Among the most popular & acclaimed of late silent comediennes*, Colleen Moore should at the very least be remembered for ‘bobbing’ her hair to set the style as the epitome of a modern ‘flapper.’ The legendary look of Louise Brooks copied her. Unlike Brooks, Moore no great beauty, but with a witty demeanor, sensible ‘can-do’ spirt and devil-may-care attitude to carry all, including that unfortunate nose, before it. (She was also incredibly smart and later was a best-selling author of How-To books on business & finance for women.) Was she too ‘Roaring ‘Twenties’ to transition to Talkies? A couple of false starts in 1929 took her off the screen for four years, returning with the prestige flop THE POWER AND THE GLORY/'33, with its highly praised, if overrated, Preston Sturges script. Just three more pics and done at 35. This last an unlikely remake of the Nathaniel Hawthorne classic, made at Poverty Row’s Majestic Pictures. Ignore the bits of comic relief with Alan Hale and the film isn’t despicable, more than can be said of the infamous 1995 Demi Moore/Roland Joffé travesty. Robert G. Vignola directs stiffly (his career trajectory mirrored Moore’s), but he does get the story across. (Unwed ‘widow’ in Puritan New England hides the true father from public shame just as her long lost husband shows up in disguise to complicate things.) And it boasts a remarkably good physical production for a little outfit like Majestic. Moore quite good too.* The film, all but written off on release, now restored from UCLA and almost worth a look.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: *For Colleen Moore, her WWI romance LILAC TIME/28 with luscious, if barely known Gary Cooper. Excellent picture elements exist, but has anyone put them out? Only subfusc public domain dupes around. Wait for something better. For THE SCARLET LETTER, Victor Seastrom’s superb 1926 silent with Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson and Henry B. Walthall who repeats here as the long-missing husband.
ATTENTON MUST BE PAID: Note our poster boasts of 'A New and Surprising Colleen Moore.'
No comments:
Post a Comment