More Rare Classics Worth Seeking Out

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

Here are a few more highlights of the many rare films shown at the 30th annual Cinefest I attended March 25-28 in Syracuse NY. Two of these, “Are Parents People” and “Orchids and Ermine” can be found on DVD with a little searching, but the others are only available through various film archives.

EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE (1927) This was George O’Brien’s first role after “Sunrise” and is a good example of his dramatic appeal. He’s the son of a woman married to a New York barge captain but they never tell him who his real father is before their barge is struck by a ship and sunk. O’Brien escapes the wreck and finds his way to the East Side, where he’s adopted by a Jewish family (especially daughter Virginia Valli) after defeating some bullying Irish gang members. Then he rises to fame as a boxer unknowingly under the patronage of his real father (Holmes Herbert), who also has him tutored to become an engineer. Plenty of class conflict works its way into the plot, as well as romance, a subway collapse, a shipwreck, and more.

ROARING RAILS (1924) This standard but slick railroad melodrama is held together by Harry Carey and a very young Frankie Darro, getting off to a rousing start during WWI, then jumping to a few years later when Carey is fired from being a locomotive engineer because his boy distracted him and caused a train wreck. Later he finds work laying tracks for a railroad that a rival railroad is trying to sabotage. The incredible action-packed climax with a train racing to find a blind boy locked in a cabin during a red-tinted forest fire was raised to true classic level by the thundering pipe organ accompaniment of Philip Carli squeezing every bit of sound he could out of the instrument and emotion out of the scenes.

THE WHITE DESERT (1925) This story of wintertime mountain railroad construction bears some plot similarities to the management-labor problems in “Little Church Around the Corner,” but with snow and an avalanche replacing the mine collapse, made more vivid by the excellent surviving print. It’s beautifully shot and edited with spectacular location scenery and good miniatures.

ARE PARENTS PEOPLE? (1925) The lovely original Kodascope print really added to the enjoyment of this domestic comedy deftly directed by Mal St. Clair and sort of a precursor to “The Parent Trap.” Perky Betty Bronson is a teenager caught in the middle of the pending divorce of parents Florence Vidor and Adolphe Menjou, and decides to bring them together by getting into trouble and then taking up with a handsome young doctor. There’s also a great scene when a visiting movie star acts out his favorite scenes for a bewildered Florence Vidor.

ORCHIDS AND ERMINE (1927) This may be Colleen Moore’s best as well as most typical vehicle, with some hilarious witty title cards, fun and lively performances, and the first screen appearance of Mickey Rooney as a lecherous midget! The beautiful Kodascope print made the standard story of a working class girl falling for a millionaire in disguise that much more enjoyable.

WINGED VICTORY (1944) While overlong, under the direction of George Cukor Moss Hart’s wartime play becomes one of Hollywood’s best World War II propaganda films, a vivid look at wartime American sentiment and the Army Air Corps. The first half, showing hopeful cadets training to become pilots, could easily be trimmed from over an hour to about 15 minutes or so. The second part, however, from the newly commissioned bomber crews’ last night before deployment through their service in the South Pacific, has some powerfully dramatic moments, notably a scene with three wives discussing their situation in a small apartment, a scene of Christmas at the island air base, and a scene with the base anxiously awaiting the main characters’ plane, which is late returning from a mission.

Film festivals like Cinefest, the upcoming Columbus Ohio “Cinevent” over Memorial Day weekend, and the Hollywood “Cinecon” over Labor Day weekend, among many others, are the only way to see substantial numbers of classic films that exist only in film archives or private collections.

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