socialmedian: Frank Borzage Vols I & 2

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Source: guardian.co.uk Film

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

Frank Borzage (1894-1962) was one of Hollywood's great romantics, a specialist in lyrical melodrama about love in adversity. But he was the son of an Austrian-born coalminer and his stories were set not in aristocratic circles, but in impoverished rural America or working-class Europe and invariably shot on stylised sets.

These two discs contain a quartet of his best movies. Three are silent – Seventh Heaven, set in Paris, Street Angel (Naples), Lucky Star (the Appalachians) – and co-star conventionally handsome Charles Farrell and petite, adorable Janet Gaynor. She's driven by circumstances into crime and prostitution, he's the lover who serves to redeem her. The sound film is Liliom, set in Budapest and based on the Molnar play that was to inspire Carousel. Farrell and Gaynor play beautifully together and all four movies afford sublime experiences to the sympathetic viewer. Gaynor won the first best actress Oscar for Seventh Heaven, Street Angel and Murnau's Sunrise; Borzage (pronounced "borZAYgee") won the first best director Oscar for Seventh Heaven.