Review of Peter Pan

PETER PAN was directed by Herbert Brenon with a screenplay written by Willis Goldbeck, based on the story by J.M. Barrie. In fact nearly all of the intertitles (the words on the cards that we read to ourselves) are taken directly from J. M. Barrie's dialogue from the original play around 105 years ago! James Barrie was born in 1860, the ninth child of ten. He was a small child (he only grew to 5 feet 3 inches as an adult) and he drew attention to himself with storytelling. He is best remembered for creating Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn Davies boys. He is also credited with popularizing the name Wendy, which was very uncommon before he gave it to the heroine of Peter Pan. When he died he left the rights to this story and all it's future profits to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children. This filmed version of Peter Pan, the very first (of eleven so far) opened Christmas week, 1924. Then, like one of the Lost Boys, it vanished into a Never Land of its own. Paramount, like every other studio, looked on its films as disposable product. Films were as ephemeral as the daily newspaper. Why bother to keep a print? No studio, museum or archive could find it, nor any of the private collectors, who could sometimes materialize copies that more legitimate sources could not. It was one of the most important of missing American films. For the children who saw it, nothing else ever compared. William K. Everson, one of the great silent film historians, never tired of rhapsodizing Peter Pan or its glowing star, Betty Bronson. James Card, curator at George Eastman House and one of the great heroes of film preservation, longed to see this childhood favorite with a desperate nostalgia. It was he who, as a young man working for Kodak in Rochester, discovered a fume-filled vault of decomposing nitrate films. Nitrate films are highly flammable, can spontaneously combust and even burn under water because they supply their own oxygen. Card convinced Kodak to call Iris Barry, the visionary film preservationist at the Museum of Modern Art to help save this title. This beautiful tinted print was restored from that one of a kind, surviving nitrate print. It stars beautiful blonde Esther Ralston as the mother Mrs. Darling. One of the best-liked silent movie stars both on and off the screen, Mary Brian plays Wendy. Philippe De Lacy, arguably the silent era's cutest child actors plays Michael. The exotic oriental actress Anna May Wong has a small role as Tiger Lily. And giant Ernest Torrence is evil and menacing as Captain Hook. Tinker Bell is played by an actress named, of all things, Virginia Faire. And the family's pet dog Nana was such a good actor that in real life he was called George Ali. As for the lead role of Peter Pan, it was the author James Barrie who selected Betty Bronson, then an unknown to play the coveted role after he turned down silent superstars Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson & Lillian Gish. Barrie selected Betty Bronson because she had trained for the Ballet Russe with famed choreographer Michel Fokine and her grace and innocence were unmatched. (And she could fly!) It is surprising when you see how lavish the sets, costumes and special effects are that the budget for this film was only $40,000 and I think this is much better than the 1991 version which cost $70 million dollars to make. I would like to read a quote from the New York Times, from MORDAUNT HALL, one of their toughest critics written Christmas week of 1924 – "That wonderful ecstatic laughter, tinkling and beautiful, just the laughter that Barrie loves to hear, greeted Herbert Brenon's picturized version of "Peter Pan" yesterday afternoon in the Rivoli. Again and again the silence of the audience was snapped by the ringing laugh of a single boy which was quickly followed by an outburst from dozens of others, some of whom shook in their seats in sheer Joy at what they saw upon the screen. It was laughter that reminded one of the days of long ago when one believed in a sort of Never Never Land, when the smiling sun on an early morning made one dance with joy over the dew-covered grass, when the fragrant Spring flowers sent a thrill through one's youthful soul, when one gazed at a real fish in a shallow rippling stream and expected to hook it with a bent pin, when one thought that after all it might be possible to fly. These jubilant outbursts from youthful throats even brought to mind some beautiful anthem one had heard the choir singing in a lofty cathedral. It was laughter that brought a tear of exuberant gladness to our eyes—laughter that makes grown-ups delighted to be alive." - Unquote. PETER PAN like the WIZARD OF OZ has helped remind adults of what innocence we all shared back when we were children. So when you are asked during the film to clap if you believe in fairies, you better clap or you may never feel young again!