Yesterday, I had so much fun introducing two films in the lineup yesterday of the AFI Silver Classic Film Weekend, here in Silver Spring, Maryland: Wild Girl (1932), directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Joan Bennett, Charles Farrell, with a robust supporting cast including Ralph Bellamy and Eugene Pallette.
I also introduced the final film of the day, the rare and virtually un-seeable Man Trouble (1930), directed by Berthold Viertel. Un-seeable because the print was destroyed in the catastrophic Fox vault fire in 1937 – a fire resulting in one death, and the loss of the entire archive of Fox’s silent films, and films before 1932. The only thing that survived of Man Trouble was a 35mm nitrate, restored recently by the UCLA Film Archive. Hopefully it will eventually stream soon so everyone can discover it. It stars the wonderfully real Dorothy Makhaill, an actress I fell in love with when I tripped over Safe in Hell (1931), and was like, “wait, wait, WHO is THAT.” She’s so real, so grounded, her work feels so right now. Also starring Milton Sills, a forgotten actor and therefore a really fun research project. I’ll be doing posts about both Makhaill and Sills. Sills dropped dead of a heart attack playing tennis with his wife just weeks after the release of Man Trouble. He was a HUGE star, and now totally forgotten … so I’d like to pay tribute to him. He was one of the founders of Actors’ Equity in 1913. A Union man! So important!
Also on the lineup yesterday was One Hour With You, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald – a pairing I’m not particularly fond of – the funniest moment in the film was a quick cut to Charlie Ruggles wearing an Elizabethan costume, and Dancing Lady – which I’ve seen, starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone. Quite a love triangle, offscreen and on.
I’ve met a couple of people I’ve been friends with online for about 15 years. Never met them in person. It’s been so fun. We went out for Thai food and had a blast. Met some nice new people, as well as festival attendees who came up to me after screenings to discuss the films I’d introduced. This was lovely. The lineup of speakers is here, and I am truly honored to be in the company of such heavy-hitters.
The hotel is a block away from the AFI movie theatre. So … that’s all I’m seeing of Silver Spring.
The festival was included on the list of The 35 best things to do in the D.C. area this weekend and next week in the Washington Post, online AND print!
