Putin Brings Back Memories of Nazimova… and the War Brides

^{CHARLEY BRADY}

This may surprise those of you who know me, but according to my late parents, I was a peculiar little kid. And I grew into kind of a peculiar teenager.

No, no; it’s true.

Possibly not as peculiar as I am now of course -- 65-year-old heterosexual white males are definitely in the minority these days –; but still…

Look: I’ll give you an example. When I was 18, I fell in love with the great Russian silent film star, Nazimova. To be quite accurate she was born in Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine; probably around 1879. And to be even more accurate it was the idea of Nazimova that I fell in love with. And you can blame the great British director Ken Russell for that.

In 1977 I took the train to Glasgow three times in one week to see his brilliant, warped, underappreciated film of Valentino. Yes, that Valentino, he of the Rudolph variety. And in fact, he was played by Russian ballet dancer and defector Rudolf Nureyev, with Ken Russell himself in the uncredited role of the Irish directing legend Rex Ingram (don’t ask); so, as you can see, we were deep in silent era territory and I was deep in seventh heaven.

Now, the rather fanciable (am I still allowed to say that?) French actress Leslie Caron was playing Nazimova. And I found that her performance made me want to know more about this iconic Russian. I loved the crazy way she came across in the movie; I loved the images I could dig up of her in those pre-internet days; and I loved the fact that she got along with one name. A bit like Elvis. Or Lovecraft. Or, come to think of it, Valentino. Or Nureyev.

Where the hell was I? Oh yes. I was thinking of Nazimova’s lost 1916 film War Brides recently, due to Putin coming out with some particularly demented suggestions for his country.

In his look-at-the-state-of-the-place address, he reiterated his suggestion of several years back, namely that women get out and get bred for patriotic reasons. The population is in decline. Well, I’m no expert but I would imagine that if you keep sending off your youngest and brightest to get pointlessly slaughtered, then yes, your population is very likely going to decline.

In a scene of blackest comedy, a 43-year-old TV presenter called Natalya Litovko excitedly announced live to her viewers that she and her husband had been so inspired by the Great Leader’s words that she intended to start breeding immediately. Who would ever have guessed that the utterances of one Vladimir Putin would act as an aphrodisiac? I have a feeling that 30 years ago Natalya was one of those Hermione Granger types who was always first to put her hand up in class. This leads me to a joke that I’m not even going to go with.

Although Herbert Brenon’s War Brides is lost to the ages, we know enough about it to declare that it sounds like a very powerful anti-war film. Thankfully several people who saw it at the time of its release have recorded their memories. (And before the Usual Suspects start squeaking that all such films are at heart anti-war, can I ask you to go off and watch John Wayne’s The Green Berets? And then come back to tell me that there’s no such thing as a pro-war film.)

Ivan Butler – author of Silent Magic: Rediscovering the Silent Film Era – wrote:

Have more children to carry on the conflict. No wonder I like films better than I like my species. And isn’t it interesting that here we have – one fictional, the other all too real – two scenarios more than a century apart, proposing the same dreadful thing? Truly, there’s nothing new under the sun.

Well, lost footage is occasionally found, as we’ve seen in Ireland only these past few weeks; so maybe I’ll get to see War Brides one day. (Although they’ll have to make it quick, haha.) In the meantime, a title card survives from 1916 – and I’ll leave you with it:

Perhaps someone should show that to Ms. Litovko.

^{charleybrady@gmail.com}