A Gentleman of Paris

Herrasmies Pariisissa. US 1927. D: Harry d’Abbadie d’Arrast. Story: dal racconto Bellamy the Magnificent di Roy Horniman; SC: Benjamin Glazer, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Chandler Sprague; DP: Harold Rosson; CAST: Adolphe Menjou (Marchese de Marignan), Shirley O’Hara (Jacqueline), Arlette Marchal (Yvonne Dufour), Ivy Harris (Henriette), Nicholas Soussanin (Joseph Talineau), Lawrence Grant (Generale Baron de Latour), William B. Davidson (Henri Dufour), Lorraine MacLean (ragazza del guardaroba); P: Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor per Paramount Famous Lasky; 35mm. 65’ From: LoC per concessione di Paramount. - Earphone commentary in Italian, grand piano: Antonio Coppola, viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 29 June 2009. - A print with several marks of nitrate decomposition in the source. - A brilliant sophisticated drama in the Ernst Lubitsch style, but in a somewhat darker mode. - The wealthy ladies' man, Marquis de Marignan, has one affair too many: with the wife of his endlessly resourceful servant Joseph Talineau. Joseph sets a trap for the famous gambler by putting to his sleeve a hidden card, which is later fatally exposed. - A fine sense of satire. - Unlike Lubitsch and Chaplin, d'Arrast portrays a world in which he belongs. - A fine sense of the visual: the scene where a woman hidden in de Marignan's apartment is revealed gradually via the leg, the hand, and the hair. - Menjou gives an account of the incident to Joseph via a pantomime, which is worthy of Chaplin.

The Milky Way

Aivotärähdys / Folkets jubel. US (c) 1936 Paramount. D: Leo McCarey. Starring Harold Lloyd (Burleigh Sullivan), Adolphe Menjou (Gabby Sloan), Helen Mack (Mae Sullivan), Dorothy Wilson (Polly Pringle), George Barbier (Wilbur Austin), Lionel Stander (Spider Schultz), Bonita (landlady). 92 min. A Harold Lloyd Entertainment print. Viewed at Cinema Orion, 10 March 2009. - A good, clean print but not brilliant [a victim of Paramount's negative-burning?]. - Revisited: most of this very good comedy, which I last saw last year on dvd. - This film may not have the same excellent reputation as the Harold Lloyd 1920s masterpieces, but it is a perfectly enjoyable comedy with so many delicious touches that the film is worth revisiting every now and then. A great difference to the 1920s films that the women are now more independent, and even more charming. Helen Mack portrays Harold's sister, and Dorothy Wilson his girlfriend, who distances herself from him when his personality changes as a result of his phony boxing success. - There are psychological depths in the Harold Lloyd comedies: big themes of self-esteem, self-image, illusion vs. reality, self-awareness, self-confidence. This film is rich with them.

The Front Page (1931)

072986 / G / US / 1931 / Milestone, Lewis / drama / comedy
Front Page, The / Etusivu uusiksi. PC: Caddo Company. P: Howard Hughes. D: Lewis Milestone. SC: Bartlett Cormack - based on the play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. CAST: Adolphe Menjou (Walter Burns), Pat O’Brien (Hildy Johnson), Mary Brian (Peggy Grant), Mae Clarke (Molly Malloy), Edward Everett Horton (Roy Bensinger), Slim Summerville (Irving Pincus). B&w Early Sound 1,2. 101’ /25 fps/ PAL = 105’ /24 fps/. This film was never released in Finnish cinemas nor on video. Yleisradio TV2 transmitted it in 1996 and again 11 January 1998. Transmission’s 16mm start material had awful definition and poor sound, and the early sound aperture was uglily cropped. Viewed in Helsinki on VHS, Monday 12 January 1998. *** Because of the miserable TV print it was impossible to enjoy the film. But it is evident that this is a superbly acted version of the tough, almost horrifying, Hecht / MacArthur play. This Pre-Code version is probably the toughest of the four films based on the play, and in many ways more daring than the 1940 remake His Girl Friday. It was not such a big step for Hawks to turn Hildy into a woman. Not that Pat O’Brien is at all feminine, but in this version, too, it is obvious that the true love story is between Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson.