Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Thursday, December 31, 2015

First Ford Talking Feature


The Black Watch (1929) Comes Out Of Its Cave

This was John Ford's first feature-length talkie. It opened in May, 1929 as sound rolled like tanks over a silent era headed for extinction. The Black Watch used Fox's "Movietone" process, which recorded dialogue on film rather than disc, a system more reliable for synching up voice with picture, but harsh pill otherwise due to hissy playback and noise on tracks. Delivery side of Movietone was often worse, theatres reporting inaudible words and surplus racket to make watching a chore. Audiences were patient, though, as novelty outweighed annoyance, and progress could be seen (make that heard) with each fresh engagement. The Black Watch would play off, be recognized as brief mile along a learning curve, and then forgot by its owner and creative participants. John Ford had little to say of it that was good, The Black Watch amounting to initiation more embarrassment than success. Based on years of non-access, most would have agreed with him.


All I had seen of The Black Watch was in a Kevin Brownlow profile of early sound that used clips to demonstrate stone age of initial talkers. Sample of a tribesman pushing another off a precipice while chanting "Allah, forgive me" put The Black Watch on a short list to watch for, but who'd play it? (not television as I could find) Now, however, comes happy surprise of The Black Watch streaming at I-Tunes, what's more in high-definition, part of Fox's initiative to put backlog at disposal of fans who'd given up seeing these outside archives and far-flung revival. Quality is as good as surviving elements permit, which is to say variable, but for a most part, OK. I was thrilled to have the thing at all, a best attitude to keep where dealing with any rescue from the mostly-lost library of Fox Film Corporation.


The Black Watch was novel-based with a compelling, if familiar premise, officer Victor McLaglen thought a coward when he goes undercover in India rather than joining his regiment in Europe's Great War. There is much of command ritual and mess protocol, McLaglen at one point taking (much) time to load and light his pipe as bagpipers accompany mealtime for comrades-at-arms. Some have complained at preponderance of the bagpipes, and yes, they play aplenty throughout The Black Watch, at meals and in battle, but consider novelty of these in 5/29 when The Black Watch was new (and trade-sold as "a masterpiece of melody and dialog"). I'd venture this was a first time such instrument was heard on film, unless a Movietone newsreel or Vitaphone short got there first. Then there was fact of bagpipes registering loud and clear on a soundtrack, unlike dialogue subject to hiss and distortion. Who knows but that pipers were a most memorable aspect of seeing The Black Watch in first runs.


The film was completed by John Ford as a part-talkie, then re-shot in part per studio dictate so as to sell result as all-talk. Revisions were "Staged" by character actor Lumsden Hare rather than Ford, a circumstance decried later by the director, who said he "wanted to vomit" after look and listen to what Hare had wrought. These dialogue portions are an ordeal, lines slow-recited with pauses to induce sleep, but problems with Movietone were understood by Fox brass, likely result an order to ease tempo so each word would register. Better to field complaints over pace of talk than talk not comprehended at all. Whatever the effort, some of it was at least done right, as The Black Watch took a million in worldwide rentals against $490K negative cost. Broadway's Gaiety Theatre was host at $2 for best seating, The Black Watch playing tandem with Movietone appearance of Sherlock Holmes-creator Arthur Conan Doyle (Gaiety ad at top), a reel lately included as extra with Flicker Alley's Blu-Ray release of Sherlock Holmes starring William Gillette.


UPDATE: 1/7/16 --- An ad plus announcement I came across for Cleveland's opening of The Black Watch, "Now A Sensation In New York At $2.00 Prices." Here was residual benefit of two-a-day Gotham runs at advanced rate. They created impression of a biggest attraction for patronage down the line. Clevelanders would figure it a bargain to pay popular prices for what commanded $2 on Broadway. Further evidence then, of The Black Watch as highlight of Fox's spring-summer 1929 schedule. Note also Cleveland's Plain-Dealer amusement page (left) featuring The Black Watch, accent on the Scots theme. I had to look up a few of these terms: "Brae," as in Brae Highlander here, means "a steep bank of hillside," while "Hoot, Mon" translates generally to "Hey, man," or words to that effect. Anyhow, I'd assume there were transplanted Scots to Cleveland who understood then, even as I need Google search to translate now.

5 Comments:

Blogger Reg Hartt said...

First films are always interesting for their use of the medium. Lang, in M, uses sound as he never would again. The same with Hitchcock, Von Sternberg abd others. Too bad Von Stroheim never got to make a sound feature. BLIND HUSBANDS was to be remade in sound but the plug was pulled.For that reason I'd like to see this.

10:04 AM  
Blogger Kevin K. said...

I remember that clip in the Brownlow documentary. Like you, for that alone I wanted to see it just to experience what it was like when newly-released.

12:26 PM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Dan Mercer supplies some very interesting background on Victor McLaglen:


There is a still showing a trim and fit Victor McLaglen, nine years removed from his last prize fight and a life of adventure that would have beggared the credulity of a Tom Mix, even if he'd been talking about himself. As a teenager, McLaglen enlisted in the British army to fight in the Boer War, but was mustered out after his true age was discovered. He then joined his older brothers in Canada, becoming a lumberjack, prospector, and trainer in a gymnasium. When his brothers formed an acrobatic troupe, The Romano Brothers, he was a member. He was also a circus strong man and operated a boxing booth, offering $25 to anyone who could last three rounds with him. From time to time he wrestled and boxed professionally, sometimes under the name "Sharkey" McLaglen, finally compiling a boxing record of 11 wins, six losses, and one draw over a 14 year career. McLaglen was six feet three inches tall and heavily muscled, fighting at a weight of around 196 pounds. Photographs from the time show that he had a tremendous physique, but boxing for him was just a way of picking up the odd dollar, hence the spotty record. When he was recalled to the colors during World War I, he became Heavyweight Champion of the British Army in 1918, his most noteworthy athletic accomplishment, and also served as Assistant Provost Marshall of Bagdad, which suggests his intelligence and ability to lead men. Fans of boxing, however, will be interested in knowing that he fought a six round exhibition in Vancover in 1909 against the legendary heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson. This was Johnson's first public appearance after winning the title from Tommy Burns, while McLaglen only had five professional fights at that point, so he was far out of his class. He went the distance, but he might have been an ambulatory punching bag, so far as Johnson was concerned. Or as MacLaglen explained later, Johnson couldn't knock him down but he certainly beat the "bejeezus" out of him. In 1911, as "Paul Romano," he fought a four round exhibition against Jess Willard, who would become champion himself after knocking out Jack Johnson in 1915. Out of the service again, MacLaglen had three more prize fights in 1920, but parlayed his military boxing laurels into a starring role that year in "The Call of the Road," directed by A. E. Coleby, about a disowned nobleman in 1820 who becomes a boxer. After that, it was the movies for him, which profited from a blustering style not too far removed from that of the man himself.

5:47 PM  
Blogger Ed Watz said...

It's a footnote (but still worth noting) that that tribal chief who casually pushes a man off the cliff is none other than Laurel & Hardy's future nemesis, Walter Long.

5:40 AM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Yes! And I was delighted to see Walter turn up, an old silent screen heavy given speech at last.

6:30 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024
  • April 2024
  • May 2024
  • June 2024
  • July 2024
  • August 2024
  • September 2024