Sun 16 Nov 2008
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: PEGGY LEADS THE WAY (1917).
Posted by Steve under Films: Drama/Romance , Reviews , Silent films[8] Comments
PEGGY LEADS THE WAY. American Film Company-Mutual, 1917; Lloyd Ingraham, director; Mary Miles Minter, Andrew Arbuckle, Carl Stockdale, Alan Forrest, Emma Kluge, Margaret Shelby, George Ahern, Frank C. Thompson, William Spencer. Shown at Cinecon 41, September 2005.
Lightning struck a third time, bringing to light a film starring Mary Miles Minter, few of whose films have survived and whose career was, in effect, ended by the unsolved murder of director William Desmond Taylor, with the scandal arising from rumors of her relationship with Taylor tarnishing her screen image.
I had never seen one of her films and I was completely charmed by her bright, take-charge performance. She returns home after studying in the East to find her father’s country store struggling in the wake of government regulations and the entire community’s livelihood and existence threatened by the dastardly actions of a heartless developer.
Fortunately, he has a son who’s as charmed by Mary as I was. He takes the side of the locals, and with Mary orchestrating the revolt, helped by a fortuitous storm, happiness and prosperity are restored to the small community.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Director William Desmond Taylor is best known today for being murdered.
But his films are slowly being revived on DVD. And guess what? They’re very good!
His “The Soul of Youth” is an engaging, heart warming melodrama, with a few crime elements. Its available on disc 1 of a four DVD collection, “Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900–1934”. This whole DVD collection is outstanding. It’s a fascinating look back at films offering a portrait of American society, mainly from the 1910’s. The DVDs are available to rent from Netflix.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I have a confession to make. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a silent film all the way through. It’s probably the same as young people (under 45) feel about movies in black and white. Why bother with old outdated stuff like that, and such crude technology and technique?
But Walter’s enthusiasm is contagious, and so is yours, Mike. I don’t know which one or when, and maybe it will be one of Taylor’s, but when (not if) I finally do watch a silent film, you will hear about it here first.
— Steve
November 17th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I’m glad Mike mentioned the Taylor film in “Treasures III.” I have all three sets and have watched them all, but the number of films included means that few of them remain in my “active” memory bank, which often needs some jogging to recall something.
The good news is that a fourth set (according to Leonard Maltin’s blog) is in the works.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Steve, you have to try some silent films. Some of my favorites star Lon Chaney. If you want humor Charlie Chaplin is tops. Metropolis is a Fritz Lang classic. There are many silent films that are well done works of art and quite enjoyable. Look up Lon Chaney on amazon.com or look at the top rated silents on the Internet Movie Data Base for ideas. Believe me, some silents make the movies that they are making today look pretty bad.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
This is amazing. There are only three people in the world who watch silent movies, and all three read my blog. Absolutely amazing.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I’m just kidding, of course. Aren’t I?
— Steve
November 17th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
By the way, Ray Bradbury will be the guest programmer on TCM on November 20. Starting at 8 pm he will be showing two silent films of Lon Chaney:
Phantom of the Opera(1925)
Hunchback of Notre Dame(1923)
Maybe you can give us your thoughts on these silent movies, Steve.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Hi Walker,
After having to do without TCM for the past month and a half, I’ve gotten a new cable box for my upstairs TV.
Turns out I also get HBO built into the new bundle, and I added Cinemax for another ten bucks, so I’ve been taping movies like crazy. Judy’s happy, since we now have a DVR box downstairs and a whole raft of HD stations.
In any case, I’ve already seen those two movies in the TCM schedule, and you’ve convinced me. I’ll tape them. After that, as you say, I’ll let you know.
— Steve