Post by mastervamp on Jul 9, 2006 15:53:09 GMT -5
MANTRAP (1926)
Well, this was my very first order from Sunrise Silents, and I was not certain what to expect? Watched MANTRAP (1926), last night! Also picked up another feature they had on sale SMOULDERING FIRES (1925), with lovely Laura La Plante.
Now the MANTRAP score, sounded as if it were a combination of Accordion, and Xylophone? Pretty odd, in any event? The opening theme used was AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'! Unfortunately, this is a tune that was not recorded until 1929! Guess I'm a bit of a stickler for that type of thing!
A much sought after Clara Bow title, Directed by the great Victor Fleming of GONE WITH THE WIND fame, this Paramount pictures release has long been in mothballs! For the most part it remains so. I had been waiting to see this film for a long, long time! So I decided to pick this edition up while I still could.
Isn't SUNRISE SILENTS, the same company that had DANCING MOTHERS, for sale, and was forced to pull the title over copyright issues? Perhaps one of these days Kino, or Image, will release an official DVD version of both these films? I sure hope they do!
Print quality on MANTRAP was still decent, but would have definitely been better, if the feature had been recorded at a higher bit rate. They try and stick all these extra features on these disc's, and they are DVD-R's not true pressed DVD's, so your bound to lose some potential clarity! Even from just a 16 millimeter master.
Looking at it again, this transfer might have actually been processed from a Super 8 silent reduction print? They could easily opt for a dual-layer DVD-R, and this would probably allow Sunrise a chance to present everything at optimum recording quality. Projection Speed is slow too. Not 16 frames per second, but probably 18 frames per second? Which perhaps not coincidentally, is Super 8 millimeter Silent speed.
Anyway, I only endured the music for about 8 minutes, than reverted back to the 20's standards on my computer! I composed a lovely theme in my head, for the two main characters reluctant romance. Would have worked splendidly!
The movie starts out with a overworked lawyer named Ralph Prescott (Percy Marmount), from the city. He is sick of handling Divorce cases, and of the wonton women he routinely has been representing. Seems like they have their designs firmly set on him, before the papers are even filed on their husbands! Thus decides He needs a break. A buddy, convinces him to go on a sabbatical, to Mantrap a hunting and fishing region up in Canada. He agrees.
Meantime, there is Joe Easter (Ernest Torrence). A big square jawed Canadian, who is so back woods, He hasn't seen a girls ankle in 20 years! That was on a sojourn to Minneapolis. A neighbor astounds him with the news that "That's not even the half of what they're showin’ now!" Enticing him with some Pin Up Photo's, Torrance decides it's finally time to head back over the border once again! Once their wouldn't you know, but the very first ankle He sees belongs to Clara Bow! She is the wistful Alverna, who Ironically is actually presenting him in the immediate pose, with something a might more provocative than just an ankle to ogle at that very moment!
Turns out Alverna’ is a manicurist, and Joe just happens to wonder into the same shop where she works for a shave. They meet for the first time face to face, and before long she is toiling away on his rough "Giraffe Hoofs"! Now pathetic Joe has no idea how to flirt with a woman let alone ask her out, but He tries. Although not sure what to make of this "Hulk", She is quite taken by his extreme naïveté and burliness! Accepting his awkward invitation, just because He seems "So Different"! Surprise She Weds the Brute!
For those who wish to seek this picture out, I won't give the rest of the plot away. Only to say that an inevitable love triangle develops when Alverna’ meets the visiting Ralph Prescott, back up in Canada, during his retreat to the area.
The movie is certainly fun. Clara Bow is cute and enchanting, as the newly married habitual flirt, struggling with her natural inhibitions to remain true to her rather apish new Husband. But overall the film is somewhat disappointing, as it doesn't really have that much of a story to it. At best, this is basically a lighthearted comedy. It's Bedroom Farce, without the Bedroom!
I guess I was more than just slightly discouraged by the lack of an appropriate leading man for Clara. The dashingly handsome Park Ranger who makes a couple brief appearances, looked like a much better choice, than Percy Marmount? Who I did not feel was all that attractive. Ernest Torrence though a fine actor, is of course no prince charming either! Still I don't know, maybe with a top flight print, a proper restoration, and a strong musical score to go with it, I would think more highly of this picture, than I do?
Well, this was my very first order from Sunrise Silents, and I was not certain what to expect? Watched MANTRAP (1926), last night! Also picked up another feature they had on sale SMOULDERING FIRES (1925), with lovely Laura La Plante.
Now the MANTRAP score, sounded as if it were a combination of Accordion, and Xylophone? Pretty odd, in any event? The opening theme used was AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'! Unfortunately, this is a tune that was not recorded until 1929! Guess I'm a bit of a stickler for that type of thing!
A much sought after Clara Bow title, Directed by the great Victor Fleming of GONE WITH THE WIND fame, this Paramount pictures release has long been in mothballs! For the most part it remains so. I had been waiting to see this film for a long, long time! So I decided to pick this edition up while I still could.
Isn't SUNRISE SILENTS, the same company that had DANCING MOTHERS, for sale, and was forced to pull the title over copyright issues? Perhaps one of these days Kino, or Image, will release an official DVD version of both these films? I sure hope they do!
Print quality on MANTRAP was still decent, but would have definitely been better, if the feature had been recorded at a higher bit rate. They try and stick all these extra features on these disc's, and they are DVD-R's not true pressed DVD's, so your bound to lose some potential clarity! Even from just a 16 millimeter master.
Looking at it again, this transfer might have actually been processed from a Super 8 silent reduction print? They could easily opt for a dual-layer DVD-R, and this would probably allow Sunrise a chance to present everything at optimum recording quality. Projection Speed is slow too. Not 16 frames per second, but probably 18 frames per second? Which perhaps not coincidentally, is Super 8 millimeter Silent speed.
Anyway, I only endured the music for about 8 minutes, than reverted back to the 20's standards on my computer! I composed a lovely theme in my head, for the two main characters reluctant romance. Would have worked splendidly!
The movie starts out with a overworked lawyer named Ralph Prescott (Percy Marmount), from the city. He is sick of handling Divorce cases, and of the wonton women he routinely has been representing. Seems like they have their designs firmly set on him, before the papers are even filed on their husbands! Thus decides He needs a break. A buddy, convinces him to go on a sabbatical, to Mantrap a hunting and fishing region up in Canada. He agrees.
Meantime, there is Joe Easter (Ernest Torrence). A big square jawed Canadian, who is so back woods, He hasn't seen a girls ankle in 20 years! That was on a sojourn to Minneapolis. A neighbor astounds him with the news that "That's not even the half of what they're showin’ now!" Enticing him with some Pin Up Photo's, Torrance decides it's finally time to head back over the border once again! Once their wouldn't you know, but the very first ankle He sees belongs to Clara Bow! She is the wistful Alverna, who Ironically is actually presenting him in the immediate pose, with something a might more provocative than just an ankle to ogle at that very moment!
Turns out Alverna’ is a manicurist, and Joe just happens to wonder into the same shop where she works for a shave. They meet for the first time face to face, and before long she is toiling away on his rough "Giraffe Hoofs"! Now pathetic Joe has no idea how to flirt with a woman let alone ask her out, but He tries. Although not sure what to make of this "Hulk", She is quite taken by his extreme naïveté and burliness! Accepting his awkward invitation, just because He seems "So Different"! Surprise She Weds the Brute!
For those who wish to seek this picture out, I won't give the rest of the plot away. Only to say that an inevitable love triangle develops when Alverna’ meets the visiting Ralph Prescott, back up in Canada, during his retreat to the area.
The movie is certainly fun. Clara Bow is cute and enchanting, as the newly married habitual flirt, struggling with her natural inhibitions to remain true to her rather apish new Husband. But overall the film is somewhat disappointing, as it doesn't really have that much of a story to it. At best, this is basically a lighthearted comedy. It's Bedroom Farce, without the Bedroom!
I guess I was more than just slightly discouraged by the lack of an appropriate leading man for Clara. The dashingly handsome Park Ranger who makes a couple brief appearances, looked like a much better choice, than Percy Marmount? Who I did not feel was all that attractive. Ernest Torrence though a fine actor, is of course no prince charming either! Still I don't know, maybe with a top flight print, a proper restoration, and a strong musical score to go with it, I would think more highly of this picture, than I do?
