Cinefest 2012 review

I just returned from ANOTHER great weekend of movies at the annual Syracuse Cinefest film festival and I’m prepared to give a review based on a star rating system from * = poor to **** = excellent.  Just a word of caution, I didn’t see every movie the Syracuse Cinephile Society showed this past weekend, if I didn’t see it, I noted in the list.  Also, I left out descriptions as I could have been writing for a week and wanted to get my review out while it was still fresh in my mind.  Here we go:

Thursday

FOOTBALL 40 YEARS AGO (1931) * ½
Fairly interesting short with “Pop” Warner showing us how football was played in the old days.  It was pretty painful to hear him talk in front of the camera but not terrible by any means and I loved the "button" method of alerting the center to snap the football.

HELLO OUT THERE (1949) ½ *
James Whale's direction couldn’t save this TV show spot from being anything other than a curio.  It gets half a star because of his involvement and atmospheric sets.

WIFE TROUBLE (1928) ***

I liked this short.  Man’s wife mistakes him for cheating with a lingerie salesperson.  Lots of laughs and a scantily clad woman.  LOVED IT!

BELL BOY 13 (1923) ** ½  
A light comedy with Douglas MacLean.  Enjoyable all around and didn’t tax my brain at all

BAD COMPANY (1931) *** ½
This is the kind of movie I go to Cinefest for!!  Pre-code with gangsters and Ricardo Cortez as the head of his mob. It’s out on laserdisc somewhere, but I’ve never seen it before, but I’m glad I did!

TRAILER MANIA IV: The A's, B's, and C's of Universal (1930s-60s) – didn’t see it and frankly don’t really care about trailers from this year or any of the other 3 years previous.

MATCHMAKING MOMMA (1928) ** ½  
Fairly funny Mack Sennett comedy with Carole Lombard and one of my all-time faves, Sally Eilers (with dark hair, no less).  Interesting because it contained sequences of two-strip Technicolor that looked wonderful.

THE FORBIDDEN TRAIL (1923) ** ½
Another silent with the story of a parentless baby who falls in love with the lead.  Jack Hoxie was fine in the role  and lots of great action scenes in between. 

HELEN OF FOUR GATES (1920)  - didn’t see

RED SALUTE (1935) – didn’t see

N.Y., N.Y. (1957) ½ *
Saw this and boy am I sorry I did.  Art films either belong in museums or in the bottom of the trash can.  This one belongs in the latter.  Gets a half star because of the mildly interesting jazz score in the background.

CRASHING HOLLYWOOD (1931) ***
Very funny two-reeler directed by Roscoe Arbuckle about two city girls impressed by their “farm bred” friend. 

MULTICOLOR DEMO REEL (1930) * ½
Mildly interesting demo reel.  Could have done without the monotonous guy flying in his plane but beggars can’t be choosers.  The shots of the stars were the highlights for me!

   
THE STREET OF FORGOTTEN MEN (1925) ***
I like this one, a lot!  Basically this was a retelling of the “Stella Dallas” story but real seedy bar room scenes and fast pace kept me interested.  Louise Brooks made a brief appearance and looked adorable, even though she played a prostitute.

MOONLIGHT AND PRETZELS (1933) – didn’t see

HI DIDDLE DIDDLE (1943) – didn't see

Friday

CONTENTED CALVES (1934) ** ½

Good little short from the “Blondes & Redheads” series at RKO.  How June Brewster had any career with that voice is amazing but I love her!  GOOD STUFF!

SKIRMISH ON THE HOME FRONT (1944) * ½

Mildly interesting and over the top take on what your house could look like after World War 2 is over.  The film has a bunch of Hollywood stars and maybe helped the war effort.

HIS NEW LID (1910) – didn’t see

CLASSMATES (1914) – didn’t see

LAUGHTER (1930) – didn’t see

LADDIE (1940) – didn’t see

TILLIE'S TOMATO SURPRISE (1915) * ½

This early comedy, with Marie Dressler, is a tough one.  First only one reel survives and second, I really have a hard time with these primitive comedies.  It was worth seeing but not one I need to see again.

 
PARTNERS THREE (1919) **

Just a so-so feature with Enid Bennett.

JUST NUTS (1915) ** ½
An early Harold Lloyd film in his Willie Work incarnation, pretty good comedy.

A DEEP SEA PANIC (1924) ***

This one had me in stitches.  A Paul Parrot starring role of a reworked  Harry Langdon title “Shanghaied Lovers” (1924), this short has enough gags to keep you laughing throughout

ASTRAY FROM THE STEERAGE (1921) * ½
I really wanted to like this comedy with Billy Bevan and Louise Fazenda but I didn’t find myself laughing that much.

CONFESSIONS OF A CO-ED (1931) *** ½
A great pre-code with Sylvia Sidney about a college girl having a baby out of wedlock.  LOTS of girls walking around in lingerie!!  Good story, too!

THE TOY SHOP (1928) ½ *
I hate cartoons with kid characters.  The only thing saving this turd is the Technicolor.

A SONG IN THE DARK (1920s-30s) *** ½
Richard Barrios presents another installment of clips from early musicals.  NEVER to be missed, this one was a lot of fun.

FOOD AND GROWTH (1930) ½ *
Utter crap.  I do not care about the growth habits of rats.  Who really gives a shit??

THE DARK MIRROR (1920) * ½  
A film about someone trying to psycho-analyze the leads dreams.  Meh.

 
THE GRACIE ALLEN MURDER CASE (1939) - didn't see


Saturday – 35mm show at the Palace Theater

NO CHILDREN (1929) ***
Pretty funny two-reel comedy about parents not being able to get a hotel room because they have children.  Lots of child hijinx with them tormenting the hotel dick. 

THE JANITOR (1919) **
Sometimes these early comedies work, sometimes they don’t.  This Hank Mann comedy was just all right, not great, not bad and the fighting scenes were just hilarious.

THE PEST (1922) *** ½
What more needs to be said, it’s a Stan Laurel comedy.  Everyone should have a view of this one.

 
THEIR FIRST EXECUTION (1913) * ½
An early Mack Sennett comedy with nearly everyone making wild gestures and crazy faces.  This one was not as amusing as other Sennett’s I have seen but Ford Sterling was great, as usual.

GET YOUR MAN (1927) ****
Even though two reels of this feature were missing (title cards with explanations made up for it) this Clara Bow vehicle was terrific!  It’s really too bad that some of her silents from this period are missing as I think she was at the top of her game. Maybe the best film of the weekend.

MR. FIX-IT (1918) ***
Super fast paced comedy with sans-moustache Douglas Fairbanks which was a pleasure to watch.  No wonder the public loved this guy!

HAIL THE WOMAN (1921) *** ½
Florence Vidor vehicle that I was enthralled by.  The father, played by Theodore Roberts, is a misogynistic pig and although purporting to be Christian, judges everyone from the start, including his own daughter.  Great cameo by Vernon Dent as Flo’s jilted pursuer.

ONE A MINUTE (1921) ** ½

Neat little programmer with Douglas MacLean trying to save the family drug store.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE (1937) ***

Unseen Three Stooges short??  Yup, just what I needed but the projectionist didn’t turn on the sould for the first 30 seconds, so that kinda sucked.  Just enjoyable.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME (1932) **
This film when on too damn long.  JackOakie was funny, but once the story switched from Vaudeville to Hollywood, it just got crazy (like "Hellzapoppin" but no where near as funny)and D-R-A-W-N out.  BLAH!

Back at the hotel and now we switch from film to digital presentation:

A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902) * ½
I understand the historical importance of this film and yes, this IS from the restored hand-colored print but I really don’t care all that much.  When David Shepard announced the producers had spent something ridiculous like $500,000 on this restoration, I was thinking to myself, “Hmmmmmm, they should have let this turn to dust and restored them two Colleen Moore films in Italy and about 4 others”.

THE MUSIC MAKERS (1929) ***

Too bad the first reel of this Willie & Eugene Howard Vitaphone short doesn’t survive, as the second half was terrific!

CLARA BOW FRAGMENTS (1920s) ***
Interesting brief clips from a bunch of Clara Bow films saved by a collector and presented by the Museum of Modern Art.  Common clips from “It!” but brief snippets from the missing reels of “Get Your Man”.  The only downside is the clips were “projected” too slow.  Oh well.

HIS CAPTIVE WOMAN (1929) ** 1/2
Interesting little film with Dorothy Mackaill & Milton Sills.  This courtroom drama was another film which went on way too long, but it’s rarity (the sound version has not been seen in 80 years) made up for the film length.  GREAT performances by Marion Byron & Gertrude Howard.  Hopefully this film can be restored as the quality of the print looked superb but the digital projection was jerky.  Lots of beautiful scenery, with and without Ms. Mackaill!!

MAMBA (1930) *** ½

Another winner for me, although I heard some people didn’t like it.  I though Jean Hersholt’s performance as the loathsome lead was tremendous, there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this guy that would give any reason to sympathize with him.  Eleanor Boardman was pretty stiff as the heroine.

KING OF THE KONGO (1929) – was not shown

back to FILM from this point on:

 
EXILE EXPRESS (1939) – didn’t see

Sunday

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR (1940) -didn't see

THE AUCTION HOSTED BY LEONARD MALTIN ****

What more can I say other than I look forward to this every year.  Lots of fun and Leonard makes it interesting!

THE CITY OF BEAUTIFUL GIRLS (1950)
WAY OUT WEST IN FLORIDA (1951)
PARLOR, BEDROOM and WHEELS (1952) – didn’t see any of these

WITHOUT REGRET (1935)
THE UNTAMED (1920)
CHAMPAGNE WALTZ (1937) – didn’t see any of these either, on the way back home.

All in all, a wonderful weekend of great films, friends, food, and fun times.  Cant wait for it again next year!!!