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shadowkatI haven't seen the film The Artist yet, but every film review I've read sounds like a run-down of what happened to silent film star John Gilbert, and his great and doomed romance with Greta Garbo.
I am a bit bemused by the fact that none of the reviewers seem to know about Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, the silent film stars that the film appears to be based on. Instead they keep talking about Charlie Chaplin. And as far as I can tell from the reviews? The film has zip to do with Chaplin. Chaplin wasn't the only silent film star, just the most translatable to modern times. And he didn't do these types of romances nor was his life tragic in that way. According to one professional reviewer they borrowed from Rudolph Valentino, Chaplin and Gilbert. But...the plot provided in each of the reviews is however, very similar to the real life events of John Gilbert's life not really Chaplin. I think I saw a made for tv miniseries in the 70s about it as well? Can't remember, but I can swear I've seen the story before. And certainly both A Star is Born and Singing in the Rain referenced it.
Here's what Wiki says about John Gilbert:
Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw. Though he was often cited as one of the high profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to talkies, there was speculation that his decline as a star had to do with studio politics and money and not the sound of his screen voice.
Audiences awaited Gilbert's first romantic role on the talking screen. The vehicle was the Ruritanian romance His Glorious Night (also 1929). According to film reviews of the day, audiences laughed nervously at Gilbert's performance. The fault was not Gilbert's voice but the awkwardly scripted, overly ardent scenes of lovemaking; in one scene, Gilbert keeps kissing his leading lady (Catherine Dale Owen) while saying "I love you" over and over again. (This scene was parodied in the MGM musical Singin' in the Rain (1952), where a preview of the fictional The Dueling Cavalier flops disastrously). Director King Vidor stated that Rudolph Valentino, Gilbert's main rival in the 1920s for romantic leads, probably would have suffered the same fate in the talkie era, had he lived.
Regarding Garbo and Gilbert:
Here's the a video :
In case you can't get it?
Here's the write up of their romance.
Cinema Magazine proclaimed, "John Gilbert stands alone at the top-most pinnacle of film fame. There is no one that can approach him." John was making $10,000 a week and romancing star Greta Garbo, with whom he made several highly successful, lust-filled films that included Flesh and the Devil (1927), Love (1927), and Woman of Affairs (1928).
On the day of Gilbert and Garbo’s elaborate wedding, September 8, 1927, at the fantastic Hearst mansion hosted by Hearst’s paramour, star Marion Davies, Greta changed her mind, did not appear, and left John alone at the altar. During the party, John had a terrible row with studio boss Louis B. Mayer after Mayer stated to John, "What do you have to marry her for? Why don't you just screw her and forget about it?" John flew into a rage, attacked and punched the magnate. Mayer shouted up from the floor, "You're finished, Gilbert. I'll destroy you if it costs me a million dollars."
Mayer kept his word, and did his best to harm John, putting him into films of inferior quality, hurting his reputation, and warning other studios not to hire him. It is rumored that Mayer himself or his chief sound engineer manipulated the knobs of Gilbert's first talkies so that the sound of his naturally higher pitched voice came out shrill, a "white noise," and when Gilbert's declarations of love, "I love you, I love you, I love you," were first heard in His Glorious Night (1929), audiences throughout the country were sent into uncontrolled snickers and howls of laughter. It was the beginning of the end of the career of the screen's highest paid matinee idol, who was earning $250,000 per film. That same year, John married actress Ina Claire, and they divorced in 1931.
John's career continued to decline, not really because his voice was actually high-pitched, as is legend, but, perhaps, because his refined and cultured manner of speech seemed at odds with his visual image. His was not the voice which audiences had heard in their minds. Depressed and insecure, the handsome actor, always a heavy drinker, increased his consumption.
-http://emol.org/film/archives/gilbert/index.html
Am I the only one whose mother was obsessed with old movie stars and their personal histories? I was weaned on this stuff. The Momster is a virtual encyclopedia of film lore.
I am a bit bemused by the fact that none of the reviewers seem to know about Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, the silent film stars that the film appears to be based on. Instead they keep talking about Charlie Chaplin. And as far as I can tell from the reviews? The film has zip to do with Chaplin. Chaplin wasn't the only silent film star, just the most translatable to modern times. And he didn't do these types of romances nor was his life tragic in that way. According to one professional reviewer they borrowed from Rudolph Valentino, Chaplin and Gilbert. But...the plot provided in each of the reviews is however, very similar to the real life events of John Gilbert's life not really Chaplin. I think I saw a made for tv miniseries in the 70s about it as well? Can't remember, but I can swear I've seen the story before. And certainly both A Star is Born and Singing in the Rain referenced it.
Here's what Wiki says about John Gilbert:
Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw. Though he was often cited as one of the high profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to talkies, there was speculation that his decline as a star had to do with studio politics and money and not the sound of his screen voice.
Audiences awaited Gilbert's first romantic role on the talking screen. The vehicle was the Ruritanian romance His Glorious Night (also 1929). According to film reviews of the day, audiences laughed nervously at Gilbert's performance. The fault was not Gilbert's voice but the awkwardly scripted, overly ardent scenes of lovemaking; in one scene, Gilbert keeps kissing his leading lady (Catherine Dale Owen) while saying "I love you" over and over again. (This scene was parodied in the MGM musical Singin' in the Rain (1952), where a preview of the fictional The Dueling Cavalier flops disastrously). Director King Vidor stated that Rudolph Valentino, Gilbert's main rival in the 1920s for romantic leads, probably would have suffered the same fate in the talkie era, had he lived.
Regarding Garbo and Gilbert:
Here's the a video :
In case you can't get it?
Here's the write up of their romance.
Cinema Magazine proclaimed, "John Gilbert stands alone at the top-most pinnacle of film fame. There is no one that can approach him." John was making $10,000 a week and romancing star Greta Garbo, with whom he made several highly successful, lust-filled films that included Flesh and the Devil (1927), Love (1927), and Woman of Affairs (1928).
On the day of Gilbert and Garbo’s elaborate wedding, September 8, 1927, at the fantastic Hearst mansion hosted by Hearst’s paramour, star Marion Davies, Greta changed her mind, did not appear, and left John alone at the altar. During the party, John had a terrible row with studio boss Louis B. Mayer after Mayer stated to John, "What do you have to marry her for? Why don't you just screw her and forget about it?" John flew into a rage, attacked and punched the magnate. Mayer shouted up from the floor, "You're finished, Gilbert. I'll destroy you if it costs me a million dollars."
Mayer kept his word, and did his best to harm John, putting him into films of inferior quality, hurting his reputation, and warning other studios not to hire him. It is rumored that Mayer himself or his chief sound engineer manipulated the knobs of Gilbert's first talkies so that the sound of his naturally higher pitched voice came out shrill, a "white noise," and when Gilbert's declarations of love, "I love you, I love you, I love you," were first heard in His Glorious Night (1929), audiences throughout the country were sent into uncontrolled snickers and howls of laughter. It was the beginning of the end of the career of the screen's highest paid matinee idol, who was earning $250,000 per film. That same year, John married actress Ina Claire, and they divorced in 1931.
John's career continued to decline, not really because his voice was actually high-pitched, as is legend, but, perhaps, because his refined and cultured manner of speech seemed at odds with his visual image. His was not the voice which audiences had heard in their minds. Depressed and insecure, the handsome actor, always a heavy drinker, increased his consumption.
-http://emol.org/film/archives/gilbert/index.html
Am I the only one whose mother was obsessed with old movie stars and their personal histories? I was weaned on this stuff. The Momster is a virtual encyclopedia of film lore.
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 02:24 pm (UTC)Sad.
Incidentally, the Gilbert/Garbo wedding story is pretty highly contested by Garbo experts... it's Hollywood, hard to know exactly what's history and what's story.
Yes, in both bio's on Wiki - it's stated that Garbo strongly contested the relationship in later years. And there's evidence that Gilbert and/or Garbo may have either been bi-sexual or gay. (They may have in fact been involved to squash rumors that either was gay.) It's not clear though. And we have no idea. Hollywood back then was even worse than now in making up false stories for its stars. (Which Singing in the Rain also parodied).
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 02:45 pm (UTC)Yeah, Chaplin had a lot of clout both as an actor and a director by the time talkies came around - he could keep refusing to speak on camera until 1940. Then again, his acting style was so expressive and so him that you hardly even think of Modern Times et al as silents. So he didn't suffer nearly as much from the transition.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 04:46 pm (UTC)During the era of McCarthyism, Chaplin was accused of "un-American activities" as a suspected communist. J. Edgar Hoover, who had instructed the FBI to keep extensive secret files on him, tried to end his United States residency. FBI pressure on Chaplin grew after his 1942 campaign for a second European front in the war and reached a critical level in the late 1940s, when Congressional figures threatened to call him as a witness in hearings. This was never done, probably from fear of Chaplin's ability to lampoon the investigators.
In 1952, Chaplin left the US for what was intended as a brief trip home to the United Kingdom for the London premiere of Limelight. Hoover learned of the trip and negotiated with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to revoke Chaplin's re-entry permit, exiling Chaplin so he could not return for his alleged political leanings. Chaplin decided not to re-enter the United States, writing: "Since the end of the last world war, I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States."
That Chaplin was unprepared to remain abroad, or that the revocation of his right to re-enter the United States by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was a surprise to him, may be apocryphal: An anecdote in some contradiction is recorded during a broad interview with Richard Avedon, celebrated New York portraitist.
Avedon is credited with the last portrait of the entertainer to be taken before his departure to Europe and therefore the last photograph of him as a singularly “American icon.” According to Avedon, Chaplin telephoned him at his studio in New York while on a layover before the final leg of his travel to England. The photographer considered the impromptu self-introduction a prank and angrily answered his caller with the riposte, “If you’re Charlie Chaplin, I’m Franklin Roosevelt!” To mollify Avedon, Chaplin assured the photographer of his authenticity and added the comment, “If you want to take my picture, you'd better do it now. They are coming after me and I won’t be back. I leave ... (imminently).” Avedon interrupted his production commitments to take Chaplin’s portrait the next day, and never saw him again.
Chaplin then made his home in Vevey, Switzerland. He briefly and triumphantly returned to the United States in April 1972, with his wife, to receive an Honorary Oscar, and also to discuss how his films would be re-released and marketed.
I think the reason he was able to do what he wanted for so long was because he created his own studio and was able to exist outside the studio system. He was also a triple threat - directed, wrote, and acted in film. Not to mention produced. He directed films starring Greta Garbo. And he could ensure the preservation of his films, while other actors did not have that ability.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-17 10:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-17 01:29 pm (UTC)both abused their power terribly.