Silent Sundays: Phantom (1922)

Almost all of the greatest films ever made are love stories. They tell about lost and tortured love and obsession. The world, life, space, class, whatever you can imagine give the two lovers obstacles as they try to unite. In most of the stories it is the man who becomes obsessed with the woman and does anything in his power to get to her. If it was always women chasing after the man the woman would be called an obsessive annoyance and not a romantic but that is a discussion for another time. In F.W. Murnau’s silent film Phantom it is a young man who is literally knocked down by love and his life dragged to depths he never could have imagined.

            Lorenz Lubato and his wife Maria are happily married. She gives him a book to write his story. Lorenz asks her if she thinks if he writes his story the memory will be less painful. Maria believes it will help with his painful memory.

            Some time ago Lorenz used to live at home with his mother, sister Melanie, and brother. In this time he was the city clerk and was never on time. In his spare time Lorenz would write poetry and one day he brought it to Maria and her father who ran a book store. Her father thinks his poems are amazing and wants to give it to a professor from the local university to look over. On his way to work one morning Lorenz is hit by a horse that was being driven by a young woman. The young woman gets out of the carriage to check on him. She is beautiful and from that moment on Lorenz can think of no one and nothing but her. The girl rides away and Lorenz walks dreamily back home. He does not even listen to his mother talk to him about Melanie and what she has been up to he stares off into another world and dreams that he is chasing the girl as she rides away in her horse and carriage.

            After this incident Lorenz’s life is never the same. He obsesses over the girl who he finds her name is Veronika. Day and night he causes trouble around Veronika’s home looking for her. Lorenz finds out from an acquaintance that Veronika is engaged to another man. With this news Lorenz asks to speak to Veronika’s parents to tell them how much he loves her. The father tells Lorenz to come back in a year and the love struck young man happily leaves their home. The mother thinks her son is sick and cannot control what he does. His obsession makes him miss work without an excuse and he loses his city clerk position.

            One night Lorenz goes out to a dancehall with Melanie. He meets a young woman and her partner. The young woman looks like Veronika. She needs to paid for her time so Lorenz goes to his aunt who runs a business. When his aunt does not get her money back she threatens Lorenz and the young woman with the police and jail. Lorenz cannot come up with the money and surrenders himself to the police.

            When he is released Maria and her Father are waiting for him.

            I was expecting Phantom to be better than it was. The story did not hold my interest. When I heard the title and that Murnau was the director I thought it would be about phantoms and nightmares not about an obsessed young man. Murnau took some aspects from Expressionism and added them to this film to give the story its phantom-dream- like look. The Expressionist look was used perfectly in a scene towards the end of the film where Lorenz is at a dancehall with the young woman who looks like Veronika. He dreams his life is spiraling out of control and slowing going down. The floor underneath Lorenz and the girl actually moves down and Murnau had a bicyclist ride around a ring above. Phantom was an alright film it is not what I was expecting from Murnau.

 

The Truth About Youth (1930)

“What chance does a girl have these days, if she won't do this, and doesn't do that?”

            In America turning twenty-one is like a rite of passage. You are now legal to go out to bars and drink. My twenty-first birthday I was away at school and it was on a Tuesday and I had a class. I made it up that weekend by going out with my cousins to a few bars in Hoboken and two months later for my friend’s twenty-first we went out with my cousins to a bar in New York City. I am not a big drinker I do not go out all the time (I run a movie blog I would rather spend my time sober watching movies. I am a bore I know). That was five years ago! Where has that time gone to? Even in the 1920s and 1930s turning twenty-one was a rite of passage. In the 1930 film The Truth About Youth a young man comes of age and shows that he is still in so many ways a naïve young boy.

            Dick Carewe’s young ward Richard, or as he is affectionately known as The Imp, is late for a small party for his twenty-first birthday. The Imp is engaged to the housekeeper’s daughter Phyllis (Loretta Young). She worried about why he is so late coming home from his class in New York City. The Imp has no idea that Dick and Phyllis have planned a party for him. He calls to say that he will not be home until late claiming to have a seminar to attend. Although upset by the call Dick has everyone pretend that The Imp is there to celebrate with them.

            The Imp is really at a club someone gave him an invitation to. At the club there is a singer there called The Firefly. Her real name is Kara (Myrna Loy) and The Imp is in love with her. After the performance The Imp goes backstage to see Kara. He leaves a guy and a girl at his table. The girl asks the guy about The Imp lying to Kara about having money. The guy just brushes her off. Kara and The Imp know each other pretty well. He asks her to marry him.

            Very early in the morning The Imp comes home roaring drunk. Two of his other guardians help him up the stairs to his room and make a pact not to tell Dick about this incident. The following morning at breakfast Dick and Phyllis ask The Imp what his lecture was about. Naturally The Imp lies about the subject. Dick reads allowed a write up in the paper about Kara’s performance the night before. The Imp is nervous that his name will be mentioned. Fortunately it was not one of the included names. When The Imp leaves the table to get to class Phyllis has a talk with Dick about how throughout the years he has always given her and The Imp money for anything they want while he has never spent it on himself and wears the same clothes he has had for years. Dick tells her he has never minded providing for them he enjoys having them around.

            Later that day Phyllis and her mother find a letter from Kara and addressed to Richard. It talks about being married and spending the rest of her life with him. The Imp’s real name is Richard but both women believe it is addressed to Dick. They would not even think the letter would belong to The Imp since he is engaged to Phyllis. Phyllis and her mother bring the letter to Dick. He reads it and lies to them saying it was in fact written to him. Dick talks to his friends The Imp’s other guardians. They all agree that something has to be done. The Imp walks in the room during their conversation. He becomes upset and insists on marrying Kara.

            The Imp marries Kara. On their wedding night he tells her he is not rich. Kara becomes upset she thought all this time that he was rich. He tells her he lied because he had to have her. Dick goes to Kara that night at the club. He wants to pay her to like him for at least a month to make people think they are married. Phyllis and the other guardians go to the club with Dick to see Kara perform. She is incredibly jealous of Kara thinking she is really with Dick. Phyllis gets up from the table she can no longer stand seeing the object of her true affection with another woman. Kara says aloud she thinks Dick is using her to make Phyllis jealous. The Imp goes into the club totally drunk. He overhears people at the next table talking about how Kara has a new man.

            Kara goes back to her dressing room. There is a man waiting for her when she walks in and hugs and kisses him. Dick walks in. Kara hugs the man again and says to Dick that her hug is evidence for a divorce and gives him money to send The Imp away.

            The next day The Imp comes home. He plans on moving out after all he has done. He is surprised to hear that Dick forgives him. Dick just says that he made a mistake, a big mistake, but he has learned from it. The Imp goes to Phyllis in the dining room where she is writing out wedding invitations. He tells her the letter really belonged to him. Phyllis is excited and very happy to hear that the letter did not belong to Dick. She goes to dick and tells him she loves him. They kiss.

            The only way I ever sought out The Truth About Youth was for Myrna Loy (if you have been following this blog for some time you will know I have an undying love for Myrna Loy). This was one of her early roles when she was at Warner Bros. In her early career Loy was known for playing vamps and the other woman. I like seeing Loy in her vamp roles she was so good at them and she had the look. Loretta Young was alright her acting was not too great at this time. The actors who played Dick and The Imp were nothing to write home about. The story was boring. It was funny to see how even back in the 1920s and 1930s guys went out and got drunk and went to clubs on their twenty-first birthday. Back then I want to say going out drinking and to a club was a little classier than it is now. At least now guys do not fall in love with a woman so fast and marry them two days later. The Truth About Youth is not a film I would recommend watching unless you are a Myrna Loy or Loretta Young fan.  

Maisie Goes to Reno (1944)

Maisie Goes to Reno is the eighth of ten films in the Maisie series. This is the first time I have ever sat through one of the films and the first time I have seen Ann Sothern in a film. I was expecting this to be an overly cute and overly screwy film and I was pleasantly surprised how truly funny and enjoyable it was.

            Maisie Ravier (Sothern) works in a war factory. As she walks in the factory all the guys whistle at her. Maisie is nervous, jumpy, and tired. She goes to see the doctor and he can clearly see she is exhausted and gives her two weeks off advising her to take a vacation. Maisie’s old band leader Tommy Cutter tells her he and his band are heading out to Reno for a gig and asks her to come along. The only thing is she has to find her way to Reno herself.

            Maisie goes to the bus station. All the tickets to Reno are sold out for the next three weeks. An older woman gives Maisie her ticket but tells Maisie that she thinks she should go back home to her husband and work things out like she is doing. A soldier named Sgt. Bill Fullerton saw the whole exchange with the tickets. Maisie recognizes him from when they were in college and he was on the football team. Bill tells her he is married to a beautiful girl whose family has a lot of money and she never told him because she wanted someone to fall in love with her not her money. Somehow someone told Bill his wife had a lot of money and she became upset. He left to fight the war and now she wants a divorce. He found out that someone has been blackmailing his wife trying to get to her money saying that Bill keeps writing letters asking for money which he never has. Maisie gives Bill her ticket. Just before he can get on the bus an MP tells him that his division is about to head out and they have to leave together. Bill gives Maisie her ticket back along with a letter to his wife.

            In Reno, Maisie meets Flip (John Hodiak). He works at the hotel and knows where she can find Gloria. Flip and another man keep telling Maisie they can take Bill’s letter to Gloria personally. Maisie never lets go of the letter and Flip winds up taking her down to the house he knows Gloria is staying at outside of town. Maisie is let into the house and meets a woman who tells her she is Gloria. Maisie hand the woman the letter and tells Maisie Bill is still asking her for money. Maisie is upset to hear that she helped a no good man and leaves. The woman is really named Wini Ashburn, she goes upstairs to the real Gloria (Ava Gardner). Wini and two other men have been blackmailing Gloria. They have someone writer her letters that are supposed to be from Bill. When Maisie gets back to the hotel she calls Bill and tells him she is mad at him for making her give the letter to Gloria when he lied to her about wanting money.

             Flip takes Maisie out to his place in the woods. She likes Flip but is not too sure about him. She wonders why he is not fighting. She thinks he has a wife and four kids somewhere. Flip lets her know that he was wounded in action he is not married or a draft dodger.

            Back at the hotel Maisie and Flip are at lunch in the dining room. She sees Wini and thinking she is really Gloria goes up to the table. After getting identities straight she tells the Gloria about going to the house the night before. Gloria says that the papers have been after her so the make things easier and to screen the people that come by she has Wini pretend to be her. The manager of the hotel thinks Maisie is being a nuisance asking Gloria all these questions. He demands Maisie to wait by his office so they can speak. While waiting for the manager she sees a man named Clave on the phone and realizes that he talking to Pelham the man who was sitting with Gloria.

            Maisie senses there is something funny going on. She decides to help Bill get Gloria back and hilariously does whatever she has to do to get to the truth. Everything she does is too hysterical to give away. Just know that with some help she manages to get Bill and Gloria back together and that she winds up with Flip.

            Ann Sothern was hilarious. I had only ever seen her in photographs before this film.  I did not know what to expect with Sothern. From the photographs I have seen of her she looked like she was a serious actress I never thought she would have this high voice and be really funny. From this film I gather that Maisie was supposed to be a typical American woman who was doing her part for the war effort by working in a factory and was always willing to help someone out with their troubles. I was dying laughing when Sothern sang and performed the song Panhandle Pete. She looked like she was so bored and could care less her face was so straight and sarcastic looking.  I would not mind at all seeing Sothern in either another Maisie film or any of her other films. This was one of Ava Gardner’s first films… well actually I should say one of her first billed films. Before this MGM had no idea what to do with her and just cast her as an extra. Gardner was stunning. If I was an audience member in 1944 and saw this film I would want to see more of Ava Gardner. I would have written to the studio or the newspapers or left a comment at the theaters that I really liked her and thought she was beautiful. Gardner’s acting was very good but you can see she was still a little insecure and a bit held back. John Hodiak I had only seen in The Harvey Girls besides this and he was not very nice in that. It was weird to see him be so nice and not a cowboy. This was also one of Hodiak’s first starring films.

            Maisie Goes to Reno was hysterical. From the moment it started I was hooked. Maisie is what I imagine if Nora Charles got her own film only Nora would be a bit more sophisticated and put together. Maisie Goes to Reno was just the right amount of funny, cute, and silly without being overwhelming. Unfortunately the film is not available on DVD or on Youtube. I caught this some time ago on TCM and recorded it. Definitely watch Maisie Goes to Reno if the channel ever airs it again.