Captain Salvation (1927)

A touching, spiritual little picture about Anson Campbell, a young man (Lars Hanson) studying to be a parson, and how no good deed - in this case, a helping hand towards a fallen woman (played with great fervour by Pauline Starke) - goes unpunished.  Anson suffers through many Christlike trials while trying to protect Bess Morgan (Starke) and still hold onto the love of his sweetheart Mary Phillips (the lovely Marceline Day).  Hanson does an admirable job; his turn as a crazed man in the second half of the film is terrific.   Wonderful supporting cast including Ernest Torrence and Flora Finch.  A little heavy-handed in the morality department (as you might expect), but still an all-round good picture that you wind up carrying with you for a while after it ends. 

I give this one: 

An Open Letter to Mr Chase

I really should write something
about your unsung talent,
how you deserve to be elevated
alongside the Big Three
but instead, my heart breaks
when I read of yet another funny man
tortured
tormented
a victim to his demons.

Charles, there was nothing you could do.
Jimmy would have told you the same.

Charley Chase

Silent Gems Found! (reposted from Silent Stanzas)

Clara can hardly contain her excitement!

Yet another treasure trove of silent films has been discovered!  This group of seventy-five(!) comes from New Zealand, and includes Clara's early film "Maytime" as well as work by John Ford, Mabel Normand, and others! 
Click the below link to get the full story.  This is such an exciting time to be a silent film fan!

Silent Films Found - The San Francisco Silent Film Festival Blog

More reviews coming soon, I promise.  Things have been hectic in the Avalon abode!

Silent Gems Found!

Clara can hardly contain her excitement!

Yet another treasure trove of silent films has been discovered!  This group of seventy-five(!) comes from New Zealand, and includes Clara's early film "Maytime" as well as work by John Ford, Mabel Normand, and others! 
Click the below link to get the full story.  This is such an exciting time to be a silent film fan!

Silent Films Found - The San Francisco Silent Film Festival Blog

Paws to Remember

With apologies to ee cummings.


staccato little steps
tick
tick
ticked their way on set
(and sennett was surprised but
liked the little grey cat)
chaplin chucked her

chin

and there were tricks with turpin

but with marie, oh beautiful marie...
(i can only assume that

much purring was heard)

teddy was pretty swell, too - not a bad costar

even though he
was a

dog

Pepper, the First Feline Movie Star

Our Lady of New Amsterdam

Her face was the fever dream

of the elite, her half-nude body

blindingly arousing. The dance
an exercise in lust and mystery,
the businessmen instantly in love
with her eyes and their knowing shine.

Her fingers dripped with the shine
of diamonds – life was a dream!
First, New York fell in love
on that rooftop; bless that nubile body,
her ticket to Hollywood. It wasn’t a mystery –
all you had to do was frolic, give a private dance.

In no time her image danced
across the silver screen, the shine

of stardom her halo – the mysteries

of sex only a secret dream

to the Olive in the flickers; her body

a virgin’s, destined only for true love.

And then one day, in walked that love –
a handsome fellow who loved to dance.
They fit together, body against body,
his gilded with the shine
of the Pickford name – a dream
come true, but their world was a mystery

to the uninitiated. A mystery
how two could fight so bitterly, yet love
so ardently; they were children whose dream
usurped reality, until the dance
ended suddenly…and her star ceased to shine,
and down to earth fell her body.

In his arms he cradled that body
and wept for her death’s mystery;
some said suicide, but she shone
too brightly, too filled with love
of life, and parties, and dancing,
laughter, fame, and candy-coated dreams.

Now dead was the dream, and here lies its body;
Olive of the Dance, forever a mystery,
where pain and love collide and eternally shine.

Olive Thomas

The Fable of the Bush League Lover Who Failed to Qualify

The title of this cinquain comes from a film Bushman did in 1914.  The character he plays?  "The Matinee Idol".  Perfect!

Messala

powerful, skilled

imposing, courageous, heroic -

a giant of a man!
Francis

Francis X Bushman