Tonight's print was a Library of Congress lab restoration. When we acquired the original nitrate negative in 1969, it was complete, but had some image loss due to nitrate decomposition. It had even been lacquered (think of waxing your car to fill in scratches.) So when it was copied using the state-of-the-art resources available in 1969, there were problems printed in. Then in the year 2000, the LoC went back to the original camera negative and using newer film stocks and light filters preserved a better image. By 2000, one-quarter of the superior original nitrate camera negative had melted and that source was lost forever. On the surviving nitrate, the lacquer caused splices (cement joins) to break open and the emulsion (picture area) to crack as it bent over the printer rollers. Wet-gate printing (immersing the film in a special liquid) was used to fill in the scratches. The deterioration visible on the note you see Clara Bow writing about 60 minutes into the story shows how the footage looked in 1969. For the lost original source footage the LoC had to make the best possible image from the 1969 master. Much of what seems to be dirt printed in, especially on the fades, is actually deterioration. In the first reel the image may jump a little but that goes away. Over 200 work-hours were spent to make this the best print possible and the Library is the only archive to hold material on this title. This print has been screened a relatively few number of times over the last decade, (most recently at the BFI in London just last month); it's not available on home video and it hasn't played on television so this is a rare opportunity to see it.

The star of Children of Divorce is Clara Bow who was an even bigger box office draw at the time than Angelina Jolie is now.

She grew up poor on the streets of Brooklyn. According to silent film actress Louise Brooks who was a friend of Clara's, Bow liked to say she came to Hollywood not through winning a beauty contest (as many stars claimed to have gotten their start) but through wining a personality contest. In her first film DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS she played a spunky tom-boy. Then after making 23 films by the age of 18, mostly small uncredited parts, she starred in THE PLASTIC AGE as a sexy flapper and a star was born! Roaring twenties writer Elinor Glyn wrote about Clara Bow claiming she had "IT," - IT being sex appeal and so much more! This "IT girl" persona was capitalized upon by the studio who starred her in films with titles like IT - DAUGHTERS OF PLEASURE, THE ADVENTUROUS SEX, KISS ME AGAIN, FREE TO LOVE, MAN TRAP, DANGEROUS CURVES, NO LIMIT, CALL HER SAVAGE and this romance-society-melodrama -CHILDREN OF DIVORCE! But there was much more to her than just "IT." Bow was known for adding little pieces of business, human touches that made her character unpredictable, more real and fascinating.

Clara also discovered a tall stuntman from Montana who had a 2 minute scene in WINGS and another 2 minute bit in her film IT, his name is Gary Cooper. (Gary, Indiana) Actor James Hall was originally chosen to play the male lead in CHILDREN OF DIVORCE, but the role was given to Gary Cooper at the insistence of star Clara Bow. The role helped to propel Cooper towards super stardom. Gary Cooper had appeared uncredited in over 20 films by the time CHILDREN OF DIVORCE came along. After this film he never went uncredited again. That's not to say he's really good in it. And I don't want to say Cooper is bad in it either, he was just young and not yet comfortable with acting. His character is a rich playboy type and it was probably the first time he'd ever worn fancy dinner clothes. One scene called for him to walk through a room where a party was going on. He was supposed to breezily stroll through the crowd flirting with the girls and sipping champagne from their glasses. But he was more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. They did upwards of 30 takes as he continued to stumble and spill his champagne on the party goers. He was fired but the actor they replaced him with was even worse so he was summoned back, but only after they had spent a good amount of time searching for him. He had taken off for awhile to be alone, thinking his career was over.

One recent review described Children of Divorce as a woman's emotion picture with a soapy flavor centered on two friends played by Bow and Esther Ralston (best known as playing the mother in PETER PAN which we played here a few months ago). As the title suggests the film is full of lurid warnings about the dangers of divorce and the terrible effects on the next generation.

The film begins in an American "divorce colony" in Paris after the First World War and during prohibition in the states, where parents left their children at convents for months at a time while the adults partied. Kitty, Jean and Ted meet and become friends. Years later, wealthy Ted (Gary Cooper) falls in love with Jean (Esther Ralston). And while Kitty (Clara) is in love with a penniless Prince (played by Einar Hanson who died in a car accident 2 months after this film opened),she reluctantly follows the advice of her mother - (marry for money). Hedda Hopper (best known for being a famous Hollywood gossip columnist who wore outrageous hats) plays the mother.

P.S. - Bottom line the print looked amazing and the audience was very moved, I recommend it to all silent film buffs. LS

"Children of Divorce" (1927) is a melodramatic love triangle directed by Frank Lloyd, and starring Clara Bow, Esther Ralston and Gary Cooper. In 1927, the Cooper stock was on the rise. Gary had met Clara Bow in a party just after she had finished her signature film "It" (1927). They quickly became "special friends", and Bow insisted that Coop must be inserted into her new film, even though it was finished and all but one of the sets had been destroyed. But the studio was forced to agree with their star, and Josef von Sternberg filmed a quick scene with Cooper as a reporter, and it was added to the film. This is all told very well in Larry Swindell's book "The Last Hero: A Biography of Gary Cooper" (1981).

By their next onscreen encounter, Cooper was elevated to be the male lead, albeit in a very female centric melodrama. "Children of Divorce" is a morality tale that asks, whether children of divorced couples are more likely to become divorcees themselves. Thus, its attempt is to glorify the sacred nature of marriage by casting shame on divorced couples. It's not a subtle film. Like many a silent film, it begins with the characters as children. All three, Jean (Ralston),Kitty (Bow) and Ted (Cooper) were raised in a children's home run by nuns, because their rich, divorced parents couldn't bother to take care of the kids themselves. As they grow up, Jean and Ted are in love and want to marry, but Kitty also has an eye for Ted.

The contrast between Jean and Kitty is shown to be night and day. Jean is respectful, "wife material" so to say, while Kitty is a carefree flapper who likes to have fun. During a night when he gets drunk, Kitty tricks Ted into marrying him, and when it's announced that they are going to have a child, Jean won't allow Ted to divorce Kitty, because then world would have one more child of divorce. If you can't guess the outcome, you probably haven't watched too many silent melodramas.

I have mixed feelings about this film. The core merit it has going on, is the presence of Bow and Cooper, who are both very charismatic. The film is worth watching solely because of them. I dislike films that give such a black and white separation of good girls and bad girls. From my perspective, probably from today's perspective, Ralston appears boring and lifeless, while Clara Bow's charm has not been damaged by the years. I for one would love to wake up and discover myself married to a girl like Kitty. The film is heavy-handed with its marital themes, and it feels like it tries to brainwash the female audience into obedient housewives and dutiful mothers. Clara Bow is another alternative for a female role model, and therefore must be destroyed. "It" presented Bow's sex appeal in a lively way, and allowed it to exist. This film looks down on her, even if she is the star.

I also have never liked the American notion of "childhood sweethearts must marry as adults" in films. This is nonsense. It is very unlikely, that the first person of the opposite sex that you meet, is going to be the most suitable marital candidate you will ever meet. Therefore films like this, that tell the audience how Ted and Jean must be re-united, because they loved each other a long time ago, don't really hit home for me. There is even a creepy scene, where Ted stares at Jean, who is comforting his child, and imagines Jean as a little girl. It played the wrong way in this context, sorry.

So all in all, as a narrative, this doesn't hold up even a bit. But it does show how Cooper can act and led to better parts for him. Clara Bow may be the bad woman here, but she is easily the most memorable thing in the film.

Early in the 20th century, divorced ex-pat Americans living in Paris dropped their unwanted children at the local convents and visited them only when their busy schedules permitted. Kitty and Jean were among these lonely children, and the pair quickly become friends. One day, a young boy, Edward, who was also a child of divorced parents, appears, and both girls are smitten with him. Years pass, and the three meet up again in the U.S., where a romantic triangle develops, which expands into a square, when a gold-digging prince enters the scene. "Children of Divorce," which was written by Adela Rogers St. Johns from a novel by Owen McMahon Johnson, is a sudsy melodrama, whose dated appeal lies, not in the story, but in the stars.

The "It" girl herself plays the adult Kitty; vivacious Clara Bow is wonderful as the sexually aggressive woman, who needs to marry well. Jean, Kitty's protector as a child and now described as the richest woman in America, has grown into lovely Esther Ralston. Ralston, who seems to have been largely forgotten, gives a naturalistic performance as a caring understanding woman, who is capable of self sacrifice. However, Jean's money is like catnip to the impoverished Prince Ludovico, played by Einar Hanson, and his uncle, Duke Henri, played by Norman Trevor. But the Prince and his uncle have to compete with tall lanky Gary Cooper of the piercing blue eyes, who captivates both Jean and Kitty. As the adult Edward, Cooper has it all: startling good looks, wealth, education, and lack of ambition. Besides the three stars, Hedda Hopper as Kitty's self-absorbed mother also makes an impression, although the rest of the cast has unfortunately fallen into obscurity.

Besides the melodramatic plot, a few aspects of this silent film may be off putting to general audiences. While the sets are convincing, they are so tall they disappear into the clouds, and the gargantuan doors dwarf the performers. Although a few flourishes of the grand style intrude, the acting is generally natural and underplayed. The film is short, even shorter if the inter-titles are taken into account, and director Frank Lloyd maintains a good pace. However, "Children of Divorce" will likely appeal primarily to silent-film buffs. Already attuned to both the limitations and the pleasures of pre-sound movies, aficionados of silent cinema can overlook the unconvincing drama and relish the luminous stars. Indeed, they had faces then, and Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, and Esther Ralston provide ample evidence herein.