Milton Sills in The Sea Hawk (top); William Farnum in A Tale of Two Cities (bottom)
Frank Lloyd Intro I: Two-Time Oscar Winner
Unlike George Cukor, Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, William Wyler, or even John Ford, Frank Lloyd specialized in one movie genre: melodrama. From A Tale of Two Cities to Cavalcade, from The Sea Hawk to The Howards of Virginia, from Black Oxen to Blood on the Sun, the vast majority of Lloyd's movies were supposed to make you leave the theater at least a little shaken up after having suffered for a couple of hours with Pauline Frederick, Norma Talmadge, Milton Sills, Clara Bow, Richard Barthelmess, Ann Harding, Claudette Colbert, Cary Grant, or James Cagney.
His characters were the victims of all sorts of injustices, whether those could be blamed on human beings (meanie Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty, child brat Bonita Granville in Maid of Salem) or fate (a time warp in Berkeley Square, early 20th-century history in Cavalcade). And as Tony explains in his book, within the melodrama genre the Scottish-born Lloyd was particularly fond of two settings — British and maritime — combining both in The Sea Hawk, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Rulers of the Sea (1939).
I've seen about a dozen of Frank Lloyd's films. My personal favorite is the curiously neglected If I Were King, which is neither British nor maritime — and it isn't quite melodrama, either. Ronald Colman stars as 15th-century vagabond poet François Villon, who falls for the beautiful Katherine de Vaucelles (Frances Dee). Why do I like it so much? Well, If I Were King offers romance, action, drama, great performances, and sparkling dialogue (courtesy of Preston Sturges).
I'd say my least favorite Frank Lloyd effort is Cavalcade, in which we accompany a couple of London families (upstairs/downstairs) throughout the first three decades of the 20th century. That's one of Tony's favorite Frank Lloyd accomplishments.
So, the highest compliment I can pay to Master of Screen Melodrama is that after having read it I'm not only willing, but eager to give Cavalcade another look.
Tony has kindly agreed to answer several questions (via e-mail) about Frank Lloyd for Alt Film Guide. See next page.
Photos: Courtesy of Anthony Slide