THE SEA HAWK  (1924)

 A spectacular seafaring silent classic revitalized with

digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduct-

ion, a new opening titles sequence, a new intermission

montage sequence and synchronized symphonic music.   

 The Sea Hawk may not have been the first seafaring adventure film but when released in 1924  it was such a huge success both financially and critically that it became the high standard against which all other films of the genre were compared.  The New York Times said it was "by far and away the best sea story that's yet been done."  It's reputation as the unofficial champion swashbuckler lasted throughout the 1920's despite such challengers as Douglas Fairbanks' The Black Pirate and Paramount's super-production Old Ironsides, both released in 1926.  Many film buffs would argue that no other seafaring epic topped  The Sea Hawk until the release of Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn, in 1935.
 

Unlike the 1940 film of the same name, this version of The Sea Hawk is a faithful adaptation of Rafael Sabatini's popular 1915 novel.  Set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the plot is a rousing, sweeping historical melodrama rife with brotherly betrayal, mercenary seamen, cruel Spanish Galleon captains, galley slaves, Barbary pirates, Moroccan potentates and star-crossed lovers.
 

As expected, there are plenty of sequences aboard ships on the high seas and more than a few sea battles, but the story's most interesting--and most unusual for books and films of the early 20th Century--is the contrasting depictions of Western and Eastern cultures and religions wherein European standards and Christianity do not by any means prove themselves the moral superiors over "Oriental" (middle-eastern) society or the Muslim faith.
 

At the helm of this gigantic production was Frank Lloyd, who, according to the film's credits "personally supervised and directed" The Sea Hawk.  Neither a novice director nor a stranger to historical pictures, Lloyd had  by 1924 made well over forty feature films in nine years, including such costume dramas as David Garrick (1916), A Tale of Two Cities (1917), Les Miserables (1917), and Oliver Twist (1922).  A year prior to directing The Sea Hawk, Lloyd made the sumptuous historical romance Ashes of Vengeance, starring Norma Talmadge (one of the revitalized silent classics found here on Sounds of Silents and available for viewing and downloading on the Internet Archive).

With his thorough knowledge of film making and his keen understanding of the moviegoing public, Lloyd realized that by 1924 audiences would not accept the use of model ships for the nautical sequences in a prestigious production such as The Sea Hawk.  Thus, he insisted on using full-size replicas of the English, Spanish and Moroccan vessels in the film.  However, the enormous cost of building the ships would inflate the budget and make it difficult, if not impossible, for the film to cover its cost, let alone earn a profit.  
 

The solution to this problem came when Fred Gabourie, well known for creating many of the ingenious props used in Buster Keaton's comedy films, suggested building scaled-down hulls of the historic ships which could be mounted on small boats.  These mock-ups could "sail" both shallow coastal waters or even far out at sea and as they would pitch, roll, heave and sway, they would look far more realistic than model ships floating in tanks of water.  For scenes aboard ships, full-sized  sections of decks with masts and sails would be built on piers extending just far enough over the water to give the impression of being on the high seas.
 

All of the nautical scenes in The Sea Hawk were shot off the shores of Santa Catalina, a small island approximately 30 miles off the coast of southern California.  For the duration of filming here, over 100 tents were set up on the island for the cast, crew and more than 1,000 extras used in the big sea-battle scenes.
 

When casting the film roles in The Sea Hawk, Frank Lloyd neither took risks on unknown actors nor spent huge amounts of money for top stars.  His cast was comprised of experienced, reliable actors, all well known to movie audiences but not top stars.
 
To play the main character, Sir Oliver Tressilian, an English gentleman-privateer who is captured at sea and made a galley slave aboard a Spanish galleon, escapes, converts to the Islamic religion  and becomes a powerful Barbary pirate known as the Sea Hawk, Lloyd chose Milton Sills, an experienced stage and film actor whose dark, handsome face and strong, robust build had made him a matinee idol.  The Sea Hawk marked the high point of Sills' career both in popularity and accolades--the film critic for The New York Daily News wrote "Mr. Sills is somewhat magnificent...in his alive and conquering role."
 

For Sills' leading lady in The Sea Hawk, director Frank Lloyd chose the lovely Australian actress Enid Bennett.  Neither an ingénue nor a top star, Bennett at age 29 in 11924 had played leading roles in over two dozen films, most of them while under contract to Thomas H. Ince at the Triangle Film Corporation.  Her greatest success prior to The Sea Hawk was in the role of Maid Marian, opposite Douglas Fairbanks, in the 1922 smash hit Robin Hood (one of the revitalized silent classics found here on Sounds of Silents at Blogger.com and available for viewing and downloading at the Internet Archive.net).).
 

Bennett remained a popular and highly regarded actress throughout the 1920's.  She survived the transition to sound films and in 1931 played Jackie Cooper's mother in the sensationally popular film version of Percy Crosby's comic strip Skippy.  The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and marked the high point of Bennett's talking-picture career.  By choice, she worked less and less for the remainder of the decade and retired from the screen in 1941.

 

The Sea Hawk had many diverse supporting roles--English nobles, Moroccan spies, etc.--bu tthe three key secondary character parts were Lionel Tressilian, the half-brother who arranges Sir Oliver's kidnapping and deportation from England, Captain Jasper Leigh, the mercenary seaman whose cowardice causes Sir Oliver to become a galley slave aboard a Spanish galleon but later becomes Sir Oliver's trusted envoy and friend, and Asad-ed-Din, Basha of Algiers, who mentors Sir Oliver's career as a Barbary pirate.
 

Lloyd Hughes, who played the treacherous Lionel Tressilian, began acting in films in 1918 and, due to his clean-cut good looks, was soon working steadily playing minor  or secondary roles.  His break came in 1922 when he starred opposite Mary Pickford in the hit film Tess of the Storm Country.  He then became a popular leading man and in 1924 alone appeared in eight films, including The Sea Hawk--one of very few times he was cast against type as the villain.
 

The turbaned, white-bearded Muslim mogul, Asad-ed-Din, was played by veteran stage and screen actor Frank Currier.  After a highly successful career as a leading man on Broadway in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, Currier began working in films in 1912 and soon became a busy character actor, much beloved by audiences for playing kindly or curmudgeonly grandfather roles.  Despite the character of Asad-ed-Din being inherently ostentatious, Currier wisely underplayed the part.  Whereas lesser actors would have been bombastic and extreme, Currier knew an all-powerful ruler who is also a strict adherent to the Islamic laws need not try to impress or threaten, and that quiet cunning is far more sinister.
 

Wallace Beery, one of the busiest, most versatile, highly regarded and enormously popular character actors of both the silent and the sound eras, played Captain Jasper Leigh with all the endearing crudeness for which he was already known and which would make him a world-famous top-ten box office star in the 1930's.  The Sea Hawk was but one of eight feature films Beery appeared in during 1024.  He is also the only actor to date who appears in three of the revitalized silent film classics found here at Sounds of Silents on Blogger.com, the others being Robin Hood and Ashes of Vengeance.  No doubt, he will appear in still more of this site's collection of revitalized silent films in the future.  
 

So grab a bag of popcorn and set sail over the bounding main as Sounds of Silents presents a GCM Production of a MaxManLA Video, The Sea Hawk, newly
revitalized with digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction, a new opening credits sequence, a new intermission montage sequence and a synchronized symphonic music track.

The link below opens a page with FREE online viewing as well as several FREE downloading options made available by The Internet Ardhive.org. 

 

THE SEA HAWK (1924) 

 

 

COMING SOON to this Blog

 

The Sea Hawk (1924) is a colossal epic awash with piracy, abduction, slvery and heroism on the High Seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.  Its far-flung locales sweep the action, intrigue and romance from Cornwall, England to Algiers, Morocco.  Adapted from the best-selling novel by Raphael Sabatini and directed by the much-lauded Frank Lloyd, The Sea Hawk was one of the top money-makers of the silent era and was widely considered the greatest sea epic for many years after its release. With a new, synchronized symphonic music track, original title cards reproduction, digital image enhancement and a new, original opening titles sequence, this will be one of the most entertaining and glorious revitalized silent films yet to come from the GCM Productions-MaxManLA Videos team.  Don't miss it!

 

 

 

ZAZA - 1923 - Gloria Swanson

 ZAZA  (1923)

Gloria Swanson, superstar of the 1920's, is triumphant in the role that changed her career forever; directed by the great Alan Dwan, a silent-screen classic full of laughs, tears, fun and romance, revitalized with synchronized symphonic music, digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction, and a new opening credfits sequence; a GCM Production of a MaxManLA Video presented by Sounds of Silents. 

 Gloria Swanson wanted to play the title character in Zaza for one reason--to prove she was a serious actress. Already a major film star, by 1923 she seemed to have everything--success, fame and fortune. The only thing she didn't have was respect for her talent. She was just as determined to gain recognition as a serious actress now as she had been to become a star when she first began working in films just eight years earlier.
 

She was fifteen when she entered the movies as an extra in short comedies. At sixteen, she caught the eye of Keystone Comedies mogul Mack Sennett, who teamed her with comedian Bobby Vernon in a series of sweet and popular romantic comedies. After a year, Sennett told her he intended to make her a second Mabel Normand--the top comedienne at Keystone who also happened to be Sennett's lover. Swanson said she didn't want to be a second anybody and Sennett promptly fired her.
 

What might have been the end of her film career was instead the lucky break she needed. Playing small parts in feature-length films, she came to the attention of Cecil B. De Mille, the top director at the company about to be called Paramount Pictures. She signed a seven year contract with the company and soon became De Mille's favorite actress, starring in one hit picture after another for him and in the process becoming a fast-rising star.
 

Paramount decided to remove her from De Mille's unit and when Swanson complained, the bosses told her she was now a star, capable of carrying her own vehicles. They said having two several stars in one picture with De Mille directing was like "putting all their eggs in one basket. Rather than have three stars in one De Mille picture, there was more money to be made by having one De Mille picture and three star-vehicle pictures.
 

This meant putting each star under contract to Paramount in a string of feature films all created from the same formula. In Swanson's case, the recipe called for glamour, romance, high society and especially clothes, lots and lots of exotic, extravagant, outlandish and even absurd gowns, hats, shoes, jewelry and furs. These pictures made Swanson one a top-ten star but she knew and resented the fact that she was famous for nothing more than being a beautiful clothes horse. No one considered her a true actress.
 

When she asked the studio executives to give her roles with substance, films with good plots, they warned her against tampering with a successful formula. She realized if they continued giving her nothing but silly, empty star vehicles, sooner or later the public would tire of them and of her. Something had to change or her career would be finished when her current Paramount contract expired.
 

To escape Paramount's short-term plans for her, Swanson told her bosses that she needed serious medical attention at a New York hospital, then took the train to New York. Whether or not she had a health issue requiring special treatment didn't matter, at least not to Swanson. She left Hollywood because at Paramount's east coast studios director Alan Dwan was preparing a new picture and Swanson wanted the lead role. She wanted to play Zaza.
 

Since its premiere on the Paris stage in 1898, Zaza had become the play every great dramatic actress used to show her range and versatility. The character of Zaza, a lowly prostitute who becomes a provincial music hall star and the mistress of a married Parisian dignitary was full of contradictions. She was crass, vulgar and tempestuous but also sensitive, intelligent and vulnerable.
 

Swanson recognized much of herself in Zaza and believed she could give a strong performance. She also knew the Paramount bosses would scoff at the suggestion of casting her as Zaza--and everyone in Hollywood would laugh at the very idea of the famous clothes horse playing such a famously difficult part.. To get the part, she needed a champion on her side, someone the studio executives respected.
 

That someone was director Alan Dwan,. He had just finished directing Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks and that picture's enormous success gave him the clout Swanson needed in her corner.. Initially, Dwan was skeptical of Swanson's ability to play the part but after several meetings and much discussion, Dwan gave in and lobbied on her behalf. As expected, the studio bosses trusted Dwan's opinion and nervously consented to the casting of Gloria Swanson as Zaza.
 

To Paramount's surprise and delight, Zaza was a box office hit, taking in almost half a million dollars. To the shock and disbelief of everyone except the film's star and its director, Swanson was superb in the role. Her triumph in Zaza put her career on a new path. She now had her pick of any part, no matter how dramatic or difficult. She now had the recognition of her talent and the respect as an artist that she deserved. After Zaza, no one ever took Gloria Swanson for granted again.
 

Now, you can watch and enjoy the great Gloria Swanson in Alan Dwan's adaptation of the celebrated French play as Sounds of Silents presents the GCM Production of a MaxManLA video, Zaza, a silent film classic revitalized with synchronized symphonic music, digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction and a new opening titles sequence.

The link below offers FREE online streaming as well as several FREE download options.  

 

ZAZA (1923) WATCH/DOWNLOAD 

 

THE CONQUERING POWER (1921)

The Conquering Power  (1921)

Rudolph Valentino stars in Rex Ingram's adaptation of Balzac's classic novel, a tale of greed, manipulation, betrayal and the conquering power of love--a silent film classic revitalized with synchronized symphonic music, digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction and a new opening titles sequence

 

 

Full-color movie poster showing Rudolph Valentino in "The Conquering Power" 1921.Add caption

Rudolph Valentino did not want to play the lead in The Conquering Power. The role of Charles Grandet, a Parisian dandy forced to woo his provincial cousin for her money after his father's death leaves him penniless, was hardly the sort of virile, scintillating role Valentino wanted and rightly felt he deserved. Playing a fey milquetoast now, at this pivotal point in his career, could destroy Valentino's exotic, seductive image and spoil the public's excitement and anticipation just when he was on the verge of becoming a major star.
 
 

One-sheet advertisements for Metro Pictures' "The Conquering Power" 1921.Add caption

He'd spent four long, lean years in Hollywood, visiting casting offices and chasing after every prospect for an interview or an audition, slowly working his way up from extra to bit player, from small featured roles to third leads in support of a star. Type-cast due to his dark, Mediterranean looks, he played gangsters, con-artists, gigolos or any other brand of non-American villain. Then his big break came when Alla Nazimova, a wildly avant-garde Russian actress racing against time to reach film stardom before middle age overtook her, cast him as Armand, the male lead opposite her in Camille. The part was stylish, sexy and sympathetic, a role that could grab the interest of audiences and the attention of producers--if the film was a hit. Released in August, 1920, the lavish Art Deco adaptation of the classic romance was a beautiful and expensive flop.
 
 

Newspaper ads for "The Conquering Power" with Rudolph Valentino, 1921.Add caption

His hopes crushed, Valentino decided to quit Hollywood forever, relocate in New York, start a new life and a new line of work. While staying with friends in Greenwich Village, he read the popular novel about World War One, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibanez and became fascinated with the character of Julio, a fiery Argentinean playboy. Certain that the best-selling book would be adapted for the screen and realizing the part of Julio was perfect for him, Valentino searched the film-trade magazines until he read that Metro Pictures had purchased the film rights. Anxious to get an interview and hoping the role had not already been cast, he went directly to Metro's New York offices.
 
 

PHOTOPLAY magazine review of "The Conquering Power" 1921.Add caption

Upon arriving, he gave his name to a secretary who quickly ushered him into the office of writer and producer June Mathis. Before Valentino had a chance to state his case, Mathis told him she was preparing the film version of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She'd seen Valentino in the film Eyes of Youth and thought he'd be perfect for the role of Julio. She'd spent weeks searching for him in Hollywood before learning of his relocation. Still hoping to find him, she'd come to New York but after days without any success she decided to give up and go back to Hollywood. She was just about to call and make reservations for the train to Los Angeles when out of the blue and into her office stepped Valentino. They both believed destiny had brought them together that day--just as they both believed that the role of Julio would make Valentino a star.
 
 

Filming "The Conquering Power" in 1921, director Rex Ingram, star Rudolph Valentino.Add caption

They were right. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse became one of the highest grossing pictures of the silent era and as Julio, Valentino was a sensation. A new star had been born and the only people unaware of it were the executives at Metro Pictures. They rejected his request for a salary increase, they gave him no publicity and now they cast him in a role that could undo everything The Four Horsemen had done for him. It made no sense to him--until shooting started on The Conquering Power and he became the daily target of director Rex Ingram's bullying, belittling and humiliating campaign. Now he knew who was behind Metro's negligent treatment of him and he knew the reason for it.
 
 

Rudolph Valentino in his most atyhpical role, a Parisian dandyh, in "The Conquering Power" 1921.Add caption

Rex Ingram had never liked Valentino--and the feeling was mutual--but since The Four Horsemen the dislike on Ingram's part had soured into intense hatred. Ingram had directed the film that made Valentino a star and played no small part in guiding Valentino through a performance that thrilled audiences nationwide. Now, Ingram considered Valentino an ingrate for not giving him due credit and even worse, Valentino was now more famous and more popular than Ingram. Out of spite, Ingram wanted to punish Valentino.
 
 

Examples of silent film director Rex Ingram's classical style in "The Conquering Power" 1921.Add caption

Biding his time, Valentino endured the director's insults and abuse while making The Conquering Power and when the production ended, so too did Valentino's obligation to Metro Pictures. Soon after leaving Metro, where he'd earned $350 a week, he signed with Famous Players-Lasky--which would soon become Paramount Pictures--for a salary of $1,250 a week.
   
 

Silent film actor Ralph Lewis plays the old misert Pere Grandet in "Ther Conquering Power 1921.

Add caption

His first film for Famous Players-Lasky was The Sheik. Playing the title role not only made him one of the biggest stars in Hollywood but also confirmed his reputation as the great Latin Lover, exotic and passionate, an image so powerful that it remains the popular conception of Rudolph Valentino even now.
 
 

Rudolph Valentino and Alice Terrry in "The Conquering Power" 11921.

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So treat yourself to the privilege of seeing Rudolph Valentino in one of his most atypical roles in the film he reluctantly made between his two greatest successes, as Sounds of Silents presents a GCM Production of a MaxManLA Video, The Conquering Power, revitalized with synchronized symphonic music, digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction and a new opening titles sequence.

The link below offers FREE online viewing as well as several FREE downloading options.

THE CONQUERING POWER (1921) with SYNCH SYMPHONIC MUSIC

 

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 Hotel Imperial  (1927)

  Legendary star Pola Negri in a World War I drama of espionage, heroism and romance--a silent super- production revitalized with synchronized symphonic music, digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction, a new opening titles sequence, a new Gallician history montage sequence and new World War One battle sequences.

The purpose behind making Hotel Imperial was to boost the sagging popularity of Pola Negri. Polish born and formerly the greatest female star in German cinema, she had dazzled American film audiences with her image as the glamorous, passionate, worldly femme fatale in a stringof romantic melodramas for Paramount Pictures since 1922. Now, five years into the game of fantastic--and usually fake--publicity stories and rehashed formula film vehicles, the public was growing weary of Pola and bored by her films.
 

Making matters worse for her film career was her personal life--which was certainly not private. Negri's high-profile love affair with the original Latin lover of the movies, Rudolph Valentino, had initially thrilled their fans and had become serious enough that stories claiming they were engaged to be married began appearing in newspapers around the world. When Valentino died suddenly of peritonitis in 1926, millions of people felt a deep, personal loss and mourned him reverently.

 

So Negri's actions at Valentino's New York funeral created a scandal that turned the public's sympathy for her into condemnation of her. Negri fainted repeatedly before the thousands of people gathered outside the funeral parlor and, even worse, her every sob, wail and collapse was reported and photographed by the press. The next day, headlines in newspapers worldwide jeered, hissed and vilified Negri for what the press implied, but never stated, was a publicity stunt.
 

If it was for publicity, it certainly succeeded. Negri's name and face were unavoidable, plastered on newspaper front pages and magazine covers everywhere. But was it all for publicity? Negri was no fool and must have known in advance what public reaction would be to her using Valentino's funeral for self promotion. For the rest of her life, Negri said Valentino was the love of her life and that, being Polish, her extreme and uncontrollable emotions were typical of Slavic people, who considered suppressing one's agonizing grief at a funeral to be shameful, contemptible behavior. She might just have been telling the truth about this--think of all the scenes on television news broadcasts in the 1990's during the wars in the Balkans, showing men and women screaming, tearing at their hair and, yes, fainting over the deaths of loved ones.
 

Negri drew more harsh criticism when, less than a year after Valentino's death, she suddenly married Serge Midivani. One of the so-called "marrying Midivanis," five siblings whose family had fled Russian Georgia during the Bolshevik revolution and relocated in the west. Though dirt poor, they cleverly gave themselves noble titles with which to attract rich, gullible women who dreamed of marrying Prince Charming. Serge Midivani overflowed with charm, was handsome and athletic, and gave himself the title of a prince. Negri may have been on the rebound from losing Valentino or smitten with Midivani's good looks or in love with the idea of becoming a "princess" but whatever her reasons for marrying Serge, public opinion said that her marriage to Serge Midivani was yet another publicity stunt which proved conclusively she had never loved Valentino.
 

Thus, in an attempt to regain public favor and revive box office revenue, Paramount replaced Negri's image as a beguiling vamp with that of a humble, down-to-earth maiden, pure of heart but still feisty and passionate. In Hotel Imperial she played Anna, a chambermaid at a small, rustic hotel in the Galician hinterlands. With unkempt hair, little makeup and dressed in ill-fitting rags, Anna swept floors, emptied dust bins, and secretly dreamed of romance. Anna was no better and no worse than the typical American girl who went to the movies twice a week.
 

For the movie-going American male, who had been drawn to Negri's films by the sin, flesh and sexual situations they inevitably contained, Paramount gave Hotel Imperial suspense, danger and action in a plot involving warfare, spies and heroism--plus the added attraction of Negri performing what amounted to a strip-tease in the climactic scene.
 

As would also be the case with Garbo and Dietrich during the sound era, Pola Negri's popularity in Europe remained strong throughout her silent film career and Paramount, in an effort to ensure or improve business for Hotel Imperial overseas, hired the great German producer Erich Pommer and the acclaimed Swedish director Mauritz Stiller to give the film a distinctly European atmosphere.
 

So watch the dynamic, sensational, and ever controversial international legend of the silent screen, Pola Negri, in one of the most pivotal films of her illustrious career, as Sounds of Silents presents the GCM Production of a MaxManLA Video, Hotel Imperial, revitalized with synchronized symphonic music, digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction, a new opening titles sequence and new World War I battle montage sequences.
 

The link below offers FREE online viewing as well as several FREE downloading options.


LINK: HOTEL IMPERIAL (1927) with SYNCED MUSIC