Richard Barthelmess...

A small tribute to a fine actor...

Richard Barthelmess... certainly not a household name these days but in his heyday during the silent period he was a huge star. Born in 1895, after graduating from Trinity College in Hartford CT. , he made his film debut in 1916.

A few years later he went to work for D.W. Griffith. His first important role was "The Yellow Man" in Griffith's 1919 silent masterpiece "Broken Blossoms". He gave a beautifully sensitive performance in that film and was now well on his way to super-stardom. I've only seen 3 Griffith pictures so far but this one is my fave.

Barthelmess flanked by the Gish sisters.... Lilian once said he had "The most beautiful face of any man who ever went before the cameras". He and Lilian were to star in another Griffith masterpiece in 1920. . .

A shot from the intense climax of Griffith's "Way Down East". That HAD to be a tough film to make for all involved! I think anyone who's seen it will agree, no method actor of today has ANYTHING on Lillian Gish!

When Barthelemess moved into the sound era he played tougher, more hard edged characters. He starred in Howard Hawks' first talking film "Dawn Patrol", a.k.a. "Flight Commander", a first-rate WWI picture that was remade almost scene-for-scene with Errol Flynn in 1938. In fact some of the arial battle footage from Hawks' film was reused for the Flynn version. The scene above is with co-star Neil Hamilton, best known for his much later role as Commissioner Gordon on the Batman TV series.

A scene from 1929's "Drag", an early talkie directed by Frank Lloyd. I dont even know if this film exists anymore. Barthelmess made another film with Howard Hawks in 1939, the classic "Only Angels Have Wings" with Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth and Thomas Mitchell. I could not find a single picture of Richard Barthelmess from that film in any of my books!

One of his better films of the talkie era, 1932's "Cabin in the Cotton" directed by Michael Curtiz and co-starring Bette Davis. This was an important film for Bette as it was her first good sexy-bitch role and of course she played it with gusto! Bette said one of her most famous lines in that one: "Ah'd like ta kiss ya but ah jes washed mah hayah". "Cabin in the Cotton" is pure Warner Bros entertainment...a fast moving, social drama with a great cast. Well-worth a look if you havent seen it already! Ditto for the 2 films Barthelmess made with William Wellman in 1933, "Central Airport" and "Heroes for Sale"

Richard got 2 oscar nominations during the silent era, one for "The Patent Leather Kid" in 1927 and another for "The Noose" in 1928. He only made 3 films in the early 1940's and then left Hollywood, served a brief stint in the Navy reserve during the war and then retired all together living the rest of his years off of his real-estate investments until his death in 1963.

Essential Richard Barthelmess:

"Broken Blossoms" - 1919

"Way Down East" - 1920

"Dawn Patrol" - 1930

"Cabin in the Cotton" - 1932

"Central Airport" - 1933
"Heroes for Sale" - 1933

"Only Angles Have Wings" - 1939

"The Spoilers" - 1942

Several of his early talking films have just been released by Warner Home video but I have yet to see some of them so I cant say if they are "essential" Richard Barthelmess or not. I'm looking forward to seeing them regardless!

Bogey - part I . . .

A lot of actors have played characters with interesting, unique or just plain silly names but I dont think any can compare to the motley bunch that Humphrey Bogart played during his amazing career!

Bogey's colorful cast of character's started with his unforgettable performance as killer "Duke Mantee" in Archie Mayo's 1936 production of "The Petrified Forest". Bogey had played the part on stage with star Leslie Howard and legend has it that Howard insisted Bogey also play the part in the film version or he wasnt going to be involved!

In 1937 Bogey played a crooked boxing manager named "Turkey Morgan" in Michael Curtiz' "Kid Galahad" starring Edward G Robinson and Bette Davis. Sadly that was the only time Bette and Eddie G. appeared in a film together.

Here's Bogey as "Baby Face Martin" with one of Warner Bros. character actor workhorses of the 1930's, Allen Jenkins in a scene from William Wylers excellent 1937 production "Dead End". This had the first film appearance of the Dead End Kids who a year later would star with James Cagney in one of my all-time favorite films, "Angels with Dirty Faces".

Bogey with Edward G Robinson and Claire Trevor in a publicity shot for Anatole Litvak's "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" in which Bogey plays a safe-cracking jewel thief named "Rocks Valentine".

Bogey as western bad guy "Whip McCord" squares off against James Cagney in Lloyd Bacon's riotous "The Oklahoma Kid".

Here's Bogey as gangster "Chips Maguire" with the ever-luscious Ann Sheridan in the totally wacky "It All Came True" directed by Lewis Seiler.

Bogey's first multi-dimensional gangster character was probably "Mad Dog Roy Earle" in Raoul Walsh's first-rate drama "High Sierra". The film actually had Ida Lupino getting top billing and she played the "Tarnished Angel" to perfection (as she always played everything!) but clearly this film was Bogey's from the moment he appeared on screen. Even standing next to a little guy like Bogey, beautiful Ida looked so tiny and delicate . . . *sigh*! More of Bogey's rogues gallery of colorfully named characters coming soon!

Lobby Cards . . .

My one other aquisition during my all-too brief visit to CT last weekend was this batch of 4 Lobby Cards from the 1940 Warner Bros. film "Castle on the Hudson", directed by Anatole Litvak. For the un-initiated Lobby cards are generally 11"x14" in size, printed on heavier paper than the thin 27"x41" one-sheet posters and usually have 8 cards to a set, often including what is known as a "Title Card" as the first card. John Garfield and Ann Sheridan are two of the main stars I have focused on in my collecting escapades and I have quite a few items for each of them but none from this film so I am genuinely excited to have these in the house! Of particular note is that these are printed on a weird linen type paper that Warner Bros sometimes used for their lobby cards. It always has a more yellow/brown coloring to it than the regular heavy white paper that most LC's are printed on. Many thanks to my good friend Mr Door Tree for making it possible for me to add these to my collection!

A scene card with Garfield, Annie and character actor workhorse Jerome Cowan, probably best remembered for his role as Miles Archer in John Huston's 1941 production of "The Maltese Falcon". Mr Cowan has over 200 screen credits to his name!!!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, I'm thinking it wasnt too difficult to put on a big smile with your arm around Ann Sheridan!

Nice hat Annie! This film was actually a re-make of "20,000 years in Sing Sing" released in 1932, directed by Michael Curtiz and featured Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis, the only time those two great stars ever worked together.

A scene card with all 3 of the main stars! Both John Garfield and Pat O'Brien could rattle off dilaogue at lightning speed and Annie was no piker in that department either!