THE WHISPERING CHORUS (1918)
Article 4309 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-12-2013
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Featuring Raymond Hatton, Kathlyn Williams, Edythe Chapman
Country: USA
What it is: Drama

A clerk guilty of embezzlement at his place of employment ends up faking his own murder in order to clear himself. Unfortunately, he is believed to be guilty of his own murder and finds himself on the run from the law.

Let’s deal with the fantastic content first. The Walt Lee guide from which I culled this title for my project says the fantastic content consists of the way this movie handles the metaphor of having voices in your head leading you on into temptation; the movie does this by having those voices personified by individual heads that speak to the main character. As fantastic content, I must admit that it is somewhat marginal, but the movie has a couple of other fantastic touches as well; one character has premonitions at one point, and a ghost appears at the end of the movie (albeit one that is only seen by the audience).

As for the movie itself, I was actually quite impressed by the first twenty minutes of the movie; its illustration of a basically decent man who is trying to cope the best he can with the troubles in his life makes for a compelling cinematic portrait that is quite moving, because you end up really caring about the character. Had the movie remained in this vein, it would have made for a great drama. However, once the main character conveniently finds a dead body that he can use to fake his own death, the movie begins to crumble under the weight of its plot contrivances and its overly manipulative story. Still, DeMille proves to be a creative enough director (who even has touches of brilliance at times) that he manages to keep the movie interesting even when the story threatens to become laughable. I can only wonder what the movie might have been like if it had managed to maintain the power of its first twenty minutes.

WHENCE DOES HE COME? (1906)
aka D’ou vient-il?
Article 4306 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-9-2013
Directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Cast unknown
Country: France
What is it: Trick short

A man in a bathing suit jumps out of the ocean onto a pier, and is followed by the rest of his clothing (which he puts on) and other accessories.

It’s basically a one-trick film; the footage of a man walking backwards up to a pier, tossing into the water his umbrella, dog, pipe and clothing, and then diving in himself is run backwards. I’m not sure whether this one was meant to mystify or amuse; you’d think that the backwards footage trick had been used enough up to that point that it wouldn’t surprise anyone. Yet, when I think of it, I actually haven’t seen backwards footage used that often in the early days of cinema, and I also wonder if the date may be correct. At any rate, we have another silent trick film on hand.

WHAT IS HOME WITHOUT THE BOARDER (1901)
aka La maison tranquille
Article 4305 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-7-2013
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Comedy

Three rambunctious boarders break a hole in the floor to terrorize the residents who live below them.

This movie is listed in the Walt Lee guide, but it neglects to list anything about its fantastic content. I’m guessing that it got in the list on the strength of seeing Melies as the director, because on viewing the short, I really don’t see any fantastic content. The closest it comes is in a scene where one of the boarders drops down to the room below, covers himself with a blanket, and then frightens someone entering the room. Though it could be argued that the resident thought it was a ghost, the fact that the boarder was hunched over and had sticks sticking out of both ends of the blanket leaves me to believe he was imitating an elephant, not a ghost. Therefore, this movie is a bit of a false alarm.

The movie is also devoid of typical Meliesian special effects, as well. The novelty of the short is that both floors are seen at the same time, and it seems to highlight the athleticism of the performers (one of which is probably Melies himself) in performing their feats of dropping down and climbing up to other floors. There’s really no plot to speak of, and it’s not particularly funny; it’s more interesting than effective.

THE WAIF AND THE WIZARD (1901)

Article 4302 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-3-2013
Directed by Walter R. Booth
Cast unknown
Country: UK
What it is: Trick short with a twist

A waif goes on stage to help a magician with a trick. He is so amazed by the magician’s prowess that he asks him to come home and solve his family’s problems.

So many of these early shorts cover the same ground that after a while you appreciate whenever something new is added to the mix. In the case of this short, It combines the trick film with the mellerdrammer; the opening scene is standard magician trick film fare, but once we move on to the family problems, the change of scenery adds some novelty. The family’s problems are the stuff of tear-jerking melodrama; there’s no father, the daughter is ailing, and they’re about to be evicted. The solutions to the problems are terse, but sometimes amusing; I like how the magician deals with the landlord. Special effects-wise, there’s nothing really special going on here, but the novelty of throwing in a story to follow does add a little to the proceedings.