of fake freaks (Torso Woman; Underwater Woman; Spider Woman). He also gets in the act himself as John the Baptist, with a trick beheading to follow Salome’s dance. That’d be Renée Adorée, Gilbert’s BIG PARADE co-star, dancing on-stage as Salome, and pining away for Gilbert off-stage. He hardly notices, too busy wooing any young thing with cash to boost. But show owner Lionel Barrymore notices, and is jealous enough to try substituting a real sword in the beheading spectacle. And that’s after he’s robbed and murdered a sheep herder, the father of Gilbert’s latest inamorata! Gilbert, who looks good for the crime, hides in Adorée’s attic where he learns . . . well, too much to give away. This plotty nonsense is stunningly well executed, with masterly painted backdrops of cityscapes giving a touch of Grimm Fairy Tale atmosphere, and director Browning exceptionally lively, adventurous in pacing & clever angles. But the real revelation is Gilbert, reveling in his reformed bad guy role, swaggering away like some louche Liliom (Billy Bigelow in the musical CAROUSEL). Here, a modern audience can clearly see what all the fuss was about in his meteoric career. Beautiful print, too, and a fine new score for chamber orchestra by Darrell Raby. Great for Silent Cinema newbies who’ve yet to move beyond the great comedians.

DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned above, THE UNKNOWN/’27. OR: His career going downhill fast, Gilbert pleaded for a chance to play another cad, this one unreformed, in DOWNSTAIRS/’32.

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