The Thief of Bagdad (1924 and 1940)

In the first of these two diverging tellings of the Arabian Nights tales, Douglas Fairbanks stars as a beggar and master pickpocket in the Bagdad bazar who becomes completely awestruck at the sight of the princess (Julanne Johnston) and seeks to break into the castle at the same time she is visited by an evil Mongolian sultan and two other loutish princes all trying to win her hand. An Alexander Korda produced (and partially directed by Michael Powell) barely related follow-up sees a feckless King (John Justin) overthrown by his iniquitous right-hand Jafar (Conrad Viedt), finding his purpose in the princess (played by June Duprez also targeted by Jafar), and sharing the fate of an industrious street urchin (Sabu) who happens upon an insolent, all-powerful genie. Raoul Walsh’s 1924 treatment of The Thief of Bagdad is a rousing silent entertainment, boasting an exciting story, remarkable sets, and an engaging Fairbanks performance. The 1940 British update, released to a besieged wartime audience, is a fantastic family entertainment featuring state of the art Technicolor special effects that make you lament the current state of the magic-lacking movies. Sabu, Justin, Viegt and Ingram all leave an imprint.

1924 version: *** ½ out of ****

1940 version: *** ½ out of ****

The Last Laugh

The aging concierge of a luxurious Berlin hotel takes utter pride in his position. Soon, he is phased out by management and must face the personal humiliation and disdain from those around him. In a time when movies tell you everything a character is thinking and explain their every action, with The Last Laugh F.W. Murnau was able to convey a heartbreaking story without the use of sound and, aside from an introductory and epilogue card, no intertitles whatsoever. Emil Jannings' Doorman is an incredible creation and the film is filled with so many memorably framed sequences, including a knowingly anachronistic, not to say welcomed, jovial ending.

**** out of ****

Greed

A ruffian miner becomes a dentist's apprentice, moves to San Francisco, and eventually takes over his practice. There he weds a girl betrothed to his best friend, and all goes sour when a lottery ticket purchased at the time of her initial courtship comes back a winner. "Greed" is director Erich von Stroheim's passion project, an over 10 hour work from the 1902 novel McTeague by Frank Norris. After the film was (understandably) cut to about a fifth of its run time, much to the heartbreak of von Stroheim, the extracted footage was mostly lost. Now, in a restored version, we have the original two and a half hour release supplemented by stills and title cards explaining the gaps and leaving the film at a 4 plus hour running length. While the new additions are largely unnecessary, "Greed" remains a powerful and harrowing treatise on avarice. It features powerful central performances from Gibson Gowland and Zasu Pitts who offer scary character transformations as rapacity almost immediately dominates there lives. The concluding Death Valley showdown is one of the most stark and alarming sequences of any ending ever film. "Greed" is a powerful, dark, and incomplete masterpiece.

The Navigator

In a port in the Pacific, two countries are at war. One purchases the title ship and the other plots to cut its lines and set it adrift. Before they do so, a millionaire's son and the ship owner's daughter whom he had just been rejected by are stranded on the ship. Now the hapless couple are in for adventure on the high seas, and must learn to fend for themselves for the first time in their lives. Silent film legend Buster Keaton's The Navigator contains his usual stunts and gags, one involving a picture over a porthole being particularly funny. However, segments in the film seem to stretch out with very little payoff. This however is redeemed by a fantastic finale involving Buster in scuba gear scaring off cannibals who have abducted the girl, retreating to the boat with the girl treating him like a boat, and warding off the attacking natives with roman candles and coconuts. The climax elevates the entire movie and proves what a genius Buster Keaton was at physical comedy.

Sherlock, Jr.

A young projectionist sits in his booth reading a book detailing the craft of detective work, hoping to one day leave his current profession to become a private sleuth. After his shift, he buys some small gifts for his girlfriend. When he arrives at her house, he is soon framed by a rival suitor for stealing a necklace and is prohibited from seeing her again. Returning to his job dejected, he falls asleep during the feature and leaps onto the screen becoming the hero of the detective story in which his dream girl and his rival are players. Sherlock, Jr. showed the genius of the silent clown Buster Keaton where he jammed a narrative full of inspired comic gags into a 45 minute movie. His delightful gem of a movie inspired countless whimsical filmmakers, most clearly Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, and cemented Keaton's status as one of the most talented movie maker of the silent era, even if it is not fully realized today.

The Iron Horse

The Iron Horse is a silent western from 1924, and as difficult as those films can be to sit through, it is significant in that it is legendary director John Ford's first big cast, big budget film, and it is interesting in that you can see the foundations of his themes and methods alive on the screen in this early film. The film details the building of the American railroads, as one man sees his dream of cross country travel come to life. Leonard Maltin said that this is the movie that invented many of film's early cliches, and so it is awash in many hackneys to be. However, the black and white film is illuminous for its time and there is plenty to behold to make this a worthwhile cinematic endeavor, as well as an insight into a great director's early work.
***