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132 Shorter Reviews
PEOPLE ON SUNDAY
(Germany, 1929)
Directed by Robert Siodmak u ' ^ •'
This is essentially a piece of film realism, made on location and dealing with "real" people in real situations. It depicts, not without some hamming and contrived action, the lives of people in their twenties. Two men, one a wolf, the other a good "joe," go for a picnic with two girls on a blind date arrangement. Both girls are attracted to the wolf. When one plays too coy, the other takes over and a love affair is had under the pines and next to some debris. The whole outing is done in a documentary fashion and the relationships between the girls, as one is jealous of the other and later, after the affair, as both close ranks against the men, is honestly and unerringly presented. The film moves quickly and although it has some qualities of a home movie on occasion, it is well worth viewing. Among other things, it shows that the silent film could deal with everyday problems without all the emoting, white-faced makeup, and melodramatic action that many of its detractors attribute to all films made before sound. The print is not too fine a "dup" but it is viewable and complete.
(Brandon Films)
SALOME
(U.S.A., 1922)
Directed by Charles Bryant
This film is based on the Oscar Wilde play and deals with Salome who performs the Dance of the Seven Veils before her lusting father, Herod, so that she can have the head of Jokanaan whose lips she desires to kiss.
The picture is interesting mainly as an indication of set design and of the technical beauties of lighting that the screen had achieved by 1922. It is one of the first full-fledged stylized films and marks one of the high points of the American screen's attempts to achieve "art". Its sets are based on the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley and are properly exotic. The film has some fine moments and some excellent supporting actors and it could have been the masterpiece that Miss Nazimova intended. Unfortunately, however, it is her own performance which is the major flaw. Her interpretation, however consistent, does not agree with the Wilde play nor with the spirit of the sets. There is none of the sensual desire, none of the depraved and perverted voluptuousness which is the key not only to her character but to the major action of the play. Nazimova is cute and pert, as only a twenties heroine can be, and acts more as a spoiled brat than as a wicked princess. She does not even give the illusion that she has ever desired a man. Thus what was intended to be a starring vehicle for Nazimova turns out to be a work worth seeing in spite of her performance.
There are other flaws. Everything seems more enacted than actually occurring, but this can be partially blamed on the film's emphasis on sets rather than on acting. Although the picture is not dynamic and one