Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927)

Something different this week, readers. Since Tarzan and the Golden Lion celebrates the unshatterable bond between man and beast, I decided to share this week’s reviewing duties with a beast very close to my heart: my pet Howler Monkey, Emmett (see photo). Special thanks to Anne, ace stenographer and a woman fluently bilingual in English and Howlese, who captured Emmett’s comments as well as my own, and graciously transcribed them all. ‘{}’ indicates her direct translation from Howlese.

The Water Magician (1933)

The train is about to leave, and the fleeing couple must be on it. Their benefactor presses money into their hands. “Promise me,” she says. “Promise me you’ll always stay together, and that you’ll always be happy.” All she wants is this guarantee.

The Coward (1915)

Nineteen-fifteen was a big year for Civil War-themed films in the United States. The 50th anniversary of the end of that conflict sparked more than one celluloid reminiscence—some good, lots bad, many missing the point altogether. It’s a sad fact about public mythologizing, and a peculiarity of silent film, that a cause for reflection can so often be reduced to little more than a vehicle for shallow dramatics or vast platitudes, barely connected to the past upon which they ride. The Coward is no such case; at least, not at first. Watch The Coward for 54 minutes and you will see—I promise you—film acting in its purest form, distinguished and powerful as only the silent medium could provide it, and compelling in its focus on war. It’s a triumph. And you should stop there. Because, from its 55th minute to its 77th and last, The Coward chickens out. We deserved better, by god—all of us did, and none more so than the film’s stars, Charles Ray and Frank Keenan.

Awesome Awesome Awesome (awesome awesome awesome)

Readers, I pine for the days before Michael Bay wrapped his greasy fingers around the Transformers universe, squeezed it with the might of a million bank accounts, crushed it into paste, and remoulded it into the least appealing of all cinematic products: a Michael Bay movie. But let's not dwell on the negative. That makes you a Decepticon. Let's focus, instead, on this. The Transformer--a short film about Transformers, their tragic need for new sources of energon, and the profound bond between Autobot and human, dramatized most ably in a silent film, starring what looks to be a Ford Model-T and Charley Chase. Enjoy!

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/504353

Snow White (1916)

Cinema prior to 1916 was the bastard child of the stage. The fixed camerawork, mannered acting and phony sets of this era make that impossible to forget, even for a moment, and indeed, it was not something anyone wanted forgotten, because a connection to legitimate theatre was what most quality filmmakers aspired to. Before The Birth of a Nation (1915) and other super-epics began displacing theatre as the supreme populist entertainment, there was no better endorsement.

Filmmakers had to find their own way. They had to learn how their art differed from stagecraft, then learn to love it for those reasons, then learn to exploit it to do great work. But good films could be made by men and women who hadn’t learned all those lessons yet. I’ve seen several. Snow White is one.