70% (1) The Kiss 89 min, PASSED, [Romance, Drama] [Jacques Feyder] [16 Nov 1929]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, External Reviews
Actors: Anders Randolf, Conrad Nagel, Greta Garbo, Holmes Herbert
Writer: George M. Saville (from the story by), Hanns Kräly (scenario), Marian Ainslee (titles)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Irene is unhappily married to an older businessman, but very much in love with a handsome young lawyer. He doesn't want to add to her unhappiness by ruining her marriage; she is terrified of her husband's jealousy and anger. They decide to stop seeing each other, and she bides her time with Pierre, a young friend of the family who walks their dogs and is in puppy love with Irene. When Pierre is about to leave for college, he begs her for a goodbye kiss. She agrees, and who should walk in while it is happening, but her ailing and financially distraught husband...
Rotten Tomatoes: MGM's paranoid fear of audience reaction to Greta Garbo's speaking voice must have been the only reason for this plodding courtroom melodrama to have been made as a silent. Released with a synchronized score and two important sound effects, The Kiss would prove to be Garbo's, and Metro's, final silent feature film. Happily, Belgian director Jacques Feyder used both the pantomime format and the aforementioned sound effects -- a gunshot and the incessant ringing of a telephone -- to optimum effect. When ulcer-plagued husband Anders Randolf returns unexpectedly in the middle of a smooch between his wife and 18-year-old Lew Ayres, he naturally jumps to the wrong conclusion. But the kiss is in reality merely Garbo's firm goodbye to an overly anxious admirer. Randolf and Ayres fight, Garbo vainly attempts to reason with her husband, a closed door shields the action from the viewer, and only a muffled shot is heard (yes, heard). Then the telephone rings: It is Ayres' father (Holmes Herbert) wondering why his appointment, Randolf, never showed. To shield the boy, Garbo takes the blame for the killing (she actually did do it but only to save Ayres' life) and is defended in court by the real love of her life, Conrad Nagel. Hans Kraly's screenplay is a bit heavyhanded and certainly nothing special, but Garbo's luminous presence almost saves the film from the doldrums. She plays the kind of society wife who lounges about in Art Deco elegance, keeping a stack of eight-by-ten glossies at the ready to hand out to young admirers like Ayres. It is all completely artificial of course, but Garbo somehow makes it believable. The supporting cast is what you expect: Ayres, handsome and impossibly young, Randolf, all bombast and pomposity, and Nagel, his usual dull self. For now obscure reasons, Conrad Nagel was highly regarded at the time and was by far Hollywood's busiest leading man at the changeover to sound. Garbo enjoyed working with Feyder, who went on to guide her through the German-language version of Anna Christie in 1930; and she was always more relaxed on and offscreen when other Scandinavians were around, in this case the Danish-born Randolf. As the near future would reveal, neither Garbo nor Metro had anything to worry about regarding the diva's accent and in February of 1930, the studio could at long last proudly proclaim that Garbo talks. She was the last major star to do so with the possible exception of Charles Chaplin.
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69% (1) The Viking 90 min, PASSED, [Action, Adventure, History] [Roy William Neill] [02 Nov 1928]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Actors: Anders Randolf, Donald Crisp, LeRoy Mason, Pauline Starke
Writer: Jack Cunningham (screen play), Ottilie A. Liljencrantz (based on the novel by: "The Thrall of Leif the Lucky")
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Yes, it's true, an all color silent movie! The title refers to Leif Ericsson, who leaves Norway to search for new lands west of Greenland. On the way he vies for the love of Helga with his companion Egil and Alwin, an English slave. More conflict arises when he stops at the colony of his father (Eric the Red) in Greenland, for Leif has converted to Christianity, which his father hates. He also has to deal with the unrest of his crew, who fear falling off the edge of the Earth.
Rotten Tomatoes: We are bound on the greatest adventure man has ever known and we do not turn back! Bold Leif Ericsson (Donald Crisp) sets sail from Norway to an unexplored New World. Aboard his ship is a Nordic beauty and an enslaved English lord. Ahead lie thrilling duels, turbulent battles and a passionate love quadrangle. A brawny silent-era epic, The Viking was the first film wholly shot in the improved two-strip Technicolor (R) process. When the industry later adopted the three-strip process, Crisp was still an actor of renown, co-starring in National Velvet, How Green Was My Valley and other popular films. In all, he appeared in or directed nearly 250 films during his remarkable seven-decade career.
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68% (1) The Love Flower 70 min, [Drama] [D.W. Griffith] [22 Aug 1920]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 68%, External Reviews
Actors: Anders Randolf, Carol Dempster, George MacQuarrie, Richard Barthelmess
Writer: D.W. Griffith, Ralph Stock (story "The Black Beach")
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A man murders his wife's lovers, escapes with his daughter to the South Pacific. A detective pursues him, joined by a young man who eventually falls in love with the daughter.
Rotten Tomatoes: Raised on a tropical isle, a young woman becomes romantically involved with an outsider, while the law chases down her father who's wanted for murder. This quieter, untypical D.W. Griffith drama was adapted from a short story and filmed partially on location on the Island of Nassau.
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64% (1) The First Auto 75 min, PASSED, [Comedy] [Roy Del Ruth] [18 Sep 1927]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 64%, External Reviews
Actors: Anders Randolf, Barney Oldfield, Frank Campeau, Gibson Gowland, Patsy Ruth Miller, Russell Simpson
Writer: Anthony Coldeway (screen play), Jack Jarmuth (titles), Darryl F. Zanuck (story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Hank owns horses, stables horses and races horses. He favorite horse always wins and he is prosperous and will known. His son (Bob), however dreams only of the future of the horseless carriage and not of the horse. This causes problems between Hank and Bob. As the people in the town convert from horses to autos, Hank detests those who switch - so he looses his friends, his son Bob and finally his livery business. Bob leaves his flame Rose and goes to Detroit, gets involved with the auto industry and does very well. He does not forget Hank and promises to see him again, but Hank's hatred of the auto may cause the death of Bob.
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60% (1) Son of the Gods 93 min, TV-PG, [Drama, Romance] [Frank Lloyd] [09 Mar 1930]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 60%, External Reviews
Actors: Anders Randolf, Constance Bennett, E. Alyn Warren, Richard Barthelmess
Writer: Rex Beach (story), Bradley King (screen version), Bradley King (dialogue)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Mandarin, French Country: USA
Plot: A Chinese posing as an American goes to Monte Carlo where he falls in love with Alanna, who later goes berserk upon learning his true identity.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this drama, a young man grows up believing that his is Chinese. Later he falls in love with a Caucasian girl and encounters his first taste of racial prejudice until he discovers that he too is Caucasian. Happiness ensues.
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47% (1) The Johnstown Flood 60 min, [Drama] [Irving Cummings] [28 Feb 1926]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 47%, External Reviews
Actors: Anders Randolf, Florence Gilbert, George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor
Writer: Edfrid A. Bingham (screenplay), Edfrid A. Bingham (story), Robert Lord (screenplay), Robert Lord (story)
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Johnstown Flood tells a true story of heartbreak, heroism and the courage to survive. On a stormy day in May of 1889, the South Fork Dam explodes, unleashing a 40-foot wall of water. Fiercely thrashing at frightening speeds, the flood devastates the 14-mile valley between the Conemaugh Lake and Johnstown, Pennsylvania under the force of a 20-million-ton tidal wave. Johnstown Flood depicts this tragic event which claims more than 2,200 lives and wipes out 99 entire families and is still considered to be one of the worst disasters in American history. Horrified survivors watch as the bustling industrial city of Johnstown is instantly reduced into a wasteland. The deadly torrent overcomes terror-stricken townspeople who are tragically lost in the flood. As the waters recede, people from all over the world rally around the survivors to help victims regain all that is lost. Features Include: Historian's commentary by Richard Burkert, Executive Director, Johnstown Area Heritage Association, "The Johnstown Flood," a piano illustration (1889) by Alberto Rivieri, performed on the Steinway in 2003 by Patricia Prattis Jennings, Trailers for other Inecom historical productions, Separate on-camera interview with Richard Burkert.
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38% (1) Buried Treasure N/A, [Adventure, Fantasy, Romance] [George D. Baker] [10 Apr 1921]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 38%, External Reviews
Actors: Anders Randolf, Edith Shayne, Marion Davies, Norman Kerry
Writer: F. Britten Austin (short story), George D. Baker (adaptation)
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Strung around the idea of reincarnation, this film goes back in time to the days of the Spanish galleons and pirates burying their treasure; treasure to be found centuries later.
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