Vamp, Vamp, Vamp: A Celebration of the Silent Femme Fatale

[Kitty]

Sorry guys, I've gotten behind lately I'll write up my thoughts on Variety tomorrow.

That's ok. I've only watched half of Zenda, and haven't watched Variety yet. I'd also love to hear your last responses on Blood and Sand.

I'll probably have to wait till Saturday to delve into the last film and a half.

[BettyLouSpence]

Finally was able to sit down and write. Here are my thoughts on Variety. I loved it!

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This is easily my favorite film of the watchfest. This just might be one of my favorite silents I've ever seen The cinematography is just amazing: the lighting, the camera angles... also some really superb acting on Emil Jannings' part. I was really impressed.

Some trivia: this film was heavily censored for the US release. In fact, in (I believe) New York City, they excised the first reel entirely, thus completely losing the context set up in the beginning of Boss retelling his story in the jail and him having a wife and child, making it seem as though Boss and Berta were a married couple! I remember there were a lot of letters written to Photoplay around this time complaining about the censorship and pointing out the exact scenario of the lost context. I'll have to find those. Also goes to show that, back in the day, if your city censored a new picture you wanted to see... well, tough luck, unless you can shell out the money to travel somewhere else

The build up and the ending itself was wonderful and so well acted. Jannings' face alone conveys so much, especially during the final confrontation with Artinelli as he's staring him down.

Another scene I really liked is again near the end, when Boss and Artinelli are both putting on their makeup before the final act; Boss is applying the greasepaint in a disconnected, almost clumsy way with a thousand yard stare, while Artinelli applies his in a more jovial, even preening way, completely unaware that the man next to him may be plotting his doom...

First, the directing and camera work here are purely amazing. (Ewald André Dupont and Karl Freund, respectively.) You're watching a genius at work in every shot. Dupont seemed to have a brilliance for bringing out the drama—and often freakish aspects—in the ordinary. In terms of telling details and creative thought put into every shot of every scene, I don't know that I've ever seen anything better made. There are so many individual examples, it would take pages to comment on them all.

Yeeeees! That's what really made the film for me. It is such a visual treat, I really could not tear my eyes away for the entire nearly two hour run. The Wintergarten scenes and the after-party are among my favorites

By the way, one thing that seemed a little inexplicable: didn't Artinelli violently force himself on her against her will? (There's a word for that.) How is it, then, that she takes to him so readily? That was a little disturbing.

Glad you brought that up, that was the one part of the film I really didn't like since it was so unrealistic in that regard. I had a brief Call Her Savage flashback and was hoping maybe she'd knock him over the head with something, but... ugh. Would've made a lot more sense if Berta had willingly gone to him in the first place.

We don't really know what happened to Berta, as she is left lying on the stairs in her last scene...unconscious (or more than just unconscious?) By the way, she is the only vamp we've seen so far who ends up the victim of her own vamping.

Yes, in the scene before she tumbles down the first flight, but is able to get up and starts to chase after Boss again down the second flight... and then in the very next shot is already lying lifeless at the bottom. I guess we'll never know, and that's gonna bother me

There is a strange disconnect between Berta-Marie as she is first seen and the Berta of later on after she and Boss have run away together. At first she seems like a mysterious, almost mute and very "old world" character with the appearance of a painted china doll. Later she is much more natural, carefree, and modern, with an almost Clara Bow type of coy winsomeness thing going on. She was very charming and pretty. Those eyes.

Yes! Actually, when she first showed up draped in that scarf she reminded me of those matryoshka dolls.

I think the bobbed hair later especially suits her—though those drawn-on eyebrows may be just a little severe at times. (If you can have a severe bun, you can have severe eyebrows. What if you had a severe bun and severe eyebrows? Then you'd really be pretty severe, wouldn't you?)

I don't know if we could handle that level of severity...

And she vamps quite well, twisting the men round her finger, though she is not the professional, deliberately destructive kind of the Theda and Nita variety. It's interesting how she gets the big, tough Boss to do the cooking, cleaning, and sewing—when the wife earlier had to handle all that.

Yeah, she also never came across to me as a deliberately destructive vamp. Ok, so she did destroy Boss' marriage, and it wasn't like she had no clue he had a wife , but she never seemed to want to destroy Boss himself. I wonder what kind of vamp that would be...?

By the way, yesterday I was exchanging some comments with Lea over at Silent-ology, and learned that she saw it on the big screen at the San Francisco Film Festival with live accompaniment by the the Berklee group! She said it was one of the greatest theater experiences of her life. I can well imagine!

Man... I'm jealous!

[BettyLouSpence]

My Blood and Sand responses!

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I have mixed feelings about this. It took so long for anything big to happen, that I almost thought it was unnecessarily long. On the other hand, the film might not have had as much impact if things had happened quicker. I thought it was really slow going for the first 45 or so minutes of the film.

I see where you're coming from. There is a pretty long lull until Nita shows up. I guess the director thought that the death of Gallardo's friend and the wedding would be enough to tide the audience over until the vamping...?

...I also agree with you that she might have surpassed Theda, though I really think that these are two different kinds of vamps. Theda seemed to have some black magic going on, while Nita seems to be more on the side of a heartless human being.

Great breakdown! Sure are a lot of vamp subcategories

At first, I thought his mother was extremely unsupportive and hateful toward him, but now that I've thought it over, maybe she just didn't like the idea of bullfighting? But did you notice that everyone suddenly is all for the bullfighting once he gets famous? I thought that was kind of hypocritical.

I figured that his mother thought he that if he only pursued bullfighting, he wouldn't end up amounting to anything, and as an added mark against his choice of profession she knows how dangerous the sport is and doesn't want him sent to an early grave. Yes, his sister and brother-in-law especially were such hypocrites His brother-in-law sure changed his tune quick after the money was guaranteed to start flowing in.

Are we really not going to address that fact of how he reacts to that first attempt at a kiss during that dance sequence? He reacts like a woman whose integrity was just insulted. He could have just said "I'm married. No Thanks." Or perhaps I missed something?

Yeah, that was pretty odd. Maybe he was so spellbound by her that that was all he could muster?

Oh, and as a final thought: Every time that there was a long shot where Rudy walked close to Nita in her home, I was so worried that he was going to step on the train of her dress.

Shame there's no known outtakes from this film. Would've made for a funny blooper reel

...I really like Rudy and Nita and Lila now.

Great!

[donnie]

Further comments on Varieté:

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This just might be one of my favorite silents I've ever seen

Yes, this has also made it into my list of top favorite silents. I've watched that last segment over and over. I know that's the mark of a good film when I have a compulsion to do that. And I would probably never have even watched this film if it hadn't been for you. Thank you!

Some trivia: this film was heavily censored for the US release. In fact, in (I believe) New York City, they excised the first reel entirely, thus completely losing the context set up in the beginning of Boss retelling his story in the jail and him having a wife and child, making it seem as though Boss and Berta were a married couple! I remember there were a lot of letters written to Photoplay around this time complaining about the censorship and pointing out the exact scenario of the lost context. I'll have to find those. Also goes to show that, back in the day, if your city censored a new picture you wanted to see... well, tough luck, unless you can shell out the money to travel somewhere else

Yes, I ran across that information. I don't really understand it, though, because if the object was not to depict a sexual relationship outside of marriage, don't the remaining reels still have an affair between Berta and Artinelli?? Maybe it's not as bad if it's an occasional thing?

I also saw one review that, regardless of the motives of the censors, the American cut actually improved the film. But I don't agree. It would certainly have made it a tighter film. But with the full version, we see Boss's wife and his tender relationship with his infant son which brings out more of the tragedy of the subsequent events. You also see the forgiveness and mercy on the part of his wife and son in spite of what he's done, and this then reflects what the prison official says about God's mercy at the end. I think all these things are important and give extra depth to the film. In other words, I think they knew what they were doing. What do you think?

Another thought: I wonder if the censors also took out that life insurance sign, which wouldn't have made any sense in the cut version.

That is interesting about individual cities censoring films. Can't imagine that happening today. I remember reading about Birth of a Nation having a checkered reception in different cities because of the racial content.

Well, either way, cut or uncut, I'll bet you Myrtle did not approve of this film. I'll bet you Myrtle had a severe bun, too. (But probably not severe eyebrows. Too vampish.) Do share the Photoplay letters if you can find them—I'd be interested in seeing some contemporary reactions.

Another scene I really liked is again near the end, when Boss and Artinelli are both putting on their makeup before the final act; Boss is applying the greasepaint in a disconnected, almost clumsy way with a thousand yard stare, while Artinelli applies his in a more jovial, even preening way, completely unaware that the man next to him may be plotting his doom...

Yes, that's a great description of it. One further word that keeps coming to mind as I've thought about the performance of Emil Jannings is gravity—not just the intensity of his performance, but the gravity. He can seem like a powerful and overwhelming force. And that force is in the incubation stage in that scene.

The Wintergarten scenes and the after-party are among my favorites

Speaking of which, one thing I forgot to ask about: What is the weird act going on here? (YouTube version link) Is this a little boy and a midget dancing? The Berlin Wintergarten was interesting place. Did you see my pix of it in the random photos thread?

Yes, in the scene before she tumbles down the first flight, but is able to get up and starts to chase after Boss again down the second flight... and then in the very next shot is already lying lifeless at the bottom. I guess we'll never know, and that's gonna bother me

I wonder if they left deliberately left that ambiguous? I guess they did.

Actually, when she first showed up draped in that scarf she reminded me of those matryoshka dolls.

Yes! I guess that's what I had in the back of my mind.

One other thought: The only thing I don't like too much about this film is the title. I guess it means basically the same as the English word Variety, as in a variety show (?), but if so, it seems rather undescriptive. I read that two alternate titles used were Vaudeville (which seems worse) and Jealousy (which might be better, but maybe not great, either). I don't know what would be a good title, though. Any ideas?

[donnie]

Further Blood and Sand comment:

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...I also agree with you that she might have surpassed Theda, though I really think that these are two different kinds of vamps. Theda seemed to have some black magic going on, while Nita seems to be more on the side of a heartless human being.

Great breakdown! Sure are a lot of vamp subcategories

Theda: black-magic vamp
Nita: heartless vamp
Betty: inept vamp

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Lya: docile vamp
Barbara: dormant vamp

[BettyLouSpence]

Variety comments:

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Yes, I ran across that information. I don't really understand it, though, because if the object was not to depict a sexual relationship outside of marriage, don't the remaining reels still have an affair between Berta and Artinelli?? Maybe it's not as bad if it's an occasional thing?

Maybe there was a limit on the number of extra-marital affairs that can take place in a film? Also, I was wrong in my trivia: NYC was one of the few places where the film wasn't hacked to bits. Now how'd I mess that up?

I also saw one review that, regardless of the motives of the censors, the American cut actually improved the film. But I don't agree. It would certainly have made it a tighter film. But with the full version, we see Boss's wife and his tender relationship with his infant son which brings out more of the tragedy of the subsequent events. You also see the forgiveness and mercy on the part of his wife and son in spite of what he's done, and this then reflects what the prison official says about God's mercy at the end. I think all these things are important and give extra depth to the film. In other words, I think they knew what they were doing. What do you think?

This just made me realize... the audiences that saw the censored version without the first reel must've been so confused by the ending Actually, I think I remember a Photoplay letter pointing this very situation out.

Another thought: I wonder if the censors also took out that life insurance sign, which wouldn't have made any sense in the cut version.

They likely just cut out anything that looked objectionable and left it at that with no regards to the story, thus leaving in little bits that make no sense without the objectionable context

Speaking of which, one thing I forgot to ask about: What is the weird act going on here? (YouTube version link) Is this a little boy and a midget dancing? The Berlin Wintergarten was interesting place. Did you see my pix of it in the random photos thread?

Looks like two midgets dancing, based on their body proportions. Yes, I just saw the pics. That ceiling! Seeing a show there must've been magical. What a shame it's no longer around.

One other thought: The only thing I don't like too much about this film is the title. I guess it means basically the same as the English word Variety, as in a variety show (?), but if so, it seems rather undescriptive. I read that two alternate titles used were Vaudeville (which seems worse) and Jealousy (which might be better, but maybe not great, either). I don't know what would be a good title, though. Any ideas?

The title also keeps reminding me of the magazine called Variety. I guess they were meaning to evoke the phrase "variety is the spice of life"? Hmm...

[BettyLouSpence]

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Theda: black-magic vamp
Nita: heartless vamp
Betty: inept vamp

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Lya: docile vamp
Barbara: dormant vamp

Great! I'll be thinking of Theda everytime I listen to Black Magic Woman Also an excellent one for Lya, as I hadn't been able to think of a good word that describes her style. Poor Betty though

[donnie]

Yet more on Varieté!:

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I guess they were meaning to evoke the phrase "variety is the spice of life"? Hmm...

Yes, maybe that word in German has other shades of meaning along those lines. That must explain the seeming non-descriptiveness of the title. Or maybe it just means something like "the show life," etc.

Re the Wintergarten photos: looking back at them, I just now really noticed the act on stage in the top one. How would like to be the guy on top of that pyramid? Actually, how would you like to be anybody in that pyramid?

[BettyLouSpence]

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Re the Wintergarten photos: looking back at them, I just now really noticed the act on stage in the top one. How would like to be the guy on top of that pyramid? Actually, how would you like to be anybody in that pyramid?

I don't think I could even handle the rehearsals for that

[Kitty]

I've finally watched Prisoner of Zenda. (bet you figured I had given up and decided not to watch it, after all!) Here are my thoughts. Hopefully you guys remember what happened in the film after all this time.

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I thought this was a pretty good movie. I watched it in a few sessions, never finished it, and then this morning I decided just to start over and watch the whole thing. I'm glad I did, because there were quite a few bits that I'd missed the first time around. As a result, I understood the film a lot more. I think I just wasn't into it my first go-around, so I missed a bunch of details.

First, I want to get the kind of mis-placed humor parts out of the way. The banana-cop joke at the train station was notably weird, and the short fat guard outside the drawbridge, plus at one point one of them was trying to get a (tool belt?) on and couldn't figure it out, so he just threw it around his neck. bizarre!


I also have a hard time figuring out who is who sometimes, especially names (this happens with modern movies, too, so this isn't a comment on old film) and I actually thought that Flavia was the dark haired lady for much of the film. I spent the entire film trying to figure out what was vampy about anything the girls did in the film. Who was supposed to be the vamp in this? The only comment that alluded to that whatsoever is one meeting with the dark-haired woman, Michael said he doesn't know what it was that made him always want to meet with her.

I watched this with no sound, so I don't have a comment about the music. I'd waited so long to finish the film that I had to find a different version on youtube, so I wouldn't know if it had the same music that you guys heard, anyway.

I thought it would have been pretty obvious that there was something wrong with the king when he didn't remember any of the details of business, nothing about the girl, and so on.

I loved that end scene. It's pretty amazing that in an hour fifty three, we didn't see any character development, except for the last scene.

I was surprised by the way the attempt on the acting-king's life was going to play out. Was that piano wire? and then the assassin promptly jumps out the window and hangs himself. Eeek!

I can't think of anything else that I want to say about this, but I am glad I finally watched it.