Silents Talk: Karl Dane

As you now know, I utterly hate Kenneth Anger and his Hollywood Babylons. I actually do not own Hollywood Babylon 2 (it'll be in the mail shortly I'm sure, once I'm done with book one) but in researching Karl Dane it comes up time and time again...apparently Anger lists Dane as a 'talkie downfall'. Anger embellished from the little I do know, playing up the hot dog cart angle and claiming his voice was the only reason for his downfall. Fortunately and Unfortunately that is not the case. Surely Dane's accent didn't help, but it didn't hurt THAT much. In short personal troubles, bad investments, and an inability to restart his career (he was almost 50 when he died) all led to his suicide. Mostly Id say broken spirit over anything else.

But those who like to play up the talkie myth claim his accent was simply too heavy, and he was dropped like a lead balloon. Of course these same people over look Karl did make several talkies (spanning from 1928-1933) with varying degrees of success, and these same people are the kind who speculate Mary Pickford had the wrong talkie voice as well. In short these people are loons. Because as proven in the talkie myth article, most Silent Stars had just fine voices, only personal troubles and age usually prevented them from transitioning successfully. And even when they did one of the two eventually caught them (even Mr. Chaplin).

Back to Karl! Yes he was Danish, and yes he had an accent. But no more so than anyone else. And given his goofy characters I think it fit quite nicely. The accent is there but you have to go above and beyond to be distracted by it. I actually think he may have had less an accent than Valentino. It's there, but mainly towards the end of sentences. And to me its completely understandable. Of course I live in Los Angeles...where one MUST understand accents.

But judge for yourself! Of the 26 TALKIES DANE MADE (go count for yourself) only one of about 3 on DVD. And its a doozy. Bela Lugosi's "The Whispering Shadow"...a long ass B rated serial. Okay in fairness maybe I'm not the best judge of mystery based serials from the 30s. Nothing about that sentence interests me. And since I had no clue who Bela was till I looked him up that really didn't do it for me either. No one is stellar in this movie (nor is the plot, script, or feigned mystery)...except Dane.

To set this up for you, the jist is (for some reason) some guy is murdering people with new fangled technology that includes 'television' (which in 1933 must have meant something different then it does today). Its an extremely stupid plot, and you cant really figure out why anyone is so hell bent on solving it. Serious warning though: I pretty much clipped everything of Karl out of there...and it basically sums up 8 hours of serial in 20 minutes. So if you watch, there are major spoilers. You are warned.

And to set up Karl's part he plays "Sparks" a ''special'' dispatcher. He sits there and acts stupid and plays with his little 'toy' while providing comic relief. OR SO IT SEEMS. Clip 3 and 4 reveal the truth. And some AWESOME acting from Karl. Seriously...if you aren't in love with him after watching that then you just aren't a silent fan. I'm sorry that's the rules.

Seriously you notice him right away when hes on screen (usually towards the beginning of each serial though not LIMITED to). And one thing I noticed was his silent genius-ness was still there, as his little comedic bits need no words. BUT Dane DID indeed talk! And here apparently for the first time online, I present, Karl Dane...talking!

Those very first scenes prove my point about him pulling off great silent and talkie acting all in one. Now what else does he have up his sleeve...

Now for some of Dane's greatest acting. Well I've seen very few of his films (damn you DVD releases) but I can't say its every day he took on a role like THIS. No I'm not gonna spoil it...your gonna have to watch it.

and

A.MA.ZING!

Karl's Talkie Career:

For a man so maligned by Anger, Dane made a HELL OF A LOT of talkies. Even if just brief appearances (and many weren't, many belonged to Dane & Arthur as well) Dane was there. Kinda kills the whole 'done because of talkies' theory huh?

The Whispering Shadow (1933)
Fast Life (1932)
Lime Juice Nights (1931)
Dumbbells in Derbies (1931)
A Put Up Job (1931)
New Moon (1930)
Knights Before Christmas (1930)
A Lady's Morals (1930)
Dizzy Dates (1930)
Billy the Kid (1930)
Broken Wedding Bells (1930)
Men Without Skirts (1930)
The Big House (1930)
Montana Moon (1930)
Navy Blues (1929)
The Mysterious Island (1929)
Speedway (1929)
China Bound (1929)
The Duke Steps Out (1929)
All at Sea (1929)
Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928)
Brotherly Love (1928)

Appearances as himself:

Crazy House (1930)
Screen Snapshots Series 9, No. 23 (1930)
Free and Easy (1930)
The March of Time (1930)
The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)

I dispute IMDB on whether a few Dane and Arthur films after 1928 were silent or not (if released after Brotherly Love why would they be silent?) so if they were indeed silent the list would fall to about 24 talkies. As for his self appearances its hard to tell what those consisted of. The Hollywood Revue involved him and Arthur so that one would indeed count for sure as it was a bonafide talkie.

Verdict: Talkies or Silent?

I think Dane would count as one of those very rare people who did equally well in talkies and silents. I wouldn't say that of Mary, and the other day I realized I wouldn't even say that of Greta Garbo (she was too pretty for silents, it was distracting). But Dane proved to me at least with "The Whispering Shadow" he could pull both off. My only regret is this is the only talkie of his I have been able to see. Surely the Dane & Arthur talkies were even better (and less...boring.)

If that verdict is a little unsatisfactory then I will indeed say this: if anything Dane proved he was just FINE AT TALKIES. Like most other silent stars his accent fit in with his image (even in silents he constantly played Scandinavians). Of course I guess one could argue The Big Parade and Son of the Sheik may have countered this, but 95% of the rest of his pictures he did indeed play a Scandinavian for the most part. Though it is quite interesting how well Dane pulled off playing a poorly named Arab!

Still I stand by my verdict. My only other regret is Dane didn't live long enough to play any other main parts in talkies. Wouldn't a cameo in "Sunset Blvd" have been excellent? I think he would have been great on TV as well (an appearance on Anna May Wong's show?) One can dream I guess...