“La Boheme”—M-G-M Exquisite Masterpiece Edited by C.S. Sewell (Moving Picture World – 1926)

“La Boheme”—M-G-M Exquisite Masterpiece Edited by C.S. Sewell (Moving Picture World – 1926)

Through the Box Office Window

Reviewers’ Views On Feature Films

Edited by C.S. Sewell
Moving Picture World – March 13, 1926

“La Boheme”—M-G-M Exquisite Masterpiece, with John Gilbert and Lillian Gish, Sharing New King Vidor Triumph


KEEPING up the record of four specials from the Marcus Loew forces showing simultaneously on Broadway at advanced prices for indefinite runs, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is presenting “La Boheme” starring Lillian Gish and John Gilbert, at the Embassy Theatre, following “The Merry Widow,” which scored a huge Known to music lovers everywhere because of the opera of the same title, this story by Fred deGresac was suggested by Harry Murger’s ‘Life in the Latin Quarter.”
King Vidor Lillian Gish and filming team La Boheme
King Vidor Lillian Gish and filming team La Boheme
King Vidor has filmed it in a masterful manner, and following his phenomenal hit, “The Big Parade,’’ from which it differs entirely in type, places him even more in the limelight as one of the screen’s greatest directors. The entire action takes place in the Latin Quarter of Paris, and all the fascination, the buoyancy, the pathos, the humor and heart throbs, the cheerful suffering and sacrifice for ideals, the irrepressible light-heartedness that meets unkind fate with a smile, which has proved the inspiration for many of the greatest writers, has been caught and deftly transferred to the silver sheet. “La Boheme’’ is the story of the romance Of Mimi – an orphan girl, who ekes out a mere living with her embroidery, and Rodolphe, a struggling playwright. It is an emotional drama in which a great love is faced with maddening jealousy in conflict with supreme and ideal self-sacrifice that counts not its cost. Mimi gives her love to Rodolphe and that he may complete his great play, toils and stints until she wrecks her health. Her reward is Rodolphe’s almost insane jealousy. So that he may work unhampered she disappears and, hiding in the slums, the frail flower works in a mill until she succumbs. On the very night that Rodolphe finally scores success with his play, she drags herself back to her old home in the garret in the Latin Quarter, but it is too late. She dies happy in the realization of Rodolphe’s love and triumph. Courageously, those responsible for the production of this picture have dared to present it with the only denouement consistent with the development of the action : an ending of stark tragedy and powerful drama, in which there is not the slightest hint of compromise with the familiar idea that a romance must find its fulfillment in the final reel.
John Gilbert and Lillian Gish (Rodolphe and Mimi) The last scene of La Boheme
John Gilbert and Lillian Gish (Rodolphe and Mimi) The last scene of La Boheme
A happy ending here would be inconsistent and anti-climax, out of focus with the tenor of the theme and destroy the effectiveness of the powerful drama that has been so admirably built up. From every standpoint “La Boheme’’ is a credit to the screen. In its direction, action, development and pictorial perfection it is a masterpiece. It is like a piece of delicate, hand-painted china in its beauty and exquisiteness. Its reaction is entirely emotional, with its appeal resting on smiles and tears. The story opens in a light-hearted, happy-go-lucky vein, and there is a wealth of fine characterization and delicious humor that makes the story vivid, buoyant and real.
You see the types in the Paris Latin Quarter presented in all the fascination that your imagination has pictured them. With the appearance of Mimi, the pathetic note enters and these two notes are alternately struck with the pathos continually mounting until its result is stark tragedy. The screening of this story is flawless. We do not believe that King Vidor’s direction, the selection of types, the work of the work of the players even in the most minor role or the technical details could have been improved upon. Lillian Gish makes an ideal Mimi, the role exactly suiting her in every respect and she has never appeared to better advantage. Her handling of the entire story, but especially from the time she drags herself through the streets until she rests in death, will linger long in the memory. John Gilbert as Rodolphe does the best work of his career, and adds an entirely different type of character to his growing list of fine screen portrayals.
“La Boheme” will stand as a monument to the industry and gain a host of friends for the screen from the ranks who have pretended to look askance at the motion picture, and all who like the better, finer, more beautiful things of life. Women especially should respond to its intense emotional appeal which will bring many a tear.
John Gilbert and Lillian Gish (La Boheme)3
Based on story by Fred DeGresac, suggested by Henry Murger’s “Life In the Latin
Quarter” Scenario by Ray Doyle and Harry Behn
Directed by King Vidor
Moving Picture World (Mar 13 1926) La Boheme
Moving Picture World (Mar 13 1926) La Boheme

Back to Lillian Gish Home page

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

D.W. Griffith – An American Life (By Richard Schickel – 1984)

Image
D.W. Griffith – An American Life (By Richard Schickel – 1984) D.W. Griffith – An American Life By Richard Schickel – 1984 Griffith! Before him, the movies were a nickelodeon novelty, after him, they were an international art form and a powerful, glamorous American industry He was the first to codify the rules and techniques of screen storytelling, the first to establish the conventions by which the unique capacities of the movies for both sweeping spectacle and profound intimacy could be employed in long, complex narratives, the first to assert the director’s claim to primary authorship of a film Above all, it was Griffith who imagined the future of his medium, and with his driving energy, his taste for the grandiose and his flair for publicity, propelled that medium toward that future—only to be crushed by the very forces he had unleashed. D.w. Griffith (1875-1948) Painting; D.w. Griffith (1875-1948) Art Print for sale His story is, in huge measure, the story of how the ...
Read more

Lillian Gish and Jeanne Moreau – Vanity Fair 1983

Image
Lillian Gish and Jeanne Moreau – Vanity Fair 1983 Vanity Fair – October 1983 Lillian Gish Jeanne Moreau This is a summit meeting: a queen paying homage to an empress. Of course, Lillian Gish, far right, is no truer a blueblood than any other homespun midwesterner. But wherever she goes now, she is treated like a monarch, acknowledging standing ovations in allAmerican palaces like Radio City Music Hall. Her admirers aren’t really applauding her 101 films (she has just completed the 102nd, about a sweet old lady and her sweet old dog). They may never have seen her slim but supernally intense performances in the D. W. Griffith masterpieces or in the Victor Sjostrom classics she made in the late ’20s at MGM. Lillian-Gish-Jeanne-Moreau 60s But they sense in her the grace, the purity, the wealth of symbolism that royalty sustains. Gish’s companion here, Jeanne Moreau, radiates a similar authority; what Gish was to the cinema of the ’20s, Moreau was to the cinema of the ’60s. ...
Read more

LEADING LADIES – 1976 (Electa Clark) PDF Download

Image
  LEADING LADIES – 1976 (Electa Clark) PDF Download “Humanity marches on into the new and glorious 20th century!” exults a daily paper in its first issue of 1901. “Come, oh century, child of hope!” begins a long poem on page one. Another column trills, “We are 20th century women … with the dower of privilege and responsibility which enriches women in this wonderful era!” Lillian Gish had a similar effect on millions who saw her in the movies. She was not only talented, she had a unique quality: pure, ethereal, elusive. As if she acted in whispers. As if in her hands, the definite blurred into the indefinite. It was drama critic George Jean Nathan who described her as being “behind a veil of silver chiffon.” He courted Lillian for years, but she eluded marriage. Horse drawn float declares National American Woman Suffrage Association’s support for Bristow-Mondell amendment 1920s Lillian Gish Actress ‘La Boheme’ Oversized DBW Photo by Kenneth Alexander Leading ladies an affectionate l...
Read more