Silence is Golden: Beau Brummell (1924)

After he sees his sweetheart, Lady Margery (Mary Astor), forced to marry Lord Alvanley (William Humphries), George Bryan Brummell (John Barrymore) decides to lead a reckless bachelor's life. In the process he wins the friendship of the Prince of Wales (Willard Louis), leaves his regiment, and becomes a "Beau Brummell" England's premier taste-maker. As his power grows, so does his insolence towards the elite class in which Alvanley belongs. Eventually his insolence and indiscretions with the ladies of the court make enemies, and he falls into disfavor. After escaping his creditors to France, he dies there in poverty, deserted by all but his servant, Mortimer (Alec B. Francis).

I think Barrymore is wonderful in both silents and talkies, due mostly to expressiveness of his face. His face can say things that words will not. There is a beautiful and touching scene where Lady Margery visits him to let him know that Lord Alvanley is no longer alive. Hoping to rekindle what they once had, she sadly leaves when Brummell refuses, stating he is old, changed and possibly tired of even love. The moment she is gone, you can see Brummell as he realizes he still loves her deeply and opens the door while simultaneously covering his mouth to call out to her. His emotions are at war with the hard truth that he cannot be the man he once was for her and his regrets are weighty. It's an extremely moving scene.

Ironically, as Barrymore is aged throughout the film, he looks more and more like his brother Lionel eventually will in old age in real life. It's downright eerie to watch him play this old man all twisted from loneliness and mental instability.

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Trouble In Paradise (1932)

Gaston Monesque (Herbert Marshall) is a high class thief, a very good one at that. He meets his match and soul mate, Lily (Miriam Hopkins), a pickpocket posing as a countess in Italy. While there he poses as a doctor and robs aristocrat François Fileba (Edward Everett Norton), but escapes with Lily before he is found out. After a year of marriage Lily and Gaston are in Paris and Gaston steals a very expensive handbag from the young, rich, and widowed Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). He then poses as Monsieur LuValle, a member of the "nouveau poor," (Depression and all that) and returns the handbag, after receiving a 20,000 franc reward from Mariette, Gaston charms her into hiring him as her secretary. Mariette is so charmed that she has Gaston act in her stead on all her business matters, upsetting the board members of the Colet perfumerie, which became Mariette’s when her husband passed. Gaston sets about upping her insurance policy and insisting she keep more money at home instead of the banks which are currently not safe (Depression and all that). Gaston also hires an assistant; a suddenly dowdy Lily becomes the personal confidant of Mariette, watching her drool over her husband while Lily tries not to drool over Mariette’s jewels. Unfortunately, Mariette has two other suitors, one of which is François Fileba (how convenient). When the secret of his true identity catches up to him, Gaston is caught between the two beautiful women.











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They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge. Cast: Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Griffith Jones, Rene Ray Dir: Alberto Cavalcanti