Le Giornate del Cinema Muto - Pordenone Diary Day 4
This is a good thing because it was a long day of films and so far one of the most entertaining days completely entertaining days I’ve had. We started the day with the first two parts of a series or serial film starring Ellen Richter, Die Frau mit den Millionen (The Woman Worth Millions) 1923. In this film Ellen Richter plays an Armenian princess with a plot that is sometimes vague yet always fun. The film is an adventure/travellogue that was a delight from start to finish. Oh and on there were three parts to this film so it ran over three hours and time flew just as far as the many miles that were traveled for the locations. We were treated to views of Paris, Constantinople and Corfu among others. In support of the plot we had creative uses of vehicles be they a humble bullock cart or a giant open sedan that is transformed into a floating transport complete with jerry rigged paddle wheels. The cast was buried and lots of fun from the corrupt pasha to the compatriot who looked much like a fat Buddha/Fu Manchu. With so much stolen gold and gushing oil wells this film was a great deal of fun. We had part one accompanied by Mud Nelissen, the second part was accompanied by John Sweeney and the third part by Neil Brand. Each accompanist brought their own personality to their film, however, in the end it was all seamless and perfect for each part of the film as if a single marvelous score. This was rollicking good fun and confirmed for me that I am a firm fan of Ellen Richter she was marvelous. I am very much looking forward to the remaining films screening here they all look great.
Next we returned to Australian film star Rex “Snowy” Baker. The first of the two films screened was The Empire Builders which was set in South Africa. One had to overcome the racism that was present in the film. That part was very unpleasant and there was some nasty violence perpetrated against a native man that I found difficult to watch. The second film was more my speed. It was entitled The Sword of Valor from 1924. I wasn’t paying attention and not having read the online catalogue, I didn’t realize it was a US production. Commenting to friends after the film I mentioned how similar the terrain was to California and that’s when I learned it was shot in California silly me. This was for me the best of the three snowy Baker films that I’ve been screened. Other friends disagreed with me and thought this one was lacking. I enjoyed the plot and while I find Snowy Baker to be not a great actor he was a terrific action performer. He was also a bit long in the tooth for hs leading lady Dorthy Revier. This film also had the unintentional theme where gypsy showed up so there is that. The gypsy caravan consisted of a single tent and a Conestoga wagon, rather than a true gypsy caravan. All in all though I found this to be a fun film and I need to do some additional research because one of the cast members was listed as Fred Kavens and I can confirm he is the same Fred Cavens who taught Basil Rathbone and Errol Flynn, among others, how to fence. Rathbone who took to it and ended up being one of Hollywood’s best swordsmen on and off screen. Cavens also choreographed one of the best fencing sequences ever filmed, in my opinion, the duel between Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone in the 1940 The Mark of Zorro.Donald Sosin played the first film and was enjoyable, especially the exotic additions for the native music, naturally. Gunter Buchwald played for the second film which added to my enjoyment.
The final film of the evening was a Cecil B DeMille film that I had never seen, Fool’s Paradise (1921). What an absolutely fabulous and completely bonkers movie this is. The film starts near El Paso during an oil boom. The town is rough the clientele equally so at the local saloon which has a Dance Hall girl named Poll Pachouli Played by Dorothy Dalton. The saloon keeper is Rodriguez (Thedore Kosloff) a knife wielding tough who has the hots for Poll. The only man in town who is not making money is sensitive poet Arthur Phelps (Conrad Nagel) who is pining for a French dancer he fell in love with during the war. His days are brightened when he understands that his beloved Rosa (Mildred Harris) Will be coming to town to perform. Poll gives Arthur a exploding cigar as a joke. Just before the performance of his beloved Rosa, the cigar explodes in his face and causes him to lose his sight. He is of course embittered and blames Poll for the loss of his sight. She is now guilt ridden and pretends to be Rosa who cares for him as he recovers. He is of course blind to the fact that she is not Rosa and is blissfully happy that it is his ideal who gives up her career for him. Arthur continues to submit his poetry for publication and is refused constantly. Poll lies again and pretends his book is published to boost his self worth. They also marry, which just deepens the lies, yet both are happy in their fool’s paradise. She sees an advertisement for a doctor who has a miracle cure surgery for blindness. She battles with her self over whether to inform Arthur of the surgery which will then expose her fallacy that she is not Rosa and sacrifice her love or whether or not to not tell him of the surgery and continue this charade. In the end she decides the honorable thing to do is to help him have the surgery and risk losing his love. Which, of course, once he regains his sight he does exactly that. With his site regained, Arthur learns that the land he owns in El Paso is now worth millions because of a neighbors gushing oil well they just came in. He leaves town and files for divorce from Paul and goes off on a wild search for the real Rosa. This journey takes him to Siam where he finds Rosa as the object of affection for the local prince. She lives in the temple and is treated like a queen. She is also the object of jealousy for the prince’s first wife. It is here that Arthur finds her and he competes with the prince for her affection. She has no love for him, she only has love for herself. Her vanity enjoys his attentions, and she laughs at his sophomoric poetry dedicated to her. He, while he can see literally, he is blind to her faults and attempts to remove her from the prince’s orbit. They end up fighting over her and there is among many other things in this wild and wacky part of the movie an attempted sacrifice to the Gods by way of a sacrificial lamd to a pit of crocodiles. A thrilling rescue of the prince as he tries to fetch Rosa’s glove that was tossed into the crocodile pit and the big reveal once Arthur realizes he has been barking up the wrong tree when it comes to love. In the end, the prince and his wife are reunited once the prince realizes that Rosa is not worth the trouble. Rosa derives inspiration of a new dance based on the crocodile pit and her tossed glove. Arthur realizes that he loves Poll and is intent to return to Texas to find her and make good. Upon returning to Texas, he finds Paul in the saloon and a jealous Rodriguez. Paul is torn and not quite believing that Arthur has come back for her. When she acknowledges her love of Arthur and throws over Rodriguez, he throws a knife that lands right in her solar plexus. Near death, Arthur whisks her away. She recovers and there is a happy fade out.
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| Mildred Harris |
As you can see from my poor plot description a lot happens in this movie. I was not the only one to use the term bat shit crazy because that’s exactly what this is. Preachy and goody two shoes in the beginning did not set you up for what was going to happen for the second half of the film. It was like the first half was made by someone else and then Cecil came in and said let’s just go for it. I think this is now my favorite DeMille silent. It is just kooky fun and a wild ride. I also must say the performances were wonderful. Conrad Nagel was perfectly cast as Arthur who was not so much self pitying but a gentle soul in the beginning. The revelation was Dorothy Dalton who I previously only seen in Moran of the Lady Letty and she was absolutely marvelous. Very expressive, a very sensitive actress who did not over play and was quite moving as she wrestled with herself on what to do about whether or not to sacrifice her character's love to allow him to see. The other delight of course was Mildred Harris. She was very good and history is not played well or kindly with her regarding her lamentable marriage to Charlie Chaplin. She was wonderful as the vamp and self-centered dancer. Theodore Kosloff was marvelous as Rodriguez; I actually felt sorry for him. If you get a chance to see this movie, don’t miss it. This is a wild ride and loads of fun. This was also supported by and highlighted by the tremendous accompaniment of Gabriel Thibaudau and Frank Bockius. They played the hell out of this movie.
Food wise this was another fantastic day. Lunch was a variety of grilled seafood that was so simple and life-changing. Two US friends with lunch and we got to compare notes. Dinner was equally lovely especially because it was spent with two friends from the UK. Only one gelato but it was pistachio and it was fabulous.
This festival is very special and I am loving Pordenone and all it offers.
iPad formatting is still an issue so apologies
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