THE THIEF OF BAGDAD

'THE THIEF OF BAGDAD' is another of my favorite 'silent' films and stars the great DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS as well as a favorite actress of mine, ANNA MAY WONG(Ana Mae Wong). Though both are dead,of course, they and their acting live on in a special cinematic way. Early films created certain trends that still persist today in that they gave various impressions of cultures, peoples, religions, manners,dress,etc. of which many notions about the Middle East, Arabia, China, etc. are still operating today. No matter how the quality or quantity of these films, some of which have been lost or destroyed, were produced they still,in their early days, set up impressions and created impressions in the viewers of those early days, that present day producers of films cannot do anymore. To be sure, modern, contemporary films do entertain but they rely less on the things that were original and fresh.

GRETA GARBO

In the movie, THE TEMPTRESS, which opens in PARIS, where Gurdjieff settled and remained until after WWII and died there, I am reminded of the WORK that G undertook in the West. In reading about his 'ballet' 'THE STRUGGLE OF THE MAGICIANS' it seems to me that this movie has elements of this in it. Greta Garbo is the 'heroine' . The ending of the movie seems to me to be also a great example of 'INTENTIONAL SUFFERING' and I disagree with the film commentator when I re-watched the film with his comments, that it was not this sort of thing, although he made it appear to something else than what many concluded was the reason for the ending. You must watch this movie to understand, if you can, what I am implying. the opening takes place at which people are reveling and goes to a banquet that is a reminder of those that Gurdjieff is said to have given in Paris as well as a particular one mentioned that he gave in New York for which people paid him an enormous sum of money for showing them what they are! GREAT NATURE asserts herself in the Argentine episodes and we see 'SUPER EFFORTS' being attempted by the hero as well as his TASK or WORK. We see the various "I's" at work as well and how ordinary and contemporary people act and live,etc. for MARTIAL ARTISTS there is the fight with whips in a circle to hold their interest and this is probably the first such instance of this sort of thing in a movie(save perhaps for some Zorro with Douglas Fairbanks Sr.). Many such duels between antagonists were fought in a similar manner within a circle which is one stepped out lost the match or if he stayed in and died or was killed, well so much for that, he had his honor. These things were done in various ways, with guns, clubs, knives, swords,etc. and especially in Meditarranean countries or Spanish colonies,etc.).

THE TEMPTRESS

In my opinion, THE TEMPTRESS is one of the great motion pictures of the 20th Century. An epic, it stars GRETA GARBO as she became known under this screen name, and ANTONIO MORENO,that starts in Paris, goes to Argentina, and ends up in Paris(in the true ending,since there was an alternative ending to it). The film is based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibanez(Ybanez) and is controversial in quite a number of ways. The original film footage was lost and so much of,if not most of, the film was re-shot though pictures of the first filming exist to show some interesting things apparently. Another great film star from a great film family in this picture was John Barrymore. The movie could well be re-done if anyone had the time and effort and money needed to do it but, of course, minus the cast that really made it a great epic. This movie and the others like it nowadays would be seen as 'objectionable' or 'not suited for childlren'etc. and I am most lucky again that I was able to see a great many movies in my childhood that such labels would have kept me away from. Thanks to my parents and other relatives I was able to see a lot of movies from babyhood upwards! The only movies I couldn't see were those that were quarantined (polio,measles,etc.) or restricted to 18 or 21, like war atrocity movies which I later saw.

'SILENT FILMS'

Recently I purchased for the sum of $3 bucks, a two disc DVD of three movies that Greta Garbo did in the so-called 'silent' era of motion pictures or cinema. I have other such films on VHS and DVD in my collections. I intend to add more as time and funds permit since I find they are refreshing from the contemporary drival being produced today and cranked out. Of course, the early films may have appeared crude and naive,etc. to today's 'sophisticated' audiences! Nevertheless, early films or movies have a certain refreshing quality to them if one OBSERVES and not merely sees! There are many things one can OBSERVE as well as SEE. In actuality, there were not really silent movies or films since even the whirr or hum of the projector(s) made noise and people often talked, laughed and reacted to the movies, especially in the early days when they are novel, unusual, and interesting from many angles. Orchestration and other sound devices, like organs, pianos,etc. were played and stage shows were also sometimes part and parcel of the movies and theaters. I was most fortunate because I was exposed to silent films in many instances when they were sometimes shown in theaters, church halls, social clubs,etc. and schools. I also saw the first really technicolor and sepia color movies and went from there into cinerama, cinemascope, 3-D, etc. I also had my own movie projector(which I still have in the original box and it still works, but I do not have any of the films I once had that I showed to neighbor kids and friends. Films sold for around 2.98 or so and I saved my pennies to buy more). If you watch thesse early movies you can see many things and you will be surprised at the 'freshness' of things that are not marred by sound or speculation of others. They are best watched alone so you can see what is there and what the impressions, if any, they make on you. Sometimes, several viewigs are needed to extract the 'essence' what is there. Actors and Actresses implied many things and their gestures and motions and the like, their antics, all had communication of some sort.