Now that the dust has settled from last weekend’s TCM Film Festival in Hollywood, I wanted to post a few final images from the event – a mixture of archival and live captures – that didn’t make it into our blog coverage as well as a few posts that didn’t make the deadline. Foremost among them was Lorraine Lobianco’s report on the one-time showing of the FRAGMENTS program which included clips from RED HAIR (1928) with Clara Bow and John Ford’s VILLAGE BLACKSMITH (1922).  

First, I’d like to share some images from the film festival’s wild card movie, NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH (1948). Though U.S. audiences may be more familiar with the 1971 Robert Aldrich remake, THE GRISSOM GANG, this is the rarely seen original British film adaptation of the James Hadley Chase novel which attempts, with varying degrees of success, to emulate American gangster flicks of the period right down to the accents. With the exception of New York City native Jack La Rue, the entire cast is British but none of the performances will bring to mind the posh respectability of a Masterpiece Theatre production.

NO ORCHIDS is a feral, schizophrenic melodrama, complete with musical numbers (the Grissom gang operate a nightclub) and oddball comic touches (Louis the headwaiter (Charles Goldner) at the club seems to have wandered in from a French farce), and by the end of it almost every major character is dead. While the pacing is uneven with an occasional dip into the doldrums, the bizarre nature of the “experiment” comes through in the eccentric performances – everyone from Lilli Molnar’s mean-spirited Ma Grisson (don’t make her mad or you’ll get her famous triple slap) to backwoods Barney (Michael Balfour), a Deliverance precursor, to the malevolent Eddie (Walter Crisham), whose hatchet face is mesmerizing in its ugliness.

The film was a surprise hit at the Brit Noir film festival programmed at the NYC’s Film Forum earlier this year by Bruce Goldstein and is soon due for release on DVD by VCI (release date 5/25). At the TCM film festival screening, it was introduced by Goldstein and Tim Roth, who admitted that only after a few minutes of watching it, his jaw was on the floor. Maybe it’s not quite as mind-boggling if you’re not an Englishman but it certainly raised a ruckus in England when it was released and was instantly banned, earning some of the most venomous reviews of its decade. It would hold the record as the most loathed British film of all time until Michael Powell’s PEEPING TOM in 1960. The following images from NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH were compiled from the Richard Gordon collection by Bruce Goldstein.

The above photo of lead actress Linden Travers (Miss Blandish) was…uh…enhanced by the publicity department for promotional purposes.

Below is the sort of theatre display I wish exhibitors still employed from time to time when they had a film that deserved full-on exploitation.

Ok, next item. Lorraine Lobianco was on hand to cover the FRAGMENTS screening and here are her comments: “As archivists around the world race to save movies before they are gone forever, sometimes small bits – even fragments – are found of films believed to be lost. To know that 90% of silent movies have been destroyed due to chemical decomposition or fire (the original nitrate stock on which films were made was highly flammable), can be depressing for a classic movie lover. Most people would feel ripped off at only being able to see a short snippet from a film because there is a psychological expectation of seeing a narrative in its full form.  The audience was warned that it would be frustrating, sad and depressing, because you can’t see a fragment without being aware of what has been permanently lost.  But it can also be encouraging to see how far film preservation has come in the last thirty years.  And no better audience could be prepared to handle these emotions and be inspired than the audience at the Mann’s Chinese Theater this morning for the “Fragments” presentation.

The clips ranged from a lost John Ford film VILLAGE BLACKSMITH (1922) to LOTUS BLOSSOM (1921), one of the rare Hollywood films with a mostly Asian cast.  King Baggot, a top leading man in his day, but who ended up working as an extra, was seen in CHANCE MARKET (1916) in which he played the double role of a millionaire and a thief.  The shortest clips were literally one second ‘fragments’ from a Colleen Moore/Edmund Lowe lost film HAPPINESS AHEAD.  These were shown three times and then as a video slowed down to allow the audience to take in as much as possible.  Likewise was a short snippet from a Ramon Navarro film A LOVER’S OATH (1925).  The mere mention of Navarro’s name caused sighs from the ladies in the audience and that feeling was shared by Melissa, the archivist at the Academy.  A self-confessed Navarro fanatic, she found the piece attached to another film and was able to identify it by his costume. Another archivist was given a rusted film can by her aunt, who had bought it for $2 at a flea market.  Inside was a 1929 trailer reel for three early talkies, one of which is now lost.  

Perhaps the most exciting fragments were the first shown – Clara Bow in RED HAIR (1928) and THREE WEEKENDS (1928) which were found at director Clarence Badger’s ranch in Lone Pine, California.  RED HAIR came as a bit of a jolt, because it was filmed in early Technicolor and show Bow as she was in real-life, a red-head.  This all-too brief clip seems to be from the rushes, where Clara repeats the same action (offering someone a fish) over and over with a few variations as she improvises.  At the end of the clip, a technician comes up with a slate-board.  Other clips show Clara (supposedly nude) in a fish pond with lily pads while William Austin is holding her robe.  Later, Austin holds her in his arms while she kisses him and again, improvises over his shoulder.  These are very rough moments, giving the audience a tantalizing glimpse of Clara Bow at work.  It was, as we were warned, sad and depressing to know that as far as anyone knows – this is all that remains of the film.  It is also encouraging to know that around the world, archivist are at work, trying to preserve these kinds of precious moments for future generations.”  

Glenn Erickson, who covered the restored METROPOLIS screening, had one final post that didn’t make it to the festival blog, but revealed a press scoop that only audience members in attendance were privy to hear. Although the below information was confirmed in an official press release the following day, Glenn’s final post was great news for those who enjoyed their first TCM film festival experience: ” This Isn’t The End,” says Robert Osborne. As part of his opening speech for the premiere of the METROPOLIS restoration, the TCM Fest’s final event, host Robert Osborne told the assembled audience of 1100 that it had been decided that the festival will not be a one-shot affair, that it was coming back to Hollywood Blvd. next year. The news was greeted with a roar of approval from the audience. I heard several say that they were definitely going to return. I was here at Grauman’s Chinese for the first years of the Filmex exhibitions in the 1970s and this TCM Fest rivals that popular festival for audience satisfaction. What we’re seeing may be the start of a new film festival tradition.”

For myself, I wanted to compile a list of my favorite moments from the entire affair from start to finish in scrapbook fashion.    

1. Watching the rehearsal of the Aqualillies, a synchronized swimming troupe, prior to their performance in the Hollywood Roosevelt swimming pool where a screening of NEPTUNE’S DAUGHTER was scheduled with Esther Williams and Betty Garrett in attendance.  

 
2. Janet Gaynor’s heartfelt rendition of “I’m a Dreamer (Aren’t We All?)” in SUNNYSIDE UP, which was accompanied by her own autoharp playing as she stared into the souls of the audience. The above clip from YouTube is from a rough and battered print so imagine what it looked like in a new pristine 35mm print.

3. Marjorie Main as the whip-cracking, homicidal matriarch of a demented hillbilly clan in George Marshall’s 1945 black comedy, MURDER, HE SAYS. It’s sort of like watching Ma Kettle on crack and though the film is comparable in tone to Frank Capra’s frantic movie version of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, I think it’s much funnier and more macabre.    

4. The limpid blue of Lee Remick’s eyes in the gorgeous print of Elia Kazan’s WILD RIVER (preserved by The Film Foundation). 

5. The pre-screening lobby display for the midnight showing of THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1962), assembled by film restorer Michael Hyatt. Avid fans of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW know that Janette Scott and triffids are referenced in the cult movie’s theme song, “Science Fiction Double Feature.”    

One of my favorite production stills from THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (above).   

6. The awe-inspiring 70mm print of Jacques Tati’s PLAYTIME at the Egyptian Theatre – proof that Tati was a cinema visionary, ahead of his time.  

7. The sparkling restored print of THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE (1933), which featured a sexually charged, contemporary performance by Miriam Hopkins and vividly captured the sordid, perverse narrative of William Faulkner’s original novella, Sanctuary. Of all the Pre-Code films, this one joins ISLAND OF LOST SOULS and SAFE IN HELL as one of the more lurid and disturbing examples from that short-lived period in American cinema.    

8. Boris Karloff’s remarkable portrayal of “the monster” in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Seeing it again on the big screen reminded me of why he made such a strong impression on me as a six-year-old kid – his wounded, animal-like cries and moans and abused innocence juxtaposed against the cruelty and terror he inspires among the so-called “normal people.” You can’t help but emphasize with the creature and that’s a rare achievement in a horror film.  

9. Cleopatra’s procession into Rome – one of the great visual set pieces in the 1963 epic, CLEOPATRA, which was prefaced by a talk with co-star Martin Landau.  

10. The sight of 100-year-old Luise Rainer coming down the aisle of the Egyptian Theatre, beaming with happiness, at the thunderous applause and standing ovation by audience members.