Silent movies. Is there a more unjustly maligned film genre?
Most young people have a problem with black-and-white movies in general, but just try showing them a silent film. If it's not Chaplin or Keaton, they will likely squawk or leave the room.
But pantomime done well is truly an art form. And all dramatic silent movies are not so broad and exaggerated that they don't hold up today as credible storytelling.
Take, for example, the new DVD of the 1927 French classic "The Chess Player," which has just been released (Milestone/Image, 1930, b/w-tinted, not rated, $29.99, phone 1-800-603-1104).
This fascinating story — based on truth but reshaped to fit a political saga — is told with subtle performances, a cast of thousands and wonderful location photography in Poland, France and Switzerland.
"The Chess Player" has been compared favorably to Abel Gance's magnificent "Napoleon," and it's a worthy gesture. Both are epic silent films of scope and vigor that hold up marvelously today.
In "The Chess Player," the setting is Polish Lithuania, which has been invaded by Russia in 1776, and there is fighting and protesting in the streets. Meanwhile, Baron von Kempelen (Charles Dullin) toils away at creating automatons, lifelike human figures that have internal machinery to make them move.
When Polish nobleman Boleslas Vorowski (Pierre Blanchar, who has a wonderful face that seems made for the camera) is wounded, the baron takes him in, but knows he must hide him. Because Boleslas is a champion chess player, the baron comes up with a new idea for an automaton. He builds it hollow, hides Boleslas inside and calls it The Turk, an automaton that plays chess — and wins against all comers.
The film also has a nice romantic subplot and loads of historically based adventure. (Late in the picture a gripping sequence has Catherine the Great playing chess with The Turk, and, after a perceived slight, condemning the "machine" to be shot!)
The extras include interviews that put everything into historical perspective, including an explanation of the popularity of automatons during this period in history and the story of the real-life "Turk," which contains some mystery.
"The Chess Player" is an excellent film, fascinating in every respect and nicely restored, with a grand musical score.
"Casablanca" is also out in a new release, a double-disc set loaded with extras (Warner, 1942, not rated, b/w, $26.99, two discs), some of which duplicate an earlier one-disc edition. There's much more here, of course, and a fabulous new cleaned-up transfer; the film is now crystal clear and an even greater joy to behold.
"Casablanca" is, of course, one of the all-time great motion pictures, with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in a romance filled with intrigue (or is it a thriller filled with romance?), colorful characters and memorable dialogue.
Two audio tracks — with film historian Rudy Behlmer and film critic Roger Ebert, respectively — provide excellent supplemental material, along with an introduction by Lauren Bacall, documentaries, silent outtakes, a radio adaptation (with Bogie and Bergman), a Bugs Bunny animated spoof and much more. The only shortcoming is the truncated 1955 pilot of the first "Casablanca" TV series.
E-MAIL: hicks@desnews.com