Blind Husbands / The Great Gabbo

Rating:
Summary: Two Thumbs Up for this Double!
Review: This excellent DVD features a wonderful silent film from 1919 and one of the first Hollywood musicals from 1929, when "talkies" were introduced, and although I was expecting two silent films, I was not one bit disappointed. Knowing next to nothing about Erich von Stroheim (except that I had to see some of his work one day!) I watched and enjoyed both films without any expectations or preconceived ideas, and simply cannot fault either film.
Blind Husbands is visually lovely, the music is perfectly suited, and it is a poignant story with the morale that it's not always "the other man" who is solely to blame in marriage difficulties. It moves along at a comfortable pace as it unfolds and shows the emotions of each character just at the right moment. It's impressive that von Stroheim wrote and directed, as well as played a lead role. As an actor he comes across subtly yet strongly in this film, and overall I rate this film as a top quality silent movie.
The Great Gabbo is a Talkie and shows that von Stroheim was also very competent in speech, playing a very difficult and troubled showman; a ventriloquist, whose dummy almost steals the show. The dummy dialogues and scenes are superb and delightful, balancing the negative and rough character played by Stroheim. Then the musical really gets going; visually surprising, intriguing and fascinating, with very high quality music and songs as good as any famous Hollywood musical since (and personally, I enjoyed this one more than many others musicals) The picture quality is extremely good, being in pristine black and white, and while the sound might sound a bit tinny to sensitive ears, I still think it's a superior work of remastering. While the music and dummy entertain us, a very moving love story also unfolds, leaving the viewer feeling very satisfied after both of these memorable movies.
The DVD also has some interesting special features; photos, interviews and other snippets, including two recipes by Stroheim such as Almond Strudel which sounds worth a try! Definitely a worthwhile DVD - thanks, Kino Video!

Rating:
Summary: Two Thumbs Up for this Double!
Review: This excellent DVD features a wonderful silent film from 1919 and one of the first Hollywood musicals from 1929, when "talkies" were introduced, and although I was expecting two silent films, I was not one bit disappointed. Knowing next to nothing about Erich von Stroheim (except that I had to see some of his work one day!) I watched and enjoyed both films without any expectations or preconceived ideas, and simply cannot fault either film.
Blind Husbands is visually lovely, the music is perfectly suited, and it is a poignant story with the morale that it's not always "the other man" who is solely to blame in marriage difficulties. It moves along at a comfortable pace as it unfolds and shows the emotions of each character just at the right moment. It's impressive that von Stroheim wrote and directed, as well as played a lead role. As an actor he comes across subtly yet strongly in this film, and overall I rate this film as a top quality silent movie.
The Great Gabbo is a Talkie and shows that von Stroheim was also very competent in speech, playing a very difficult and troubled showman; a ventriloquist, whose dummy almost steals the show. The dummy dialogues and scenes are superb and delightful, balancing the negative and rough character played by Stroheim. Then the musical really gets going; visually surprising, intriguing and fascinating, with very high quality music and songs as good as any famous Hollywood musical since (and personally, I enjoyed this one more than many others musicals) The picture quality is extremely good, being in pristine black and white, and while the sound might sound a bit tinny to sensitive ears, I still think it's a superior work of remastering. While the music and dummy entertain us, a very moving love story also unfolds, leaving the viewer feeling very satisfied after both of these memorable movies.
The DVD also has some interesting special features; photos, interviews and other snippets, including two recipes by Stroheim such as Almond Strudel which sounds worth a try! Definitely a worthwhile DVD - thanks, Kino Video!