IL CINEMA RITROVATO - Frank Borzage, Katharine Hepburn, Lewis Milestone, David lean

"Can you tell me what are those badges are you are wearing? We've had a lot of people through today with them." Said the waitress at the rather nice restaurant Va Mo La, way down near the  university as we sat down for dinner. She said it in perfect English too. So we explained about our accreditation lanyards for Il Cinema Ritrovato  and she said "Ah yes I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the Piazza Maggiore last night. Spielberg is one of my favourite directors" A cinephile waitress no less. "Who is your favourite?" "Maybe Ettore Scola. I saw lots of his films with my parents on TV." Wow.... "Who else do you like?" "I like Toto" ...."And Alberto Sordi?" One of us prompted. "Oh yes. He's Roman and so am I"

Local favourite Ettore Scola

Not sure you'd have that conversation in Sydney...

But you may get a chance to see classic Hollywood... Till We Meet Again (Frank Borzage, 1944) has been given a magnificent makeover by Universal and the packed house loved every second of it, notwithstanding rather a lot of religious sentimentality and a continuing subtext about the obligations placed on those who serve the Lord not to lie. It's not an obligation always honoured, as the case of George Pell and his accompanying miscreants demonstrated, but here it's the foundation of a story of trust and betrayal involving Ray Milland as a shot down airman trying to get back home and of course carrying  documents that will win the war. Borzage had a great feel for war movies about trust and this one, while not in the same class as his masterpiece, Three Comrades, digs into the subject with a lot of grip.

Barbara Britton, Ray Milland, Till We Meet Again

Not sure Hollywood covered itself with glory with Lewis Milestone's Rain, restored but also restoring all the censorship cuts made after the Code came to be enforced (and on view in the YouTube and public domain copies that have been all we had to rely upon). Farran Smith Nehme's intro tried to sell us on the idea that this was a much better film than most people thought but I think I'm in the most people camp.

Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Summertime

Then there was a 35mm print of Summertime,  the only David Lean film which had eluded me, despite countless showings late night on the ABC over the years. It was part of Molly Haskell's Hepburn strand and although Molly didn't do an intro for this one, she has battled out lots of others despite taking a tumble on Bologna's cobblestones on the day of her arrival. Hepburn's Akron Ohio 45 year-old spinster being wooed by a supersmooth Rossano Brazzi on her first, likely only, trip to Venice has a timeless fascination. She acts every scene and it made me wonder if Lean had any control of her...Brazzi is mostly almost immobile but delivers his lines brilliantly. The fireworks display may have passed muster as a metaphor back in the 50s but it looks a bit quaint. I headed into the theatre having inadvertently found myself walking and chatting with Ian Christie. Ian's view was that I was in for a treat and that Lean had been given a hard time of it back in the sixties, the pack being lead by Andrew Sarris and the boys from "Movie". Ian was heading off to see a silent version of Les Miserables...

A Brunswick Pop-up Cinema at gallery gallery - Peter Hourigan tracks down BACK PAY (Frank Borzage, USA, 1922) in the backstreets

                    

Seena Owen, Back Pay

I’d really been completely unaware of Frank Borzage’s Back Pay (1922). Of course, everyone knows his beautiful films with Janet Gaynor such as Street Angel(1928) and Seventh Heaven(1927). And his filmography stretches from 1913 to 1961 with many very special films. Now, after having a chance to see Back Pay in a screening with a unique atmosphere it’s one of the Borzage films I value highly. 

                   This place has instead been turned into Arts spaces. It seems some artists use the spaces for studios, there is a Dance Studio, though I believe this has had problems related to Covid and lockdowns. A large space, under the factory Saw Tooth roof is being repurposed and a part is becoming a screening room, comfortable re-purposed old sofas for seating, a good screen and ceiling mounted projector. 

                      But the film is of course, the thing.  And Back Pay is glorious.  It’s not a particularly unusual story.  Small town girl is attracted by the glamour of the big city, but falls victim to its vices, until…

                    Hester Bevins (Seena Owen)  is the small town girl  yearning for the bright lights of the City, despite the ardour of her beau Jerry Newcombe (Matt Moore) .  But she turns her back on him for New York where she makes it in the world of parties and bankers! We don’t see her ‘earning’ her living, but we get the idea. Her banker friend won’t give in to her pleas for the $22,000 chinchilla coat, and least not now having only given her the gold plated Rolls Royce last week.

                World War I doesn’t really affect her until she learns that Jerry has been wounded and has been repatriated. When she visits him, his condition, and his still ardent passion for her cause her to re-evaluate her life and her values.  And to add any more would be to stray into spoiler territory.

                       It is no surprise that this comes from a novel by Fanny Hurst, writer of many romantic novels with a dash of social issues – for example, race, women’s rights –  many of which became enduring films such as Imitation of Life (1934 and 1959) and Back Street (1931, 1940). And no surprise either that the script was by one of the most famous and accomplished scriptwriters of the period, Frances Marion, who wrote most of Mary Pickford’s best films. 

                         From start to finish, Back Pay is a visual glory. Cameraman Chester Lyons worked with Borzage on several occasions.  His images of small town life glow with life and light.  When Freddy tries to persuade Hester to marry him, they’re out in the countryside at dusk. A low light picks them out but turns the large tree Hester is bracing herself against into a large black barrier. There’s a sense of hope, unseen possibilities (how Fred is hoping things will turn out) but enclosed by heavy shadows and emptiness – Hester’s future symbolised neatly. 

Seena Owen, Matt Moore,  Back Pay

                        Light coming into dark rooms dominates some of the bleak scenes when Jerry arrives back hospitalised. The light highlights our point of interest – but it’s surrounded by shadow, and shadow appears to be winning, as it may be for Jerry.   I could go on with more examples, but my pen is not powerful enough.

                       Another delight comes from the titles. Frances Marion’s dialogue is crisp and insightful, telling and succinct. And there are the titles that make comment, perhaps a bit dramatically romantic and cod poetic, but still emotional as they pass across the screen.

           New York meant everything to Hester; but to New York Hester was only an unreckoned drop of its lightblood—Youth

            And later we read,

But Hester did not realize that with Jerry she had walked out of the streets of Babylon, and that there was no returning. 

              On many of these titles the art work is yet another enriching element.  An object on the side of the dialogue card will add a special poignancy to the words. 

               Silent films were not presented in silence. And accompanying silent films today is a challenge that has defeated many. A couple of muso friends   calling themselves the Gallery Pop Up House Band (I’m not even sure if they would capitalise that description) provided an effective soundtrack for our viewing.  No attempt at creating tunes, or even sound effects, just an ambience that never tried to draw attention away from the film. They were outside in a large gallery area and their sounds were bounced into the screening room by the saw tooth roof of the space, present, filling in the silence, supporting the film. 

                Actually it’s rather exciting that such an event happens. And those of us there felt we were really rather privileged.

                 Back Pay has been preserved in the Library of Congress and a beautiful recent restoration can be seen if you click here for the Internet Archive.  There is no soundtrack at that site. 

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Editor's Note. Since posting this report from Peter Hourigan, Melbourne critic Jake Wilson has sent in this note: I was surprised and delighted to see Peter Hourigan's account of the Gallery Gallery screening of Back Pay, an event I played a role in to the extent of choosing the film. I've passed it on to the organisers -- I know they're planning further screenings, with different people curating each time. This is something of a trial run for the venue as a mini-cinema -- it'll revert to a gallery/installation space in a couple of weeks, but with the idea of switching back again further down the track. To keep in touch about further screenings at Gallery Gallery check out their Instagram page here https://www.instagram.com/gallerygalleryinc