The Trap (1922)

Just when you think you've seen all the Lon Chaney films that have been found, another one gets cleaned up and rereleased. I recently picked up the Kino release of what is claimed to be Lon Chaney's first starring role in a film, The Trap. By all accounts on IMDb, he had appeared in over 100 films and shorts prior to starring in this film. Like many other Chaney films I've seen, he plays a character who has been wronged, which makes it a perfect vehicle for him to demonstrate his talent at changing his appearance from one of innocent benevolence to crazed and vengeful. 

365 Days: #28 Three Women (1924)

I just added this film to my Lubitsch collection, which was recently released by Kino with a 4K restoration. 

#28 Three Women

Mrs. Mable Wilton is feeling her age, which may be why she distances herself from her 18 year old daughter, Jeanne, who thirsts for her love and attention, as her maturity is a reminder of her own advancing years. When Jeanne shows up on her mom's doorstep unannounced, she ends up stealing her mom's boyfriend, who ends up marrying her, thereby jilting her former boyfriend, Fred. When Mable discovers that Edmund has gone for a third helping on the side at her daughter's expense, she tries to buy Jeanne's freedom. When he refuses, she is forced to take matters into her own hands.

"The essential thing is that you are happy." 

I enjoy Lubitch's comedy. It is very understated in this film, since the topic of a mother and daughter being scammed by an unscrupulous man is not particularly funny. It is hard not to cheer for the mom's desperate act to save her daughter. 

The Grapefruit Diet.

Rich people's playground.

It does look like fun.

Fashionable society.

Showing off his pretend wealth.

Admirers

Appraising the jewels.

Making an investment.

Unscrupulous suitor.

Excessive powdering.

Realization of stolen chastity.

Side action.

How to tell her that her husband is two timing her.

Breaking free.

Getting free.

"I do not regret the act I committed. My only remorse is at having been a negligent and frivolous mother. For that, I deserve punishment."

Recognizing the sacrifice.

An expected outcome.

Restoring order

365 Days: #15 Souls for Sale (1923)

Here's yet another movie about the movie industry. This is my first time viewing this silent movie about Hollywood.  

#16 Souls for Sale

"I must have work. I know that I must pay 'the price'."

Remember 'Mem' Steddon gets hitched to Owen Scudder, but while on the train to their new life together, she gets the heebie-jeebies and hops off while her new husband is in the bathroom. It turns out he is a serial killer who takes out insurance on his new wives and then murders them. Meanwhile, Mem wanders through the desert and is rescued by actors filming on location. She tries to find 'respectable' work, but then decides to try and make a career as an actress, with some benefactors to help her out. Events take a dramatic turn during filming, when her serial killer husband comes calling, wanting to reclaim his wife.

"O Hollywood! Hollywood! Thou movie-mammon that leadest our children astray, and teachest them wickedness! O Los Angeles, thy name should be Los Diaboles!"

I enjoyed the score and thought it really enhanced the movie. This is a fascinating film with a unique storyline. I was not expecting the serial killer, and enjoyed the surprising turnabout when he gets conned. It details the realities of movie making and is enhanced by footage of real directors filming movies that are now lost. 

Runaway bride

Saved by a sheik.

The magic of makeup.

His next victim.

Old Hollywood

Erich von Stroheim directs Jean Hersholt in Greed.

Charles Chaplin directing A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate

Chaplin

Fred Niblo directing The Famous Mrs. Fair

Collecting more insurance.

Mem's disastrous screen test.

"I'll make an actress of you if I have to break your heart
and every bone in your body."

T. Roy Barnes and Zasu Pitts

Kathlyn Williams, June Mathis, Elliot Dexter,
Barbara Bedford, John Sainpolis, Chester Conklin

"But when an actor gets into trouble, they blame the screen.
A scandal is fatal to any one in the moving pictures."

Predator becomes prey.

Late night Hollywood jazz party.

The dangers of the film industry.

Marshall Neilan directs The Eternal Three with 
Claire Windsor, Raymond Griffith and Hobart Bosworth

Her murderous husband returns to reclaim his wife.

She would rather die.

Keep the cameras rolling.

Calamity on the set.

Hollywood ending.

"They are only players, after all; but they mean well and work hard, spinning pictures for the amusement of strangers. And they can never know, until it is too late to change, whether their toil will win them censure or applause."