They Had to See Paris (1929)

This was Frank Borzage's first sound film (not counting the earlier films with recorded Movietone soundtracks). He also directed a silent film in 1929, Lucky Star, and one that was released as both a silent film and a part-talkie, The River, which is now mostly lost. 1929 was the year that Hollywood committed to the new sound technology. I've seen six sound movies from that year, and they all suffer from a feeling of deadness and stagnation during the dialogue sections. All of the ones I've seen compensate with silent sections that have the fluidity of the pre-talkie films.

So this film has some interesting visual elements, but overall it's just not even close to the majesty of the silent films Borzage made with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell leading up to this. It's the story of an Oklahoma horse doctor turned car mechanic (played by the popular humorist, Will Rogers) who strikes it rich when oil is discovered on his property. His wife insists that they have to become cultured now, so they take their two grown children to Paris. How do you keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paree? Watch this movie to find out.

It's so different from the luminous, romantic, melodramatic Gaynor/Farrell films that it comes as a shock. My own bias in this kind of thing is against the hicks, so I may be blinded to what's really going on. I borrowed the still above from Craig Keller of Cinemasparagus, and he certainly points to some lurking weirdness, including a subplot in which Rogers ends up in bed with a deposed Russian Archduke. Here are some impressionistic comments by Keller that may have been scribbled in a diary as he watched the film:

Pike abandons women. Gumjawed long-shot sincerity. Hand-clasped hysterics. Sinister cheek-raise, gulping shoe-stare introspection. "A WOMAN. Oh Ross — tell me THAT's not TRUE." The family clings to casual adultery confessions. A sitcom filmed in 1929. The whole family doesn't even come together until 1h 18m into the thing. The last scene, 'virtuosic' posing as 'virtuous', is one of Borzage's most terrifying climaxes.

Despite the flirtation with a sophisticated Lubitschian comedy of adultery, it all seemed pretty corny to me. Perhaps it was even meant as a direct riposte to Lubitsch, whose naughty 1929 musical, The Love Parade, with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, is a much better film than this. On the other hand, Marguerite Churchill is cute (she later shows up as the spunky Girl Friday in the underrated Dracula's Daughter (1936)) and Fifi D'Orsay (wotta name) is vocally vivacious, mais non? Ooh la la!

Birthday plot

Denys and I are planning to celebrate our birthdays at Mashiko's next weekend, either on Friday the 18th or Saturday the 19th (my actual birthday). I believe holyoutlaw and juliebata are interested in joining us. If you'd also be interested in joining us, please let me know in the next few days. Mashiko's has allegedly gone to a sustainable sushi menu (e.g., no unagi and no bluefin tuna), so I'll be curious to see what it looks like.