User reviews

Evelyn Brent's depiction of Rose Henderson truly makes me wonder just how

much better films of the thirties, forties, and fifties to mid sixties would have been had not censorship seized control of Amercan cinematography in the early

1930's. Instead of a scene showing Rose and her wealthy husband Lon each in a twin bed separated by a nightstand, The Mating Call has Rose calling on her

ex-husband, Leslie, who has just returned from WWI to find out his marriage to underage Rose was annulled by her parents when he was serving in France.

Rose has no love for her husband, Lon, as he is having an affair with a much

younger woman, and despite Leslie's not wanting to see her again, Rose

repeatedly attempts to seduce him - finally tricking Leslie into joining her in his bedroom after she has begun to disrobe. If TCM runs it again, check it out. It's nice to know that pre-production code movies actually depicted some of the

interesting realities of life that censors wouldn't allow.

Rennee stole the picture. She was the most photogenic of all the players. The discretion of the censors to allow the swimming scene was a real plumb. I was certainly interested to see the interactions of the supposed "Order" and the principle players. A good amount of tension was generated in the last half of the picture. Helen Foster played a small part. I don't recall seeing her before and she was very photogenic as well. Although some of the scenes were dark, the version I watched on TCM was a remastered copy and the quality was quite good in fact, it was excellent. Very unfortunate that Renee Adoree tragically died so young. She was a real beauty.

Leslie Hatten (Thomas Meighan) goes away to fight WW1. He secretly marries beautiful Rose (Evelyn Brent). He returns 2 years later to find their marriage annulled and she's married to Lon (Alan Roscoe). She still wants to sleep with Leslie but he refuses her. However Lon thinks she IS sleeping with him and is a member of The Order--a Ku Klux Klan-like organization who punish everyone they think isn't "moral" enough.

There's more but that's the gist. Fast-moving, pretty racy (Brent flashes some nudity), well-acted and directed drama. It brings up multiple themes--WW1, marriage, adultery, suicide, murder, secret organizations punishing people--and mixes them all up and throws them at the viewer in an entertaining way. This doesn't seem to be making any sort of statement (although it does strongly suggest that The Order is wrong) but just gives the viewer a fast-paced entertaining drama. This was thought to be lost for many years but was discovered and lovingly restored. We should all be happy for that. I give it a 7.

THE MATING CALL was shown on TCM on Dec. 15, 2004, marking its apparent first screening since 1928. The silent film is something of a morality play, complete with a returning soldier who has lost his wife (to an adulterer); a morals police force, the Order, in dark cloth hoods (except for the leader, who wears satin); one woman drenched by a bucket of water and another caught skinny-dipping; and some provocative eyebrow acting. Evelyn Brent radiates sex as Rose, while Thomas Meighan seems mostly confused as the farmer who needs a replacement woman -- and goes to Ellis Island to get one! THE MATING CALL, directed by James Cruze (I COVER THE WATERFRONT), ably entertains while carrying a rather more serious theme on hypocrisy.

What a bizarre and fascinating movie, with quite a bit to think about. I won't bother with the plot, except to say it's melodramatic and has some interesting (and pretty unique) turns in its short 72 minute run time. The things which stood out:

• The KKK reference. It seems to me a critique of organized thugs who operate outside the law, or in this case, essentially are the law, while at the same time, not wanting to be direct about the racism of the real-life Klan. "The Order" in this film is a large group of armed townsfolk who don hoods and robes at night, then burst into homes and haul people off to answer for behavior they deem unacceptable (with one stated goal being to "safeguard the honor of our womenfolk"). Without any real form of trial where one is presumed innocent, allowed to prepare a defense, etc, victims answer questions put to them by the hooded leader. With a bonfire blazing away in the background, if he deems they're guilty, they're strapped to a giant cross and whipped. It doesn't have the racist persecution of real Klan behavior and is therefore far from an ideal depiction, but it's still a scary vision of the degradation of justice in America, and mob rule. They might seem to dispense justice in a couple of cases, but do they really? We have no idea, there is no trial, and the punishment is cruel and unusual. Aside from flogging people, they operate on hearsay, get things wrong, plant evidence, and arbitrarily decide a murder is OK. I think the critique is consistent with the increased criticism of the Klan in the mid to late 1920's, and its associated decrease in power.

• The sex. Producer Howard Hughes apparently wanted to push boundaries, and he and director James Cruze certainly did. Evelyn Brent is quite steamy as she attempts to seduce Thomas Meighan in a couple of scenes. In one she feigns an accident and pours a tub of water over her dress so that she has to change in his bedroom. In another she stands behind him, cheek pressed into his back, and fondling his hand in what seems like a reference to his manhood. Her eyes are so beguiling and she has just one thing on her mind for most of her time on the screen. Later Renée Adorée takes a nude swim, and then pads around in a wet, clinging nightgown. Helen Foster plays a beautiful young girl who is having an affair with a married man (Alan Roscoe), one of many for him, and what sets his wife (Brent) out to "follow his example." The film objectifies women and puts them into the usual buckets (temptress, virtuous, ruined), but it also points out the double standard.

• The transactional view of marriage. When Meighan's character wants to get married ASAP he simply goes out to Ellis Island and makes a bargain with an immigrant family, who won't be let into America otherwise. (This is where Adorée comes in). He simply states that he needs a wife to help work on his farm, and after some heated sidebar discussion, they young woman and her parents agree. The two know nothing about each other. The power imbalance and the idea of essentially a mail-order bride is disturbing to me, but they don't seem upset by it, and it just seems like a business transaction to them. Is it horrifying, or is a part of this more honest than many marriages? Is it a reflection of the times despite being a plot artifice, because of its practicality and the speed with which they get married (just as he was quickly married to Brent's character earlier)? Maybe all of the above. Regardless, she presents herself to him that night, knowing that's part of her 'obligations' (he demurs), makes a big breakfast for him the next morning, and soon we see her on all fours scrubbing the floor. The relationship grows to include some tenderness and signs of affection, including an amusing scene where Adorée pretty expertly scrubs down a pig and he joins her (why the pig needs to be washed, we have no idea). It seems a positive view of what is a strange marriage.

These three things were intriguing to me because they each created conflicting feelings. There are no black/white, purely good or bad aspects, certainly by today's standards. I was surprised over what I was seeing and it took time to process it, both in the context of the period as well as how it affected me. The film is not a masterpiece by any means, but these are the kinds of things which fascinate me about old movies.

"The Mating Call" is an interesting oddball late silent film from kazillionaire producer Howard Hughes and director James Cruze (perhaps best known for "The Covered Wagon" (1923)). What seemingly starts out as yet another of many WWI-themed romances of the era, quickly turns into a series of seedy love triangles, anachronistic flappers, vigilante justice consisting of floggings performed by a black-hooded clandestine organization called the "Order" that is similar to the white-hooded Ku Klux Klan, and amidst all of the hullabaloo, there's a pre-Code nude swimming scene to top it off. And most of it takes place on the farm of star Thomas Meighan's character. The main thrust of the story is Meighan's sexual struggles and inability to consummate two marriages. Even when he's finally alone with one his wives when she's naked, those pesky prophylactic-costumed hoods ruin the fun.

One of his marriages is annulled by the girl's (Evelyn Brent) parents while he's away on duty and after all he was able to do was kiss her in a quickie wedding. His ex-wife, then, marries a more urbane type and member of that mysterious Order. She also becomes a sexually-promiscuous flapper in the meantime--allegedly in response to her hubby's own philandering. She throws herself at Meighan, who goes to Ellis Island to pick up a wife for himself to hold off her advances, as well as, perhaps, to protect himself from the Order, whom akin to D.W. Griffith's Klan, minus the blatant racism (everyone in this film is white), see it their business to preserve the purity of their womenfolk. Lucky for him, Meighan happens to pick a lovable, hard-working, ambiguously-European-coded (although, maybe Russian) peasant who obviously also wears a lot of makeup, as portrayed by the French Renée Adorée, along with her also hard-working, if mostly mysteriously absent for most the rest of the picture, parents (that is, at least, in the print of the film we have today). She agrees to the marriage, lest her, mom and dad get deported. It's an unorthodox marriage proposition, to say the least.

This is all sensational stuff, to be sure, and I'm not even spoiling the more lurid turns to set up the climax. It's oft amusing and well paced, acted and photographed, though, albeit nothing exceptional given the excellent quality of late silent cinema, and the subject matter is unusual enough to be of interest, including the nude scene and the Order. The latter reminds me of "The White Caps" (1905), which is an Edison short film about the real-life, titular vigilante group who tar and feather a (white) wife beater. Mary Pickford also rode with Kentucky "night-riders" in a land battle against (white) developers in "Heart o' the Hills" (1919). The KKK is the most notorious of these sort of terrorist and vigilante organizations, but there were quite a few different sects in American history performing similar, if not always, but often or usually were, racially-motivated or otherwise bigoted, criminal acts. Given the resurgence of the Klan during this era, largely due to Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915), I think it's safe to assume that the "Order" here is based on them. Regardless, "The Mating Call" is a bizarre little picture.

It's title suggests light romantic comedy, but The Mating Call is, for most of its running time, a tale of love turned sour after doughboy Thomas Meighan returns home to find his bride (Evelyn Brent) has annulled their marriage and wed the leader of the local KKK. Things only lighten up when cute little immigrant Renee Adoree shows up and begins bathing piglets. Enjoyable enough, but it feels curiously incomplete.

Evelyn Brent was a marvelous and smolderingly beautiful actress of the silent screen who made a staggering number of films from 1915 to the 1940s. This film is worth seeing for her alone. Her performance as a small town vamp holds up completely by 21st century standards and that's not common. James Cruze has a good reputation and it's easy to see why from this film. The action moves briskly, scenes do not linger unnecessarily but only when emphasis is needed. Intimate moments are handled skillfully and believably. Set pieces are convincing. Here is a movie where someone scrubs a floor and really does the kind of work you have to do to scrub a floor, though I was a bit surprised to see Renee Adoree sloshing the entire contents of a water basin directly onto the linoleum during the rinse phase. It really annoyed me that she became distracted and let the puddle (or lake, really) remain and if I had been Thomas Meighan's character I would have been much more upset than he seemed to be. Meighan seems a bit wooden and but I think he was trying to play a simple farming man with a tough exterior.

I am not the only one who noticed that the women's costumes and hair styles (not to mention the automobiles) were way too modern for the time period presented, 1919. Cloche hats did not make their appearance that soon after World War I. Another element that cannot be ignored are the palm trees in this town, which suggest that the action takes place in southern California, but when the Meighan character decides to find an off-the-boat immigrant to marry, he travels to Ellis Island, thousands of miles to the east, even though he is a struggling farmer. Then presto! He's back in Southern California with the newfound bride and her parents who look no worse for wear than if they had been trucked in from a neighboring county. To be fair, these jolting progressions seem to be standard fare in early films and are also used quite a bit in early talkies. But for us sophisticated 21st century viewers they do stretch credulity and get in the way of our serious involvement in the proceedings.

One strand of the plot involves a KKK-like organization called "The Order." But this is not the KKK we're all familiar with – this group of hooded vigilantes rounds up local men who are perceived to be less than honorable to the town's womenfolk and whips them on posts until they repent and agree to behave in a more chivalrous manner! To contemporary audiences this comes across as a very funny joke.

This movie is a unique glimpse into the culture of the period. One outstanding item is the depiction of a clan-type organization who acts more as a community secret police (seriously flawed in their self-righteous and heavy handed rule) in general than as a specifically racist group. I had always heard about this being their main historic role because in many parts of the country where these groups existed, there were simply not sufficient numbers of minorities around to pick on and by their nature these groups had to pick on someone.

The film's treatment of sexuality seems far more erotic just in the suggestion of nudity and intimate touching than today's practice of "anything goes" sexual contact and the full nudity of multi-millionaire, artificially enhanced actors. I know old-timers and conservatives have been saying this for years but seeing this movie proves the point.

I was so interested in the acting that I really didn't care about the plot. Also, the film is so well restored that it is almost in 3-D.

I just watched this film on TCM, on its television premiere, and it was quite a chance to see this rarity. The Rex Beach story, as directed by James Cruze for Howard Hughes, is probably much more interesting that the actual film.

There are a some gaps in the continuity as the ending approaches. The Evelyn Brent character completely vanishes from the film and the murder of the husband is not solved. The way the Klu Klux Klan is presented with a complete display of incompetence: Thomas Meighan's character is brutally and unjustly tortured and in the end they left him go as if nothing has happened...

In the way the Klan is presented here it seems that in that town everybody lives under a tyrannical and authoritarian regime with no complaints!!! Robert Israel's score is good, even when he reuses music cues from other silent films he had previously scored and the restoration efforts were quite good. However, it would be nice that the effort would be place in much better films than this one.

A soldier (Thomas Meighan) returns from the war to find that his secret marriage has been annulled and his sweetheart has re-married. That doesn't stop the ex-wife (Evelyn Brent) from directing her attentions toward him while her current husband sees other women. But these associations with a married woman get the soldier in trouble with the local Ku Klux-type Order.

THE MATING CALL (1928) really is a solid silent film. I watched it on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. TCM host Robert Osborne assured viewers that James Cruze was a top-tier director of the silent era, and his direction here is solid. This is one of the rare Howard Hughes- produced silent films that had been considered lost before turning up in Hughes's private collection in recent years. The restoration looks great, the photography crisp and clear.

The lovely Evelyn Brent is terrific as the town belle turned vamp. What a screen presence! I recall seeing her with William Powell in HIGH PRESSURE (1932), but she really makes an impression with this sexy, seductive performance. She has a real charisma on screen. There's also a great scene where a bitter Meighan, unmoved by her advances, forcibly removes Brent from his home as she battles back.

Renée Adorée is very cute as an immigrant girl and reluctant bride. Her sweet and innocent character is in stark contrast to Brent's character and gives the film a love story. There's a scandalous skinny dipping scene, but the distant nudity is innocuous enough.

The masked Order pose a dangerous threat and add a darker drama to the tangled web of small-town romance. The performances and the underlying darkness (including an eerie riverside discovery) raise this movie above other, more soapy melodramas and make THE MATING CALL one to check out.

Fell in love with Renee, just so beautiful, so sad she died so young.

I could not believe how bad the movie was, till I realized the story was written by Rex Beach, a very prominent writer from the early 20th Century. The "KKK-type" court who "judged" various people from the town was outrageous. In my view, the film appeared to justify and condone the actions of the real KKK. The plot seemed to completely confuse Tom Meighan. I really looked forward to seeing Meighan perform. He was a major star of the 1920's, friend and companion of Scott Fitzgerald and his long island set, and I assumed this would be a good film. The fact that a 1928 audience was comfortable with this film does not reflect favorably on society at that time.

Though the "Order" in the film is not referred to as the KKK, it is obvious who it is supposed to represent. The KKK of the 1910s and 1920s was the second generation of the clan which resurfaced in 1915, with the aid of "Birth of a Nation" The organization still held on to its racist roots and expanded to the anti-immigrant, anti-Jew and anti-catholic views. They relaxed their hatred of the "radical Republicans" to reach out to more white people as long as the Republicans who wished to join developed conservative views. This Era of the Klan was founded on concepts of Americanism, meaning Christianity and Patriotism; it was a White male social and fraternal organization organization out to stomp on "Niggers, Catholics, Jews...dope, bootlegging, graft, night clubs and road houses, violation of the Sabbath, unfair business dealings, sex and scandalous behavior." The organization practically ran Southern governments and appealed to small Northern towns as well. Robert Coughlan in "Konklave in Kokomo" stated "Literally half the town belonged to the Klan when I was a boy. At its peak, which was from 1923 through 1925, the Nathan Hale Den had about five thousand members, out of an able-bodied adult population of ten thousand. With this strength the Klan was able to dominate local politics." So, the portrayal of the clan was not too way off. The clan flogged many a white man and woman for "immoral behavior". I found the movie portrayed the clan in a neutral manner, politically correct for its time, but leaning toward the negative side as a bullying organization meddling into the private affairs of others. We all know that was the least of what they did. In fact, within a year or two of the release of this film, the clan quickly deteriorated from public backlash against the criminal behavior that came with their almost absolute power. On a whole other note, I was amazed at the nudity that was allowed in films back then. It was not prevalent but not new either. Of course this was the roaring 20s with mini-skirts, the Charleston and flappers. This was before the depression. Though I did not find the movie all that worth watching for the story line, looking at it to view the contemporary views that were abundant and conflicting makes this an historical gem.