We missed out on May, but there’s still time to get in June in under the wire. This month doesn’t feature a ton of films with big name stars. The Photoplay reviews do touch on some interesting subjects, though: animation, title cards and lavish premieres. There’s a bit to learn here from all that. I know I learned that a 1920 film premiere sounds pretty great. Let’s take a look at some films that turned 100 this month.
The Mollycoddle
(Director: Victor Fleming Starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Beery, Ruth Renick)
Survival Status: Extant
With this director and stars, The Mollycoddle is certainly one of the biggest films released this month. But first things first: what is a mollycoddle? I didn’t know either, but Merriam-Webster says it’s a dated term meaning “a pampered or effeminate man or boy.” Strange title aside, Photoplay was a big fan of the film, including some apparent animated effects.
“The Mollycoddle has those characteristic touches of comedy that always distinguish a Fairbanks picture–the hero’s experiences as a coal passer, his escape through a fish house . . . It boasts a bit of originality in introducing a Bray cartoon effect in the elucidation of the plot . . .It has the best landslide effect, coupled with the best rough and tumble scraps with Doug and Wallace Beery mixing it up ad lib, that our experience of the screen recalls. Discounting all the tricks of the camera, whatever that man Beery is paid he earns.
Let’s Be Fashionable
(Director: Lloyd Ingraham Starring: Douglas MacLean, Doris May, Wade Boteler)
Survival Status: Lost
This film, a Thomas H. Ince production for Paramount, is notable for what the review mentions. It specifically points out the quality of the intertitles, an under-appreciated aspect of silent film. Title cards, at their best, can make a comedy even better with some well placed jokes. The quality of them matters a lot.
“Luther Reed has made his funniest scenario from a story supplied by Mildred Considine. Reed’s subtitles are sure-fire; they scintillate. You’re with the newly-wedded Langdons from the first to last, thanks to him. Douglas McLean is again a younger and handsomer William Collier–only more so. Doris May in pajamas is the Month’s Best Optical Moment. Anyy crabbed critic who can sit through this without laughing right out, must be either blind of insensible. As the exhibitor’s report will say ‘you can’t go wrong–don’t miss it.'”
Below the Surface
(Director: Irvin Willat Starring: Hobard Bosworth, Grace Darmond, Lloyd Hughes)
Survival Status: On DVD!
Another Thomas Ince production, this got some lukewarm remarks from Photoplay. Their bone to pick is mostly with Lloyd Hughes, who was relatively early in his career. They weren’t quite right in that assumption–Hughes would go on to a long career spanning all the way through 1939.
“It starts out with all the force of that first Ince epic of the sea–this time showing a submarine-full of men enduring slow death and suffocation until Hobart Bosworth as the diver Martin Flint risks his life to save them . . . But Ince seems to have erred in judgement in selecting Lloyd Hughes for prospective stardom; Hughes strives valiantly, but registers insincerity and a weak chin.
Madonnas and Men
(Director: B.A. Rolfe Starring: Anders Randolf, Edmund Lowe, Gustav von Seyffertitz)
Survival Status: Unknown
There is not a ton that is notable about this film, except that Photoplay devotes a lot of copy to it. Well, they mostly devote that time to ruminating on how this is one of those film that relies on spectacle but no strong plot. The little description of the plot does not sound very coherent, but they spend a lot of time discussing the premiere.
“There are so many ‘big’ scenes shown on the screen these days that without a convincing story back of them they have little value . . . Everything that money could buy has been been brought to make ‘Madonnas and Men’ a sensation. Its private showing in New York, preliminary to its release, was perfect in its arrangements. A large theater was engaged, a numerous orchestra played the incidental score, there was a treadmill chariot race to intensify the atmospheric appeal, a reception committee to receive the invited guests, and embossed programs to acquaint them with the parties responsible for the production.”
Classic Film Haven 