Parisian Love / Down to the Sea in Ships

Rating:
Summary: a minor masterpiece
Review: i bought this dvd on a whim not knowing what to expect as neither film is acknowledged as one of the great silent movies'but i was pleasently surprised by both.down to the sea in ships is the best directed of the two and features some wonderful whaling sequences and beautiful shots of new bedford,also it has a wonderful ensemble cast especially margerete courtot as the young woman forced into a loveless marriage.parisian love is also a treat for silent fans as it features the wonderful donald keith at the outset of his distinguished carear.all in all a great double feature dvd

Rating:
Summary: "Bow"dacious Double Feature.
Review: This DVD double feature of Clara Bow at the beginning and during the thick of her career gives us a fascinating glimpse of one of the most popular silent stars. DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS (1922) was shot when Clara was only 15 by D.W. Griffith protege' Elmer Clifton. Her part is only a supporting one but you can clearly see the star potential there. The main focus of this film is not the romance between the two leads but rather the detailed scenes of New Bedford whalers plying their trade. This makes the film a fascinating historical document which is not for the squeamish as it contains actual and graphic footage of the killing and dismembering of whales. What you see is MOBY DICK for real. This print taken from the Killiam Collection is in good shape although it seems a little fast at times. It is much better than the old VHS version put out by Critic"s Choice some years back. PARISIAN LOVE (1925) was made only 3 years later but what a difference in Clara's appearance. Here she is the star and fully displays the vivacious charm and charisma that made her so popular. The story of French Apache lovers and their benefactor is a little hard to follow probably due to some missing footage and features some rather curious interplay between the male leads. The sets of Parisian garrets are marvelous and Lillian Leighton steals the show as a Marie Dressler like matriarch at a swanky party. This DVD copy was taken from the only surviving print which was discovered in 1998 and restored by the UCLA Film and Televison Archive. All in all an interesting combination of 1920's style romance with rugged documentary style footage and the chance to see Clara Bow develop from a Mary Pickford like tomboy into a full fledged star. Yet another fine job from Kino International in their ongoing series of silent film presentations on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: 2 Decent Clara Bow movies on DVD from Kino.
Review: This DVD from Kino gives us two very decent Clara Bow movies.
'Down to the Sea in Ships' and 'Parisian Love'.

'Down To The Sea In Ships' was released in 1922. I would like to point out that she is not the main star, her role is more of a supporting one.

The basic story is:
William Morgan (William Walcott) is a Quaker who is the person who controls a load of Whaling ships that sail from New Bedford. He has a daughter named Patience (Marguerite Coutot) who her father will not let her marry any man other than a Quaker whaler. His granddaughter his a tomboy named 'Dot' (Clara Bow). There are these two guys, Finner and Siggs (Patrick Hartigan and J. Thornton Baston) who are intending to steal Morgan's whaling ships so that they can transport African gold. Finner not only wants the ships, but he also wants Morgan's daughter. Siggs is a Japanese-American. Finner makes Siggs dress as a Quaker to make out hes in the Morgan business. Siggs turns out to be good at the work and manages to get to talk with Morgan's daughter, Patience, and tries to get her to marry him. During this time, Thomas Allan Dexter (Raymond McKee) comes home from college. He and Patience - who they knew from childhood - start getting to know each other again and sooner or later, want to marry. Since Dexter is not a Quaker, Morgan does not allow him to marry his daughter, so Dexter signs on as a whaler. Finner decides to make sure he gets Dexter on a ship that he will more than likely not come back from. The ships sets off the next day. The bad thing is, 'Dot' happens to be hiding away on this same ship disguised as a sailer, just to be with the cabin boy, Jimmy, who she is crazy about. I wont give away the rest, but just to say that the film has some amazing footage of whalers at sea that really make the film a joy to watch. Not to mention the small scenes with Clara Bow.

The print of this film used on this DVD is pretty much, throughout, very nice and sometimes even looks excellent. However, it does include the occassional speckling, scratches, and so on which you would expect from something this old.

The film is accompanied with a piano score performed by William Perry which is, in my opinion, very good and fits the film perfectly.

'Parisian Love' was made in 1925 and Clara Bow has a certainly very different appearance in this movie compared to the above. She is the main star of this one, and brilliant in her role.

The basic story is:
Marie (Clara Bow) and Armand (Donald Keith) are these two criminals in Paris. It begins with them and another crook who plan to rob a rich scientist, Pierre Marcel (Lou Tellegen). Poor luck for the third man though, who is killed after Armand stops him from killing Marcel during the very unsuccessful robbery. Marie however, gets aware. Armand (who is already wounded) gets blood poisoning and is helped out by Marcel by keeping him at his home to take care of him, after finding out that Armand was once a student of Marcel's at his university. At one of Marcel's partys, Marie fills in the job of the usual maid so that she can get into the house, obviously to see Armand. Marie hides in Armands room, while Marcel comes in with a girl, Jeanne, who very much wants to see Armand, while Marcel is hoping it will help him forget about his past as a no good criminal. Armand is soon much better, however, still stays around Marcel and Jeanne. Marcel wishes for Armand to stay with him another six months, which Armand accepts the invitation, aslong as he can go where he wants for one hour. Armand goes to the flat where Marie was raised as an orphan, only to find that she has left there for good. Marie wants revenge on Marcel for stealing Armand away from her life, and plans to do harm to him. You will have to find out the rest for yourself, and enjoy.

The print of this film, used here on this DVD, is pretty good looking, however, it does contain quite a few speckles, and so on, but is very much watchable.

This film is accompanied with a piano score by Philip Carli. It fits the film very well and is very enjoyable to listen to.

Overall, I would rate this DVD a must have for fans of Clara Bow, or simply fans of silent cinema.