Review of Lonesome

Lonesome (1928)
10/10
One of the few last silents , before full talkies
22 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I saw a bad print ,on you tube ,with rock music and Czech titles.I was not aware that this was an American silent,and that actor in it was Glen Tyrone ,of king of jazz fame.I thought it was a Slovakian silent,but, when I read the i.m.b d . about it ,I was surprised.It was a silent that originally had synchronized music and sound effects and had talking sequences.I got real curious about it more.Then I read that it wasn't lost at all.It was played in archive theaters.I even suggest t.c.m if they could considered playing it .They ignored me .Then ,by surprise,I discovered that the restored version of lonesome was put On d.v.d. ,with four other Paul Fejos films.So I bought it.It was a good Tone poem about two lonely people ,played by Glen Tyron and Barbera Kent.She is a switch board operator ,while he is a machinist.They both end up meeting each other on Koney Island Beach.But only learn their name later on ,Mary,",so! it was Mary!Mary!, and Jim.The movie looks a little bit similar to Sunrise.Some of the Koney island amusement park night scenes were tinted ans stencil colored.It was a good effect.It also seemed that Andy Divine played a small part too, he was also a bit leaner in 28.The talking sequences looked like they were done in a hurry.The Camera did not move.Not even zoom lenses were used.The police station sequence was very static in it's sound talking photography.But they probably had a date type release the film and could not take more time for better shots, may be.In spite of this this is a very good silent ,sound classic film.One of the reason probably why it took time to get it on home video, was the fact,The song ,"always,written by Irving Berlin,Was in the movie as back ground music and a record sequence.The copy rights had to be paid to the Irving Berlin estate,may be.This comes with three other Paul Fejos classic films, Then talking version of Broadway, 1929.The silent version of ," The last performance,1929.It is worthy of collection.Available from Criterion and amazon.com and your specialty shops. I don't think wall mart would have this, may be. 09/22/12
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