1925 - THE BIG PARADE, a classic war film, maybe.

Considering the high reputation of this famous film, I was little surprised to see how much comedy relief there was in the first hour of this film.  I had always assumed that this was for the most part a very serious war drama.  

MGM's big star from this era, John Gilbert always seemed like a pretty boy actor for the most part.  However King Vidor or someone had him trim his mustache and he actually looks like a real person for a change.  He gives a decent performance as well.

King Vidor was one of those American film directors who could impose a person style even in a cookie cutter studio like MGM.  The battle scenes are very impressive and have an interesting visual style to them.

After consideration The Big Parade is a very good film somewhat hampered by some of the usual Hollywood storytelling, a love story, funny soldier buddies, settings that look like studio backlot sets, etc.

141 minutes, written by Laurence Stallings and Harry Behn.

1925 - BEN HUR, the spectacular silent version

My DVD is the restored version of the silent film complete with color sequences and scenes tinted to achieve a special visual mood. 

Anyway you look at it, this is quite an incredible film.  The two large scale action sequences, the battle at sea with the pirates and the famous chariot race are very exciting and impressive sequences. 

The story does change things a bit from the 1959 remake with Ben Hur raising an army to place under the command of Jesus in order to expel the Romans from Judea.  The 1959 version dropped this subplot probably for the better but it does give this version a fascinating twist.

The 1925 version of Ben Hur took 2 years to film with lots of production problems which included, a change of directors and leading men.  The production started filming in Italy and was closed down and relocated to Hollywood.

This is still a pretty incredible film even compared to the remake which is a very good film as well.

143 minutes.

1925-MGM STUDIO TOUR, Hollywood's home movies

Somebody got the bright idea to film a home movie about the back lot of MGM studios.  This thirty minute silent film frequently airs on TCM when they have a half an hour of time to fill before the next movie.  It's fascinating.

The viewer really gets an amazing view of how a major Hollywood studio created films.  Each department at MGM had a fully staffed group of technicians from carpenters to musicians to production managers to you name it.  The department heads stand in front of the camera and smile for the cameraman they look very uncomfortable getting their picture taken.  It's like watching an amateur home movie photographed by your parents.

MGM even had their own power substation on the lot, pretty incredible.  MGM was known as the movie factory, they were a well oiled machine in many ways.  They were able to take a story create a budget and marshal the resources of the studio to bring it to the screen.

A lot of the success of MGM could be contributed to one man,  the legendary Hollywood big wig Louis B. Mayer.  There are many stories about Mayer's iron handed rule of the studio but there is no question he built a pretty remarkable organization. 

Seeing something like this really makes the Cahiers du cinema's auteur theory look like a total joke.  The real auteurs of Hollywood films were the various studio department heads who were responsible for the look and quality of a film.  This was particularly true at MGM.

As I watched the contract directors posing for the camera, I realized that most of them ended up leaving the studio.  MGM in particular was not a director friendly studio.  You did not express your personal vision at MGM.

MGM was in the business of pumping out pictures for the public.  It had to keep the product flowing to their chain of theaters.  It also maintained a certain level of technical quality which gave their films a certain glossy look.  They may not have always made the greatest films and they certainly produced plenty of crap but the films always looked good. 

About 30 minutes.