Silent Sundays: House of Hate (1918)

“Pearl is the only person in this castle who does not think about or wish for my death. That is why I made her my heir.”

            Today marks a very special day in the land of Une Cinephile. Today I have reached my 1,000^th post! It is very fitting that my 1,000^th post be a silent film since my first post back on September 23, 2010 was also a silent film entitled Sadie Thompson starring Gloria Swanson. Sadie Thompson was the first silent film I ever completely sat through and enjoyed. At the time I was still an undergrad at Montclair State University. I was in a music in film class which had absolutely nothing to do with my Art History major but my roommate had taken the class the semester before (she was a law major and it was part of a requirement. Go MSU) and I did all her homework since she did all my French homework. My teacher for the music in film class scored Sadie Thompson in 1987 when it was released on VHS. I could not get over how amazing not only the score was but how amazing the story was and how beautiful Gloria Swanson was. I had no one to talk about old movies with and I was always bursting to get my emotions, opinions, and thoughts out about them. That was when I decided to start this blog. I needed to get my feelings and thoughts out about Sadie Thompson and all the other classic films I watched.

            Une Cinephile has since become a blog where I discuss every movie I watch be it classic or new, comedy or horror, drama or westerns, foreign or domestic. This blog is essentially my movie diary that everyone can read. I once had a great teacher for a health class at MSU who was incredibly encouraging and inspirational. He loved the fact that I ran a blog and that I was so passionate about movies. He told the class that after 10,000 hours of doing something you become an expert. Well, I think I definitely have over 10,000 hours of movie watching behind me but I would not say I am an expert. There is so much I do not know about movies that I cannot wait to discover yet there is so much that I do know. I love film history about the studio system and I also like the technological side of film history. I go crazy when I see old film equipment it is big and bulky and gorgeous. The more movies I watch the bigger my appetite for knowledge about the industry’s history and the craft and work that goes into making them becomes.

            My journey as a cinephile (which mean “cinema enthusiast” in French) has brought me great opportunities and people into my life. My passion for film history lead two of my friends telling me about the Fort Lee Museum in Fort Lee, NJ where they were borrowing some film memorabilia for an exhibit and the people at the museum quickly became some of the most wonderful people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Through these wonderful people I got to experience seeing my first silent film in a theater. The film was House of Hate and I got to see it at the incredible Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, NY.

            House of Hate begins with a masked intruder entering a castle home through a secret passageway. The castle belongs to a weapons manufacturer Winthrop Waldon. He is apparently the only one who knows of the secret passageway in the castle. This intruder, later to become known as the Hooded Terror, leaves a threatening note to Winthrop that they know a family secret and the real heir will seek their revenge.  

            Also living in the castle is Winthrop’s illegitimate daughter Pearl (Pearl White), his brother Ezra and Ezra’s son Haynes and daughter Naomi. Winthrop does not trust his brother, nephew, and niece especially since the letter appeared. He names Pearl as his heir since he knows she is the only one that has not wished him dead.

            Unfortunately, Winthrop is murdered by the Hooded Terror that night. After he is stabbed the murderer throws the knife at a portrait of Pearl to indicate she is next. The uncle and his children have a great deal of motive to want her dead. With every scene we made to believe we absolutely know who the Hooded Terror is and then our false knowledge is shattered.

            I did not realize going into this film that it was a restored print of a serial of several short films. Think of your favorite show where all the episodes were just strung together without commercials and just kept continuing one right after the other. That was what House of Hate was like for an hour and a half. I waited and waited all that time to see who the Hooded Terror was and it just kept going. It finally stopped but it was only part one. After a while I got a little frustrated because they would always be so close to unmasking the Hooded Terror and then the scene would end and a new story/scene/scenario would begin. Once I was told that it was all made up of serials all the cuts and skips in stories made more sense.

            House of Hate was filmed entirely in Fort Lee. The Fort Lee Museum in their film section has an entire case dedicated to Pearl White. She made all her films in Fort Lee. They love her there. I cannot even begin to tell you how many objects they have of Pearl White and her film in their collection. And Lucky me got to go through them all last summer organizing them (and the ENTIRE storage area) as part of my graduate internship. I remember seeing lobby cards for House of Hate all over the place. I am not a native of Fort Lee. I do live in New Jersey just down by the shore (yes I live near Sleazside, no I have never met or seen the Jersey Shore cast, and no I have never watched the show). Despite not living very close to Fort Lee and not knowing the area too well, I loved seeing the town as it looked almost one hundred years ago. It was so open and so clean. Today it is a congested nightmare with some nice areas like all northern Jersey towns. I swelled up with some Jersey pride. If it had not been for the weather and some other factors New Jersey would have been the movie capital of the world. All the major studios began there.

            The film was restored from reels found in Russia. It was shown to that audience in 1925 in a condensed form. It was digitally restored with assistance by Rutgers University film professor Richard Koszarski. He is an expert on silent films. He is one of several people I have had the pleasure to meet in journey as a cinephile. The professor knows his stuff he is fascinating to speak to about films. The restoration looks incredible. I hope the copy becomes available to purchase on DVD eventually.

            I can only hope that one day House of Hate will be available for wider viewing. The acting was so-so much of Pearl White’s acting was the overdramatic silent film acting. But do not let that kind of acting discourage you from seeing House of Hate whenever it becomes available to see. Do not even let the time discourage you from seeing it. The story from the several short films pieced together keeps you on your toes and wanting more to see who will be revealed as the Hooded Terror.

            I would like to thank so very much to Tom Meyers at the Fort Lee Museum for taking me along today to experience seeing a silent film in theaters and for the experience of going to my first film museum. I would also like to thank The Museum of the Moving Image for leaving literally star struck and making my head spin in excitement over their displays and collections. Today was the first time I had ever been to a film museum before. I was in heaven. There was memorabilia, props, costumes (I LOVE film costumes with such a furious raging passion), cameras going back to Edison’s first camera, editing equipment, TVs, radios, and so much more. I felt right at home as a cinephile as well as a museum professional. Even before I visited the museum today I have always wanted to work there. I am constantly applying for jobs openings there. I have a degree in Museum Registration. It would be a dream come true keeping track of and just constantly being around film paraphernalia.

            Oh and an absolutely HUGE thank you to everyone who has ever stopped by and read my reviews. It means more than you will ever know. My sentence and grammar and punctuation are not the greatest. Obviously I am not a film critic in the traditional sense. It just means so much that people that have read my opinions and possibly enjoy them and find them interesting. Thank you, thank you, thank you so very, very much. Here is to another 1,000 posts. I am ready for the next chapter of journey as Une Cinephile. 

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Floating Coffin (1914)

In the final chapter of The Perils of Pauline serial entitled The Floating Coffin, Pauline Marvin (Pearl White) and her fiancé Harry are traveling on his new yacht. He also has a motorboat. Pauline has him show her how to work the mechanisms for the small boat.

            After some pleading Harry finally gives in and lets Pauline drive the motorboat for herself. She takes along her dog Rusty for the ride. The motorboat stops working and begins to take on water. Pauline manages to get herself and the dog onto an old boat.

            Not far off in the distance is a naval fleet. They are going to be using the boat that Pauline and Rusty are on for their target practice. The fleet shoots at the boat and puts enough holes in it to start sinking it. Pauline is frantic she tries desperately to get the naval fleet’s attention. She manages to find a pen and piece of paper and writes a note saying she is on board the old ship. Pauline gives the note to Rusty who she has swim to the battleships.

            The crew of one of the ships sees the dog swimming towards them. They take a small rowboat out to the dog. The crew sees the note and the captain calls a cease fire. The crew and the dog get to Pauline in the nick of time.

            Someone on the yacht has wised up to Koerner’s evil doings trying to get rid of Pauline for her money. The man punches Koerner and throws him overboard. Koerner eventually drowns.

            When Pauline comes back she embraces Harry and tells him she has finally had enough of having adventures and wants to marry him at last.

            For the past nine weeks I have thoroughly enjoyed watching The Perils of Pauline. Some of them were exciting and thrilling and some were just alright. Pauline Marvin is a great character. I liked how she went on all these adventures, planned or unplanned, and did so with such bravery and fun. My favorite aspect of all these episodes is that they were filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Fort Lee was the original movie town. All the major studios started there. Over the summer I completed my internship as a museum registrar at the Fort Lee Museum working for the Fort Lee Film Commission. I found so many incredible movie artifacts from the early film industry and learned so much about it. The Fort Lee Film Commission are big fans of The Perils of Pauline and even use a behind the scenes photograph from one of the films as their logo.

            The Perils of Pauline is a must see for classic film fans. They are fun, innocent, and entertaining given the time period they were made in.  I can only hope that these films, if seen by more viewers, especially women, will inspire writers in some way to write strong, adventurous female characters. 

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Serpent in the Flowers (1914)

“I can tell your fortune by the lines in your hands.”

            This episode of The Perils of Pauline has our heroine on two dangerous and thrilling adventures.

            Koerner still up to no good trying to get rid of Pauline Marvin (Pearl White) his young ward. He enlists the help of some local gypsies. The chief gypsy is happy to help. He has Koerner bring Pauline down to his camp to read her fortune. The chief reads her fortune himself and tells her that she will be going on a long trip. As he relays his fortune men come out of the woods behind him and Pauline and throw a blanket over her head. The men take her to their camp. A gypsy woman who is in love with the chief has heard about the woman and becomes jealous.

            Pauline tries to escape the camp but is immediately caught and brought back.

            Harry, Pauline’s fiancé is concerned that she has been gone for so long and begins to search for her. The gypsy woman flags him down and shows him where Pauline is being kept. Harry has a fight with the chief ending with the chief being badly hurt. The gypsy woman’s love for chief is strong and she is angry with Harry. She finds a snake in the woods, puts in a basket with some flowers over it, and brings it to Pauline’s house.

            As Pauline looks at the flowers in the basket, Harry notices something moving in it. He throws the basket on the floor and out slithers the snake. He manages to kill the snake before it can cause any damage.

            Unfazed by the snake Pauline is ready for another adventure. She hears about a steeple chase race and wants to buy a horse so she can enter. Koerner sees this as an excellent opportunity to try to have Pauline killed. He finds someone to poke the horse with a needle to make it go wild. Pauline is thrown off her horse during the race. She is hurt but she will recover.

            The Serpent in the Flowers was good. I liked the idea of there being two adventures but the second part with the horse race really did not make any sense. I read that some of the episodes of the American and French versions of The Perils of Pauline were once spliced together and I have a feeling that is what happened with this episode.

            Stay tuned for next week’s concluding episode of The Perils of Pauline.

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Tragic Plunge (1914)

Pauline (Pearl White), her fiancé Harry, and her evil greedy guardian Koerner meet a Lt. Summers. He is a lieutenant in the navy and also designs submarines. Lt. Summers invites Harry, Pauline, and Koerner back to his place to meet his fiancée Mlle. Yagow.

            It turns out that Mlle. Yagow is a spy along with the valet. Koerner recognizes Mlle. Yagow as a possible ally in his evil plot to get rid of Pauline. He offers her $100,000 upon Pauline’s death.

            Lt. Summers completes his submarine plans and places them in what he believes is a secret place. The valet comes goes into the office not long after Summers has walked out. He finds the plans and takes them to his superiors. The valet tells his superiors he will do whatever it takes to sink the submarine with Summers in it even if it means he will die as well.

            Koerner arranges for Pauline to go on the submarine knowing full well what the valet has planned. The submarine goes underwater and as soon as it reaches a low depth the bomb goes off sinking the vessel to the ocean floor. The valet is found hiding and confesses about him and Mlle. Yagow working for the enemy who wants their plans. The submarine crew are able to get Pauline out and to safety by having her crawl through the torpedo launcher.

            Pauline and Harry set up a rescue for the crew. They then go find Mlle. Yagow. They fight her and the leader she is working for and escape with the plans.

            The submarine is able to be lifted to the surface and the crew are saved.

            Finally, Pauline is some peril! I liked The Tragic Plunge a lot. It was a little nerve wracking.

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Shattered Plane (1914)

Pauline’s (Pearl White) guardian Koerner suggests to her that she should ask a famous aviator if she can go with him on one of his record breaking flights. Koerner suggests this to Pauline because he is still trying to have her killed so he can take her money. Pauline’s fiancé Harry is not happy with Koerner for his suggestion. All Harry wants to do is marry Pauline but she is constantly going off on some adventures and getting herself in trouble.

            At the airport Koerner overhears the aviator tell a technician. The aviator is not too crazy about Pauline coming around but once he sees her he agrees. Koerner pushes his luck with asking the aviator if Harry can come along but the aviator says he can only take Pauline with him. Koerner goes to his partner Hicks with the news about the wires in the plane. Hicks has someone deal with the wires.

            In the meantime Harry still does not want Pauline going on the trip. He does everything he can to stall her. He messes with one of the cars causing it to break down on the way to the airport. Fortunately for Pauline and unfortunately for Harry another car comes by and she has the driver take her to the airport.

            Pauline is late for takeoff and the aviator leaves without her. Harry shows up believing she is on the plane. Soon the plane turns around and crashes. Harry is shocked and terrified because he believes Pauline to be on the plane. Before he becomes too upset Harry runs into Pauline. The couple leaves the airport and heads home.

            Pauline was once again not really in any peril. Harry is once again a hero making Pauline late for her flight. I thought it was so cool seeing scenes of Fort Lee where Shattered Plane and all the Perils of Pauline films were made. At the time these films were made Fort Lee and the surrounding towns were all wilderness and dirt roads. Today Fort Lee is home to the George Washington Bridge and “Bridgegate” and  insane amounts of traffic. It is hard to believe that the town and the towns around it were once small backwoods places the film industry would come over and use for exteriors.