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Summary: A "Silents Majority" review of "Dark Star"
Review: Autobiography's are sometimes a tough read simply because "Truth" can be colored to favor or sanitize the individual who writes about him or herself. Memoir's written by the children of the famous tread an even more precarious path. Bitter children can write damning or un-flattering portraits. Adoring children can sugarcoat the subject so much that your teeth hurt after reading each chapter. Dark Star, (St. Martin's Press, 1985), by Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, John Gilbert's daughter, has successfully become her father's biographer. She has objectively brought together the great and not-so-great moments and events of his life. Leatrice is the daughter of John Gilbert's first marriage to Leatrice Joy (the famous leading lady who followed in Gloria Swanson's fashionable footsteps as Cecil B. de Mille's perfect woman.) Ms. Fountain's research is impeccable regarding Gilbert's background and career. A detailed filmography and general index is included. Young Leatrice lost her beloved father when she was just blossoming into her adolescence. She felt compelled to piece together and solve the mystery of Gilbert the man and the artist. Her search becomes our search, her discoveries become our link with the man and his bittersweet life and legacy. For me, the discovery of this book redefined my devotion and interest in silent film entirely. The story of John Gilbert gave me a deeper passion to become an active participant in the preservation/revival movement of silent film. Dark Star is extraordinary and genuinely moving. Ms. Fountain's noble goal to connect one's perception to the complex person that this actor was, and to place John Gilbert as the premier romantic leading man of the glorious silent era has been accomplished.
- Copyright, 1997, Diane MacIntyre, "The Silents Majority"
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Summary: "Dark Star" Is A Grand Tribute To A Grand Actor
Review: The legendary John Gilbert is universally recognized as the most tragic figure in silent film history. His career was suddenly shot down via subterfuge while he basked in the sunshine of artistic success and unsurpassed popularity. A definitive biography of this icon of silent film had been long overdue when Leatrice Gilbert Fountain penned this splendid retelling of her Dad's glorious career. As all movie buffs know, John Gilbert was the "Great Lover of the Silent Screen," the successor to Wallace Reid and Rudolph Valentino. In fact, following Valantino's death, Gilbert reigned supreme as Hollywood's leading man from 1925 to 1929. It was in that fateful, latter year that the seemingly well-liked, easy-going Gilbert was done in by Louis B. Meyer, the autocratic head of MGM. It was in 1929 that Gilbert's life and career, like the stock market, came crashing down. Literally left standing at the alter by his real-life paramour Greta Garbo, the crestfallen Gilbert bumped into the tyrannical Meyer at King Vidor's and Eleanor Boardman's wedding reception(which was to have been a double ceremony with Gilbert and Garbo also tying the knot) and the mighty mouse mogul promptly advised Gilbert to "just go on screwing the dame---why marry her?" Gilbert responded with a right cross to the little dictator's chin, sending him sprawling on the ground. "I'll destroy you, Gilbert, if it costs me a million dollars," was Meyer's vindictive promise. Gilbert's first full-length talkie, "His Glorious Night," premiered later in 1929 and many insiders at the time believed that Meyer did indeed sabotage the screen idol's career by turning down the bass and maximizing the treble on the film's soundtrack. The result was devestating for Gilbert, who ordinarily had a light baritone similar to Ronald Coleman's or Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. What should have come across as a pleasing if not deeply resonant voice sounded disturbingly high-pitched to an audience that quickly found humor in the incongruity between the virle Gilbert image and his seemingly Tiny Tim voice. Combined with stilted acting on the part of his co-star and the dated dialogue which made Gilbert appear as if he were reciting a heartfelt Elizabethan sonnet to a completely bored--even comatose--lover, the death knell was struck. A poor showing in an actor's talkie debut---even an actor as popular as Gilbert--- was a difficult blemish to erase. Voted the most popular actor in Hollywood in 1928, by the end of 1929 Gilbert's name was not even listed among the top one hundred. Thus began the decline into the abyss. Gilbert sank deeper and deeper into depression and alcoholism as Meyer, Thalberg (who promised to help his "friend", but never mustered the courage to stand up to the malignant dwarf Meyer), and the rest of MGM's greedy, self-interested big wigs refused to let Gilbert out of his contract while at the same time handing him the worst scripts on the lot. Gilbert was left without a career and without any self-esteem. Leatrice recalls how the defeated Gilbert arrived one morning at his MGM dressing room to find his belongings already removed and the star on his door replaced by that of a different actor. His final years were sad, and several comeback attempts (such as his starring role opposite Garbo in the 1933 period film "Queen Christina") failed to restore his once brilliant star. The new kids on the block like Gary Cooper, Robert Montgomery, and Clark Gable were now all the rage. A broken man, Gilbert died in 1936 at the tragically youthful age of 37. However, thanks to his daughter Leatrice's well-documented and haunting biography, her Dad's star shines again. The author paints a portrait of her father as a man and as an actor that is loving without sacrificing historical objectivity. Jack Gilbert had charisma, good looks, an amiable personality, and genuine acting ability. He was indeed one of a kind. It is a real shame that his life was destroyed by a coarse, unattractive, maniacal movie mogol who ruled his petty tyranny ... This is a great read. I recommend it with great fondness and enthusiasm.
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