With the last year of the decade known as the "Twenty-Tens" just around the corner, I was recently treated to a sentimental journey that took me back 100 years to the decade of the "Nineteen-Tens." Like today's world, it was filled with shocking events which shook the world and did a thorough job of shattering many people's innocence. On April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in a tragedy that became legendary. Within three hours, "the ship that God himself could not sink" ended up on the ocean floor. The following video (an exquisite full-length animation which recreates the ship's sinking in real time) is required viewing for anyone interested in maritime history.
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (the presumptive heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife (Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg) were assassinated in Sarajevo, triggering events that would soon lead to the onset of World War I. The following video describes the growth of immigrant traffic across the Atlantic Ocean, the terrifying assaults by Germany's fleet of U-Boats, and how Winston Churchill helped create the circumstances which led to the tragic sinking of the RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915 -- a torpedo attack that brought the United States into the war.
While many people look to the December holidays in the hope of finding peace on earth and good will toward men, this month I was exposed to two moving dramas in which World War I played a major role. Though each commemorated great losses of life, they delivered surprising messages of unconditional love which offered a refreshing break from the usual holiday fare.
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While war is often glorified in film and politics, its tragic results do not discriminate. So many people dying unnecessary deaths is not a cause for celebration. And yet, rare moments of humanity stand out among the rubble and destruction.One such moment is the Christmas Truce of 1914, during which French, German, and English soldiers put down their weapons and treated each other as human beings, exchanging gifts of food and souvenirs. Some played soccer with the enemy, others took advantage of the temporary ceasefire to retrieve the bodies of their dead colleagues in order to give the deceased men a proper burial. As Bruce Bairnsfather wrote:
"I wouldn't have missed that unique and weird Christmas Day for anything.... I spotted a German officer, some sort of lieutenant I should think, and being a bit of a collector, I intimated to him that I had taken a fancy to some of his buttons.... I brought out my wire clippers and, with a few deft snips, removed a couple of his buttons and put them in my pocket. I then gave him two of mine in exchange.... The last I saw was one of my machine gunners, who was a bit of an amateur hairdresser in civil life, cutting the unnaturally long hair of a docile Boche, who was patiently kneeling on the ground whilst the automatic clippers crept up the back of his neck."
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| The all-male ensemble for CCCT's production of All Is Calm (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studio) |
Contra Costa Civic Theatre (under the artistic direction of Marilyn Langbehn) has revived its 2017 staging of All Is Calm, a choral opera written by Peter Rothstein with a cappella vocal arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach. A deceptively simple work that features many popular songs from the era, All Is Calm is performed by an ensemble of 12 men with minimal scenery. In the following video, Rothstein provides some background on what inspired him to create the piece and how music served as a bridge to peace (however tentative) between warring armies.
CCCT's production begins on a jovial note as Englishmen are enlisting to fight in a war which they anticipate will be over by Christmas. As grim reality sets in, the more gruesome aspects of war become increasingly unavoidable.
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| A scene from the Contra Costa Civic Theatre's production of All Is Calm (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studio) |
While some members of the audience may be surprised to hear "Silent Night" sung in both English and German ("Stille Nacht"), musical numbers are interspersed with text from letters the soldiers wrote home as well as the thoughts they wrote in their journals. Familiar Christmas carols include "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," "The First Noel," "Good King Wenceslas," "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Minuit chrétiens" ("O Holy Night").
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| A scene from the Contra Costa Civic Theatre's production of All Is Calm (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studio) |
Popular songs of the era featured in All Is Calm include "Come On and Join" (sung to the tune of Irving Berlin's 1911 hit song "Alexander's Ragtime Band"), 1912's "It's A Long Way To Tipperary," Ivor Novello's 1914 hit, "Keep The Home Fires Burning," and the popular 1915 marching song entitled "Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag." Traditional British songs include "God Save The King," "Christmas Day in the Cookhouse," and "Wassail" while Scottish songs include "Auld Lang Syne," "Will Ye Go To Flanders?" and "We're Here Because We're Here."
German songs include "Die Wacht am Rhein" (The Watch on the Rhine"), "O Tannenbaum," and "Deutschlandlied" (also known as "Deutschland uber Alles") along with the traditional Flemish song, "A Little Child is Born."
Directed by Langbehn, CCCT's 12-man ensemble (Ed Bussa, Julio Jernandez, Jr., Phil Hilton, Lazlo Horner, J Jha, Oliver Kampman, Lucas Kiehn-Theil, Paul Loper, Gregory Lynch, Ken Ray, Peter Stielstra, and Gabriel Thomas) does a fine job of maintaining pitch throughout the show's 80 minutes thanks to the musical direction by Scarlett Hepworth. There are smooth segues between scenes as the narration becomes darker until the truce takes hold.
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| The all-male cast of Contra Costa Civic Theatre's production of All Is Calm |
One of the strengths of All Is Calm is the way it gives audiences a chance to hear so many familiar songs in a new and highly dramatic context. Performances of All Is Calm continue at the Contra Costa Civic Theatre through December 22 (click here for tickets). Here's a trailer from the original production by Theatre Latté Da in Minneapolis.
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Without doubt, the highlight of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival's December 1st holiday offering (A Day of Silents) was the screening of Frank Borzage's 1927 melodramatic masterpiece, 7th Heaven. Based on a play by Austin Strong (Seventh Heaven) that opened at the Booth Theatre on October 30, 1922 and ran for 704 performances, the play's popularity made casting its lead roles of critical importance.The original Broadway cast featured George Gaul as Chico, Helen Menken as Diane, and Frank Morgan (best remembered for his appearance in the title role of 1939's The Wizard of Oz) as Brissac. Among those considered for the role of Chico were John Gilbert and Joel McCrea. Actresses under consideration for the plum role of Diane included Joan Crawford, Blanche Sweet, and Mary Pickford.
The winners turned out to be the 6'2" Charles Farrell and 20-year-old Janet Gaynor (who was barely five feet tall). At the time, Gaynor was also scheduled to star in a F. W. Murnau film entitled Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. In January of 1927, she ended up shooting exterior scenes for Sunrise during the day and working on 7th Heaven at night.
What made the screening at the Castro Theatre so special? The live musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra played a huge role in creating an appropriate soundscape for the event. Add in Chico's constant self-affirmations (“I am a very remarkable fellow”) and the directorial touches by Borzage, whom Martin Scorsese claims “was so tuned into the nuances between people that he was able to catch emotions that you just don’t see in anyone else’s movies.” But in her program essay, Farran Smith Nehme points to another, easily overlooked factor:
“Our own age usually prefers its film romances to play out between people who are rich, or at least comfortably well off. Silent film, on the other hand, loved its poor people. The ethereal, peerlessly romantic 7th Heaven is the ultimate tale of how even the most bedraggled and downtrodden can find enduring love. Bluff, handsome Chico toils beneath the streets, kept company by his friends the Rat (George E. Stone) and broken-down cabdriver Boul (Albert Gran). His modest ambition in life is to rise from the sewers to become a street cleaner, like Gobin (David Butler). Diane lives in a garret with her abusive, absinthe-addicted sister, Nana (a superbly vicious Gladys Brockwell).”
“The stage version is a well-constructed melodrama that offers the vicarious thrill of a sordid milieu (the attics and pavements of a Paris slum) and the emotional satisfaction of an all-consuming love affair between two bits of human flotsam, sewer worker Chico and an abused streetwalker named Diane. One day Chico rescues Diane from the fury of Nana and, after lying to the authorities that Diane is his wife, he takes her to his home at the top of a rundown building -- the seventh heaven of the title. War breaks out and Chico is drafted. The lovers pledge that their spirits will visit one another every morning at eleven o’clock, no matter what the war may bring.”
Thanks to his work on 7th Heaven, Borzage won the first Academy Award for Best Director, Janet Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress (she would take home the Best Actress Award for Sunrise the following year), and Benjamin Glazer won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The onscreen chemistry between Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell was so strong that they ended up co-starring in 12 feature-length films.
Although the silent version of 7th Heaven was released in May of 1927, the advent of sound was such a powerful development for the motion picture industry that, on September 10, 1927, the film was re-released with a synchronized Movietone soundtrack that included sound effects along with a musical score. In 1995 (nearly 70 years after its initial release), 7th Heaven was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
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| Poster art for 1927's 7th Heaven |
So much of this film is exceptional that, in spite of the poverty and desperation depicted onscreen, it's easy to be overwhelmed by Borzage's wealth of imagination and attention to detail. From Emile Chautard as Father Chevillon (the local priest who keeps trying to befriend the atheist Chico) to Jessie Haslett and Brandon Hurst (as Diane's condescending Aunt Valentine and Uncle George); from Albert Gran as the fat cabdriver to George E. Stone as Chico's friend "Rat," these are the kind of character actors that leave indelible impressions on an audience overwhelmed by the sheer spectacle of World War I and the exultant crowds returning home from the Western front.
Equally impressive is the friendship and emotional support Chico and Diane receive from David Butler as Gobin (the street cleaner who becomes Chico's best friend) and Marie Mosquini as Gobin's wife, who is pregnant when her husband is called off to war. Each of these characters undergoes a tremendous transformation, which is why viewers find themselves caring so deeply about their fates. Though some of the film's romantic gestures seem quaint and corny by today's standards, they ring true to the customs of romantic fiction from earlier eras. The result (even for contemporary audiences) is an immensely fulfilling journey for the film's characters as well as its viewers.
The following video contains the entire film (although the print is not as clear as the print screened during A Day of Silents). If you want to treat yourself to a genuine tearjerker, 7th Heaven is a superb choice for holiday viewing.
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