DVD Spin Doctor

A night with Buster Keaton

Had the great pleasure of taking my son, Nick, to a screening of Buster Keaton's "Steamboat Bill, Jr." at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A.

Silent movies weren't really silent when people went to see them waaaay back when, of course. If you got lucky, an organist would play. Last night, it was Christian Elliot on the keys, trying his best to keep up with Keaton performing all those astonishing stunts.

The movie dates back to 1928; the (beautifully restored) Orpheum opened in 1926; and the theater's Wurlitzer was installed in 1928. Mr. Elliot, considerably younger than any of those elements, played with passion and precision. The print was good and it all came together on a magical night that ended in a lot of cheering.

"One must remember that silent comedies need an audience," says film historian Jeffrey Vance. "With a crowd, they come to life."

Vance made the observation in Warner/TCM Archives' "Buster Keaton Collection," which I reviewed a while back. It contains three films -- "The Cameraman" (1928), "Spite Marriage" (1929) and the talkie musical "Free and Easy" (1930).

Of the trio, only "The Cameraman" belongs with Keaton's best. This DVD set, however, has lots to offer. It doesn't flinch in telling the comic's often-tragic life story and ably positions these films as transitional works that led from indie freedom to years of shameful neglect from the studio system. The docu title says it: "So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton at MGM."

History aside, "The Cameraman" is great fun -- hilarious, quite romantic, with lots of location shots of old Manhattan -- a must for Keaton fans.

Step this way to read the full review of the Buster Keaton DVD set.

Ford's 'The Iron Horse' rides again

In 1924, William Fox presented "The Iron Horse," a fast-moving western adventure about the building of the transcontinental railroad. Last night, Fox Home Entertainment presented the newly restored film at the William Fox Theater.

"The Iron Horse" is one of the tentpole DVDs in the upcoming "Ford At Fox" box set, which includes 24 of his movies and a new documentary about the director. Most of these Ford titles are new to DVD. "The Iron Horse" has been out before, but not in this sparkling condition.

The movie tells of a father and son who try to find a shortcut through the Rockies for the east-west railroad. The father is killed by Cheyenne warriors led by a two-fingered white man gone native. The boy escapes to become our hero (George O'Brien), a man of the west. His childhood sweatheart (Madge Bellamy) arrives with her father, the railroad owner. Also with her, unfortunately, is her fiance, an engineer so weaselly that even Abraham Lincoln didn't like him.

The engineer falls in with the two-fingered traitor, now a scheming businessman trying to steer the railroad toward his lands -- and away from the much-needed route through the mountains. All Davy needs to do is locate the pass, expose the villains, fight off their Indian allies, get the girl and drive in that golden stake at Promotory Point.

Enhancing the action is a new score by Christopher Caliendo. The prolific composer lists Henry Mancini and Frank Zappa among his teachers; you can hear their influences throughout "The Iron Horse." The score feels mostly traditional, alt classical perhaps, with some engrossing detours into traditional (roots) music and the Varese-Zappa abstract. The DVD has a featurette about the music. (Caliendo worked on the revival of "Major Dundee" a few years back).

There are, of course, persistent blemishes on the 83-year-old "Iron Horse" visuals -- flashing, vertical scratches and the like -- but they're only occasionally distracting, as in one of the Indian attacks. Long passages go by without signs of wear or age. The overall impression is of silvery, richly detailed images.

Experiencing this Ford western classic in a theater was a rare treat. Based on the audience's reactions, the film retains much of its power in the new century. This DVD should not be missed.

"Ford At Fox" comes out Dec. 4, priced at $300 (before discounts). Three smaller collections go for $50. Among them is "John Ford's Silent Epics," with "The Iron Horse." The title also will be available as a $20 single DVD.

Read a short review of the "Ford at Fox" set.

Salvage job: 'Treasures III' revives old pics

The third of the National Film Preservation Foundation's "Treasure" boxes goes by the textbook title of "Social Issues in American Film, 1900-1934." Sounds like homework.

But viewers don't have to be academics to dig into these old movies -- the four-disc set is another of the preservationists' fascinating time capsules of early U.S. films, released by Image Entertainment.

(Detour here to read the full DVD review.)

There are 48 films, newly restored and all making their home video debuts. They're accompanied by audio commentaries and detailed on-screen text that's pretty much mandatory to decoding some of the films.

The set ends about the time the Hays Office began its policing of U.S. movie content. The topics are surprisingly rough-hewn: abortion, child labor, anarchy, alcoholism, atheism, police corruption and so on.

Some of the films are worthwhile just as entertainments; others earn their keep as windows back to old weird America. Most are short silent movies and newsreels but there are feature films.

Take, for example, Cecil B. De Mille's "The Godless Girl" (pictured). The big-budget 1929 film, the director's last silent, was one of the first rebellious-teenager dramas. A good start to the genre. It tells of an atheists club operating in a high school. Its leader, an charismic girl, enrages religious classmates, who attack the godless ones' meeting. The ensuing tragic riot spreads over four floors of a warehouse, caught from every angle -- over, under, sideways, down -- by a camera set in a free-standing elevator. Those who think of the director solely as ringmaster of color-drenched spectacle should check out these stark black-and-white action scenes.

"Redskin," another feature film from the last days of silents, captured its western settings in two-strip Technicolor (pictured, top). Locations included the Navaho stronghold near Arizona's Anasazi dwellings and the Pueblos' Acoma cliff city in New Mexico. The leads are played by white actors, as was customary, but much of the film is shot among Native Americans. The story keeps a brisk pace, with little sentiment to slow things down or negatively date the movie.

Many of the other early films were financed by institutions or businesses. Propaganda and other agenda-driven films were routinely played for the public as entertainment in cinemas or vaudeville halls.

The "Treasures III" book's introduction makes an interesting distinction about "lost" movies:

"The great majority of American films from this era are lost forever -- probably more than 90% -- but it's also true that many films that do survive have been lost from view. It's one mark of how inaccessible whole realms of filmmaking remain -- 30 years into the home-video era and a decade after the introduction of DVDs -- that none of the films in this set have ever been available on (home video)."

Read the full DVD review of "Social Issues in American Film: 1900-1934."

Previous titles in the "Treasures" series are Treasures From American Film Archives and More Treasures from American Film Archives, 1894-1931.