Doomsday

Florence Vidor gets a couple of proposals pf marriage in Doomsday. One is from honest farmer Gary Cooper veteran of the late world war. The other is from Lawrence Grant owner of a wealthy estate, a rich older man who wants a trophy wife Whom do you think she finally ends up with?

Apparently the marriage with Grant doesn't include sex as part of the arrangement. Of course she doesn't realize that when she turns Coop down for a life of material luxury.

Wrapped in puritanism that it is Doomsday does have a strong moral at the end about marrying for love.

The players all perform well in roles they are typecast for.

Though why anyone would name their property Doomsday is beyond me.

Though you wouldn't guess it from the title, "Doomsday" (1928) is a romantic melodrama set in the English countryside. This Paramount production was directed by Rowland V. Lee, a dull director who had arrived to the studio from Fox two years prior to this. It is based on a novel from 1927 by Warwick Deeping, but feels like the source material could be 100 years older.

The protagonist of the film is a woman named Mary, played by Florence Vidor, former wife of King Vidor. Mary has a decision to make. She can either marry for love, and end up with the handsome Gary Cooper, who is poor and manages a farm called "Doomsday", or she can marry for money, and become the wife of a much older man. Because this is an American silent film, we know there is only one correct answer, but Mary goes and chooses the wrong one. Can she correct the mistake?

There are a million silent romances with the same plot. This is a bland telling of the story. Director Lee is not visually an interesting filmmaker, and he doesn't get much out of the actors either. Cooper's career was on the rise, but this did nothing to him. "Arnold Furze" is also a rather odd character name for him. The contemporary press gave the film negative reviews, and I can see why. This probably felt old-fashioned and spiritless back then as well.

Dame Mary Viner ( Dame Florence Vidor ) lives life full of drudgery in her ordinary cottage together with her infirm father. She also has two neighbours in the vicinity with different but yet similar interests in her. The first suitor is Herr Percival Fream (Lawrence Grant), an old millionaire who offers Mary a life of luxury the day she accepts his marriage proposal to marry him. This would allow her to change occupations on that day - from washing, cleaning and sweeping to more elegant tasks, like wearing "haute couture" gowns or to bear the guests who come to dinner at night.

The second one is Arnold Furze (Gary Cooper), a young but poor farmer who only can offer Mary the same dreary life and his love… and believe this German aristocrat, in spite of the fact that he is handsome Cary Grant in his twenties, that's a poor deal … obviously Dame Mary, like all smart girls around the world, have always preferred to wear Manolo's rather than gumboots.

The most interesting aspect of "Doomsday", directed by Herr Rowland V. Lee and starring the popular star Dame Florence Vidor (who ended her silent career when the talkies appeared) as well as the promising actor Herr Cooper, is that it is a film with implied sensuality, elegant and discreet. As an example of these erotic, silent matters, there are two remarkable and subtle scenes in the film. There's Mary and Arnold kissing each other passionately in a hay pile. And when the same Mary wants to divorce Herr Percival because their marriage wasn't, ehem… consummated, there are the many close-ups of Herr Gary Cooper's smile and teeth with libidinous glances among those lovers.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must offer to one of his fat German heiress a life of luxury… thanks to her money.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

It's been a very long time since I last visited "Doomsday" (1928), but last night I put it in and watched a print that lasts as the IMDb says it does: 60 minutes. I mention that fact, because the last time I watched it, it was on a VHS tape that lasted 74 minutes, and it moved like molasses. Didn't care for it then; but - I enjoyed the show last night. Starring Florence Vidor and Gary Cooper, the other of any importance is Lawrence Grant, and a tad less, Charles Stevenson. For good measure Tom Ricketts and Frederick Sullivan have momentary parts. This is written as a parable, and it's a romantic one, so if you like romantic movies that you think you can figure out from the beginning, and you enjoy seeing them go from less than a joker's beginning to a trump card ending, this is for you. Otherwise, be aware that there are some philosophies in the film that will appear way out of date. The problem is - farming hasn't necessarily become any easier, though the machinery to make it work in the modern world has technologically advanced a great deal, but it still demands a certain kind of heart and mind to make it successful, especially for a married couple.

Cooper owns Doomsday House in England, a very old house with a fairly large amount of arable land. He gets up around 4:00 AM every day and works till the sun goes down - every day, day after day. He's lonely. He wants a woman who will be like he is, scrubbing and cooking, cleaning and baking, washing clothes and, and... He wants a woman to love, too. Vidor - who has the most captivating eyes - lives with her father, a former military person who is now becoming nearly invalid and needs looking after - constantly. She cooks and she cleans, and she boils the water and cleans the clothes. She works her fingers to the bone and is to the point she'd like to forgo this kind of life if she could.

Around the bend, so to speak, is Fream House, owned by the Fream descendent, played by Lawrence Grant, at his most icy, but unctuous towards Vidor. He wants to marry her so she can be like an ornament to the house and the name. It won't be for love, and she'll have all the THINGS that any woman could possibly want.

Vidor marries Grant. He's older and impotent, but he gives her anything and everything, any thing and every thing. But not love.

Vidor is involved in a parable, remember? You'll have to watch to learn the ending, but this 1928 film has a good message and is fun to watch - at the right fps speed(!). Coop really isn't up to snuff acting-wise in this one yet. He doesn't get there until next year's "The Virginian", but he's definitely watchable thanks to decent direction by Monta Bell and nice camera work by Henry W. Gerrard.

If you're looking for the reason as to why Gary Cooper was so popular when he wasn't a very good actor, you've got to watch him in a silent movie. He was young, handsome, tall, heavily made up, and didn't have to open his mouth. He was a far better actor when he only relied on his glances rather than his words, and he didn't seem nearly as afraid as he did during his talkies. Audiences grew loyal to him, just like they did with Joan Crawford when she was young and pretty, and they stuck with him even when they heard him talk.

In Doomsday, he plays a poor farmer who can't give the woman he loves a good life. Florence Vidor is being courted by the wealthy, older Lawrence Grant, but she isn't attracted to him. She's very attracted to Gary, and they share a steamy scene in a haystack. She marries Lawrence, and soon learns the painful lesson that money can't buy happiness. I guess she didn't know the title of the movie. Check this old silent movie out to see why Gary Cooper was a hit!