“The Flying Fleet “ (1929)

“The Flying Fleet “ (1929) is a silent drama starring Ramon Novarro, Ralph Graves, and Anita Page. Directed by George Hill, this film features excellent footage of naval aircraft. The story begins with six graduating seniors at the U.S. Naval Academy on the eve of their graduation. The six have been the best of friends for four years, and all of them are hopeful flyboys, but only two, Lt. Tommy Winslow, played by Ramon Novarro, and Lt. Steve Randall, played by Ralph Graves, complete the program. Unfortunately, they become romantic rivals when they fall in love with the same girl, Anita Hastings, played by Anita Page.







I think “The Flying Fleet” is a very good film. Ramon Novarro and Ralph Graves deliver great performances as hopeful flyboys and romantic rivals. The 18 year old Anita Page looks lovely and gives a charming performance as the love interest of the two buddies. This film depicted naval flight training in a very authentic way. I liked the way synchronized sound effects and music were added to this otherwise silent film. A box office hit, “The Flying Fleet” is a late MGM silent that is worth watching, especially for those that love old aircrafts.





Anita Page was born Anita Pomares on August 4, 1910, in Queens, New York. Her father’s side of the family was from El Salvador of Spanish ancestry. Her entrance into films came courtesy of her friend, actress Betty Bronson. Betty’s mother put one of Anita’s photos in her home, and a man who was handling Betty’s fan mail saw it and said he was going into the business of handling stars. Anita called him, and he told her to be at the front gate of Paramount at 9:00 the next morning and to bring the picture. The casting director took one look at the picture and gave Anita a test. MGM was also interested. Anita was put through the dilemma of having to choose between MGM and Paramount contracts. She decided to take the MGM contract. Anita’s first MGM film was “Telling the World” (1927) with William Haines. Another early role was “While the City Sleeps” (1928) as Lon Chaney’s love interest. Anita’s biggest break was “Our Dancing Daughters” (1928) with Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown. Anita made two more films with Joan Crawford, “Our Modern Maidens” (1929) and “Our Blushing Brides” (1930). In 1929, Anita appeared in two talkies, “The Hollywood Revue” and the Academy Award-winning “The Broadway Melody.” From about 1930 on, MGM began to lose interest in Anita’s career. Anita had admired the way Louis B. Mayer, studio head at MGM, groomed stars if he liked them and remained in his favor. However, when Mayer tried to get her into bed, that is when Anita drew the line. She liked him as a boss, but that is where it ended. In 1934, Anita wed songwriter Nacio Herb Brown, who had dedicated the song “You Were Meant for Me” to her. They never lived together because Anita said they were not married in the Catholic church. After nine months of marriage, Anita found out he was still married to his previous wife, so Anita had their marriage annulled. In 1937, Anita did marry in church, to a handsome naval officer named Herschel House. They were married fifty-four years until House died in 1992. The couple had two daughters.

Anita had many fond memories of her career, and thought she was blessed to have worked with so many of the greats like Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, John Gilbert, William Haines, Clark Gable and Ramon Novarro, her favorite leading man. Anita Page died on September 6, 2008 of natural causes. She was 98 years old.

“The Pagan” (1929)

“The Pagan” (1929) is a silent romantic drama starring Ramon Novarro, Renee Adoree, Donald Crisp, and Dorothy Janis. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, this film gave Hollywood one of its first hit tunes.

In this film, Ramon Novarro plays Henry Shoesmith, Jr., the son of a white father and Polynesian mother who owns the largest cocoanut plantation in Tahiti. Henry is a wealthy man that would rather spend his time lounging in the sun than conducting business. He meets a beautiful girl named Tito, played by Dorothy Janis, who is also half white half Polynesian like himself. Henry and Tito fall in love and want to get married, but Tito’s guardian, Roger Slater, played by Donald Crisp, is consumed with lust for her and hates Henry.





“The Pagan” (1929) is a beautifully made film that helped propel Ramon Novarro into the talkies and his fine tenor turned Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed’s “The Pagan Love Song” into a hot-selling Victrola sensation. “The Pagan” was Novarro’s last silent film, and he gives one of his best performances. The supporting cast is excellent, especially Renee Adoree, who gives a moving performance as a prostitute with principles and who also loves Novarro. Donald Crisp is very effective as the lecherous Roger Slater, who has an eye for the beautiful and innocent Dorothy Janis. I liked how the film doesn’t attack religion, but the hypocrisy portrayed by the villain who hides his lust as an act of Christian charity.

Superbly shot in Tahiti and with synchronized score, “The Pagan” is a visually stunning film which showcases Novarro’s fine singing voice.



Ramon Novarro was born Jose Ramon Gil Samaniegos on February 6, 1899 in Durango, Mexico. The son of a prosperous dentist, Novarro came to Los Angeles in 1915, at the age of sixteen, hoping to make music his life’s work. His first years in Hollywood were difficult; he had to work at a variety of odd jobs to make ends meet. He appeared as an extra in more than one hundred films before he got his first credited role in “Mr. Barnes of New York” (1922), under the name of Ramon Samaniegos. By the time he made “The Prisoner of Zenda” later that year, with his mentor and lifelong friend, Rex Ingram, he was working as Ramon Novarro. By 1923, Novarro was receiving 1,300 fan letters a week. By the time his next picture, “Scaramouche,” was released later that year, he was being described as a matinee idol, and his success was said to earn him a million dollars a year. His popularity extended throughout the world, and he often had to travel in disguise in Europe and elsewhere. Novarro was not just a pretty face. He was involved in the purchase and development of real estate. Fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian, he enjoyed reading, travel, and the opera. He directed, acted in, and composed the music for the French and Spanish versions of “Call of the Flesh” (Le Chanteur de Seville 1930) and (La Sevillana 1931). Even though Novarro did play a number of roles as sheik and Latin lover, he was most recognized for his roles in other films including the epic, “Ben-Hur” (1925), in which he played a Jewish prince. Novarro never achieved the same heights of popularity in talking pictures, but he continued his career as a character actor in films and television. Novarro met a grisly and tragic end on October 30, 1968, when he was savagely murdered at his Hollywood Hills home by two men who sought to rob him of $5,000. Novarro was 69 years old.

RAMON NOVARRO- Silent Film Star.

Born José Ramón Gil Samaniego in Durango, Mexico, he moved to Los Angeles, California to get away from the 1913 Mexican Revolution. Ramon, is second cousin of the Mexican actresses Dolores del Río and Andrea Palma, he began his career in films in 1917 playing bit parts, he also had to supplement his income by working as a singing waiter. Actor and director Rex Ingram and his wife, actress Alice Terry, promoted to him to rival Rudolph Valentino and had him change his name to "Novarro". His first major role was in Scaramouche(1923). In 1925, he achieved his greatest success in Ben-Hur. With Valentino's death in 1926, he became one of the screen's leading Latin actors, just below John Gilbert. He performed in many swashbuckler action roles, and was also thought of as one of the great romantic lead actors of his day. Novarro appeared with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and performed with Joan Crawford in Across to Singapore in 1928. He made his first talking film, starring as a singing French soldier, in Devil-May-Care (1929). Novarro performed with Greta Garbo in Mata Hari (1932) and played opposite Myrna Loy in The Barbarian (1933).

LIST OF RAMON NOVARRO FILMS:
Crisis (1950)
The Outriders (1950)
The Big Steal (1949)
We Were Strangers (1949)
La Virgen que forjó una patria (1942)
La Comédie du bonheur (1940)
A Desperate Adventure(1938)
The Sheik Steps Out (1937)
Contra la corriente (1936)
The Night Is Young(1935)
Laughing Boy (1934)
The Cat and the Fiddle (1934)
The Barbarian (1933)
Huddle (1932)
The Son-Daughter (1932)
The Christmas Party (1931)
Mata Hari (1931)
Son of India(1931)
Daybreak(1931)
Chanteur de Séville, Le (1930)
Sevilla de mis amores (1930)
Call of the Flesh (1930)
In Gay Madrid (1930)
The Pagan (1929)
Devil-May-Care (1929)
The Flying Fleet(1929)
Forbidden Hours (1928)
A Certain Young Man (1928)
Across to Singapore (1928)
The Road to Romance (1927)
Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, The (1927)
Lovers?(1927)
Ben-Hur(1925)
The Midshipman (1925)
A Lover's Oath (1925)
The Red Lily (1924)
The Arab(1924)
Thy Name Is Woman (1924)
Scaramouche (1923)
Where the Pavement Ends (1923)
Trifling Women (1922)
The Prisoner of Zenda (1922)

Ramon Novarro "The Red Lily" (1924)

"The Red Lily" (1924) is a silent romantic drama that stars Ramon Novarro, Enid Bennett, and Wallace Beery. Directed by Fred Niblo, it is actually about a small town romance that turns tragic. The story begins in a small village in French Brittany where Jean Leonnec, played by Ramon Novarro, and Marise La Noue, played by Enid Bennett, are childhood sweethearts. When Marise's father dies suddenly they are torn apart. Impoverished and alone, Marise is sent to relatives who abuse her. She runs off seeking refuge in her old home where she meets up with Jean and they fall asleep in front of the fireplace together. The next morning the young lovers are confronted by gossipy townspeople and Jean's class conscious father who disowns him. Jean and Marise flee to Paris to start a new life together. Unfortunately, through circumstances, they are separated and spend years searching for one another. Jean and Marise's lives change drastically in the process. She is a prostitute known as "The Red Lily" and he teams up with a clever thief named Bo-Bo, played by Wallace Beery, and runs from the law.
r Marise, the police arrive to arrest him. Jean is imprisoned once again and Marise is left alone. Will Jean and Marise ever reunite? "The Red Lily" is a deeply moving film that encompasses the many trials and tribulations of love. The cinematography is quite breathtaking with its brightly tinted shades of sepia, red, and orange to convey a complexity of mood and emotion. The scenes of the Paris slums are full of villainous characters and appropriately gloomy. Under the superb direction of Fred Niblo, who was Enid Bennett's husband at the time, both Bennett and Novarro give remarkable performances. Bennett's transformation from a peasant girl to a prostitute demonstrates her skill as an actress. It is heartbreaking to see Novarro make the transition from a wholesome young man to a hardened thief. Even though Novarro was a screen idol in the Latin Lover category, he was highly celebrated for both his good looks and his acting ability. By the time he starred in "The Red Lily," Novarro had played leading roles in quality films such as "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1922) and "Scaramouche" (1923).Novarro would work often with great directors, including not only Niblo but Rex Ingram, Ernst Lubitsch, and Jacques Feyder. Ironically, it was Niblo who directed Novarro in "Ben-Hur" (1925), the film that made him a major star. A largely forgotten gem of the silent era, "The Red Lily" is a deeply moving tale of fate, tragedy, and redemption.
When Jean and Marise finally meet again, they hardly recognize one another. Jean is shocked at Marise's degrading lifestyle and rejects her. When Jean is shot while avoiding the police, Marise nurses him back to health. However, Jean still spurns Marise and at his underground hangout he encourages the others to taunt her. Just as Jean experiences the last pangs of compassion fo
THE RED LILY (1924) MOVIE CLIP.
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