Customer Reviews

The Norma Talmadge Double Feature (Kiki / Within the Law)

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I have been a fan of silent movies since 1962 but not until the release of this DVD have I had a chance to see Norma Talmadge in action. I've known about her for years and have seen numerous pictures of her without ever having seen her pictures. I knew her sister Constance from her role in INTOLERANCE and the Douglas Fairbanks comedy THE MATRIMANIAC and saw other sister Natalie in Buster Keaton's OUR HOSPITALITY but no Norma. I find it absolutely mindboggling how a star of her magnitude (she was more popular than Mary Pickford in the 1920s) could have so completely disappeared from Hollywood's and the public's collective memory but with only 2 early talkies which are never shown and no effort on her part to preserve her silent legacy, that is precisely what happened. Now Kino has brought her back in two highly regarded films from the mid-1920s that clearly show us why she was once such a big star.

The KIKI storyline I was already familiar with from the 1931 Mary Pickford remake which I thoroughly enjoyed but this version is clearly better. Norma, who was known as a dramatic actress, shines in her comedic role as a French chorus girl out to snag her producer played by a young and dapper Ronald Colman. The most remarkable thing here and in the dramatic second film, WITHIN THE LAW where she plays a falsely imprisoned woman out for revenge, is the sumptuousness of the sets and the quality of the cinematography. The fact that she had Clarence Brown (FLESH AND THE DEVIL) and Frank Lloyd (MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY) as her directors shows the kind of clout she must have had. WITHIN THE LAW also gives us a rare opportunity to see Lew Cody who would later become Mabel Normand's husband. These Library of Congress preservations look quite good and the musical accompaniment compliments the action nicely. Hopefully more of Norma's films will come to light and we can see more of this shamefully forgotten actress.

Norma Talmadge was one of the two famous Talmadge sisters of the silent cinema. Norma generally starred in dramas, Constance starred in comedies. Norma did a couple of talking films, but they did not register well with audiences. There have been many legends as to why this is so, including some that say that Norma's voice sounded like Lena Lamont's in Singin in the Rain. This is not true, and if you view the surviving "New York Nights" from 1929 you'll see that Norma has a very pleasant speaking voice and had the makings of a pretty good sound era actress. At any rate, the Talmadges were very rich thanks to sound real estate investments, and Norma chose to simply retire after a couple of film failures. She wasn't interested at all in maintaining her silent film legacy, and so many of her films are lost today. I would never have heard of her and gotten curious had I not been reading Buster Keaton's biography and stumbled across her name - Buster was married to Natalie, the non-acting sister in the family. The two films included are:

Kiki (1926) Here Norma has an unusual comic role opposite Ronald Coleman. Norma plays a street waif who longs to be in the Paris follies, and Ronald Coleman is a stage manager at the Follies who Kiki loves from afar. Directed by Clarence Brown, I think this one would be fun for people who are not at all familiar with silent cinema.

Within the Law (1923) is the more dramatic side of Norma. It's been awhile since I've seen this one, but if memory serves me, the early sound film "Paid" starring Joan Crawford was a remake of this film. Norma plays a girl unjustly imprisoned for shoplifting and learns how to steal using the law itself. Specifically she uses a "breach of promise" scam to extort money from men. Years ago, if a man proposed marriage and then backed out, it was called breach of promise, and there were extreme civil consequences to be paid, particularly if the man was well off. Specifically, Norma's character sets her sights on the son of the man that sent her to jail unjustly. Directed by Frank Lloyd.

Kino pays tribute to a lovely and hugely popular, but largely forgotten star of the 1920s. Norma Talmadge was the brightest star from a family of Hollywood starlets (Constance Talmadge was known for her light comedies and Natalie Talmadge married Buster Keaton). Her refusal to continue to make films when sound became widely used caused her to fade in the minds of the public. Many of her films are unavailable or lost.

The first film on this set is Kiki, a film that has seen many appearances in film festivals. Kiki is a young girl who wishes to be an actress. She connives her way into a show with intentions on wooing the producer (Ronald Colman). But he is engaged to another woman, and Kiki becomes her rival. The sets are breathtaking and very much of the art deco era. This is an odd film in the career of Talmadge, who was well known for melodrama. This is a comedy, and as a result, it is less entrancing than the following feature.

Within the Law is more typical of her output. Talmadge is a shop girl who is wrongfully accused of stealing and sent to prison. She vows to get revenge on the man who put her there, so when she gets out, she plots to retaliate through the law. She becomes quite wealthy by luring rich men. They propose marriage without intending to go through with it, and then she sues them for breech of promise (a law that no longer exists, and dates this film tremendously). Her revenge comes when the shop owner's son begins making eyes at the former shop girl.

This is a wonderful DVD for silent movie fans and film buffs everywhere to own because it is a rare glimpse into the work of a huge star who should be better remembered.

This excellent double feature DVD shines the limelight on a giant silent screen star who has been sadly neglected in recent decades, making this Kino International release very timely and important. While most people are at least familiar with the name of Mary Pickford who was called "America's Sweetheart", her rival was in fact Norma Talmadge, who appeared in over 150 films in the years from 1910 to 1930, becoming a bigger box office success than Pickford. She successfully created her own career and on-screen persona, fitting in alongside the bubbly comedienne character of her sister, Constance Talmadge, and Mary Pickford's young girl image. Although her career was no doubt boosted further by her marriage to prolific producer of high quality movies, Joseph M. Schenk, it is obvious from the two movies on this DVD that Norma had enough talent to rise to the top on her own. It is especially evident because "Kiki" and "Within the Law" are very different films, showing two distinctively different characters which Norma successfully embraced. Not only is she perfect in serious drama roles such as in "Within the Law", but she effortlessly steps into the vivacious light comedy romance genre as the French girl, "Kiki".

Norma's talents in "Kiki" are complemented by the artful skills of director Clarence Brown and art director William Cameron Menzies, whose flair for style and beauty is evident in the French setting, interior designs and costumes. As a struggling working girl in Paris, Kiki uses her charm, determination and wit to not only become a chorus girl, but to get the man who runs the show, even though he has a fashionable blonde fiancée. There are witty intertitles and a good romantic comedy story enhanced by Norma's lively and temperamental character as she interacts with co-star Ronald Colman, making every scene a visual pleasure and simply fun to watch. The accompanying music by The Biograph Players is very suitable and enjoyable as well.

For a completely different change of pace, the opening scenes of "Within the Law" already set a somber note as we find Norma in a prison awaiting sentencing for a shoplifting crime she did not commit. The music is immediately striking and fitting to the mood and scenes, and considerable tension builds up in the first twenty minutes already as Norma suffers terrible injustice and swears to take her revenge on her merciless former employer. After a three-year prison sentence, she finds that she can no longer make an honest living because of her past, and joins a con-artist couple in making full use of the "rich man's law", using loopholes and tricks while technically always staying within the law. She soon progresses to the point of being engaged to the son of the former employer who ruined her life by sending her to prison, but things become more complicated. Jack Mulhall plays the son who falls in love with Norma's character, unaware of her past, and Eileen Percy, who was also a popular silent film star in nearly 70 movies, is particularly good as the tough-talking and gum-chewing friend. Based on a play, it was adapted by Frances Marion, who wrote a number of very successful and highly-praised screenplays during the silent era, and direction is by Frank Lloyd, whose career continued to blossom in the sound era, directing several Oscar-nominated actors. The intertitles read very well and are also beautiful to behold due to the artistic pictures and embellishments on many of the title cards. Overall, both movies are pleasing, delightful and very satisfying to watch, making modern-day viewers aware of yet another long-forgotten talent of the silent era worthy of renewed interest and appreciation.

All characters and story line were fully developed by the real star of this movie, the young great female screenwriter Frances Marion. All roles were very well cast. The male law people and store owner who convinced the judge to convict her,were old fat and big bellied. That is for effect since Norma was supposed to be a starving underpaid store clerk. The NYC locales, including the famous Met Life light tower, the old womens house of detention are shown here. Norma had many fiery clever brilliant acting moments but a few scenes show that her face looked weary, even unhealthy. So I think her acting was uneven. Frances Marion's own great love, her athletic handsome 3rd husband, Fred Thomson, might have been the inspiration for Norma's eventual redemption in falling in love with the athletic handsome son of the store owner.It was surprising to me to see a sophisticated story, at times comical too, from 1923. It was produced on West 48th street in NYC when most studios were moving to California from NYC because of post war high coal prices. The production values were quite high in this silent film.