The Film Mercury (1928-1929)

Page Six THE FILM MERCURY, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1929 Hollywood, Calif. Best Pictures and Performances of ’28 as selected by Richard Watts Jr. Well, here it is again, the end of the cinema’s fiscal t ear, and it is up to all of us professional screen observers to set down our favorite pictures and performances of the season, our verdicts on the current trend of the films a d our judgments on the other requirements a reviewer must meet to retain his standing as a regular member of the Screen Critics Union. The first demand is the publishing of the ten best pictures of 1928 but I will presume on the mercy of the house committee and provide at the outset a list of all the pictures that seemed to me worthy of consideration for place in the privileged group. Before making any of my lists I would beg leave to state parenthetically that such selections are bound to be highly tentative. No matter how carefully you may go over all of the pictures you have seen during 1928, you are bound to forget some of them while making your choices. Furthermore the list made today is bound to differ, if only just a trifle, from the list made tomorrow. I defy you to make a selection of the ten best of anything right now and then, after making another list in twenty-four hours, discover that the two coincide. All of these apologies and explanations having been made, it may be time to get down to the business of the lists. First, 1 shall try to present, as alphabetically as possible, the photoplays I saw during 1928 that seemed to me worthy of consideration for membership among the ten best of the period. Thanks to “The bilm Daily,” which has published the names of all the pictures released during the season, it is possible to check off the following films: “Beggars of Life,” “The Big Noise,” “The Circus,” “The Crowd,” “Docks of New York,” “Dressed to Kill,” “Dr Martini,” “Forgotten Faces” “Ivan the Terrible,” “The Last Command,” “The End of St. Petersburg,” “The Magnificent Flirt,” “The Man Who Laughs,” “Mother Knows Best,” “The Patriot,” “The Racket,” “Sadie Thompson,” “Show People,” “Street Angel,” “The Student Prince,” “Submarine,” “Ten Days That Shook the World,” ' “Homecoming,” “Shadows of Fear,” “White Shadows in the South Seas,” and “The Wind.” Unless I miss my count grievously the number is twenty-four. Having fought off the inevitable as long as possible, the only thing left to do is toss aside cowardice and bravely name the following as the ten best photoplays of 1928: “The End of St. Petersburg.” “The Patriot.” “The Last Command.” “Ten Days That Shook the World.” “The Man Who Laughs.” “White Shadows in the South Seas.” “The Wind.” “The Big Noise.” “The Crowd.” “The Docks of New York.” On going back over my list 1 am struck at the outset by two considerations. The first is that the first four of my ten, were either made in Russia or are based on Russian themes. The second is the unfairness of deciding arbitrarily on ten pictures as my quota, and thus omitting “Ivan the Terrible” (another Muscovite work), “The Racket,” “Homecoming” and “Street Angel” from a group they most completely belong to. It might be well to add in an explanatory note that “Ten Days” is included because of the tremendous power of many of its individual scenes, rather than through its merit as an artistic entiety; that “The Big Noise” is named because it contains a quality of distinctively local political satire that, in its implications, is both unique and devastating ; that “The Crowd finds a place for the fine honesty of its effort, rather than for any complete fulfillment, and that “ i he Docks of New York” is selected for its distinct and impressive directorial and pictorial style, rather than for any merit of story or dramatic movement . . . . That may suffice for apologies at the moment. The matter of the ten best performances is even more difficult, because the tendency is to list players who have appeared in the ten best picture group and forget the competent portrayals in lesser films. It is surprising how inevitably first-rate photoplays find first rate performers to act in them. Nevertheless there may be a certain value in the naming of the ten performances that first spring to mind when trying to pick out such a group, and so, without any more apologies, I beg to offer the ten characterizations which I remember most vividly from my 1928 picturegoing. They are : Alexis Danor, the boy in “The End of St. Petersburg.” Emil Jannings in “The Patriot.” Chester Conklin in “The Big Noise.” James Murray in “The Crowd.” Janet Gaynor in “Street Angel.” Charles Farrell in “The River.” Anita Page in “Dancing Daughters.” L. M. Leonidoff in “Czar Ivan the Terrible.” Olga Baclanova in “Streets of Sin.” Richard Tucker in “On Trial.” Davy Lee in “The Singing Fool.” Somehow or other it seems absurd that there isn’t room in such a company for the portrayals of John Gilbert in “Masks of the Devil,” Raquel Torres in “White Shadows in the South Seas,” Lillian Gish in “The Wind,” Clive Brook in “Interference,” Lewis Stone in “The Patriot” and Clara Bow in “Ladies of the Mob.” As nearly as I can recall, it is the duty of such a survey to suggest something about the apparent tendencies of the films. Of course, it seems the logical thing to say a word about the inevitability of the talking cinema and I would do so were it not for the fact that I have yet to meet a layman who doesn’t despise the new medium. I wonder if this dosen’t indicate that screen speech is in for a more difficult time than it suspects and that there is a distinct possibility of the silent photoplay staging an effective comeback during 1929. I hope I am not too optimistic. * * * Alexander On Warner Script J. Grubb Alexander, who recently completed his contract with Universal and immediately signed with Warner Bros, has received his first assignment from the latter organization. Alexander is writing the screen version and dialogue on “The Gamblers,” a stage play by Charles Klein which scored successfully several years ago throughout the East. Alexander’s most recent effort was the screen version and dialogue on “The Bargain in the Kremlin” for Universal. * * -* Littlefield Signs Lucien Littlefield has been signed by Wid Gunning to essay the featured character role in “The Haunted House,” which is to go into production immediately. vjf -Sir Snell Original for “U” Earle Snell’s latest original story for Universal, “Companionate Troubles,” will go into production early next month. * * * Denny Talkers Reginald Denny’s three latest pictures, “Red Hot Speed, “Clear the Deck” and “His Lucky Day” are being transposed into talking productions under the direction of Edward Cline, for Universal.