Silent Films on TCM for April 2025

 

As I know many of you, like me, are fans of both silent movies and TCM. Here is a list of silent films that on playing on TCM this April.

Wednesday April 2nd

Sherlock Jr. (1924) Director: Buster Keaton. Starring Buster Keaton and Kathryn McGuire. 1am Pacific. 4am Eastern. 

Sunday April 6th

The New Klondike (1926) Director: Lewis Milestone. Starring Thomas Meighan and Lila Lee. 9pm Pacific. 12am Eastern. 

Sunday April 13th

The Oyster Princess (1919) Director: Ernst Lubitsch. Starring Ossi Oswalda and Harry Liedtke. 9pm Pacific. 12am Eastern. 

Thursday April 17th

The Life and Passion of the Christ (1907) Director: Ferdinand Zecca. 4am Pacific. 7am Eastern. 

Sunday April 20th

Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) Director: Fred Niblo. Starring Ramon Novarro and May McAvoy. 9pm Pacific. 12am Eastern. 

Sunday April 27th

Dogs of War (1923) Director: Robert F. McGowan. Starring Our Gang. 8:30pm Pacific. 11:30pm Eastern. 

The Temptress (1926) Director: Fred Niblo. Starring Greta Garbo and Antinio Moreno. 9pm Pacific. 12am Eastern. 

Monday April 28th 

The Mysterious Island (1929, part talkie) Director: Lucien Hubbard. Starring Lionel Barrymore and Jacqueline Gadsden. 11:45am Pacific. 2:45pm Eastern. 

Silent Films on TCM November 2023

 

Hello, my friends as I know many of you like me are fans of both TCM and silent movies. Because of this, here is a list of all the silent films on TCM, this November,

Wednesday, November 1st

Within Our Gates (1920) Director: Oscar Micheaux. Starring Evelyn Preer, Flo Clements. 11pm Pacific. 2am Eastern.

Sunday November 5th

The Golden Age of Comedy (1957) A Compilation film featuring clips from various silent comedies. 5pm Pacific. 8pm Eastern.

When Comedy Was King (1959) A Compilation film featuring clips from various silent comedies. 6:30pm Pacific. 9:30pm Eastern.

MGM's Big Parade of Comedy (1964) A Compilation film featuring clips from multiple silent comedies. 8pm Pacific. 11pm Eastern.

The Show (1927) Director: Tod Browning. Starring John Gilbert and Renée Adorée. 9:30pm Pacific. 12:30am Eastern. 

Sunday November 12th 

Souls for Sale (1923) Director: Rupert Hughes. Starring Eleanor Boardman and Mae Busch. 9:15pm Pacific. 12:15am Eastern. 

Wednesday November 15th

The Monster (1925) Director: Roland West. Starring Lon Chaney and Gertrude Olmsted. 6am Pacific. 9am Eastern. 

Sunday November 19th

The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) Director: Ernst Lubitsch. Starring Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer. 9pm Pacific. 12am Eastern. 

Sunday November 26th 

Cleopatra (1912) Director: Charles L. Gaskill. Starring Helen Gardner and Harley Knoles. 9:15pm Pacific. 12:15am Eastern. 

 

Silent Film of the Month: The Doll (1919)

 

 Run Time: 66 minutes. Studio: Projektions-AG Union. Director:  Ernst Lubitsch. Writers: E.T.A. Hoffmannnst, Ernst Lubitsch, Hanns Kräly. Based on an operetta by A.E. Willner. Main Cast: Hermann Thimig, Ossi Oswalda, Victor Janson, Gerhard Ritterband, Max Kronert. Cinematographers: Theodor Sparkuhl, Kurt Waschneck. Original Title:  Die Puppe.

Ernst Lubitsch is rightfully praised today as a master filmmaker of the highest quality. It is understandable that much of the attention around him revolves around his Hollywood films like To be or Not To Be (1942), Shop Around the Corner (1940), Ninoctchka (1940) and Trouble in Paradise (1932). However, if one looks through the films he made in his native Germany before moving to Hollywood, there are some real gems to be found. One such example is the delightfully offbeat romantic comedy, The Doll.

The storyline is delightfully silly. Lancelot (Hermann Thimig) is being pressured to get married by his father the Baron. The problem is that Lancelot is deathly afraid of women. When 40 women come to his door, he hides out from them with a group of monks. The monks recommend that he buy a life size doll and have a mock marriage to get out of the situation. Meanwhile a doll maker (Victor Janson) is creating a life-sized doll based on his playful and beautiful daughter (Ossi Oswalda). Lancelot comes and decides to buy this doll. Unfortunately, an apprentice breaks the doll. This leads the daughter to pretend to be the doll and be taken home with Lancelot, whom she grows a bit of a crush on. 

There is so much I love about this movie. One thing I especially love about it is its zaniness. Often when it comes to feature length comedies, filmmakers can be afraid to go too far out there with the humor, feeling that it might take away from the audience's emotional connection with the story or that such zaniness cannot sustain the length of the movie. Luckily that is not the case here because in this movie it works perfectly. This film's humor is often laugh out loud funny and there is a real indescribable charm to the surreal world the film creates. Yet none of this interferes with the audience having an emotional connection to the story. There is a real sweetness to the romance which is more engaging than what can be seen in many more typical romance films. This movie is also perfectly cast. Ossi Oswalda (who the same year had worked with Lubitsch on The Oyster Princess) is delightful playful and fun in her role. She gives the part the necessary energy and liveliness in a way that seems effortless. Hermann Thimig (who was also in The Oyster Princess) is very likable in the main role. Victor Janson (who was also in The Oyster Princess) has a delightfully silly role and steals every scene he is in. This movie also has a great look to it. While it is a great deal sillier than the expressionist films that most people today associate German movies of this era with, it shares with these movies a look that is more about the emotion of the story than what would look realistic. The well thought out look of the film pulls you further into the story and makes this movie seem more like a fairytale. 

 Though this is not the best known of Lubitsch's movies, he would look back on it with a real fondness. In 1947 he would write, "It was pure fantasy; most of the sets were made of cardboard, some out of paper. Even to this day I still consider it one of the most imaginative pictures I ever made." He would also later call this film one of the three best pictures he made in Germany (along with The Oyster Princess and Kohlhiesel's Daughters (1920)). It is not hard to see why he was so found of this movie. Even over 100 years later, this film is still a pure delight that will bring a smile to almost any movie fan's face. 

This film is on YouTube for anyone interested. 

Resources Used

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/553532/the-doll#articles-reviews?articleId=021517

https://moviessilently.com/2013/08/04/the-doll-1919-a-silent-film-review/

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Enrst Lubitsch, is a name that will probably be recognized by any classic movie fans reading this. Lubitsch is best known as the master of sophisticated comedy, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest comedy directors of all time. However he was just as great at sentiment as he was at comedy. One of the best examples of this is The Shop Around the Corner. This is a extremely lovely movie. In fact James Stewart remembered it as one his favorite movies he ever worked on (which considering his filmography was saying a lot).

In 1939 Lubitsch had singed with MGM to make Ninotchkia and one more film. That one more film turned out to be The Shop Around the Corner. Lubitsch had owned the rights to a play called Parfumerie. He would sell the rights of this play to MGM for $62,500 and then began work with writer Samson Raphaelson to make this into a movie. Lubitsch based much of the film off of his years as a child in his father's tailor shop in Berlin. Lubitsch wanted to be sure this film was not like the movies he was known for. The way this film would be different would be by being much less glamorous than those movies. He went to such great lengths to achieve this that he left a dress that Margret Sullivan (the film's leading lady) would wear in the movie out in the sun, and later even had it altered to make it fit her worse. Margret Sullivan had in fact before this bought a dress she thought worked perfectly for her part, but Lubitsch said it looked too good.

The film centers around a man named Alfred (played by James Stewart) and a woman named Klara (played by Margret Sullivan) who have been writing each other anonymous love letters (excuse me... cultural discussions through the mail). They both end up working at a little shop owned by a man named Hugo Matuschek (played by Frank Morgan). They meet and grow hate each other, while still unaware that they have been writing each other. To make matters worse Mr. Matuschek seems to be growing colder towards Alfred, leading Alfred to get fired and Klara to blame this on herself. This all leads to a Christmas Eve that will change everything for both of them.

The movie rightfully became a huge hit when it was released, which surpised the whole MGM studio, who felt that this was just an assuming little film. Luckily for us, this film is just as charming today as it was when it was originally released in 1940. This beautiful little film remains one of Lubitsch's best movies.


Part of what makes this movie so great is its sense of atmosphere. Watching this movie one truly feels like they are transported to this little town. It is so easy to get swept away in the characters as well. These are not simple little characters, but fully formed human beings. It doesn't take long until we accept these people to be as real as our friends and family. This movie is fact overflowing with humanity. In fact some of the sadder scenes in this movie are in fact painful to watch, I admit even feeling a little hurt by the "insignificant little clerk" remark. On the other hand the happier scenes are a complete joy and never fail to put a smile on my face. Even with how moving the drama is, this movie is still a comedy there are plenty of times I laughed out loud watching it. This is truly what makes the movie so special. Every element comes together to create a nearly perfect whole. This is one of those movies that reminds movie lovers like me why we fell in love with film in the first place.   

This film is so charming in fact it was later remade as a movie musical in 1949, another great film (and big hit) called In the Good Old Summertime. Charles Smith who played Rudi in The Shop on the Corner would also appear in In the Good Old Summertime in a small uncredited role. It was later remade again as You Got Mail in 1998.

To see san original review from Box Office Digest click here.


The following is a brief article from The Film Daily (dated January 26, 1940).


"SRO business greeted the opening of 'The Shop Around the Corner' yesterday at Radio City Music Hall where morning and afternoon figures were described as being equal to those on the opening day of 'Ninotchka.' The MGM picture is topping normal business from 18-43 percent in Baltimore, Springfield, Mass. Albany, Indianapolis, Rochester, Syracuse, Kanas City, Toledo, St. Louis, Nashville, Louisville and Dayton."  

The following is from an article in the Motion Picture Herald.

"Matt Saunders' exploitation campaign for 'The Shop Around the Corner' at Loew's Poli, Bridgeport, was featured by a full-page cooperative ad in the local Post. Contracting neighborhood merchants, Sanders arranged for a display, day before opening, featuring ads of various dealers including luggage, furniture, photographs, service stations, carrying copy plugging 'The Shop Around the Corner' and urging readers to shop at these places following their visit to the theatre. The title of the film itself was fitted with the individual ads."
-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/413/The-Shop-Around-the-Corner/articles.html 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033045/?ref_=rvi_tt
http://mediahistoryproject.org/

Silent Film of the Month: The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1928)

 

Runtime: 106 minutes. Studio: MGM. Director: Ernst Lubitsch. Writers: Hanns Kräly, Ruth Cummings, Marian Ainslee. Based on the book by Karl Heinrich and the play by Wilhelm Meyer-Förster.  Producers: Ernst Lubitsch, Irving Thalburg. Main Cast: Roman Novarro, Norma Shearer, Jean Hersholt. Cinematographer: John J. Mescall.





One thing (out of very many things) I love about movies is when you find a film that has been surprisingly overlooked, but is just as good as the ones that are considered classics. The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg is definitely one of these, as everything in this film is near perfect. This film isn't forgotten but it isn't talked about as one of the classic silent films. It really makes me wonder how a film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and featuring Norma Shearer (two names that should definitely resonate with many classic movie lovers) that is this good can possibly be so overlooked.  

The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg was Ernst Lubitsch's first film for MGM. This was the studio for which he would later make such well loved films like The Merry Widow, Ninotchka, and The Shop Around the Corner. Lubitsch began his career in Germany. His first film Fräulein Seifenschaum, was a 1914 film that is unfortunately lost today. Rather than the sophisticated comedies that he would be known for in the 1930's, at this time Lubitsch was known for making costume dramas, and film with a fairytale like atmosphere. He would move to the U.S.A. to direct a 1923 costume drama staring Mary Pickford called Rosita. While there was definitely a lot of tension between Lubitsch and Pickford, the film was a success both with critics and audiences. He would naturally stay in America to make more of these films. However one senses while watching The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg that he still had deep nostalgia for growing up in Germany. On top of that this film in many ways feels like one of his German films. It seems to take elements of both his costume dramas and his fairytale-like films, and it combines them perfectly.

Interestingly Ernst Lubitsch was not originally going to be the director of this film. The director was originally going to be Erich von Stroheim. However Stroheim had a bad relationship with producer Irving Thalberg. This was because Thalberg had done massive edits to Greed and The Merry Widow (interestingly Lubitsch would later make another film version of this story for MGM), two films Stroheim had directed, before they reached theaters. Because of this Stroheim not only turned down this film, but he also left MGM.

Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer, the two main stars of this film, did not always agree with Lubitsch. One reason for this was that Lubitsch insisted on little time for rehearsal. Because of this various scenes would have many retakes before they turned out right. Though not proven true (or false for that matter), one rumor states that one scene for this film was shot 102 times. Lubitsch once ended up yelling at Norma Shearer, telling her that a studio waitress to play a barmaid better. Shearer was driven to tears by this remark. Another rumor that hasn't been proven true (or false) is that Norma Shearer told Irving Thalberg about this incident, and Thalberg responded “Everyone has a lot to learn from Mr. Lubitsch.” If this was true then it didn't hurt their relationship, because Shearer and Thalberg would marry a week after the movie was released.

Lubitsch was not overly happy with either star. However the studio said that he had to use Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer. Despite this both of them give amazing performances here. Lubitsch would still never be satisfied with eithers performance.

One love scene did not satisfy anyone working on the film. It has been stated that Irving Thalberg called in director John M. Stahl to re-shoot the scene. If this is true than it might have had to do Stahl directing Ramon Novarro in the 1927 movie Lovers?. However Andrew Marton, the editor for the film, stated that Lubitsch directed every scene of the film. However Marton also stated that Lubitsch never liked the scene.

In this film Crown Prince Karl Heinrich (Played by Ramon Novarro) is tired of his sheltered life and longs to live in the outside world. The prince and his tutor, Dr. Jtter (played by Jean Hersholt) are allowed to go to Heidelberg. Here the prince can live life as he always wanted to. He also falls in love with a young barmaid named Kathi (played by Norma Shearer). However when his father  (Played by Gustav von Seyffertitz) becomes sick Karl must travel back to his home to attend to royal duties.

The film lost money at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics.

Despite this the film is incredible. Nearly everything works perfectly. The story, the characters, the cinematography, and the all around atmosphere are all amazingly well done. This film is also profoundly moving, and one that definitely can bring tears to my eyes, and I assume it would do the same for many of you. This is a must watch.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/835/The-Student-Prince-in-Old-Heidelberg/articles.html
http://www.silentfilm.org/the-student-prince-in-old-heidelberg-1927