Great Silent Movie on TCM tonight (March 5)!

[Phil C]

It is 1929's movie Desert Nights and it starts at
11:00 P.M. It maybe be too late so you may want to set your vcrs!

TCM usually has silent movies starting at 11:00 P.M. on Sunday nights and they are good.

[Eagle6Man]

That's a tough one Phil. No movie posters back then :D

But, I do what I can.

Desert Nights was the last silent film made by MGM's resident heartthrob John Gilbert -- and the last of his truly successful efforts. The melodramatic plot revolves around the robbery of a diamond mine, masterminded by Steve (Ernest Torrence). The criminals have taken Rand (Gilbert), the mine's manager, hostage, spiriting him off to the desert waste. Hopelessly lost, Steve turns to Rand, who knows the territory like the back of his hand, to lead the crooks back to civilization. Rand refuses but relents for the sake of Steve's partner-in-crime Diana (Mary Nolan). A spectacular climactic sandstorm effectively eliminates the villain and facilitates a happy ending for Rand and Diana. Likewise spectacular was the precipitous fall from popularity of John Gilbert after it was revealed that his voice, though pleasant enough, did not match his dashing screen image -- but this revelation was still several months in the future when Desert Nights was released.

[Phil C]

It is tough to get posters on those silent movies Eagle. The sad thing is that the movie was not very popular at the time because sound had come in 1928 and by 1929 was established so this movie did not have the success it would have had had it been made 2 years earlier.
John Gilbert sadly as you mentioned did not have much success after this movie and died in 1936 at 36 years of age.
The villian Ernest Torrance had a great career in many roles and passed away in 1933 at 54 years of age.
Mary Nolan did a great job in that movie and did make a few movies in the early 30s but unfortunately her flame was just as brief as John's and she became an alcoholic and drug addit and passed away in 1948 at 42 years of age. It was a shame because she was a beautiful woman. She was 24 years old when this movie was made.

[Phil C]

The thing to consider if you ever watch this movie is that the TCM version was 62 minutes long whereas the original version was 80 minutes long and they must have cut out the desert strom scene because it wasn't in last night's version. TCM is very good about trying to show original prints so this version may be the only one that has survived. The tragedy is that many of the old movies both sound and silent have not survived for us to enjoy today so it is great that TCM and others work hard to preserve them for ourselves and the generations that follow us.

[District303aPastPlayer]

HELLLOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KNOCK KNOCK!!!!!!!!!

WHAT ARE WE THINKING!!!! THIS IS A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL WEBSITE!!! ITS NOT A BASKETBALL SITE, A MOVIE SITE, OR A TRACK SITE!!!

EARTH TO 3ADOWNLOW!!! THIS IS A FOOTBALL WEBSITE!!!

:D:D

[Phil C]

Originally posted by District303aPastPlayer
HELLLOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KNOCK KNOCK!!!!!!!!!

WHAT ARE WE THINKING!!!! THIS IS A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL WEBSITE!!! ITS NOT A BASKETBALL SITE, A MOVIE SITE, OR A TRACK SITE!!!

EARTH TO 3ADOWNLOW!!! THIS IS A FOOTBALL WEBSITE!!!

:D:D

Oops! :o

:D