Cobra - 1925 - USA

Cobra - 1925 - 6/10

 
Count Torriani, hounded and pursued by women across Italy, soon sails for New York.
Where he finds the New York ladies are just as attractive, just as interested, just as brazen.
The Count is an exotic addition to an art dealer, particularly his breeding and charm.
Problem is, females, quite literally, fascinate him.
“Cobra” refers to females who spellbind the Count, who is weak for flesh.
Valentino good in this slouching melodrama, with an air of entitlement and foolishness.
Sets by Cameron Menzies are, always, flat out something else.
Forgotten today, Nita Naldi plays the full-figured vamp who beguiles our Count.

The Plastic Age - 1925 - USA

The Plastic Age - 1925 - 6/10

 
Hugh, college freshman, meets party girl, Cynthia.
She likes alcohol, dancing, juke joints and car backseats.
In due course, Hugh’s athletic prowess weakens, and his grades tumble off the cliff.
His wild girlfriend is a hot flapper, putting his college time in peril.
Clara Bow’s first smash hit, rollicks along, although tame by later standards.
Hectic energy, nevertheless, and Clara just takes your breath away.
Look for a young Clark Gable as one of the jocks.

The Mystic - 1925 - USA

The Mystic - 1925 - 6/10

Why hoodwink Hungarian villagers for loose change, when you can go to the States and fleece rich Americans?
Madame Zara and her Gypsy act arrive in New York and start the big swindle.

 
Aside from the swells at the private séance, there is a young heiress.
As well as her older guardian, quietly embezzling to play the stock market.
A Tod Browning film, this lacks the callous bite his output is usually steeped in.
Acting is fine, although one can envision Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore in key roles.

The Pleasure Garden - 1925 - UK

The Pleasure Garden - 1925 - 6/10

 
Having lost her letter of introduction, Jill pleads with the stage manager to give her a chance.
Chorus line girl Patsy takes her home, then gets her onstage.
Grateful, Jill?  She’s now a star!  Being courted by a Russian prince.
Morality tale set amidst theatrical boards.
Choices and dubious menfolk, along with a South Seas siren.
Very early Hitchcock borders on Melodrama, but the tempo perks up midway.
Plenty of tossed off sight gags that fans of this director will appreciate.

The Other Woman’s Story - 1925 - USA

The Other Woman’s Story - 1925 - 6/10

 
The accursed's perhaps love interest
He is charged with murdering his wife’s divorce attorney.
Curious Silent film, set mostly in the courthouse, observes several witnesses.
Testimonies conflict, or don’t make sense, or they subsequently “correct” them.
Viewers, like jurors, must sift before the verdict.
Mind you, revelations and a hurried search arrives at the end.
Beautifully restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

The Last Edition - 1925 - USA

The Last Edition - 1925 - 6/10

 
Wonderful Silent melodrama, filmed in and around San Francisco.
The McDonald family strikes the heights, suffers the blows.
Pa, expecting a promotion at the newspaper, is bumped for young blood.
Junior joins the District Attorney, where he is green and trusting.
The Chronicle tries to stay relevant, wile bootleggers protect their turf.
Most of the actors rely on facial expressions, subtle and quick, to help viewers.
No great shakes, but entertaining.
Note: In several scenes, workers gab or listen while the presses are rolling.  That’s impossible.  I was a paperboy; when those presses roll, the noise is deafening.

Soft Shoes - 1925 - USA

Soft Shoes - 1925 - 6/10

 
Sheriff Pat, rancher out in west Texas, inherits and has to mosey to sin-city, San Francisco.
There, he encounters a cat burglar, Faith, and is soon embroiled in all sorts of mischief.
Action moves fairly well, the comedy is broad, with sly innuendo.
Writer / star Harry Carey is crowding 50 (he ain’t no Tom Mix).  He shows a flair for humor, yet his is still too old for the role, especially in any romantic scenes.
Current print has been wonderfully restored and tinted.  Old time Bay residents might view with nostalgia.

Oh, Doctor! - 1925 - USA

Oh, Doctor! - 1925 - 5/10

Born sickly, then as an infant, Rufus is not expected to live long.
He defies the odds and persists to young manhood.
Despite being a worrywart and pronounced hypochondriac.
Enter the private – and quite pretty – nurse.

 
He decides to live, maybe a little.  Perhaps take a few risks.
Dated slapstick stars an exaggerated Reginald Denny.
Early Mary Astor role, she is a dish.

The Unchastened Woman - 1925 - USA

The Unchastened Woman - 1925 - 5/10

 
Deciding to surprise her husband with news she is expecting, instead she spies hubby canoodling on the couch with the scheming secretary.
What to do?  Why, sail to France and deliver the baby there!
When she returns, she draws a flock of admirers, driving her husband wild with jealousy.
Turgid, stodgy, melodramatic, angst-ridden, what else?
Theda Bara in another “irresistible vamp who drives men crazy” role.  I don’t get it.

The Monster - 1925 - USA

The Monster - 1925 - 5/10

On lonely country road, cars crash and drivers disappear.  Most perplexing to dense locals.
Meek clerk studies his “How To Be A Detective” manual and wonders aloud (in inter-titles) about the empty mental institution nearby.
First third of film packed with stale jokes, uninspired gags.
Naturally, a trio wind up in the sanitarium.

 
Look out!  The asylum director is none other than Lon Chaney.
Events darken considerably, though comic relief springs at the worst moments.
One wonders if film makers worried audiences might die of heart-attacks.
Creaky, stagebound, mostly tiresome, punctuated with a few grisly, if not startling sequences.

Double Love - 1925 - France

Double Love - 1925 - 6/10
AKA - Le Double Amour

 
On one side of the club, Laure leads the charity gala, raising money for the poor.
On the other, Jacques, having gambled away his own fortune, having lost Laure’s jewels, is now losing the charity funds she entrusted to him.
Jacques flees, Laure loses her wealth, her status, her reputation.
Stuffy drama about the perils of gambling and a woman drawn to extremely weak willed men.
Despite that, one views this for Jean Epstein’s directorial flourishes.
His editing is masterful, particularly the lap dissolves.
Cavernous sets are remarkable, as well, and the reaction shots of secondary and tertiary characters is generous.
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/le-double-amour/english/2864450

Das Spielzeug von Paris - 1925 - Germany

Das Spielzeug von Paris - 1925 - 6/10
AKA - Célimène, la Poupée de Montmartre  // Red Heels

 
Miles, British diplomat in Paris, is engaged to Dorothy.
That is, until he catches sight of Célimène, the hottest dancer in the theatre.
Amused, she soon bewitches and seduces Miles, who, intoxicated, proposes marriage.
Marriage?  How bourgeois.
Like her, Miles is young, has vigor, stamina and recovery, but Célimène also favors an elderly viscount who gives her diamonds and furs.  Plus, there is the adulation of her wild theatre attendees.
Decadent Michael Curtiz film has glamourous sets, risqué costumes, and a ripe Lily Damita (Errol Flynn’s thorn).
Nonetheless, high melodrama of a pair of ménage à trois.

Maciste In Hell - 1925 - Italy

Maciste In Hell - 1925 - 6/10
AKA - Maciste al Inferno

 
A demon kidnaps prime physical specimen Maciste and ferries him to Hell.
There, he contests with endless hordes of demons and wretched souls -
and - struggles with the temptations of barely clad demons of the female persuasion.
Oh, but a single kiss can be the undoing of the morally sturdy.
Very busy film.  Loads of action.  Guest characters include Lucifer and Satan!
Lavish production values.  Costumes?  Most of the underworld wears next to nothing -- or nothing.
Save for Maciste, who seems to keep his business suit on most of the time.
Bodywise, Maciste takes after the old-fashioned circus strongman (think Rodrigo Quast) and not today’s steroid pumped fantasy figure.

The Unholy Three - 1925 - USA

The Unholy Three - 1925 - 6/10

 
Decided to rewatch this after reading the original novel.
The Tod Robbin’s novel differed markedly, principally in that the chief boss is not Echo, but Tweedledee.
In the Tod Browning adaptation, the focus is Echo.  Lon Chaney was a megastar.
Three troublesome misfits leave the circus sideshow for a life of crime.
Robberies and burglaries grow increasingly violent, resulting in murder.
An absurd romance is force-fit into the proceedings (there was one in the novel, but this one is ridiculous).
The film is creaky, the pace poky.  Later Browning and Chaney pairings would be better.
The print ranges from good to fair.  This has never been remastered.  There are two 1925 versions;  one shows rudimentary tinting (done by a fan who did not grasp the principles of tinting).
The soundtrack is an random assemblage of Classical and salon, never appropriately mirroring the ongoing screen action.
Chaney deserves better.