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Whistle Stopper - Disraeli (1929)
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $75.00
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Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Starring: George Arliss, Joan Bennett, Florence Arliss, Anthony Bushell, David Torrence
Directed By: Alfred E. Green
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302658491
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6302658497
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: 1994-12-21
Running Time: 90
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1929-11-01
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best of the very early talkies
Comment: This is one of the few very early talkies that is neither a musical nor an overly dull stage production. It is a fascinating look into a very brief episode in the professional life of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli - specifically his effort in obtaining the Suez Canal for Great Britain. Arliss gives a well-deserved Academy Award winning performance as the prime minister, and he is so adept at dialogue and with conveying his mood with glances and small gestures and the pace of the film is so brisk that you hardly notice the 1929 movie camera that cannot budge an inch. In this short 90 minute film Disraeli plays matchmaker, mentor, breaker of a spy ring, and master dealmaker with a sophistocation of dialogue and acting that is rarely seen in films for another ten years. Particularly moving is the portrayal of Disraeli's relationship with his wife, played by Arliss' actual wife to whom he was wed in 1899 until his death. The mutual respect and tenderness the couple show for one another is quite touching.
The audio and video of this film is really in bad shape. There is very bad background hissing in the audio which can make the dialogue - so important to the development of the plot - sometimes difficult to understand. The video doesn't have much scratchiness to it, but there are periods of time when blurry areas will appear on the screen that can be quite distracting. This film is quite enjoyable 80 years after it was made. Seeing that it is much more than a rickety curio, it would be nice to see Warner Home Video clean up the film technically as much as is possible and put it on DVD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Old-fashioned? Yes. Great? Absolutely!
Comment: I agree with the favorable ratings given to this film and especially with the preceding comments of Mr. DeRiemer. Arliss was something special!
The man had style. When he was working on a film, at precisely 5 PM his butler would appear on the set. The actor would immediately stop, bid everyone good evening and depart for home. The moguls and the public ate that sort of thing up--but only from him. His best role in Hollywood was that of "the great English actor."
Years later, another Disraeli film was made with a major British stage star in the lead, I forget which. Gielgud? Perhaps Redgrave? It was a turkey. No-one has ever had the screen geezer charisma of George Arliss.
George Arliss plays a role in an unexpected literary venue. In "The Maltese Falcon," Joel Cairo turns up in Sam Spade's office to demand the black bird. Not long after that, Spade is going through the wallet of the now unconscious Cairo. Among other things, he finds a ticket for a performance at a Geary Street theater of "The Merchant of Venice" in which Arliss portrays Shylock. That dates the action of the book to November 1929.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: George Arliss at 61, Joan Bennett at 19. Great acting, great looks
Comment: "The less a politician does the fewer mistakes he makes." The actual line is "prime minister" in place of "politician" but the same amused skepticism holds true. The speaker is British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, played by George Arliss. Disraeli was a clever and ambitious politician, heartily disliked by a great section of the English ruling class because he was born a Jew, "not one of us, you know," cleverer than anyone, and with a vision of British imperial destiny that encouraged many and made many more nervous. George Arliss was as much a film phenomenon as Dizzy was a political marvel. Arliss gained a great stage reputation in England, came to America and repeated the trick on Broadway, made a handful of silent films to acclaim and, with his first talking movie, this one, won an Academy Award for best actor. He was a slight man without an ounce of fat on his bones. He looked his age. He had a narrow skull, prominent cheekbones, thin lips and a regal nose. With a commanding acting style and diction as precise as an accountant's penmanship, Arliss is definitely old school by today's standards. I'll tell you something. When he's on screen you don't notice anyone else. When he's off screen, you realize you're waiting for him to reappear. From Disraeli in 1929 to his last movie, Dr. Syn, in 1937 when he was 69, he became the most successful older actor Hollywood has ever seen, before or since. He made 19 movies in those eight years, many of them historical dramas. He played everything from the Duke of Wellington to Cardinal Richelieu to Voltaire to Alexander Hamilton. His wife had played opposite him in a number of his stage and film vehicles. Her sight had been failing and when at last she became blind in 1937, he immediately left acting. They returned to London and spent the rest of their days in honored retirement. He died in 1946; she followed him four years later.
Why all this about a long gone and long forgotten actor? Partly it's because what makes his movies so watchable (I've seen three) is him. He knew exactly what he was doing and he is memorable at it. Mainly it's because he had a remarkable life as an actor and should be remembered by at least a few. As Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to miss out on a lot of good stuff," or something like that.
Disraeli was a proven success for Arliss. He played the drama many times on stage and again in a silent version. It's the story of Disraeli's determination to secure ownership of the Suez Canal for Britain. Among other advantages, the canal will provide a short and secure route to India and beyond. The Bank of England opposes him. Imperial Russia is out to thwart him using spies and skullduggery. And he has a window of opportunity of only three weeks to seal the deal. Disraeli uses every trick and every bluff he can think of to impose his will. And he still has time to encourage the love match between two young people he is quite fond of. We have the lovely, 19-year-old Lady Clarissa Pevensey (played by the lovely, 19-year-old Joan Bennett) and the well-intentioned but stuffy 25-year-old Lord Charles Deeford (Anthony Bushell). All turns out well, and Queen Victoria is pleased.
The movie is dated, declarative and stagy. Still, Arliss gives his man so much charm and wit, so much cleverness and power that the movie becomes something more than an artifact. So, if nothing else, consider watching it to observe a great actor. Or at least to see a teen-aged Joan Bennett. The VHS tape shows the movie's age, but it is still easy to watch. In one or two places the audio seems to fade out for a moment or two. The tape can probably be tracked down. Unfortunately, almost nothing of Arliss' work is easily available.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disraeli: One of the First Talkie Bios--and One of the Best
Comment: When George Arliss reprised his stage role of Benjamin Disraeli for Hollywood in 1929, sound pictures had just begun to be made and Arliss was one of the few silent stars that made a successful transition. Arliss' experience on the stage was a clear factor in his ability to enunciate with crackling precision a man who could announce how weak he was in one scene and then be able to shift verbal gears in the next to slice apart his adversaries.
Arliss was nearing sixty when he was tapped by director Alfred Green for the lead as English Prime Minister Disraeli, who was entrusted by Queen Victoria to secure for England the maritime rights of the Suez Canal. The Russians of course, under the Tsar, had their own ideas about that and the Tsar sent a female spy to make sure that Disraeli's plans came to naught. DISRAELI is not a film of special effects or sweeping montages. Instead, director Green mostly relied on Arliss's oral virtuosity and a few set pieces to place the audience right there on Downing Street. Arliss was a deserved winner for best actor and his real life wife Florence Arliss played his screen wife. Their chemistry was palpable even if by modern standards their connection was more metaphysical than purely physical. Arliss carried very nearly the entire film although Joan Bennett, who as a 19 year old neophyte, showed much of the screen persona that later came to mark her cinematic essence. DISRAELI is a fine film that encapsulates an often overlooked yet crucial time when England was still dreaming of overseas empires. That director Green and Arliss made this history lesson thoroughly enjoyable is a testamount to their individual skills.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Imperial Minister
Comment: "Stagey" it is but thats the point. Disraeli is a man of wit and guile and a tongue that is always at the ready with a clever twist of phrase or turn of logic. Arliss makes this history lesson very enjoyable. And the history lesson is a good one. The struggle over the Suez canal crystallizes a growing mistrust between the growing empires of west(England) and east(Russia),in the middle is Egypt and her poverty has made her sell her "ditch in the sand" to the highest bidder. To England that ditch is the key to keeping India. It is all played like a drawing room comedy of errors though with Russian spies and coded messages and nasty antisemite English bankers who refuse to back the prime ministers plan, at first, and with a love story thrown in to boot. Lots of great lines if not great visuals. It was all filmed on just a few sets but that just makes you listen all the more carefully. A smart film that will please the discerning historian as well as the drawing room wit in you.
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