Children in peril, warring families and theatrical doppelgangers formed some of the running themes in this year’s Cinecon, the first to be held in person since 2019 and the first to use as its venue the recently transformed Hollywood Legion Theatre. What the venue lacked in proximity to the action of Hollywood Boulevard compared to the Egyptian (currently under renovation), it made up in quality. With record temperatures outside, I was especially grateful that lunch was available onsite, with the bonus that it could be eaten downstairs in a wonderful Art Deco bar and function room.
Cinecon 2022 - The Talkie Features
Mitzi Gaynor interviewed by Michael Feinstein. Source: Author's Photo
Anything Goes (1956)
If you’re a fan of the original 1934 play or its subsequent iterations, you’re out of luck as this is one of those exasperating musicals that tosses the old book in favour of a new, rather less interesting story. Bill (Bing Crosby) is a showbiz veteran on the wane, and Ted (Donald O’Connor) a hot up-and-comer. The odd couple are soon paired for a Broadway show and tasked with finding a leading lady. While on holiday in Europe, Bill locates lovely newcomer Patsy (Mitzi Gaynor), while Ted hires French songbird Gaby Duval (Zizi Jeanmaire, billed simply as 'Jeanmaire'). With shipboard romances blossoming among the four, how will the boys break it to the girls that only one will make it into the show?
It’s the kind of film where characters march obediently from plot point to plot point for the required number of romances and complications; likewise, the musical numbers feel included to give everyone their requisite moment in the spotlight rather than to move the plot along. Cole Porter’s classic tunes are joined by some undistinguished originals which at least give opportunity for a nice shipboard duet between Gaynor and O’Connor, and a virtuoso solo by the latter that takes place in the unpromising surroundings of a cruise ship's child daycare room. It’s overlong but entertaining enough, and Mitzi Gaynor dances like a dream - but given the talent of the cast, it’s a pity it’s no more than that.
Gaynor was in attendance, and my favourite of her candid and occasionally spicy reminiscences involved what Ethel Merman called the studio executives who repeatedly neglected to cast her in the film version of stage musicals she had made famous (clue: it wasn’t ‘cellophane’ …)
Source: Wikidata
Hit Parade of 1943 (1943)
Songwriter Jill (an early-career Susan Hayward) has the talent to rise above writing lowly ad jingles, and song publisher Rick (John Carroll) confirms it in the worst possible way: by stealing her latest ditty and selling it as his own. As they begin to form an unlikely songwriting partnership, Jill experiences a sudden ‘Change of Heart’ - the name of the guaranteed hit the pair write together - and Rick goes out of his way to prove he has learned his lesson.
Peppered about the slim but entertaining plot are some hotcha musical numbers by an unusually large number of black performers, including Count Basie, Dorothy Dandridge, and Pops and Louie, who provide a jaw-dropping dance number. We’re used to seeing such numbers kept short and easily excised for Southern audiences, but that’s not the case here, where black performers are part and parcel of the action. That being said, when Rick and Jill gain inspiration for their breakthrough hit ‘Harlem Sandman’ from a black servant, there is no question of acknowledging his contribution - ironic, given that the main theme of the story is misattribution.
As always, Eve Arden gets the snappiest lines, and Gail Patrick plays the imperious ‘other woman’. A thoroughly enjoyable hour-and-a-bit.
Star of '633 Squadron' George Chakiris. Source: Author's Photo
633 Squadron (1964)
Cliff Robertson stars as steely airman Wing Commander Grant in this British-American WWII drama about a daredevil air squadron. With the help of Norwegian resistance fighter Erik (George Chakiris), the airmen carry out a daring air raid designed to bury a Nazi fuel plant by destroying the cliff above it. After much stiff-upper-lip manliness and a token romance with Erik’s sister Hilde (Maria Perschy), the raid takes place under Grant's command. It is no doubt true to war, but the ending is somewhat unresolved and frustrating, leaving the fate of several major characters hanging.
It is no wonder that 633 Squadron found its greatest success in Britain, as it clearly harks back to wartime classics such as The Dam Busters (1955), as well as forming an obvious influence on Star Wars (1977). For those who like war movies, you will probably like this one, and it looks spectacular on the big screen. I enjoyed seeing John Mellion as the token larrikin Australian pilot.
The truly ageless George Chakiris was on hand to provide insights into his career, and was presented with a Cinecon Legacy Award by the indefatigable Ruta Lee.
My Lips Betray (1933)
Amateur café singer Lili (Lillian Harvey) becomes the toast of the quasi-Tyrolean nation of Ruthania after local villagers see her being given a lift in the King’s luxury sedan by his chauffeur (El Brendel), and conclude that she is the monarch's favourite songstress. In time, the dissatisfied and rather feckless King (John Boles) meets Lili himself and begins to think she’s a better match than the unseen princess to whom he has been betrothed. Does love ensure, and more importantly, do hijinks? Well, naturally.
With her febrile, almost manic physicality and European-cockney accent, it is not hard to see why Lillian Harvey never quite caught on in America, joining an unenviable list of pretenders to the Garbo throne. Still, this an interesting and amiable piece of Lubitsch-lite.
Source: Internet Movie Database
The Lady Escapes (1937)
Attorney Michael (Michael Whalen) becomes so frustrated with his flighty society bride Linda (Gloria Stuart) that he volunteers to help her find a new husband. The tabloid media erroneously reports that Linda's top prospect is a pretentious visiting French playwright, Rene (George Sanders). Michael follows the pair to Europe with Rene’s aggrieved fiancee Dolores (June Brewster) in tow. The four work hard at making one another jealous, but matters untangle in a series of comic confrontations that include a bout of kickboxing (yes, you read correctly - by George Sanders, no less!)
This very amusing screwball comedy races along at a fair clip, the leads - both sadly underrated - turning in performances that make you forget you’re watching a B-picture, and George Sanders reminding you why he ended up in A-pictures. A lot of fun, and a film that deserves to be more widely seen.
The Mad Game (1933)
With the end of Prohibition on the horizon, bootlegger Edward Carson (Spencer Tracy) is eager to get on the straight and narrow. His accomplice Chopper (J. Carrol Naish) instead suggests they double down and switch their interests to the ‘snatch racket’ - kidnapping wealthy people for ransom. Little does he know that Carson’s own life was ruined when his daughter was kidnapped and killed.
A sympathetic newspaperwoman, Jane (Claire Trevor), follows Carson through the jail system and out, as a heavily disguised informant who infiltrates the network of kidnappers through which Chopper has brought the authorities to their knees. When a crusading lawyer’s family falls victim to the ‘snatch racket’, it’s time to act, with results both heroic and tragic.
This Pre-Code is sometimes grotesque, always edgy, and often genuinely dark (in an alternate reality, we could easily imagine a fifty-year-old Lon Chaney in the main role). Trevor was reportedly unhappy with her part, but she does just fine with it, while Tracy is electrifying as the nuanced main character. His lengthy speech about the causes and treatment of crime - gun control forming a major component - drew loud applause.
Jimmy Hunt, star of 'Invaders From Mars', interviewed by Stan Taffel. Source: Author's photo.
Invaders from Mars (1953)
One night, keen young astronomer David (Jimmy Hunt) sees a mysterious lighted object bury itself in a nearby field. His scientist father (Leif Erickson) disappears the following morning, returning cold, cruel - and with a strange scar on the back of his neck. Before long, other local residents are dropping into the strange pit in the field and returning as virtual zombies. It’s up to David, astronomer Dr Kelston (Arthur Franz) and the kindly psychologist Dr Blake (Helena Carter) - along with a quickly summoned military force - to crack the mystery of the aliens' mind control and rescue David’s parents.
Much like Daddy (1923) elsewhere in the program, the success of Invaders from Mars derives from our identification with a vulnerable child faced with bewildering and uncontrollable circumstances. Director William Cameron Menzies amps up the psychological tension and relies mainly on implication to bring the scares; inevitably the aliens, when they are finally seen, are a tad disappointing. We were promised an alternate and more ambiguous ending than the one usually shown, but from what I could see, the differences must have been subtle. This new restoration from Scott MacQueen looks sterling on the big screen.
Star Jimmy Hunt was in attendance, and was presented a Cinecon Legacy Award by his co-star, Janine Perreau.
His Butler’s Sister (1943) Of all the great stars of the 1930s and 40s it might just be Deanna Durbin - for a time, the most highly paid actress in the world - whose work remains the least seen. What a shame that is, when Universal expertly crafted for her such delights as His Butler’s Sister (1943), one of the most likeable films of the festival.
On her way to New York to forge a singing career, Ann (Deanna Durbin) discovers her much older brother Martin (Pat O’Brien) is not a millionaire as she assumed, but merely a butler to famous music producer Charles Gerard (Franchot Tone). Learning of Gerard’s aversion to pushy up-and-comers, she gains a job as his maid and bides her time before her formidable talent is revealed, charming the fellow waitstaff in her building - and eventually, her boss - along the way.
Durbin sings and films beautifully, there’s some great character work from the likes of Akim Tamiroff and Sig Arno in the supporting roles, and a genuinely emotional finale - but would we expect anything less from Frank Borzage, the master of well-deployed sentiment? I do hope this becomes more widely seen.
Patty McCormack and her nephew, actor Fred Cerullo, at Cinecon's Opening Reception. Source: Author's photo.
Kathy O’ (1958)
Nobody seemed to know what to expect of this vehicle for child star Patty McCormack. Both the poster and the synopsis were vague, and we knew nothing more than that it was designed to establish Patty as more than just the ‘Bad Seed’. What we found was the most unexpected treat, and a contender for most enjoyable film of this year's Cinecon.
Facing a possible Christmas layoff, cynical film publicist Harry (Dan Duryea) is put in charge of the studio’s prime brat and biggest star, Kathy O’Rourke (Patty McCormack). To make matters worse, the journalist on her way to Hollywood to interview Kathy is Harry’s hard-nosed ex-wife Celeste (Jan Sterling), who is bound to do a hatchet job. Kathy is talked into behaving in order to preserve her wholesome image. It becomes apparent that such subterfuge is always the case with the studio’s most valuable property, with executives backed at each juncture by Kathy’s cold guardian, Aunt Harriet (Mary Jane Croft).
To the surprise of all, Kathy and the childless Celeste get on famously. Is it all an act, or is Kathy crying out for the attention of someone other than a director? It’s on Christmas Eve, when Kathy runs away and is discovered by Harry and his young family, that they realise the true extent of her loneliness and alienation.
This funny, moving and well-written film raises questions about fame, artifice, acting and the exploitation of child performers that remain relevant today. If that all sounds too dour, it's worth noting that it also got some of the biggest laughs of the festival. Dan Duryea is a treat in an atypical role, and there isn't a weak link in the cast. There are some interesting views of the Universal backlot, including the famous Courthouse Square (playing Kathy’s mansion) and ironically, a sense that this is ultimately a tale of the sun setting on the studio system, with publicists and minders losing control over the lives and images of their stars.
This is a real discovery which deserves to be as much a part of Christmas as It’s A Wonderful Life (1946). Perhaps we have an inept film publicist to blame for its disappearance (what kind of a tag is 'The Film That Likes People')?
Star Patty McCormick, recipient of a Cinecon Legacy Award, could not be more of a ‘good seed’ in person, and viewed both this and her most famous role with an admirable sense of detachment and good fun.
Island of Lost Men (1939)
Decapitation! Monkey assassination! Death-defying poker games! Yellowface! Scenery chewing! Yes, this is a film that has it all.
Gregory Prin (J. Carrol Naish) is the de facto king of a seedy trading post somewhere in the tropics, populated by a ragtag crew of fellow ne’er-do-wells whose ranks are thinned whenever he feels threatened. Into the mix comes nightclub singer Kim Ling (Anna May Wong), who is secretly on a mission to find her missing father, a high-ranking Chinese official, and a large quantity of stolen money. She is aided in this by her long-lost brother Chang Tai (Anthony Quinn - yes, I know, I know … ) After much intrigue, there’s a climactic chase up a river delta which sees Prin receive his just deserts.
Think of it as a kind of Red Dust on acid and you’ll have a perfectly good time. I managed to enjoy it without viewing it through a camp lens, as an offbeat and occasionally gruesome piece of exotica.
Scatterbrain (1940)
If you’ve seen a Judy Canova film, you’ll know the basic storyline - a singing yokel is plucked from obscurity and delivered to unlikely fame - but this is the one that started them all, the first picture of Judy's contract with Republic Pictures.
As a publicity stunt for their latest hillbilly epic, Perfection Pictures executives plant aspiring actress Esther (Isabel Jewell) on a farm in the Ozarks so she can be ‘discovered’ to play the lead. Instead, they accidentally sign Judy (Judy Canova), a real farm girl from the same ranch. Hatching various schemes to get the unrefined Judy to abandon her contract, they realise that in fact, the girl can sing, and how!
We hear a welcome sample of Canova's classically trained voice, sans hayseed affectations, and a supporting cast including Billy Gilbert, Luis Albertini and Eddie Foy Jr ham it up for all they’re worth. This is better than Puddin’ Head (1941) but not as good as Sleepytime Gal (1942), which is to say it’s just fine, so long as you don’t mind Judy’s bumpkin antics.
Cora Sue Collins introduces 'Youth on Trial'. Source: Author's Photo
Youth on Trial (1945)
The war has ended, and the youth of America are running wild. High schooler Cam (Cora Sue Collins), daughter of the severe Judge Julia Chandler (Mary Currier), abandons her steady beau for the forbidden allure of fellow student Tom (David Reed), hooligan son of a local nightclub owner. The school’s student council fails to curb Tom’s bad behaviour, and before she knows it, Cam has narrowly avoided a roadhouse raid, become implicated in a fatal shooting, and hit the road for an attempted elopement, forcing Judge Julia to reflect on how she might better control the scourge of juvenile delinquency, both via the courtroom and in her own home.
If you’ve seen a JD film before, you’d know what to expect from this rarity, which covers all of the expected bases in a slicker and more competent manner than most comparable Poverty Row productions. The real interest lays in seeing the teenage Cora Sue Collins in a leading role - as well as having Cora Sue herself on hand to provide an interesting introduction (it turns out at least one person in Hollywood liked Harry Cohn!)
Pirates of the Skies (1939)
Hot-headed pilot Nick (Kent Taylor) joins an unusual law enforcement body called the State Air Force Police, designed to fight crimes involving aircraft. Aside from encountering his estranged wife (Rochelle Hudson) in a diner for airmen, he attempts to prove his worth by cracking the case of a mysterious criminal gang which seems to disappear into thin air after every heist. Defying his superiors and his self-important rival Bill (Regis Toomey), he is soon on the trail of the gang, whose strange methods include carrier pigeons, secret audio recordings, a phony health farm - and, yes, a plane.
I was planning to skip this, but I was glad I didn’t as it proved to be a very snappy little programmer which satisfies despite some fairly oddball plot points. The hair-raising aeronautical acrobatics in the final reel are a particular highlight.
Source: IMdB.
Star for a Night (1936)
Cinecon usually shows at least one Claire Trevor movie (this year they showed two), but this might be the rarest of them all.
When their blind mother Martha (Jane Darwell) suddenly makes a visit to New York from the old country, her three grown children realise she will soon discover that her son Fritz (Dean Jagger) is not a successful auto mogul but a taxi driver, her eldest daughter Anna (Evelyn Venables) not a concert pianist but a song plugger in a music store, and her youngest, Nina (Claire Trevor), not the headliner in a Broadway show but a lowly chorus girl and understudy. So as not to disappoint her, they contrive to create an illusion of their success, which proves hardest in the case of Nina. Even Martha’s kindly doctor (J. Edward Bromberg) and Nina’s chorus girl friends gets in on the deception, until a change in Martha’s situation pushes the ruse to breaking point.
This warm-hearted family comedy is good clean fun from start to finish. Aside from the universally strong main cast, there’s an amusing cameo by Hattie McDaniel (with Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson as her beau, no less), Joyce Compton as a more sympathetic version of her usual dumb blonde, and a very cute Sonny Bupp, who would later play the young Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941).
Manhattan Moon (1935)
We ended Cinecon with the festival's second tale of theatrical lookalikes. Minor actress ‘Toots’ (Dorothy Page) works as a media decoy for the famous European singer Yvonne (also Dorothy Page), much to the disgust of Eddie, the taxi driver she hopes to marry (Regis Toomey again). When local nightclub maven Dan Moore (Richardo Cortez) conceives an infatuation with Yvonne, the impoverished British gadabout Reggie (Henry Mollison) arranges a meeting - with ‘Toots’, that is, posing as Yvonne. As the two women switch personas in an increasingly complicated deception, Dan cannot be sure just who he is falling in love with.
Perhaps it’s because the imaginatively staged musical numbers feature such forgettable tunes that Manhattan Moon has itself been forgotten - or perhaps because of the number of unfamiliar names in the cast, radio star Dorothy Page and British theatre actor Henry Mollison having both had Hollywood careers that were brief and unmemorable. Whatever the reason, it's a pity, as Manhattan Moon is a surprisingly interesting meditation on performance and identity. Virtually all of the characters discover the difficulty of truly knowing another person, especially when so many adopt personas to keep their own skeletons firmly in their closets.
Cinecon 2022 - The Silent Films
Source: Internet Movie Database.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
The underworld of late medieval Paris clashes with the aristocracy when gypsy girl Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) abandons her motley acquaintances in favour of the handsome but faithless soldier Phoebus (Norman Kerry). Salvation comes in the unlikely guise of Quasimodo (Lon Chaney), the physically grotesque but soft-hearted hunchback who works as a bellringer in Notre Dame Cathedral.
Most silent film fans have seen this epic warhorse, but none have seen it looking quite as good as it does here, in a new restoration from a first-generation 16mm show-at-home print that also boasts the original intertitles. These seemed quite different to the ones with which we’re familiar, in particular de-emphasising Quasimodo’s unrequited love for Esmeralda. The stunning settings are shown to their best advantage, and even under perhaps his most transformative make-up, Chaney is compelling as always.
Chaney superfan Jon Mirsalis provided the first of several spirited accompaniments we enjoyed throughout the festival.
Outlaws of Red River (1927)
Texas Marshall Tom (Tom Mix) is on the trail of Mary, the long-lost love who was kidnapped and her parents killed by the same outlaw gang that orphaned Tom himself (played as a child by Johnny Downs of Our Gang fame). By the time the two are reunited, the now-grown Mary (Marjorie Daw) has herself turned outlaw - but the truth about her gang, and the man who became her guardian, is more complicated than expected.
Featuring beautifully stark scenes of the California desert (bearing little resemblance to Texas, but no matter), heart-stopping feats of equestrian skill, a nicely low-key romance and Mix as his usual charismatic self, this recently rediscovered film is a treat for fans of silent Westerns, and it was shown in memory of the greatest of all - the late Bob Birchard. I’m sure he would have loved it.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Daddy (1923)
When his mother abandons his violinist father after harbouring misguided suspicions about his fidelity, little Jackie (Jackie Coogan) ends up in the custody of an impoverished elderly couple, the Holdens. In turn, the Holdens end up in the poorhouse, and Jackie hits the road in search of his long-lost father. His trusty violin leads him first to elderly music teacher Cesare (Cesare Gallo), and ultimately to Cesare’s best student, who has gone on to fame and fortune under a pseudonym, and owns a photo of an oddly familiar woman …
Daddy does not so much tug the heartstrings as pluck them like a banjo player - you know you’re being played, but that’s the price of admission for a Jackie Coogan picture; a traumatic world where fate whisks away caring adults with impunity, but delivers them just as capriciously in time for the final reel. What holds it all together is the endearingly natural Coogan himself. Jackie’s grandson Keith Coogan provided a sensitive introduction.
A Temperamental Wife (1919)
After a broken engagement caused by a flirtatious secretary, flighty Billie (Constance Talmadge) swears off men entirely - until she encounters handsome workaholic Senator Newton (Wyndham Standing). Her pledge to eliminate all females from his life hits a snag when she discovers that his faithful secretary ‘Smith’ is actually … a woman! What’s a girl to do but pretend to run away with a drunken French aristocrat (Armand Kaliz) in retaliation?
Talmadge comes perilously close to wearing out her welcome as her schemes and their justifications become more unreasonable, and though the film might have had something to say about the anxiety surrounding working women - remembering that their ranks included screenwriter Anita Loos - it never quite gets around to saying it. I ended up wishing to know more about the eminently competent and level-headed Smith (Eulalie Jenson), who holds down a job and two children - no mean feat in 1919.
Source: AllMovie.
Annie Laurie (1927)
In Scotland during the 19th century, the rather dandified Campbell clan are at war with the more rugged MacDonalds. Annie Laurie (Lillian Gish), a daughter of the Campbells, is horrified when her friend and kinswoman Enid (Patricia Avery) is kidnapped by the MacDonalds - even more so when Enid marries one of the enemy clan and shifts her allegiances. As tensions increase, Annie attempts to deny her own growing love for the dashing but unrefined Ian MacDonald (Norman Kerry). A truce collapses after a betrayal by the Campbells, and she is forced to pick a side to fight for.
The problem with this Lillian Gish vehicle is that it isn’t a Lillian Gish vehicle - it’s an opportunity for an oiled-up Norman Kerry (who, it must be stated, was Gish’s personal choice for leading man) to get his shirt off and establish his star credentials. Gish does her best with what she’s given - and in this case, she had little say, being preoccupied with her mother’s recent stroke - but it’s a role that feels as if it might have been successfully played by any actress of the period. Original reviews conceded as much, with Moving Picture World rightly stating ‘It is seldom that even her fine art enables her to dominate the story. This is a story of men, and she often has to yield to Norman Kerry … the story is such that the greater plot interest always lies to the Macdonald … she merely was the objective and not the protagonist of the story.’
I don’t buy the theory that MGM had set out to ruin Gish. Clearly, this was a prestige project with high production values, packed crowd scenes and a two-strip Technicolor sequence - but, like John Gilbert, Gish was becoming an expensive investment who was yielding diminishing returns. From a business perspective, MGM can perhaps be forgiven for attempting to forge a more accessible image for her. Though the movie is entertaining and well-made in its own right, their attempt on that count cannot be declared a success.
Changing Husbands (1924)
In this comedy-drama from the DeMille stable of talent, Gwynne (Leatrice Joy) is a bored housewife who lusts for a life on the stage, much to the disapproval of her staid husband (Victor Varconi). Meanwhile, the shy actress Ava (also Leatrice Joy) wants nothing more than a husband and home, much to the disappointment of her fun-loving fiancée (Raymond Griffith). Gwynne and Ava share a startling resemblance, and … if you think you can see where matters are headed, you’re probably correct.
It takes a while to tease out the central premise, and the notion of Gwynne eking out a glittering stage career seems to fall by the wayside, but Leatrice Joy impressively differentiates her dual roles without resort to costuming or affectations. Raymond Griffith adds an effortless comic physicality to his role that shows you exactly why he was soon helming his own comedies such as the classic Paths to Paradise (1925). William ‘Hopalong Cassidy’ Boyd makes a fleeting appearance, and ZaSu Pitts a lengthier one as Joy’s droll maid. Our Hospitality (1923)
In the festival’s second tale of feuding families, Buster Keaton plays Willie, the last scion of the colonial McKay clan. Travelling from New York via a peculiar early train to claim his ancestral home in the South, he is unaware that he is the subject of a bitter grudge with the rival Canfields - much less that the pretty girl he befriended en route (Natalie Talmadge) is herself a Canfield. For a time, the family’s dedication to Southern hospitality saves Willie's hide, but once he’s out the door he’s fair game for a riotous chase by the Canfield boys, with a truly spectacular conclusion.
I’ve been known to claim Our Hospitality as my favourite among Buster’s silent features. Those who don’t agree would at least have to acknowledge the astonishing advance it represents over Three Ages (1923), which Keaton had completed less than six months earlier; while its setting, its interest in the gadgetry of the past and the whole concept of a historical comedy-drama, makes it a worthy apprentice piece for The General (1926). I’ll go further and say that I like it slightly better. The General’s train collapse is a thrill, but nothing stirs an audience like Buster’s daring waterfall rescue. The version screened was the recent Lobster Films restoration, with an occasionally over-dramatic recorded orchestral score by Robert Israel.
Cinecon 2022 - The Shorts and Special Programs
Source: Author's Photo
The King of the Kongo (1929)
It is useless to attempt to summarise any serial, but suffice it to say that this one includes treasure hunters, gorillas (both real and fake), dinosaurs (most certainly fake - or at least, an Australian Thorny Devil matted in to the picture to look like a dinosaur); natives (of which nation? Nobody knows!), a good deal of ethnographic stock footage, and incidentally, lovely Diana (Jacqueline Logan) the daughter of a lost explorer who has disappeared into the wilds of … whichever exotic nation we’re in. Also in the mix is Special Agent Larry Trent (Walter Miller), in hot pursuit of the ivory smugglers, the jewels, and eventually Diana's heart.
Much of the interest in any early talkie lays in seeing who has or has not yet grasped the unique demands of sound film. It’s fair to say that Boris Karloff (as putative villain Scarface Macklin) has, Walter Miller hasn’t, and Jacqueline Logan comes somewhere in between. Much of the action is shot silent-style with intertitles, so the several missing sound discs are not greatly missed. In the sections where they are, the producers have done a decent job of filling in lost dialogue with modern substitutions, complete with ominous over-enunciation, stunned-mullet delivery and … even … those mysteriously placed … pauses. A lot of fun.
A signed photograph from Laurel and Hardy, which hangs on the walls of Hollywood Legion Post 43. Looks like Stan has something on his mind! Source: Author's photo.
Scram! (1932)
One of the most quintessentially Pre-Code of the Laurel and Hardy shorts, this finds the boys helping a hapless drunk return home, getting him in to the house, accidentally breaking in to the wrong house, and getting the wife of its straight-laced owner riotously drunk - mostly while wearing the world’s loudest silk pyjamas. Vivian Oakland is the MVP as the giggling wife who ‘just wanna dance!’
There Ain’t No Santa Claus (1926)
The always hilarious Charley Chase is in top form in this short which has him battling a tight-fisted landlord while trying to furnish a memorable holiday season for his family. There’s duelling Santas, mixed up gifts and a happy ending for all.
The Finishing Touch (1932)
Skeets Gallagher’s hysterical wife is off to Reno for a divorce. With no more use for his apartment, he rents it out to a group of riotous debauchees. Who ends up being arrested for the booze party but the wife’s patrician mother? The madness escalates at an expert pace, and you’d expect no less from the group of two-reel veterans who sought work at Universal after the world’s most ill-advised mass firings at Hal Roach Studios. I do hope we can see some more of these so-called ‘Roach Refugees’.
Sweet and Low (1947)
This formed an ideal entrée to Hit Parade of 1943, with a pair of musical stars attempting to woo a cantankerous composer (Griff Barnett), only to find that their winsome daughter (Karolyn Grimes of It’s A Wonderful Life fame) has already done it for them. The sparkling Technicolor and a jaw-dropping appearance from a young Sammy Davis Jr are worth the price of admission.
Accent on Girls (1935)
There isn’t much to this pleasant short featuring bandleader Ina Grey Hutton and her-all girl band, except to ask: how the heck did she manage to tap dance in that skin-tight dress?
Source: Author's Photo
Thunderbean Animation Program
There was a strong emphasis on animated shorts this year courtesy of Steve Stanchfield’s Thunderbean Animation, with several works-in-progress receiving screenings.
The most interesting were the two-strip Ub Iwerks Flip the Frog cartoon Fiddlesticks and a pair of previously missing 1938 shorts, Buzzy Boop at the Concert and Honest Hearts and True, both of which attempt to answer the question ‘What to do with Betty Boop after the coming of the Code?’ The former has the more entertaining answer, switching the spotlight to Betty's bratty niece, who turns a dull classical concert into a jazz-dancing extravaganza.
Kinecon at Cinecon
Early television has become one of my pandemic obsessions. This enjoyable package, based on the idea of a broadcast day from sunrise to sunset, offered a few curiosities including a ‘You Asked For It’ reunion of Our Gang, a spirited Ethel Merman performance encompassing ‘Anything Goes’ and a ‘Smile’ medley; a Red Skelton sketch featuring the world’s most unlikely vaudeville troupe (Skelton, Billy Gilbert, Jackie Coogan and … David Carradine???), and a wonderful full episode of the Jack Benny show that has Benny getting anxious over his show’s change in format and the increasingly absurd stunts of his unseen publicist. Tony Curtis and George Burns are among the guest stars.
A selection of both original and recreated props on display at the Hollywood Heritage Museum. Source: Author's photo.
I was very sorry to miss most of Rob Stone’s presentation on Vim Comedies, though glad to return in time to catch the entertaining Deviled Crabs; likewise other commitments kept me from the Hollywood Heritage presentations on ‘Soundies’ and film props, though I was able to see some of the exhibits from the latter.
Cinecon remains a delight for cinephiles, and a celebration of the unique and endangered art of watching a film as it was intended to be seen: before a large, loving audience. For most regular attendees, this was the first opportunity to meet in several years. For many it was even longer, and old friendships were renewed and new friendships forged. I was delighted to see old friends Mary Mallory, Hollywood Forever tour guide Karie Bible, all-round Hollywood man about town Jack Fields, Texas film collectors and connoisseurs Bruce Calvert and Jim Reid, and so many more. Long live moviegoing, and long may we fight for it!
For other perspectives on this year's Cinecon, I can recommend my friend Mary Mallory's rundown at LA Daily Mirror.