'The Good Bad-Man' is Excellent

The Good Bad-Man (1916/1923)
Starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Bessie Love, Sam de Grasse, and Pomeroy Cannon
Director: Allan Dwan
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

"Passin' Through" (Fairbanks), a wandering outlaw with a heart of gold and a soft spot for those who are defenseless and in need, finds himself falling head-over-heels in love with a young woman (Love) he encounters by chance. This is sets in motion a series of events that will reveal "Passin'" mysterious past and change both their lives forever.

As I've mentioned before, I generally don't have the patience for silent dramas, especially if they run past the 15-20 minute mark. "The Good Bad-Man" is one of a growing number of films I've come across that are an exception to that rule. I don't know if my tastes have changed or if I've just had more luck with picking movies to watch in recent years.

Whatever the reason, I found "The Good Bad-Man" to be very entertaining. It's easy to see why Douglas Fairbanks was such a big star in his day, as he is seems equally natural whether his character is being friendly and playful, or whether he's getting ready to kill someone. 

In fact, like the other early Fairbanks picture I've watched and reviewed (the subversive Sherlock Holmes parody "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish"), he is the star of the film in very sense: He's the main character, he has all or is a key part of all the film's best moments, and he has a presence that almost leaps off the screen in every scene. Like their previous pairing, Fairbanks and Love also make a great couple on screen, with acting styles and on-screen chemistry that make them seem like a natural couple. Even the "insta-romance" between the characters doesn't bother me that much here, because Fairbanks and Love compliment each other so well.

Speaking of Love, I noticed that she spends most of her scenes either sitting down or leaning against posts or walls after taking just a few steps. I don't know if this is just some weird coincidence or if it was supposed to be a character quirk, but I also found myself wondering if perhaps Love perhaps had hurt one of her legs or perhaps her back. What little research I felt inclined to do didn't reveal anything specific, so if it was anything, it was probably just a sprained ankle.

Another bit I noticed--that is either a coincidence or an intentional sight gag--was a rider having trouble with his horse both times the band of outlaws saddled up and rode out en-masse. I'm hoping it was an intentional ittle background thing. Perhaps there was even something involving a clumsy comic relief character that ended up getting cut when the film was reportedly shortened for its 1923 release... I wish my imagining is true, because a cowboy outlaw who can't stay on a horse would be hilarious. (Unforunately, we will never know, because there are no known surviving copies of the original 1916 cut.)

Aside from excellent performances from the film's stars, Sam de Grasse has a fine turn as a local bandit leader whose secret connection to "Passin' Through" helps turn the plot upside down and accelerate the film toward its dramatic conclusion. Similarly Pomeroy Cannon, who plays a Federal Marshal who remains a question mark for most of the picture as to whether he was going to be a friend to the main characters or their downfall, also gives a fine supporting performance.

 

"The Good Bad-Man" is one of the films that have been featured in the Screening Room at the YouTube channel that's loosely connected with this blog. If you like westerns and fast-paced silent movies, you're probably going to enjoy this one. Just click below and watch the tale unfold!

Join Harold & Bebe and go 'Back to the Woods'

Back to the Woods (1919)
Starring: Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, Harry Pollard, Bud Jamison, Marie Mosquini, T. Henderson Murray, and Arthur Housman
Director: Hal Roach
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A city slicker (Lloyd) and his man-servant (Pollard) head into the country where they run into lions, bears, a flirtatious Native American girl (Mosquini), and gun-toting hillbillies (Jamison and Daniels).

"Back to the Woods" is a great short film that delivers an even mix of situational comedy and slapstick and features Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels not only at their best and working with some excellent material.

Lloyd plays another one of those love-starved/sex-starved characters that seems to have been his bread-and-butter during the late 1910s. His character is less obnoxious than in, for example, "Ring Up the Curtain" and "Hey There". which is good because if he had been he probably would have gotten shot by Bebe Daniels' character. Their interaction throughout the picture is mostly as equals, as they rescue each other from bears and the psychotic backwoodsman played by Bud Jamison. It makes the film more palatable to the modern viewer, I think.

The characters played by Lloyd and Daniels in this film are also more appealing that the ones they portrayed in "Off the Trolley" where they were equals who were equally interested in getting laid but also equally unpleasant personality-wise. While "Back to the Woods" has characters who are an example of opposites attract, "Off the Trolley" is one of perfect mates).
Aside from the character interplay between Lloyd and Daniels, the most amusing parts of the film are scenes involves them interacting with bears... and it appears to be Lloyd in some of the scenes with an actual bear.




The version of "Back to the Woods" I've embedded below is not only the one I found online that's the clearest visually, but the music track is also better and more thoughtful than much of what is provided for many of these films. Check it out--it's well worth 10 minutes of your day!

Robbers and Trains and Violence--Oh My!

The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Starring: Justus Barnes, Gilbert 'Broncho Billy 'Anderson, George Barnes, Mary Snow, and Tom London
Director: Edwin S. Porter
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A gang of murderous outlaws successfully rob a train, but are later pursued by an equally blood-thirsty possee.

"The Great Train Robbery" is one of those "historically important" films that anyone but scholars and critics or the hardest of the hardcore film buffs "need" to see. While I have been aware of the film since at least my days as a wee film student in college, I don't recall actually watching it before now. So... have I missed much?

Well, yes and no.

In the "no" department, the film has all the exaggerated, hyped up gestures by the actors that make early silent movies (and bad late ones) so hilarious to watch. (There isn't a lot of that here, but there's enough to make me chuckle when I should be feeling shocked ) I am also not sure I accept the notion that this was the "first narrative film", but maybe years of writing roleplaying game scenarios has lowered the bar in mind as to what qualifies as a narrative; To my eye, there seems to be just as much of a structured plot in "The Astronomer's Dream" from 1898 as there is in this film.

On the "yes" side, I think it's safe to say that this is the first Western movie, and there are a number of tropes that we find here for the first time. From a pure entertainment perspective, the action is also very fluid and holds up nicely... and there's a level of violence that I found startling--shocking even--for a film of this age. In fact, the action--the prelude to and the train robbery itself, the posse chasing the bandits, and the climactic shoot-out--are all so well-staged and filmed that the ten minutes spent watching this movie seem a fraction of even that short time span.

If you are into silent movies--or just well-made films in general--I highly recommend you take ten minutes out of your day to watch "The Great Train Robbery. There are many versions it available for viewing on YouTube and elsewhere, but the one I've chosen to imbed in this post features an excellent original musical score by Andreas Brink.


By the way, you'll notice shocks of color while watching this. These have apparently been present on the film since the earliest releases. For me, some of these were very effective while others were more distracting than mood-enhancing for me.

'Two-Gun Gussie' is fun, but not remarkable

Two-Gun Gussie (1918)
Starring: Harold Lloyd, William Blaisdell, Charles Stevenson, Harry Pollard, and Bebe Daniels
Director: Al Goulding
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A brutish trouble-maker (Blaisedell) swaps his photo in a police alert for that of a mild-mannered piano-player at the local saloon (Lloyd). When everyone starts treating the piano-man like a desperado, he becomes so convinced of his toughness that he eventually goes toe-to-toe with the man whose reputation was pinned on him.

"Two-Gun Gussie" is a fast-paced spoof of westerns that has very little plot to get in the way of the jokes... and what there is of a plot doesn't make a whole lot sense and feels forced. Since this film is only 10 minutes long that hardly matters though. This is one where you should just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The film is at its best during the kinda-sorta shoot-out between Harold and bartender 'Snub' Pollard, although Harold trying to intimidate the tough guy like he does the townspeople will also inspire a chuckle or two. The most disappointing aspect of the film is that Bebe Daniels is almost totally wasted in the role of a Salvation Army fund-raiser, with very little to do but be the object of a ridiculous insta-romance between herself and the main character. (One thing though--if there was ever any question that it's her playing Dorothy in the "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1910) , this film should put that to rest; the panicked genstures she makes here are exactly like those she made as a young child actress.)

I've made it easy for you to enjoy this fun little film; it's embedded in its entirety below, via YouTube. I hope you enjoy it!

One film, three rising stars shining brightly

Nevada (1927)
Starring: Gary Cooper, Thelma Todd, William Powell, Ernie Adams, Ivan Christy, and Philip Strange
Director: John Waters
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A gunslinger, Nevada (Cooper), and his sidekick, Cash (Adams), take jobs as ranch hands in an effort to settle down and live the quiet life. Instead,  Nevada becomes entangled in a romantic triangle between the lovely Heddie (Todd) and her fiance Clan (Powell), as well as the hunt for a gang of cattle rustlers who have an uncanny ability to stay a step of head of all efforts to stop them.

If you like classic westerns, I think you'll like "Nevada" even if you aren't prone to watching silent movies. It's got all the elements you expect to find--which isn't surprising since its script was based on a novel by Zane Grey--as well as a fast-moving and multi-layered plot with a climax that remains in question almost up to the point of conclusion. There was also a nice balance between drama and humor, and the major characters were all given enough depth for the viewer to care about the danger they're in as the story unfolds

There aren't many full-length silent movies that I find I have the patience for, but this was one of them. The rich story helped, but the quality of the acting was even more important. There is very little of the overacting and mugging for the camera that was so common in silent movies, and even present in talkies for a number of years after they appeared. The leads all get the characters' moods and attitudes across with just the right amount of projection, and there is a naturalism to the performances that seems rare in silent films. Another high point of the film were the intertitle cards. All of them were pithy, and several were downright hilarious. They show what a great loss to both journalism and screenwriting when Jack Conway, the writer of the cards, died at the early age of 40.

Another presence in this film by someone who died very young is Thelma Todd. "Nevada" was Todd's first starring role, and she seems to have been a natural. She is so good in this film it's like she walked straight from her life as a school teacher in the New England to being a fullblown movie star in Hollywood. Although future superstars Gary Cooper and William Powell were also at the beginning of their careers, both were still far more experienced than Todd, and she holds her presence on the screen as effectively as they do in their shared scenes. After watching "Nevada," more than ever, I think Todd's early death--when she was just 29 years old--robbed the world of what could have been one of history's great film stars.

Speaking of Cooper and Powell, they are also excellent in this film. Both play the sorts of characters they will play throughout their careers--although there are a couple twists and reversals in that usual type here. Cooper seems especially good when playing off Todd or Ernie Adams. Powell is, as always, a great deal of fun to watch... and his character all but steals the movie's third act.

One problem with the film is that some of the actors are so similar in appearance and costuming that they're difficult to tell apart. Specifically, I thought Philip Strange was William Powell (and/or visa-versa), so I was very confused when he suddenly went from Thelma Todd's brother and owner of the ranch to her would-be husband and owner of the neighboring ranch. Checking the credits list dispelled the confusion, but someone in the casting department made an especially bad choice with that one. (Usually, when I can't tell one actor from another in films this old it's because the image is too degraded. While the version of "Nevada" I watched wasn't the best quality, that wasn't the reason I couldn't tell Strange and Powell apart. They really do look like twins in the picture.)

According to IMDB, there are only two intact copies of "Nevada" known to still exist, and both are in poor shape. Fortunately, at least one of them has been digitized and is available for everyone to enjoy on YouTube. You can watch the movie right here, right now, if you have the time.

'The Wide Open Spaces' is filled with funny

The Wide Open Spaces (1931)
Starring: Dorothy Sebastian, Ned Sparks, Antonio Moreno, and George Cooper
Director: Arthur Rossen
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A corrupt sheriff (Sparks) will go to any lengths to destroy the romance between the lovely Miss Rose (Sebastian) and the dashing John Smith (Moreno).

"The Wide Open Spaces" is a short film that lampoons just about any and every trope of westerns from the silent film and early talkies era that you can think of. It starts with a series of sight-gags and jokes revolving around gun-happy townsfolks, transitions into a series of gags based around the stereotypical wild west saloon, and ultimately settles into a spoof of melodramas with a love triangle involving the tough-as-nails-but-sexy saloon girl Rose (played by Dorothy Sebastian with perfect comedic timing), the crooked Sheriff Jack Rancid (played by Ned Sparks who does everything but twirl his mustache), and the mysterious Mexicano named John Smith (the romantic lead and mostly straight-man, played by Antonio Moreno).

While some jokes are funnier than others, there aren't any that fall flat--and that includes one involving Sebastian that I assume was somewhat shocking back in the day. One of the funniest is set up early in the picture and pays off at the very end when the evil sheriff gets his well-deserved come-uppance... while one of the most mysterious is the presence of a cross-dressing actor in black face portraying Rose's maid. This character is so strange and so out-of-place that I assume it's a reference to something contemporary audiences would have understood but is lost on me. (I have a couple ideas about what it might mean, but I can't help but feel that I'm looking at the scene with 21st century eyes and therefore imposing something on that wasn't there when it was filmed. If anyone has seen the "Wide Open Spaces" who wants to comment on cross-dressing maid in blackface, I'd love to hear your thoughts.)

All-in-all, this is another great bit of fast-moving, whacky fun from the Masquers Club... and one that I think will be as entertaining to the modern viewer as it was to audiences back in 1931.

Dorothy Sebastian is not impressed.

Joe Kubert dead at 85

I just learned that another legend of comic book art (and art in general, frankly) has passed away.

Joe Kubert, artist, editor, teacher, and story-teller with talent on an epic scale, has died at the age of 85. I think its safe to say that the comic book art form as we know it today would not exist. And I'm also noticing that of the few younger artists out there who seem to understand how to tell a story properly through pictures on a page, most of them seem to be graduates of the Joe Kubert School.

Here's a small gallery of Kubert art from varying points in his career, in honor of him.

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old guy, but I see all these massive talents passing into history... and so very few with the talent and skill to take their places.

'Bat Lash' is lighthearted reading of Wild West

Showcase Presents: Bat Lash (DC Comics, 2009)
Writers: Denny O'Neil, Sergio Argones, Len Wein, and Cary Bates
Artists: Nick Cardy, Dan Speigle, George Moliterni, and Mike Sekowski
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

"Bat Lash" is one of the many titles and characters in DC Comics' long publishing history that was deserving of greater success than it enjoyed. The series centered on the title character, a drifter who moved from town to town in the Wild West of the 1860s, trying to avoid trouble but always finding it... usually because of an attractive woman or because of his sense of right and wrong couldn't let him stand by while innocent people suffer.

From the collection of Alex Johnson

Collected in this budget-priced, black-and-white book are all of the initial Bat Lash tales from 1968 and 1969 (including his debut appearance in "DC Showcase" and every issue of his short-lived solo series), another try-out tale from the late 1970s, and a trio of back-up tales from "Jonah Hex." Skipped entirely are the stories where Bat Lash served as an ongoing supporting character in the excellent "Scalp Hunter" series from "Weird Western Tales" (which I hope means DC Comics will be collecting those as well, even if it's a slim hope because the Political Correctness Brigade would probably freak out over the title), so there's a little bit of a disconnect from the 1960s stories where he's a shiftless rogue to the ones from the 1980s where he's a professional gambler.

The tone of the "Bat Lash" series has been compared to some commentators to the TV series "Maverick," but a more accurate comparison would be to the second-tier Italian westerns of the late 1960s and early 1970s. If you enjoy the Terence Hill and Bud Spencer Western vehicles, I think this is a book that will be right up your alley.

Most of the stories in the book feature art by Nick Cardy. His is a style that never impressed me on his superhero work, but his covers and artwork on DC horror titles like "Witching Hour" immediately spring to mind when I consider comics art that is top-notch. With "Bat Lash," he is just as great, and these are comics I admired as a kid and that I admire even more as an adult. Whether Bat Lash is comically trying to escape death at the hands of a fling's angry husband, or tragically carrying a dying child across the desert, Cardy invokes exactly the right mood at the right time. His artwork is so effective that you can even just look at the pictures and get what is happening on the page, story, mood, and all. This is work that many modern comic book artists should be forced to study and internalize as most of them can't tell a story if their lives depended on it.

"Showcase Presents: Bat Lash" is slimmer than most of the DC Comics books in this format, and it can be digested in a single long afternoon. However, the price is right, and if you're a lover of Westerns or just good comic books, it's a book you want to pick up.

It's Cowboys vs. Robots and Mole People!

Radio Ranch
(aka "Men With Steel Faces") (1940)
Starring: Gene Autry, Betsy King Ross, Frankie Darro, Dorothy Christy, Wheeler Oakman, and Frank Glendon
Directors: Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Western singer Gene Autry (Autry) and his teenaged friends (Ross and Darro) find themselves caught up in the middle of the machinations of a scretive, highly advanced underground civilization led by Queen Tika (Christy), a group of crooked scientists led by Prof. Beetson (Glendon) trying to ruin Autry's career so they can mine the land of Radio Ranch for the rare mineral Radium, and Tika's rebellious high priest, Argo (Oakman).


"Radio Ranch' is the sort of bizarre mix of pulp-magazine science fiction, singing cowboys, clever kids, and naked villiany that only children (or those with the hearts of children) can enjoy. A condensed version of a 12-part serial titled "Gene Autry and the Phantom Empire", this is a entertaining bit of nonsense that totally collapses if you think about the plot elements in the slightest. (Why can't the people of underground Murania breath surface air, but Autry & Friends have no problem breathing in Murania is but one of many questions that occured to me while watching.)

Despite many gaping logic holes (and three too many Gene Autry musical performances) this film remained an entertaining until the very end where the story went completely off the rails. I understand why the creators would want to wrap the story up in a neat little package, but I was dismayed they felt the need to go as far as they did. It's a fun romp and a crazy mix of genres that must be seen to be believed. Just know, that there's a part to the ending that will seem excessive.

'The Lonely Man' seeks company in a weak western

The Lonely Man (1957)
Starring: Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, Elaine Aikin, and Neville Brand
Director: Henry Levin
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Jacob Wade (Palance), an aging gunfighter, who, among his many other problems, is going blind, seeks out his estranged son, Riley (Perkins), in a final attempt to forge a normal, peaceful life. But Jacob's past won't be put to rest so easy, and if psychotic gambler King Fisher (Brand) has his way, Jacob will be laid to rest.

"The Lonely Man" is a fairly run-of-the-mill western, with the plot being driven primarily by Jacob's desire to put violence behind him and attempt to up make up for all the years he wasn't part of Riley's life by teaching him all about busting broncos. The performances are about par for this sort of movie (which means they're pretty decent all around), and the film makes decent use of the natural surroundings. Unfortunately, the melodrama is slathered on so thick (particularly in the relationship between Jacob and Riley) that it drags the whole film down a notch. The horrendously stilted dialogue that is exchanged at many points during the film and pacing stumbles both near the beginning and at the middle hurt the film almost as much.

I've seen worst westerns than "The Lonely Man", but there are far better out there as well. The funnest part about the film are the presence of some of the bit-players, such as Lee Van Cleef (who has more hair on his head here than I think he ever appeared with in any other film), Elisha Cook (whose character doesn't whine even once in his repeated scenes) and Claude Akins (who plays a former partner of Jacob, and who makes for a far more sinister character than the lead villain).

Myth meets reality in 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Starring: James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles, Edmond O'Brien, Lee Marvin and Andy Devine
Director: John Ford
Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

A successful 19th century politician (Stewart) reveals the true events behind his legendary gunfight against the feared outlaw Liberty Valance (Marvin) that led to the taming of an entire region of the United States.


"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" is at once a fantastic western with an all-star cast giving top-notch performances, a commentary on the evolution of a society, and an exploration of how appearances and legends are sometimes more important than reality. It's a film with a multi-layered story of a timeless kind that speaks as solidly to viewers today as it did when it was released 45 years ago, just as it will speak to viewers 45 years in the future. This is one of those very rare films that truly deserves to labeled as a "classic".

Among the many excellent performances in this film, particular notice needs to be given to John Wayne. To the inattentive viewer, the character of Tom Donaphin is little more than a stereotypical "white hat" cowboy of the kind that Wayne played dozens of times during the 1940s and 1950s. However, Tom is a deceptively complex man whose macho bearing and sincerely held patrician beliefs and attitudes are both his greatest strength and fatal weakness. It's a complex character that Wayne does justice with what may well be the subtlest performance of his career. I suspect anyone out there who likes John Wayne has already seen this movie, but if you haven't, you need to seek it out. It will give you a whole new appreciation for the man's talent as an actor.