The last installment of The Silent Clowns series was Saturday, 6/2, and brought forth the silent films Fluttering Hearts (1927) and The Night Club (1925). Both were very entertaining, and the piano accompaniment by Ben Model was just great (more on that later).
Fluttering Hearts starred Charley Chase (not Chevy) and Martha Sleeper (touted as the “ultimate flapper”). It also had a very funny Oliver Hardy in a supporting role. The plot: Our flapper rushes off to a sale (bed linens at 89¢—with a caveat of only three to a customer). She enlists the help of the beau who followed her and the cop who wanted to give her a speeding ticket (did I mention that this was a comedy?) and mayhem ensues at the shopping spree.
Meanwhile, Flapper’s father needs to retrieve a compromising letter—if he doesn’t pay $10,000 it’ll be made public and ruin him. Our hero, Charley Chase, convinces dad to dress in drag to allow them entry into a speakeasy. Mayhem ensues, dad is chased by the cops, hero gets a female doll (literally) and even attaches its feet to his shoes in a very funny dance sequence (a precursor to “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and countless drag show routines).
Oliver Hardy has the letter. Our hero eventually gets it—then loses it—then our flapper replaces the female doll, with the letter down her bodice and all ends well! Did I mention that this was a comedy?
In The Night Club (title seems to have nothing to do with the movie) our hero (Raymond Griffith) is at the altar. The service is interrupted and his bride leaves him, well, at the altar. As a result, he decides he’ll have nothing to do with women.
Then his uncle dies, he inherits a valet, and he inherits the possibility of $1 million—if he marries. His valet, Gerly (I’m not making this up, you know) explains it all to him. He decides to go for it. As it turns out, the girl that he loves learns about marriage for money and turns against him. He tries to kill himself, but that negates the money (no payout if it’s a suicide). He tries to hire someone to kill him, but that backfires as well.
In the end, true love wins out, he’s at the altar again, and someone shouts out (well, on a title card—this is a silent film, remember?), “Stop!” As Gerly is escorting the interloper out, the interloper says, “Oh, wrong church.”
Here’s the thing. In both films, the title/dialogue cards were much more sophisticated than in earlier silents. I felt that one could really sense the approach of “talkies.” You actually saw the actors mouthing the words you had just read. And the writing in the title cards was really funny; likewise, the acting brought out genuine hearty laughter from the audience.
And, most telling for me, I realized after the fact that I was almost completely unaware of Mr. Model’s accompaniment. Yes, there was some of the usual chase scene writing, and some “vamp until ready” sequences, but there was also seamless support that made a huge impact without making a huge impact, if that makes any sense.
I’m not going to run out and join the Silent Film Society, but I’ll certainly enjoy future performances and share the news!
ConcertMeister
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