Sat 23 Apr 2016
A Silent Movie Review by Walter Albert: PETER PAN (1924).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Silent films[5] Comments
PETER PAN. Paramount Pictures, 1924. George Ali, Esther Ralston, Cyril Chadwick, Mary Brian, Jack Murphy, Philippe deLacy, Virginia Browne Faire, Betty Bronson, Anna May Wong, Ernest Torrence (Captain Hook). Based on the play by J. M. Barrie. Director: Herbert Brenon. Shown at Cinevent 31, Columbus OH, May 1999.
The high point of the convention for any silent film fan was the screening of Herbert Brenon’s Peter Pan, accompanied by a score written by Phil Carli and performed by the Flower City Society Orchestra at the piano and conducting.
I have a dimly transferred dupe of the film that did not prepare me for the overwhelming experience of viewing a pristine print in an intimate theater on the Ohio State University campus.
Betty Bronson was the Peter Pan of Barrie’s dreams (unless he preferred a male actor), and her closeups achieved a beauty and poignancy that I cannot begin to describe. The cast was impeccable, with Ernest Torrence a commanding Captain Hook, Mary Briana remarkable Wendy, and Virginia Brown Faire a duplicitous Tinker Bell for whom, nonetheless, the entire audience clapped to restore her to life.
The most indelible performance, however, was that of George Ali, as Nana the dog, a performance someone said he had played hundreds of times on the London stage. Even people who aren’t overly fond of dogs would surely have been touched by his miming.
There were several films I enjoyed [at this convention], although nothing reached the level of Peter Pan.
April 23rd, 2016 at 9:30 pm
As far as I know Peter Pan is virtually always played by women in major productions, even going back to the first production in London’s West End. I don’t think Peter has been played by a boy until relatively modern times. On stage that is often because of the relative danger of working the ropes and rigging for the flying scenes.
Young men old enough to safely do the scenes were usually too masculine to play Peter, and if the show had a successful run the young star could easily grow out of the thing — as happened frequently to ANNIE stars. A young woman could do the play uninterrupted for however long it played. There is also the problem of young boys at that age experiencing problems with their voices either cracking or deepening unexpectedly. It just made more sense to cast women in the role and not have to deal with a child as the star of a major production.
Eventually it became a tradition, one usually still followed on stage.
The film FINDING NEVERLAND deals with some of the problems of the actor playing Nana, the dog, and with his triumph on stage. Apparently he and Nana were hugely popular with audiences from the first performance on.
Hopefully this will make it to DVD, I would love to see a fully restored version.
April 23rd, 2016 at 11:19 pm
Just a quick note to reply to your last line, David. Kino Video has released it on DVD. I went looking right after posting Walter’s review. The comments on Amazon suggest that the print is “marvelous,” to quote one of them. Not too pricey either.
One other thing I didn’t know before is that the cinematographer was James Wong Howe. Even that short video clip shows how good the camera work was.
April 24th, 2016 at 7:02 am
I believe tradition also dictates that the actor who plays Nana also plays Tick-Tock the Crocodile.
April 24th, 2016 at 2:27 pm
Doesn’t Wendy’s father also play Captain Hook?
April 24th, 2016 at 5:37 pm
Ernest Torrance, who plays Hook was one of the great silent character actors, though his talkie period was short. One of those magnificent faces that, while ugly, had a kind of beauty all its own. I’ve looked on YouTube and his Hook is wonderfully full blooded, as much Long John Silver as Cyril Ritchard. The sword fight between Peter and Hook is splendidly staged considering the productions more stage bound aspects in places.
And Bronson is just wonderful with a wicked grin and impish eye, a splendid Peter Barrie would have loved.
By the way Barrie was still alive and well when this was made and likely saw it. I would love to know how he felt about it. He didn’t die until 13 years later in 1937.