Welcome to the next two weeks here at Only The Cinema, which will be focused exclusively on the early (as in, pre-Bringing Up Baby) films of director Howard Hawks. This arbitrary cutoff point has been established in order to encourage people to investigate the less often discussed portions of Hawks' career, before he made the majority of his most famous films. Everyone has something to say about His Girl Friday and Rio Bravo, but how often do you hear anyone even mention Tiger Shark?
Over the course of the next twelve days, from January 12 to January 23, I'll certainly be talking about Tiger Shark, along with all the other early Hawks films I've been able to locate: the 1928 silent A Girl in Every Port plus the majority of his sound films made between 1930 and 1936. I hope that I'll have lots of company, too. I welcome contributions about specific films as well as more general posts discussing broader aspects of Hawks' early career. I especially hope, since I don't have access to most of Hawks' silents, that those who have seen them will take the opportunity to weigh in. Below is a full list of all the films that I consider eligible subjects for discussion, plus a compendium of various pre-existing posts on early Hawks. As new posts are submitted, I will add them to the master list below.
If you have a post, simply comment here with a link or e-mail me, and I will add it to this post, which will serve as the central gathering place for the blog-a-thon. I really look forward to reading what everyone has to say, and hopefully participating in lots of lively discussions about these films.
POSTSCRIPT
Final Thoughts at Only The Cinema
DAY 12 (January 23)
Come and Get It at Only The Cinema
Ceiling Zero at Movie Classics
Tiger Shark at Octopus Cinema
Ceiling Zero at Shadowplay
Edward Arnold in Come and Get It at Shadowplay
Come and Get It at Shadowplay
Barbary Coast at Inisfree (in French)
Walter Brennan in Barbary Coast at Some Came Running
DAY 11 (January 22)
The Road To Glory at Only The Cinema
Fazil (sort of) at Cinema Styles
Fig Leaves at The New Yorker: Goings On
DAY 10 (January 21)
Ceiling Zero at Only The Cinema
Scarface at Ultimate Addict
The Dawn Patrol at Movie Classics
DAY 9 (January 20)
Barbary Coast at Only The Cinema
Ceiling Zero at Ferdy On Films
DAY 8 (January 19)
Viva Villa! at Only The Cinema
Barbary Coast at Tractor Facts
Tiger Shark at Self-Styled Siren
The heroines of early Hawks at Inisfree (in French)
The Prizefighter and the Lady at Greenbriar Picture Shows
DAY 6 (January 17)
Today We Live at Only The Cinema
DAY 5 (January 16)
Tiger Shark at Only The Cinema
DAY 4 (January 15)
The Crowd Roars at Only The Cinema
Scarface at Avis sur des films (in French)
Scarface at Movie Classics
DAY 3 (January 14)
The Criminal Code at Only The Cinema
The Criminal Code at Octopus Cinema
The Prizefighter and the Lady at The Stop Button
Today We Live at Boiling Sand
DAY 2 (January 13)
The Dawn Patrol at Only The Cinema
DAY 1 (January 12)
A Girl in Every Port at Only The Cinema
Twentieth Century at Another Old Movie Blog
PRE-EVENT READING
Ceiling Zero & The Road To Glory at Greenbriar Picture Show
Come and Get It at DVD Talk
Come and Get It at Self-Styled Siren
The Criminal Code at Apocalypse Later
The Crowd Roars at Colet and Company
The Crowd Roars at Movie Classics
A Girl in Every Port at Senses of Cinema
A Girl in Every Port at Shadowplay
Scarface at Senses of Cinema
Scarface at Twenty Four Frames
Scarface at Only The Cinema
Tiger Shark & The Road To Glory at Auteurs Notebook
Today We Live at Apocalypse Later
Twentieth Century at Only The Cinema
THE FILMS:
The Road To Glory (1926)
Fig Leaves (1926)
The Cradle Snatchers (1927)
Paid To Love (1927)
A Girl In Every Port (1928)
Fazil (1928)
The Air Circus (1928, w/ Lewis Seiler)
Trent's Last Case (1929)
The Dawn Patrol (1930)
The Criminal Code (1931)
Scarface (1932)
The Crowd Roars (1932)
Tiger Shark (1932)
Today We Live (1933)
The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933, w/ W.S. Van Dyke)
Viva Villa! (1934, w/ Jack Conway, William Wellman)
Twentieth Century (1934)
Barbary Coast (1935, w/ William Wyler)
Ceiling Zero (1936)
The Road to Glory (1936)
Come and Get It (1936, w/ Richard Rosson, William Wyler)
I made brief reference to A Girl in Every Port recently on my blog -- http://dcairns.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/erotic-intertitles-of-the-week/ -- but plan on tackling some early Hawks more fully this week so I can join in the festivities here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out that link, D Cairns. I liked A Girl in Every Port much more than you did (and McLaglen too) but the intertitles you point out were definitely a highlight. I also loved this one. Some great, witty titles in that film.
ReplyDeleteI've added your link to the pre-event reading list, and I'm really looking forward to your further thoughts on early Hawks.
Great! I'm looking forward to quite a few of these write-ups, particularly A Girl in Every Port--paticularly because of Louise Brooks early performance where her temptress persona began to form.
ReplyDeleteI might look through some university archives I have access to to see if I can find any of the silent era films not included in the blog-a-thon. For me, this is one of the most interesting stages of Hawks' career--probably because of the outrageous lack of criticism on these films.
Thanks, Chuck. I'll be especially interested in any reviews of the silents. Girl in Every Port is the only one I've managed to locate, so I'm really eager to see if anyone else has some perspective on the rest of those films.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to writing on The Criminal Code. Great stuff so far.
ReplyDeleteEd, Here's my review of Ceiling Zero: http://ferdyonfilms.com/2009/01/early-hawks-blogathon-ceiling.php
ReplyDeleteHere's my piece on Scarface:-
ReplyDeletehttp://thefilmlair.blogspot.com/2009/01/early-hawks-blogathon-scarface-1932.html
:-)
Ed my post goes up tomorrow. I'll check back in in the morning with the link.
ReplyDeleteNice, I'm looking forward to it Jonathan.
ReplyDeleteI also just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's contributed so far. The blog-a-thon still has two more full days to go, but I've been really happy with the way it's gone so far, with lots of great reading from some great blogs. It's been an educational experience exploring Hawks' early career, and having all these insightful fellow travelers to read and exchange thoughts with has only enriched the experience. Thanks, everyone.
Ed,
ReplyDeleteHere's my contribution. You don't learn much about Hawks but it's still educational. Here's the url non-linked:
http://cinemastyles.blogspot.com/2009/01/fazil-i-have-failed-you.html
If you want, you can buy Fig Leaves here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ioffer.com/i/26252207?store=1
More about Fig Leaves here:
http://www.oliveborden.com/fig.html
Since it seems unlikely that anyone will blog on Paid to Love (which was shown in Paris last year), here are a few pictures - including one with Hawks and an advertisment
ReplyDeletehttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/ladyn56/Paid%20to%20Love/courtlygob_edited.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/ladyn56/Paid%20to%20Love/paidtolovead.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/ladyn56/Paid%20to%20Love/paidtolovepowell_edited.jpg
This is turning out to be one of the most informative blog-a-thons I've ever read through. Excellent stuff.
ReplyDeleteFinally got something --
ReplyDeletehttp://dcairns.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/women-of-ceiling-zero/
Hope you enjoy.
This one's rather silly:
ReplyDeletehttp://dcairns.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/shots-of-scots-1/
More -- and this is the big one!
ReplyDeletehttp://dcairns.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/i-came-i-saw-i-got-it/
Damn, I am so sorry I missed this! Goddamn it all! Why is it I can't write about Hawks, and can hardly even read what other people write about him? He is my favorite director, my top ten films are half Hawks films, and yet there's something about his work that's so personal to me, I almost don't want to spoil it by hearing his voice or seeing him move... like the perfect lover being someone you've only seen pictures of and talked to on the phone. Anyway, I will definitely peruse some of these. The NEW YORKER!!! What? You are a star, baby! It's the white haired boy for you, Hildy!
ReplyDelete