It had been a while since my last viewing of a silent film, and I wanted something on the short side. Since John Barrymore seems best remembered for his voice (in addition to being part of an acting dynasty), the thought of his pre-vocal work intrigued me. OK, I had seen Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but it didn't stay with me.
TBR is set in 15th-century Paris under Louis XI, with an All Fools Day parade early on. Sound familiar? There's a reason the studio reused much of the set of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Incidentally, the cast includes three actors who would go on to feature in Freaks, but none is a hunchback.
In truth, I spent more time as I watched thinking about silents like Robin Hood and The Mark of Zorro. After all, those feature beloved rogues. It must have been a fashionable topic in the '20s. Barrymore is no Douglas Fairbanks in terms of energy, but he delivers as Francois Villon, a real-life notorious wino, philanderer, burglar, patriot, smart aleck, and poet.
On that last note, my compliments to the writer on both the poetic and nonpoetic intertitles. From what I've seen of French-to-English translation, the good rhymes and rhythm are not far-fetched. Other lines are as amusing, dramatic, or romantic as the situation demands.
Yes, romantic: Villon decides to drop "philanderer" from his CV after chancing to meet Charlotte, a ward of the king. Louis (creepy Conrad Veidt between The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Man Who Laughs), at the advice of his astrologer, has offered her unwilling hand to a friend of the Duke of Burgundy in order to quell the duke's hostility. Villon sees four reasons to prevent this marriage: He finds her beautiful, she already loves his poetry, she wants nothing of the other guy, and the marriage would bring Burgundy that much closer to usurping the throne. Being mentally unstable, Louis takes easily to suggestions from various sources and develops a complicated attitude toward Villon, who in turn finds his allegiance tested...and his attractiveness reduced.
A sensitive viewer might have concerns. Not only does this story glorify a criminal (and his buddies by association); it shows him drinking wine as a baby, and the resolution involves a form of "justice" no longer in favor even against those who inflict such. That said, I for one find it pretty easy to downplay offensive elements in my mind when the movie is silent, well-paced, and a mite fuzzy on visual details.
If you dig silent historical adventures, don't you worry about it. This film has pretty much everything you care to look for. It's not really anything I hadn't seen before, but it's comfort food for the old-school cineaste's soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment