8mm Forum: Annapolis (1928)

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Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on December 28, 2009, 02:35 AM:

ANNAPOLIS (1928) 5 x 200ft Standard 8mm - silent B/W (Entertainment Films) - Original price $65

Dir - Christy Cabanne

Cast - see image below

PLOT/STORY - Bill Curtis (whose father is a Navy man)and Herb Duncan are incoming cadets at Annapolis that immediately get off on the wrong foot. Soon, however they are forced to team up during maneuvers and agree to a truce, which leads to a tight friendship. As with most buddy pictures (especially in the silent period)a girl comes between them. Herbs' girl Betty comes into town and disrupts the friendship, and their status in the academy.

ANECDOTES - While this movie is not the most groundbreaking, the film overall contains multiple layers of interest. First off is the fact that the director Christy Cabanne was one of the busiest working men in show business, but odds are that this was one film that he remembers fondly since he himself was a graduate of Annapolis. It is probably this reason that the film contains such an abundance of actuality footage of the school. This is something that would make the film worth seeking out for a group of non-traditional film fans, the history buffs.
Of the stars of the film, sadly the great Hobart Bosworth is underused as the father to Bill Curtis. It is possible a greater development of the relationship between Bill and his father would have elevated the film from simple to memorable. Thankfully Johnny Mack Brown (later to be a big western star) is the lead of the film and does a pleasing job of being the good honorable soldier alongside Hugh Allen's portrayal of Herb Duncan, the cadet scorned.
Small gauge fans might know Allen from another available feature which I will review soon THE BLOCK SIGNAL (1926) but his career was nothing like Brown's and would be over right around talkie time in 1930. The female lead is played by Jeanette Loff, who is not exactly the caliber of Brown's usual leading ladies of this time period such as Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Greta Garbo, and suffice it to say she is not as memorable as those women in this film.
For the most part the film is a very straight melodrama, there are a few light moments of comedy, mostly courtesy of the secondary characters Bulge and Skeeter (not sure where the names Fat and Skippy that are on imdb came from, perhaps the British version which supposedly was also retitled Branded a Coward)While the actor that played Skeeter (William Bakewell) had a very long career, the other, Bulge, played by Maurice Ryan supposedly never made another film after this one, and the ones he had been in prior were similar heavy guy, comic relief roles beginning with the Snub Pollard directed K-The Unknown starring Percy Marmont in 1924, which I might add is a much better film than the review on imdb gives it credit for.

PRINT SPECIFCS Released by the 1960's/70's company Entertainment Films Inc, who released a number of unique silent prints on Reg 8mm. The quality is a low contrast one-lite dupe off a 16mm kodascope print and it was separated in the same configuration as the kodascope on 5 reels. I would imagine this might be a harder film to find since subject wise and star power seem to have relegated it to a smaller original audience.

[ December 30, 2009, 12:30 AM: Message edited by: Dino Everette ]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 28, 2009, 09:15 AM:

KUDO'S DINO!!

What a joy to see a silent being reviewed! Never even thought of it before, but might do so in the future. Great screenshots as always. No one but you could probably get as good of a screenshot from a standard 8mm (isn't that what it is?) as you can.

I look forward to the next one. By the way, great background info on the people involved in the film. Not many do that, but it always makes for a more interesting read!

Kudo's!

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on December 29, 2009, 01:56 AM:

Osi thanks for the kind words, I started thinking about all of the silent films I watch and thought why not start reviewing some of the prints. As for the background info I also have always appreciated that. The master at that type of review (and one of my absolute idols I hope to meet someday) is Maurice Trace who has written about a gazillion 9.5mm reviews over the years, and always manages to bring in enough alternate info to peak your interest about other films.

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on January 01, 2010, 05:48 PM:

Did Entertainment Films also have super 8 releases?

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on January 01, 2010, 06:14 PM:

they may have but, I have at least 50+ old lists from them covering a number of years and there is only 16mm & 8mm listed..

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