Lady of the Night (1925), Silent Norma

[Melly]

Just finished watching this TCM premiere and wow. Norma was great, better than she was in He Who Gets Slapped(1924) and The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), of course in both of those she's pretty much just window dressing. In this film however... I'm at a loss for words.

Shearer plays Molly and Florence two girls of the same age one from the "wrong side of the tracks" (Molly) and one a judge's daughter (Florence) both in love with the same man, Dave. He loves Florence however.

Two scenes in particular stand out, both with Shearer as Molly. One when Dave first tells Molly of Florence the expressions that cross Shearer's face are heartbreaking and the scene where she is in his apartment alone while Dave is at a dance with Florence had me near tears (later they flowed freely during the scene between Molly and Florence in Florence's car.)

Highly recommended to anyone who likes silents and/or Norma Shearer.

[Geoffies]

Sounds great! Never seen this one but a still from it was in one the first film books I ever bought. Oh - if only TCM UK would show this type of movie!

[drednm]

never seen it but I taped it..... thanks for the review, Melly!!

[David Alp]

Oh I thought they were supposed to be twins?? Am I wrong then?? Not that I've seen it as I live in the UK and UK TCM is a watered down ghost of a channel compared to US TCM.

[daneldorado]

Melly wrote, after watching Norma Shearer's silent film Lady of the Night:


"...the expressions that cross Shearer's face are heartbreaking and the scene where she is in his apartment alone while Dave is at a dance with Florence had me near tears (later they flowed freely during the scene between Molly and Florence in Florence's car.)"


I'll admit the tears weren't flowing quite that freely on my face, but the scenes you speak of were very moving indeed. The TCM info says this was their premiere showing of Lady of the Night (1925). If so, I hope they repeat it again soon. I'd like to record it permanently.

Nobody on this board has mentioned it yet, so I wonder if you all know that Joan Crawford -- then 21 years old -- was Norma's stand-in and body double for this film. That was certainly Joan, in the scene in the car, when the two women embrace each other. Notice that "Molly"'s face disappears behind "Florence's," during the hug. When the two characters are facing each other but not touching, double exposure technology was used. But when they embraced, that was Joan.

Many movie star body doubles fade away after their fifteen minutes of fame, but not Joan Crawford. Fourteen years after Lady of the Night, there was Joan, this time as Norma Shearer's costar, playing opposite her in The Women (1939). She went on to have a fruitful, if tempestuous, career.

Dan N.

http://www.silentfilmguide.com

[David Alp]

Yes I thought I read somewhere that Joan was the stand in in this movie... Poor Joan, but you're right, by the time of The Women she was a true star...

[The Giant]

I recorded this movie, as I did not have a chance to watch it all this morning. The print was beautiful, mostly prestine! I was a little bit disappointed however, that it had only a lone piano score with no additional instrumentation involved.

Norma looked quite stunning as Florence, and decidedly cheap and tarty as Molly. This definitely showcased Norma's skill as a actress, as the two characters couldn't be much more different. At first I was slightly taken off gaurd, as I was not aware of the dual role.

I'm looking forward to viewing this one in it's entirity soon. I'm sure I will have allot more to say about it later on, than I do right now.