Cohen Film Collection

Cohen Film Collection
Cohen Film Collection
Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library
Table of Contents
First published in the United States of America in 2012 by Cohen Film Collection, LLC 750 Lexington Avenue, Floor 23 New York, NY 10022 www.cohenmedia.net ISBN 978-0-615-69865-6 2012 Cohen Film Collection, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written consent of the publisher. Editors: Tim Lanza, Leslie Adler Design: Graham Hanson Design Printed in the United States of America
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Introduction Preface American Classics Buster Keaton Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton Charlie Chaplin Harold Lloyd Harry Langdon Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. D. W. Griffith The Talmadge Sisters Erich von Stroheim William Farnum William S. Hart Rudolph Valentino Lon Chaney W. C. Fields Paul Robeson Roland West Josef von Sternberg Other American Classics Classic American Comedy Shorts Mack Sennett Robert Benchley Burns and Allen Tom Howard Lulu McConnell Smith & Dale Jack Benny Eddie Cantor Chester Conklin Dane & Arthur Al St. John More Comedy Classics Behind the Scenes
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Musical Shorts 19281973 Bing Crosby Cab Calloway Duke Ellington Ruth Etting Ethel Merman Rudy Vallee More Musical Shorts 19281973 British Cinema Marcel Hellman Productions Herbert Wilcox Productions Alfred Hitchcock Vivien Leigh Selected Features Foreign Classics Latin America and Spain Italy and France Finland and Sweden Germany Avant-Garde: France Georges Mlis Fernand Lger Dimitri Kirsanoff Sergei Eisenstein Man Ray Jean Epstein MarcO Avant-Garde: US Watson and Webber Herman G. Weinberg Charles Vidor Slavko Vorkapich and Robert Florey Joseph Vogel Chester Kessler Eric Arthur Frank Stauffacher John Schmitz Sam Zebba Anthony Balch and William Burroughs John Parker
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The Documentaries Animation Index: Titles Index: Directors Index: Actors
Introduction
Cohen Film Collection: The Rohauer Library is a world-renowned collection of rare movie classics. Long acclaimed for its immensity and entertainment value, this esteemed collection of over 700 titles spans 75 years of the cinemas most dynamic eras. This unique screen treasure was amassed by Raymond Rohauer (19241987), the former film curator of the Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art in New York, who devoted his life to collecting these distinguished films. Rohauer was born in Buffalo, New York, and moved to Los Angeles when he was a teenager because of his passion for the movies. Starting his collection as a youth, he went on to found the Society of Cinema Arts, offering events and regular screenings of experimental, classic and foreign films at the Coronet Theatre and
the Riviera-Capri Theatre. These venues played an important role in educating film students and filmmakers in Los Angeles about early cinema history. Later, Rohauer established partnerships with Buster Keaton, Mrs. Harry Langdon, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and others for the distribution and restoration of features and shorts. Cohen Film Collection: The Rohauer Library is the successor in rights (in most cases, all rights throughout the world) to the listed motion pictures of Buster Keaton, D. W. Griffith, the films of Marcel Hellman, Herbert Wilcox, Pendennis Films, Ltd., the Paramount short film library and others. These exclusive licenses and contracts bring to the Collection original nitrates, camera negatives, prints and other materials unavailable elsewhere, to assure the best prints possible.
Preface
Under the stewardship, and guided by the vision of Charles S. Cohen, plans for the systematic preservation and restoration of the many classics in this unique film library will ensure that they are available to be enjoyed by generations to come. Through strategic partnerships with the most prestigious archives in the United States and abroad, film titles will be selected on an ongoing basis to undergo complete digital and, where appropriate, photochemical restoration, so that the best possible versions of these historic and entertaining films are available across all platforms of delivery. In addition to the treasures contained in The Rohauer Library, Cohen Film Collection will augment its library through the acquisition of classic films from around the globe in order to offer an ever-growing selection of the classics in world cinema.
American Classics
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American Classics
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American Classics
One Week 1920

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Sybil Seely Joe Roberts 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Convict 13 1920
Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Sybil Seely Joe Roberts Eddie Cline Joe Keaton 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Neighbors 1921
Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Joe Keaton Joe Roberts Virginia Fox Eddie Cline 23 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Scarecrow 1920

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Sybil Seely Al St. John Joe Keaton Luke the Dog 18 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Haunted House 1921

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Joe Roberts Virginia Fox Eddie Cline 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Hard Luck 1921

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Joe Roberts Virginia Fox 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The High Sign 1921

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Al St. John 18 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Buster Keaton
Buster and his new bride have one week to build a house from an assemble-it-yourself pre-fab kit before their housewarming celebration scheduled for Friday the 13th. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA An amazing little work, not only in that it predates so many of the later Keaton gags and general bizarre and dream-like style, but in that it is such an outstanding comedy by any standards. This is still one of Keatons cleverest and funniest shorts. William K. Everson Full of impossible gagsintroduces the dreamlike, almost surreal imagery that became a recurring aspect of Keatons work Christian Science Monitor, September, 1981 The storm which destroys his do-it-yourself house contains clear anticipations of the whirlwind climax of Steamboat Bill Jr. David Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary
Buster escapes from Death Row in the uniform of a prison guard, only to face death once more when his fellow inmates seize control of the prison and advance on the guards. Thought to exist only as a fragment, Convict 13 has been restored to its original running time. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA
The classic Pyramus and Thisbe legend takes a ribbing in this funny tale about two tenement lovers who are separated by a high backyard fence. Buster nonchalantly performs daring acrobatic feats as he traverses clotheslines, teeter-totters and telephone poles to reach his beloved. The picture also has a blackface routine common to movies of the period and takes aim also at lower-class marriage customs. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA Fastest and funniest of them all. Rudy Blesh
What Is A Home Without a Mother? reads the sign on the wall of Buster and Big Joe Roberts bachelor pad a marvelously inventive house designed for effortless living. The two guys also share the same gal, and her father disapproves of both of them. Pacific Film Archive Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA A two-reel trick-and-slapstick farce with Buster Keaton and funny furniture doing most of the farcing, is broadly amusing. The New York Times
Bank teller Buster spills glue on his money, gets himself accused of robbery and winds up in a haunted house full of spooky devices. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA
Down on his luck, Buster tries various means of killing himself, only to have his attempts hilariously thwarted. This version uses text and a still to reconstruct the end sequence that had been missing for so long. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA
One of Keatons funniest. He plays a contractkiller who must murder the town miser, August Nlckelnurser, but Nickelnurser knows a good man when he sees one and hires Buster as his bodyguard. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA Especially frantic farce. Christian Science Monitor, September, 1981
One Week 1920
Convict 13 1920 The Haunted House 1921
Neighbors 1921 Hard Luck 1921
The Play House 1921 The Boat 1921
The High Sign 1921 The Scarecrow 1920
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American Classics
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American Classics
The Goat 1921

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Malcolm St. Clair Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Joe Roberts Virginia Fox 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Play House 1921

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Virginia Fox Joe Roberts 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Boat 1921

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Sybil Seely Eddie Cline 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Paleface 1922

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Joe Roberts 22 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Cops 1922
Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Virginia Fox Joe Roberts Eddie Cline 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
My Wifes Relations 1922

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Kate Price Monty Collins Wheezer Dell Tom Wilson 23 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Blacksmith 1922

Directed by Buster Keaton Malcolm St. Clair Written by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Joe Roberts Virginia Fox 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Frozen North 1922

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Bonnie Hill Freeman Wood Joe Roberts 23 Minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
A mistaken-identity crisis precipitates an almost continuous and continuously brilliant chase through two adjoining towns where Buster is taken for Deadeye Dan, Public Enemy. Pacific Film Archive Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA
In this brilliant comedy about a vaudeville house, Buster plays every part, including simultaneously playing all eight musicians in a minstrel show. First National Pictures, USA One of the most extraordinary films of this period, however unique in Keatons work, is full of reminiscences of his vaudeville background. The Play House (1921) achieves a truly surreal quality as Keaton plays all the roles, including all the performers on stage in a little vaudeville house, the orchestra, the audience and even a performing monkey. David Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary
Buster builds a boat in his basement only to run afoul of Murphys Law. He pulls the boat out and the house falls down. He names the boat Damfino and it sinks at sea. He sends an S.O.S. to the Coast Guard and they refuse to respond, for when they ask who are you? Keaton replies, Damfino. The Guard decides that if he doesnt know who he is, they shouldnt be expected to. First National Pictures, USA A masterpiece. Dwight MacDonald, New York Times Review of Books Rank(s) with Keatons great feature-length silent comedies. David Robinson
Buster is an absent-minded butterfly-chasing entomologist who stumbles into the midst of warring Indian tribes. This is the comedy in which he retreats backwards on his hands and knees across a suspension bridge, removing the staves in front of him and placing them behind to create his own caterpillar track. First National Pictures, USA Bit of business with Keaton tied to a stake, his moving from place to place as the Indians pile the brush to start a fire, is laughable Variety Contains elements which were to reappear in The General. David Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary
A wonderful example of Buster Keatons film artistry. A carefully orchestrated series of gags in which he plays an innocent who tries to impress his girl by becoming more than he is, and winds up inextricably caught in a police parade that breaks up to pursue him. First National Pictures, USA Three Stars. Leslie Halliwell
A family farce with Buster as the bridegroom who tries to smooth out relations with his new in-laws. Among the many gags is a marriage bed that collapses at the most inopportune moments. First National Pictures, USA
Buster plays a blacksmith who shoes his horses assembly-line style. First National Pictures, USA
Buster so uproariously lampoons William S. Hart and the highly stylized conventions of twenties western epics that when Hart saw it he refused to speak to Keaton for months. First National Pictures, USA
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American Classics
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American Classics
Day Dreams 1922

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Renee Adoree Joe Roberts 18 Minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Electric House 1922

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Virginia Fox Joe Roberts Joe, Myra and Louise Keaton 23 Minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Balloonatic 1923

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Phyllis Haver 23 Minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Love Nest 1923

Written and directed by Buster Keaton Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Virginia Fox Joe Roberts 18 Minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track. B&W
The Saphead 1921

Written and directed by Herbert Blache Written by June Mathis Based on the play The New Henrietta by Winchell Smith and Victor Mapes Starring Buster Keaton Beulah Booker William H. Crane Irving Cummings 70 Minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, Color Tint
The Three Ages 1923

Directed by Buster Keaton Eddie Cline Written by Clyde Bruckman Joseph Mitchell Jean Havez Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Wallace Beery Margaret Leahy Joe Roberts Lillian Lawrence Lionel Belmore 60 Minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Our Hospitality 1923

Directed by Buster Keaton Jack Blystone Written by Jean Havez Joseph Mitchell Clyde Bruckman Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Natalie Talmadge Joe Keaton Buster Keaton Jr. 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Navigator 1924

Directed by Buster Keaton Donald Crisp Written by Jean Havez Clyde Bruckman J. A. Mitchell Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Kathryn McGuire Frederick Vroom John OBrien Noble Johnson 63 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
While seeking his fortune in the big city, country bumpkin Buster tries to impress the girl back home with glowing accounts of his achievements. As she reads his letters, we see whats really happening. First National Pictures, USA
Buster designs a house with all the latest gadgets for a real estate tycoon who will buy thousands if the model home impresses him. But during the demonstration, everything that can go wrong does hilariously. First National Pictures, USA
Buster rises to new heights as he sails heavenward in a balloon. He bumps into clouds and, in trying to bring down a duck, punctures the gas bag and crashes in the woods where he saves Phyllis Haver from a bear and falls in love. His courtship and the balloonatic events that follow are hilarious. First National Pictures, USA Brand new gags. One of the most ingenious he has made since The Boat. L.C. Moen. Motion Picture News
Love-smitten Keaton joins a whaling ship crew and its fearsome captain. First National Pictures, USA Keatons shorts, at their best, can compare with his mature feature productions. Often they seem to contain sketches for the later features: The Love Nest look(s) forward to The Navigator. David Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary
Among the rarest of the Keaton comedies, The Saphead casts Buster as shy Bertie the lamb Van Alstyne, the wealthy son of the wolf of Wall Street. To win the heart of Agnes, Buster consults how to win the modern girl, which urges its readers to become daring. Dutifully, he tries to be rakish in an oriental morning robe, fails to get himself arrested in a gambling casino, and tries smoking huge cigars. Agnes may be singularly unimpressed, but Busters father is, and orders Buster to cut out the funny business and get a job. Buster buys a seat on the Stock Exchange forthwith, wins Agnes and flabbergasts his father by making a killing in the market. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA Without parallel, exhibitors made Keaton the whole show for a week, playing The Saphead along with a Keaton comic two-reeler, The Scarecrow. Rudi Blesh, Keaton Splendid production. Variety
Inspired by D. W. Griffiths Intolerance, Buster made this hilarious comedy in which two young men compete for the same girl in different epochs: the stone age, ancient Rome, and America during prohibition. Like the Griffith film, each story cuts parallel to the others to climax in a common end. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA Contains one of the earliest and most brilliant of Keatons great climactic comic trajectories (he performs an astonishing descent down the many stories of a large apartment building to arrive on a moving fire engine below). David Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary Just about as coherent as Intolerance and about fifty times as funny. Robert E. Sherwood, Life
In 1810, the respective heads of the Canfield and McKay families try to settle an old score, but by killing each other they merely perpetuate the old feud. Twenty years later, the last surviving McKay (Keaton) comes back home by train to claim his estate. Unknown to him, his seatmate, played by Natalie Talmadge, is the Canfield daughter. Unaware that her father and brothers know who Buster is and plan to kill him, she invites him to supper at the family home. Buster escapes, and while the men are out looking for him he finds a parson to marry him and Natalie and bury the hatchet for good. Among the many gags is the train ride that zig-zags around obstacles, a wild chase through the mountains and a hair-raising rescue at a high waterfall. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA In his previous films, Keaton had revealed an ingenious talent for setting up gags in terms of the camera. In Our Hospitality, however, his highly developed gifts as a filmmaker come into evidence. The exposition of the sequence is lucid and entirely pictorial. The images are invariably correct and just and the rhythms impeccable. Keaton prefers a freer style of mise-en-scne which is sometimes remarkably modern in feeling certainly superior to Chaplin, who at the time was preparing The Gold Rush a beautiful film but technically archaic and visually feeble when seen alongside the Keaton film. David Robinson, Buster Keaton
A hilarious comedy in which Keaton and his sweetheart are cast adrift on a deserted ocean liner. The ship finally runs aground on a desert island where the two unfortunates are chased by cannibals. One of Keatons most revered films. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA Three Stars. Leslie Halliwell Masterpiece. Dwight MacDonald, The New York Times Considered by many Keaton buffs to be the funniest film he ever made. John D. Eames, The MGM Story Keatons biggest box office success, which grew out of a single prop a great ocean-going liner which his special effects person, Fred Gabourie, had found about to be scrapped plot mechanism landed a boy and girl, spoiled millionaires adrift alone on the ship; he then created a brilliant superstructure of gag inventions upon the simple base situation. David Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary
The Navigator 1924
The Paleface 1922 The Three Ages 1923
The Frozen North 1922 The Balloonatic 1923
The Love Nest 1923 The Electric House 1922
The Saphead 1921 Cops 1922
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American Classics 9 Buster Keaton Comedies
Sherlock, Jr. 1924
Fast-moving, gag-filled comedy which ranks among its stars best.
Directed by Buster Keaton Written by Clyde Bruckman Jean Havez Joseph Mitchell Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Kathryn McGuire Ward Crane Joe Keaton 45 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Buster plays a movie projectionist who daydreams himself into the movies he is showing and merges with the figures and the backgrounds on the screen. While dreaming he is Conan Doyles master detective, he snoops out brilliant discoveries. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA One of Keatons best works. Its plot development, drawing of comedy characters and imaginative comic incidents place it among the great screen comedies of all time. Donald W. McCaffrey, American Film Institute Keatons mechanical ingenuity reached a new peak in the devising of a sequence which exacts comedy from the characteristic movie technique of cutting (he is left standing, amazed, in the same place on the screen as the scene cuts from one location to another) and in the extraordinary choreographed trajectories of the great climactic chase. David Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary
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American Classics
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American Classics
Seven Chances 1925

Directed by Buster Keaton Written by Clyde Bruckman Joseph Mitchell Jean Havez Based on the play by Roi Cooper Megrue Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Ruth Dwyer Ray Barnes Snitz Edwards 58 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Go West 1925
Directed by Buster Keaton Written by Raymond Cannon Buster Keaton Lex Neal Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Photographed by Bert Haines Elgin Lessley Starring Buster Keaton Howard Truesdale Kathleen Myers Ray Thompson Brown Eyes 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Battling Butler 1926

Directed by Buster Keaton Written by Paul G. Smith Al Boasberg Charles Smith Lex Neal Based on the musical play by Douglas Furber and Phillip Brabham Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Sally ONeil Snitz Edwards Francis McDonald 68 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
College 1927
Directed by James W. Horne Written by Carl Harbaugh Bryan Foy Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Anne Cornwall Snitz Edwards 65 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Steamboat Bill, Jr. 1928

Directed by Charles Riesner Written by Buster Keaton Carl Harbaugh Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Buster Keaton Ernest Torrence Marion Byron 67 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Great Stone Face 1968

Written and directed by Vernon Becker Starring Buster Keaton Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle 100 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Buster gets word that if he can be married by seven oclock that evening he will inherit $7,000,000. When his sweetheart refuses, he proposes to everyone in skirts, including a Scotsman. Hopeful still, he advertises for a bride and is horrified to discover 500 would-be-brides hot on his trail in a hilarious chase to the finish. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA A favorite surrealistic imagery becomes overwhelming in a climax in which Buster is chased down a mountainside by boulders run amok. Christian Science Monitor, August, 1981
Buster Keaton burlesques the Western in this comedy about a friendless drifter who befriends a cow named Brown Eyes and accompanies her on the cattle train to the stockyards. When rustlers attack, he saves her, and at the fade-out the two of them ride off into the sunset in the back of a motorcar. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA The most atypical and at the same time one of the most endearing of his films. With acrobatic and gag comedy at a minimum, Keaton experimented uncharacteristically with a quality of pathos in his depiction of friendlessness and his relationship with a gentle, sweet cow. Although this was his only essay in sentiment, his grace and taste carry it off with a style that is never mawkish. David Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary
Keaton remarked on occasion that Battling Butler was his favorite film. Based on a Broadway play, the story revolves around a case of mistaken identity between two Alfred Butlers one an effete millionaire (Keaton), the other the heavyweight champion of the world (Francis McDonald). Coincidence brings them to the same backwoods Kentucky neighborhood, where Butler-the-flop finds love with a mountain girl, but not before antagonizing Butler-the-brute into a Madison Square Garden grudge match. Pacific Film Archive Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA Shrieks of delight at many hilarious moments. The New York Times
When collegiate bookworm Keaton falls for a pretty co-ed who only has eyes for jocks, he hits the playing fields in a series of wildly hilarious attempts to win her. At first hes all thumbs, but by the end of the picture, when he hears the campus masher is forcing himself upon her, Buster broad-jumps a pond, hurdles row after row of high bushes, and pole-vaults through a second-story window of the womens dorm to save her. United Artists, USA Three Stars. Awfully funny. Leonard Maltin
The son of a steamboat captain, Buster falls in love with the daughter of a rival steamboat owner. The picture climaxes with a cyclone in which a two-story building comes crashing down on Keaton. As a wall falls in one piece around him, he passes untouched through an open window. United Artists, USA The climax is a terrifyingly funny windstorm in which self-propelled beds glide and levitate, and houses topple suddenly from all sides, with Buster as usual oblivious to his peril until a few seconds after he might have hied himself out of harms way. What gives this sequence such an eerie quality is that the tempest takes place amid the stark tranquility of broad daylight its really like a bad dream in which Keaton is taking the licks for the rest of us watching in the dark. The New York Times, August. 1981 I laughed or giggled all the time the picture was running; in fact, I laughed all the way through it and forgot it was my business to search for flaws in it. As the purpose of a comedy is to make us forget business and have a good laugh, I must put Steamboat Bill, Jr. down as perhaps the best comedy of the year. The Film Spectator
This wonderful documentary about Buster Keaton explores his mastery of silent film comedy as a writer, director and performer. Included are clips from Coney Island (1917), Cops (1922), The Three Ages (1923), The Navigator (1924), The General (1926), and The Railrodder (1965). By the early Fifties, it looked as if Keaton was finished. Then in 1954, in partnership with Raymond Rohauer, Buster Keaton Productions was resuscitated, his famous silent film comedies were restored and reissued and whole new generations discovered and came to love his special brand of humor. Funnyman Productions
Go West 1925
Our Hospitality 1923
Steamboat Bill Jr. 1928
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American Classics
The General 1926
Some say his greatest film, and one of the cleverest of all time.
Directed by Buster Keaton Clyde Bruckman Written by Al Boasberg Charles Smith Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Photographed by J. Devereux Jennings Bert Haines Starring Buster Keaton Marion Mack Glen Cavender 84 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Many critics consider The General to be the last great comedy of the silent era, and it consistently ranks as one of the greatest comedies of all time on international critics polls. Set during the Civil War and based on a true incident, the film is also an authentic looking period piece, bringing the scope and realism of Matthew Brady-like images to brilliant life. The title refers not to Keatons character, but to his engine, The General, which figures prominently in one of the most harrowing and hilarious chase scenes ever filmed. Keaton portrays the engineer Johnnie Gray, who is rejected by the Confederate Army and then suffers the further humiliation of his girlfriends (Marion Mack) thinking him a coward. When a small band of Union soldiers penetrate far beyond Confederate lines to steal his locomotive, Johnnie Gray sets off in hot pursuit; seven of the films eight reels (are) devoted to the chase, with its orchestration of thrills and comedy. Keaton shot the film on the narrow railways of Oregon and used less than 50 titles to explain the whole story. Pacific Film Archive United Artists, USA Masterpiece. Dwight MacDonald, New York Times Review of Books
The Goat 1921
The Blacksmith 1922
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American Classics
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American Classics
The Butcher Boy 1917

Directed by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Written by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Buster Keaton Al St. John 28 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Coney Island 1917

Directed by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Buster Keaton Al St. John 25 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Out West 1918

Directed by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Written by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Natalie Talmadge Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Buster Keaton Al St. John 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Bell Boy 1918

Directed by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Written by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Buster Keaton Al St. John 28 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Good Night, Nurse! 1918

Written and directed by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Buster Keaton Al St. John Alice Lake 26 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Backstage 1919
Directed by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Written by Jean Havez Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Buster Keaton Al St. John 26 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton
Buster Keatons film debut is set in a general store with Arbuckle as the butcher. Keaton performs famous bits involving brooms and a bucket of molasses that he would recreate decades later on television. Comique Film Corporation, USA
A day at Coney Island serves as the backdrop for slapstick mayhem by Arbuckle, Keaton and St. John. Comique Film Corporation, USA
In this satirical Western, Buster Keaton plays a saloon owner who doubles as the town sheriff. Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle becomes the saloons bartender after a long journey around Americas frontier railway system. Gamblers, trapdoors, Indians and a damsel in distress create a comedic journey to Mad Dog Gulch. Comique Film Corporation, USA
Arbuckle and Keaton are bellhops and St. John is the desk clerk at a third-rate hotel that uses a horse to operate the elevator. Comique Film Corporation, USA
In this comedy, Arbuckle is committed to the No Hope Sanitarium, a facility that specializes in a surgical cure for the chronically inebriated. Chief surgeon Busters appearance in a blood-splattered smock is enough to convince Arbuckle that the cure is not for him, so he plots his escape dressed as a female nurse. Comique Film Corporation, USA
Arbuckle and Keaton work in a vaudeville house. When the Strongman walks out, the crew has to put on the show. Keaton would later echo this film in his short, The Play House. Comique Film Corporation, USA
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American Classics
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American Classics
A Night with Charlie Chaplin 1914/1985

Individual shorts produced by Mack Sennett Starring Charlie Chaplin Mabel Normand Chester Conklin 80 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Tillies Punctured Romance 1914

Produced and directed by Mack Sennett Written by Hampton Del Ruth Based on Tillies Nightmare by Edgar Smith Starring Charlie Chaplin Marie Dressler Mabel Normand Chester Conklin Edgar Kennedy Charley Chase Charles Murray Mack Swain 52 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Lukes Movie Muddle 1916

Directed by Hal Roach Starring Harold Lloyd Bebe Daniels 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Somewhere in Turkey 1918

Directed by Alfred J. Goulding Starring Harold Lloyd Bebe Daniels Snub Pollard Bud Jamison 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Swing Your Partner 1918

Directed by Alfred J. Goulding Starring Harold Lloyd Bebe Daniels Snub Pollard 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Charlie Chaplin
In 1984 Thames Television aired The Unknown Chaplin, a television special produced by Kevin Brownlow, David Gill and Raymond Rohauer. A critical and popular success, it used outtakes and other footage, much of it never before seen in public. Most of the material was in mint condition. A Night With Charlie Chaplin is a dividend constructed from some of that same footage. It includes Caught In a Cabaret, in which Chaplin plays a cabaret waiter who pretends to be a duke at Mabel Normands garden party; Dough and Dynamite, in which Charlie gets involved with strikers at a bakery; His Trysting Place, in which he picks up the wrong coat in a diner and his wife, Mabel, finds a love letter in the pocket; and His Primitive Past. Keystone, USA
Comedy writer/producer/director Mack Sennett got Marie Dressler to repeat her Broadway starring role as Tillie, put her opposite Chaplin, and packed the film with all his other leading comedy stars. Chaplin plays a fortune-hunter who deceives both Marie and Mabel who sic the Keystone Kops on him in one of the wildest chases ever seen on film. Keystone, USA The world had never heard of a six-reel comedy. It was as stupendous an undertaking in its field as Quo Vadis or Birth of a Nation, and was proclaimed a success. Terry Ramsaye, A Million and One Nights Chaplin and Dressler constitute a rare team of filmmakers the sort of combination that not only tempts but impels an ordinary fallible reviewer to indulge in extravagant language. Chaplin outdoes Chaplin; thats all there is to it. Mack Sennett has done well. The Moving Picture World
Harold Lloyd
This comedy pokes fun at early movie-making. Bebe Daniels was Harold Lloyds comedy partner beginning with this film, until Captain Kidds Kids (1919). Rolin Films, USA
Already wearing his famous glasses, Lloyd plays an archaeologist who rescues Bebe from the clutches of an evil Sultan. Rolin Films, USA
Harold is mistaken for a dance instructor expected by Professor Tanglefoots class, so he offers his own version of the art. Rolin Films, USA
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American Classics
Somewhere in Turkey 1918
Back to the Woods 1919

Directed by Hal Roach Starring Harold Lloyd Bebe Daniels Snub Pollard Bud Jamison 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
On the Fire 1919

Directed by Hal Roach Starring Harold Lloyd Bebe Daniels Snub Pollard 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Haunted Spooks 1920

Directed by Hal Roach Alfred J. Goulding Starring Harold Lloyd Mildred Davis 25 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Harold is a neophyte in the North Woods where Bebe grew up as a tomboy. The slapstick comedy also involves Indians and some bears. Rolin Films, USA
With Harold as chef and Snub Pollard as his assistant, things get pretty lively for Bebe as she tries to dine at the Cafe Sordide. Rolin Films, USA
Harold has girl troubles, but their adventure in a haunted house reunites them. The comedy contains one of the most hilariously frustrated suicide sequences ever put on film, when Harold, despairing over rejection, tries to kill himself, ineptly. During the filming, one of the special effects bomb detonated, blowing off three of Lloyds fingers, setting the production back many months. This was the third film with Lloyd for new leading lady Mildred Davis, who married him in 1923 and remained married to him until her death in 1969. Rolin Films, USA
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American Classics
39
American Classics
Picking Peaches 1924

Directed by Erle C. Kenton Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Harry Langdon 18 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
All Night Long 1924

Directed by Harry Edwards Starring Harry Langdon Vernon Dent 20 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Sea Squawk 1924

Directed by Harry Edwards Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Harry Langdon Vernon Dent 18 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Boobs in the Woods 1925

Directed by Harry Edwards Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Harry Langdon Marie Astaire Vernon Dent 18 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
His Marriage Wow 1925

Directed by Harry Edwards Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Harry Langdon Vernon Dent Natalie Kingston 19 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Lucky Stars 1925

Directed by Harry Edwards Written by Arthur Ripley Frank Capra Produced By Mack Sennett Starring Harry Langdon Natalie Kingston Vernon Dent 19 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Ella Goes to Hollywood 1926

(The Harry Langdon sequence from Ella Cinders) Directed by Alfred Green Starring Harry Langdon Colleen Moore 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Harry Langdon
In Picking Peaches, Harry Langdons first film, were introduced to what looks at first like a standard vaudeville character: whitened, oval face; demure pucker of the mouth with turned up corners; natty dresser with slicked down hair. Hes an accomplished flirt and full of Sennett energy. Walter Kerr, in his book, The Silent Clowns, detects two faint suggestions of the Langdon to come. Having successfully flirted with a girl under a beach umbrella, Harry curls up in her lap, rather as though what hed really been looking for was a motherly cuddle. The flicker of oddity breaks stride with the routine gagging. Later, when someone happens to tickle his nose with a feathered fan, he instantly puts palm and all five fingers to it, in a directionless spasm, as though his motor control werent secure enough to guide him to any one particular itch. Again we are slightly surprised; we almost expect to see jam on his face. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA
Harry wakes up in a movie theatre after the audience has left. On his way home, he stumbles across a burglary in action, only to discover that one of the burglars is an old Army friend. They reminisce about their wartime rivalry. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA
Aboard ship, Harry tries to escape from a crook by disguising himself in a dress and blonde curls. While he becomes the center of attention on the dance floor, everything goes awry when he snaps the girdle of a buxom woman, gets involved with an escaped monkey, loses his panties and gets himself chased up the ships rigging. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA
Harry has to leave home because he wont roll Grandmas cigarettes. He winds up in a logging camp with Marie Astaire and Vernon Dent, whos a bull and a mile wide. Dent threatens to kill Harry for nosing around Marie, so Marie gets a job as a bar maid at a higher salary at a lower altitude, and Harry joins her as a waiter known as the Crying Killer. Putting kerosene into the soup, he wires the saloon to make himself look like a dead shot and, when Dent shows up, starts a fight and dowses the lights until the last man is down and out. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA
Bumbling Harry shows up at the wrong church on his wedding day, leaving his bride-to-be waiting anxiously at another church across town. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA
Harry sells elixir to the rubes in a border town, but when the pharmacists daughter (Natalie Kingston) doctors the medicine with something explosive, the natives run Harry out of town. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA
You dont have to book Ella Cinders to see Langdon. Show this amusing feature excerpt instead. Ella Cinders (Colleen Moore) stumbles into First National Studios and wanders onto the set of Tramp Tramp Tramp (1926) where Harry Langdon is being filmed. First National Pictures, USA
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American Classics
The Strong Man 1926
Possibly Langdons masterpiece, blending romance, misfortune and humor.
Directed by Frank Capra Written by Frank Capra Arthur Ripley Hal Conklin Robert Eddy Starring Harry Langdon Gertrude Astor Tay Garnett 75 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Harry plays a World War I veteran from Belgium who accompanies a strong-man act to America so he can look for Mary Smith, the pen pal he fell in love with during the war. Along the way, a gangsters moll hides a bankroll on Harry and then has to lure him to her apartment to recover the loot. In the mistaken notion that his virginity is at stake (and being very ticklish), he demolishes her and the apartment in his flight to escape. Another famous routine occurs on a crowded bus when Harry tries to soothe a cold by rubbing his chest with a piece of over-ripe Limburger. First National Pictures, USA Quite charming star comedy, probably Langdons best. Leslie Halliwell A wealth of slapstick. Langdon is second only to Chaplin in his ability to inject pathos into his comedy. Variety I dont know when Ive seen anything more touchingly beautiful than Harry Langdons performance in this. Probably never. Robert E. Sherwood, Life
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American Classics
43
American Classics
His First Flame 1926

Directed by Harry Edwards Presented by Mack Sennett Written by Frank Capra Arthur Ripley Starring Harry Langdon Vernon Dent Ruth Hiatt Bud Jamison 55 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Saturday Afternoon 1926

Directed by Harry Edwards Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Harry Langdon Alice Ward Vernon Dent 24 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Soldier Man 1926

Written, produced and directed by Mack Sennett Starring Harry Langdon 33 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Tramp Tramp Tramp 1926

Directed by Harry Edwards Written by Frank Capra Tim Whelan Hal Conklin Gerald Duffy Murray Roth J. Frank Holliday Starring Harry Langdon Joan Crawford Alec B. Francis 65 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Long Pants 1927

Directed by Frank Capra Written by Arthur Eddy Based on a story by Arthur Ripley Starring Harry Langdon Gladys Brockwell Al Roscoe 54 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Threes a Crowd 1927

Produced and directed by Harry Langdon Written by Arthur Ripley Starring Harry Langdon Gladys McConnell Cornelius Keefe 83 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Chaser 1928

Produced and directed by Harry Langdon Written by Clarence Hennecke and others Based on a story by Arthur Ripley Starring Harry Langdon Gladys McConnell Helen Hayward William Jaimison 88 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Long thought lost, His First Flame, Harry Langdons first feature film, has been restored and a music score added. Timid Harry fails spectacularly to make his macho fireman uncle proud of him. He gets mugged by a female shoplifter who takes his clothes and leaves him hers. He hitchhikes in her dress and gets picked up by a truck driver. Later, his girl fakes a fire in order to give Harry a chance to become a hero. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA Selected for special screening as a rediscovered film. Madrid International Film Festival, 1979
Hes just a crumb from the sponge-cake of life, but when buddy Vernon Dent suggests they double date with a pair of good-looking dames, hen-pecked Harry goes home to harangue his wife, hoping shell throw him out. His performance is wonderful. He thinks shes in the next room, but shes standing right behind him. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA
Harry plays a lost soldier wandering the battlefields long after World War I has ended. He is pursued by a farmer, hides under a cow and, to his complete fascination, discovers the cows udders. Later, mistaken for the lost King Strudel XIII, Harry is enthroned by a thankful people, only to discover that the Queen wants him executed. Mack Sennett Comedies, USA
Harry Langdons second feature film about a man who enters a cross-country walking contest to impress his girl showcases some of his best routines: throwing small stones at a tornado to scare it away, he spits at it in victory, only to look down and have to wipe the spit off his lapel; or the one in which he gets hung up on a fence nail, unaware that it is all that keeps him from dropping several hundred feet to the highway below. Joan Crawford, working with him for the first time, laughed so hysterically that they had to re-shoot her close-ups after Langdon left the set. First National Pictures, USA This picture takes Harry Langdons doleful face and pathetic figure out of the two-reel class and into the Chaplin and Lloyd screen dimensions. The boys good. Photoplay
A timid young man who knows nothing of the fairer sex, Harry gets his first long pants and goes after the girls with the innocence of a newly-fallen snow and the single-minded purpose of a kid after the forbidden cookie jar. First National Pictures, USA Another of Langdons films from the peak of his career. He incarnates the innocent child wandering through a sort of fairytale life where disasters happen but are always averted at the last moment by magical coincidences. Long Pants is especially typical of Langdons method of slow-mounting climax. Instead of music and wallto-wall gags, Langdon seduces us into bubbling laughter. American Film Institute
A touching story in which Harry plays a poor young man who loves a girl left alone with her baby by her husband. Harry takes them in, cares for her and the infant, but is too shy to tell her how he feels. Then, on Christmas Eve, as Harry prepares to play Santa Claus, the husband returns to claim his family and Harry is alone once more. First National Pictures, USA Langdon is brilliant. Variety Threes a Crowd has some wonderful passages in it, including the prize-ring nightmare. James Agee, Agee on Film
Harry Langdons funniest and blackest comedy on the subject of love and marriage. His wife is a nagger and his mother-in-law is worse. The first half of the picture takes hilarious pot-shots at marriage and sets the scene for the second half, in which Harry runs away from home with his buddy William Jaimison. They get involved in a slapstick auto chase along the way and Harry parodies The Great Lover. First National Pictures, USA
Tramp Tramp Tramp 1926
Saturday Afternoon 1926 Soldier Man 1926
The Strong Man 1926 Long Pants 1927
Threes a Crowd 1927 The Chaser 1928
Tramp Tramp Tramp 1926 Long Pants 1927
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American Classics
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American Classics
The Lamb 1915

Directed by W. Christy Cabanne Written by Anita Loos Based on a story by D. W. Griffith Production supervised by D. W. Griffith Starring Douglas Fairbanks Seana Owen William E. Lowery 47 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Double Trouble 1915

Directed by W. Christy Cabanne Starring Douglas Fairbanks Margery Wilson 50 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Habit of Happiness 1916

Directed by Allan Dwan Supervised by D. W. Griffith Written by Shannon Fife Drawn from an idea by Griffith Starring Douglas Fairbanks Dorothy West George Fawcett Macy Harlan George Bakus 40 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Good Bad Man 1916

Directed by Allan Dwan Written and produced by Douglas Fairbanks Starring Douglas Fairbanks Bessie Love Sam De Grasse 50 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish 1916

Directed by John Emerson Written by Tod Browning Starring Douglas Fairbanks Bessie Love 18 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Reggie Mixes In 1916

Directed by W. Christy Cabanne Written by Robert M. Baker Starring Douglas Fairbanks Bessie Love Joseph Singleton Alma Rubens 50 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Flirting with Fate 1916

Directed by W. Christy Cabanne Written by W. Christy Cabanne Based on a story by Robert M. Baker Supervised by D. W. Griffith Starring Douglas Fairbanks Howard Gaye Jule Carmen George Beranger 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.
Douglas Fairbanks first film he plays a timid man who becomes a hero by saving his girl from a tribe of Indians. It was so much fun and Fairbanks proved to be such a terrific actor that after seeing the picture, the reviewer for Variety said it was no wonder the Triangle people signed up Fairbanks for a period of three years at any salary within reason. Triangle, USA Young Anita Loos found in exuberant Doug a kindred spirit, a man who could carry off the kind of cheeky gags she loved (to write) but which Griffith somehow never got around to filming. The Lamb set the pattern for the majority of Dougs early comedies, with the protagonist starting out as a study in ineptitude, then, under the impress of necessity, discovering within himself an unsuspected heroic (and pragmatic) side unpretentiously stated message there is extraordinary stuff in ordinary people if only they will let it out. Richard Schickel, The Fairbanks Album
Fairbanks plays a man with dueling personalities in this early comedy. Fine Arts Film Company, USA
Sunny Wiggins (Fairbanks) old man has buckets of money, so Sunny has plenty of time to indulge his Ideas about the brotherhood of man, like the night he brings home a fine collection of Bowery Mission down-and-outers, treats them all to the luxury of a hot bath, and then marches them down to supper to a dining table set with the best silver and linens. What he doesnt know is that his sister is throwing a dinner party for a bunch of society somebodies, so when they descend upon the roomful of ragamuffins, the results are side-splitting. A Triangle-Fine Arts Production, USA For a laugh-getter this one is a peach, and it carries a strong love interest and a dramatic punch at the end that is sure to send it over with any audience. Variety
Victor Fleming photographed this early Western starring Fairbanks as a Robin Hood-like outlaw named Passin Through, who robs from the rich to benefit a group of young orphans. This film was once thought to be lost. Fine Arts Film Company, USA
An early Fairbanks two-reeler in which Doug parodies Sherlock Holmes and pokes fun at the wide use of cocaine during the Twenties. He plays master sleuth Coke Ennyday who is on the case of the mysterious Leaping Fish. Clark Kent cant be Superman without his telephone booth, and Ennyday cant sleuth without his cocaine, so he keeps a supply handy, dances the Cocaine Quiver and then takes off after the bad guys. Artcraft, USA
Douglas Fairbanks plays a wealthy playboy in love with a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. Little does he know, the girls in with the local gang boss. When the boss sends his men after Reggie, Reggie knows theres only one way to stop the criminal and get the girl a duel to the death. Fine Arts Film Company, USA
Doug plays a penniless artist in this romantic comedy who falls in love with a society girl he meets in the park (Jule Carmen). Her aunt, who wants her to marry money, squashes the romance. Heartbroken, Doug decides to end it all and hires a hit man named Automatic Joe to bump him off. Just as Joe is ready to earn his dough, Doug comes into an inheritance and the society girl sends him a note to call. How he gives Deaths Messenger the slip and marries the girl is full of Keystone Kops hilarity. Triangle-Fine Arts, USA Superior in many respects to any vehicle Fairbanks has had a winner straight through, admirably constructed, capably handled and interpreted by a notable cast. The Moving Picture World
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American Classics
49
American Classics
The Half Breed 1916

Directed by Allan Dwan Written by Anita Loos Bret Harte Produced by D. W. Griffith Starring Douglas Fairbanks Alma Rubens Sam De Grasse 50 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Matrimaniac 1916

Directed by Paul Powell Written by Anita Loos Octavus Roy Cohen John Emerson J.U. Giesy Cinematography by Victor Fleming Starring Douglas Fairbanks Constance Talmadge Wilbur Higby 46 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
In Again, Out Again 1917

Directed by John Emerson Written by Anita Loos Photographed by Victor Fleming Starring Douglas Fairbanks Arline Pretty Bull Montana 80 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Wild and Woolly 1917

Directed by John Emerson Written by Anita Loos Based on a story by H.P. Carpenter Starring Douglas Fairbanks Eileen Percy 53 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Down to Earth 1917

Directed by John Emerson Written by Anita Loos From a story by Douglas Fairbanks Photographed by Victor Flemlng Starring Douglas Fairbanks Eileen Percy Gustav von Seyffertitz 35 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Man from Painted Post 1917

Directed by Joseph Henabery Written by Douglas Fairbanks Jackson Gregory Produced by Douglas Fairbanks Starring Douglas Fairbanks Eileen Percy Frank Campeau 58 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Reaching for the Moon 1917

Directed by John Emerson Written by Anita Loos John Emerson Starring Douglas Fairbanks Eileen Percy Eugene Ormonde Frank Campeau Erich von Stroheim 80 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
His Majesty, the American 1919

Directed by Joseph Henabery Written by Joseph Henabery Douglas Fairbanks Starring Douglas Fairbanks Marjorie Daw Frank Campeau Boris Karloff Lillian Langdon 80 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Once thought to survive only as a two-reel fragment, this is the full five-reel version. Fairbanks plays Lo Dorman, a half-Cherokee half-white man who is raised and educated by a white naturalist, but discovers that he is not welcome in the white community. He lives in the Carquinez Woods of California in a hollowedout redwood tree and becomes infatuated with a flirtatous white woman, Nellie Wynn, further alienating the local townspeople. When a young woman, Teresa, becomes a fugitive after stabbing her lover and the local sheriff, Lo takes her into his care and protects her. After saving her from a forest fire, he discovers that it is Teresa, not Nellie, whom he really loves. Fine Arts Film Company, USA
The dashing Fairbanks schemes to marry a beautiful girl without her fathers permission in this romantic comedy. Fine Arts Film Company, USA
So many people stood outside waiting to get into the Rialto theatre when this picture opened in New York that they had to turn swarms of people away. Doug plays a Jersey youth whose fiance jilts him because he wants to enlist in the Army. He drowns his troubles in the cup that cheers and winds up in the slammer. When he awakens to find a sweet young thing leaning over him bathing his brow, he falls instantly in love and is ecstatic when the judge sentences him to thirty days. Trouble is, a rival gets him pardoned and they have to throw Doug out of jail bodily. His attempts to break back in are hilarious. Artcraft, USA Screamingly farcical. Variety
Urban cowboy Fairbanks goes out West to scout the right-of-way for a new rail spur, but when someone tips off the residents of Bitter Creek that a dude is coming to town, they prepare a real welcome. They pretend to be frontier primitives, but when real crooks hold up the train, Doug gets a hilarious chance to prove his mettle. Douglas Fairbanks Pictures, USA
Doug pushes healthful living in this comedy about the All-American health nut whose girl burns the candle at both ends. Eventually her high living lands her in the sanitarium of Dr. Jollyem to recuperate with a bunch of other effete Easterners. In a flash of gee-whiz inspiration, Doug kidnaps the whole lot and whisks them to a far-off shore to teach them how to embrace the simple life and gain new-found health. (The running time is approximate. The last two-fifths of the nitrate negative had completely disintegrated before it could be transferred to safety stock.) Famous Players-Lasky Film Corporation, USA Fairbanks does some of the best work of his dramatic or screen career. Book it Mr. Exhibitor, and if it fails to draw, it will be just about time to hail a few carpenters and make a garage out of your place. Variety
Victor Flemming serves as cinematographer in this Western detective story. Fairbanks investigates a cattle rustling scam in a whenEast-meets-West comedic role. Douglas Fairbanks Pictures, USA
Doug plays Alexis Caesar Napoleon Brown, a clerk in a button factory whose mother died at his birth. The family always said she was a real princess who married beneath her for love. While reading How to Concentrate, Doug imagines himself into the kingdom of Vulgaria and the royal court. Later, during a nap, he dreams himself into the middle of a palace intrigue in which Black Boris, the Pretender, tries to keep Doug from assuming his rightful place on the throne. Just as Boris forces him off a cliff at sword-point, Doug falls out of bed and awakens. Famous Players-Lasky Film Corporation, USA Laughs come from Fairbanks battles with Boris, who fields bomb-throwers, assassins with knives and revolvers. All working fast while the populace shouts Long Live the King! Variety
United Artists first release, a sort of Prisoner of Zenda, in which Doug plays a New York manabout-town who turns out to be the long lost heir to the throne of a small European kingdom. He arrives in time to foil the rotters who are trying to assassinate the royal family, wins the hand of a lady, and becomes the new monarch. United Artists, USA United Artists got off to a well-publicized start when the companys first film, His Majesty, the American opened the newly-built Capitol Theatre in New York then the worlds largest movie theatre on September 1, 1919. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
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American Classics
51
American Classics
When the Clouds Roll By 1919

Directed by Victor Fleming Produced and written by Douglas Fairbanks Lewis Weadon Thomas J. Geraghty Starring Douglas Fairbanks Kathleen Clifford Frank Campeau 67 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Mollycoddle 1920

Directed by Victor Fleming Written by Douglas Fairbanks Thomas J. Geraghty Based on the Saturday Evening Post serial by Harold McGrath Starring Douglas Fairbanks Ruth Renick Betty Boulton Wallace Beery 69 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Mark of Zorro 1920

Directed by Fred Niblo Produced by Douglas Fairbanks Screenplay based on the novel The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley Starring Douglas Fairbanks Marguerite De La Motte Noah Berry 90 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Nut 1921

Directed by Ted Reed Written and produced by Douglas Fairbanks Based on a story by Kenneth Davenport Starring Douglas Fairbanks Marguerite De La Motte Barbara LaMarr Charlie Chaplin 63 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Three Musketeers 1921

Directed by Fred Niblo Written by Edward Knoblock Douglas Faibanks Lotta Woods Based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas Starring Douglas Fairbanks Leon Barry George Siegmann Barbara LaMarr Marguerite De La Motte Eugene Palette Adolphe Menjou 107 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Robin Hood 1922

Directed by Allan Dwan Produced by Douglas Fairbanks Written by Douglas Faibanks Allan Dwan Lotta Woods Photographed by Arthur Edeson Starring Douglas Fairbanks Wallace Beery Alan Hale Enid Bennett Mary Pickford 120 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Don Q, Son of Zorro 1925

Directed by Donald Crisp Produced by Douglas Fairbanks Written by Jack Cunningham Based on the novel Don Qs Love Story by Kate and Hesketh Prichard Starring Douglas Fairbanks Mary Astor Donald Crisp Warner Oland Jean Hersholt Lottie Pickford Forrest 124 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Black Pirate 1926

Directed by Albert Parker Produced by Douglas Fairbanks Written by Douglas Fairbanks Jack Cunningham Photographed by Henry Sharp Starring Douglas Fairbanks Billie Dove Anders Randolf Donald Crisp 88 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, Two-strip Technicolor
Fairbanks had a low opinion of psychiatry and its practitioners and made this funny satire to poke fun at it. Preoccupied by superstition, Daniel Boone Brown winds up in the clutches of Dr. Ullrich Metz, a mad doctor who has designs on Browns brain. In a funny battle of wits, Brown wins and it is Metz who gets carted off to the loony bin. Noted for its slow-motion chase sequence and surreal dream sequences. United Artists, USA Fairbanks comedies parodied with no discernible time-lag the pattern of a new social scene we now take for granted. In twenty-odd films, the Fairbanks screen character flattered Joe Nobodys ability to meet and throw every affectation of the day and to have sensible ideas on a lot of topics a layman should know nothing about. This picture is a skit on the dubious profession of psychoanalyst, a new word in 1919 and one that covered in the public mind more naive and lurid cures than Freud or Adler had ever dreamed. Technically, it is one of the most inventive of all Fairbanks films. The slow-motion chase is about the best gymnastic section of all the early comedies. Alistair Cooke
The last of a line of macho males, Fairbanks wimps away his time in Monte Carlo. But when Wallace Beery kidnaps him and takes him back to Americas Great West, Doug plays both ends against the middle to become the heroic figure his family expects him to be. Packed with action, laughs and stunts: Doug jumps from a yacht, gets caught in a fish net and dumped among some salmon, nearly has his head chopped off, rides to the rescue of a girl who turns out to be a spy, gets caught in an avalanche, jumps from a cliff to a tree in pursuit of the villain, down a mountain, over a waterfall. United Artists, USA For sheer movement and excitement, there is little in the silent cinema to equal the climax of Douglas Fairbanks production of The Mollycoddle. And the film was another success for the star. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
One of Fairbanks most famous pictures. He plays a Mexican Robin Hood who carves his initial wherever he transforms himself from a social idler to the masked avenger who harasses the Spanish Invaders. United Artists, USA Three Stars. Non-stop fun. Leonard Maltin One of his most attractive of all films, with Fairbanks at once at his most manic and his most graceful, and with scenes of high slapstick comedy as he teases villainous Noah Beery with a deft dueling sword that can at any moment serve him as a javelin or throwing knife. David Robinson, The London Times The Mark of Zorro began a Fairbanks series of costume spectaculars from which he emerged as a major sex symbol. As the yawning fop and the swashbuckling Zorro, Doug was at his brilliant bouncy best, playing up the comic possibilities of two sides of the same character. The film was an immediate success, with police having to control crowds during the first weeks of its run. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Doug plays a Greenwich Village bachelor who attempts to win the love of a do-gooder by helping her to do good. The lady in question has the idea that poor children can be made into proper citizens if exposed periodically to the homes of the wealthy. To this end our hero invites rich patrons to his flat, but his soirees end prematurely in disaster. Charlie Chaplin makes an appearance as himself, doing party tricks. Pacific Film Archive United Artists, USA The last of Dougs satires on contemporary life, this one has a go at sociology. The film moves rapidly through a series of great visual gags from the Keatonesque opening scene. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Fairbanks opened this picture in New York and showed up at the premiere with Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Jack Dempsey in tow. Crowds jamming the sidewalks at Broadway and 42nd Street prevailed on Fairbanks to make an opening speech, one during the intermission and a final one after the show. The $2 tickets were sold by scalpers at $5 and they were worth every penny. United Artists, USA By far the grandest production Fairbanks had ever attempted on screen. Richard Schlckel, The Fairbanks Album Fairbanks was born to play DArtagnan, the best swordsman in France. The film still stands out among the many screen versions of this popular tale. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Douglas Fairbanks Robin Hood still wows audiences with its classic tale of derring-do as Robin fights Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. United Artists, USA The sequences in which he performs his stunts the leap from the tree to the man on horseback, the chase through the castle climaxed by his slide down the great drapery, the jump across space from one wall to another, the climb up the chain of the rising drawbridge could only have been staged by the man who devised them and performed them. David Robinson, The London Times One of the undoubted masterpieces of the silent era. Joel W. Finley, Movie Directors
Douglas Fairbanks reprises his smash hit, The Mark of Zorro, in this thrilling sequel in which he plays both Zorro the father and Don Q the son, who must prove himself innocent of a murder he never committed. United Artists, USA Awards: Ten Best of the Year. The New York Times Technically superior to The Mark of Zorro, it apparently found greater favour with the audiences as well, and raked in more money at the box-office. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
The Black Pirate was the first full-length, two-strip Technicolor movie and contains one of the silent screens most spectacular stunts when, in order to capture a ship, Doug climbs up a mast and descends to the deck by piercing the wide sail with his sword, ripping the canvas as he goes. There is still speculation as to how it was done. Fairbanks is an aristocrat who joins a pirate crew in order to avenge the death of his father and rescues a princess (Billie Dove) along the way. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story United Artists, USA Three Stars. Leslie Halliwell Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Awards: Ten Best of the Year Fairbanks studied the work of the masters at the Huntington Art Gallery in Pasadena to get a feel for colors, to make it seem as if the picture had been down in a cellar for 300 years, then cleaned and varnished it for a theatrical showing. The New York Times
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American Classics
The Thief of Bagdad 1924
William Cameron Menzies constructed magnificent mammoth sets, giving the film an exotic, fairytale atmosphere
Directed by Raoul Walsh Produced by Douglas Fairbanks Written by Douglas Fairbanks Lotta Woods Art direction by William Cameron Menzies Starring Douglas Fairbanks Snitz Edwards Anna May Wong Julanne Johnston 140 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Three years spent in painstaking preservation and reconstruction culminated in the American premiere of this famous classic on PBS Great Performances in January, 1987, and later with a full orchestra at Radio City Music Hall in March, including many lost scenes. Thief is a dazzling Arabian Nights adventure fantasy set in the city of Bagdad and one of the most imaginative of all silent movies. The elaborate and lush backgrounds, the massive sets by William Cameron Menzies, who would later design Gone With the Wind, have an expressionist quality unique for American films of the time. Fairbanks is at his lightest and most impudent best as the dashing Ahmed, the thief who wins a princess. United Artists, USA Awards: Ten Best of the Year entrancing and beautiful. The New York Times Wonderful Thief of Bagdad. Brought a highly successful festival to a magnificent end. It was great. Derek Malcolm, Director, London Film Festival 1983 and film critic of The Guardian
The Mark of Zorro 1920
Reaching for the Moon 1930 In Again, Out Again 1917
When the Clouds Roll By 1919 The Nut 1921
The Three Musketeers 1921 Robin Hood 1922
The Black Pirate 1926 Don Q, Son of Zorro 1925
56
American Classics
57
American Classics
The Gaucho 1928

Directed by F. Richard Jones Written and produced by Douglas Fairbanks Starring Douglas Fairbanks Lupe Velez Eve Southern Gustav von Seyffertitz Mary Pickford 105 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Iron Mask 1929

Directed by Allan Dwan Written and produced by Douglas Fairbanks Based on the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas Music by Hugo Riesenfeld Starring Douglas Fairbanks Nigel De Brulier Belle Bennett Marguerite De La Motte 72 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Sound, B&W
The Taming of the Shrew 1929

Directed by Sam Taylor Written by Sam Taylor From the play by William Shakespeare Starring Mary Pickford Douglas Fairbanks Edwin Maxwell 65 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Sound, B&W
Reaching for the Moon 1930

Written and directed by Edmund Goulding Based on the story by Irving Berlin Starring Douglas Fairbanks Bebe Daniels Edward Everett Horton Jack Mulhall Bing Crosby 90 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Around the World in 80 Minutes 1931

Directed by Douglas Fairbanks Victor Fleming Produced by Douglas Fairbanks Written by Douglas Fairbanks Robert E. Sherwood Narrated by Douglas Fairbanks 80 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Mr. Robinson Crusoe 1931

Directed by A. Edward Sutherland Written and produced by Douglas Fairbanks Music by Alfred Newman Starring Douglas Fairbanks Maria Alba William Farnum Filmed on location in Fiji, Samoa and Tahiti 70 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Gaucho was one of the biggest money spinners of the year. True to type, Doug plays the leader of a band of outlaws seeking to unseat an evil usurper (Gustav von Seyffertitz) who runs Miracle City where he exploits the natives who come to worship at the shrine of the Madonna. Fairbanks original screenplay was inspired by a visit to Lourdes, and he got his wife Mary Pickford to appear briefly as the Madonna. As expected, the film provided a good percentage of daredevil stunts plus a cattle stampede and a house being moved by 100 horses. Instead of the usual wan heroine opposite the virile star, Lupe Velez, the Mexican Spitfire was cast in her first feature film, almost matching Doug in athletic prowess and humor. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story United Artists, USA Even better than The Black Pirate joyous flavor contained some magnificently smooth and convincing glass shots and an extremely handsome production design. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
The last big costume picture of the Twenties and Fairbanks first excursion into sound motion pictures. It has a symphonic score, sound effects and some talking sequences, including a spoken introduction by Douglas Fairbanks Jr., recorded in 1952. A spectacularly detailed sequel to The Three Musketeers with Fairbanks as DArtagnan. United Artists, USA Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Superb example of screen art in its highest form, the new art that employs the sound device with intelligence, discretion and sympathy. There are directorial subtleties in it, little touches of rare genius, that will delight. Film Spectator
Doug and Mary made The Taming of the Shrew for slapstick, laughs and more laughs. Pickford takes a couple of pratfalls one lands her dressed in a bridal gown in the mud with the pigs, and the other during a tit-for-tat slapping match with Fairbanks, which knocks her clear across the room and into a feather bed. Its an extravagant burlesque of the Bards best laugh and the two stars (husband and wife in real life) turn it into a howl. United Artists, USA Splendid settings in the Fairbanks massive production manner to more sharply contrast the very low comedy, as low as Shubert common and more common. But laughs get money and besides the laughs you have Mary Pickford, with Douglas Fairbanks and Shakespeare at last. Variety
Doug falls hard when Bebe Daniels worms her way into his office on a bet, and when she fails to show up for supper with him, he drops everything to join her on a transatlantic voyage to Europe. The pairing of Doug with blonde bombshell Daniels was inspired casting, and the comedy patter of Edward Everett Horton, who teaches Doug how to woo, is hilarious. The sets are lavish and the music by Irving Berlin gives a young Bing Crosby a chance to sing Lower Than Lowdown. United Artists, USA Most of this breezy film took place on board the glittering Art Deco ship. As a girl-shy Wall Street millionaire, he takes lessons in love from his valet (Edward Everett Horton) in a hilarious scene of homosexual innuendo. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Doug, director Victor Fleming and a party of friends took a trip around the world and produced this amusing travelogue from the photographs and footage they shot along the way. It concentrates on Japan, China, Thailand and India, with a brief stop in the Philippines. Then a magic carpet takes everybody across Europe and back to Hollywood where Doug shows how he created the special visual effects for the sword, basket, rope-tricks and flying carpet rides featured in The Thief of Bagdad. United Artists, USA Enlivened with Fairbanks acrobatics smart and bright narration. Variety
Mr. Robinson Crusoe provided Douglas Fairbanks with a good excuse to catch some rays in Tahiti, show off his physique, and be athletic. He plays a wealthy man who leaps from his yacht on a bet, swims to shore and tries to live on the island alone for a year. He lasts for only four months, but manages to build a house out of available materials with all the amenities one would want, including a radio; and takes up with a Girl Friday (Maria Alba) whom he takes back to Broadway at the end of the year. United Artists, USA Despite Fairbanks ego being as much in evidence as the abundant coconuts, most of the movie provided good innocent fun. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
The Iron Mask 1929
The Taming of the Shrew 1929
The Gaucho 1928
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American Classics
61
American Classics
The Lonedale Operator 1911

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Starring Blanche Sweet 11 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Judith of Bethulia 1913

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Frank Woods Based on The Book of Judith in the Apocrypha and the poem and tragedy by Thomas Bailey Aldrich Photographed by Billy Bitzer Starring Blanche Sweet Henry B. Walthall Robert Harron Mae Marsh Lillian Gish 42 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Home Sweet Home 1914

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Starring Henry B. Walthall Lillian Gish Dorothy Gish Mae Marsh Fay Tincher Robert Harron Donald Crisp Miriam Cooper Blanche Sweet Jack Kirkwood Jack Pickford Owen Moore 50 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Avenging Conscience 1914

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe Starring Henry B. Walthall Blanche Sweet Spottiswoode Aiken George Siegmann Ralph Lewis Mae Marsh 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Birth of a Nation 1915, 1930

Directed by D. W. Griffith Produced by D. W. Griffith Harry E. Aitken Written by D. W. Griffith Frank Woods Based on the novel and play, The Clansman and The Leopards Skin by Thomas Dixon Photographed by Billy Bitzer Music score for the sound version by Joseph C. Briel Starring Lillian Gish Mae Marsh Henry B. Walthall Robert Harron Wallace Reid Joseph Henabery Donald Crisp Raoul Walsh 1915 124 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W 1930 108 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Hearts of the World 1918

Written and directed by D. W. Griffith Starring Lillian Gish Robert Harron Ben Alexander Dorothy Gish Kate Bruce Jack Cosgrove Josephine Crowell Adolphe Lestina George Fawcett Noel Coward 58 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
D. W. Griffith
Enormously suspenseful and technically advanced for its time, Griffiths exciting story about a telegraph operator who is held up by bandits uses many camera angles and 66 rapid cuts for her heroic rescue at the climax. Biograph, USA
Griffiths first feature picture after producing more than 400 short subjects for Biograph. Its the biblical drama about the siege of the Jewish city of Bethulia and how a heroic woman saves her people. When the Assyrian commander Holofernes lays siege to the city, he captures its wells, knowing he has only to wait for the food and water to run out and the city will be his. Judith, a wealthy widow, disguises herself as a camp follower, infiltrates his headquarters, captivates Holofernes and, when he collapses in a drunken stupor during a night of revelry, beheads him. The sight of his severed head so demoralizes his troops and revives the spirit of the city that the Jews rise up and rout the enemy. American Biograph Productions, USA A fascinating work of high artistry. Marks an encouraging step in the development of the new art. Anthony Slide, Ed. Selected Film Criticism
Four episodes in the lives of those for whom the old song Home Sweet Home acquired a special meaning, beginning with the songs composer, John Howard Payne. This was the first film in which Griffith told several stories related by a common theme. Here, however, they are told in series, whereas in Intolerance they ran parallel. The prologue shows how Payne wrote the song in France while desperately homesick; the remaining three stories tell of dramatic events in the lives of others who were affected by the song, and in the epilogue we see Payne once more, suffering in Purgatory, but reunited finally in Heaven with his mother and his abandoned sweetheart when his repentance brings forgiveness. Mutual Film Corporation, USA
This is the first psychological horror movie, a study of the dark side of a mans mind that predates The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by five years. Inspired by several stories by Poe, it has at its core a lengthy dream sequence in which the hero envisions the consequences of the crime he is contemplating. Griffith uses double exposure, dramatic lighting, symbolism, tight editing to compress time, a framing device to direct attention to specific objects by changing the shape of the screen image, and a moving camera. Cut loose from the conventions of the stage which limited serious filmmaking at the time, The Avenging Conscience was a total departure and an important breakthrough in the development of film as an art form. It was one of the first films to elicit comments from drama critics and other intellectuals who, up until then, had mostly ignored or ridiculed film as a passing fad or penny arcade amusement. Mutual Film Corporation, USA One of the most fascinating and bewildering of films, by turns innovative and mature, naive and listless; substitutes psychological tension for physical action. At times, the film has much of the doom-laden power of the celebrated German films of the twenties. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
A cinema milestone, the most important historic pageant filmed up to that time, and the first major film anywhere to stake out a firm position on a volatile, controversial national issue. The saga of a distinguished Southern family at the time of the Civil War that tries to explain, and to some extent justify, the motivations that led them to form the notorious terrorist organization known as the Ku Klux Klan during the confused days after the wars end. Griffiths 1930 cut for the sound version incorporates the Briel score for full orchestra that accompanied the silent version during its original release. Epoch Producing Corporation, USA Four Stars. Leonard Maltin Among moving pictures, it is alone, as the one great epic tragic film. James Agee, The Nation
With The Birth of a Nation in 1915, all the major black screen types had been introduced. Literal and unimaginative as some of the types might now appear, the naive and cinematically untutored audiences of the early part of the century responded to the character types as if they were the real thing. Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mullatoes, Mammies & Bucks
Griffiths poignant and harrowing tale of lovers torn apart by World War I, a conflict beyond their comprehension. They both lose family members; the girl is nearly driven insane, and the boy is wounded and thought lost. Made in the heat of World War I, the film is intensely anti-German, although its propaganda message now appears somewhat dated. Some of the war scenes were filmed on location near the actual front lines in France. Paramount-Artcraft-D. W. Griffith, USA
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American Classics
Intolerance 1916
The first and only film fugue a specimen of screen algebra.
Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Assisted by Allan Dwan Erich von Stroheim Tod Browning and others Titles by Anita Loos Starring Lillian Gish Mae Marsh Erich von Stroheim Bessie Love Elmo Lincoln Tod Browning 115 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W 165 minutes (20 fps), 35mm Silent, Original Tints and Tones This major innovation in screen narrative tells four stories about social injustice in parallel: 1. The Modern Story of a working man wrongly accused of a crime was later issued as a separate film (The Mother and the Law, 1919). 2. The Judean Story of Jesuss conflict with the Pharisees and Rome. 3. The Medieval Story of the effects of the massacre of 16th-century French Huguenots. 4. The Babylonian Story of the conquest of Babylon by conspirators. Also was issued later as a separate film (The Fall of Babylon, 1919). Skillful cross-cutting brings all four stories to a tense climax. With the profits from The Birth of a Nation, Griffith constructed huge sets and hired thousands of extras for spectacular crowd scenes that remain among the best directed scenes of their kind. A new tintedand-toned version opened at the Cannes Film Festival and met with rave reviews. It completed wildly successful runs in London and Paris in November, 1985, and enjoyed four days of soldout performances at the Avignon Film Festival, July, 1986, where it was projected onto a 100foot screen and accompanied by LOrchestre de LIle de France, conducted by Jacques Mercier, performing an original score by Antoine Duhamel and Pierre Jansen. This version is now in limited release. Wark Producing Corporation, USA Four Stars Leslie Halliwell Four Stars Leonard Maltin The first and only film fugue a specimen of screen algebra. Terry Ramsaye, A Million and One Nights Among the most influential films in screen history and still as monumental and complex as any made since. It is relatively the most expensive film ever made and one of the most ambitious nothing less than a four-part survey of human civilization. The American Film Institute
64
American Classics
65
American Classics
The Greatest Thing in Life 1918

Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by D. W. Griffith S.E.V. Taylor Starring Lillian Gish Robert Harron Adolphe Lestina Elmo Lincoln Kate Bruce Edward Piel Peaches Jackson 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
A Romance of Happy Valley 1919

Written and directed by D. W. Griffith from a story by Mary Castleman Photographed by Billy Bitzer Starring Lillian Gish Robert Harron Carol Dempster Kate Brace Adolphe Lestina 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Broken Blossoms 1919

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Based on The Chink and the Child, a short story from Limehouse Nights by Thomas Burke Photographed by Billy Bitzer Hendrik Sartov Staring Lillian Gish Richard Barthelmess Donald Crisp 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Scarlet Days 1919

Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by S.E.V. Taylor Starring Richard Barthelmess Carol Dempster Eugenie Besserer Clarine Seymour Ralph Graves George Fawcett 55 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Fall of Babylon 1919

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Photographed by Billy Bitzer Starring Constance Talmadge Elmer Clifton Alfred Paget Elmo Lincoln 62 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Girl Who Stayed at Home 1919

Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by S.E.V. Taylor D. W. Griffith From Taylors original story Starring Carol Dempster Clarine Seymour Richard Barthelmess Robert Harron Frances Parker Adolphe Lestina 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Greatest Question 1919

Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by S.E.V. Taylor Based on a story by William Hale Starring Lillian Gish Robert Harron Ralph Graves 110 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Mother and the Law 1919

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Photographed by Billy Bitzer Starring Mae Marsh Robert Harron Miriam Cooper Vera Lewis 76 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Lillian Gish plays the beautiful and vivacious daughter of a New York City newspaper seller and captivates wealthy society-type Robert Harron. Fascinated, he cant consider marrying someone of a lower class, so contents himself with helping her and her father return to their native France at the outbreak of World War I. Later, they meet again. Harron is now a soldier and Gish and her father are agents in the French Underground. War, the great leveler, eradicates Harrons snobbery and he finds love and humility with Gish. Paramount Pictures, USA One of Mr. Griffiths best films, said Lillian Gish in her autobiography. But it arrived rather late in a period overloaded with war pictures, and it was received with less rapture than the great D. W.s pictures of the following year starring Miss Gish True Heart Susie and Broken Blossoms. John Douglas Eames, The Paramount Story
The corruption of a country lad by the urban metropolis is told with sensitivity by Griffith in this story about John (Harron) who leaves his sweetheart (Gish) to seek his fortune in the city. Returning home seven years later, he finds Gish an old maid and his father nearly driven to crime by desperate poverty. John makes amends and is reunited with the long-suffering Ms. Gish. Griffiths lyrical evocation of a small town atmosphere, with its simple pleasures and virtues, makes this one of the directors minor masterpieces. Paramount-Artcraft, USA A success. There is the indefinable Griffith touch in direction and cutting, the Bitzer photography and the screen acting. Variety
A Griffith masterpiece. Frustrated in his desire to bring the gentle teachings of Buddha to the tough denizens of Londons Limehouse slums, a disillusioned young Chinese man (Richard Barthelmess) loses himself in the reveries of opium mists until the plight of a young waif (Lillian Gish) startles him back to reality. He befriends and protects her, but when her pugilist father (Donald Crisp) beats her to death, the kimonoed Barthelmess murders him and carries her broken body back to his apartments where he commits suicide at the foot of his Buddhist altar. United Artists, USA Three Stars. Leonard Maltin For sheer terror, is there anything in modem cinema to surpass Miss Gishs agony after she has locked herself in the closet with her brutish father hacking away at the door with his axe? The London Times, 1983 A masterpiece. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Griffiths first feature-length Western is a rough and ready action picture laid during the Gold Rush. Nell, a tough dance hall woman (Eugenie Besserer) gets into a fight with two floozies who try to rob her. When one dies, a posse is organized to bring her in. Mexican bandit Richard Barthelmess disperses the lynch mob, but Nell dies anyway from a stray bullet. Barthelmess is jailed until Chiquita, Clarine Seymour, his sweetheart, stages a daring escape for them both. Paramount-Artcraft, USA
Griffith lifted this sequence from Intolerance and edited it into a complete feature film in its own right. Its the Old Testament story about the destruction of Babylon and includes the spectacular Feast of Belshazzar and the Battle at the Walls. Epoch Producing Corporation, USA As the picture now stands, one is fully able to appreciate the wonderful work that Constance Talmadge did in the original picture. In Intolerance she was buried in a mass of story. Griffith is a showman first and last. Variety
This charming Griffith film takes its inspiration from World War I and dramatizes how the stress of war quickly matures and even ennobles some people. The story concerns two brothers Barthelmess, who enlists, and Harron, a playboy who has to be forced to go, but matures as a result. Lestina is an American expatriate in France who must acknowledge his allegiance to his country. His daughter refuses a marriage he is pushing with a French nobleman and marries Barthelmess instead. Harrons sweetheart, show girl Clarine Seymour, waits patiently at home for the return of her playboy-turned-war hero. Paramount-Artcraft, USA Entire cast is brilliant. High-class Griffith direction. Variety
Whether there is life after death becomes an almost peripheral issue in this tense story of villainy and retribution. Pious, generous and good, the Hiltons faith is sorely tried when they lose a son during World War I. The younger son (Robert Harron) tries his best to keep the family afloat, and an orphan girl they had taken in (Lillian Gish) hires herself out as a maid to an evil couple, only to be treated as a slave by the wife and to find herself in constant danger from the husband. Things go from bad to worse as Gish recognizes her employers as the couple who killed and buried a girl the man had raped, and having accused them of the crime, may well suffer the same fate herself. Harron saves her in the nick of time and realizing he loves her, asks her to be his wife. Griffiths masterly intercutting creates real suspense in the climactic scene of Gishs recollection of the crime, the accusation, her flight from the couple and their attempts to reach her in the attic where she has fled. First National Pictures, USA It showed just how much the people and places of Griffiths childhood meant to him and how he tried to express that love in his films. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
The story of a working mother (Mae Marsh) who loses her baby to a corrupt orphanage is a morality tale about the inconsistency of presentday laws and how two innocents are dragged into its net. Through no fault of their own, they are at its mercy until a kindlier fate rescues them and returns them to a world that condemned them without evidence. Shot originally as a short feature, a portion of which was used for one of the stories in Intolerance, this full-length version contains many scenes not shown before, plus some new ones Griffith shot in 1918. Epoch Producing Corporation, USA One of the most emotionally stirring of all silent films. A masterpiece, needless to say, sadly neglected by about every critic. Passionate, brilliantly cut, tremendously moving. Arthur Lennig, The Silent Voice
The Birth of a Nation 1915 and 1930
Judith of Bethulia 1913 Hearts of the World 1918
The Girl Who Stayed at Home 1919 The Greatest Thing in Life 1918
Scarlet Days 1919 True Heart Susie 1919
The Love Flower 1920 The Idol Dancer 1920
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American Classics
69
American Classics
True Heart Susie 1919

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Marian Fremont Photographed by Billy Bitzer Starring Lillian Gish Robert Harron Clarine Seymour George Fawcett Carol Dempster Kate Bruce 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Idol Dancer 1920

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Written by S.E.V. Taylor Based on a story by Gordon Ray Starring Richard Barthelmess Clarine Seymour Creighton Hale George McQuarrie Kate Bruce 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Love Flower 1920

Written and directed by D. W. Griffith Based on the story The Black Beach by Ralph Stock Starring Carol Dempster Richard Barthelmess George McQuarrie Anders Randolf Florence Short Crauford Kent Adolphe Lestina 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Way Down East 1920

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Anthony Keny Based on the novel by Lottie Blair Parker and the play by William Brady Photographed by Hendrik Sartov Music score supervised by D. W. Griffith Starring Lillian Gish Richard Barthelmess Lowell Sherman 107 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Dream Street 1921

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Based on the short stories, Gina of Chinatown and The Lamp in the Window from Limehouse Nights by Thomas Burke Photographed by Hendrik Sartov Starring Carol Dempster Ralph Graves Charles Emmett Mack Tyrone Power Sr. W. J. Ferguson 97 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Orphans of the Storm 1921

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Based on The Two Orphans by Adolph D. Ennery and additional material from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle Photographed by Hendrik Sartov Billy Bitzer Starring Lillian Gish Dorothy Gish Joseph Schildkraut Louis Wolheim Monte Blue Sidney Herbert Lucille La Verne 125 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
One Exciting Night 1922

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Based on his story The Haunted Grange Photographed by Hendrik Sartov Starring Carol Dempster Henry Hull Porter Strong Morgan Wallace Irma Harrison 100 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The White Rose 1923

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Starring Mae Marsh Carol Dempster Ivor Novello Neil Hamilton Lucille La Verne Porter Strong Jane Thomas 100 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Lillian Gish suffers magnificently in this one in which she secretly pays for Bobby Harrons college education so he can become a clergyman, only to lose him to a worthless flirt (Clarine Seymour). Seymours true nature becomes apparent and contributes to her illness and early death, whereupon Harron realizes that Gish is his one true love. Paramount Pictures, USA One of the last pictures D. W. Griffith made for Paramount release under the Artcraft label during his 19171919 association with the company. It turned out to be one of the best of the lot. True Heart Susie inspired superlative praise from the critics and brought in not only the habitual movie fans but also (in spite of a title that was pretty icky even for that era) the more discriminating customers. John Douglas Eames, The Paramount Story
A melodrama of life in the South Seas, where the natives find it hard to return to simple values after being subjected to the extremes of white culture: The corruption and vice of the exploiters on the one side, and the impossibly straitlaced puritanism of the missionaries on the other. Griffith uses the romance between an untamed wild native girl and a drunken beachcomber to tell his tale, building to the characteristic Griffith climax, with the native village under attack and a race to the rescue. Filmed on location in Florida and the Caribbean. First National Pictures, USA Distinguished by poetic inter-titles and far-away, dreamy atmosphere, admirably acted by a wellchosen cast. Griffith melodrama at the very best. Great stuff. Variety
Griffith explores the bitter fruits of passion and the extraordinary lengths to which some people can be pushed by hatred or love. A man (McQuarrie) kills his wifes lover and flees with his daughter (Carol Dempster) to the South Seas. Detective Crane (Randolf) pursues them in the yacht of a traveler (Barthelmess), who promptly falls in love with the girl. Love triumphs in the end. United Artists, USA Even Billy Bitzers luminous photographic creation of a pseudo-South Seas locale failed to prevent Griffith from waving Aloha to any profit. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
The public responded wildly to this hoary tale of a young orphan girl (Lillian Gish) seduced and abandoned by a rake (Lowell Sherman), then sent out into the wasteland of New England by the farming family for whom she works when her past is discovered. She is rescued from drowning in the icy river in the nick of time by the farmers son (Richard Barthelmess) who finally marries her. The climax is justly famous. Griffith, using exciting cross-cutting, and alternation of close-ups and long shots, built up the tension as the girl floated down the river on a cake of ice while the boy stepped from one floe to another towards her. These gripping scenes, as well as those of the blizzard, were shot on location in real winter conditions, with Miss Gish having to be thawed out from time to time. She gave one of her most touching performances, helped by the reality of the surroundings and the fine camerawork. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story 20th Century Fox, USA Compelling masterpiece. Picture of rural America is nostalgic and realistic, and the lastminute rescue on the ice is a miracle of camera work and cutting. Made more money than any other Griffith film except The Birth of a Nation. Lillian Gish. The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me
From the author of whose works sprang Broken Blossoms comes this trilogy of moral tales about two brothers who love the same girl and what happens when a rejected suitor swears a vendetta. D. W. Griffith Inc., USA Smashing melodrama rich in deft touches tremendously absorbing scenic features are flawless and the photography is unmatched. When the police are in pursuit of Spike after the killing, he races through the slum byways in the midst of a fog. Sitting in the theatre almost gets a sensation of choking mist: the pavements shine with moisture and tiny globules stand out from the dark walls. Variety
D. W. Griffiths last commercial and critical success is a sublime example of his art, combining the intimacy of Broken Blossoms with the spectacle of The Birth of a Nation to tell the story of two orphans who are separated by circumstance and become caught up in the tide of the French Revolution. Pacific Film Archive United Artists, USA The first half of the film is crammed with incidents: a murder, kidnappings, orgies, duels, last-minute escapes and finally a pathetic scene in which Lillian Gish hears the adopted blind sister she has been searching for singing in the streets a scene so powerful that spectators later thought they had actually heard the girl sing. The second half of the film rises to even greater magnificence as it portrays the Revolution itself. The storming of the Bastille, the masses surging into streets and squares with torches and weapons held aloft, must be counted with Griffiths best work. (In several shots he masks the top and bottom of the screen, anticipating the widescreen ratio, to heighten dramatic effect.) Eileen Bowser, Museum of Modern Art Brilliantly photographed by Hendrik Sartov and full of spectacular set pieces. It remains one of Griffiths most enduring films. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Griffith joins the ranks of Paul Leni and Roland West with this tense thriller with comedy overtones a whodunit with a house full of guests, each of whom suspects the rest of having done-in the bootlegger whose lifeless body is discovered. Its a little reminiscent of the curdlers like The Lonely Villa that he made back during his Biograph days, but far better. In fact, the only jarring note is the comedy relief by Irma Harrison and Porter Strong, who play it in blackface as the black maid and her beau, complete with stereotyped eye-rolling cowardice and crude humor. While this was standard vaudeville practice of Griffiths day, contemporary audiences cringe at seeing a word like nigger [sic] used in the intertitles with no apparent awareness of its demeaning impact. United Artists, USA Hidden safes, sliding panels, masked figures, revolving bookcases, guns, knives, hidden hands groping out of doorways a wow of a storm scene. Variety
Filmed in the Bayou Teche country of Louisiana, this Griffith picture follows the fortunes of an orphan girl (Mae Marsh) made pregnant by a fallen divinity student (Ivor Novello), who faces many trials and tribulations before she succeeds in getting the young man to face his responsibilities and marry her. United Artists, USA It had some magnificent moments. An unforgettable one is the brief but almost unbearably poignant episode in which Mae (Marsh) is about to jump into a swirling river to drown herself and her baby and is stayed only by the more immediate need to breastfeed the child. This reminder of the essence of life causes her to change her mind. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
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Isnt Life Wonderful? 1924

Written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Based on a story by Major Geoffrey Moss Photographed by Hendrik Sartov Starring Carol Dempster Neil Hamilton Erville Alderson Helen Lowell Frank Puglia Marcia Harris Lapino Lane 99 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
America (UK: Love and Sacrifice) 1924

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Written by John Pen Based on a story by Robert Chambers Photographed by Billy Bitzer Hendrlk Sartov Starring Neil Hamilton Carol Dempster Lionel Barrymore Louis Wolheim 118 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Sally of the Sawdust 1925

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Forrest Halsey Based on the play Poppy by Dorothy Donnelly Starring W. C. Fields Carol Dempster Alfred Lunt Erville Alderson Effie Shannon 75 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Sorrows of Satan 1926

Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Forrest Halsey Based on the novel by Marie Corelli Starring Adolphe Menjou Lya De Putti Ricardo Cortez Carol Dempster 85 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Battle of the Sexes 1928

Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Gerrit Lloyd Based on The Single Standard by Daniel Carson Goodman Starring Jean Hersholt Phyllis Haver Belle Bennett Don Alvarado Sally ONeil William Bakewell 90 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Abraham Lincoln 1930

Directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Stephen Vincent Benet Gerrit J. Lloyd Based on a story by John W. Considine Jr. Photographed by Karl Struss Sets designed by William Cameron Menzies Starring Walter Huston Una Merkel Kay Hammond Henry B. Walthall 93 minutes, 35mm, B&W
D. W. Griffith: An Interview 1930

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Starring D. W. Griffith Walter Huston 5 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Struggle 1931

Produced and directed by D. W. Griffith Written by Anita Loos John Emerson Based on The Drunkard by Emile Zola Starring Hal Skelly Zita Johann Charlotte Wynters 77 minutes, 35mm, B&W
An intimate and realistic portrait of the German people driven to despair after World War I by a depression that produced the most devastating runaway inflation in history. Hunger pushes some towards a life of crime and a callous disregard for others, while others try desperately to hold onto their values and ride out the storm. The picture climaxes as Carol Dempster and Neil Hamilton try to make their way home with a precious sack of potatoes pursued by a mob of the unemployed. Griffith ends his film on a note of hope that simple humanity will conquer all. United Artists, USA Awards: Ten Best of the Year The New York Times One of Griffiths finest and most important movies. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
Griffiths classic formula tells the story of The War for Independence. Staged with a wealth of authentic detail and enhanced by skillful editing, especially during the battles of Lexington and Concord. United Artists, USA Two Stars. Leslie Halliwell Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Just as The Birth of a Nation was about the Civil War, so was America an accurate but controversial treatment of the Revolutionary War, contrasting high born and low born characters. Griffith weaves them into history. The build-up is slow, full of political intrigue, plot and counterplot, until the machinery of war is set in motion; then a cavalcade of spectacular action until the first climax and the end of the first half of the film is reached. In part two, the process starts at a much higher pitch, building to a mighty and typical Griffith climax of two battles intercut and an exciting ride to the rescue. William K. Everson
Ironically, Griffith, known for his epics and serious dramas, directed W. C. Fields in the vehicle that made him a major comedy star. They created the character that was to remain Fields screen image for the rest of his life irascible, larcenous, distrustful, misanthropic and iconoclastic, a pompous braggart and a conniving schemer. He is Professor Eustace McGargle, a small-time vaudeville fraud whose only redeeming virtue is his bringing up an orphan girl, Sally (Carol Dempster) and looking out for her best interests. United Artists, USA W. C. Fields manages to inject some of his own matchless comedy and some of his own human warmth. There is a fine collection of ham subtitles, all bearing Griffiths trademark, several of which he comes out boldly for Mother Love. Robert E. Sherwood, Life
An allegorical tale in which a struggling young writer succumbs to the temptation of wealth but renounces it when he discovers it is keeping him from happiness with the only woman he really loves. Presented as a struggle between God and Satan in Heaven, Griffiths sense of the spectacular is evident in the sequence showing Satans banishment from Heaven, and in the beautifully mounted scenes of hedonistic revelry in high society. The underlying novel by Marie Corelli was acquired in 1919 by Adolph Zukor at Paramount for Cecil B. DeMille. The project was shelved during a disagreement, then given to Griffith to make seven years later. The original contract with Marie Corelli stipulated that after five years the picture was to be withdrawn and all materials destroyed. Famous Players-Lasky Productions, USA In the sense of pure craftsmanship, The Sorrows of Satan is one of Griffiths best films. There is none of the untidy, ragged cutting that marked so many of his 1920s films, and the lighting and photography, backed by the superior equipment and large stages of Paramounts Long Island Studios, are first rate. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
Whether or not a man who indulges in a bit of hanky-panky should be judged by a different standard than a woman was explored by Griffith decades before Womens Liberation, but with the same resounding conclusion. Entertaining and well-paced, this is Griffiths second treatment of the same story the first having been filmed in 1914. Phyllis Haver, the gold-digger who leads wealthy Jean Hersholt astray, ironically left the movies the following year to marry a millionaire. United Artists, USA A remake of Griffiths much earlier film of the same name, it had quite a bit of sparkle and life, and while perhaps beneath Griffiths dignity, was a vivacious film that audiences seemed to enjoy. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
D. W. Griffiths first sound motion picture a magical dramatization of important events in the life of the President, from his birth to his untimely death. Griffith proves to be a master of the new sound techniques by using off-screen sound effects and voices, moving his camera at will and, when necessary, looping sound during post-production. United Artists, USA Awards: Ten Best of the Year The New York Times There were certainly moments of greatness in Walter Hustons performance in the title role, and in the more spectacular visual sequences. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Shot as a publicity stunt for the 1930 sound reissue of The Birth of a Nation, this rare interview between Griffith and Walter Huston (star of Abraham Lincoln and father of John Huston), is a fascinating portrait of Griffith. United Artists, USA
Anita Loos and husband John Emerson wrote a humorous screenplay based on Emile Zolas The Drunkard, but Griffith rewrote much of it as a morality tale about the evils of drink. A millworker promises his bride hell give up drinking, but gets hooked again during Prohibition, loses his job and eventually becomes a Skid Row bum. The film was not successful, perhaps because this was the era of escapist musicals when no one wanted to see such an uncompromising view of the horrors of alcohol abuse. Discouraged, Griffith never made another picture. United Artists, USA It was laughed off the screen, and certain papers refused to review it out of respect for Griffiths former reputation. The reviews that did appear were generally hostile. Variety called it valueless and an utter bore, but at this distance, the film appears far better than one would expect. There are good realistic scenes in a 20s jazz cafe, a factory and in the slums of the Bowery. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Broken Blossoms 1919
Way Down East 1920 One Exciting Night 1922
Orphans of the Storm 1921 Dream Street 1921
America 1924 Isnt Life Wonderful? 1924
The Battle of the Sexes 1928 Abraham Lincoln 1930
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De Luxe Annie 1918

Produced and directed by Roland West Starring Norma Talmadge Edward Davis Edna Hunter Joseph Burke Fred R. Stanton 75 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Lessons in Love 1921

Directed by Chet Withey Screenplay by Grant Carpenter Based on a play by Douglas Murray Starring Constance Talmadge Kenneth Harlan Flora Finch James Harrison George Fawcett 70 minutes, 35mm Silent, B&W
Mamas Affair 1921

Directed by Victor Fleming Screenplay by John Emerson Anita Loos Based on a play by Rachel Burton Butler Starring Constance Talmadge Effie Shannon Kenneth Harlan 76 minutes (21 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Sign on the Door 1921

Directed by Herbert Brenon Screenplay by Mary Murillo Herbert Brenon Based on a play by Channing Pollock Starring Norma Talmadge Lew Cody Charles Richman 100 minutes (21 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Smilin Through 1922

Directed by Sidney Franklin Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Written by Sidney A. Franklin James A. Creelman Based on a stage play by Allan Langdon Martin Starring Norma Talmadge Wyndham Standing Harrison Ford Alec B. Francis Glenn Hunter Grace Griswold 96 minutes, 35mm Silent, B&W
Ashes of Vengeance 1923

Directed by Frank Lloyd Starring Norma Talmadge Conway Tearle Wallace Beery 105 minutes (22 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Song of Love 1923

Directed by Chester Franklin Frances Marion Screenplay by Frances Marion Starring Norma Talmadge Joseph Schildkraut Arthur Edmund Carew 105 minutes (21 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Talmadge Sisters
Roland Wests second feature film (his first was Lost Souls in 1916), De Luxe Annie is the story about a respectable young wife who disappears after an accident in which she loses her memory. When found, she is helping a crook run a confidence game. Finally, brain surgery restores her memory and she is reunited with her family. Select, USA
A romantic comedy in which a scorned woman decides to teach the young man a lesson for daring to resist her. When John (Harlan) is told that a marriage has been arranged for him with eligible socialite Leila (Talmadge), he rejects her sight unseen. To teach him a lesson, she disguises herself as a maid and makes him fall for her, while pretending her elderly aunt (Finch) is the arranged match. Digitally restored from nitrate material held at the Library of Congress. Constance Talmadge Film Company/ Associated First National Pictures, USA
In this comedy, Eves (Talmadge) domineering mother hates the thought of losing her, so she arranges a marriage with a friends son who would be sure to do just what she wants. But this is where Eve finally asserts herself and runs away with the family doctor (Harlan). Constance Talmadge Film Company/ Associated First National Pictures, USA
Self-scarificing love triumphs over the machinations of a scoundrel in this drama of a wronged woman. Frank (Cody) tries to trick Ann (Talmadge) into a romance, but she sees through him and marries Lafe (Richman), a widower with a grown daughter. Frank switches his attention to the daughter and is killed by Lafe. But, by unhesitatingly shouldering the blame, Ann convinces the D.A. not to prosecute and saves her marriage. Norma Talmadge Productions/Associated First National Pictures, USA
The happiness of two young people is almost destroyed because of an old grudge. When Kathleen (Talmadge) tells her guardian Uncle John (Standing) that she wants to marry Kenneth (Ford), John wants to stop her because Kenneths father had once spoiled Johns own chance of marriage. He relents when Kathleen proves how deep her love is by sticking to Kenneth in spite of his serious injury in WWI. This was Talmadges biggest box office success up to that time and put her into the ranks of the superstar during the silent era. First National Pictures, USA
A romantic drama of medieval France in which the love of a noblewoman saves a defeated enemy from feudal serfdom. Defeated in battle, Rupert (Tearle) must accept the humiliation of working as a servant in the house of his conqueror, the Count. Seeing that the Counts sister Yolande (Talmadge) is being pursued by a Duke (Beery) she despises, Rupert fights a duel for her which he wins, thereby earning her love and obtaining his freedom from the grateful Count. Norma Talmadge Productions/Associated First National Pictures, USA
A dashing tale of romance, gallantry and loving sacrifice in the Arabian desert. A Foreign Legion spy (Schildkraut) fools dancing girl Noorma-Hal (Talmadge) into believing he loves her so that she will tell him of the Sheiks insurrection plot. When he is caught and about to be executed, she offers herself to the Sheik in exchange for his life. Norma Talmadge Productions/Associated First National Pictures, USA
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Within the Law 1923

Directed by Frank Lloyd Screenplay by Frances Marion Based on a play by Byard Veiller Starring Norma Talmadge Lew Cody Jack Mulhall Eileen Percy 105 minutes (20 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Her Night of Romance 1924

Directed by Sidney Franklin Screenplay by Hans Kraly Starring Constance Talmadge Ronald Colman Jean Hersholt 85 minutes (23 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Her Sister from Paris 1925

Directed by Sidney Franklin Screenplay by Hans Kraly Starring Norma Talmadge Constance Talmadge Ronald Colman George K. Arthur 74 minutes (22 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Lady 1925

Directed by Frank Borzage Screenplay by Frances Marion Based on a play by Martin Brown Starring Norma Talmadge Wallace MacDonald Brandon Hurst 90 minutes (21 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Kiki 1926
Directed by Clarence Brown Screenplay by Hans Kraly Based on a play by Andre Picard Starring Norma Talmadge Ronald Colman Gertrude Astor George K. Arthur 96 minutes (23 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
Breakfast at Sunrise 1927

Directed by Malcolm St. Clair Written by Fred De Gresac Starring Constance Talmadge Bryant Washburn Marie Dressler Don Alvarado 75 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Dove 1928

Directed by Roland West Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Written by Roland West Wallace Smith Willard Mack Based on Willard Macks Broadway play Art direction by William Cameron Menzies Starring Norma Talmadge Noah Beery Gilbert Roland Eddie Borden 90 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Woman Disputed 1928

Directed by Henry King Sam Taylor Screenplay by C. Gardner Sullivan Based on a play by Denison Clift and the story Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant Starring Norma Talmadge Gilbert Roland Arnold Kent 108 minutes (22 fps), 35mm B&W
Unjustly accused of shoplifting, Mary (Talmadge) plans revenge by joining a blackmail plot against her former employers son Dick (Mulhall). When her accomplice (Cody) tries to frame Dick for a murder, she realizes she is actually in love with Dick and now must find a way out. Norma Talmadge Productions/Associated First National Pictures, USA
Paul (Colman), an impoverished nobleman, is forced to sell his ancestral home but sneaks in there to spend just one more night. When he finds that Dorothy (Talmadge), the daughter of the new owner, has also spent the night, he prevents a scandal by claiming to her wealthy father that they are married. At first she thinks he is after her money, but in the end decides to make the fiction a reality in this romantic comedy. Constance Talmadge Film Company/ Associated First National Pictures, USA
When Helen (Talmadge) realizes she is about to lose her husband Joseph (Colman) out of sheer boredom, she takes the advice of her glamorous sister (also played by Talmadge) and pretends to be her. Joseph falls in love with her new image, but when she reveals the deception, he realizes hes been courting his own wife all the time. Constance Talmadge Film Company/ Associated First National Pictures, USA
Polly (Talmadge) finds herself deserted by her playboy husband (MacDonald) and despised by his family, who try to take her son from her. She manages to send the boy away and does not see him again until he gets into trouble in the Army years later. She helps the now grown son (Hurst) to start a new life overseas. Due to nitrate decomposition, this film is incomplete. Norma Talmadge Productions/Associated First National Pictures, USA
Kiki (Talmadge) is a chorus girl with ambitions to be a featured star, but in order to get a chance with cabaret owner Renal (Colman), she must first win him over from Paulette (Astor). This is one of Talmadges rare but highly successful forays into comedy and was restored by the Library of Congress. Norma Talmadge Productions/Associated First National Pictures, USA
St. Clair has introduced some expert effects and Miss Talmadge helps the picture by her fetching appearance and costly gowns. Don Alvarado is restrained and good-looking and his dark hair makes an excellent contrast to Miss Talmadges golden coiffure. The New York Times Constance Talmadge Film Company/ Associated First National Pictures, USA
Roland West and Norma Talmadge planned to make a picture at UFA in Germany, but the right project never materialized. Instead they did this movie adaptation of the Mack stage hit about a corrupt Mexican despot. Changing the locale to the Mediterranean to avoid political repercussions south of the border, Talmadge plays the Dove, a dance hall girl who falls in love with croupier Gilbert Roland. And, if West couldnt go to Germany to use their techniques, he did the next best thing: he brought them to Hollywood, especially the kind of roving camera favored by F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. Norma Talmadge Productions/United Artist, USA Academy Award: William Cameron Menzies for Best Interior Decoration, 1927/28. One of the best Norma Talmadge sllents. William K. Everson West acutely aware of German films implication (was) that he wanted to emulate them. It confirms influences on the visual style of his late films and perhaps explains some stray individual images which might otherwise seem mere coincidences. Scott MacQueen. Roland West from Between Action and Cut: Five American Directors
Two rivals for the hand of Mary (Talmadge) find themselves on opposing sides in WWI. She marries Paul (Roland), who is soon called away to battle. Rival Nika (Kent) occupies her town and she must offer her favors in exchange for the life of a spy. Norma Talmadge Productions/Associated First National Pictures, USA
The Dove 1928
The Woman Disputed 1928
Breakfast at Sunrise 1927
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Du Barry, Woman of Passion 1930

Written and directed by Sam Taylor Based on the play Du Barry by David Belasco Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Norma Talmadge William Farnum Conrad Nagel Ullrich Haupt 66 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Blind Husbands 1918

Written, directed and designed by Erich von Stroheim Starring Erich von Stroheim Sam De Grasse Gibson Gowland Francella Billington 90 minutes (24 fps), 16mm Silent, B&W
Foolish Wives 1921

Written, directed and designed by Erich von Stroheim Produced by Carl Laemmle Photographed by Ben Reynolds Starring Erich von Stroheim Mae Busch Maud George Cesare Gravina 80 minutes (24 fps), 16mm Silent, B&W
The Merry-Go-Round 1922

Directed by Rupert Julian Written by Erich von Stroheim Costumes by Erich von Stroheim Richard Day Produced by Irving Thalberg Presented by Carl Laemmle Starring Norman Kerry Mary Philbin Cesare Gravina 91 minutes (24 fps), 16mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
A costume melodrama about the shop girl who becomes a favorite of King Louis XV of France and then dies on the guillotine. Art Cinema Corporation/United Artists, USA Movie buffs might have recognized, in the heartless ribbing of the actress whose screechy voice was inappropriate to the 18th-century French setting of the film within a film in Singin In The Rain (MGM 1952), something of Norma Talmadges problem as Du Barry, Woman of Passion. The lovers die a double death. Miss Talmadge retired from the screen at age 33 to live on her fortune. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Erich von Stroheim
The legendary von Stroheims first picture as director, a comedy of sexual manners in which an Austrian army officer attempts to seduce the wife of a wealthy American, a theme he explored further in Foolish Wives (1921). The climactic confrontation between the officer and the husband on a barren Alpine mountain top foreshadows the ending of Greed. Universal, USA Two Stars. Leslie Halliwell Superior to most of the years productions. In a number of von Stroheims dominating scenes there are no words at all, only eloquent pictures, more eloquent than words could ever be. The New York Times Few careers have been launched so auspiciously as von Stroheims was with Blind Husbands strong material with an inherently sexual theme, yet also with a framework of melodrama that appealed to popular tastes. There is considerable subtlety in the writing and in the juxtaposition of characters. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
Von Stroheims acknowledged masterpiece, second only to Greed. Shocking in its day, contemporary audiences love it for its baroque decadence. In turn-of-the-century Monte Carlo, a fake Russian count (von Stroheim) earns his living by passing counterfeit bills, cheating at the casino tables, and seducing, then blackmailing the wives of wealthy tourists. Universal, USA Foreshadows Wedding March and Queen Kelly. Lotte Eisner, Cinema Francais A masterpiece typical of von Stroheim. Brilliant yet controversial. The New York Times Masterpiece. Clive Hirschhorn, The Universal Story
Erich von Stroheim conceived of the idea for this film, wrote the story, helped design the sets and planned to play the leading role, but Universal cast Norman Kerry instead and removed von Stroheim as director for going over budget with his obsessive attention to detail. It is a von Stroheim film, nonetheless. Pre-war Vienna Emperor Franz Joseph orders a count to marry a woman at court, but the count has fallen in love with a pretty organ grinder. A hopeless, hapless love, the gulf between their two lives widens as the luxurious high-life of the court is juxtaposed with the drudging poverty of the circus. Although economically disparate, both worlds are depicted as morally dissipated: beneath the glistening gold of the Hapsburg court, the aristocracy takes their last decadent breaths: beneath the tinsel lights of the Prater Amusement Park, brutality and cruelty are bred of poverty. Only Mitzi, the virtuous circus girl, comes through unscathed. Pacific Film Archive Universal, USA
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Foolish Wives 1921
The Great Gabbo 1929

Directed by James Cruze Written by Ben Hecht Starring Erich von Stroheim Betty Compson Don Douglas Margie (Babe) Kane 91 minutes, 16mm, Sound, B&W
Von Stroheims first talking picture, a screen classic about a pair of show people: one, a lovely considerate girl (Betty Compson), and Gabbo, a super-egotistical ventriloquist (von Stroheim) who expresses his true feelings only through his dummy. She leaves him. Some years later, when Gabbo is a star, he meets her again and mistaking her kindness towards him as a display of love, he presses his suit with such persistence that she finally confesses she is married to her partner. Insane with jealousy, Gabbo nearly wrecks the show. Sona-Art, USA
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The Spoilers 1914

Staged By Colin Campbell Rex Beach Based on the novel by Rex Beach Starring William Farnum Tom Santschi Kathlyn Williams Bessie Eytons Frank Clark 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Saga of William S. Hart 19141924

37 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Blood and Sand 1922

Directed by Fred Niblo Written by June Mathis Based on the novel by Vicente Blasco-Ibanez and the play by Tom Cushing Starring Rudolph Valentino Nita Naldi Lila Lee George Field Rosa Rosanova 71 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Eagle 1925

Produced and directed by Clarence Brown Written by Hans Kraly Based on Dubrovsky by Alexander Pushkin Designed by William Cameron Menzies Starring Rudolph Valentino Vilma Banky Louise Dresser James Marcus 73 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music and Effects Track, B&W
William Farnum
Of the eight-reel film, apparently only one reel of this feature has survived the decades, but it contains one of the most famous and brutal brawls in film history. Polyscope, USA To the rabid movie fan the one who revels in action, excitement and a panoramic succession of real live adventures this picture hands him/her a wallop thrill upon thrill. Variety
William S. Hart
Back in the good old days when the world, its people and events were seen in terms of black and white with no compromises allowed or needed, William S. Hart began making movies. For audiences of the day he was the first incarnation of Rambo and John Wayne. Tall, lean, wiry, with a steely glint in his eyes, Hart made thrilling Westerns from 19131924, and developed a character capable of getting what he wanted and keeping what he had with only his bare knuckles, a pair of six-guns and single-minded determination. Here are clips and fragments from his most popular films: Two Gun Hicks, On The Night Stage (1914), Hells Hinges, The Aryan (1916), Square Deal Man, Desert Man, Wolf Lowry (1917), The Toll Gate, Testing Black (1920), OMalley of the Mounted, Three Word Brand (1921) and Wild Bill Hickok (1924) which includes the famous fight of the water barrels. Mutual Master Corporation/Triangle Productions/Artcraft/Paramount Pictures, USA
Rudolph Valentino
Valentino debuted in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and then established his image with this famous film about a matador extraordinaire who marries his childhood sweetheart only to have a fatal affair with another. Paramount Pictures, USA One Star. Leslie Halliwell Valentino remains forever lithe, handsome, smooth-skinned, and languorous-eyed. He was an ideal actor for the silent screen. He had a Latin capacity for total abandon: the love scenes and the affecting death scene still command a total belief. He remains a singularly winning personality and a compelling actor and merits his little bit of immortality. David Robinson, The London Times
Hailed by the critics, The Eagle was the first in a string of hits by director Clarence Brown (Flesh and the Devil, Anna Christie, Anna Karenina) and features one of Valentinos most memorable performances. United Artists, USA Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Valentino changes his personality three times in his new picture and each one is dashing and fascinating and very Valentino. First, he is a young lieutenant in the Czarinas regiment, brave and handsome and desired of Catherine. Later he becomes a bandit, the Black Eagle, seeking to avenge a wrong done his father. Next we see Rudy impersonating a French tutor in the house of his enemy, teaching the enemys beautiful daughter. Valentino falls in love. Shall he break his oath of allegiance? Photoplay Clarence Brown, soon to become Garbos favorite director, established his reputation for glossy elegance with this picture. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
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Son of the Sheik 1926
Apart from being grand entertainment, Son of the Sheik comes closest to being a masterpiece.
Directed by George Fitzmaurice Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Written by Frances Marion Fred de Gresac Based on the novel The Son of the Sheik by Edith Maude Hull Art Direction by William Cameron Menzies Starring Rudolph Valentino Vilma Banky George Fawcett Agnes Ayres 74 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music and Effects Track, B&W
A wonderfully exotic and romantic adventure complete with desert chases, stunts, last minute rescues, daring escapes and ferocious fights. Valentino plays both father and son in this tongue-in-cheek romp that many think is his best film. United Artists, USA Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Apart from being grand entertainment, Son of the Sheik comes closest (of Valentinos films) to being a masterpiece. Joe Franklin, Classics of the Silent Screen
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923
The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923

Directed by Wallace Worsley Assistant director William Wyler Written by Edward T. Lowe Based on Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo Conceived by Irving Thalberg Starring Lon Chaney Ernest Torrence Patsy Ruth Miller Norman Kerry 103 minutes (24 fps), 16mm Silent, B&W
The Phantom of the Opera 1925

Directed by Rupert Julian Adapted by Raymond Schrock Elliott J. Clawson From the novel by Gaston Leroux Starring Lon Chaney Mary Philbin Norman Kerry Snitz Edwards 80 minutes, 16mm, B&W
Lon Chaney
The deformed Quasimodo (Lon Chaney) rescues a gypsy girl from the evil clutches of her guardian. Its horror put off Varietys reviewer who called it a nightmare! No children can stand its morbid scenes and there are likely but few parents seeing it first who will permit their young to see it afterward which just goes to show how far the movies have come since 1923. Universal, USA Three Stars. Lavish filming of Hugo classic, capturing flair of medieval Paris and strange attraction of outcast Chaney for dancing girl (Miller). Silent classic still holds up well, with Chaneys makeup still incredible. Leonard Maltin Remains a classic piece of silent filmmaking. Chaney gave one of the great performances in cinema history. Clive Hirschhorn. The Universal Story
Lon Chaney created one of his most grotesque performances as the crazed man without a face who lives in the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera and falls in love with the voice of a young opera singer performing on the stage above. Infatuated, he kidnaps her, dragging her to the depths below where she will sing only for him. Universal, USA The unmasking scene is a brilliant horror episode. Many of the scenes in the grim caverns under the Paris Opera have very real beauty and dramatic power in their composition, evoking genuine images of terror. Joe Franklin, Classics of the Silent Screen One of the greatest of all horror films, and certainly the pinnacle of the genre in the silent era. Gave Lon Chaney the chance to shatter audiences with his most grotesque face yet that of Erik, the phantom of the title. Clive Hirschhorn, The Universal Story
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American Classics
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American Classics
Pool Sharks 1915

Directed by Edwin Middleton Written by and starring W. C. Fields 10 minutes, (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Golf Specialist 1930

Directed by Monte Brice Written by and starring W. C. Fields 21 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Dentist 1932

Directed by Leslie Pearce Written by W. C. Fields Produced by Mack Sennett Starring W. C. Fields Babe Kane Elise Cavanna 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Barbershop 1933

Directed by Arthur Ripley Produced by Mack Sennett Written by W. C. Fields Starring W. C. Fields Elise Cavanna Barry Watson 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Fatal Glass of Beer 1933

Directed by Clyde Bruckman Produced by Mack Sennett Written by W. C. Fields Starring W. C. Fields Rosemary Theby Richard Cramer George Chandler 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Pharmacist 1933

Directed by Arthur Ripley Produced by Mack Sennett Written by W. C. Fields Starring W. C. Fields Elise Cavanna Grady Sutton Babe Kane 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Down Memory Lane 1949

Directed by Phil Karlson Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Steve Allen Bing Crosby W. C. Fields Gloria Swanson Mabel Normand Ben Turpin Phyllis Haver Franklin Pangborn Charles Murray James Finlayson Mack Swain Mack Sennett 72 minutes, 35mm, B&W
W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields first film. He performs his famous pool-playlng vaudeville routine and vies for the hand of a young lady. Admirers of Fields will find plenty of good fun in the picture and much of the business is new. The action centers around a pool contest between two rivals, the winner of which is to marry the disputed girl. Motion Picture News
W. C. Fields, in his first sound motion picture, teaches golf to a brazen hussy in this film version of his classic vaudeville golfing sketch. RKO, USA Two Stars. Leslie Halliwell
The classic, uncut comedy in which W. C. Fields performs hilarious verbal surgery on his patients and then takes off for the golf links to murder the game. Paramount Pictures, USA Two Stars. Leslie Halliwell
Fields, the barber, walks a tightrope between the threats of his nagging wife and the attractions of his pretty manicurist. As one customer wastes away, forgotten in a steam cabinet, another, who is getting a shave, asks Fields why a mutt sits watching expectantly. Funny thing about that dog, Fields muses. One day I was shaving a man, sliced his ear off and the dog got it. Been back ever since. Paramount Pictures, USA
Fields prodigal son returns home to his parents snowbound cabin in the Yukon where he is welcomed with open arms. Its comedy par excellence from whence comes the immortal line and it aint a fit night out for man nor beast. Paramount Pictures, USA
Fields is a small-town druggist with a family that is simply beyond words. His daughter, Babe Kane, tries to eat the pet canary, and his wife is a pompous scold who, when an old lady in the pharmacy downstairs asks Is there a lady in attendance, gets all gussied up and descends the stairs with a regal air only to discover the dear old thing just wants to use the ladles room. Paramount Pictures, USA
Produced by Mack Sennett in 1949, this feature compilation contains amusing silent and sound sequences from famous Sennett shorts. Steve Allen plays a TV disc jockey who is selling a novel program concept: a film made from great films of the past. Silent sequences with Turpin, Swanson, Normand, the Kops and the Beauties are accompanied by music and sound effects which Pangborn and Allen provide. The sound clips include Fields as The Dentist (1932) and Crosby in a musical comedy of mistaken identity. Eagle Lion Films, USA Surefire to ripple audiences with resounding yucks, early films have a genuine antique flavor. Fields The Dentist is probably one of the funniest and certainly the most suggestive item made by the late comedian. Variety
The Pharmacist 1933
The Barbershop 1933
94
American Classics
95
American Classics
Body and Soul 1925

Written, produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux Starring Paul Robeson Julia Theresa Russell Mercedes Gilbert Chester A. Alexander Lawrence Chenault 80 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Borderline 1928
Directed by Kenneth MacPherson Starring Paul Robeson Eslanda Robeson Helga Doorn Gavin Arthur Robert Herring Blanche Lewis Charlotte Arthur 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
The Emperor Jones 1933

Directed by Dudley Murphy William C. DeMille Written by DuBose Hayward Based on the play by Eugene ONeill Starring Paul Robeson Dudley Digges Rex Ingram Frank Wilson Fredi Washington Jackie Moms Mayble 72 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Sanders of the River (US: Bosambo) 1935

Directed by Zoltan Korda Produced by Alexander Korda Written by Lajos Biro Jeffrey Dell Arthur Wimperis Based on the novel by Edgar Wallace Starring Paul Robeson Leslie Banks Nina May McKinney 98 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Song of Freedom 1936

Directed by J. Elder Wills Starring Paul Robeson Elisabeth Welch George Mozart Esme Percy Joan Fred Emney Arthur Williams Ronald Simpson 80 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Paul Robeson
Paul Robesons first film and a very rare silent film by the pioneering African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, an innovator who, between 1918 and 1940, wrote, produced, directed and personally distributed nearly 30 films. Micheaux Film Corporation, USA One of Micheauxs artistic triumphs in which Robeson plays a dissolute, venal black preacher with a double life. He shows up in a seedy speakeasy full of criminals and cardsharps, then appears trying to dupe a pious mother into marrying off her daughter. The film cuts back and forth between the two rogues as they grow more corrupt and treacherous. The roles are symbolized by two portraits: a mugshot of Robeson from the Police Gazette on the wall of the gambling hall and a huge painting of a benign Booker T. Washington on the church wall. Near the end, both roles are revealed as shams: Robeson is really a powerful, kind and handsome man who will close the speakeasy. A strong, resolute, and masculine black emerged from the hysterical stereotypes of the whites. Norman Kagan, Black American Cinema
An experimental silent film project of Kenneth MacPherson, British writer and editor of the cinema journal Close Up. Made in Switzerland, its cast features American imagist poetess Hilda Doolittle (H.D. aka Helga Doorn), British historical novelist Bryher (and wife of director MacPherson), Robert Herring (editor of Life and Letters Today), Dr. Eslanda Robeson, anthropologist, wife and constant companion of husband Paul, the only professional actor in the cast. The film studies several people at a Swiss mountain resort, each of whom reacts in one way or another to the arrival of a black couple played by Paul Robeson and his wife. Pool Films, Great Britain
The film proved to be a visually exciting experiment with lights and shadows which are made into analogs for the black and white characters. The light-and-shadow compositions are then used to comment on the sordid racism of the white society that in the film the Robesons are cast from; far beyond its time in both technique and characterization of Negroes. For Robeson, it would be the top of a career after which he spent a decade plodding through white mens movies with their stereotyped vision of blacks. Self-consciously experimental and distributed by a small independent company, there was no reason to expect a wide showing. Thus his work for Micheaux would be seen only by a few Negroes, while his great work for MacPherson would be lost to all but a select audience who would see it in private showings or in museums. Thomas Cripps, Film Historian
In the key role of his career, Paul Robeson repeats his powerful stage portrayal of Brutus Jones, a railroad porter who becomes the ruler of a remote Caribbean Island, a story patterned after the life of Haitian emperor Henri Christophe. The underlying 1920 Eugene ONeill play was one of the first to portray the black man as an individual rather than as a stereotype. Jones deals with whites on his own terms sometimes even contemptuously, as in his dialogue with the white-trash trader, played superbly by Dudley Digges. Joness eventual downfall comes as the result of his own fears rather than any other cause. Robeson has two songs, Let Me Fly and Water Boy. Watch for Moms Mayble in a bit part. United Artists, USA The Emperor Jones made Paul Robeson a symbol of black confidence and self-fulfillment. Black audiences must have felt immensely proud and fond of that bad nigger [sic] up there on the screen, telling them white folks to get outta his way to give him room to breathe. Despite the fact that Robeson portrayed a character that was often a black brute figure, black audiences still saw a black male completely unlike the servile characters of most American movies. The Emperor Jones gave Robeson his finest screen role. Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks
Based on the popular Wallace novel about British Colonial rule in Africa, Bosambo (Robeson) is used by Sanders (Leslie Banks), the British administrator, to keep the other natives in line and satisfied with British governance. Later, Bosambo is rewarded for his efforts by being proclaimed King over all the tribes. The film has the look of a Flaherty film with its many shots of wildlife (some taken from an airplane) and scenes of authentic tribal rites and customs. Hammer Films/London Films, Great Britain Much of Alexander Kordas production of Sanders of the River was shot on location in East Africa, with real natives as extras (the future leader of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, had a bit part). But it starred American Paul Robeson. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story Three Stars. Leonard Maltin An immense production. Will be regarded as a milestone in the history of British cinema. Variety Stirring. One of the best pictures of the year. Anthony Slide, Ed. Selected Film Criticism
Robeson was Bosambo, the trusty right-hand man of Sanders, the white man of iron who rules the dark, backward tribes of Africa. Robeson provided not only physical strength for his master but some comic and romantic interludes for the mass audience. While he agreed to star out of a passionate concern with African culture, It was transformed into a glorification of British colonial rule, and at a special preview an irate Robeson stormed out of the movie house in protest. Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks
One of the earliest films that dealt with sensitivity with a black mans search for his cultural background in Africa, predating Roots by four decades. Robeson is a successful British concert singer who discovers he is descended from a West African queen whose tribe is now leaderless. Though black, he retains all the values of the white middle class which educated him. He goes to Africa and is met initially with hostility, but uses the universal language of song to help him to break the barriers. Songs Include: Sleepy River, Lonely Road, Song of Freedom, The Black Emperor London Film Productions, Great Britain As the archetypal modern black man, Robeson was also depicted as still having the jungle blood running through his veins. That he can never escape. Although his wife is a fair-skinned, straight-haired, proper mulatto, and he has a dark-skinned coon servant, he takes his British manners and mores and civilizes the savage natives. Great Britain could not have asked for a more loyal subject. Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mullattoes, Mammies & Bucks
Song of Freedom 1936
97
American Classics
Big Fella 1937

Directed by J. Elder Wills Written by Ingram DAbbes Fenn Sherie Starring Paul Robeson Elisabeth Welch Roy Emerton Marcel Rogez Eldon Grant Joyce Kennedy Margaret Rutherford 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Jericho (US: Dark Sands) 1937

Directed by Thornton Freeland Written by George Barraud Based on an original story by Walter Futter Starring Paul Robeson Henry Wilcoxon Wallace Ford Princess Zouka John Laurie James Carew 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Tales of Manhattan 1942

Directed by Julien Duvivier Starring Paul Robeson Ethel Waters Eddie Anderson J. Carrol Naish Clarence Muse George Reed Cordell Hickman John Kelly The Hall Johnson Choir 15 minutes, 35mm, B&W (Final sequence only)
Marseilles dockworker Paul Robeson befriends a small boy and reunites him with his parents following their separation, after arriving on an ocean liner. Songs Include: Lazin, Roll Up Sailorman, You Didnt Ought to Do Such Things, All Gods Chillun Got a Robe, My Curly-Headed Baby and River Steals My Folks From Me. British Lion/Beaconsfield Films, Great Britain
Sailing to France during World War I, Jericho (Paul Robeson) accidentally causes the death of his sergeant and is sentenced to death for murder. He escapes to the African desert to become the leader of a desert tribe, marries and has a son. When his pursuers finally catch up with him, they meet with tragedy, because Robesons people believe he is to be harmed. Robeson sings My Way, Golden River, Silent Night, Deep Desert, Shortnin Bread. A Buckingham Production, Great Britain Splendid. Heroic sentimental story. Variety
The final sequence of a prestigious but episodic production built around the fate of a fine evening dresscoat. While the first five episodes (one of which features W. C. Fields, was not released with the film, but is a part of The Rohauer Library) takes place in Manhattan. The last sequence strays into a poor Southern community inhabited by black sharecroppers. 20th Century Fox, USA Robesons last American film and a personal disaster. He portrays a backwoods Southern coon who discovers a satchel of money that has been dropped into his cotton field from an airplane. Immediately, he and Waters thank de almighty Gawd in de hebben above and stand trembling, fore de power and de glory above. Again, superstition had been substituted for the genuine intensity of the black religious experience, and the Negro sequence of this allstar film alienated black audiences and aroused great controversy. Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks
98
American Classics
Alibi 1929
Alibi (UK: The Perfect Alibi) 1929

Produced and directed by Roland West Written by Roland West C. Gardner Sullivan Based on the play Night Stick by John Wray, J.C. Nugent and Elaine Stern Carrington Art Direction by William Cameron Menzies Photographed by Ray June Starring Chester Morris Eleanor Griffith Regis Toomey Mae Busch 90 minutes, 16mm, B&W
Corsair 1931
Written, produced and directed by Roland West Based on the novel by Walton Green Starring Chester Morris Alison Lloyd (Thelma Todd) William Austin Frank McHugh Fred Kohler Mayo Methot 75 minutes, 16mm, B&W
See also: De Luxe Annie Page 74 The Dove Page 77
Roland West
Roland Wests first sound motion picture uses several new techniques first attributed to Alfred Hitchcock in Blackmail (dubbing of live dialogue, building subjective suspense by accenting a key phrase, using a chirping bird to distract, using sound to create an abstract rhythm). Its a gripping story about a young cop killer who marries the police chiefs daughter to alibi the warehouse robbery he commits. Quick to shoot enemies in the back, he becomes a sniveling coward when hes finally cornered. United Artists, USA Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture, Chester Morris for Best Actor, 1929. The distorted sets, odd angles and restless camera work make it Wests most Germanic work. This claustrophobic little nightmare would be fully at home in a retrospective of the American avantgarde film. Elliott Stein, Film: A Critical Dictionary One of the best of the early all-dialogue gangster movies. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Producer-director Roland West indulged his love of the sea by making Corsair, a high seas adventure in which a former college football hero, Chester Morris, forsakes his job on Wall Street for the romance of rum-running during Prohibition, pirating cargoes of contraband hootch and selling it back to the bootleggers from whom he stole it. United Artists, USA Wests most virulent, wildly irresponsible and reckless exercise of his recurring themes of personal honor and anti-social moral codes. Everyone engages in guiltless profiteering, and no one is ever held accountable for the many sadistic murders committed to advance the smuggling. Scott MacQueen, Roland West from Between Action and Cut: Five American Directors The misty expressionism and delicate feelings of Corsair entitle the director to a place in film history. Arthur Sarris, The American Cinema
Salvation Hunters 1925
101
American Classics
Salvation Hunters 1925

Written, produced, photographed and directed by Josef von Sternberg Prologue featuring Josef von Sternberg, courtesy of BBC-TV Starring George K. Arthur Georgia Hale Bruce Guerin Otto Matlesen Nellie Bly Baker Olaf Hytten Stuart Holmes 83 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Josef von Sternberg
Salvation Hunters, Josef von Sternbergs first picture, was years ahead of its time. Chaplin saw it and recommended it to Douglas Fairbanks, who bought it for United Artists. It made its money back in the first year and launched von Sternbergs career. Critic Arthur Knight wrote, Salvation Hunters was hailed as an artistic achievement without peer, an American film that rivaled anything then being imported from Europe. United Artists, USA Essentially a mood piece, a simple story of three lost souls, an unemployed ambitionless family who live on a river scow until a procurer offers them a room in exchange for the wifes services. Only when the scabrous villain mistreats their child does the husband recover his self-respect sufficiently to face up to the man. The implication is that, having taken this first step, he will lead his little family on to happiness. Arthur Knight, The Liveliest Art There is always a thrill for the audience in supplying through their own minds something that is not blatantly disclosed on the screen. Eventually, alert directors will capitalize on this added interest and give us more films like Salvation Hunters. Mr. von Sternberg may be commended for thus widening the technical art and narrative power of the motion picture. Exceptional Photoplays
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American Classics
Headin Home 1920

Directed by Lawrence C. Windom Written by Earle Browne Arthur Baer Produced by William Shea Starring Babe Ruth 56 minutes (24 fps), 16mm, B&W
Salome 1923
Directed by Charles Bryant Written by Peter M. Winters Based on Salome by Oscar Wilde Set design and costumes by Natacha Rambova Based on designs by Aubrey Beardsley Starring Alla Nazimova Rose Dione Mitchell Lewis Nigel De Brulier 38 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Hold Your Breath 1924

Directed by Scott Sidney Written by Frank Roland Conklin Produced by Al Christie Starring Dorothy Devore Walter Hiers Tully Marshall Max Davidson 50 minutes (24 fps), 16 mm, B&W
Capital Punishment 1925

Directed by James P. Hogan Written by B.P. Schulberg Produced by B.P. Schulberg Starring Clara Bow George Hackathorne Margaret Livingston 67 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Lady Windermeres Fan 1925

Produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch Written by Julien Josephson Based on the play by Oscar Wilde Starring Ronald Colman Irene Rich May McAvoy Bert Lytell Edward Martindel Helen Dunbar Carrie Daumery 72 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent, B&W
The Swan 1925

Written and directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki Based on the play The Swan by Ferenc Molnar Starring Frances Howard Adolphe Menjou Ricardo Cortez Ida Waterman Helen Lindroth Helen Lee Worthing Joseph Depew George Walcott 65 minutes (24 fps), 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Wedding Song 1925

Directed by Alan Hale Written by Douglas Z Doty Produced by Cecil B. DeMille Starring Leatrice Joy Robert Ames Charles K. Gerrard 70 minutes (24 fps), 16mm, B&W
Other American Classics
A heavily fictionalized biopic of the Bambino, filmed shortly after he was sold to the Yankees. Kessell & Baumann, USA
Russian-born, avant-garde actress Nazimova was famous for her performances of Ibsen and other works about sensitive, passionate or neurotic women. At the peak of her career she produced Salome with her own production company to use as a curtain-raiser for her live performances. A boldly stylized filming of the Oscar Wilde work, its sets and costumes are patterned after sketches by Aubrey Beardsley. The Richard Strauss score is the one used when the film opened in 1923. Nazimova Productions, USA The most extraordinarily beautiful picture that has ever been produced a spectacle for the eye absolutely superlative. Robert E. Sherwood, The Best Moving Pictures of 192223 Oscar Wilde might have approved of Nazimovas flamboyant portrayal of his perverse heroine. Although at 44 she was not exactly the pubescent Biblical stripper of Wildes imagination, her campy facial expressions and gestures were reminiscent of Sarah Bernhardt, for whom Salome was originally written. The highlight, of course, was the dance of the seven veils, which stopped in time to avoid the censors scissors. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Dorothy Devore plays The Girl in Scott Sidneys silent comedy. Fired from her job at a local beauty salon, she finds herself caring for her sick newspaper reporter brother. Taking over his crime beat at the paper, she quickly becomes entangled in a jewel heist involving an eccentric millionaire and a thieving monkey. Devore gives pursuit to clear her name and ends up scaling the side of a skyscraper in a sequence that is just as impressive as Harold Lloyds famous climb in Safety Last from the previous year. Christie Film Company, USA
Once considered a lost film, Capital Punishment was restored by the Library of Congress from a 35mm nitrate print and other elements. Similar to Fritz Langs Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, a crusading social worker sets out to prove that the ultimate punishment is both ineffective and unjust. B.P. Schulberg Productions, USA
A sophisticated comedy-drama about a beautiful young wife who suspects her husband of having an affair with another woman. What she doesnt know is that the other woman is her own mother. It seems that Mama ran off with a lover years before and, now having returned a bit down at the heels and broke, has decided to shake down her daughters husband. Warner Brothers, USA A tour de force, capturing the Wildean spirit without the use of a single Wildean epigram. Lubitsch said they had no place in a silent film and substituted visual epigrams for the spoken Wilde wit. Alfred Kerr, the famous Berlin drama critic, called it a work In the purest Burgtheater style, and it was a favorite film of Edmund Wilson. Voted one of the ten best films of 1925. Herman G. Weinberg, The Lubitsch Touch, A Critical Study
The first filmed version of The Swan opened just three years after its premiere in Budapest. The leading male role, that of the Prince, was changed to fit star Adolphe Menjou, and the critics gave up trying to compare the film to the play because there was no comparison, and because the film was an artistic success in its own right. Famous Players-Lasky, USA Far more Lubitsch and Stroheim than Molnar (one whole episode seems almost a spoof of a key Foolish Wives episode). It was a handsome and snappy production that bowled along far more rapidly than Molnar would have liked and was dominated by Adolphe Menjous perfectly styled and good-natured performance. Although typical of mid-1920s Hollywood product, its Germanic roots were stressed in the sets, with their strong emphasis on perfect symmetry and balance thought quite highly of at the time, especially by Rene Clair. William K. Everson. American Silent Film
In this silent comedy, Leatrice Joy plays a con artist who marries the wealthy owner of an island rich with pearls. Joys crooked partners soon enter the picture posing as her rather eccentric family. Cinema Corporation of America, USA
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American Classics
Bachelor Brides 1926

Directed by William K. Howard Written by Charles Horace Malcolm C. Gardner Sullivan Eddie Cline Produced by Cecil B. DeMille Starring Rod LaRocque Elinor Fair Sally Rand 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Cruise of the Jasper B 1926

Directed by James W. Horne Written by Tay Garnett Produced by Cecil B. DeMille Starring Rod LaRocque Mildred Harris Snitz Edwards 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Ella Cinders 1926

Directed by Alfred Green Written by Frank Griffin Mervyn LeRoy Based on Cinderella In the Movies, a syndicated comic strip by William Counselman and Charles Plumb Presented by John McCormick Starring Colleen Moore Lloyd Hughes Vera Lewis Harry Langdon 72 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
For Alimony Only 1926

Directed by William C. DeMille Written by Lenore J. Coffee Produced by Cecil B. DeMille Starring Leatrice Joy Clive Brook Lilyan Tashman 50 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Gigolo 1926
Directed by William K. Howard Written by Edna Ferber Marion Orth Produced by William C. DeMille Starring Rod LaRocque Jobyna Ralston Louise Dresser 80 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Her Man O War 1926

Directed by Frank Urson Written by Fred Jackson Produced by Cecil B. DeMille Starring Jetta Goudal William Boyd Jimmie Adams 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Face Value 1927

Directed by Robert Florey Written by Frances Guihan Starring Gene Gowing Fritzi Ridgeway 50 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Fighting Love 1927

Directed by Nils Olaf Chrisander Written by Beulah Marie Dix Produced by Cecil B. DeMille Starring Jetta Goudal Victor Varconi 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
An entertaining mystery-comedy involving paternity claims, stolen pearls and an escape from a mental asylum, all set in a mansion on a dark and stormy night. DeMille Pictures Corporation, USA
In this comedy, LaRocque must marry aboard the family ship by his 25th birthday in order to retain his inheritance. DeMille Pictures Corporation, USA
A hilarious send up of the Cinderella story. Buoyed up by the smile of the local iceman Waite Lifter, pretty Ella Cinders (Colleen Moore) slaves away to satisfy every whim of her two evil stepsisters, Lotta and Prissy Pill. When Ella enters a movie contest and goes to the Ball dressed in one of Lottas gowns and draped in Ma Cinders piano scarf, her indignant relatives drag her home, but she wins the contest anyway and goes off to Hollywood to seek her fortune. First National Pictures, USA Three Stars Excellent Colleen Moore vehicle about a small-town girl going to Hollywood to make good: bright and peppy with amusing guest appearance by Harry Langdon. Leonard Maltin
Clive Brook, recently divorced from gold-digging Tashman, meets and marries Leatrice Joy. The newlyweds find it hard to make ends meet with the alimony payment that Brook must make, so scheme to get Tashman married off to stop the payments. DeMille Pictures Corporation, USA
LaRocque plays the heir to a Wisconsin manufacturing family whose widowed mother sells their factory in order to finance a luxurious life in Paris for her and her gold-digging second husband. After distinguishing himself in WWI flying for the famed Lafayette Escadrille, LaRocque returns to Paris to find his mother dead and stepfather gone. Penniless, he must support himself as a gigolo in a seedy dance hall cafe, until his fate changes. DeMille Pictures Corporation, USA
Goudal stars in this World War I drama as a half German, half French woman living in a wellfortified German village holding the line against the advance of the Allies. Because of the war, she is left to care for the family farm and her crippled young brother alone. A pre-Hopalong Cassidy Boyd is an American soldier who, along with comic-relief sidekick Adams, poses as a deserter in order to infiltrate the town and learn the whereabouts of an underground tunnel that will lead the army to the castle that overlooks the village and houses the artillery gun that has been standing in their way. The Germans are on to them from the beginning but, with plans on keeping close tabs on the Americans, assign them as farm hands to two of the village women. Of course Boyd is assigned to Goudals farm and she must struggle between her hatred for deserters and her growing affection for the young Yank. DeMille Pictures Corporation, USA
A bleak and gritty tale of a disfigured soldier returning home from World War I. Sterling Pictures, USA
Goudal plays a young girl who marries an older man in order to escape an arranged marriage. When her soldier husband is reported to be killed in action fighting in the desert, she marries the young soldier she has fallen in love with, only to have her first husband return. DeMille Pictures Corporation, USA
106
American Classics
The Old Dark House 1932
The greatest of all horror films.
Directed by James Whale Written by Benn Levy Based on the novel Benighted by J.B. Priestly Starring Melvyn Douglas Charles Laughton Raymond Massey Boris Karloff Eva Moore Gloria Stuart 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
One of the most literate and visually striking horror films of the 30s, James Whales The Old Dark House is a masterpiece of the genre an urbane mixture of English Gothic horror, parody, and civilized responses to the absurd. Five travelers caught in a violent storm take refuge in a sinister mansion inhabited by three certifiable lunatics headed by Boris Karloff, Hollywoods reigning King of Horror. An artful mixture of chills and ghoulish gallows humor, directed with a wonderful sense of the eccentric and bizarre, and acted by a splendid cast. Universal, USA The greatest of all horror films. Nothing better in this vein has ever been done, before or since. William K. Everson, Classics of the Horror Film Whale mixes a quais-realistic atmosphere (his monsters are decidedly human, his guests ever so civilized) with high Hollywood Gothic: a tremendous thunderstorm, swirling roads, and the eerie house with its Chinese-box series of horrors. Pacific Film Archive
108
American Classics
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American Classics
The Cat and the Canary 1927

Directed by Paul Leni Written by Alfred Cohn Robert F. Hill Based on the play by John Willard Starring Creighton Hale Laura La Plante Forrest Stanley Tully Marshall Flora Finch 84 minutes (24 fps), 35mm B&W Version Silent Tinted Version, Silent with Music Track
Glorifying the American Girl 1929

Directed by Millard Webb Under the personal supervision of Florenz Ziegfeld Starring Mary Eaton Edward Crandall with guest appearances by Eddie Cantor Helen Morgan Rudy Vallee Florenz Ziegfeld Adolph Zukor Otto Kahn Texas Guinan Mayor Jimmy Walker Ring Lardner Noah Beery Johnny Weissmuller 96 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Be Yourself 1930
Directed by Thornton Freeland Written by Thornton Freeland Max Marcin Adapted from The Champ by Joseph Jackson Produced by Joseph M. Schenck Starring Fanny Brice Robert Armstrong Barry Green Gertrude Astor 77 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Puttin on the Ritz 1930

Directed by E. B. Sloman Written and produced by John W. Considine Jr. Designed by William Cameron Menzies Special music by Irving Berlin Score by Hugo Riesenfeld Photographed by Ray June Starring Harry Richman Joan Bennett James Gleason Aileen Pringle 90 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Bad One 1930

Directed by George Fitzmaurice Written by Carey Wilson Howard E. Rogers Based on the story by John Farrow Starring Dolores Del Rio Edmund Lowe Don Alvarado Ullrich Haupt 70 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Lottery Bride 1930

Directed by Paul Stein Produced by Arthur Hammerstein Written by Horace Jackson Based on Bride 66, an original story by Herbert Stothart Music by Rudolph Friml Arranged by Hugo Riesenfeld Starring Jeanette MacDonald John Garrick Joe E. Brown Zasu Pitts Robert Chisholm 85 minutes, 35mm, B&W
White Zombie 1932

Produced and directed by Victor Halperin Written by Garnett Weston Starring Bela Lugosi Madge Bellamy John Harron 74 minutes, 35mm, B&W
She 1935
Directed by Irving Pichel Lansing C. Holden Produced by Merian C. Cooper Written by Ruth Rose Dudley Nichols Based on the novel by H. Rider Haggard Music by Max Steiner Starring Randolph Scott Nigel Bruce Helen Gahagan Gustav von Seyffertitz 95 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The flair and style of Paul Lenis archetypal spooky house-comedy-horror movie influenced Hollywood through the 30s and was spoofed in James Whales The Old Dark House. Screen clichs like trembling hands coming at frightened characters, corpses falling from opened doors all predate Alfred Hitchcock. The thriller opens as a diverse group of people gather together in a haunted house to hear a will read twenty years after the testators death, only to discover that most of them have been disinherited in favor of a distant relative (Laura La Plante) on the condition that she is proven sane. Well, you can imagine what a tough time shes going to have proving that one, with all those greedy vultures around ready to drive her cuckoo. Universal, USA Three Stars. Leslie Halliwell Three Stars. Leonard Maltin A first-rate, highly imaginative adaptation of John Willards Broadway success. Clive Hirschhorn, The Universal Story
A typical show-business plot with some fine footage detailing how a girl is chosen and trained for her enviable role as a Ziegfeld Follies beauty. Among the musical and comedy sequences by the guest stars is Eddie Cantors Sam the Tailor routine. He first performed this sketch for the Shubert Brothers in the stage production of The Midnight Rounders (1921). He tries to convince a hapless customer to purchase an ill-fitting suit. The complete, uninterrupted sketch provides a rare opportunity to see a comedy great in a famous stage vehicle. Paramount Pictures, USA
Fanny Brice, that funny girl herself, in a sentimental romantic comedy about the nightclub entertainer who falls in love with a punchy prizefighter. United Artists, USA The bright spots came when Miss Brice (then Mrs. Billy Rose) sang five songs by her husband. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Broadway actor Harry Richman was seeing Clara Bow off-screen, Joan Bennett looked exquisite, and Irving Berlins songs were the perfect topping for this backstage yarn about a man who springs from poverty to success, gets corrupted by his sudden rise, goes high hat and then loses his sight from drinking bad hootch. Songs include Puttin on the Ritz and Theres Danger in Your Eyes. United Artists, USA Outstanding. Several production numbers are close to the best yet. William Cameron Menzies has concocted several peachy sets, notably a crazy landscape that becomes animated. Variety Irving Berlins title song became a hit. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
The ever-fascinating Dolores Del Rio stars as the young woman who hands out the keys in a bawdy house but never succumbs herself until her wedding day. United Artists, USA
Early sound and early Jeanette MacDonald in a Rudolph Friml musical about the Norwegian girl who marries a miner in the Yukon only to discover its his younger brother she loves. United Artists, USA Delightfully creaky musical with a Yukon setting: Jeanette must deny her true love when she becomes a lottery-bride for his older brother. Impressive sets, forgettable music, enjoyable comic relief from Brown and Pitts. Leonard Maltin
This classic about an army of Hatian zombies who work in a sugar mill for the white man who controls them is one of the best from Hollywoods Golden Age of Horror Films. United Artists, USA Three Stars. Eerily made unique chiller. Leonard Maltin Superior to Dracula, although it was made on a much smaller budget. While Tod Brownings film was theatrical, garrulous and devoid of mood music, White Zombie is fluidly cinematic, filled with lengthy, wordless sequences and supported by an effective music score. Bela Lugosi throws himself into the part of Legendre with real relish, gleefully etching lines in venom, Gothic fairy tale filled with traditional symbols, dreamlike imagery, echoes of Romanticism and probably unintentional psychosexual overtones. Carlos Clarens. An Illustrated History of the Horror Film
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom look suspiciously like this famous fantasy-adventure picture from the makers of King Kong. Ancient manuscripts telling of a Flame of Eternal Life lead a Cambridge professor to a lost city in the Arctic and the Ice Queen who can never die until she falls in love. Escapist adventure on a grand scale. RKO Radio Pictures, USA Fun with outstanding Steiner score. Leonard Maltin A spectacular reuniting of several of the Kong gang screenplay by Ruth Rose, a thumping score by Max Steiner. Noble Johnson as the Amahagger chief. Even the colossal gate from Kong turned up again. In this film it opens to reveal an art deco staircase at the top of which She stands. If this is the best of the half-dozen filmed versions of Rider Haggards tall story, the reasons are visual: frisky sacrificial dances, a whopping avalanche, leaps over chasms, and the oddly-designed city beneath a glacier. Richard Roud, Film: A Critical Dictionary
The Cat and the Canary 1927
The Bad One 1930
Puttin on the Ritz 1930
She 1935
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American Classics
113
American Classics
Flying Deuces 1939

Directed by A. Edward Sutherland Written by Ralph Spence Harry Langdon Produced by Boris Morros Starring Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy James Finlayson 69 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Second Chorus 1940

Directed by H. C. Potter Written by Elaine Ryan Ian McClellan Hunter Frank Cavett Music by Artie Shaw Starring Fred Astaire Burgess Meredith Paulette Goddard Charles Butterworth Artie Shaw and His Band 84 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Forever and a Day 1943

Directed by Rene Clair Edmund Goulding Cedric Hardwicke Frank Lloyd Victor Saville Robert Stevenson Herbert Wilcox Written by C.S. Forester John Van Druten Christopher Isherwood R.C. Sherriff Norman Corwin James Hilton Produced by Herbert Wilcox Victor Saville Starring Anna Neagle, Ray Milland Claude Rains, C. Aubrey Smith Dame May Whitty, Gene Lockhart Ray Bolger, Edmund Gwenn Charles Coburn, Charles Laughton Buster Keaton, Wendy Barrie Ida Lupino, Brian Aherne Edward Everett Horton, June Duprez Eric Blore, Merle Oberon Una OConnor, Nigel Bruce Roland Young, Gladys Cooper Robert Cummings, Elsa Lanchester Sara Allgood, Donald Crisp Ruth Warrick, Herbert Marshall Victor McLaglen 104 minutes, 35mm, B&W
It Happened Tomorrow 1944

Directed by Rene Clair Written by Dudley Nichols Rene Clair Produced by Arnold Pressburger Starring Dick Powell Linda Darnell Jack Oakie Edgar Kennedy 84 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Knickerbocker Holiday 1944

Produced and directed by Harry Joe Brown Adapted by Thomas Lennon Screenplay by David Boehm Rowland Leigh Based on the 1938 Broadway musical Music by Kurt Weill Lyrics by Maxwell Anderson Based on Father Knickerbockers History of New York by Washington Irving Additional music by Werner Heymann Forman Brown Franz Steininger Jule Styne Sammy Cahn Starring Nelson Eddy Constance Dowling Charles Coburn Shelley Winters Otto Kroger Percy Kilbride 84 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Voice in the Wind 1944

Written and directed by Arthur Ripley Produced by Arthur Ripley Rudolph Monter Starring Francis Lederer Sigrid Gurie J. Carrol Naish 85 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
To overcome Ollies broken heart, the boys join the French Foreign Legion, only to end up in front of the firing squad. Boris Morros Productions, USA
A neat concoction of comedy, song and dance routines showcasing the talents of Fred Astaire in this light-hearted story about two college musicians (Astaire and Meredith) who battle the odds to rise to the top of their profession and battle each other for the favors of Paulette Goddard. Astaire has three dance numbers and three songs: Poor Mr. Chisholm, Would You Like To Be the Love of My Life, and Dig It. Paramount Pictures, USA Academy Award Nomination: Artie Shaw for Best Song, Love of My Life. Music by Artie Shaw, lyrics by Johnny Mercer.
This wonderful romantic-adventure yarn tells of Britains epochal struggles to retain the integrity of an empire and the freedom of her people by tracing the quaint history of a picturesque London mansion, its illustrious builder and his descendants from the Napoleonic period through the ravages of time and world-shattering conflicts until the days of the Nazi blitz. It showcases the talents of some of the most brilliant writers, performers and directors in the business and is absolutely crammed with funny bits of business. One of the most hilarious concerns the family who lived in the mansion during the late 19th century. Ever the young, modern wife engages a Dickensian inventor (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and his helper (Buster Keaton) to install Hardwickes latest invention, an enormous cast-iron bathtub. Her husband comes home and demands they rip it out and gets himself embroiled in a three-way argument with his wife and Hardwicke as to whether the thing stays or goes, while Keaton schleps up and down stairs with the tub on his back as the argument moves from take it out to put it back this instant and back again. RKO Radio Pictures, USA
Amusing and affecting passages derive in a measure from the story but in the main from superb performances. Bosley Crowther, The New York Times Four Stars. Leonard Maltin
Director Clairs whimsical fantasy comedy about a turn-of-the-century newspaper reporter (Powell) who mysteriously receives tomorrows paper today. The complications of knowing the future soon become apparent, as the reporters scoops draw the attention and interest of the police. United Artists, USA It Happened Tomorrow can shake hands with his [Clairs] best French films. This time, Rene Clair wasnt satisfied with directing a fairytale vaudeville, applying his rigorous aesthetics of the watchmaker-poet to this or that farcepretext. Instead, he bravely attacked a subject that Voltaire or Chamisso would have liked, a subject that could equally well have served as a theme for some somber film with philosophical pretensions. Never before has Rene Clairs precise and winged talent been exercised with such mastery. In a balletic rhythm, all the gears mesh perfectly, everything becomes ordered, everything works out with a clarity and an apparent simplicity. A little wine from home that doesnt lose anything in travel. Le Courrier de Paris
Peg-legged tyrant Peter Stuyvesant (Coburn) arrives in New Amsterdam to rule the city, uproot the old order and install his own no graft. Brom Breck (Eddy) expects the new governor to right all the wrongs of past administrations, but when he discovers that Stuyvesant is a bigger crook than the ones already in power, he steals Stuyvesants bejeweled wooden leg and wont give it back until the governor reforms. The memorable songs include September Song, and among the many funny characters youll find a petite Shelley Winters and Percy Kilbride playing in a role that foreshadows the Pa Kettle character he immortalized just a few years later. United Artists, USA Academy Award Nomination: Werner Heymann for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, 1944. Rousing escapist musical with humor, gaiety and songs. Film has nine songs, four from the original: Nowhere to Go But Up, It Never Was Anything But You, Indispensable Man, September Song and five new ones. Variety Although much of the political content of the stage version was lost in the screenplay, obvious parallels were drawn between Stuyvesants regime and the book-burning Nazis. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
In this gritty noir, a Czech pianist, driven half-mad by Nazi oppression, flees Europe to the island of Guadalupe. He finds a lost love there who is also a refugee waiting to enter the US. They fall in with crooked smugglers. Ripley/Monter Productions USA
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American Classics
Hangmen Also Die 1943
It is a film full of murky shadows, harsh commands and dangerous whispers.
Directed by Fritz Lang Written by Bertolt Brecht Fritz Lang Produced by Arnold Pressburger Photographed by James Wong Howe Starring Brian Donlevy Walter Brennan Ann Lee Dennis OKeefe 134 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Beautifully shot by James Wong Howe and tightly scripted by Brecht and Lang, this noir-like espionage thriller is set in occupied Czechoslovakia and revolves around the successful plot by the Czech resistance to assassinate Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia Hangman Reinhard Heydrich and the hunt by the Gestapo to track down the killers. Arnold Pressburger Films, USA Fritz Lang has returned to the starkly melodramatic style that marked his finest films. It is a film full of murky shadows, harsh commands and dangerous whispers. It reveals Lang as a master of contrived suspense. The New York Times
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American Classics
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American Classics
Song for Miss Julie 1945

Directed by William Rowland Written by Leighton Brill Produced by Carley Harriman William Rowland Starring Shirley Ross Barton Hepburn Jane Farrar 69 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
The Southerner 1945

Written and directed by Jean Renoir Based on the novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand by George Sessions Perry Photographed by Lucien Andriot Music by Werner Janssen Starring Zachary Scott Betty Field Beulah Bondi J. Carrol Naish Percy Kilbride Blanche Yurka Norman Lloyd 91 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Scandal in Paris 1946

Directed by Douglas Sirk Written by Ellis St. Joseph Adapted from the memoirs of Francois-Eugene Vidocq Starring George Sanders Carole Landis Akim Tamiroff Gene Lockhart 84 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Young Widow 1946

Directed by Edwin Marin Written by Clarissa Fairchild Cushman Starring Jane Russell Louis Hayward Penny Singleton Norman Lloyd 100 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Buffalo Bill Rides Again 1947

Directed by Bernard B. Ray Written by Frank Gilbert Produced by Jack Schwarz Starring Richard Arlen Jennifer Holt 69 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Carnegie Hall 1947

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer Screenplay by Karl Lamb Based on a story by Seena Owen Starring Marsha Hunt William Prince Frank McHugh Martha Driscoll Featuring performances by Gregor Piatigorsky Artur Rubinstein Jascha Heifetz Harry James 136 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Fun on a Weekend 1947

Written and directed by Andrew L. Stone Produced by Andrew L. Stone Starring Eddie Bracken Priscilla Lane 93 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Hollywood Barn Dance 1947

Directed by Bernard B. Ray Written by Dorothea Knox Martin Bernard B. Ray Produced by Jack Schwarz Starring Ernest Tubb Lori Talbott Helen Boyce 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
This musical comedy of manners pits North versus South when two playwrights come to town to research a 19th Century Southern gentleman for an operetta they are writing. Fearing that family secrets will be revealed, the gentlemans only surviving relative tries to stop them. Republic Pictures, USA
This superb drama about a family struggling against almost insurmountable odds to make their farm productive demonstrates how little things have changed in the decades since its production. United Artists, USA One of the most sensitive and beautiful American made pictures I have seen. There is a solemnly eager, smoky, foggy possum hunt which may be studio-faked for all I know; it gets perfectly the mournful, hungry mysteriousness of a Southern country winter. There is an equally good small-town street; I have seldom, in a movie, seen the corner of a brick building look at once so lonely and so highly charged with sadness and fear. James Agee, The Nation Not since The Grapes of Wrath has an American film got so close to the lives of the struggling poor, and The Southerner is nearer to that life because it has more of what might be called eternal verities in it. Human people in it will be long remembered by those with eyes to see and hearts to feel. New Movies
Sanders plays Franois Eugne Vidocq, the French thief turned chief of police of Paris. United Artists, USA
Independently produced by Hunt Stromberg, this was most audiences first view of Russell, Howard Hughes The Outlaw, having been pulled from distribution for re-editing. In this wartime drama, Russell plays a young journalist who cant get over the death of her husband. Hunt Stromberg Productions, USA
Buffalo Bill battles a criminal gang that is trying to run off settlers from land on which oil has been discovered. Jack Schwarz Productions, USA
A lush tribute to New York Citys Carnegie Hall and the classical musicians who perform there. The story line follows a young immigrant to New York who lands a job as a cleaning woman at the Hall, though her ambitions are for her son to someday perform on its stage. United Artists, USA Magnificent. The genius of its music and of the artists who present it makes Carnegie Hall a quality film presentation that will be a treat for any picture-goer. Variety
In this screwball comedy, Bracken and Lane play a flat-broke couple who masquerade as wealthy in order to attract well-heeled investors. Andrew L. Stone Productions, USA
A group of teenagers in a country-Western band are forced to hold their practice sessions in a nearby church. During a practice, the boys accidentally burn the church down. The group tours the West to raise the money to build a new church. Traveling away from home for the first time, the boys encounter drinking, gambling and other hardships until they find a barn in Texas that might just save the day. Screen Guild Productions, USA
Forever and a Day 1943
Scandal in Paris 1946
It Happened Tomorrow 1944
Young Widow 1946
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American Classics
Lured 1947
Lavish backgrounds and good acting.
Directed by Douglas Sirk Written by Leo Rosten Based on a story by Jacques Companeez, Ernest Neuville and Simin Gantillon Starring Lucille Ball George Sanders Boris Karloff Charles Coburn Sir Cedric Hardwick 103 minutes, 35mm, B&W
A serial killer is preying on young women in London, using the personal ads to lure them to their doom. Lucille Ball is the young dance hall girl recruited as bait by a Scotland Yard detective (Coburn). Among the suspects, a disturbed clothing designer (memorably played by Karloff) and a dashing playboy (George Sanders). A stylish blend of romance, comedy and film noir. Hunt Stromberg Productions, USA Lucille Ball gives a sturdy performance as a taxidancer in London who is drafted by Scotland Yard to be the bait in trapping a character who specializes in killing pretty girls. The New York Times
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American Classics
The Long Night 1947
A claustrophobic and gritty world for these doomed lovers.
Directed by Anatole Litvak Screenplay by John Wexley Based on a story by Jacques Viot Photographed by Sol Polito Starring Henry Fonda Barbara Bel Geddes Vincent Price Ann Dvorak Elisha Cook, Jr. 97 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Hollywood remake of Marcel Carnes Le Jour Se Leve (France, 1939) stars Fonda as Joe Adams, a WWII vet holed up in his dingy steel town apartment, surrounded by police who are looking to bring him in for the murder of a sleazy nightclub magician (played by a dapper Price). Bel Geddes, in her motion picture debut, is Joes demure girlfriend, who is in danger of falling into the predatory web being set by Price. Sol Politos photography and Eugene Lourie production design create a claustrophobic and gritty world for these doomed lovers to inhabit. RKO, USA
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American Classics
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American Classics
New Orleans 1947

Directed by Arthur Lubin Written by Elliot Paul Dick Irving Hyland Based on a story by Elliot Paul and Herbert J. Biberman Starring Arturo De Cordova Dorothy Patrick Featuring performances by Louis Armstrong Billie Holiday Woody Herman Kid Ory 90 minutes, 35mm, B&W
On Our Merry Way (aka A Miracle Can Happen) 1948

Directed by King Vidor Leslie Fenton John Huston George Stevens Written by Laurence Stallings Based on original stories by John OHara, Arch Oboler and Lou Breslow Starring James Stewart Henry Fonda Paulette Goddard Dorothy Lamour Burgess Meredith Fred MacMurray William Demarest Harry James 108 minutes, 35mm, B&W
I Killed Geronimo 1950

Directed by John Hoffman Written by Sam Neuman Nat Tanchuck Produced by Jack Rabin Starring James Ellison Virginia Herrick Chief Thundercloud 62 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Badmans Gold 1951

Written and directed by Robert Tansey Produced by Jack Schwarz Starring Johnny Carpenter Alyn Lockwood Daisy 56 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
The Hoodlum 1951

Directed by Lawrence Tierney Produced by Maurice Kosloff Jack Schwarz Starring Lawrence Tierney Edward Tierney 61 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Korea Patrol 1951

Directed by Max Nosseck Written by Kenneth G. Brown Walter Shenson Produced by Walter Shenson Starring Richard Emory Sung Li Benson Fong 59 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
The Living Idol 1957

Written and directed by Albert Lewin Photographed by Jack Hildyard Starring James Robertson Justice Steve Forrest Lilliane Montevecchi 100 minutes, Color, 35mm in English with French subtitles
A look at the birth of jazz in one of Americas finest music towns. Set in 1917, the main narrative is that of King of Basin Street Nick Duquesne (De Cordova), the owner of a gambling joint who falls in love with an opera-singing socialite (Patrick). The film showcases performances by Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman, and Kid Ory, including a memorable Farewell to Storyville, sung by Holiday. United Artists, USA
A lighthearted comedy in which aspiring reporter Meredith (the films co-producer) travels around posing a question suggested to him by his wife (Goddard): What influence has a little child had in your life? His travels introduce him to a variety of strangers whose stories unfold. In an episode directed by an uncredited John Huston, James Stewart and Henry Fonda play down-and-out jazz musicians involved in a rigged talent contest, judged by band leader Harry James. Dorothy Lamour plays an actress who tells the story of working with an unruly child actor who almost ruins her career. In the last episode, MacMurray and Demarest are travelling con men who meet their match in the form of a 10-yearold boy nicknamed Sniffles. United Artists, USA The cast couldnt have been better. The storys execution falters because a scene here and there is inclined to strive too much for a whimsical effect. But Meredith responds capitally to the mood of the character he plays, being given more of a chance to do so than any of the other stars. Variety
A riveting action film about the fictionalized death of Geronimo, famous Apache war chief. I Killed Geronimo gives viewers all of the essential elements for a great Western. Jack Schwarz Productions, USA
US Marshalls investigate a series of stagecoach robberies in this B Western. Daisy the Dog was also featured in the Blondie series of films. Jack Schwarz Productions, USA
The Hoodlum is a journey into the seedyunderbelly of urban society few dare to tread. Vincent Lubeck, recently released from prison, rejoins his mother and brother to devise a new life of crime. Sex, betrayal, crime, murder, the viewer will find all of these elements in Lawrence Tierneys very underrated film noir. Jack Schwarz Productions, USA
UN soldiers use a South Korean scouting guide to navigate hostile territory in search of a vital enemy bridge. Many lives are lost throughout the heroic mission. Nossecks war movie takes on the look of a gritty true-to-life documentary, with added newsreel footage of real combat. Jack Schwarz Productions, USA
An Albert Lewin production about a Mexican girl who becomes possessed by the spirit of the Jaguar God to whom local Mayan maidens were once sacrificed. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Mexico/USA Pretentious but rather enjoyable highbrow hokum of the heady kind expected from this producer. Leslie Halliwell Exotic spree of drama and mysticism. John Douglas Eames, The MGM Story
New Orleans 1947
The Living Idol 1957
On Our Merry Way 1948
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American Classics
Sudden Fear 1952
Encompassing ecstatic love, fear, hate and revenge.
Directed by David Miller Written by Lenore Coffee Robert Smith Produced by Joseph Kaufman Photographed by Charles Lang Jr. Music by Elmer Bernstein Starring Joan Crawford Jack Palance Gloria Grahame 111 minutes, 35mm, B&W
A rediscovered masterpiece of film noir. A glossy, well-paced thriller with plenty of suspense. Joan Crawford plays a successful and wealthy playwright who falls in love and marries Jack Palance, a mediocre actor who, she discovers, only married her for her money and with the aid of an old flame (Gloria Grahame), plans to murder her. RKO Radio Pictures, USA Three and a half stars. Leonard Maltin Academy Award Nominations: Charles Lang Jr for Best B&W Cinematography, Joan Crawford for Best Actress, and Jack Palance for Best Supporting Actor. 1952 Suspense drama tailored for Joan Crawford. It allows her to experience a familiar gamut of emotions, encompassing ecstatic love, fear, hate and revenge chiller replete with clever gimmicks mounted handsomely to take advantage of the stars box office value. Variety
Classic American Comedy Shorts
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Bring Em Back Sober 1931

Directed by Babe Stafford Written by Mack Sennett Starring Jackie the Lion Marge Beebee Arthur Stone Melvin Koontz 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Courting Trouble 1932

Directed by Leslie Pearce Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Charles Murray Arthur Stone Aggie Herring 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
False Impressions 1932

Directed by Leslie Pearce Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Marge Beebee Dorothy Granger Edmund Bums 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Hawkins and Watkins, Inc. 1932

Directed by Michael Emmes Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Daphne Pollard Matt McHugh Charles Gemora 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Jimmys New Yacht 1932

Directed by Del Lord Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Ray Cooke Franklin Pangborn Babe Kane Lucien Littlefield 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Meet the Senator 1932

Directed by Del Lord Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Heine Conklin Blanche Payson Natalie Kingston George Byron 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Loud Mouth 1932

Directed by Del Lord Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Matt McHugh Marjorie Kane Franklin Pangborn The Los Angeles Angels 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Mack Sennett
Jackie, the lovable lion, plays a house-cat who scares off a drunk and protects his trainers wife. Paramount Pictures, USA
Charles just wants to have a night out on the town away from his wife and controlling motherin-law. The two are not too happy about that. When he gets arrested after his first night of freedom, the judge sentences him to a month in womens clothing. Now he must deal with embarrassment, housework and a friend who wants a favor that just might just put him in jail. Paramount Pictures, USA
Shopgirl Marge and her friend Dorothy pose as royalty in the hopes of catching a millionaire. They are invited to a party at a Long Island mansion, but little do they know that their hosts throwing the soiree also have something to hide. The real owners of the mansion return and the imposters are revealed to be not millionaires but the help. Paramount Pictures, USA
Two down-and-out private eyes save the wealthy Beatrice De Vere from the clutches of her butler and a gorilla. Paramount Pictures, USA
News of Jimmys new yacht travels fast after his girl invites her disapproving father to join the couple for a day on the water. High society friends invite themselves to the party and plan to head out to sea, only to discover that Jimmys yacht is just a small motorboat. On top of mechanical problems with the motor, Jimmy must also compete with a rival for his girls affection. Can Jimmy still get the girl? You bet he can! Paramount Pictures, USA
An errant husband tries to pass off his bootlegger as a famous senator in an attempt to explain to his wife why he was out all night. The ruse is quickly discovered and she turns the tables on him by playing her own gag. Soon the whole town is pursuing him. Paramount Pictures, USA
A gamblers plot to fix the World Series goes awry. McHugh plays a loud-mouthed sports fan who is used by gamblers to disrupt the Series. On the train to St. Louis, the players get wise and sabotage his voice, ruining the gamblers plans. Paramount Pictures, USA
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A Wrestlers Bride 1933

Directed by Babe Stafford Arthur Ripley Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Eddie Gibbon Joyce Compton 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Caliente Love 1933

Directed by George Marshall Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Walter Catlett Joyce Compton 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Daddy Knows Best 1933

Directed by Leslie Pearce Written by Clyde Bruckman Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Walter Catlett Ben Alexander Joyce Compton 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Dont Play Bridge with Your Wife 1933

Directed by Leslie Pearce Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Nora Lane Marge Beebee Grady Sutton Cornelius Keefe 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Dream Stuff 1933

Directed by William Crowley Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Walter Catlett Joyce Compton Franklin Pangborn 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Husbands Reunion 1933

Directed by George Marshall Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Walter Catlett Grady Sutton Nora Lane 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Knockout Kisses 1933

Directed by George Marshall Written by Cliff Foerster Produced by Mack Sennett Starring Charlie Delaney Joyce Compton Marge Beebee Richard Hemingway 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Roadhouse Queen 1933

Directed by Leslie Pearce Produced and written by Mack Sennett Starring Walter Catlett Nora Lane 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Scissors Jackson is a no-talent wrestler who is preparing for the world championship bout. Unfortunately, perhaps due to too many blows to the head, he cant remember when the fight is scheduled to take place. With the help of his fiance and trusty manager, can this underdog take the belt? Paramount Pictures, USA
Marry the woman and you marry the family! A couple of newlyweds begin their marriage with a honeymoon to Mexico. When the young husband carries his bride over the threshold, he finds his brides rejected and drunk suitor in their bed. In a strange twist, the groom ends up having to sleep with his rival, as well as his new father-in-law. Chaos ensues as a monkey joins them, along with the rest of the family and guests. Paramount Pictures, USA
Walter Catlett suspects that his well-behaved daughter Peggy is a closet jazz-baby due to her frequent late nights. Grounding her doesnt help and when her boyfriend takes her for another night out, Daddy follows them to a party where he gets into trouble with a mob boss, only to be saved by his daughters beau. Paramount Pictures, USA
A hilarious history of squabbles through the ages over who should have played what trick and when. It begins in the Stone Age, where players bid real clubs and spades and use them to belabor their opponents. Paramount Pictures, USA
Walter Catlett teaches his shy nephew how to catch a girl. A wild dream sequence ends the film. Paramount Pictures, USA
A couple of young newlyweds are enjoying their marital bliss when they have an unexpected house guest: an ex-husband, played by Catlett. It doesnt take much time before he wears out his welcome and the two men battle it out. They end up having to take the shenanigans to court and having the judge sort out the mess. Paramount Pictures, USA
Middleweight champion Frankie Riley leaves his girlfriend Joyce McNeil for Broadway actress Blanche LaRue. To get back at him, she hires another boxer to fight the champ. Riley agrees to the bout, but little does he know that the fix is in, because he will actually be facing identical twins. Paramount Pictures, USA
Walter Catlett lectures his son about the importance of marrying well. Junior takes the message to heart and gets himself engaged to a young woman who sings from a trapeze at the local speakeasy. Paramount Pictures, USA
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See You Tonight 1933

Directed by William Crowley Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Tom Moore Nora Lane Marge Beebee 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Sweet Cookie 1933

Directed by George Marshall Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Franklin Pangborn Marge Beebee 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Big Fibber 1933

Directed by George Marshall Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Walter Catlett Billy Gilbert Elise Cavanna Grady Sutton 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Plumber and the Lady 1933

Directed by Babe Stafford Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Frank Alber Marge Beebee Joyce Compton 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Too Many Highballs 1933

Directed by Clyde Bruckman Written and produced by Mack Sennett Starring Lloyd Hamilton Marge Beebee Aggie Herring 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Nora Lane tries her best to seduce a young playboy but he doesnt seem very interested. He thinks she is too spoiled, so he tries to teach her a lesson by switching places with the butler. His amusement at her expense eventually brings the pair together after many pranks, jokes and laughs. Paramount Pictures, USA
Marge is a great cook whose food makes up for all the trouble she causes her employers: noise, late nights and a boyfriend who is a police officer. When she announces she is getting married, her employers are desperate to make her stay, but in the end she really may not be worth the trouble. Paramount Pictures, USA
When Walter Catlett comes home after a 20-year absence, his family mistakes him for a burglar. Paramount Pictures, USA
Fawcett is a plumber who has fallen in love with a woman he sees walking by his store every day. A musical whirlwind romance brings the two happily together. Sadly, a rift develops between the two lovers that can only be mended by a wacky brawl and an animated cartoon finale. Paramount Pictures, USA
When his in-laws move in, marital bliss goes out the window for Lloyd Hamilton. His brother-in-law is more content with mooching Lloyds stash of booze than looking for work. When it gets to be too much, Lloyd finally tries to make it unpleasant for his guests by lacing his brother-in-laws hooch with castor oil. Paramount Pictures, USA
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The Treasurers Report 1928

Directed by Thomas Chalmers Written and narrated by Robert Benchley 9 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Sex Life of the Polyp 1929

Directed by Thomas Chalmers Written and narrated by Robert Benchley 9 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Trouble with Husbands 1940

Directed by Leslie Roush Written and narrated by Robert Benchley 9 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Crime Control 1941

How to Take a Vacation 1941

Directed by Leslie Roush Written by and starring Robert Benchley 9 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Waiting for Baby 1941

The Forgotten Man 1941

Robert Benchley
In 1922, Robert Benchley, grandfather of author Peter Benchley (Jaws), drama critic for Life magazine, and one of the members of the Algonquin Hotels Round Table (which included friends like Dorothy Parker, Marc Connelly and Alexander Woollcott) walked onto a Broadway stage, cleared his throat and proceeded to entrance the audience with a deadly-dry financial report, a parody of such speeches. The routine became world-famous as The Treasurers Report. Benchley later said he inflicted it upon the public in every conceivable way except over the radio and dropping it from aeroplanes. Fox filmed it in 1928 and signed him for five more pictures. 20th Century Fox, USA
Witty and urbane, Robert Benchley spoofs scientific lectures by attempting to explain the mating habits of polyps and getting hilariously entangled by his examples. 20th Century Fox, USA It is hard to believe the short is over 50 years old. The film, in which Dr. Benchley is lecturing to a ladies luncheon club on his scientific research concerning the polyp, aided by some nonsensical slides, is fresh and delightful. The absurdity of the lecture reaches a climatic peak when Benchley explains that the male polyp glows brightly when displaying sexual attraction towards the female of the species, but for experiments sake he substituted a collar button for the male polyp and then a piece of cornbread for the female polyp, which didnt seem to have any effect on the males reactions. Benchley then explains that he and his assistant reluctantly abandoned their experiment at this point to examine some other creature that takes its sex life a little more seriously. Leonard Maltin, The Great Movie Shorts
Among the many characteristics that distinguish husbands and wives is the penchant the wife has for finding something constructive for her husband to do at the precise instant he is departing for a camping trip with the boys an event he has been planning and has talked about for weeks before. Paramount Pictures, USA
Normal folk need never fear inanimate objects. Simply hide your real intentions from them, and this will prevent them from getting the upper hand regardless of the circumstances. Paramount Pictures, USA
Benchley gives his famous how to lecture on how to have a relaxing vacation. Paramount Pictures, USA
Waiting for the arrival of a new baby can be a rewarding experience for the expectant father. Humorist Benchley opines and explains why in this hilarious comedy. Paramount Pictures, USA
In this sequel to Waiting for Baby, Benchley explains in hilarious detail why the expectant father is the forgotten man. Paramount Pictures, USA
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Keeping in Shape 1942

Nothing But Nerves 1942

The Mans Angle 1942

The Witness 1942

The Burns and Allen Collection 19301933

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W One of the most beloved teams of vaudeville, radio, films and television, George Burns and Gracie Allen both entered show business at an early age. George had a checkered career in East Side taverns in New York and spent time as a trick roller skater and dance teacher. Then came a succession of song-and-dance acts. In 1923 he chose Gracie Allen as his partner. She had been with a sister act and then with an Irish troupe on the West Coast before heading East to seek fame on the stage. Realizing the audience laughed more at her straight lines than at his funny answers, George switched their roles and became one of the most famous straight men in the business. For her part, Gracie volleyed hilarious non-sequiturs that made intelligent conversations with her described as trying to talk to that woman is like taking hold of a doorknob and having it come off in your hand.
Fit to Be Tied 1930

George and Gracies first sound-on-film short. In the end George prompts Gracie to bid her first recorded goodbye to the audience a routine they replayed through their television years until her retirement in 1958. Gracie plays a clerk in a tie store.
Once Over, Light 1931

Gracie plays fun and games with George when he comes into the barber shop for a manicure.
Your Hat 1931

George works in a hat shop where he sells one customer his own hat and gets Gracie as his next customer. Their comedy repartee is full of outrageous puns.
Pulling a Bone 1930

Gracie works behind the drugstore lunch counter with George as her customer. George gets a bone caught in his throat and Gracie serves him a piece of pie. Heres a piece of pie. Is that necessary? No, its apple.
Walking the Baby 1932

Gracie is a nanny taking a baby through the park when she stops to visit with street cleaner George. Where were you born? In a hospital. Oh, were you sick? No, I wanted to be near my mother.
The Antique Shop 1930

Gracie clerks in an antique shop where George comes to buy a statue. Their conversation together only remotely resembles human communication.
Lets Dance 1933

Gracie is a dance-hall girl to Georges visiting sailor. Full of Burns and Allen fun.
Benchley takes us on a hilarious tour of a health spa. He lectures on the pros of dieting and exercise while, in a second role, also demonstrates the cons. Paramount Pictures, USA
Feeling jumpy and out of sorts? You wont be after laughing at Benchleys hilarious explanation of why youve been that way and what you can do about It. Paramount Pictures, USA
In his continuing examination of the battle of the sexes, Benchley concludes that its not the husbands but the wives who are at fault in this follow-up to The Trouble with Husbands. Paramount Pictures, USA
Based on one of Robert Benchleys most famous humorous essays, Take the Witness, this hilarious comedy explains how to be a good witness in court. Paramount Pictures, USA
Burns and Allen
100% Service 1931

Gracie works at the hotel cigar stand and after thoroughly exasperating customer George, he opines that she could make it big in the movies as a vampire. Gracies unsure. I dont know anything about baseball.
Babbling Book 1931

Gracie clerks in a bookstore and takes hilarious pokes at books and authors when George comes in to buy a book.
Oh, My Operation 1931

George is a patient in the hospital and draws Gracie as his nurse. There is a spate of doctor jokes and funny routines.
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The Tom Howard Collection 19301933

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W One of times most unjustly forgotten comedians, Tom Howard was a vaudeville monologist who starred in several editions of The Greenwich Village Follies during the 1920s. He has a self-deprecating, dry humor and specializes in commenting with the deadpan earnestness of a crackerbarrel philosopher on surreal situations. In the 30s, Howard became the quizmaster of the radio panel show, It Pays To Be Ignorant, whose panelists invariably missed such questions as What color is a white horse? The show ran for years and was transferred to early television with the same personnel. In the shorts that follow, Howard performs at his lunatic best just prior to his long career in radio. USA
Go Ahead and Sing 1930

Directed by Mort Blumenstock Starring Tom Howard Sam Kearn Joe Lyon In a classic comedy act, Tom Howard agrees to sing in order to help a street fiddler expand his act. Unfortunately, they happen to be rehearsing in front of a hospital. Whenever the attendant objects, the fiddler urges his partner to continue singing with dire results for Tom. All three actors in this short met in the Greenwich Village Follies of 1925.
Breaking Even 1932

During the Depression, Tom befriends a failed businessman and makes him a partner in his own business, selling nothing in an empty store which, he says, eliminates all worry about money. Dry wit and sheer lunacy.
The Lulu McConnell Collection 1930

1020 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Lulu McConnell (1882-1962) was an inimitable comedienne who later became familiar to a vast radio and early television audience as a panel member on Tom Howards mock quiz show, It Pays To Be Ignorant. USA
Neighborly Neighbors 1930

20 minutes Virginia and Robert Hyman make the mistake of asking their new neighbors in for an evening of bridge. The husband is taciturn and hen-pecked and the wife (Lulu McConnell) is a non-stop talker who, with the help of a drink or two, succeeds in making a complete fool of herself.
The Rookie 1932

Directed by Eddie Cline Policeman Tom tries to show the ropes to a rookie and proves he is easily the biggest bumbler on the force by calmly playing with a live grenade and letting the crooks escape with a whole jewelry store.
Red, Green and Yellow 1930

10 minutes Lulu and hubby decide to use the traffic light outside their window to regulate their domestic spats. A perfect example of comedic pacing.
The African Dodger 1930

A standard feature at American fairs and carnivals of yesteryear was pitching baseballs at a live target, usually a young black boy who poked his head through a canvas cutout and did his best to dodge the onrushing balls hence the name African dodger. Here, Tom Howard takes the job after the boy quits due to severe injury.
Detective Tom Howard of The Suicide Squad 1933

Directed by Eddie Cline Tom Howard and George Shelton are assigned to the suicide detail. They meet one would-be suicide by the river and tell him of the legal consequences of his deed, and dissuade another for trying to kill herself without a prior appointment. Finally, Tom soft-heartedly allows her to jump in together with the other applicant.
The Introduction of Mrs. Gibbs 1930

10 minutes About to be married into high society, a young girl undergoes the trauma of introducing her mother, who runs a low-class boarding house for bit actors (Lulu McConnell), to her prospective mother-in-law. Lulu puts both feet in it and slowly evolves into the inebriated routine she made famous in vaudeville.
Tom Howard
Lulu McConnell
The Pest 1930

Tom plays the meddlesome neighbor who horns in, as his friend (Edward Keane) tries to sell his car to a stranger. With genial naivet, Tom reveals the cars hidden faults until the deal falls through.
My Wifes Jewelry 1931

Written by Eddie Cantor A surreal encounter between Howard as a gentleman burglar caught in the act of robbing jewels from the family safe by the husband of the house. They and the equally polite cop who shows up to exchange all the courtesies of a social visit.
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The Great Pants Mystery 1930
The Smith & Dale Collection 19291931

1020 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Smith & Dale, Joe Sultzer (18841981) and Charles Marks (18811971), inspired Neil Simons The Sunshine Boys. They became a comedy team as teenagers on Manhattans Lower East Side in 1898, and later became famous for their Dr. Kronkheit routine (Did you ever have these pains before? Yes. Well, now youve got them again.) They performed the routine with minor variations for more than half a century in every medium. They acquired their stage names accidentally. About to order their calling cards, they discovered the stationer had a batch already printed up for Smith & Dale, a team that had just broken up their act. He offered the cards at a fraction of the going rate, so Sultzer and Marks became Smith & Dale. Paramount Pictures, USA
The False Alarm Fire Company 1929

10 minutes Pure old fashioned vaudeville. Smith & Dale as a fire chief and his lieutenant play cards and calmly discuss other issues as they ignore frantic phone calls from people whose houses are on fire.
The Arabian Shrieks 1931

20 minutes In the Foreign Legion, Smith & Dale volunteer for spy duty by mistake, penetrate a sheiks hideout and save the fort. Besides the hilarious banter, this short is interesting for its use of stock footage from the 1926 Paramount feature Beau Geste, whose exteriors were filmed in an actual desert.
Accidents Will Happen 1930

10 minutes A funny routine about the lengths to which a dishonest man will go to defraud an insurance company by turning a near-miss into an accident.
What Price Pants 1931

Directed by Casey Robinson 20 minutes A funny garment center sketch in which pants manufacturer Dale discovers his best pants maker Smith is about to inherit a fortune. He makes him a partner only to learn when the contract is signed that its all a hoax.
La Schnaps, Inc. 1930

20 minutes Clothes buyer Strudel (Dale) visits clothing manufacturer Schnaps (Smith) and gets sold a bill of goods his hand in marriage to Schnaps ugly daughter.
Smith & Dale
The Great Pants Mystery 1930

Directed by Norman Taurog 20 minutes Inept private detectives intent only on free room and board, Smith & Dale move into a mans house to investigate the mans complaint that his pants keep disappearing. The dialogue bristles with wonderful puns and zingy one-liners.
The S.S. Malaria 1930

10 minutes Three routines strung together to form a single plot: the first at a passport office where Smith & Dale discuss their destination; the second in which they try to pick up a couple of girls aboard ship; the third is their dying confession routine, which also was one of their best laugh-getters in a 50-year career in vaudeville.
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The Jack Benny Collection 1931

1020 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Jack Benny (18941974) had a brief career in Broadway musicals and turned to radio in 1932 to become the top comedian of the airwaves. Star of stage, screen, radio and television, Benny made these short films in which he is seen still groping for a comedy character best suited to his unique style. He plays the swinging single whose humor is based on dialogue rather than on his personality. He was later to settle on the character of a stingy, vain, perennially 39 year-old. Even though these shorts show a comedy character in its formative stage, there are obvious elements of the worldfamous personality who would emerge fully in due time on radio and television. Paramount Pictures, USA
The Eddie Cantor Collection 19291930

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Born Edward Iskowitz on Manhattans Lower East Side, Eddie Cantor (18921964) became one of the top entertainers in vaudeville, musical comedy, the Ziegfeld Follies, radio, film and television. His routines were embellished with his trademark restless prance, fluttery hand-clap, and banjo-eye expressions. His comic songs and records sold by the millions, even in the Depression. Successful gag writer and author, he devoted much of his later life to charitable causes. Paramount Pictures, USA
The Chester Conklin Collection 19301931

20 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Chester Conklin (18861971) took elocution lessons and participated in dramatic recitals in his hometown of Oskaloosa, Iowa, but became a Mack Sennett slapstick star in Hollywood. Often teamed with Chaplin, Fields, Mack Swain and Vernon Dent, his slapstick training is evident in these shorts. Paramount Pictures, USA
The Dane & Arthur Collection 1931

20 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Karl Dane (18861934) was a Danish migr who came to the United States during World War I, having had a distinguished acting career in Copenhagen. His first big break came as the tobacco-chewing doughboy in King Vidors 1925 classic, The Big Parade. George K. Arthur (1899 1985) was born in Scotland, came to America in 1922 after appearing on the Shakespearean stage and in films in England. His first wellknown role was that of the sad, dreamy hero in Josef von Sternbergs The Salvation Hunters. As a comedy team, Dane & Arthur made pictures during the transition from silent to sound movies. George K. Arthur later became a film distributor and producer. Dane failed to find a future for himself and committed suicide in 1934. Paramount Pictures, USA
Cleaning Up 1930
Directed by Harry Edwards Conklin and Mack Swain are street cleaners who prevent a crime and are offered a job on the police force.
Getting a Ticket 1929

Eddie tries to stall the officer who stops him for speeding by bribing him with a bottle of (at the time, illegal) whiskey. Failing that, he invents an involved and totally irrelevant story, and finally, discloses his identity and sings My Wife Is On A Diet to prove it. This gets him off the hook for speeding, but ticketed anyway for disturbing the peace.
A Broadway Romeo 1931

20 minutes Jack is a seasoned city slicker who takes newcomer Estalle Brody under his wing. When they read in the out-of-town papers that their respective hometown sweethearts are getting married, they share their disappointment by keeping each other company.
Gents of Leisure 1931 Chester Conklin

Directed by Del Lord Chester and Vernon Dent are loafers who find a dollar and treat themselves to a meal, unaware that the dollar has fallen out of their money pouch. They eat and run, and the plot escalates to an all-out train chase in the best slapstick fashion.
A Put Up Job 1931

Out of work, Dane & Arthur get a job delivering and assembling a pre-fab house; its a mess. The bathroom fixtures are mounted sideways and drive the intended residents crazy.
Jack Benny
Eddie Cantor
Dane & Arthur
That Party in Person 1929

More of Eddie Cantors dry wit in action.
Shove Off 1931

Directed by Eddie Cline After getting knocked out after a fight with some sailors, Arthur dreams a hilarious sequence aboard a battleship under bosun Dane.
Cab Waiting 1931

20 minutes Man-about-town Jack meets an erudite cabbie and a frivolous showgirl. With good-natured sarcasm, he escorts her to the theatre and then to her home, where they eventually agree to marry, with the ubiquitous cabbie as guest of honor.
Insurance 1930
Eddie plays doctor for a medical examination for insurance purposes. (On which side are you Jewish? On the East Side. What did your grandfather die of? Throat trouble they hanged him.) He also sings, Now That The Girls Are Wearing Long Dresses as he eyes the pretty nurse.
The Studio Sap 1931

Chester sneaks into a movie studio dressing room and disturbs the chorus girls, disrupts a silly German directors love scene, and disguises himself as Fatima the harem dancer to escape the doctors wrath. It climaxes in a pie-throwing melee.
Summer Daze 1931

Dane & Arthur take a joint trip into the great outdoors with their wives, but camping does not prove to be the joy they had hoped for.
Taxi Tangle 1931

10 minutes A spoof of Manhattan traffic jams. Jack in one cab, meets, woos, and wins a lady in an adjacent cab, then proceeds to locate a Justice of the Peace to marry them, argues with his new wife, and also annuls the marriage all before the traffic light changes from red to green.
The Thirteenth Alarm 1931

Directed by Del Lord Chester plays a bumbling fireman who buys a worthless invention, starts a fire with it, and disrupts attempts to put it out. The unwilling victim of most of the mishaps is Vernon Dent, long-time side-kick of Harry Langdon.
The Lease Breakers 1931

Pure Sennett-type slapstick. Dane & Arthur, professional apartment wreckers hired to induce the landlord into freeing the tenants from a longterm lease, create havoc when they hit the wrong apartment.
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The Al St. John Collection 1931

20 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Roscoe Fatty Arbuckles nephew, Al St. John (18931963), trained as a circus acrobat and got a job as Arbuckles nimble second banana, learning the business alongside Buster Keaton. From the mid-30s on, he switched to Westerns as Fuzzy St. John, playing a humorous sidekick to Buster Crabbe and other Western stars. Between the two extremes he appeared in his most interesting roles and, as a comedy star in his own right, in a series of comedy shorts. Here they are, delightful and well-paced, with Al as a timid young man with a flair for underplayed comedy. Paramount Pictures, USA
All Sealed Up 1931

Al wants to get married but the minister speaks only Polish and the wedding guests are a bunch of bums, but it all turns out to be a prank played on the couple by best man Earle Gilbert. The real fun begins when an unexpected guest (Als playful pet seal) shows up at the wedding.
More Comedy Classics 19281934

1020 minutes each, 35mm, B&W A sampling of comedy classics showcasing the talents of many famous stars. Paramount Pictures, USA
Humorous Flights 1929

10 minutes Donald Ogden Stewarts amusing lecture on birds for a bird-watchers club. Humorist, respected author and playwright, Stewart received an Oscar for his brilliant screenplay for The Philadelphia Story (1940).
Auto Intoxication 1931

Directed by Albert Ray Starring Ford Sterling Frank Allworth 20 minutes
Harem Scarem 1931

Al plays Henry, the meek garment district worker who lets everyone walk all over him. A fake clairvoyant cures him of his feelings of inferiority by telling him about a famous ancestor in Bagdad who saved a harem beauty. Harriet Hilliard, mother of the late Rick Nelson, has a small role as a model.
Always a Gentleman 1928

Written and directed by Norman Taurog Starring Lloyd Hamilton Stanley Blystone Al Thomson Jack Miller 20 minutes Three friends need a forth for a round of golf and invite the worst player they can possibly find, which sets off an incredible adventure on the links. Strictly following the play it where it lands rule, no surface is left unscathed, including another golfers dome and the bottom of the pond. After the game, the friends invite their new partner back to their home, which unfortunately turns out to be the local asylum. Lloyd Hamilton Corporation
Traffic Regulations 1929

10 minutes Donald Ogden Stewarts hilarious attack on New York Police Commissioner Grover Whalens introduction of one-way streets to solve Manhattans traffic problems.
Allworth is a high-pressure salesman who talks Ford Sterling into buying a car, then sends his pals to fleece him for insurance, doctor bills and lawyers fees. Sterling, Mack Sennetts best comedian until displaced by Chaplin, does a fine job as the harassed buyer, who finally cracks up under the strain.
Mlle. Irene the Great 1931

Directed by Eddie Cline
Love in the Suburbs 1930

20 minutes Victor Moore specialized in playing bumbling incompetents and reached his zenith as the inept Vice President of the US in Of Thee I Sing (1932). This is one of his earliest sound shorts in which he plays an erring husband, sneaking into the house in the early morning hours. Hale Norcross is the policeman who mistakes Moores wife for the new maid and adds to the confusion by flirting with her.
The Big Splash 1931

Directed by Ray Cozine Starring Johnny Weissmuller Harold Snubby Kruger Ed Sullivan Marie Burke 20 minutes Winner of five gold medals in swimming in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, Weissmuller is seen here in an unusual featurette, made shortly before he was signed by MGM for the role of Tarzan. He is introduced by Ed Sullivan and demonstrates several strokes and dives. Snubby Kruger, an accomplished athlete and one-time stuntman for Douglas Fairbanks, parodies Weissmullers prowess in the water.
Al St. John
Al is almost discouraged from marrying Aileen Cook when her family turns out to be a bunch of noisy circus performers. At the wedding, even the minister joins the act and barely has time to complete the ceremony.
More Comedy Classics
The Door Knocker 1931

Directed by Eddie Cline Al sells books door-to-door and begins a series of hilarious encounters with apartment house tenants.
Belle of the Night 1929

20 minutes Dorothy McNulty, who later changed her name to Penny Singleton and gained fame as Blondie in the movie series based on the famous comic strip, plays the flirtatious wife of a Hudson riverboat captain. Among the assorted men on the make she shamelessly bamboozles is Frank Morgan (18901949), best remembered for playing the title role in The Wizard of Oz.
The Hot Air Merchant 1930

20 minutes Charlie Ruggles lectures on the techniques of gentle seduction as practiced by marriageable girls in the days before womens lib, when an eligible girls social success was measured entirely by the kind of husband she managed to capture. Though dated, this tongue-in-cheek lecture, accompanying the visual depiction of the male victim who falls prey to womanly wiles, is spiritedly enacted by Ruggles, Betty Garde and Paul Clare.
The Installment Collector 1931

10 minutes Fred Allen plays the editor of a small newspaper plagued by a relentless bill collector. This is Allens first film appearance and displays his trademark witty sarcasm, free use of puns and metaphors and a jaundiced view of the world.
Highlowbrow 1929
20 minutes S. J. Kaufman wrote this funny story in which three short stories are acted out: Regrets by Guy de Maupassant, The Guest by Lord Dunsany and The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry.
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Cold Turkey 1933

Directed by Del Lord Starring Joseph Cawthorn 20 minutes After bringing home a live turkey won in a raffle, Cawthorn is overheard by an excitable neighbor telling his wife he will kill him. The neighbor calls the police, thinking there is a murder afoot. Paramount Pictures, USA
Behind the Scenes 19291949

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W A sampling of short films that takes the viewer behind the scenes at the studios to demonstrate how the movies are made. Paramount Pictures, USA
Voice of Hollywood Series 19311932

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W A sample of a series of short compilations of scenes featuring recognizable stars, produced by Louis Lewyn, husband of Marion Mack (Buster Keatons heroine in the 1927 classic The General). Developed while Hollywood was still in transition to sound, each scene was enacted especially to provide stars with an opportunity to perform with sound. Produced over a two-year period for Tiffany Productions, Lewyn went to Paramount in August 1932 to make a similar series, Hollywood On Parade. Tiffany Productions USA
Poppin the Cork 1933

24 minutes Milton Berle is a college buffoon who debates in favor of repeal of Prohibition and marries the deans daughter after getting her mother drunk. Two musical numbers are staged with a surprisingly lavish production and a number of chorus girls. Berle played child parts in silent films at Biograph Studios. Later, he toured the Keith-Albee circuit, went on to Broadway musical comedy and, finally, in the late 1940s, Uncle Miltie became televisions first superstar.
Behind the Scenes
Hollywood on Parade Series 19321934

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W
Mr. Ws Little Game 1934

10 minutes Alexander Woollcott was one of the brightest stars in the New York literary firmament of the 1920s. Raconteur, reporter, top drama critic and frequent contributor to The New Yorker, Woollcott was a member of the distinguished Algonquin Hotel Round Table. In this film, Woollcott teaches a table companion an intriguing little word game, and soon the entire restaurant, including Leo Carroll, is playing. A fine example of his dry wit and intellectual approach to life.
A sampling of Louis Lewyns Paramount short series providing varied glimpses of the stars. They range from brief newsreel shots of stars standing at a public occasion to elaborate vignettes staged purposely for the film. In between, stars are shown at work or at play. Screen tests capture stars singing in production numbers or acting out brief scenes. Other short takes provide a peek into the public or personal lives of the Hollywood famous. Paramount Pictures, USA
Star Reporter Series 19361937

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W A sample of a series of studio publicity shorts disguised as show biz newsreels. Ted Husing MCs, Paramount Pictures, USA
Musical Shorts 19281973
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The Bing Crosby Collection 19311933

20 minutes each, 35mm, B&W After a stint with Paul Whitemans Orchestra as a member of the singing trio The Rhythm Boys, Bing Crosby (19031977) went to Hollywood to try his luck in the movies. Mack Sennett offered him the lead in a series of six shorts, all made in the summer of 1931 but released over a twoyear period. Shortly after making these films, Crosby went on radio, paving for himself a road that would make him a national legend and one of the most beloved entertainers in all media. His talents spanned comedy (The Road to films with Bob Hope) and drama (he won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1944 for Going My Way) as well as film, television, and records. Paramount Pictures, USA
Billboard Girl 1931

Directed by Leslie Pearce Bing falls in love with a girl hes seen on roadside billboards. Learning her identity, he visits her at college, but her brother intercepts Bings letter and arranges to meet him dressed in girls clothing, Bing sings: Were You Sincere, For You, Pop Goes The Weasel (parody).
Blue of the Night 1933

Directed by Leslie Pearce Babe Kane meets Bing on a train and, unaware of his identity, tries to impress him by pretending she is engaged to Bing Crosby. He plays along with the gag, and when her fiance (Franklin Pangborn) doubts who he is, he proves it easily by singing. Bing sings: My Silent Love, Auf Wiedersehen, Every Time My Heart Beats, When the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day.
The Cab Calloway Collection 19331942

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Born on Christmas Day, 1907, in Rochester, New York, Cab Calloway later moved to Baltimore where he hustled in the streets. He began playing the drums and saxophone in black vaudeville and organized his own band to play in the jazz clubs of Chicago. With his unique scat vocal style and dancing, Calloway quickly emerged as the leader of the jazz band at Harlems famous Cotton Club. He was the King of Hi-De-Ho and made Minnie the Moocher a household name. After a period of obscurity due to a battle with gambling and drinking, this electric entertainer made a comeback and is also remembered for his vocal contributions to Max Fleischers Betty Boop cartoon series. USA
Cab Calloways Hi-De-Ho 1933

Cab plays a ladies man who is dating the wife of a train porter who is frequently absent from home. In addition to this tongue-in-cheek plot, Cab Calloway and His Orchestra perform Harlem Camp Meeting, and Calloway has two vocals, Zaz-zuh-zaz and The Lady with the Fan.
Jitterbug Party 1934

Calloway and His Orchestra play two numbers at The Cotton Club. Afterwards, he and a few friends adjourn to a private jitterbug party, which he obligingly defines for one of the girls as a party where everyone gets the jitters and goes bugs. Musical numbers: Hot-cha Razz-matazz, Long About Midnight (vocal by Calloway), and Jitterbug.
Dream House 1931

Directed by Del Lord After building a cottage for his intended bride, Bing discovers her pushy mother has sent her to Hollywood to get into the movies. He infiltrates the studio and wins her back. Bing sings: When I Take My Sugar To Tea, It Must Be True, Dream House.
Sing, Bing, Sing 1933

Directed by Babe Stafford Bing plans to elope with Florine McKinney, but her father (Franklin Pangborn) and a couple of inept detectives try to stop him. Bing sings: In My Hideaway, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Lovable, Snuggled On Your Shoulder.
Blues in the Night 19411942

Three short soundies, three-minute band shorts made for an experimental early coin operated juke-box system designed to project films rather than play records. Hundreds of these were made by RCM a partnership between Jimmy Roosevelt (son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt), song writer Sam Coslow, and the Mills Juke Box Company. The novelty wore off soon after World War II, as television came into its own. This reel consists of: Blues in the Night with Cab Calloway (1942), Moonlight Becomes You with Eddy Howard (1942), and Aint Misbehavin with Fats Waller (1941).
Bing Crosby
I Surrender Dear 1931

Directed by Mack Sennett Marion Sayers is about to be married to a phony marquis (Luis Alberni), but Bing manages to catch her for himself after a humorous mix-up in several hotel rooms. Bing sings: I Surrender Dear, Out of Nowhere, At Your Command.
Cab Calloway
One More Chance 1931

Directed by Mack Sennett A washing machine salesman in a Hoboken store, Bing irritates a customer and is transferred to the California branch. His wife leaves him during the trip, but he wins her back in song by asking for one more chance. Bing sings: I Surrender Dear with parody lyrics, Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams, Id Climb the Highest Mountain, Just One More Chance.
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The Duke Ellington Collection 19291935

1020 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Edward Kennedy (Duke) Ellington (18991974) was the genius of jazz whose contribution as bandleader, composer and arranger is legendary. He began playing piano and composing while a teenager in Washington, DC, and led his first band in 1918. Duke innovatively used the band as a single instrument to create the musical effects he wanted, such as the sensuous throb of a tropical night during his jungle period, or the sound of a philharmonic orchestra during his forays into experimental symphonic jazz. His reputation began along the East Coast after some gigs in Atlantic City. By 1923 he had the nucleus of his future orchestra accompany him on stints with other bands, including a week with Wilbur Sweatman in New York. In 1924 his own band took up residence at the Hollywood Club (later renamed the Kentucky Club) in downtown Manhattan before moving uptown to the Cotton Club and international fame. His prodigious recording career started late in 1924 and continued until his death half a century later. Paramount Pictures, USA
Black and Tan 1929

Directed by Dudley Murphy Ellingtons first filmed appearance. Trumpet player Arthur Whetsol and dancer Fredi Washington play Dukes friends who help him save his piano from bill collectors. A glittering Harlem nightclub show is an authentic treat from the 1920s. The Ellington Orchestra plays: The Duke Steps Out, Black Beauty, Cotton Club Storm, Hot Feet, Black and Tan Fantasy.
The Ruth Etting Collection 19291935

1020 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Ruth Etting (18961980) came as a teenager from David City, Nebraska, to Chicago to study dress design. She did costumes for a stage show in a popular cabaret, somehow obtained a dancing job, and one day volunteered to fill in for a singer who did not show up. Though untrained, her voice was warm and vibrant, and she lent each song an extra touch of sentiment, which the audience liked. She was invited to cut a few records and, by 1926, was an established recording star. This brought her to the attention of Irving Berlin and Florenz Ziegfeld, who put her into his 1927 Follies. Then Eddie Cantor engaged her for his hit musical, Whoopee, in 1928. She appeared in three feature films and some 34 shorts, of which only a handful have been preserved. Paramount Pictures, USA
Favorite Melodies 1929

Ruth Etting sings My Mothers Eyes and Thats Him Now. An example of early sound techniques, the film was shot in a single take, without cuts and no editing of any kind, and thus provides an interesting look at a singer shifting from one songs mood into another before your eyes.
Roseland 1930
In 1930, Ruth Etting appeared with Ed Wynn in Simple Simon on Broadway. She stopped the show with Ten Cents a Dance, a song that bemoaned the sad life of a dance hostess. This short capitalizes on its appeal by casting Ruth as just such a girl. The film ends happily as a wealthy man installs her on Park Avenue. Ruth sings Let Me Sing and Im Happy and Dancing With Tears in My Eyes.
A Bundle of Blues 1933

Duke presents Ivie Anderson (1904-1949) in the first of her two film appearances: many believe her to be his best featured vocalist and was with the Ellington Orchestra between 1931 and 1942. Musical numbers: Lightnin, Rockin in Rhythm, Stormy Weather (vocal by Ivie Anderson), Bugle Call Rag (danced by Bessie Dudley and Florence Hill), and a reprise of Lightnin.
Derby Decade 1934 Ruth Etting

A period comedy in which Ruth plays a turn-ofthe-century vaudeville star courted by two rival Lower East Side Irish politicians. Ruth sings A Bird in A Gilded Cage, After the Ball, When You Were Sweet Sixteen.
Duke Ellington
Symphony in Black 1935

A brief vocal by a 19-year-old newcomer who was to become one of the jazz legends Billie Holiday and a performance of Duke Ellingtons jazz composition along symphonic lines a skillful blend of Ellingtons music and mesmerizing visual imagery.
Melody in May 1935

Ruth accompanies a young man to an important dance as his date to give him the confidence to win his girl back from a rival.
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The Ethel Merman Collection 19301931

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W Ethel Merman (19091984) was born only a few blocks from the then thriving Astoria Studio in Queens, New York. After her singing debut in 1928, she returned to Astoria to make these five shorts. She moved on to make Broadway history with Anything Goes (1934), Panama Hattie (1940), Annie Get Your Gun (1946) and Call Me Madam (1950). These short films capture a fresh young singer with a powerful voice and an exciting delivery that carry the audiences right along with her until her very last note. Paramount Pictures, USA
Her Future 1930

An unusually moody piece, Merman sings two new 1930 compositions, My Future Just Passed and Sing You Sinners as she and a judge contemplate her future in a surrealistic courtroom setting.
The Rudy Vallee Collection 19291932

10 minutes each, 35mm, B&W A native of Maine, Rudy Vallee (19011986) started as a saxophone player in a college jazz band at Yale and later took over the group as leader. Somewhat to his own surprise, it was his singing that took the country by storm. His voice was so weak that he had to use a megaphone on the bandstand, and a new word was coined for it: crooning. After broadcasting from the stage of the Heigh-Ho Club in New York, radio made Vallee a national sensation. He was the first radio-produced teenage idol, constantly besieged by girls. Paramount Pictures, USA
Radio Rhythm 1929

Rudys Connecticut Yankees plays Honey, Youre Just Another Memory and Youll Do It Someday. Rudy sings all three, does a hot sax solo on the last one and parodies Ted Lewis on clarinet.
Be Like Me 1931
Merman owns a saloon and sets her customers swinging with Be Like Me. At the thought of being separated from her lover, she sings After Im Gone but within minutes the same song becomes a rousing fanfare to love when he assures her they will be together.
Knowmore College 1931

Rudy is a musical professor with Mae Questel doing another impression of Helen Kane, the Betty Boop girl. Musical numbers: In the Book of My Memorles, Youll Find A Rhyme For Everything But Orange, How Well Do You Know Your Lessons?
Ireno 1931
Merman plays a lonely woman awaiting her Reno divorce decree and sings of her sadness in Shadows On the Way. When her husband shows up to effect reconciliation, she belts out Wipe That Frown Off Your Face.
Musical Justice 1931

Vallee dispenses justice in a courtroom: one culprit is sentenced to sing forever through a megaphone. Another trademark, Betty Boops musical signature, is panned when Mae Questel pleads with the court, Dont Take My Boopoop-a-doop Away. The band plays The Jury Deliberates and Vallee sings A Little Kiss Each Morning.
Ethel Merman
Old Man Blues 1931

A symbolic tale, enhanced by Mermans early, still quite lyrical style in which she and Old Man Blues sing of bygone love in He Doesnt Love Me Anymore and then a joyful duet with her lover when he returns.
Rudy Vallee
Musical Doctor 1932

Vallee treats various ailments with music. Mae Questel does one of her famous Betty Boop imitations, and musical numbers include Keep A Little Song Handy, Vallees Recipe, Missin All the Kissin From My Alabamy Mammy.
Roaming 1931
Merman travels with a medicine show and sings of her fleeting love affairs in Hello, My Lover, Goodbye. In the next town she works her sales pitch to Shake Well Before Using, and discovers on her way out of town that an admirer has decided to join her.
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Boyhood Days 1928

Directed by Joseph Stanley Starring Borrrah Minnevitch and his Musical Rascals 10 minutes, B&W One of the Rascals sings a brief ballad, Rags, after which the whole gang gets together and renders several of their special effects numbers on their harmonicas. Paramount Pictures, USA
All for the Band 1930

Directed by Howard Bretherton Starring Eddie Younger and His Mountaineers 10 minutes, B&W Younger and band rehearsing in a general store supply plenty of vintage country music and singing as well as a bit of cracker-barrel humor.
Meet the Boyfriend 1930

Directed by Norman Taurog 10 minutes Lillian Roth, whose life story was told in I Want to Live! (1958), stars as a girl waiting for her date. Her friends jeer at her with Weve Got It But It Dont Do Us No Good. Then Roth sings of her feelings in Sort of Lonesome. Finally, when the boyfriend arrives, she sings Me and the Boyfriend while engaging him in hammerlocks and mauling him with affection.
Singapore Sue 1931

10 minutes Between his last appearance as Archie Leach on Broadway in A Wonderful Night (192930 season) and his debut as Cary Grant in Hollywood in This Is The Night (1932), the budding future superstar appeared in this off-beat Paramount short with no billing. The plot finds Cary (or perhaps, still Archie) and three sailor buddies trying to pick up a Chinese cabaret singer. Anna Chang and Joe Wong, both vaudeville stars, sing solo and in duet, with a semi-jazz accompaniment.
Bubbling Over 1934

20 minutes Ethel Waters started in black vaudeville and became a celebrated stage and screen actress, best remembered for her films Cabin in the Sky (1943) and Member of the Wedding (1952). Here she plays the wife of a shiftless janitor who fills his house with his relatives but does nothing else. Waters sings Takin Your Time and Darkies Never Dream. A quartet sings When You Hang Your Hat in a Harlem Flat and the whole ensemble renders Companys Comin Tonight.
Artie Shaws Class in Swing 1939

Directed by Leslie Roush Starring Artie Shaw and His Orchestra Helen Forest 10 minutes, 35mm, B&W A band short of one of the most popular swing orchestras of the 1930s. After a brief introduction of Shaws theme song, Nightmare, the band plays Free Wheeling as it is assembled. Helen Forest sings I Have Eyes and the band jams with Shoot the Likker to Me, John Boy.
Josephine Baker at the Folies-Bergre 1973

10 minutes Florence Mills and Sidney Bechet opened their traveling show in Paris in 1925. Their biggest sensation was created by a St. Louis chorus girl who demonstrated the Charleston and the black bottom two brand-new American dances. Her suggestive dancing style and her penchant for exhibitionism captivated the French and she stayed in Paris most of her life, where she died in 1975 at age 69. To the French she was lovingly known simply as Josephine. This rare footage, filmed right on the stage of the Folies-Bergre, is the only visual record of Josephine Bakers sensational act. Her most notorious dance, seen in this film, is a jungle number in which she wears nothing but a bunch of bananas. Carefully edited by Film Archives Company in 1973, the images have been synchronized with the type of music that Josephine actually used in performance. Paramount Pictures, USA
After Seben 1929

Directed by S. Jay Kaufman Starring James Barton George Snowden Chic Webb and his Orchestra
Ballet Class 1930

Directed by Frank Cambria Starring Agnes de Mille Luigi Albertier 10 minutes, B&W The rigors of ballet are imaginatively depicted, with Agnes de Mille as the hard-working pupil of ballet master Albertier. Her taxing exercises are transformed into a daydream of an exquisite solo performance before returning to the struggles of her practice. USA
Office Blues 1930

10 minutes Ginger Rogers sings and dances in this short film made prior to her association with Fred Astaire.
Rhapsody in Black and Blue 1932

10 minutes An enduring jazz legend, Louis Armstrong (19001971) is seen here in the earliest of some twenty films in which he was featured. The short is a dream sequence in which an Armstrong fan sees himself ruled by the immortal trumpet player. Musical numbers include: Ill Be Glad When Youre Dead You Rascal You and Shine.
Hollywood Rhythm 1934

10 minutes The real-life songwriting team of Mack Gordon and Harry Revel (As Sweet As You Are, Did You Ever See A Dream Walking?) demonstrates how they worked on the score for Paramounts 1934 release College Rhythm. Jack Oakie and Lyda Roberti, the stars of the film, do the title song and Take a Number From One to Ten, under the watchful eye of veteran director Norman Taurog. One of the best of the behindthe-scenes glimpses into Hollywood picturemaking, the film combines a clipped pace, humor, song, and dance. It also provides a rare opportunity to see the charming Polish-born comedienne Lyda Roberti, whose vivacity was cut short tragically by heart failure at age 28 in 1938.
Hoagy Carmichael 1939

Directed by Leslie Roush Starring Hoagy Carmichael Jack Teagarden Meredith Blake 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W A song-filled short featuring composer and piano player Carmichael. Songs include Im Wrong, Washboard Blues, Old Rockin Chair and Stardust. Paramount Pictures, USA
More Musical Shorts 19281973
20 minutes, B&W Vaudevillian Barton is the Master of Ceremonies at a nightclub dance contest. Features fine examples of the Lindy-Hop from three couples. Paramount, USA
Ol King Cotton 1930

10 minutes George Dewey Washington was one of the few black performers of his day who traveled on the white vaudeville circuit in such select company as Bert Williams, Sissle and Blake, Bojangles and Ethel Waters. Here he plays a plantation hand who moves to Harlem to avoid heavy work, but finds the only job open is with a moving company where he has to lift and lug just as much as before. He sings Ol King Cotton and On the Sippi Shore.
Slow Poke 1933

10 minutes Lincoln Theodore Perry (18961986) was born in Florida and took the name Stepin Fetchit to portray a succession of good-for-nothing, lazy black characters so hilariously that an early sound short with him was expanded into the first full-length feature with an all-black cast ever made by a major studio (Fox), Hearts of Dixie (1929). In this short, Stepin Fetchit repeats the role in a film that has every racial stereotype in it. But the musical numbers are entertaining, with Lithia Hill singing Lazybones and a lot of lively dancing.
St. Louis Blues 1929

20 minutes Legendary blues singer Bessie Smith and the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra tell the story of a woman who is deserted by her boyfriend for a St. Louis floozy. She then sings the title song, an elaborate ten-minute production number with dance sequences and a chorus by the Hall Johnson Choir.
Clinching a Sale 1930

Directed by Ray Cozine Starring Harry Richman June ODea 10 minutes, B&W In these short, spoofing singing commercials, Harry takes a full ten minutes to sell a broom in song and dance to a very tough prospect, June ODea.
Broadway Highlights 1935

Edited by Fred Waller Narrated by Ted Husing 10 minutes, 35mm, B&W A testimonial for Paul Whiteman at Dempseys by Rudy Vallee, Jack Benny and Jack Dempsey. Earl Caroll selects dancers for his show. Sophie Tucker introduces Fanny Brice and Beatrice Lillie, and sings Some of These Days. Al Jolson and Max Baer do a radio comedy skit.
Boogie Woogie Dream 1941

20 minutes The only known appearance of boogie woogie pianists Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons is framed by a story of a dishwasher (Lena Horne) and two kitchen helpers in a nightclub who jam after hours and dream of how they would look in a real show. Lena Horne sings Id Never Wish Any More with Ammons and Johnson, and Unlucky Woman with Teddy Wilsons Orchestra. Johnson and Ammons play Boogie Woogie Dream.
A Lesson in Love 1931

10 minutes The original flapper who became the model for Betty Boop of the comics and later animated cartoons, Helen Kane gained fame with her littlegirl voice and her boop-oop-a-doop delivery of popular songs. Her appearance with the Paul Ash Orchestra at the Paramount Theatre in 1928 created a riot. Within the next three years she made eight feature films, several shorts and cut a dozen records. In this short she plays a co-ed who seduces her professor with I Love Myself Because You Love Me.
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Crime Over London 1936

Directed by Alfred Zeisler Written by Norman Alexander Based on an original story by Louis de Wohl Produced by Marcel Hellman Starring Margot Grahame Paul Cavanagh Joseph Cawthorn Rene Ray Basil Sydney Googie Withers 72 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Amateur Gentleman 1936

Directed by Thornton Freeland Written by Clemence Dane Edward Knoblock Sergei Nolbandov Based on the novel by Jeffery Farnol Produced by Marcel Hellman Music by Richard Addinsell Starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Ellissa Landi Margaret Lockwood Gordon Harker Hugh Williams 102 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Accused 1937
Directed by Thornton Freeland Written by Zo Akins George Barraud Harold French Produced by Marcel Hellman Starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Dolores Del Rio Florence Desmond Basil Sydney Googie Withers 79 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Jump for Glory (US: When Thief Meets Thief) 1937

Directed by Raoul Walsh Written by John Meehan Jr. Harold French Based on the novel by Gordon MacDonell Produced by Marcel Hellman Music by Percy Mackey Starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Valerie Hobson Alan Hale 88 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Double Crime in the Maginot Line 1939

Directed by Feliz Gandera Written by Gandera and Robert Bibal Based on the novel by Pierre Nord Produced by Marcel Hellman Starring Victor Francen Vera Korene Jacques Baumer Fernand Fabre 90 minutes, 35mm, B&W French with English Subtitles
Jeannie (US: Girl in Distress) 1941

Directed by Harold French Written by Anatole de Grunwald Roland Pertwee Based on the play by Aimee Stuart Produced by Marcel Hellman Starring Barbara Mullen Michael Redgrave Albert Lieven Wilfrid Lawson Kay Hammond Googie Withers 101 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Talk About Jacqueline 1942

Directed by Harold French Written by Roland Pertwee Marjorie Deans Based on the novel by Katherine Holland Produced by Marcel Hellman Starring Hugh Williams Carla Lehmann Joyce Howard Roland Culver John Warwick Mary Jerrold Guy Middleton 85 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Marcel Hellman Productions
An absorbing tale of a department store heist by a troupe of Chicago gangsters foiled by Scotland Yard Criterion/United Artists, Great Britain Plenty of action and good acting. Variety
Set in Regency times, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. emulates some of his famous fathers heroics in a story about an innkeepers son who poses as a gentleman boxer to spirit his father out of Newgate Prison and clear his name of the crime for which he was imprisoned unjustly. Criterion, Great Britain One Star. Leslie Halliwell The first and best of three pictures starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in his own Englishbased production company. Marcel Hellmans production and Thornton Freelands direction helped make the film as handsome and as lively as its star. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
A backstage whodunit in which Fairbanks and Del Rio play hoofers in a Parisian show. When the shows producer is stabbed to death, Del Rio is accused, but later found innocent when Fairbanks proves the night watchman did it. Criterion, Great Britain Starts off as a backstage narrative, showing a full dress rehearsal of an elaborate musical comedy; develops into a murder mystery that isnt solved until a few feet before the final clinch. Brilliant, incisive dialog handled by West End actors. Variety
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays a down-at-the-heels man in New Orleans who gets involved with underworld crook Alan Hale. He escapes to London where he becomes a cat burglar until a good woman (Valerie Hobson) helps him go straight. Criterion, Great Britain Raoul Walsh, who had directed Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in The Thief of Bagdad (1924) now directed Fairbanks Jr. in Jump For Glory. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story Douglas Fairbanks Jr. turns in a splendid characterization. Variety
Determined never again to be overrun by the Germans, the French built a sophisticated antitank fortification along their northern borders after World War I, called the Maginot Line. This Marcel Hellman production uses a fantastic military mechanized honeycomb as the setting for its psychological study of espionage and murder. It was the first time the world had seen the inner workings of the Line, and it so impressed the German High Command that instead of using tanks against the French in World War II, they simply flew over the Line and attacked from the air. A Towers Release, Great Britain
This lighthearted comedy is based on the Aimee Stuart play about a hardy young Scots girl who uses her inheritance for a grand tour of the Continent where she meets and unmasks a fortune hunter and falls in love with a washingmachine salesman who follows her home to marry her. Eros Films Ltd., Great Britain I hacked through the thicket of delightfuls and enchantings which had kept me at a distance, to see Jeannie, a gently characterized Britishmade comedy about a Scottish peasant woman who discovers in the course of a trip to prewar Vienna that she doesnt have to feel like an old maid after all. One of the easiest, sweetest of light comedies. James Agee, Agee On Film
While yachting and flirting on the Riviera, a woman with a past meets a shy, retiring young researcher from the Far East and, against her better judgment, marries him. When he runs across some scandalous gossip touching her past, her younger sister steps in claiming she is the subject of the notoriety. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Excelsior, Great Britain
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The Amateur Gentleman 1936 Crime over London 1936
Accused 1937 A Voice in the Night 1946
Meet Me at Dawn 1946 Jeannie 1941
Jump for Glory 1937 This Was a Woman 1948
A Voice in the Night (US: Wanted for Murder) 1946

Directed by Lawrence Huntington Written by Emeric Pressburger Rodney Ackland Maurice Cowan Produced by Marcel Hellman Photographed by Max Greene Music by Mischa Spoliansky Starring Eric Portman Dulcie Gray Derek Farr 103 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Meet Me at Dawn (US: The Gay Duelist) 1946

Directed by Thornton Freeland Written by Lesley Storm James Seymour Maurice Cowan Based on the Story Le Tueur by Anatole Litvak and Marcel Achard Produced by Marcel Hellman Starring Hazel Court William Eythe Stanley Holloway Margaret Rutherford Basil Sydney Irene Browne Katie Johnson 99 minutes, 35mm, B&W
This Was a Woman 1948

Directed by Tim Whelan Written by Val Valentine Based on the play by Joan Morgan Produced by Marcel Hellman Starring Sonia Dresdel Barbara White Walter Fitzgerald Cyril Raymond Marjorie Rhodes Emrys Jones 104 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Obsessed by the fact that his father was the Queens hangman, respectable businessman Victor Colebrook (Eric Portman) acts out that obsession by deliberately picking up young shopgirls, dallying with them and then strangling them, because he believes they are unhappy people who should be put out of their misery. Anne Fielding is different somehow and Victor senses that if she will agree to marry him, she can save him from himself. What he doesnt know is that she plans to wed another. 20th Century-Fox, Great Britain Awards: One of the Ten Best of the Year The London Times Good complex portrayal in an otherwise straightforward thriller. David Quinlan, British Sound Films Marcel Hellmans production is first class, shots in Londons underground railway being more than usually effective. Variety
A lighthearted look at dueling, gossip and scandal in 19th-century Paris. William Eythe plays a duelist ready to take up anybodys quarrel if the price is right. Engaged by politicians to insult, wound and put a prominent senator out of the way for a time, the challenge hits the front page when a newspaper editor, unaware that the woman about whom the men intend to duel is his own daughter, plasters his paper with lurid stories about Madame. 20th Century-Fox, Great Britain Margaret Rutherford and Stanley Holloway are scene-stealers par excellence and do so at every opportunity. Variety
Sonia Dresdel was a comparatively unknown actress who rose to stardom in the play on which this film is based. She dominates the movie as well, playing the domineering woman who leads her family to ruin and destroys herself in the process. Excelsior, Great Britain Off-the-beaten-track, dramatic entertainment. The Cinema Sonia Dresdels part is a tour-de-force, has tremendous personality and great talent. Variety
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Nurse Edith Cavell 1931

Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox Written by Michael Hogan Based on the novel Dawn by Reginald Berkeley Music by Anthony Collings Starring Anna Neagle George Sanders May Robson Edna May Oliver Alan Marshall Zasu Pitts H. B. Warner 98 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Bitter Sweet 1933

Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox Written by Lydia Hayward Herbert Wllcox Monckton Hoffe Based on the operetta by Noel Coward Starring Anna Neagle Fernand Gravey Miles Mander Esme Percy Hugh Williams Pat Peterson Kay Hammond 93 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Thisll Make You Whistle 1936

Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox Written by Gerry Bolton Fred Thompson Based on the stage production of the same name Starring Jack Buchanan Elsie Randolph Jean Gillie William Kendall 78 minutes, 35mm, B&W
London Melody 1937

Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox Written by Florence Tranter Monckton Hoffe Starring Anna Neagle Tullio Carminati 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Our Fighting Navy 1937

Directed by Norman Walker Produced by Herbert Wilcox Based on a story by Bartimeus by arrangement with the Navy League Starring H. B. Warner Noah Beery Richard Cromwell Robert Douglas 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Frog 1937

Directed by Jack Raymond Produced by Herbert Wilcox Based on the novel The Fellowship of the Frog by Edgar Wallace Starring Gordon Harker Jack Hawkins Esme Percy Felix Aylmer 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Three Maxims 1937

Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox Written by Herman Mankiewicz Starring Anna Neagle Tullio Carminati Leslie Banks Horace Hodges 87 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Herbert Wilcox Productions
Anna Neagle in the gripping story of the martyrdom of Edith Cavell during World War I. Nurse Cavells Brussels hospital cares for friend and foe alike, and she becomes the focal point in an underground system assisting refugees and escaped POWs over the border to Holland. When the German High Command accuses her of espionage, she is arrested, tried and sentenced to death before a firing squad. Essentially an anti-war film, Nurse Edith Cavell eschews battle scenes, focusing instead on the grim misfortunes of those caught in the maelstrom of war and its terrors. An all-star cast. A memorable experience. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Three Stars. Leonard Maltin
Vienna before the Great War the first one. Noel Coward adapted his insouciant lyrics and music for this screen version of his popular operetta. The aging Sarah Linden (Neagle) tells the story in flashback as a warning to a young woman about to marry for money when in reality she loves an impoverished musician. Sarahs tale is impossibly romantic. She meets musician Carl Linden (Gravey) in London, elopes with him to Vienna, watches him become a popular cabaret orchestra leader and then watches him die. Songs include Ill See You Again, Zigeuner, Tokay, If Love Were All, Kiss Me and Bonnie Nuit. British and Dominion, Great Britain An artistic production with gratifying elegance, tuneful music and singing. Mordaunt Hall, The New York Times One of the most beautiful productions of the year. Anthony Slide, Ed. Selected Film Criticism
Curiously, this musical comedy was based on a play, opened first as a film, followed a few weeks later by the staging of the underlying play in Londons West End. More comedy than musical, the movie plays for farcical laughs. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
Anna Neagle in a showcase for her lovely talents plays a street singer who meets and falls in love with a wealthy and cultured diplomat. Herbert Wilcox Productions/GFD, Great Britain Excellent compilation of trivial mush, beautifully produced and directed; classy interiors, good photography and nice cabaret sequences, furnishing ample opportunities for Miss Neagle to display her terpsichorean talents. Variety
H. B. Warner plays the harried British consul during an uprising in a supposedly South American port and calls in a cruiser of the Royal Navy to protect British nationals. This was the first British picture to give audiences an opportunity to witness the life and uses to which the Royal Navy is put. Herbert Wilcox Productions/GFD, Great Britain Stirring adaptation. Difficult to imagine this picture better cast. Variety
Based on the hit stage drama and the novel by Edgar Wallace, the movie is a mellow and merry sort of melodrama in which a mysterious gang baffles Scotland Yard as they commit murder, blackmail, robbery and assorted other crimes. Herbert Wilcox Productions/GFD, Great Britain
One of Anna Neagles most successful early films in which she appears as part of a star trapeze act in a traveling circus. Full of show biz bits of business, the circus atmosphere is correct and vivid as are the theatre scenes in Paris. Herbert Wilcox Productions/GFD, Great Britain Elemental enough in story, but the general effect is excellent, due to the strong cast and admirable direction. Variety
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No Parking 1938
Directed by Jack Raymond Produced by Herbert Wilcox Written by Gerald Elliott Based on a story The Little Fellow by Sir Carol Reed Starring Gordon Harker Leslie Perrins Irene Ware Cyril Smith 72 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Sixty Glorious Years (US: Queen of Destiny) 1938

Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox Written by Robert Vansittart Miles Malleson Charles Grandcourt Starring Anna Neagle Anton Walbrook C. Aubrey Smith Walter Rilla Charles Carson Felix Aylmer Lewis Casson 95 minutes, 35mm, Color
Lilacs in the Spring (US: Lets Make Up) 1954

Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox Written by Harold Purcell Based on his play The Glorious Days Music by Robert Farnon Starring Anna Neagle Errol Flynn Peter Graves David Farrar Kathleen Harrison 94 minutes, 35mm, Color
Kings Rhapsody 1955

Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox Written by Pamela Bower Christopher Hassall A.P. Herbert Original book and music by Ivor Novello Music arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon Starring Errol Flynn Anna Neagle Patricia Wymore Martita Hunt Finlay Currie 93 minutes, 35mm, Color
Yangtse Incident (US: Battle Hell aka Escape of the Amethyst) 1956
Directed by Michael Anderson Written by Eric Ambler Based on the book by Lawrence Earl Produced by Herbert Wilcox Starring Richard Todd William Hartnell Akim Tamiroff Donald Houston 113 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Navy Lark 1959

Directed by Gordon Parry Written by Sid Collins Laurie Wyman Based on the BBC radio show by Laurie Wyman Produced by Herbert Wilcox Starring Cecil Parker Ronald Shiner Leslie Phillips 82 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Gordon Harker plays a parking lot attendant who gets taken for an American gangster in this comedy of mistaken identity. A group of jewel thieves recruit him to be the triggerman during a bank job, only to have the real gunman show up. Herbert Wilcox Productions, Great Britain
Anna Neagle plays Queen Victoria in this wonderful biography that dramatizes the major events in her life, beginning with the announcement of her betrothal to Prince Albert and continuing on to the birth of The Princess Royal, the opening of the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Alberts death, the poignancy of Victorias protracted retirement from public life and her misguided honoring of her husbands memory. Later in happier circumstances during her Diamond Jubilee, the control of the Suez Canal by Disraeli, the assassination of General Gordon, Kitcheners conquest at Khartoum, and Victorias death. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Anna Neagle as Queen Victoria is magnificent. A flawless, inspired interpretation that has no equal. London Sunday Times This is not the best film ever to come out of a British studio it is the best film to come out of any studio in the world. The New York Times It stresses (Victorias) desire for achievement Albert (Anton Walbrook), her consort, is revealed as a man of intelligence with a strong desire to help the masses and to build England to a position of commercial supremacy. Variety
Based on Anna Neagles London stage success, this popular musical is a cavalcade of history. Anna Neagle plays a wartime service performer who suffers a concussion during the Blitz and imagines herself to be Nell Gwyn; Queen Victoria introducing Johann Strausss waltzes to her court; her own mother during the days when John Beaumont (Errol Flynn) courted and married her; and later when Mama becomes the star of the Talkies and finds fame and fortune in Hollywood. Included with the many classic songs are Tipperary and Noel Cowards Dance Little Lady. United Artists, Great Britain With its snippets of stage musicals and spectacular dance sequences, the movie has a colorful and opulent look. Miss Neagle sails through her various roles with the elegant poise for which she is renowned. Variety
British composer Ivor Novellos last Ruritanian musical is brought to the screen with all the style and tone of the original, even though cost overruns ascribed to Errol Flynns drinking problems broke the producers and bankrupted British Lion Pictures. King Richard of Laurentia (Flynn) is banished but returns to the throne. Forced into a political marriage with Princess Christiane (Patricia Wymore, Flynns wife in real life), he continues his affair with his mistress (Anna Neagle) and keeps her in a convenient love nest even after the birth of his son and heir. United Artists, Great Britain Herbert Wilcox is the first British independent producer to film in Cinemascope and he chose Ivor Novellos last musical, which was also one of his greatest successes. Filmed largely on location in Spain, the handsome backgrounds are matched by lush decor and opulent costuming. Expensively mounted with big crowd scenes, to give point to the pomp and pageantry. Variety
On April 19, 1949, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst sails up the great Yangtse River on her way to Nanking, the Chinese capital, to deliver supplies to the British Embassy. Suddenly, without warning, the Red Chinese shore batteries open fire and, after a heavy engagement, the frigate lies grounded in the mud and badly damaged. Fifty-four of her crew lie dead, dying or seriously wounded, while others deteriorate from the tropical heat and the lack of essential medicines. The local Communist boss Colonel Peng (Akim Tamiroff) is adamant either accept criminal responsibility for the entire incident or the Amethyst will remain his prisoner. Well, you can bet the Brits arent going to take that one lying down. British Lion, Great Britain Best British Naval film since In Which We Serve. Empire News Vivid battle scenes, magnificently handled. Stirring. Variety
The Royal Navy gets a brisk, irreverent drubbing in this movie based on the popular British radio comedy series. The yarn is about a forgotten naval base on an island off the South Coast of Britain. The men are having a high old time of it, making loads of money from smuggling and other illicit activities. When a higher authority decides to close the unit, chaos reigns as everyone schemes to avoid being posted elsewhere. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Light-hearted screen farce. Variety
Sixty Glorious Years 1938
Bitter Sweet 1933
Jamaica Inn 1939
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Jamaica Inn 1939

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Produced by Erich Pommer Charles Laughton Written by Sidney Gilliat Joan Harrison J.B. Priestley Based on the novel by Daphne DuMaurier Starring Charles Laughton Maureen OHara Leslie Banks Robert Newton Emlyn Williams 107 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcocks last British picture before leaving for America to film Rebecca. Laid towards the end of the 18th century, its a strange tale of gangs of thieves and cutthroats called wreckers who prey upon the merchant ships that founder in the heavy seas that crash against the rocky coast of Cornwall. Young barmaid (Maureen OHara) suspects that the ruffians who frequent her inn not only scavenge the wrecks, but may actually cause the ships to run aground. But how? And why does no one bother to investigate or try to prosecute? A Mayflower Film, Great Britain Much to admire, especially the extraordinary use of miniatures for the opening sea battle and the giant studio sets (and pools) which were constructed for the shots involving humans. Hitchcock may eschew the merely spectacular, but these moments rival the best of Griffith or DeMille. Donald Spoto, American Film Institute
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British Cinema
Storm in a Teacup 1937
Dark Journey 1937

Produced and directed by Victor Saville Written by Lajos Biro Arthur Wimperis Based on Biros play Photographed by Georges Prinal Harry Stradling Music by Richard Addinsell Starring Conrad Veidt Vivien Leigh Cecil Parker 82 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Storm in a Teacup 1937

Directed by Ian Dalrymple Victor Saville Written by lan Dalrymple Donald Bull Based on the play Sturm im Wasserglass aka Storm Over Patsy by Bruno Frank Produced by Alexander Korda Starring Vivien Leigh Rex Harrison Cecil Parker Sara Allgood 87 minutes, 35mm, B&W
St. Martins Lane (US: Sidewalks of London) 1938

Directed by Tim Whelan Written by Clemence Dane Produced by Erich Pommer Starring Charles Laughton Vivien Leigh Rex Harrison Tyrone Guthrie Larry Adler 85 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Vivien Leigh
One of the great romantic classics of the Thirties. Radiant Vivien Leigh plays an Allied double agent in 1915 Stockholm. The Germans, who suspect she is passing secrets to the French, send Chief of Intelligence Conrad Veidt to catch her, only to have the two fall hopelessly in love. Their feet set on opposite paths of doom, they are led inexorably towards the moment when each must choose between love for each other and love of country. London Films, Great Britain Three stars. Leonard Maltin Swift, colorful and engagingly tangled cinema. The New York Times The love affair would have been unthinkable on screen a few years hence. Atmospherically directed and produced by the excellent Victor Saville. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
This early Ealing-type comedy pits a pompous Scottish provost (Cecil Parker) against Sara Allgood, a formidable old lady whose dog he confiscates because she refuses to pay for a license. In view of the fact that he is running for high office and has just delivered a speech vowing to protect the rights of the common people, his actions do seem just a bit queer. As a matter of fact, newspaperman Rex Harrison thinks he smells hypocrisy in high places, and writes a very long article attacking the gentleman who, wounded, promptly turns around and sues him. Its all most amusing. Parker gets himself absolutely deflated and then loses his daughter (Vivien Leigh) to Harrison. London Films, Great Britain Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Amusing, very English comedy: excellent of its kind. David Quinlan, British Sound Films Much better film than the play a rare treat. Frank S. Nugent, The New York Times Fine comic brew. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
St. Martins Lane, London, the place where street singers known as buskers often perform. Busker Charles Laughton works a poor girl (Vivien Leigh) into his act, and from there guides her to stardom, even though it means sacrificing his love for her. This was Vivien Leighs last film before Gone With the Wind, and Paramount, the US distributor, wisely held up its release for a year until GWTW had made the name of Vivien Leigh a household word. London Films, Great Britain Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Laughton, Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison gave a spellbinding display of their special personalities and techniques, well blended by director Tim Whelan in command of a colorful cast. Londons theatre world made a fascinating background. John Douglas Eames, The Paramount Story One of the finest, if not the best, sympathetic portrayals Charles Laughton has ever given on the screen. Anthony Slide, Ed., Selected Film Criticism
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British Cinema
Fire Over England 1936
The very spirit of an English public schoolmistresss vision of history.
Directed by William K. Howard Written by Clemence Dane Sergei Nolbandov Based on the novel by A. E. W. Mason Produced by Erich Pommer Alexander Korda Photographed by James Wong Howe Music by Richard Addinsell Starring Flora Robson, Laurence Olivier Leslie Banks, Vivien Leigh 92 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Alexander Kordas first film under the aegis of Pendennis, his new production company. With a cast of (then) relative unknowns, Korda creates a stirring adventure about the thrilling reign of Englands Elizabeth I and how she defeats Phillip of Spain by sinking the Spanish Armada. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Vigorous, quite charismatic adventure. David Quinlan, British Sound Films Superb camera work of James Wong Howe (makes it) visually one of the most beautiful films ever brought to the screen. Anthony Slide, Ed., Selected Film Criticism
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British Cinema
The Lodger (US: The Phantom Fiend) 1932

Directed by Maurice Elvey Written by Ivor Novello Miles Mander Paul Rotha H. Fowler Mear Based on the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes Photographed by Stanley Blythe Basil Emmott Starring Ivor Novello Elizabeth Allan A. W. Baskomb Jack Hawkins 85 minutes, 35mm, B&W
No Funny Business (US: Professional Correspondent) 1933

Directed by John Stafford Victor Hanbury Written by Victor Hanbury Frank Vosper Based on a story by Dorothy Hope Starring Gertrude Lawrence Laurence Olivier Jill Esmond Edmund Breon 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Perfect Understanding 1933

Directed by Cyril Gardner Written by Michael Powell Based on a story by Miles Malleson Starring Gloria Swanson Laurence Olivier Nora Swinburne John Holliday Nigel Playfair Michael Farmer 90 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Love from a Stranger 1936

Directed by Rowland V. Lee Written by Frances Marion Based on the play by Frank Vosper. Adapted from the Philomel Cottage by Agatha Christie Music by Benjamin Britten Starring Ann Harding Basil Rathbone Binnie Hale Bruce Seton Jean Cadell Bryan Powley Joan Hickson Donald Calthrop 90 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (US: Romance and Riches/ Amazing Adventure) 1936
Produced and directed by Alfred Zeisler Written by John C. Balderston Based on a story by E. Phillips Oppenheim Starring Cary Grant Mary Brian Henry Kendall Charles Farrell 80 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Action for Slander 1937

Directed by Tim Whelan Written by Ian Dalrymple Miles Malleson Based on the novel by Mary Borden Produced by Alexander Korda Victor Saville Photographed by Harry Stradling Starring Clive Brook Ann Todd Margaretta Scott 83 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Dinner at the Ritz 1937

Directed by Harold Schuster Written by Roland Pertwee Romney Brent Produced by Robert T. Kane Starring Annabella Paul Lukas David Niven Romney Brent Francis L. Sullivan Nora Swinburne 77 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Selected Features
A mysterious, retiring lodger is suspected of being the legendary killer Jack the Ripper. A modernized version of the classic tale of suspense already made as a silent film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926, and later remade once more as a period piece in 1944 by John Brahm. Twickenham, Great Britain One Star. Leslie Halliwell An eerie, absorbing story. Variety
The only picture in which the famed Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier made together. They play professional correspondents who have never met. When each is sent to the Riviera to meet a husband and wife who are considering a divorce, they mistake each other for the client, fall in love, quarrel when their mistake is discovered and then are reunited. Its all very droll, an uproarious farce done in hilariously dated style. United Artists, Great Britain Fascinating period piece. Gertrude Lawrence conveys a good deal of vitality and assurance. BFI Monthly Film BulletinGermany Awards: One of the 12 Most Important Films of All Time Critics Prize, Brussels Worlds Fair, 1958
A comedy of manners in which two people marry on the condition that each will retain his or her individual freedom. But when each subsequently flaunts their extra-marital escapades in the face of the other, it precipitates an amusing battle of the sexes. This is the only film Gloria Swanson made in Britain. Gloria Swanson British Pictures, Ltd., Great Britain One Star. Leslie Halliwell Deft treatment provides entertaining sequence of amusing, dramatic, exciting and emotional incidents. Sophisticated dialogue dominates sincere attempt to solve marriage problems. Very well acted by competent cast with admirable portrayals. Cinema Booking, Guide Supplement
A highly suspenseful film based on an Agatha Christie yarn that had enjoyed immense popularity, both in book form and as a play. (It also was remade later in the US in 1947 with Sylvia Sidney and John Hodiak.) Having married a man rather in haste, a young woman comes to suspect that he may be the maniac who has been strangling people in the area with herself as the next intended victim. Trafalgar Films, Great Britain Two Stars. Stalwart suspenser. Leslie Halliwell Gorgeously photographed and splendidly cut, this macabre story of a suave gentleman who marries women for their money and murders them, takes front rank with the long list of gruesome films produced in recent years. Variety
After a string of Hollywood hits, Cary Grant returned to his native England to film this, his only British picture, typical of the kind of Thirties comedies in which the hero discovers that money cant buy happiness. Wealthy playboy Bliss (Grant) is dying of boredom until his doctor wagers he cant live independently of his riches for a year. Rising to the bait, Bliss takes an assumed name, rents a cold-water flat in Londons East End, works for a year like any other bloke, falls in love and learns how to use his wealth to help those less fortunate. United Artists, Great Britain Deftly directed. David Quinlin, British Sound Films Excellent direction and acting. Variety
Clive Brook stars in this powerful drama about a major, weak enough to fall in love with the other woman, but strong enough to face disgrace and disaster to shield her when he becomes involved in a scandal that reaches across London to rob him of his wife, wealth and position. London Films, Great Britain One Star. Leslle Halliwell Every one of the male members of the cast is a West End actor of repute, if not a star. Hollywood, in its most lavish spurt of extravagance, never went to such pains to assemble such a company. Variety Good, gripping entertainment. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
Filmed in Paris and along the French Riviera, this intriguing murder mystery is a classic tale of drama, suspense and romance. Annabella plays a gay adventuress who tracks her fathers killer from Paris to the Riviera to London and back. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Captivating first-rate performances. Smartly directed, good melodrama. Howard Barnes, New York Herald Tribune
The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss 1936
Perfect Understanding 1933
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British Cinema
Farewell Again (US: Troopship) 1937

Directed by Tim Whelan Written by Clemence Dane Patrick Kirwin Based on a story by Wolfgang Wilhelm Produced by Erich Pommer Alexander Korda Music by Richard Addisell Photographed by James Wong Howe Starring Flora Robson Leslie Banks Robert Newton Rene Ray 85 minutes, 35mm, B&W A rousing tale of men at arms who are returning home after several years in India. When word comes that trouble in the Near East will cut their two-week leave to six short hours, their individual plans take on an unexpected urgency: the devotion of the colonel to his ailing wife, the romance between a young captain and the ships nurse, the love affair of a non-com for a flighty shopgirl that nearly ends in tragedy all colorful moments. London Films, Great Britain The Union Jack was waved, literally and figuratively in Troopship, a compendium drama made for London Films. The different stories were cleverly linked by the writers Clemence Dane and Patrick Kirwin. Ronald Bergan, United Artists Story
Moonlight Sonata 1937

Produced and directed by Lothar Mendes Written by Edward Knoblock Based on an original story by Hans Rameau Starring Ignacy Jan Paderewski Charles Farrell Marie Tempest Barbara Greene Eric Portman 90 minutes, 35mm, B&W
South Riding 1937

Directed by Victor Saville Written by Ian Dalrymple Donald Ball Based on the novel by Winifred Holtby Produced by Alexander Korda Music by Richard Addinsell Starring Ralph Richardson Edna Best Edmund Gwenn Ann Todd Glynis Johns John Clements 91 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Green Cockatoo (US: Four Dark Hours/ Race Gang) 1937
Directed by William Cameron Menzies Written by Edward O. Berkman Arthur Wimperis Based on a story by Graham Greene Music by Miklos Rosza Starring John Mills Robert Newton Rene Ray Bruce Seton 65 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Under the Red Robe 1937

Directed by Victor Sjstrm Written by Lajos Biro Philip Lindsay J.L. Hodson Based on the novel by Stanley J. Weyman Photographed by Georges Perinal James Wong Howe Starring Conrad Veidt Annabella Raymond Massey Romney Brent 82 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Vessel of Wrath (US: The Beachcomber) 1938

Produced and directed by Erich Pommer Written by Bartlett Cormack B. Van Thal Based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham Music by Richard Addinsell Starring Charles Laughton Elsa Lanchester Robert Newton Tyrone Guthrie 93 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Ten Days in Paris (US: Missing Ten Days aka Spy in the Pantry) 1939
Directed by Tim Whelan Written by John Meehan Jr. James Curtis Based on the novel The Disappearance of Roger Tremayne by Bruce Graeme Music by Miklos Rosza Starring Rex Harrison Karen Verne Leo Genn 76 minutes, 35mm, B&W
They Came to a City 1944

Directed by Basil Dearden Written by Basil Dearden Sidney Cole Based on a play by J.B. Priestley Starring Googie Withers John Clements Raymond Huntley Renee Gadd A. E. Matthews Mabel Terry-Lewis J. B. Priestley 77 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Moonlight Sonata is important because, as Harold Bauer, himself a world-famous pianist puts it, it is an imperishable document of historical importance, for the personality of one of the greatest artists lives therein. The great Ignacy Jan Paderewski is seen and heard as himself. The opening shows him in concert. As an encore, he plays the title number and then tells the audience why he chose the Beethoven work, and this forms the basis for the drama that follows. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Three Stars. National Educational Association Music lovers will find it sheer delight. The famous Polish pianists playing is magnificent. New York Journal
A rediscovered classic, the intriguing story of a man bound to a woman he cannot have and in love with another beyond his reach. Ralph Richardson, a penurious country squire, has a lovely wife (Ann Todd) who is confined to a mental institution. Eventually he falls in love with the local school teacher, Edna Best, whose patience and understanding save his high-strung daughter from following in her mothers footsteps. London Films, Great Britain Three Stars. Excellent. New York Herald Tribune Another artistic Korda film with a cast not only of first rate principals, but with every bit part portrayed by competent West End players. Variety Ralph Richardson in one of the best of his early film performances. Ronald Bergan, The United Artists Story
This Graham Greene thriller is mounted with a stellar cast and set in Soho. John Mills and Rene Ray track down and wreak vengeance on the gangsters who killed Mills brother (Robert Newton). Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Tough little thriller. David Quinlan, British Sound Films
Called offbeat in its day, when movie swashing and buckling was deadly serious business, this movie has the effrontery to lace its intrigues with funny lines and amusing situations. Dubbed The Black Death by those who fear him, Conrad Veidt is snatched from the hangmans noose by the diabolical Cardinal Richelieu (Massey) and sent to arrest the Duc dFoix, the leader of a political faction suspected of trying to overthrow the monarchy. The fly in the ointment is the appearance of the beautiful Annabella, whom Veidt mistakes for the Duchess and with whom he promptly falls in love. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Surprisingly fine entertainment. Annabella photographs superbly; both in her love sequences and her dramatic moments, this comely French actress comes through with few flaws. Variety
Here in its original running time is Maughams hilarious comedy about the beachcomber (Laughton) in the Dutch East Indies who runs afoul of a self-righteous missionary (Tyrone Guthrie) and his militant sister (Elsa Lanchester) who want him deported for corrupting the natives. A drunk and a lecher, half monster, half pagan god, he winds up charming Lanchester, from loathing to fascination and ultimately into matrimony. A Mayflower Production, Great Britain Three Stars. Leslie Halliwell Superior production. Performances of such brilliance, vigor and psychological rightness that they seem almost startlingly unfamiliar on an American screen. The New York Times Priceless stuff. David Quinlan, British Sound Films
As Variety so aptly put it, Rex Harrison is a devil with the women, almost always in some kind of trouble, on the verge of being disowned by his parent, has an uncanny way of getting in and out of things, and starts this picture by claiming he lost his memory 10 days prior to waking up in a hospital. When he wakes up in Paris and finds he has been involved in espionage activities, hes forced to clear himself. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Intricate adventure has pace and wit. David Quinlan, British Sound Films
J. B. Priestleys play about post-war reconstruction is an absorbing fantasy. A group of people killed in an air raid arrive at the gates of a mysterious city and each describes what kind of place he or she hopes it will turn out to be. J. B. Priestley appears as himself. Ealing Studios, Great Britain
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British Cinema
Wings of the Morning 1937
A thing of beauty.
Directed by Harold Schuster Written by Tom Geraghty Based on short stories by Donn Byrne Photographed by Ray Rennahan Jack Cardiff Music by Arthur Benjamin Starring Henry Fonda Annabella Stewart Rome John McCormack Leslie Banks 89 minutes, 35mm, Color
In 1899, a gypsy princess marries an Irish nobleman; in 1937, romance again blooms between their descendants. Britains first Technicolor film is great to look at and quite charming, though slight; its major attractions being horse races, songs from John McCormack, and a heroine dressed for plot purposes as a boy. Leslie Halliwell It is French star Annabellas first Englishspeaking film role and an early role for Fonda. Notable too, is the fact that famed singer John McCormack appears and sings three songs. 20th Century-Fox, Great Britain Excellent performances, top notch color photography and pictorial technique. Variety Bound to win applause. Anthony Slide, Ed., Selected Film Criticism
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British Cinema
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British Cinema
Bedelia 1946
Directed by Lance Comfort Written by Vera Caspary Based on her novel Starring Margaret Lockwood Ian Hunter Barry K. Barnes 90 minutes, Sound, B&W
Dancing with Crime 1947

Directed by John Paddy Carstairs Screenplay by Brock Williams From a story by Peter Fraser Starring Richard Attenborough Sheila Sim Bill Rowbotham Barry K. Barnes With a brief uncredited appearance by Dirk Bogarde 83 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Call of the Blood 1948

Directed by John Clements Ladislas Vajda Written by John Clements Akos Tolnay Based on the novel by Robert Hichens Produced by John Stafford Steven Pallos Starring Lea Padovani John Clements Kay Hammond John Justin 88 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Idol of Paris 1948

Directed by Leslie Arliss Written by Norman Lee Stafford Dickens Harry Ostrer Based on the novel Paiva, Queen of Love by Alfred Schirokauer Produced by R. J. Minney Maurice Ostrer Starring Miles Malleson Andrew Cruickshank Christine Borden Michael Rennie 106 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Teheran (Conspiracy in Teheran/ The Plot to Kill Roosevelt) 1948

Directed by William Freshman Written by William Freshman Akos Tolnay Based on a story presumably being told behind closed doors from 10 Downing Street to the Kremlin Produced by Steven Pallos John Stafford Starring Derek Farr Marta LaBarr 86 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Murder at the Windmill (US: Mystery at the Burlesque) 1949

Written and directed by Val Guest Produced by Daniel M. Angel Nat Cohen Starring Garry Marsh Jon Pertwee Jack Livesey
The Golden Madonna 1949

Directed by Ladislas Vajda Produced by John Stafford Written by Aimee Stuart Dudley Leslie A. Tolnay Based on an original story by Dorothy Hope Starring Phyllis Calvert Michael Rennie Tullio Carminati David Greene 88 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Tony Draws a Horse 1950

Directed by John Paddy Carstairs Written by Brock Williams Based on the play by Lesley Storm Starring Cecil Parker Anne Crawford Derek Bond Barbara Murray Mervyn Johns Edward Rigby 91 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Bedelia (Lockwood) and husband are living happily in Monte Carlo until an undercover detective starts probing into her past, revealing the mysterious poisoning death of her past husband. British National Films, Great Britain
Army buddies Ted Peters (Attenborough) and Dave Robinson (Rowbotham) return to London after the war. Peters gets an honest job as a taxi driver, working the night shift to save money for his upcoming wedding. Robinson, looking to make some easy money, gets caught up with a gang of black marketers operating out of a dance hall. When Robinson gets murdered, Peters sends his fianc (Sim) under cover as a dance hall girl to prove that the gang was involved. A taut and effective example of the Brit noir. Coronet-Alliance, Great Britain
While honeymooning in Sicily, John Justin is left to his own devices when his bride, a doctor before their marriage, suddenly is called away to fight an epidemic in Tunis. And what lovely devices they are! He falls madly in love with a fiery peasant girl (Lea Padovani) and pays for his infidelity with his life. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Better than the novel. Superbly played by its English and Italian cast, exciting and impressive. The New York Times
A parade of loves and lovers as Theresa Lachman, daughter of a ragman in a small Continental town in the mid-19th century, deserted by her first lover in Moscow, marries a poor tailor. Later, she meets and marries world-famous pianist Henry Hertz, inspires Offenbachs La Belle Helene, crosses the path of Cora Pearl, the queen of the demimonde, and inadvertently causes the death of Hertz. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Miles Mallesons Offenbach is quite a lavish production. Variety
A plot to assassinate President Roosevelt opens in Rome with the arrival of Allied Troops. A young war correspondent looks up a lovely Russian ballerina at the deserted Real Teatro dellOpera and a series of flashbacks show how the adventurous journalist met the glamorous dancer. The scene then moves to Teheran where the adventure unfurls in the mysterious bazaars and hideouts. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Adventure melodrama blithely recording how a young British war correspondent prevents an attempt on the life of President Roosevelt. Kine Weekly
Partly filmed on location at Londons famed Windmill Theatre. When an audience member is found dead after the show, the police determine that the fatal shot came from the stage. The lead detective (Marsh) decides that the show must be restaged to retrace the scene of the crime. Angel Productions, Great Britain
One of the more famous British films of the Forties, this romantic comedy-drama stars Phyllis Calvert as an American lass in Italy whose priest tells her that neighboring villagers believe they are accursed because of the disappearance of a priceless painting, The Golden Madonna, which had hung in their church for centuries. Later, another caller reveals the awful truth. That terrible reproduction of The Laughing Cavalier she tossed out during her housecleaning had been painted over The Golden Madonna during World War II to hide it from the Germans. J. Arthur Rank, Great Britain Delightful performance by Phyllis Calvert. Variety
This droll comedy springs from the split-up between a doctor and his psychiatrist wife over the upbringing of their eight-year-old son Tony. It seems the lad had been drawing a horse complete with anatomical details that the prudes think the child ought not to know. Father wants to whale the daylights out of the kid whilst Mum wants the boy left free to develop his self-expression. Pinnacle/GFD Production. J. Arthur Rank, Great Britain Evokes plenty of laughs via its satiric handling of a variety of subjects, including marriage, parenthood, doctors, psychiatry, social snobbery, servants, etc. Jabs at manners and conventions in a delightful and subtle way but a good deal is also given farce treatment all adding up to an amusing comedy. Variety
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British Cinema
Corridor of Mirrors 1948
One of the most unique British films of the 40s.
Directed by Terence Young Written by Rudolph Cartier Edana Romney Inspired by the novel by Christopher Massie Music by Georges Auric Starring Eric Portman Edana Romney Joan Maude Barbara Mullen Caroline Hart Christopher Lee 105 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Convalescing in Italy after the 1914 war, Paul Mangin (Eric Portman) becomes so obsessed with the likeness of a girl in a 16th century painting that he believes that he has been reincarnated as her lover. He takes the portrait back to London, furnishes his home in the Renaissance manner and installs the canvas in a place of honor at the end of a long corridor of mirrors. Well, you can see that this isnt going to work. One cant live behind a 16th-century facade during the 20th century and not have something dreadful happen. Apollo Films-GFD, Great Britain Although there are only indirect parallels, in both plot structure and sometimes in individual scenes, Corridor of Mirrors is heavily influenced by both Brief Encounter and La Belle et la Bte, recent artistic triumphs. strange, lyrical, romantic, sometimes quite moving fascinating, handsome, unpredictable and the kind of film youll probably always remember with a degree of fondness and respect. William K. Everson, Salute to British Pictures, MoMA
Bedelia 1946
Vessel of Wrath 1938 The Green Cockatoo 1937
Call of the Blood 1948 Teheran 1948
South Riding 1937 Farewell Again 1937
Moonlight Sonata 1937 Under the Red Robe 1937
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Miss Pilgrims Progress 1950

Directed by Val Guest Written by Val Guest Starring Michael Rennie Yolande Donlan Garry Marsh 82 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Another Mans Poison 1951

Directed by Irving Rapper Screenplay by Val Guest From a story by Leslie Sands Starring Bette Davis Gary Merrill Emlyn Williams Anthony Steel 90 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Broken Barrier 1951

Directed by Roger Mirams John OShea Written by John OShea Starring Kay Ngarimu Terence Bayler 71 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Hotel Sahara 1951

Directed by Ken Annakin Written by George H. Brown Patrick Kirwin Music by Benjamin Frankel Starring Peter Ustinov Yvonne De Carlo David Tomlinson Roland Culver Albert Lieven 96 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Mr. Drakes Duck 1951

Directed by Val Guest Written by Val Guest From a story by Ian Messiter Starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Yolande Donlan 85 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Fake 1951

Directed by Godfrey Grayson Written by Patrick Kirwin Based on an original story by James Daplyn Produced by Steven Pallos Starring Dennis OKeefe Coleen Gray 80 minutes, 35mm, B&W
White Corridors 1951

Directed by Pat Jackson Written by Jan Read Pat Jackson Based on the novel Yeomans Hospital by Helen Ashton Produced by Joseph Janni John Croydon Starring Googie Withers James Donald Godfrey Tearle Petula Clark 102 minutes, 35mm, B&W
But Not in Vain 1952

Produced and directed by Edmond T. Grville Based on the play by Ben Van Esselstein Starring Raymond Lovell Carol Van Derman Bruce Lester Julian Dallas 74 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Donlan plays Miss Pilgrim, an American factory worker who exchanges jobs with a woman in England. Rennie plays her romantic interest in this comedy of culture clashes. Angel Productions, Great Britain
Davis plays a successful mystery writer who is living apart from her criminal husband. When he shows up on the lam after a bank robbery looking for getaway money from his wife, she poisons him. His accomplice (Davis real life then-husband Merrill) shows up and helps her dispose of the body, blackmailing her to pass him off as her now dead husband. Angel Productions, Great Britain Interesting excursion into murder and unrequited love. The New York Times
Almost a docu-drama, Broken Barrier is a romantic story about Tom Sullivan, a young journalist who writes a series of articles on Maori life in New Zealand and falls in love with a young Maori women from the rugged North island country. Both families and friends object to their marrying, but after many exciting incidents, the two young lovers break through the barriers that divide them, bringing with their marriage the hope for better understanding between two peoples. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
This gay and witty comedy centers on a fabulous luxury hotel in a North African desert oasis during World War II, which is occupied by a succession of small reconnaissance groups from the Italian, English, French and German armies. Emad, the proprietor (Ustinov), is ready to flee, but his fiance, the luscious Yasmin (Yvonne de Carlo) insists they stay. The hotel is their only asset. If they lose it, they never will be able to get married. Yasmin charms the leader of the Italian troops with her great beauty, wit and seductive charms, and when the Italians leave, she disposes of each of the succeeding groups with aplomb. Finally, the war ends and Emad has Yasmin to himself and then the Americans arrive. J. Arthur Rank/GFD/Tower, Great Britain Cheerful, uncomplicated empty stuff no more subtle than a music hall sketch. Richard Mallett, Punch
Fairbanks and Donlan play young American newlyweds who live on a quiet, small English farm until one of their ducks lays a radioactive egg and draws the attention of the government and its accompanying red tape. Angel Productions, Great Britain
American detective Paul Mitchell (Dennis OKeefe), engaged to guard a collection of paintings on loan to the Tate Gallery, prevents the snatching of The Madonna and Child from the docks, only to find it replaced by a fake in the Gallery itself. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Absorbing, unfolding smooth characterization, interesting setting, brisk bouts of action, suspenseful climax. Daily Cinema Popular thriller, provocative title, good cast, unusual backgrounds. Kine Weekly A wealth of technical data on the uncovering of fake paintings and other details having to do with the world of art is introduced effectively. Variety
Googie Withers stars as a brilliant young surgeon in love with James Donald, a research pathologist. The setting is Yeomans Hospital, situated in an English country town where the daily drama of saving lives, mending broken bodies and healing the sick continues as it does in every big hospital. Yet there is another drama, the one the patients never see: the behind-thescene love affairs, ambitions, hopes, despairs and jealousies of the staff. J. Arthur Rank, Great Britain Intelligently handled, episodic medical drama always carries urgency at its core. David Quinlan, British Sound Films Tense emotional drama, sincere, intelligent. Variety
Produced by Dutch and British peace groups, But Not In Vain is an anti-war film laid during the autumn of 1944 in Amsterdam, where people are dying of starvation. A few find sanctuary at the farm of Jan Alting (Raymond Lovell), a man of great character and integrity, who hides victims of the Nazis. Divided by different creeds, ideals and politics, he and the refugees are united by their shared dangers. Now Alting faces the greatest decision of his life. His son Anton, whom he disowned for joining the Nazi militia, returns home to discover his father shelters terrorists. He orders his father to turn them out by dawn or he will have them all killed. If Anton lives, they will die. Alting loves his son, but he loves humanity more. His conscience fails him. What can he do? What must he do? Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
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British Cinema
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman 1951
It captures the ghostly qualities of the tale and the exquisite beauties of Spanish settings and folkways.
Written, produced and directed by Albert Lewin Photographed by Jack Cardiff Starring James Mason Ava Gardner Nigel Patrick John Laurie Pamela Kellino Marius Goring 126 minutes, Color
Painstakingly restored by The Rohauer Library in conjunction with The Film Foundation and The George Eastman House, this legendary film has been elevated to haute cult status and is available now for the first time in its original running time. Now you can see it as it was presented originally a fascinating story in which the dead move among the living. The Dutchman lived in the 17th century but is not permitted to rest until he finds a woman who loves him enough to die for him. He meets the reincarnation of a woman from his dead past (Ava Gardner). They fall in love and the story progresses to a hair-raising reconciliation of past and present. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Great Britain Ornate, beautiful romantic fantasy. David Quinlan, British Sound Films Has a remote, almost ghostly quality color photography of the Spanish settings are beautifully imprinted and the camera angles further the mood of the story. Variety
Another Mans Poison 1951
Hotel Sahara 1951
Mr. Drakes Duck 1951
The Fake 1951
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British Cinema
Albert R.N. 1953

Directed by Lewis Gilbert Written by Vernon Harris Based on the play by Edward Sammis and Guy Morgan Starring Anthony Steel Jack Warner Robert Beatty Michael Balfour 88 minutes, Sound, B&W
Runaway Bus 1954

Directed by Val Guest Written by Val Guest Starring Frankie Howerd Petula Clark Margaret Rutherford 78 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Body Said No 1954

Directed by Val Guest Written by Val Guest Starring Michael Rennie Yolande Donlan Hy Hazell 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Diamond (US: The Diamond Wizard) 1954

Directed by Montgomery Tully Written by John C. Higgins Based on the Colliers magazine story, The Bowstring Murder, by Maurice Proctor Produced by Steven Pallos Starring Dennis OKeefe Margaret Sheridan Philip Friend 84 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Sea Shall Not Have Them 1954

Directed by Lewis Gilbert Written by Lewis Gilbert Vernon Harris Based on the novel by John Harris Starring Michael Redgrave Dirk Bogarde Anthony Steel Nigel Patrick 91 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Angela 1955
Directed by Dennis OKeefe Written by Jonathan Rix Edoardo Anton Based on a story by Steve Carruthers Produced by Steven Pallos Music by Mario Nascimbene Starring Dennis OKeefe Rossano Brazzi Mara Lane 80 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Before I Wake 1955

Directed by Al Rogell Produced by Charles Leeds Adapted from the novel by Hal Debrett Starring Jean Kent Mona Freeman Maxwell Reed 80 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Thunderstorm 1955
Directed by John Guillermin Written by George St. George Geoffrey Homes Based on an original story by George St. George Produced by Binnie Barnes Starring Carlos Thompson Linda Christian Charles Korvin 88 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Based on the true story of British POWs who suspect there is a spy for the Germans in their midst after several escape attempts are foiled. Eros Films Ltd., Great Britain
Comedy thriller in which Howerd plays the hapless bus driver transporting a group of passengers to an alternate airport due to heavy fog. Unbeknownst to the coach operator, he is also hauling a fortune in stolen coin, as well as the criminal mastermind behind the heist. Val Guest Productions, Great Britain
In this comedy a cabaret artist sees on her television after the evening signoff a plot being discussed to murder Michael Rennie. Her friends are skeptical but she warns Rennie, and after adventures and investigations it turns out that she had seen a TV rehearsal. Angel Productions, Great Britain
US Treasury investigator Dennis OKeefe pursues a gang of thieves who stole a million dollars to England where they plan to buy up man-made diamonds to flood world jewelry markets. Pendennis Films Ltd. /United Artists, Great Britain Meaty yarn, impressive London backgrounds, interesting asides and slap-up finale. Kine Weekly
A gritty tale set on the Noth Sea where four men are stranded in a rubber dinghy after their plane has been shot down. One is carrying secret plans that can help the fight against the Nazi attacks on British soil. Eros Films Ltd., Great Britain
American Steve Catlett (Dennis OKeefe) falls in love with Angela (Mara Lane), a young Italian woman, only to be implicated in her lovers murder and nearly murdered by Angelas violent husband, the brutal ex-convict Nino (Rossano Brazzi). Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Tense crime story, talented direction and performances, excellent photography. Todays Cinema Well told story, first-rate acting, intriguing sex appeal, intelligent dialogue. Daily Film Renter
April Haddon (Mona Freeman) returns home to England after receiving word from her stepmother that her father has died in a boating accident and that her mother has died an alcoholic. Did they now? Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Strong melodrama, mystery, suspense, romance. Todays Cinema Ingenious story, very good characterization, provocative title. Kine Weekly
Marla (Linda Christian) is a doomed, beautiful unknown young woman who is rescued unconscious from a yacht by Diego, a young fisherman. Believing herself to be a presager of bad luck, she leaves the bewildered Diego to take a job at the hotel of the most influential and most hated man in the village; during the months that follow, Diegos son is drowned during a thunderstorm and Diego is arrested for murder. When he is vindicated, Marla sails away, convinced she has brought Diego the same bad luck she brought to other men in her life who came to tragic ends. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Offbeat leans towards the arty. Variety
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British Cinema
Windfall 1955
Directed by Henry Cass Written by John Gilling Produced by Robert S. Baker Monty Berman Starring Lionel Jeffries Jack Watling Arthur Lowe 64 minutes (24 fps), B&W
Guilty? 1956
Directed by Edmond T. Grville Written by Maurice J. Wilson Adapted from the novel Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert Produced by Charles Leeds Starring Donald Wolfit John Justin Stephen Murray Norman Wooland Andree Debar Barbara Laage Frank Villard 93 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Man in the Road 1956

Directed by Lance Comfort Written by Guy Morgan Based on the novel He Was Found in the Road by Anthony Armstrong Produced by Charles Leeds Starring Ella Raines Donald Wolfit Derek Farr Cyril Cusack 84 minutes, 35mm, B&W
At the Stroke of Nine 1957

Directed by Lance Comfort Written by Tony OGrady Harry Booth Jon Penington Based on an original story by Tony OGrady Produced by Harry Booth Michael Deeley Jon Penington Starring Patricia Dainton Dermot Walsh Patrick Barr Stephen Murray Clifford Evans 71 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Face in the Night (US: Menace in the Night) 1957

Directed by Lance Comfort Written by Norman Hudis Based on the novel Suspense by Bruce Graeme Produced by Charles Leeds Starring Griffith Jones Lisa Gastoni Vincent Ball Eddie Byrne 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
No Road Back 1957

Directed by Montgomery Tully Written by Charles A. Leeds Montgomery Tully Based on the play by Falkland D. Cary and Philip Weathers Starring Skip Homeier Paul Carpenter Patricia Dainton Norman Wooland Margaret Rawlings Sean Connery Alfie Bass 83 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Sail into Danger 1957

Directed by Ricardo Gascon Kenneth Hume Written by Kenneth Hume From his own original story Produced by Steven Pallos Starring Dennis OKeefe James Hayter Kathleen Ryan 72 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Crowning Touch 1957

Directed by David Eady Written by Margot Bennet Based on an original story by Cecily Finn and Joan OConnor Starring Greta Gynt Ted Ray 67 minutes, 35mm, B&W
In this comedy Lionel Jeffries plays a shop assistant who finds a briefcase filled with cash, which his daughters boyfriend promptly steals. Mid Century Film Productions Ltd., Great Britain
Vicki Martin (Andree Debar), heroine of the French Resistance, on trial at the Old Bailey, is framed for a murder she did not commit. French journalist Pierre Lemaire (Frank Villard) engages brilliant counselor Norman Wooland to slow up the court sessions while he and solicitor John Justin pursue investigations that will take them to France and proof of Martins innocence. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Popular crime fiction, attractive and competent cast, snappy asides, authentic backgrounds and arresting title. Kine Weekly Rollicking but well-constructed murder investigation. Highly recommended. Daily Film Renter
Soviet agents attempt to smuggle a British scientist out of a forbidding country sanatorium to behind the Iron Curtain. So begins a smooth espionage melodrama with colorful characters, ending in a spectacular climax. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Intriguing plot, attractive and capable cast, showman-like finale. Kine Weekly All accoutrements of the rollicking spy story with plenty of romantic interest and excellent comical playing by Cyril Cusack. Daily Cinema
Wanting to revenge his late fathers suicide as a result of smear publicity, a crazed concert pianist kidnaps ace Fleet Street reporter Patricia Dainton, holds her in a cellar, promising to kill her in five days time and forces her to write a daily story for her paper describing her ordeal. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Competently played, no padding and flowing pace. Interest sustained from start to finish. Todays Cinema Suspenseful newspaper melodrama with powerful, uncluttered plot. First class entertainment. Daily Film Renter
A suspenseful tale of robbery and of a young witness afraid to go to the police out of fear of reprisals from the crooks. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Actionful yarn, virile and versatile team work, intriguing title. Kine Weekly Suspenseful mail van robbery murder drama, full of action, crisply directed. First-rate entertainment. Daily Film Renter
While Skip Homeier gets star billing, the real interest here is Sean Connery in his first picture a crime melodrama about a blind and deaf woman (Margaret Rawlings) who fences jewels to send son Homeier to medical school. He returns home after graduation to find Mother plotting her greatest and final coup, with his fiance mixed up in the affair as well. A man is killed and Homeier must save them from the hangman. RKO Radio Pictures, Great Britain Script develops a consistent degree of suspense frequent use of sign language intriguing. Variety
A boy from Barcelona who witnesses the theft of the sacred Madonna from the Cathedral tries to stop the thieves and later is found dead in the street. Skipper-owner and ex-smuggler Steve Ryman (Dennis OKeefe) takes off after the criminals and gets more than he bargains for. Writer/ director Kenneth Hume died during the filming and OKeefe took over as director. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Colorful Barcelona makes an interesting setting there is an actionful climax. Dennis OKeefe is always a good box office proposition. Todays Cinema
The tale of a hat. Diane Hart goes to buy it, is told it is not for sale and that the purchaser had never collected it. Over a birthday drink, she and her husband and a bachelor friend invent stories around it, only to find in the end that the truth is the simplest answer of all. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Entertaining, shrewdly contrasted tales, attractive cast, apt title, smoothly unfold against widely varied backgrounds. Kine Weekly
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British Cinema
Cast a Dark Shadow 1955
A thoroughly polished job of civilized homicide.
Directed by Lewis Gilbert Screenplay by John Cresswell Starring Dirk Bogarde Margaret Lockwood Kay Walsh 82 minutes, 35mm, B&W
In this taut thriller Bogarde plays a scheming young man who uses his charm to wed an older wealthy woman. He stages her death to look accidental, but when he finds out that he will not be reaping financial reward from the death, he seeks out another victim. Angel Productions, Great Britain The British, who can make a fine art of murder on stage and screen, again have come through with a thoroughly polished job of civilized homicide in Cast a Dark Shadow. The New York Times
Angela 1955 The Sea Shall Not Have Them 1954
Runaway Bus 1954 Albert R.N. 1953
Before I Wake 1955 The Body Said No 1954
At the Stroke of Nine 1957 No Road Back 1957
The Man in the Road 1956
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British Cinema
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British Cinema
The Masterplan 1957

Written and directed by Hugh Raker Produced by Charles Leeds Adapted from the story by Harold Bratt Starring Norman Wooland Wayne Morris Tilda Thamar 78 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Surgeons Knife 1957

Directed by Gordon Perry Written by Robert Westerby Based on the novel The Wicked Place by Ann Hocking Produced by Charles Leeds Starring Donald Houston Adrienne Corri Lyndon Brook Sidney Tafler 83 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Broth of a Boy 1958

Directed by George Pollack Written by Patrick Kirwan Blanaid Irvine Based on the play The Big Birthday by Hugh Leonard Starring Barry Fitzgerald June Thorburn Tony Wright Harry Brogan Dermot Kelly The Abbey Players 77 minutes, 35mm, B&W
In the Wake of a Stranger 1958

Directed by David Eady Written by John Tully Based on the novel by Ian S. Black Produced by Jon Penington Starring Shirley Eaton Tony Wright Willoughby Goddard 65 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Sallys Irish Rogue (US: The Poachers Daughter) 1958

Directed by George Pollack Written by Patrick Kirwan Blanaid Irvine From the play The New Gossoon by George Shields Starring Julie Harris Harry Brogan Tim Seely The Abbey Players 74 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Home Is the Hero 1959

Directed by Fielder Cook Written by Harry Keating Based on the play by Walter Macken Starring Arthur Kennedy Joan OHara Walter Macken Eileen Crowe The Abbey Players 83 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Jet Storm 1959

Directed by Cy Endfleld Written by Cy Endfield Sigmund Miller Photographed by Jack Hildyard Starring Richard Attenborough Hermione Baddeley Mai Zetterling Diane Cilento Stanley Baker Harry Secombe Virginia Maskell Elizabeth Sellars Dame Sybil Thorndike David Kossoff 99 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Nearly a Nasty Accident 1959

Directed by Don Chaffey Written by Jack Davies Hugh Woodruff Based on the play Touch Wood by David Stringer and David Carr Produced by Bertram Ostrer Music by Ken Jones Starring Kenneth Connor Jimmy Edwards Shirley Eaton Richard Wattis Ronnie Stevens 91 minutes, 35mm, B&W
When evidence proves there is a security leak at NATO headquarters in Germany, charges of espionage and counter-espionage produce an impressive gallery of suspects from among the officers, their wives and sweethearts. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Well contrived script, mounting air of suspense, competent performances. Daily Film Renter Popular spy fare, intriguing title. The denouement is first-rate theatre. Kine Weekly
Boy mental patient Alexander Waring (Donald Houston) grows up to be a surgeon. His anesthetist Dr. Hearne (Sidney Tafler) tries unsuccessfully to blackmail Dr. Waring for the death of a patient he believes Waring caused. What Hearne doesnt know is that Dr. Waring plans to murder his way to the top of his profession and neither wives nor partners nor staff can stop him. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Strong crime melodrama of a highly talented surgeon who stops at nothing to get to the top. An excellent British production. Daliy Film Renter
The delightfully droll Barry Fitzgerald stars in this gentle comedy about an elderly Irishman who, on his 100th birthday, is believed to be the oldest man in Europe. Unaware that Fitzgerald falsified his age years before in order to get a pension, TV producer Tony Randall (Tony Wright), eager to cover the event, cant figure out why the old man wants to avoid publicity. Finally, after being caught poaching, Fitzgerald agrees to do the show in return for being let off. British Lion/Britannia, Ireland Palatable dose of Irish, lent sparkle by Fitzgerald. David Quinlan, British Sound Films
Drunken Irish seaman Tom Cassidy (Tony Wright) stumbles across the body of a murder victim in the night and, thinking the man a derelict, takes him to a refuge. Next day he can remember nothing of the incident, but discovers blood on his coat. The real murderers offer their help and try to frame Cassidy for the crime. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain The element of mystery is well sustained while the street and pub scenes have genuine local color. Kine Weekly The plot is largely enacted indoors but the murky dockland atmosphere is convincing. The tempo maintains interest and there is an action climax. Daily Cinema
Julie Harris is the lead in this wonderful movie with The Abbey Players. A young man (Tim Seely), more interested in motorcycles than in the farm he is about to inherit, breaks off with the girl (Harris) he has secretly promised to marry and goes off and gets himself involved with another one to the point that he finds himself caught between being sued for breach of promise on the one hand and a shotgun wedding on the other. British Lion, Ireland Directed with breezy blarney. Filmed near Dublin with pleasant Irish village scenery. Both Harris and Seely are excellent, but it is The Abbey Players who really matter. Harry Brogan has a field day as Miss Harris father, a wily poacher who, overplaying riotously, gives a gem of a performance. Variety
When Paddo (Walter Macken), the Goliath of Galway, accidentally kills a man during a barroom brawl, he gets five years in the penitentiary, but his family must bear the brunt of his guilt. His wife becomes a charwoman, takes in boarders and develops a taste for stout; his son William (Kennedy), called Hoppity because of his damaged leg, loses his job and becomes apprenticed to a cobbler, while his shy sister wallows in self-pity as the daughter of a murderer. To Paddos drinking buddies, hes a hero. To his wife he was a good provider who just happened to be standing in the wrong line when brains were handed out. On the fateful day when he is released from prison and comes home to pick up the pieces of his life, the conflicts in his life come into fascinating focus, for in his absence, things have changed. British Lion, Ireland Staged by The Abbey Players some years ago and later on Broadway, its even better in translation to the screen excellent direction and some first-rate performances. Variety
The real first of the Airport pictures. An allstar cast and a suspenseful movie about a planeload of passengers enroute from London to New York who discover that one of their number (Attenborough) is mentally unbalanced. Believing a fellow passenger is the hit-and-run driver who killed his child, Attenborough has smuggled a bomb on board and intends to kill him. This is the original, full-length British cut of the picture. British Lion, Great Britain All-star cast entertaining. David Quinlan, British Sound Films
A throwback to the Carry On series, this comedy revolves around a one-man disaster area a well-meaning, humble member of the RAF who becomes a figure of national importance when he turns up missing. It seems he is crazy about anything mechanical, extremely accident-prone and is costing the service a bundle. If hes not found and quick, his shenanigans will bankrupt Her Majestys government. British Lion/Britannia, Great Britain
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British Cinema
Expresso Bongo 1959
Brilliantly satirical.
Produced and directed by Val Guest Written by Wolf Mankowitz Based on his play Songs by David Heneker Monty Norman Starring Laurence Harvey Sylvia Syms Yolande Donlan Cliff Richard Wilfrid Lawson Hermione Baddeley 111 minutes, 35mm, B&W
This Fifties British classic is a fast-paced story about a cheap, opportunistic Soho talent agent (Harvey) who always looks for the quick buck. Hes glib and hes flashy, a bluffer with a ready talent for the quick double-cross. When he picks up amateur singer and bongo player (Cliff Richard) in a Soho espresso bar, he uses a little bit of luck and tons of chutzpah to transform the kid into a highly-regarded international singing sensation. All is super. The boy loves his fame and Harvey takes half of the gate. Then the sweet scent of success attracts still hungrier sharks and Harvey winds up in the street. British Lion, Great Britain Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Script has pungency, wit and a sharp sense of observation. Fun and a shrewd piece of social satire. Variety
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British Cinema
The Hands of Orlac (US: Hands of a Strangler) 1960

Directed by Edmond T. Grville Written by Edmond T. Grville John Baines Based on the novel Les Mains dOrlac by Maurice Renard Starring Mel Ferrer Donald Wolfit Christopher Lee Danny Carrel Felix Aylmer Basil Sydney Donald Pleasence 105 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Foxhole in Cairo 1961

Directed by John Moxey Written by Leonard Mosley Based on his novel The Cat and the Mice Produced by Steven Pallos Donald Taylor Starring James Robertson Justice Peter van Eyck Neil McCallum Albert Lieven Michael Caine 80 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Part-Time Wife 1961

Directed by Max Varnel Written by M. M. McCormack Produced by Edward J. and Harry Lee Danziger Starring Anton Rodgers Nyree Dawn Porter Kenneth J. Warren 70 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Daffodil Killer (US: The Devils Daffodil) 1961

Directed by Akos Rathony Written by Basil Dawson Donald Taylor Based on the story by Edgar Wallace Produced by Steven Pallos Donald Taylor Starring Christopher Lee Marius Goring Albert Lieven Penelope Horner Ingrid van Bergen 86 minutes, 35mm, Color
The Day the Earth Caught Fire 1961

Produced and directed by Val Guest Written by Val Guest Wolf Mankowitz Starring Edward Judd Janet Munro Leo McKern Michael Goodliffe Arthur Christiansen 97 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Jigsaw 1962
Written, produced and directed by Val Guest Based on the play Sleep Long My Lovely by Hilary Waugh Starring Jack Warner Ronald Lewis Michael Goodliffe 107 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Mystery Submarine (US: Decoy) 1962

Directed by C. M. Pennington Written by Bertram Ostrer Hugh Woodhouse Jon Manchip White Produced by Bertram Ostrer Music by Clifton Parker Starring Edward Judd James Robertson Justice Laurence Payne 92 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The City of the Dead (US: Horror Hotel) 1962

Directed by John Moxey Written by George Baxt Based on a story by Milton Subotsky Starring Christopher Lee Dennis Lotis Betta St. John Patricia Jessel 76 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The sound remake of Robert Wienes 1925 classic. Concert pianist Paul Orlac (Mel Ferrer) survives a plane crash and, while in the hospital, reads that the night of his accident, Vasseur The Strangler was executed. As in the original, hallucination and reality vie for control of Orlacs mind as he becomes convinced that his hands are that of Vasseur, and he tries to strangle his fiance. Christopher Lee plays the criminal who tries to blackmail him. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain A magnificent performance by Christopher Lee. Anything but a conventional horror film. Belongs to the tradition of the psychological chiller. It maintains tension right up to the completely unexpected ending. Mike Parry, Castle of Frankenstein
Michael Caines first picture, a true story in which a German agent in Libya is allowed to get back to Rommel with false information that changes the outcome of the Battle of El Alamein. An Omnia Production, Great Britain
British farce in which a womanizer convinces his friend to let him borrow his wife to pose as his own in order to impress his wealthy uncle. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
Scotland Yard joins forces with Hong Kong Airways Security to stop a series of macabre murders and the smuggling of drugs into Britain. Three girls, the last of them Chinese, are stabbed to death and left decorated with heroin-filled daffodils. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Two Stars. Leonard Maltin
Told as if investigative reporters were covering the story, this classic science-fiction story opens as catastrophic weather disturbances crash across the globe, wiping out entire populations. Sensing that the disasters are related, the editor of the London Dally Express sets his best people to discover the cause and discovers that simultaneous US and Soviet nuclear tests have knocked the Earth from its orbit and the planet now is hurtling on a collision course with the sun. British Lion/Pax, Great Britain Two Stars. Leslie Halliwell Three Stars. Leonard Maltin A model of expert movie-making, continuing and excruciatingly suspenseful. Better than On The Beach. Hollis Alpert, Saturday Review
Val Guest whips up an absorbing and entertaining murder mystery about some Brighton policemen who track down the murderer of a woman whose body they find in a lonely beach house. British Lion/Britannia/Figaro/Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain A first-rate detective thriller which has the authentic stamp of a documentary in its attention to detail. Plenty of red herrings keep the audience alert, and though (director) Guest resists the temptation to show the murderer at work and his subsequent cutting up of the body, he still provides the audience with plenty of excitement. Variety
A lone Nazi submarine, one of a wolf pack sent out to attack a British convoy, is captured, fitted out with a British crew and commander and ordered to rejoin the pack and then signal its position. British Lion/Britannia, Great Britain
A great little chillier in which master horror star Christopher Lee stars as a college professor of demonology who heads a witch coven in his spare time. His unwary students go there to conduct research, only to become sacrificial victims. British Lion/Amicus Production, Great Britain American gothic. I played a professor at an American university, and a satanist at the same time. It really was a very good picture in many ways, insofar as it combined ancient superstition and ritual with modern American university life. It had very much the witch-haunted flavor of Lovecrafts stories. Christopher Lee, The Films of Christopher Lee
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British Cinema
A Jolly Bad Fellow (US: They All Died Laughing) 1964

Directed by Robert Hamer Written by Robert Hamer Donald Taylor Based on the novel Don Among the Dead Men by C.E. Vulliamy Produced by Sir Michael Balcon Music by John Barry Starring Leo McKern Janet Munro Dennis Price Leonard Rossiter Maxine Audley 96 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Code 7, Victim 5 1964

Directed by Robert Lynn Written by Peter Yeldham Based on an original story by Peter Welbeck Photographed by Nicholas Roeg Starring Lex Barker Ronald Fraser Walter Rilla Ann Smyrner 88 minutes, 35mm, Color
The Silent Playground 1964

Written and directed by Stanley Boulder Starring Roland Curram Bernard Archerd Jean Anderson Ellen McIntosh John Ronque 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Coast of Skeletons 1965

Directed by Robert Lynn Written by Anthony Scott Veitch From an original story by Peter Welbeck, inspired by Sanders of the River by Edgar Wallace Produced by Oliver Unger Starring Richard Todd Dale Robertson Heinz Drache Marianne Koch 90 minutes, 35mm, Color
Mozambique 1965
Directed by Robert Lynn Written and produced by H. A. Towers Starring Steve Cochran Hildegard Knef Martin Benson Vivi Bach Dietmar Schoenherr Paul Hubschmid 96 minutes, 35mm, Color
Naked Evil (US: The Obi) 1965

Written and directed by Stanley Goulder Based on the play The Obi by Jon Manchip Starring Anthony Ainley Basil Dignam Suzanne Neve Richard Coleman Roland Bridges 84 minutes, Multicolor
A droll comedy in the Ealing tradition in which university science professor Leo McKern discovers a formula that makes mice become hysterically happy before turning up their toes and dying. Since he believes that gossips, hypocrites and stuffed shirts are a greater menace to society than most major criminals, he sees his chance to get rid of them and does so hilariously. British Lion/Pax Presentation, Great Britain Has roots in Kind Hearts and Coronets with the same urbane flavor and mocking eye-lifting at the humorous side of murder. Variety
This James Bond look-a-like is a hardy adventure film shot by Nicholas Roeg near Capetown, South Africa, with side trips into a fantastic cavern, ostrich farms, big game country and bathing beaches. Like the Bond pictures, the emphasis is on sex, violence and comedy, with Ronald Fraser as a womanizing police inspector who works with American private eye Lex Barker as they trail an assassin. Produced during the mid-Sixties, there are no references to Afrikaans or apartheid. In fact, except for the scenery, which is lush, the story could have taken place anywhere. A Columbia Release, Great Britain Enough action and scenic beauty to enable it to do well in the thriller market. Outstanding work from lesser known actors. Variety
British documentary filmmaker Stanley Boulders first feature picture a taut thriller that captures the atmosphere of the London suburb and the plight of a mentally retarded youth who hands out downers to a bunch of kids waiting outside a movie theatre. By the end of the show, a number of children are found unconscious and are rushed to the hospital to fight for their lives, while the police try to track down the hapless youth. A British Lion Release, Great Britain A quality production which scores heavily against some of its loftier rivals. Never sensational or mawkish. Top level entertainment. Variety
This grand British adventure tale has car chases, ships at sea, wonderful aerial photography, underwater shots, good guys, bad guys and a modicum of romance. Most of the action takes place in Africa. The picture was released in Germany as Sanders to take advantage of the German audiences fondness for the Edgar Wallace stories on which the film is loosely based. A Seven Arts Release, Great Britain First-Rate. Variety
Down and out in Lisbon, black-listed pilot Brad Webster (Steve Cochran) is handed a one-way ticket to Mozambique and a job with a Colonel Valdez. Accompanied by Danish singer Ingrid (Hildegard Knef), Webster finds Valdez dead on their arrival and his partner, Da Silva, now in control. Soon he finds himself involved with Da Silva in drug smuggling and saves Ingrid from white slavery only to have Da Silva knifed during an emergency landing. How he traps the real villain and exonerates himself makes for gripping entertainment. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
Voodoo grips an English town and only exorcism can save its people. Filmed in MultiColor (a process that looks not unlike the tinted footage from the days of the silent movies), Naked Evil is laid in a Midland town with a large West Indian population. A series of mysterious deaths occur and broken Obis (Jamaican death charms consisting of old bottles filled with dirt from a grave and trimmed with cockerel feathers) are always found with the bodies. The local academy is crawling with clues. Many students are fresh from Jamaica, a wizened old West Indian caretaker is caught with dead chickens in his room, and someone else at school has been pinching dirt from the nearby chapel cemetery. Who will be the next victim and why? Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
The Day the Earth Caught Fire 1961
Nearly a Nasty Accident 1959 Code 7, Victim 5 1964
A Jolly Bad Fellow 1964 Naked Evil 1965
The City of the Dead 1962 Foxhole in Cairo 1961
Jigsaw 1962 Coast of Skeletons 1965
Foreign Classics
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Foreign Classics
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Foreign Classics
Death Day 1933

Directed by Sergei Eisenstein Assisted by G. V. Alexandrov Photographed by Eduard Tisse Produced by Sol Lesser Upton Sinclair 16 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Thunder Over Mexico 1933

Directed by Sergei Eisenstein Produced by Sol Lesser Upton Sinclair Photographed by Eduard Tisse Edited by Harry Chandlee Music by Hugo Riesenfeld Starring A non-professional cast of Mexican villagers Upton Sinclair appears in the Prologue 69 minutes, 35mm, B&W
La Caida (US: The Fall aka Strange Guests) 1958

Produced and directed by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson Written by Beatriz Guido Leopoldo Torre Nilsson Photographed by Alberto Etchebehere Music by Juan Carlos Paz Starring Elsa Daniel Duilio Marzia Lydia Lamaison Carlos Lopez Monet 86 minutes, 35mm, B&W Spanish/English subtitles
El Torero de Crdoba (US: The Death of Manolete) 1958

Subject Manuel Rodriguez Manolete 18 minutes, 35mm, B&W Spanish/English subtitles
Latin America and Spain
Constructed from footage shot for Eisensteins uncompleted Que Viva Mexico, Death Day celebrates Mexicos Day of the Dead (a blend of the Christian All Souls Day and the Aztec Cult of the Dead) a popular festival where candles are made up as skeletal death symbols. Notable for the superb photography of Eduard Tisse, the film stands alone or can be screened with Thunder Over Mexico. The Mexican Film Trust, Mexico Celebrates the Mexican Indians holiday of calaveras in which the peon and the Indian, having suffered under bondage for so long, now show their contempt for death. The music is genuinely Mexican and bursting with the juices of life. Herman G. Weinberg, Films In Review
Author Upton Sinclair borrowed heavily to finance a new movie to be made by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein. Que Viva Mexico was to portray the life of the common people of Mexico, but by the time Eisenstein had shot over 50 hours of footage, Sinclairs money gave out and the Russians went home, leaving Sinclair holding the footage. Edited into Thunder Over Mexico, its absolutely stunning visuals make the film a must-see experience for anyone interested in seeing what a camera can do. The story concerns a poor Mexican peasant who witnesses the rape of his girlfriend at a hacienda by a guest of the landlord. He plans revenge, becomes a rebel and joins rebels against the feudal system in turn-of-the-century Mexico. When he and two friends are captured, they are trampled to death by horsemen in a gruesome execution photographed with such brutality and cruelty it lingers in the memory long after the film ends. Program Death Day with this picture. A two-reel short culled from what was to have been part of the epilogue, it deals with modern (193132) Mexico. The Mexican Film Trust, Mexico Grand photography. Variety
Torre Nilssons claustrophobic melodrama will give you the shivers. When a repressed young university student answers an ad for room and board in a town closer to school, she becomes enmeshed in a web of doom. Having been brought up in a strict Catholic home under the protective wing of her maiden aunt, Albertina cannot tell the difference between the fantasy that surrounds her and the reality it seeks to hide. Argentine Sono Studios, Argentina Combines the sexual tensions of an adolescent (Elsa Daniel) with the amorality of the four wild children whose governess she becomes. The director evokes with great force and conviction the films enclosed world with its strongly Cocteau-esque overtones. Peter Cowie, Fifty Major Filmmakers
Manolete was perhaps the finest bullfighter ever produced by Spain. This remarkable documentary details the important events of his professional life including rare scenes from his private life and with shots taken immediately after his fatal goring and during his state funeral. Noticiarios y Documentales Cinematogrficos, Spain
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Foreign Classics
Tristana 1970
It takes really Buuelian language to explain it.
Directed by Luis Buuel Written by Luis Buuel Julio Alejandro Based on the novel by Benito Perez Galdos Starring Catherine Deneuve Fernando Rey Franco Nero 98 minutes, Color Spanish with English subtitles or English dubbed
A rediscovered classic and one of the masters best films. This feature is often called Buuels most Spanish film and is more pure, more consistent, less ambiguous and more complex than his Viridiana. In one of her favorite films, Deneuve plays Tristana, a virginal young girl who goes to live with her guardian, Don Lope (Rey), an older man who eventually breaks through his facade of respectability and seduces her. She repays him a hundred-fold, preying on his jealousy and taunting him with perverse whimsies. Pacific Film Archive poca Films, Talia-Films, Spain Academy Award Nomination: Best Foreign Film, 1970. Acclaim: Ten Best of the Year Award Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times Ten Best of the Year the quintessential Buuel film of all time. The New York Times
224
Foreign Classics
225
Foreign Classics
Dantes Inferno 1911

Directed by Francesco Bertolini Adolfo Padovan Based on the first part of the epic poem Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri Starring Salvatore Papa Arturo Pirovano Augusto Milla 45 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Julius Caesar 1914

Directed by Enrico Guazzoni Based on the play by William Shakespeare Starring Amleto Novelli Bruto Castellani Irene Mattalia 47 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Le Golem (US: The Golem) 1936

Directed by Julien Duvivier Written by Julien Duvivier Andr Paul Antoine Subtitles by Martin J. Lewis Herman G. Weinberg Starring Harry Baur Roger Karl Ferdinand Hart Charles Dorat Raymond Aimos 95 minutes, 35mm, B&W French & Yiddish with English subtitles
Le Puritaine (US: The Puritan) 1938

Produced and directed by Jeff Musso Based on a story by Liam OFlaherty Photographed by Curt Courant Starring Jean-Louis Barrault Pierre Fresnay Viviane Romance Alla Donell Ludmilla Pitoeff 85 minutes, 35mm, B&W French with English subtitles
Le Baron Fantme (US: The Phantom Baron) 1943

Written and directed by Serge de Polgny Dialogue by Jean Cocteau Photographed by Roger Hubert Music by Louis Beydts Gowns by Christian Dior Starring Jany Holt Odette Joyeux Alain Cuny Gabrielle Dorziat 100 minutes, 35mm, B&W
L Idiot (US: The Idiot) 1946

Directed by Georges Lampin Produced by Sacha Gordine Written by Charles Spaak Based on the novel by Dostoevsky Music by M. Theriet V. de Butzov Starring Grard Philipe Edwige Feuillere Marguerite Moreno Lucien Coedel Sylvie Nathalie Nattier 95 minutes, 35mm, B&W French with English subtitles
La Marie du Port 1949

Directed by Marcel Carn Produced by Sacha Gordine Written by Marcel Carn Louis Chavance Based on the novel by Georges Simenon Photographed by Henri Alekan Music by Joseph Kosma Starring Jean Gabin Blanchette Brunoy 95 minutes, 35mm, B&W French with English subtitles
Italy and France
This opulent early Italian epic uses special effects and trick photography to dramatize the Milton literary work. By initiating a technique that Cecil B. DeMille was to find useful a couple of decades later, the filmmakers combine Sin and Salvation in the same picture to create a cathartic experience for the audience. Virgil takes Dante on a grand tour of Hell to visit famous sinners of the past. Consigned to various levels of Hell (as determined by the enormity of their sins), there they are, tormented by punishments appropriate to their transgressions. Cines Studio, Italy Though considered a primitive, this early Italian spectacle is virtually a documentary of what Hell is all about, spelling it out and explaining it in far more detail than many of us might care to know. Some of the special effects are remarkably ingenious for that period. William K. Everson
Typical of the kind of silent spectacles for which the Italians became world famous. A lavish production on the life of Romes most honored general-ruler-philosopher. Cines Studio, Italy Compares favorably with the other Italian pictures that have been brought into the US. Traces the rise of Caesar through the intricacies and mazes of political intrigue and strife. The famous battle between the Romans and the Gauls is depleted in detail. Variety
This sound remake of the silent classic focuses on the mad Emperor Rudolf (Harry Baur) rather than on the monster that occupies so much footage of the 1915 Wegener film. Lavishly produced at Czechoslovakias A.B. Studios, the picture boasts an indoor jousting tournament and an authentic replica of the famous synagogue in Prague where much of the action occurs. When the Golem appears, he creates a movie climax that is both moving and magnificent. United Artists, France/Czechoslovakia Heady venture into fantasy. Duvivier imbues his extravagant material with the conscience of a nightmare. Photography is masterly as are the sets. Anthony Slide, Ed., Selected Film Criticism
This French classic by Liam OFlaherty (The Informer) bears close watching. Ferriter (JeanLouis Barrault), a young religious fanatic and self-righteous newspaper reporter, tries to save a young girl from what he calls an immoral love affair. Outraged when he discovers she is just playing him along, he murders her and leads the police to believe that her lover did her in, telling everyone that her murder was an act of Divine Retribution. The police are not fooled, nor is his editor, who fires him. Failing to convince people that the murder was an act of God, Ferriter panics and finally brings about his own downfall. Les Films Derby, France Gripping entertainment. A psychological study of a morbid youth with a fanatical persecution complex. An exceptional film. Variety Ironic study in religious mania. Its moral: humans are not good enough to play God. A success with the critics in France, it was promptly banned in Poland and in author OFlahertys native Ireland. Banned by New Yorks State Board of Censors, temporarily held up by the Customs authorities. Time
A great public success even during the dark days of World War II, Jean Cocteaus Le Baron Fantme is a surfeit of delights an intricate puzzle that dares its audience to unravel it before the end and discourages comment at the same time that it invites it. Full of disguises and illusions, it is a ghost hunt that opens as the mysterious Baron vanishes from his own chateau. Everything is photographed in shadow and on a tilt to make things appear as out-oftime-and-place as possible. Characters who are fully identified remain unknowable and nothing is what it appears to be until the fairy tale ends with the words once upon a time. Consortium de Production de Films, France Extravagantly lovely, extravagantly romantic. Actors swirl in and out of character, and the romantic alignments shift subtly and often until the circumstances surrounding the Barons mysterious death are explained. It seems he deliberately sealed himself inside a cellar (his death was somewhat Egyptian, someone remarks), and left behind a will that untangles the plots many questions of identity. Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Considered to be the best film treatment of the Dostoevsky work, L Idiot is rich in detail and opulent sets and with a fine cast. Its a poignant love story in which an artless and supposedly mad prince, whose childlike innocence enables him to see what others cannot, helps them face the realities of their lives. While he befriends the friendless, loves the loveless and helps the strong acknowledge their weaknesses, he ultimately cannot inspire faith sufficient to overcome human foibles. Lux Compagnie Cinma de France, France Despite the fact that the film was produced in the midst of tremendous economic difficulties, Gordine portrayed it with lushlooking production accoutrements. Variety
Old pro Jean Gabin plays a Cherbourg restaurateur and cinema owner who takes his mistress Odile home for her fathers funeral, only to fall in love with her younger sister Marie. Far more mature than her 18 years, Marie wants more out of life than Odile, for she wants not only security, but a husband as well. Gabin thinks marriage is a tie that binds so will have none of it. How the two circle each other warily and give in at last to lamour et mariage. Creates truly wonderful screen entertainment. Corona/Sasha Gordine, France Gabin, aging but still dynamic, is excellent as the tight-lipped self-sufficient restaurateur who finds his values late in life. Carn directs in a firm and at times slow-paced manner. A well-made film that deals in adult emotions and should do well in art house and sure-seater situations. Combo of the pick of French technicians and actors gives the film an impressive technical polish. Variety
226
Foreign Classics
227
Foreign Classics
Det Hnder I Natt (US: It Happens Tonight aka Babes and Hoodlums) 1952
Written and directed by Arne Ragneborn Presented by Gustaf Hakim Starring Arne Ragneborn Ingrid Thulin Lars Ekborg 74 minutes, 35mm, B&W Swedish with English subtitles
Valkoinen Peura (US: The White Reindeer) 1953

Written, directed and photographed by Erik Blomberg Based on a Finnish Legend Music by Einar Englund Starring Mirjami Kuosmanen Kalervo Nissil ke Lindman Arvo Lehesmaa 75 minutes, 35mm, B&W Finnish with English subtitles
The Witch 1955

Directed by Roland af Hllstrm Written by Mika Waltari Based on his play Photography by Elko Toryi Starring Mirja Mane Toivo Mkel Hillevi Lagerstam 70 minutes, 35mm, B&W Finnish with English subtitles
The Scarlet Week 1956

Written and directed by Matti Kassila Photographed by Osmo Harkimo Starring Matti Oravisto Gunvor Sandkvist Toivo Mkel 77 minutes, 35mm, B&W Swedish with English subtitles
Vicious Breed (aka No Time for Shame) 1956

Written and directed by Arne Ragneborn Music by Les Baxter Starring Arne Ragneborn Maj-Britt Lindholm 86 minutes, 35mm B&W, Swedish with English subtitles
Assault! (aka Crime with Passion, We Are Guilty) 1957

Written and directed by Aarne Tarkas Starring Veijo Pasanen Aino-Maija Tikkanen Pia Hattara 85 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Flame (aka Girls Without Rooms) 1957

Written, produced and directed by Arne Ragneborn Subtitles by Seymour Stern Starring Catrin Westerlund Arne Ragneborn 77 minutes, 35mm, B&W Swedish with English subtitles
Finland and Sweden
Ingmar Bergman star Ingrid Thulin lends her luminous beauty to this Fifties import about a cabaret singer (Thulin) whose brother Gunnar (Ragneborn) decides to rob a manufacturing plant. To find out how to circumvent the alarm systems, he gets himself engaged to the night watchmans daughter, ascertains the size of his expected haul by shoehorning his sister into the bed of the factory accountant, and hires an ex-con drug addict to crack the safe. American movies couldnt get away with plots that incorporated drug use or the kind of suggestive scenes and dialogue used here, so to American intellectuals, productions such as this one seemed sophisticated, urbane and adult by comparison. Metronome Studios, Sweden
An ancient legend of Lapland tells of a cursed woman who is transformed into a white reindeer who wanders the snowfields of the Midnight Sun, luring all hunters who cross her path to their deaths. She cannot be stopped by bullets, but the spell is finally broken when her husband attacks and kills the white reindeer with cold steel. The exotic mood of romance, magic and myth about the beautiful Lapp girl who is both woman and witch so impressed the critics that it won Awards both at Cannes and Karlovy Vary. Junior-Filmi, Finland Awards: Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film Hollywood Foreign Press Association Gran Prix for Best Film Based on Legend Cannes International Film Festival Critics Award Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The Witch is a Finnish gothic with roots in preChristian times with a strong undercurrent of the old-time magic and superstition in the tradition of the trolls and the elves that were a natural part of Scandinavian folklore. Based on the successful play by Finnish author Mika Waltari (The Egyptian). Its macabre tale revolves around a young woman, spurning the advances of the local Count is murdered by him and is buried with a stake driven through her heart to prevent her from returning to haunt the living. When a contemporary archeologist discovers her remains 300 years later, he ignores the protests of the villagers, pulls the stake from her heart and she is reincarnated as a saucy strumpet determined to wreak vengeance upon the Counts descendants. Contemporary audiences are unfailingly amused by the fact that the Fifties US Customs people would not let the picture into the country until the two or three long shots of the witchs undraped breasts were inked out at the nipples. Fennada-Filmi, Finland
Torrid, bold, definitely titillating for Fifties audiences, this Swedish import bares all in its steamy story about Usko, a young laborer on weekend holiday who picks up a young married woman and spends the following week making love to her. By the end of the scarlet week, three lives are at risk. Suomen Filmiteollisuus, Sweden
Contemporary violence against gays was first exploited as a plot theme in this Swedish import starring writer-director Arne Ragneborn. Two male hustlers deliberately encourage the attentions of a gay man in a Stockholm park, notorious as a place for sexual assignations. They accept his advances and then murder him savagely. Metronome Studios, Sweden The crime wave that a 19-year-old boy embarks upon after hes released from reform school shows Sweden, too, has its problems with juvenile delinquents. Aside from the storys criminal aspects, theres sex by the shovelful and a homosexual scene apparently tossed in for good measure. Variety
When Assault! hit the theatres in the late Fifties, the ads credited neither director nor stars, for the real interest was in the fact that US Customs had held the picture hostage for four months while officials decided whether or not American audiences might be allowed to see it. The problem was its controversial story. A young boy grows up in a sordid environment in which both parents indulge themselves in adulterous affairs. When the boy experiences his own sexual awakening, the results are catastrophic. Fennada-Filmi, Sweden
The first film to portray prostitutes as people. The heroine is a beautiful intellectual young woman nicknamed the flame because she attracts men like moths to the flame. Arrested by the police and charged with corrupting society, she asks tartly, How can I corrupt that which is already thoroughly corrupted? What crime have I committed? I have robbed no one, injured no one, murdered no one. The Flame reached American audiences amidst considerable controversy. Seymour Stern, author of The Griffith Index and authorized biographer of D. W. Griffith, saw a link between Griffiths attack against Puritanism in Way Down East (1920), and the attack here against anti-sexual priggishness and puritanism of contemporary conservative society. Metronome Studios, Sweden
Assault! 1957
Death Day 1933
230
Foreign Classics
231
Foreign Classics
Der Student von Prag (US: The Student of Prague) 1913

Directed by Stellan Rye Written by Paul Wegener Hanns Heinze Ewers Starring Paul Wegener John Gottowt Lyda Salmonova Grete Berger Lothar Korner 45 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Carmen (US: Gypsy Blood) 1918

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch Written by Hans Kraly Norbert Falk From the story by Prosper Merimee Starring Pola Negri Harry Liedtke Magnus Stifter Fritz Richard 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari (US: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) 1919
Directed by Robert Wiene Produced by Erich Pommer Written by Carl Mayer Hans Janowitz English intertitles from the original 1920 Goldwyn Pictures US release Starring Werner Krauss Conrad Veidt Lil Dagover Friedrich Feher 60 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W Silent with Music and Effects Track
Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (US: The Golem) 1920
Directed by Paul Wegener Carl Boese Written by Paul Wegener Henrik Galeen Photographed by Karl Freund Guido Seeber Art Direction by Hans Poelig Starring Paul Wegener Albert Steinruck Ernst Deutsch 75 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Genuine (US: A Tale of a Vampire) 1920

Directed by Dr. Robert Wiene Written by Carl Mayer Designed by Cesare Klein Starring Fern Andra Ernst Gronau Harald Paulsen Albert Bennefeld John Gottowt Hans Heinrich von Twardowski 33 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Germany
Paul Wegener made this pioneering work with Hanns Ewers, borrowing from E.T.A. Hoffmann, the Faust legend and Edgar Allan Poes William Wilson. It exploits the deepest of German fears: the deep and fearful concern with the foundations of ones self. Here, Wegener and Ewers use the dramatic device of giving the protagonist a doppelganger, a double, who ultimately destroys him. Baldwin, a poor student in medieval Prague, is approached by the sorcerer Scapinelli who offers him wealth and power in exchange for his mirror reflection. The wizard then lures the reflection out of the lookingglass and transforms it into a real person who sets about to frustrate Baldwin at every turn. The reflection is Baldwins greedy self who threatens to destroy the good self it has betrayed. Finally, Baldwin chases the reflection to the attic where it first appeared, fires on it and kills only himself. Scapinelli returns, rips up their agreement and the pieces fall to cover Baldwins corpse. Bioscop, Germany By separating Baldwin from his reflection and making both face each other, Wegeners film symbolizes a specific kind of split personality. Instead of being unaware of his own duality, the panic-stricken Baldwin realizes that he is in the grip of an antagonist who is nobody but himself a dreamlike transcription of what the German middle class actually experienced in its relation to the feudal caste running Germany. The current phrase, the two Germanys, applied in particular to the differences between the ruling set and the
middle class differences deeply resented by the latter, but they had to admit that they identified themselves with the very ruling class they opposed. They represented both Germanys. Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler
Of all those who have presented Carmen, Lubitsch alone follows the original story by having Don Jose tell the tale in flashback to a friend who visits him in prison. Union-UFA Productions, Germany Lubitschs first international screen hit for which Pola Negri was hailed as Germanys foremost screen actress. Sets were highly evocative of 19th-century Seville, the streets and corners of the Spanish town being cleverly conjured up with the barest of means. Realistically dirty gypsy hovels, wild craggy sierras through which the smugglers passed, the seething waterfront at Gibralter (especially striking in its composition); it was all there, done on the UFA backlot at Tempelhof. Herman G. Weinberg, The Lubitsch Touch
Caligari probably remains the ultimate expression of narrative through set design: even the exquisitely-chiseled face of Conrad Veidt seems cut to reflect the angled shadows and interiors through which he somnambulistically slips under the control of the evil Caligari. Der Sturm expressionist painters Rohrig and Reimann and the designer Hermann Warm contributed to the design. With roots in fantasy, romanticism, and medieval stories, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is also intensely modern, and like the best science-fiction carries a warning for the future. Its chilling tale of mind control and murder was written by Janowitz and Mayer out of a shared hatred for militarism and authoritarianism. A decade before Hitlers rise, the fictional Caligari wrote in his diary: Now I shall be able to prove whether a somnambulist can be compelled to do things he would never do himself and would abhor doing, whether it is true that one in a trance can be driven to murder. A Prologue attached at the insistence of producer Erich Pommer helped to re-route Janowitz and Mayers charged political themes into a psychological (and pseudo-scientific) tale of personal madness. Pacific Film Archive Decla-Bioscop, Germany Four Star. Leslie Halliwell
Awards: One of the 12 Most Important Films of All Time Critics Prize, Brussels Worlds Fair, 1958 Caligari embodies the tendency of the German war government to use its unlimited authority to idolize power as such, and to satisfy its lust for domination, to violate all human rights and values ruthlessly. Functioning as a mere instrument, Cesare is not so much a guilty murderer as Caligaris innocent victim. He symbolizes the common man who, under the pressure of compulsory military service, is trained to kill and to be killed. In the end, reason overpowers unreasonable power, insane authority is symbolically abolished. Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler
An ancient cabalistic legend tells of a rabbi in 16th century Prague who took clay and fashioned it into an avenging giant without a soul to defend his people from the pograms. Of the five filmed versions of the story, Leslie Halliwell votes this one the best. Its splendid sets, performances and certain scenes all being clearly influential to later Hollywood films, especially Frankenstein. UFA, Germany Three Stars. Leslie Halliwell The ghetto is a dream-like maze of crooked streets and stooped houses. Here reason avails itself of brute force (the Golem) to liberate the oppressed. Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler A masterpiece. The legend is presented with a sweep and a sincerity of purpose that thrills and amazes. It is, racially, Jewish; artistically it is international. A picture that is a credit to the screen. Photoplay
Robert Wiene made this second expressionist film in 1920 to cash in on Caligaris success the year before. An elaborate fantasy in which an exuberant decor competes with a bizarre story, it marks the turning point thematically for writer Mayer as he turns his attentions from the tyrant films to the instinct films that emphasize the surge of disorderly lusts and impulses in a chaotic world. Genuine, a sanguinary priestess for sale in an Oriental slave market, is bought by a strange old man (Gronau), who jealously confines her in a sort of glass cage inaccessible to visitors. But Genuine lures a young barber into cutting the old mans throat and freeing her, after which she becomes a supervamp who preys on all the men around her. Decla-Bioscop, Germany
Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari 1919
Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam 1920
234
Foreign Classics
235
Foreign Classics
Othello 1922
Directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki Based on the play by William Shakespeare Starring Emil Jannings Werner Krauss Lya De Putti 70 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Phantom 1922
Directed by Friedrich W. Murnau Based on the novel by Gerhard Hauptmann Starring Alfred Abel Frieda Richard Hans Heinrich von Twardowski Lil Dagover Aud Egede-Nissen Lya De Putti 109 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Schatten Eine nchtliche Halluzination (US: Warning Shadows A Nocturnal Hallucination) 1922
Directed by Arthur Robison Adapted from an idea by Albin Grau Photographed by Fritz Arno Wagner Starring Fritz Kortner 70 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Die Strae (US: The Street) 1923

Written and directed by Karl Grune Starring Eugen Klpfer Lucie Hflich Aud Egede-Nissen Leonhard Haskel Anton Edthofer Max Schreck 90 minutes (24 fps) 35mm Silent with Music Track, B&W
Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (US: Waxworks) 1924

Directed and designed by Paul Leni Written by Henrik Galeen Photographed by Helmar Lerski Starring Wilhelm Dieterle Emil Jannings Conrad Veidt Werner Krauss Olga Belajeff John Gottowt Ernst Legal 61 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Die freudlose Gasse (UK: The Joyless Street US: Streets of Sorrow) 1925
Directed by G. W. Pabst Written by Willy Haas Starring Greta Garbo Asta Nielsen Werner Krauss 91 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Like Feodor Ozep, director Dimitri Buchowetzki left Russia after the Revolution to make films in Germany. He used the Shakespearean tragedy to explore a popular theme of the day how the evil in a single man can affect the lives of everyone around him. Othello (Jannings) is the Moorish commander of the armed forces of Venice who marries Desdemona, daughter of a local political leader. Iago (Krauss), an ensign under Othellos command, is angered when he is passed up for a promotion, and takes his revenge by convincing Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful. Without waiting for proof, the enraged Othello strangles her, and upon discovering Iagos treachery, plunges a dagger into his own heart in remorse. UFA, Germany A triumph. The Moor of Emil Jannings is a superb piece of acting. Nothing was spared to make the sets stupendous. Variety
The story of a man destroyed by a phantom his own dreams of glory. Egged on by the flattery of his friends, Lorenze (Alfred Abel) begins to take himself seriously. He comes to believe that he is a great poet and that by publishing his works he will become wealthy. On the strength of that, he borrows a great sum of money from a rich relative and then foolishly fritters it away. When no publisher will touch his poems, he is unable to repay the money and goes to jail, a broken man. Uco-Decla-Bioscop, Germany Murnau was fascinated by the motif of the character who breaks away from the social conventions to grasp life, but the conventions prove stronger than the rebel and force him either into submission or suicide. Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari To Hitler
A rare and rarely seen film, Warning Shadows belongs to the instinct as opposed to the tyrant school of filmmaking as outlined by Siegfried Kracauer. It resembles Carl Mayers screen poems in that it involves nameless characters in an almost titleless narration. Similar to Pabsts Secrets Of A Soul, it is concerned with a mentally unbalanced character cured by psychoanalytical or, in this case, quasipsychoanalytical methods. While the Pabst film investigates its character with detachment, Robisons expressive screen fantasy fairly quivers with excitement. The film opens as a jealous Count sees his wife more than respond to the blandishments of another character known as The Lover. A passing juggler asks to perform shadow plays, but senses in the course of his performances impending doom. He removes the shadows cast by those seated at the table, hypnotizes them and, in their trances, they act out the events dictated by their rising passions: the Count forces his guests to stab his fettered wife and the guests throw the Count out of the window. When the shadows return to the hypnotized party, they awaken from their nightmare and, freed from their obsessions by their new apprehensions, they are cured. The Count becomes a composed adult, his wife a loving spouse, and the Lover takes his leave. Germany
Among the masterpieces of the German screen, Warning Shadows passed almost unnoticed. Contemporaries may have felt that any acknowledgement of the healthy shock effect of reason was bound to result in an adjustment to the ways of democracy. Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler Magical and magnificent. Variety
Eugen Klpfer plays a drab but pompous little nonentity, hopelessly mired in mediocrity and an ordinary marriage. As he looks out onto the busy city outside, it begins to symbolize for him all the thrills and adventures he is missing. Unable to endure the uncertainty any longer, he ventures forth into the thoroughfare. The reality of the experience sobers him. At first his own daring makes him dizzy with excitement, but then he discovers there are actually no adventures of any consequence to be had on the outside, so he returns to the warmth and comfort of his family. UFA, Germany A nonpolitical avant-garde film with psychological roots in the films of Carl Mayer and the genuine expressionist films. Director Karl Grune, a former Reinhardt disciple, told how he happened to discover the cinema. He lived for years among foreign soldiers, but instead of learning their language, he simply watched their gestures and faces so as to become familiar with their intentions. His experiences aroused his desire to develop on the screen a pictorial language as communicative as the spoken one. This may help explain why The Street, made completely without titles, was particularly rich in significant pictures. It ingratiated itself with a rather broad public composed mainly of intellectuals. Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler
Emil Jannings, Werner Krauss and Conrad Veidt star in this classic of German Expressionism, set like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, in a fairground atmosphere where strange possibilities abound. A starving poet, asked to write about the figures in the fantastic waxworks, invents four portraits of cruelty. His subjects are Harun-al-Rashid (Jannings), Jack the Ripper (Krauss), Ivan the Terrible (Veidt) and Rinaldo Rinaldini (Dieterle). The film is visually striking, with tortured sets and ingenious lighting effects. Neptune-Film, Germany Leni developed a decor which, in its attempt to create a fantastic atmosphere, borrowed much from expressionism episodes seize upon types of tyrants haunting a bygone period. The Jack the Ripper episode arouses suspicion that Jack and his confreres are not merely figures of the past but tyrants still among us. The poet and the girl hurry past the constantly circling merrygo-round, while Jack the Ripper himself, Caligari and Cesare in one, pursues them on miraculous dream paths, hovering through a gigantic Ferris wheel that also turns without pause. Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler
The film that marked the change in German cinema from Expressionism to Realism and rocketed both G. W. Pabst and Greta Garbo to international fame. It examines the lives of people living in Vienna after World War I and what happens to them after Kaiser Wilhelms defeat and the economic and social orders disintegrate. Sofar-Film-Produktion, Germany Contrasts tough profiteers and destitute middle-class people; expensive restaurants sparkling with light and dim-lit homes visited by hunger; noisy effervescence and silent withdrawal into sadness. Elaborates upon the interrelationship between enforced economic decay of the middle class and the selling-out of its moral values. Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari To Hitler
236
Foreign Classics
Olympia I & II 193638
Vampyr (Germany: Der Traum des Allan Gray, US: The Strange Adventures of David Gray) 1931
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer Written by Dreyer and Christen Jul Based on Carmilla, from In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu Produced by Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg (aka Julian West) Photographed by Rudolph Mate Karl Freund Music by Wolfgang Zeller English subtitles by Herman G. Weinberg Starring Julian West (the stage name of Baron Nicolas de Gunzberg) Henrietta Gerard Jan Hieronimko Maurice Schutz Rena Mandel Sybille Schmitz 70 minutes 35mm, B&W, German/English subtitles
Olympia I & II 193638

Produced, directed and edited by Leni Riefenstahl Photographed by Willy Zielke Hans Ertl Guzzi Lantschner Walter Frentz Music by Herbert Windt Olympla I: 120 minutes Olympia II: 85 minutes Diving Sequences: 5 minutes B&W, English
The Great British Train Robbery 1967

Directed by John Olden Claus Peter Witt Story screenplay by Henry Kolarz Photographed by Gerald Gibbs Starring Horst Tappert Hans Cossy Gunther Neutze 104 minutes, 35mm, B&W Dubbed in English
This strange, unique film is the supreme example of horror sensed rather than seen, evil suggested rather than exposed. The story concerns a young man, David Gray, who comes to spend a night in a lonely inn. The location is vague but has a somewhat Swiss or Austrian (Transylvanian?) character. In the middle of the night, a weird, non-dark, creeping night, a stranger slips into his room and gives him a parcel, telling him to open it should the stranger die. No outline of the vague, deliberately confused story can convey anything of the extraordinary atmosphere engendered by Vampyr. The conventional trappings of horror are not displayed, except in one or two incidents; all else is done by hints and suggestions. Shadows have apparently no solid counterparts. Weird unexplained sounds are heard, such as barking dogs and crying children, where none exist; characters move and disappear without reason or motive; at any moment, one feels buildings and persons are liable to dissolve into mist. Only evil itself is real and that is invisible. Ivan Butler, The Horror Film Tobis Klangfilm, Germany/France
Preys upon our subconscious, our unformulated fears: the mood is mystical, evocative, dreamy, spectral. Dreyer has no need for paper-mache monsters, he achieves his effects by means of the camera. Psychological surprise, dread and obsession are the substance of the film: death hovers over everyone. Pauline Kael, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Vampyr and Gertrud have become increasingly recognized as the most nearly flawless pearls Dreyer created. Richard Roud, Ed., Film: A Critical Dictionary
The best sports film ever made a magnificent film documentary of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Commissioned by Hitler, given unlimited funding and a fair amount of artistic freedom, Riefenstahl and her crew use equipment ranging from small Leicas to huge telescopic cameras mounted on every kind of apparatus and shooting from every angle conceivable. The poetic editing makes every event a thing of unforgettable beauty. Part I includes the carrying of the torch from Olympia to Berlin and track and field events starring Americas Jesse Owens. Part II includes gymnastic and aquatic events, sailing and rowing, equestrian events, bicycling and the decathlon events. The Diving Sequences are available also alone as a short film. Olympic Film GmbH, Germany Three Stars. Leslie Halliwell Only incidentally a record of the actual games shots were selected for their beauty rather than for a documentary record. Pauline Kael, Kiss Bang Bang
The most spectacular robbery in the annals of crime, the robbery of an English Royal Mail Train on August 8, 1963, involving the theft of seven million dollars, has been dramatically recreated in this exciting film. The train, which leaves Glasgow, Scotland every evening and is due to arrive early the next morning in London, is stopped by a hooded gang thirty miles short of its destination. The planning of the crime is done almost in documentary fashion, but the high point is the robbery itself when the train is boarded and the daring, criminal blueprint becomes a reality. Pendennis Films Ltd., Germany Three Stars. Leonard Maltin Remarkably well constructed have rightfully followed a semi-documentary style. Gerald Gibbs crisp black-and-white photography has a well-made newsreel quality about it. The English soundtrack, whether dubbed or postsynchronized, is excellent. Variety
Das Wachsfigurenkabinett 1924
The Great British Train Robbery 1967
Vampyr 1931
Avant-Garde: France
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Avant-Garde: France
Le Voyage dans la Lune 1902
Le Voyage dans la Lune (US: A Trip to the Moon) 1902

Written, produced and directed by Georges Mlis 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
The Magic of Mlis 190304

Written, produced and directed by Georges Mlis 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Georges Mlis
Georges Mlis landmark film uses special effects and fantastic sets to fool turn-of-thecentury audiences into believing they were seeing a manned space voyage. The prints have been step-printed to simulate 18 fps. Star Films, Paris, France Mlis created a whole unique and peculiar universe. He made images of this world as well as of lands of fairies and witches and demons. He recreated the present. He recreated the past. He created the future in Le Voyage dans la Lune. He himself painted every house and every tree and every leaf. Davld Robinson, Film: A Critical Dictionary
As early as 1896 the trick films of French magician/filmmaker Georges Mlis were being shown on a regular basis at New Yorks Eden Muse. Here are three such films: Jupiters Thunderbolts (1903), in which old Zeus tries in vain to get a handful of thunderbolts to behave themselves instead of blowing up Olympus; The Mermaid (1904), in which a magician changes a fish swimming in an aquarium into a mermaid and then into a normal woman; a magician constructs The Magic Lantern (1903) from bits and pieces and projects movies onto a wall to produce real dancing girls out of thin air. Star Films, France
244
Avant-Garde: France
Le Ballet Mcanique 1924

Directed by Fernand Lger Photography by Dudley Murphy 10 minutes (24 fps) 35mm, B&W
Fernand Lger
One of the key films of the avant-garde movement, Le Ballet Mcanique, anticipates later Surrealist films and is Cubist painter Fernand Lgers only film. It is the first completely abstract film to be photographed (as opposed to the drawn abstractions of Richter and Eggeling). Lgers objects flash onto the screen with no logic or order to them; there is no theme, and if any thought-associations link them they are certainly not the obvious ones of Man Rays Ltoile de mer. Lger lit his objects with highly contrasting light and shadow, to reveal their personality. His adherence to Cubism can be seen in his angular fragmentation and multiplication of images. David Curtis, Experimental Cinema, France One of the most influential works in the history of experimental film. American Film Institute
246
Avant-Garde: France
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Avant-Garde: France
The Dimitri Kirsanoff Collection 192454

Mnilmontant 1924
Written, produced and directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff Photography by Lonce Crouan Dimitri Kirsanoff
Starring Nadia Sibirskaa Yolande Beaulieu Guy Belmont 25 minutes (24 fps), 35mm
Brumes d Automne (US: Autumn Mist) 1928

Written, produced and directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff Photography by Jean de Miville
Starring Nadia Sibirskaa
Arrire-Saison (US: The End of Autumn) 1952

Directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff Photography by Andr Costey Music by Arthur Hore
Starring Gilliane Sarno Pierre Lobreau
La Mort du Cerf (US: The Death of the Stag) 1954

Directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff Music by Maurice Thiriet 14 minutes, 35mm
Romance Sentimentale 1930

Written and directed by Sergei Eisenstein G. V. Alexandrov Produced by Vicomte de Noailles Photographed by Eduard Tisee
Starring Mara Griy
12 minutes (24 fps), 35mm
17 minutes, 35mm
Dimitri Kirsanoff
The films of Dimitri Kirsanoff are still largely unknown in the United States. He was a Russian migr who went to Paris to study music in 1919. There he became interested in film and in 1923 made Lironie du destin. Unfortunately, no prints survive. While isolated from the contemporary French avant-garde filmmakers, many of his own films are remarkably similar, indeed, superior in their techniques. Prior to his death in 1957, he produced a number of shorts and two features. He nearly always worked alone and, in the early films, his elaborate dissolves and montages were made in the camera itself. The stories were simple, a framework for the poetic images. Following are four of his most important and his own favorite works. France
Often called the nearly perfect film, Mnilmontant is told without titles, uses natural sets and is filmed with a handheld camera. In it, Kirsanoff presages both Russian montage techniques and the style of the Italian neo-realists. Nadia Sibirskaa is the woman. France A masterpiece of its genre. The film opens with a violent ax murder, shown in a succession of fragmented images lasting less than one minute. Shots of the murderer: his hands, his arms dealing the blows; the murder weapon, striking, swinging again, dropping; the faces of the man and woman attacked, horror struck, falling lifeless, are intercut in an original and intuitive montage, which owes nothing to the Russian achievements of the same year, e.g., Strike, Potemkin. The story develops to show the blighting effect of the murder on the girl and her sister as they grow up. It is told with an economy rare in the silent film: whenever possible the action is telescoped to indicate only the essentials. Mnilmontant was premiered at Le Vieux Columbier and enjoyed immediate popular success. David Curtis, Experimental Cinema
Almost a poem dedicated to Nadia Sibirskaas face, the film conveys a single mood throughout. A woman recalls her past. As she burns some old letters, her memories are shown on the screen. Outside it is raining, leaves drop from trees and the landscape is distorted as it reflects in pools of water. The delicate photography makes a subtle essay in atmosphere. Mentor-Film, France
As in Autumn Mist, a mood of quiet is sustained as a woman leaves a lonely and boring life with her woodcutter husband, only to return after one day. The entire sound-track consists of music, with the exception of a few seconds when the woman returns. As she reaches the door, the music stops and the axes and shouts of the woodcutters are heard in the background.
Kirsanoff was commissioned to do this film, which takes a satiric look at a conventional stag hunt. The film begins and ends with impressions of old prints of the hunt, then follows the frenzied chase, contrasting the grace and elegance of the stag with its pursuers. Suddenly the music stops, the stag standing still is surrounded by the dogs; a shot rings out and the stag falls. The music begins, building to a climax of hunting horns as the stag is dragged ignominiously behind a tractor, slaughtered and its carcass left to the dogs while ladies munch their sandwiches.
Sergei Eisenstein
Eisensteins first sound film, shot in Paris, built around an old Russian love song sung by the wife of the man who commissioned the film. The song is paralleled by an intercutting of shots of nature, beginning with a storm at dusk, dissolving into a moody rain at night, and jubilantly bursting through the next mornings daybreak in the resplendent sunlight. The black grand piano the singer played now is a white one. Her sadness is now joy and no longer is she in that closed-in chateau, but out in the open in a field rapturous with grain swaying heavily in the wind as the song ends. Herman G. Weinberg, France
Brumes d Automne 1928
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Avant-Garde: France
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Avant-Garde: France
Retour la Raison (US: Return to Reason) 1923

Produced and directed by Man Ray
Starring Kiki of Montparnasse
Emak Bakia (US: Leave Me Alone) 1926

Written and directed by Man Ray
Starring Kiki of Montparnasse Jacques Rigaut
LEtoile de Mer (US: Star of the Sea) 1928

Produced and directed by Man Ray Starring Kiki of Montparnasse Andr de la Rivire Robert Desnos 12 minutes, 35mm
Les Mystres du Chteau de D (US: The Mysteries of the Chateau of Dice) 1929
Written and directed by Man Ray Produced by Le Vicomte de Noailles Photography by Man Ray J. A. Boiffard Starring Georges Auric Le Comte de Beaumont Le Vicomte de Noailles Marie-Laure de Noailles 16 minutes, 35mm
2 minutes, 35mm 13 minutes, 35mm
Man Ray
The surviving fragment of Man Rays first underground film produced in France. Using animated Ray-O-Grams, which allow the direct registration of objects onto film by physically placing them on the photographic surface and exposing them to light, Ray produces surreal imagery through an inconsequential assemblage of Ray-O-Gram images (nails, springs, etc.) intercut with shots of his Dada mobiles and strips of film with nude torsos printed on them (which in projection appear as a kind of superimposition). First exhibited for a special Dada evening entitled Soire du Cur Barbe (Evening of the Bearded Heart) at the Thetre Michel.
Ray said he made this one in strict conformity with Surrealist principles. It opens with a series of apparently unrelated shots: grain on film; flowers moving; drawing pins in negative; points of light out of focus, which order themselves into lines; a sign writer spelling out incomplete sentences; a prism reflecting bars of light rotating at different speeds; car headlights with a huge single eye superimposed over the radiator between them: it blinks; and so on. As the film progresses the car theme becomes dominant; the driver wears goggles (which mimic the cars headlights). There follows a series of conventional shots of the car driving down an avenue, intercut with close-ups of sheep (in complete tonal contrast). The car stops a womans legs are seen getting out the shot is repeated three times, the fourth time it fades and is replaced by a stepped superimposition of all four shots, one following closely on the other. Individual images are striking for their humor and originality, but Ray still apparently felt it necessary to impose a conventionally readable theme the car ride to hold the film together.
A more integrated and consciously surrealistic work inspired by Robert Desnos poem. A love affair thematically unites the whole film. The images are more obviously linked by (sexual) association: a collapsing factory chimney; starfish tentacles; a newspaper blowing in the wind; the view from a speeding train; a montage of a liner nudging its dock; its funnels; New Yorks foggy skyline. Recurring shots show the woman naked in bed (through frosted glass) and the films central metaphor: the starfish. Desnos poem appears as a series of interrupting ironic titles. Kiki, the famous Parisian model of the day, is the woman.
The Vicomte de Noailles, who later funded Buuels Lge dor and Cocteaus Le Sang dun Pote, sponsored this last Man Ray film. It reverts to the anecdotal. Man Ray and J. A. Boiffard explore an art connoisseurs modem chateau and construct a number of visual jokes around it. Strips of film are shown backwards and in negative; people play strange games on the lawn, kicking around two giant dice in an allusion to chance procedures. The film is measured by disorienting shots of an empty landscape.
252
Avant-Garde: France
La Glace Trois Faces 1927
La Glace Trois Faces (US: The Three-Panelled Mirror) 1927

Produced and directed by Jean Epstein Narrated by Jean-Pierre Aumont Starring Suzy Pierson Jeanne Helbling Olga Day Ren Fert 33 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, Silent with Music Track/Narration, B&W
La Chute de la Maison DUsher (US: The Fall of the House of Usher) 1928
Written and directed by Jean Epstein An amalgam of The Fall of the House of Usher, Ligeia, Berenice, Silence, Man of the Crowd and The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe Art direction by Pierre Kefer Starring Marguerite Gance Jean Debucourt 55 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, Silent with Music Track/Narration by Jean-Pierre Aumont, B&W
Le Tempestaire 1947
Written and directed by Jean Epstein Photographed by Milton Schneider 23 minutes, 35mm French with English subtitles, B&W
Jean Epstein
Premiering at the Studio des Ursulines in November, 1927, La Glace Trois Faces was one of the first narrative films produced exclusively for and distributed through the circuit of specialized alternate cinemas and film clubs that originated in France and then spread throughout Europe. A bold departure from the films that Epstein made with the Pathe-Consortium or the string of commercial successes he made during his two years with Films Albatros, La Glace marked a return to the experimentation that had marked his earliest films. In it he manages to tell seven different stories by means of the most complicated film narrative structure of the Twenties. Les Films Marie Epstein, France Employs virtually all that Epstein had developed in strategies and techniques over his five years of filmmaking. Consequently, Noel Burch and Jean-Andr Fieschi have argued, La Glace represents a culmination of much of the narrative avant-garde film practices and clearly anticipates the later films of Alain Renais. Richard Abel, French Cinema
Low-key photography, slow-motion and what some critics called Caligari-esque sets create an atmosphere of doom in this famous avant-garde expressionist film. Luis Bunuel worked with Jean Epstein on this one just before shocking the avant-garde world with Un Chien Andalou. As Roderick Usher paints his wifes portrait, she (Marguerite Gance, wife of French director Abel Gance) succumbs steadily to an unknown malady. Thought to have died, she is buried alive, but returns from the dead to set the house ablaze. The newly restored prints have been step-printed from a new negative constructed by Marie Epstein. Les Films Marie Epstein, France A classic of the early avant-garde cinema and a vindication of Epsteins commitment, not to the excitement, but to the visual potential of cinema as a medium of beauty rather than of storytelling. The New York Times Unconventional as ever and unusually sophisticated, Usher represents a kind of culmination of Epsteins work. Much of the film is visually saturated with an eerie light; the relationship between images is complex. Richard Abel, French Cinema
A poetic tale of the sea in which a young woman prevails upon a wise old man to calm the storms that threaten her mans safety as he fishes for sardines. Jean Epstein Films, France Striking in its profound poetry, its human quality and the exquisite balance of its composition. It is a daring work in the sense that it tries not at all to please, and that in it experiments were attempted that have been awaited for more than 20 years. Henri Langlois, Cinmathque Franaise Sound, or rather the changes wrought in film aesthetics by the mass production of sound, put an end to (Epsteins) creative drive. Not until 1947, with Le Tempestaire, was there a revival of the ambitions so long repressed: here the slow-motion soundtrack suggests almost to the point of caricature a voice in exile, ghostly, testamentary, imprisoned in old phantasms in search of embodiment. Richard Roud, Ed., Film: A Critical Dictionary
254
Avant-Garde: France
60 Minutes de la Vie Intrieure dun Homme 1954
60 Minutes de la Vie Intrieure dun Homme (US: Closed Vision) 1954

Produced, written and directed by MarcO Photo-montage and art by Poucette 70 minutes, 35mm, B&W, Dubbed in English
MarcO
Screened out-of-competition at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival, this French film was hailed by the French news media as the most important avantgarde film since Jean Cocteaus La Sange dun Pote. Appropriately, Cocteau himself presented it. Surreal in its exposition, it expresses itself with stream of consciousness techniques as it investigates 60 Minutes of the Inner Life of Man. A man strolls down a beach and the film spins a scenario in sight and sound, singly and in combination (just as ones own mind partitions sound and visuals, treating them separately or together) to create a complete monologue made up from the association of ideas and the way external realities affect them. Probably baffling to ordinary audiences, it is a wonderful example of avant-garde film making and is open to as many interpretations as there are to those who see it. France
Avant-Garde: US
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Avant-Garde: US
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Avant-Garde: US
The Fall of the House of Usher 1928

Directed and photographed by Dr. James Sibley Watson Written and designed by Melville Webber Based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe Music by Alec Wilder Starring Herbert Stern Hildegarde Watson Melville Webber 12 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Lot in Sodom 1933

Directed and photographed by Dr. James Sibley Watson Written and produced by Melville Webber Starring Melville Webber Herbert Stem Hildegarde Watson 27 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Autumn Fire 1931

Written, produced and directed by Herman G. Weinberg Music by Lee Erwin Starring Erna Bergman Willy Hildebrand 23 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Bridge (US: The Spy) 1932

Directed by Charles Vidor Based on An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce Starring Nicholas Bela Charles Darvas 10 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Watson and Webber
American avant-garde filmakers Watson and Webber produce their atmospheric effects with expressionist shadows and optical distortions created by mirrors, prisms and multiple exposures. Show it alone or with their Lot In Sodom, or program both with Carl Dreyers Vampyr, for all three films illuminate the darker forces through the use of elaborate visual effects. USA College professors Dr. James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber, working in Rochester, New York, were the first truly avant-garde American filmmakers. They reduced the story to its essentials, the impact being largely transmitted through the careful use of silhouette, multiple exposure and rhythm, which successfully evoke the disembodied atmosphere of the piece. Sets are suggested by light and by the patterns made by folded paper rather than by painted or threedimensional props. David Curtis, Experimental Cinema
Beginning with the synthesis of Sodom, wickedest of moral cities, we are shown the orgies of the sodomites semi-nude young men, fair of countenance and strong of limb, as they carry on their bacchanals. Pleasure and pain, ecstasy and despair are mingled in these faun-like, evil faces that glide like apparitions in a mist before us. I have never seen light manipulated so eloquently as in these expressive lights and shadows, which sometime form men or fragments of a body, sometime coagulate into flowers or break up their particles into water and all times make Lot In Sodom a moving and arresting film. Herman G. Weinberg, Close Up, 1933., USA Awards: One of the Ten Best Films of 1933 Movie Makers, Amateur Cinema League One of the first American sound experimental films. Significantly, Watson and Webber avoided a direct representation of the sexual conflict implicit in the Biblical story and showed instead a series of symbolic quasi-erotic tableaux that emphasize the elemental qualities of the story. Its handling of sexuality now seems painfully obscure; at the time, however, its subject matter was considered too much in advance of popular taste to permit commercial distribution. Shot on 35mm, it was not available to amateur (16mm) markets either. David Curtis, Experimental Cinema
Herman G. Weinberg
Late author, critic and CCNY film professor Herman G. Weinberg said he shot this now legendary, avant-garde mood-piece as a marriage proposal to Erna Bergman, its star. Its love story is paralleled by the changing of the seasons. USA American counterpart to the work of Dimitri Kirsanoff Henri Langlois An early American experimental film, one of the first that still glows with its original fire. Hans Richter
Charles Vidor
Best remembered for films like A Farewell to Arms and Cover Girl, Hungarian expatriate Charles Vidor made this early avant-garde film at about the time he left his native land for Hollywood. It was the first screen treatment of the Bierce story, exhibiting skillful editing and influenced heavily by Soviet film techniques. One of the most unusual attributes is Vidors use of flash forward to tell the story of a man about to be hanged and the fantasies which go through his mind as he is dying. USA
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Avant-Garde: US
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Avant-Garde: US
The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra (aka The Suicide of a Hollywood Extra) 1927
Written, produced and directed by Slavko Vorkapich Robert Florey Photographed by Slavko Vorkapich Gregg Toland Edited and designed by Slavko Vorkapich Starring Jules Raucourt Georges Voya 11 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
House of Cards 1947

Written and directed by Joseph Vogel Assisted by John and James Whitney Starring Crane Whitley Gail Roberts Harriette Ann Gray 18 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Plague Summer 1951

Written and directed by Chester Kessler Based on The Journal of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen 17 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Artist (The Knife Thrower) 1951

Directed by Eric Arthur Maxwell Weinberg Written by Eric Arthur Based on a story by Guy de Maupassant Starring David Kurlan 14 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Slavko Vorkapich and Robert Florey
The first of the American films to show the influence of German Expressionism and the French avant-garde films of the Twenties. A satirical fantasy about a man who wants to become a Hollywood movie star. He gets a number 9413 stamped on his forehead and begins his career. In spite of visions of grandeur, he is a failure, dies of starvation and ascends to heaven where an angel wipes the number from his forehead and he again becomes human. Slavko Vorkapich, later renowned for his montage work with major studios, designed the sets in the style of Caligari. Gregg Toland, who later photographed Citizen Kane, assisted Vorkapich in shooting; and Robert Florey, who wrote the screenplay for Frankenstein and directed Cocoanuts and Beast With Five Fingers, co-directs with Vorkapich from their own screenplay. Their success is described unwittingly by the Variety reviewer below. USA A suspicion this is an unannounced foreignmade short. Everything looks foreign. Its a fantastic sort of picture, perhaps conceived as a moral to the picture fan or symbolic of the film studios. Variety This avant-garde experimental short was shot largely in Vorkapichs kitchen using cut-out miniatures; it is a masterpiece of low-budget art and a timepiece of Hollywood cynicism. Pacific Film Archive
Joseph Vogel
Modern painter/filmmaker Vogel defines that delicate sense of reality that keeps one sane in the face of the pressures of a modern society. A crisis newspaper headline provokes a young mans stream-of-consciousness journey into violence. USA Vogels pictorial elements stem from his experience as a painter and graphic artist, film writer and director. Lewis Jacobs
Chester Kessler
Chester Kesslers avant-garde film in which six allegorical characters take a philosophical journey through war-brutalized landscapes. USA
Eric Arthur
A circus knife thrower suspects his wife, who is also his target in his act, is having an affair with a magician. USA
Autumn Fire 1931
The Bridge 1932
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Avant-Garde: US
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Avant-Garde: US
Notes on the Port of St. Francis 1952

Written and directed by Frank Stauffacher Adapted from a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson Spoken by Vincent Price 22 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Voices 1953

Written, produced and directed by John Schmitz 18 minutes, 16mm, B&W
Renunciation 1958
Written, produced and directed by John Schmitz Music by Bela Bartok 7 minutes, 16mm, B&W
Uirapuru 1959
Written, produced and directed by Sam Zebba Music by Hector Villa-Lobos Starring The Urubu Indians, Maranhoa, Brazil 17 minutes, 35mm, Color
Frank Stauffacher
Author Robert Louis Stevenson lost his heart to San Francisco way back in 1882 and captured his emotions and feelings in an essay spoken here by Vincent Price and accompanied by images of the city photographed by Frank Stauffacher. USA
John Schmitz
Steeped in pure Freud, this underground film studies a young man who develops a sexualreligious paranoia that affects both his waking hours and his dream-filled sleep. He is seen as he perceives himself and as others perceive him as he becomes a voyeur who is killed by the conflict that arises within himself. USA
Schmitzs intriguing avant-garde film about a young man who chooses to die rather than live in a modern society. USA
Sam Zebba
Brazilian composer Hector Villa-Lobos tone poem Uirapuru inspires this unusual dramatization of a primitive Brazilian Indian legend. A group of Indians hunt and kill a love-bird, which is transformed magically into a handsome youth. He in turn is murdered by an ugly and envious old man, becomes the lovebird once more and flies away forever. Sam Zebba Films, Brazil Dramatizes the conflict between the native population and authority, which has revealed itself throughout history and, irrespective of economics, as far more evil than good. Seymour Stern, Cinematic Documentations
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Avant-Garde: US
Dementia/Daughter of Horror 1953/1957
Towers Open Fire 1963

Directed by Anthony Balch Written by William Burroughs Starring William Burroughs Michael Portman Alex Trocchi Ian Somerville Anthony Balch Bachoo Sen John Gillet Liam OLeary and a photograph of Bela Lugosi 11 minutes, 35mm, B&W with Color Sequences
Dementia/Daughter of Horror 1953/1957

Produced, written and directed by John Parker Photographed by William C. Thompson Music by George Antheil Performed by Shorty Rogers and His Giants Starring Adrienne Barrett Bruno DeSota Ben Roseman 60 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Anthony Balch and William Burroughs
Balchs Towers Open Fire is a direct film equivalent of William Burroughs writing. It has the same apparent formlessness and the same scabrous humor. The two keys to the film are the cut up verse and the dream machine pioneered by Brian Gysin and Burroughs. Four-word summary of message content: life is an orgasm. Accordingly, Balch provides two. One is directorial, self-induced decelerated and real. The other is part of the orgasm attack. Man dressed as a commando jumps through the window (twice, once twofold, superimposed back to back) holding gun which fires ping pong balls at a Balchs family photograph collection. The film is made with considerable skill. I can think of no other far-out avant-garde film in which the director has been so completely in control of his means and been able to produce so exactly the effects he wants. Ian Cameron, Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism
John Parker
Using only sound effects and an eerie score to plumb the mind of a psychopathic killer, experimental filmmaker John Parker foreshadows Roman Polanskis Repulsion (1965). The audience is caught up in an intriguing situation as fantasy and reality struggle for control in a young womans mind. Unable to rest after awakening in a dingy apartment, she wanders the streets in what may be a hallucination through a nightmarish landscape of mutilations, patricide and paranoia, awakening in her apartment once more amidst clues that suggest it really wasnt a dream. Made before film study became de rigeur in America, much of Parkers visual imagery completely baffled Fifties audiences, so the picture was reissued in 1957 as Daughter of Horror and incorporated a sparse voice-over to help moviegoers over the hard spots. Both versions are available. USA Stylish classy. Music score quite good with Marni Nixon haunting a good deal of the soundtrack with an eerie sirens call. Condemned by the Board of Censors as being inhuman, indecent, and the quintessence of gruesomness. R. F. Young, Magick Theatre A work of art. It stirred my blood and purged my libido. Preston Sturges
The Documentaries
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The Documentaries
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The Documentaries
Adventures of a Submarine 1913

Directed by J. Ernest Williamson George Williamson 34 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
The Scopes Trial 1925

Newsreel of the Monkey Trial, with Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan and John T. Scopes. 11 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Krakatoa 1933/1965
Produced and directed by Joe Rock 1933 version narrated by Graham McNamee 1965 version narrated by Joseph Cotten 24 minutes, 35mm, B&W
More About Me 1935

Written, produced and directed by George Bernard Shaw Starring George Bernard Shaw John Drinkwater 8 minutes, 35mm, B&W
White Flood 1935

Written by Lionel Berman Roger Stebbins David Wolff Photographed by W. O. Fields Jr With additional scenes by Sherman Pratt Music by Hans Eisler Commentary by David Wolff 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Experiments in the Revival of Organisms 1940

Directed by D. I. Yashin Written and supervised by S. S. Bryukhonenko Doctor of Medical Science Commentary by Professor J. B. S. Haldane, FRS 20 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Churchills Island 1941

Directed by John Grierson Produced by The National Film Board of Canada 18 minutes, 35mm, B&W
The Documentaries
Remember how thrilled you were when you saw your first Jacques Yves-Cousteau film? Well, imagine you were part of the 1913 audience who saw this film reputed to be the first underwater movie. The famed Williamson brothers sailed to the crystal waters of the Bahamas, dropped a diving bell with a cameraman on board and shot movies of a spectacular underwater world of silence that astounded everyone who saw it. Lawrence Photoplays, USA
This newsreel goes to Dayton, Tennessee to cover the famous trial of John T. Scopes, the high school teacher indicted for teaching that man evolved from the lower animals. The second half of the picture adds to the hoopla, surrounding the event by comparing man to ape, as side by side they are shown smoking, eating and being fingerprinted to show the similarities between the two. A Universal Picture, USA
In August, 1883, the Pacific Island of Krakatoa was rocked by a volcanic eruption of the intensity of 1,000 hydrogen bombs. Krakatoa was blown from the face of the earth, a monster tidal wave killed 36,000 people in Java and Sumatra, and ripples were detected as far away as the English Channel, 11,000 miles away. This Academy Award winning documentary recounts the event, explains how volcanic action works, shows modern examples of volcanic activity and how volcanic action is slowly rebuilding Krakatoa itself. A Joe Rock Production, USA Academy Award: Krakatoa for Best Short Subject (Three-reel Special) 1933 Other Awards: Chicago International Film Festival finalist, 1965 Thrilling! Fascinating! New York World Telegram
Here is one of the rare opportunities to see and hear GBS himself, on screen. It is fascinating, also delightful. Shaw looks and sounds just the way youd expect, shooting his magnificent white eyebrows as he exchanges barbs with poetplaywright John Drinkwater on such subjects as Ireland the drama, the decline and fall of the British Empire. The first performance of Candida was in 1895: my father played Marchbanks. Drinkwater reminds him, You were 40 years ahead of your time. Not a bit of it, replies Shaw. The theatre was 50 years behind the times. If you want to be completely behind the times, just go to the House of Commons. Jerry Tallmer, The New York Post, December 8, 1983, Great Britain
Stunning black and white cinematography captures the life and death of an Alaskan glacier and in so doing recounts the story of the advance and retreat of the Ice Age. Frontier Films, USA
This historic film documents Soviet research into the revival of animal organisms by means of an artificial blood circulation system, anticipating heart/lung machines, kidney dialysis and other contemporary medical tools. It fascinates even today. Among the many memorable examples shown is one in which all vital signs cease following the removal of the blood from a laboratory animal. After ten minutes, equipment reinjects oxygen-enriched blood; the heart begins to beat, the animal begins to breath and within a few days is fully recovered. Soviet Film Agency, USSR
The first documentary film to win an Academy Award. Renowned documentary filmmaker John Grierson tells the story of Britains defense during the early days of World War II. One of the brilliant war-time series. The World in Action/United Artists, Canada Academy Award: Churchills Island Best Documentary Film, 1941
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The Private Life of a Cat 1942/1981

Produced and directed by Alexander Hammid Music performed by Lee Erwin On the mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ, Carnegie Hall Cinema 22 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
The War for Mens Minds 1943

Directed by John Grierson Produced by The National Film Board of Canada 18 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Les Fils de lEau (UK: Children of the River) 19491951

Produced, directed and narrated by Jean Rouch 77 minutes, 35mm, Color
Van Meegerens Faked Vermeers 1950

Directed by Jan Botermans G. A. Magnall Adapted from the book Van Meegerens Faked Vermeers and De Hooghs Music by Corelli and Handel Narrated by Frank Phillips 27 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Seven Years in Tibet 1957

Directed by Hans Nieter Written by Walter Ulbrich Based on the book by Heinrich Harrer Photographed by Heinrich Harrer Sir Basil Gould Narrated by Anton Diffring Rooney Pelletier Henrich Harrer 76 minutes, 35mm, Color
Adventures Into Space 1958

Written by Jack Glenn With the cooperation of The US Department of Defense National Archive and Record Service National Film Archives (England) The National Geographic Society Narrated by Basil Rathbone 57 minutes, 35mm, B&W
Fincho 1958
Written, produced and directed by Sam Zebba Music by Alexander Laszlo Prologue with Harry Belafonte Starring Patrick Akponu Comfort Ajilo Gordon Parry-Holroyd 75 minutes, 35mm, Color
A Fortune in Pictures 1970

Directed by Michael Gill Produced by C. Buckland-Smith 50 minutes, 35mm, Color
Filmed originally in 1942 by German documentary film maker Alexander Hammid. Its a poetic story of two house cats from their first meeting through the birth and early training of their kittens. Purr-fect entertainment for cat lovers and their kitties. USA A masterpiece of its kind perhaps the most captivating and enjoyable feline film available today, prepared by a true artist who obviously was intent on preserving the realistic drama and sincerity of the felines. Linda Walton, Editor, Cats Magazine
Another in the World In Action series, this fine documentary shows how film is used as propaganda. The National Film Board of Canada, Canada
Jean Rouch, the famous French anthropologist whose Chronique dun Ete was one of the earliest examples of cinema verite, photographed Les Fils de lEau in French Equatorial Africa during his long stay there, living among the natives and observing their customs closely. Taking the water of the River Niger as his connecting theme and studying the various peoples settled along its north bank, Rouch manages simultaneously to convey the diverse elements of their existence and to illuminate the particular meaning they draw from life their sense of a sacred bond uniting them with the world. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Originally a group of short films describing various aspects of the lives of tribesmen along the banks of the Niger: prayers for rain, the coming of rain, the sowing and harvesting of millet, burial rites, circumcision, a hippopotamus hunt. Images apparently without frills, a commentary derived from the local dialect (in sentence structure, the incantatory manner, the repetition and variation of simple words), and tribal chants and music all combine to create the illusion at times perfect of a total absence of white men. Jean-Andre Fiesch, Film: A Critical Dictionary
Art devotees will be fascinated by this art detective story that documents how scientists discovered and proved many paintings hanging as authenticated Vermeers in museums around the world actually were astounding counterfeits painted in 19411943 by Han Van Meegeren, a Dutch painter who did it to revenge himself on critics who dubbed his own works third rate. Netherlands
Austrlan mountain-climber Heinrich Harrer found himself interned in an Indian prison camp at the outbreak of World War II. He escaped, crossed the Himalayas at great peril and privation and entered not only the forbidden country of Tibet, but also its holy capital Lhasa, where he made friends with the new Dalai Lama. Smuggled out of Tibet, his own films are included in this reconstructed account of his long mountainous trek and actual record of the Dalai Lamas escape to India with the Red Chinese Army hot on his heels. Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain Breathtaking views of the worlds highest peaks First-hand pictures of Tibetans. A remarkable and historic screen document. The Cinema
The sort of heroism, courage and the will-tosurvive that is required of astronauts is very similar to the challenges that faced the Earthbound explorers of the unknown Polar regions. This astounding film uses archival footage and still photographs to re-stage and dramatize the awful perils they faced. They share the terrors of the unknown, the enormous odds and the elements battled by Charles A. Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager and the rest. A Trinity Production, Great Britain
A docu-drama about how people cope with change. In the remote reaches of Nigeria, villagers live in fear of the Jujuman and the ancient taboos, but when a Western logging company comes to cut timber, the sudden demand for labor and good pay attacks the social order, creates economic independence and thrusts the villagers headlong into the 20th century. Sam Zebba Productions, Nigeria Photographed in color with its jungle background in exotic prominence, the picture very tentatively dramatizes the evolution of a primitive outpost. Howard Thompson, The New York Times
This is a portrait of how Britains most famous picture gallery, The National Gallery, works. It shows many of the masterpieces that make up the most comprehensive collection of European paintings in the world and penetrates behind the scenes to show the director and his staff at their daily work. A presentation of BBC-TV, Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
Les Fils de lEau 19491951
Seven Years in Tibet 1957
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The Documentaries
Les Fils de lEau 19491951
The Truth About Houdini 1970

Directed by David Read Produced by G. Buckland-Smith Starring Harry Houdini 50 minutes, 35mm, Color
Shakespeares Island 1971

Directed by Lorna Pegram Ian Holm Produced by G. Buckland-Smith Starring Ben Kingsley Ian Richardson Estelle Kohler Christopher Gable Members of The Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company, Stratford-on-Avon 55 minutes, 35mm, Color
Harry Houdini was the greatest escape artist of all time. This fascinating documentary examines his life and illuminates the real-life, extraordinary man and his magic. A presentation of BBC-TV, Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
This marvelous BBC special takes you behind the scenes at the Royal Shakespeare Company and treats you to scenes from The Tempest. A presentation of BBC-TV, Pendennis Films Ltd., Great Britain
Animation
280
Animation
Mac Fleischers Out of the Inkwell 1961
Gertie the Dinosaur 1909

Produced, directed and animated by Winsor McCay 9 minutes (24 fps), 35mm, B&W
Max Fleischers Out of the Inkwell 1961

Created by Max Fleischer Produced by Hal Seeger Directed by Myron Waldman Featuring the voice creations of Larry Storch Starring Koko the Clown Kokette Kokonut Mean Moe 100 animated 5-minute cartoons 5 minutes each, 35mm, Color
Animation
New York Times cartoonist Winsor McCay produced this landmark cartoon by drawing and photographing nearly 10,000 individual cells. Sets an astonishingly high standard for smooth movement and graceful, if simple line drawings. Gertie was designed to be seen in tandem with an on-stage performer who talked to her, gave her instructions and sometimes joined her on screen. It was almost as much vaudeville as film, and surviving Gertie prints, with little indication of the live collaboration from the stage, seem rather pointless to the uninitiated. William K. Everson, American Silent Film
One of the earliest and most imaginative cartoonists in the cinema, Max Fleischer was born in Austria in 1885, emigrated to America with his family at an early age and began drawing cartoons for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and later for Popular Science Monthly. In 1921 he made a cartoon called Out Of the Inkwell, featuring Koko the Clown, a character he created before your eyes from lines drawn with a pen which, as soon as they began to resemble Koko, became animated with an independent life. Fleischer then created other characters, including Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor, both of whom became classics. These cartoons are from the enormously popular television series from the early Sixties. Seven Arts Associated, USA
282
Index: Titles
283
Index: Titles
Index: Titles
A Abraham Lincoln 71 Accidents Will Happen 144 Accused 164 Action for Slander 181 Adventures Into Space 273 Adventures of a Submarine 270 African Dodger, The 142 After Seben 160 Albert R.N. 200 Alibi 98 All for the Band 160 All Night Long 38 All Sealed Up 148 Always a Gentleman 149 Amateur Gentleman, The 164 Amazing Adventure 181 Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, The 181 America 70 Angela 201 Another Mans Poison 194 Antique Shop, The 141 Arabian Shrieks, The 144 Around the World in 80 Minutes 57 Arrire-Saison 247 Artie Shaws Class in Swing 161 Artist, The 261 Ashes of Vengeance 75 Assault! 227 At the Stroke of Nine 202 Auto Intoxication 149 Autumn Fire 259 Autumn Mist 246 Avenging Conscience, The 61 B Babbling Book 141 Babes and Hoodlums 226 Bachelor Brides 104 Backstage 33 Back to the Woods 36 Badmans Gold 124 Bad One, The 109 Ballet Class 160 Balloonatic, The 18 Barbershop, The 91 Battle Hell 171 Battle of the Sexes, The 71 Battling Butler 24 Be Like Me 158 Be Yourself 108 Beachcomber, The 185 Bedelia 188 Before I Wake 201 Bell Boy, The 33 Belle of the Night 149 Big Fella 97 Big Fibber, The 136 Big Splash, The 149 Billboard Girl 154 Birth of a Nation, The 61 Bitter Sweet 168 Black and Tan 156 Black Pirate, The 51
Blacksmith, The 17 Blind Husbands 81 Blood and Sand 85 Blue of the Night 154 Blues in the Night 155 Boat, The 16 Body and Soul 94 Body Said No, The 200 Boobs in the Woods 39 Boogie Woogie Dream 161 Borderline 94 Bosambo 95 Boyhood Days 160 Breakfast at Sunrise 77 Breaking Even 142 Bridge, The 259 Bring Em Back Sober 132 Broadway Highlights 161 Broadway Romeo, A 146 Broken Barrier 194 Broken Blossoms 64 Broth of a Boy 208 Brumes d Automne 246 Bubbling Over 161 Buffalo Bill Rides Again 117 Bundle of Blues, A 156 But Not in Vain 195 Butcher Boy, The 32 C Cab Calloways Hi-De-Ho 155 Cab Waiting 146 Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The 231 Caliente Love 134 Call of the Blood 188 Capital Punishment 103 Carmen 230 Carnegie Hall 117 Cast a Dark Shadow 204 Cat and the Canary, The 108 Chaser, The 43 Children of the River 272 Churchills Island 271 City of the Dead, The 213 Cleaning Up 147 Clinching a Sale 160 Closed Vision 254 Coast of Skeletons 214 Code 7, Victim 5 214 Cold Turkey 150 College 24 Coney Island 32 Conspiracy in Teheran 189 Convict 13 12 Cops 17 Corridor of Mirrors 190 Corsair 98 Courting Trouble 132 Crime Control 139 Crime Over London 164 Crime with Passion 227 Crowning Touch, The 203 Cruise of the Jasper B 104
D Daddy Knows Best 134 Daffodil Killer, The 212 Dancing with Crime 188 Dantes Inferno 224 Dark Journey 176 Dark Sands 97 Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari 231 Das Wachsfigurenkabinett 235 Daughter of Horror 266 Day Dreams 18 Day the Earth Caught Fire, The 213 Death Day 220 Death of Manolete, The 221 Death of the Stag, The 247 Decoy 213 De Luxe Annie 74 Dementia 266 Dentist, The 90 Derby Decade 157 Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam 231 Der Student von Prag 230 Der Traum des Allan Gray 236 Detective Tom Howard of The Suicide Squad 142 Det Hnder I Natt 226 Devils Daffodil, The 212 Diamond, The 200 Diamond Wizard, The 200 Die freudlose Gasse 235 Die Strae 235 Dinner at the Ritz 181 Don Q, Son of Zorro 51 Dont Play Bridge with Your Wife 134 Door Knocker, The 148 Double Crime in the Maginot Line 165 Double Trouble 46 Dove, The 77 Down Memory Lane 91 Down to Earth 49 Dream House 154 Dream Street 69 Dream Stuff 135 Du Barry, Woman of Passion 80 D. W. Griffith: An Interview 71 E Eagle, The 85 El Torero de Cordoba 221 Electric House, The 18 Ella Cinders 104 Ella Goes to Hollywood 39 Emak Bakia 250 Emperor Jones, The 95 End of Autumn, The 247 Escape of the Amethyst 171 Experiments in the Revival of Organisms 271 Expresso Bongo 210
F Face in the Night 203 Face Value 105 Fake, The 195 Fall, The 220 Fall of Babylon, The 65 Fall of the House of Usher, The 252, 258 False Alarm Fire Company, The 144 False Impressions 132 Farewell Again 184 Fatal Glass of Beer, The 91 Favorite Melodies 157 Fighting Love 105 Fincho 273 Fire Over England 178 Fit to Be Tied 141 Flame, The 227 Flirting with Fate 47 Flying Deuces 112 Foolish Wives 81 For Alimony Only 104 Forever and a Day 112 Forgotten Man, The 139 Fortune in Pictures, A 273 Four Dark Hours 184 Foxhole in Cairo 212 Frog, The 169 Frozen North, The 17 Fun on a Weekend 117 G Gaucho, The 56 Gay Duelist, The 166 General, The 28 Gents of Leisure 147 Genuine 231 Gertie the Dinosaur 280 Getting a Ticket 146 Gigolo 105 Girl in Distress 165 Girl Who Stayed at Home, The 65 Girls Without Rooms 227 Glorifying the American Girl 108 Go Ahead and Sing 142 Go West 24 Goat, The 16 Golden Madonna, The 189 Golem, The 224, 231 Golf Specialist, The 90 Good Bad Man, The 47 Good Night, Nurse! 33 Great British Train Robbery, The 236 Great Gabbo, The 82 Great Pants Mystery, The 144 Great Stone Face, The 25 Greatest Question, The 65 Greatest Thing in Life, The 64 Green Cockatoo, The 184 Guilty? 202 Gypsy Blood 230
H Habit of Happiness, The 46 Half Breed, The 48 Hands of a Strangler 212 Hands of Orlac, The 212 Hangmen Also Die 114 Hard Luck 13 Harem Scarem 148 Haunted House, The 13 Haunted Spooks 36 Hawkins and Watkins, Inc. 133 Headin Home 102 Hearts of the World 61 Her Future 158 Her Man O War 105 Her Night of Romance 76 Her Sister from Paris 76 High Sign, The 13 Highlowbrow 149 His First Flame 42 His Majesty, the American 49 His Marriage Wow 39 Hoagy Carmichael 161 Hold Your Breath 102 Hollywood Barn Dance 117 Hollywood on Parade Series 151 Hollywood Rhythm 161 Home Is the Hero 209 Home Sweet Home 60 Hoodlum 125 Horror Hotel 213 Hot Air Merchant, The 149 Hotel Sahara 194 House of Cards 260 How to Take a Vacation 139 Humorous Flights 149 Hunchback of Notre Dame, The 88 Husbands Reunion 135 I I Killed Geronimo 124 I Surrender Dear 154 Idiot, The 225 Idol Dancer, The 68 Idol of Paris 188 In Again, Out Again 48 In the Wake of a Stranger 208 Installment Collector 149 Insurance 146 Intolerance 62 Introduction of Mrs. Gibbs, The 143 Ireno 158 Iron Mask, The 56 Isnt Life Wonderful? 70 It Happened Tomorrow 113 It Happens Tonight 226
J Jamaica Inn 175 Jeannie 165 Jericho 97 Jet Storm 209 Jigsaw 213 Jimmys New Yacht 133 Jitterbug Party 155 Jolly Bad Fellow, A 214 Josephine Baker at the Folies-Bergre 161 Joyless Street, The 235 Judith of Bethulia 60 Julius Caesar 224 Jump for Glory 165 K Keeping in Shape 140 Kiki 77 Kings Rhapsody 170 Knickerbocker Holiday 113 Knife Thrower, The 261 Knockout Kisses 135 Knowmore College 159 Korea Patrol 125 Krakatoa 270 L La Caida 220 La Chute de la Maison DUsher 252 Lady, The 76 Lady Windermeres Fan 103 La Glace Trois Faces 252 La Marie du Port 225 Lamb, The 46 La Mort Du Cerf 247 La Schnaps, Inc. 144 Lease Breakers, The 147 Leave Me Alone 250 Le Ballet Mcanique 244 Le Baron Fantme 225 Le Golem 224 Le Puritaine 225 Les Fils de lEau 272 Les Mystres du Chteau de D 251 Lesson in Love, A 160 Lessons in Love 74 Le Tempestaire 252 Le Voyage dans la Lune 242 LEtoile de Mer 250 Lets Dance 141 Lets Make Up 170 L Idiot 225 Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra, The 260 Lilacs in the Spring 170 Living Idol, The 125 Lodger, The 180 London Melody 169 Lonedale Operator, The 60 Long Night, The 122 Long Pants 43 Lot in Sodom 258 Lottery Bride, The 109 Loud Mouth, The 133 Love and Sacrifice 70
Love Flower, The 68 Love from a Stranger 181 Love in the Suburbs 149 Love Nest, The 18 Lucky Stars 39 Lukes Movie Muddle 35 Lured 120 M Magic of Mlis, The 242 Mamas Affair 74 Man from Painted Post, The 49 Man in the Road, The 202 Mans Angle, The 140 Mark of Zorro, The 50 Masterplan, The 208 Matrimaniac, The 48 Max Fleischers Out of the Inkwell 280 Meet Me at Dawn 166 Meet the Boyfriend 160 Meet the Senator 133 Melody in May 157 Menace in the Night 203 Mnilmontant 246 Merry-Go-Round, The 81 Miracle Can Happen, A 124 Miss Pilgrims Progress 194 Missing Ten Days 185 Mlle. Irene the Great 148 Mollycoddle, The 50 Moonlight Sonata 184 More About Me 271 Mother and the Law, The 65 Mozambique 215 Mr. Drakes Duck 195 Mr. Robinson Crusoe 57 Mr. Ws Little Game 150 Murder at the Windmill 189 Musical Doctor 159 Musical Justice 159 Mysteries of the Chateau of Dice, The 251 Mystery at the Burlesque 189 Mystery of the Leaping Fish, The 47 Mystery Submarine 213 My Wifes Jewelry 142 My Wifes Relations 17 N Naked Evil 215 Navigator, The 19 Navy Lark, The 171 Nearly a Nasty Accident 209 Neighborly Neighbors 143 Neighbors 12 New Orleans 124 Night with Charlie Chaplin, A 34 No Funny Business 180 No Parking 170 No Road Back 203 No Time for Shame 227 Notes on the Port of St. Francis 264 Nothing But Nerves 140 Nurse Edith Cavell 168 Nut, The 50
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Index: Titles
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Index: Directors
O Obi, The 215 Office Blues 160 Oh, My Operation 141 Old Dark House, The 106 Old Man Blues 158 Ol King Cotton 160 Olympia I & II 236 Once Over, Light 141 One Exciting Night 69 100% Service 141 One More Chance 154 One Week 12 On Our Merry Way 124 On the Fire 36 Orphans of the Storm 69 Othello 234 Our Fighting Navy 169 Our Hospitality 19 Out West 32 P Paleface, The 16 Pandora and the Flying Dutchman 196 Part-Time Wife 212 Perfect Alibi, The 98 Perfect Understanding 180 Pest, The 142 Phantom 234 Phantom Baron, The 225 Phantom Fiend, The 180 Phantom of the Opera, The 88 Pharmacist, The 91 Picking Peaches 38 Plague Summer 261 Playhouse, The 16 Plot to Kill Roosevelt, The 189 Plumber and the Lady, The 136 Poachers Daughter, The 209 Pool Sharks 90 Poppin the Cork 150 Private Life of a Cat, The 272 Professional Correspondent 180 Pulling a Bone 141 Puritan, The 225 Put Up Job, A 147 Puttin on the Ritz 108 Q Queen of Destiny 170 R Race Gang 184 Radio Rhythm 159 Reaching for the Moon 49, 56 Red, Green and Yellow 143 Reggie Mixes In 47 Renunciation 265 Retour la Raison 250 Return to Reason 250 Rhapsody in Black and Blue 161 Roadhouse Queen 135 Roaming 158 Robin Hood 51
Romance and Riches 181 Romance of Happy Valley, A 64 Romance Sentimentale 247 Rookie, The 142 Roseland 157 Runaway Bus 200 S Saga of William S. Hart, The 84 Sail into Danger 203 Sally of the Sawdust 70 Sallys Irish Rogue 209 Salome 102 Salvation Hunters 101 Sanders of the River 95 Saphead, The 19 Saturday Afternoon 42 Scandal in Paris 116 Scarecrow, The 13 Scarlet Days 64 Scarlet Week, The 227 Schatten Eine nchtliche Halluzination 234 Scopes Trial, The 270 Sea Shall Not Have Them, The 201 Sea Squawk, The 38 Second Chorus 112 See You Tonight 136 Seven Chances 24 Seven Years in Tibet 273 Sex Life of the Polyp, The 138 Shakespeares Island 276 She 109 Sherlock, Jr. 22 Shove Off 147 Sidewalks of London 176 Sign on the Door 75 Silent Playground, The 214 Sing, Bing, Sing 154 Singapore Sue 161 Sixty Glorious Years 170 60 Minutes de la Vie Intrieure dun Homme 254 Slow Poke 161 Smilin Through 75 Soldier Man 42 Somewhere in Turkey 35 Son of the Sheik 86 Song for Miss Julie 116 Song of Freedom 95 Song of Love 75 Sorrows of Satan, The 70 South Riding 184 Southerner, The 116 Spoilers, The 84 Spy, The 259 Spy in the Pantry 185 S.S. Malaria, The 144 Star of the Sea 250 Star Reporter Series 151 Steamboat Bill, Jr. 25 St. Louis Blues 160 St. Martins Lane 176 Storm in a Teacup 176 Strange Adventures of David Gray, The 236 Strange Guests 220
Street, The 235 Streets of Sorrow 235 Strong Man, The 40 Struggle, The 71 Student of Prague, The 230 Studio Sap, The 147 Sudden Fear 128 Suicide of a Hollywood Extra, The 260 Summer Daze 147 Surgeons Knife, The 208 Swan, The 103 Sweet Cookie 136 Swing Your Partner 35 Symphony in Black 156 T Tale of a Vampire, A 231 Tales of Manhattan 97 Talk About Jacqueline 165 Taming of the Shrew, The 56 Taxi Tangle 146 Teheran 189 Ten Days in Paris 185 That Party in Person 146 They All Died Laughing 214 They Came to a City 185 Thief of Bagdad, The 52 Thirteenth Alarm, The 147 This Was a Woman 166 Thisll Make You Whistle 168 Three Ages, The 19 Three Maxims, The 169 Three Musketeers, The 51 Three-Panelled Mirror, The 252 Threes a Crowd 43 Thunder Over Mexico 220 Thunderstorm 201 Tillies Punctured Romance 34 Tony Draws a Horse 189 Too Many Highballs 137 Towers Open Fire 266 Traffic Regulations 149 Tramp Tramp Tramp 42 Treasurers Report, The 138 Trip to the Moon, A 242 Tristana 222 Troopship 184 Trouble with Husbands, The 138 True Heart Susie 68 Truth About Houdini, The 276 U Uirapuru 265 Under the Red Robe 185
V Valkoinen Peura 226 Vampyr 236 Van Meegerens Faked Vermeers 272 Vessel of Wrath 185 Vicious Breed 227 Voice in the Night, A 166 Voice in the Wind 113 Voice of Hollywood Series 151 Voices, The 264 W Waiting for Baby 139 Walking the Baby 141 Wanted for Murder 166 War for Mens Minds, The 272 Warning Shadows A Nocturnal 234 Waxworks 235 Way Down East 68 We Are Guilty 227 Wedding Song 103 What Price Pants 144 When the Clouds Roll By 50 When Thief Meets Thief 165 White Corridors 195 White Flood 271 White Reindeer, The 226 White Rose, The 69 White Zombie 109 Wild and Woolly 48 Windfall 202 Wings of the Morning 186 Witch, The 226 Within the Law 76 Witness, The 140 Woman Disputed, The 77 Wrestlers Bride, A 134 Y Yangtse Incident 171 Young Widow 116 Your Hat 141
A Alexandrov, G. V. 247 Anderson, Michael 171 Annakin, Ken 194 Arbuckle, Roscoe Fatty 32, 33 Arliss, Leslie 188 Arthur, Eric 261 B Balch, Anthony 266 Becker, Vernon 25 Bertolini, Francesco 224 Blache, Herbert 19 Blomberg, Erik 226 Blumenstock, Mort 142 Blystone, Jack 19 Boese, Carl 231 Borzage, Frank 76 Botermans, Jan 272 Boulder, Stanley 214 Brenon, Herbert 75 Bretherton, Howard 160 Brice, Monte 90 Brown, Clarence 77, 85 Brown, Harry Joe 113 Bruckman, Clyde 28, 91, 137 Bryant, Charles 102 Buchowetzki, Dimitri 103, 234 Buuel, Luis 222
E Eady, David 203, 208 Edwards, Harry 38, 39, 42, 147 Eisenstein, Sergei 220, 247 Elvey, Maurice 180 Emerson, John 47, 48, 49 Emmes, Michael 133 Endfleld, Cy 209 Epstein, Jean 252 F Fairbanks, Douglas 57 Fenton, Leslie 124 Fitzmaurice, George 86, 109 Fleming, Victor 50, 57, 74 Florey, Robert 105, 260 Franklin, Chester 75 Franklin, Sidney 75, 76 Freeland, Thornton 97, 108, 164, 166 French, Harold 165 Freshman, William 189 G Gandera, Feliz 165 Gardner, Cyril 180 Gascon, Ricardo 203 Gilbert, Lewis 200, 201, 204 Gill, Michael 273 Goulder, Stanley 215 Goulding, Alfred J. 35, 36 Goulding, Edmund 56, 112 Grayson, Godfrey 195 Green, Alfred 39, 104 Grville, Edmond T. 195, 202, 212 Grierson, John 271, 272 Griffith, D. W. 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 68, 69, 70, 71 Grune, Karl 235 Guazzoni, Enrico 224 Guest, Val 189, 194, 195, 200, 210, 213 Guillermin, John 201 H Hale, Alan 103 Hllstrm, Roland af 226 Halperin, Victor 109 Hamer, Robert 214 Hammid, Alexander 272 Hanbury, Victor 180 Hardwicke, Cedric 112 Henabery, Joseph 49 Hitchcock, Alfred 175 Hoffman, John 124 Hogan, James P. 103 Holden, Lansing C. 109 Holm, Ian 276 Horne, James W. 24, 104 Howard, William K. 104, 105, 178 Hume, Kenneth 203 Huntington, Lawrence 166 Huston, John 124
J Jackson, Pat 195 Jones, F. Richard 56 Julian, Rupert 81, 88 K Karlson, Phil 91 Kassila, Matti 227 Kaufman, S. Jay 160 Keaton, Buster 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 28 Kenton, Erle C. 38 Kessler, Chester 261 King, Henry 77 Kirsanoff, Dimitri 246, 247 Korda, Zoltan 95 L Lampin, Georges 225 Lang, Fritz 114 Langdon, Harry 43 Lee, Rowland V. 181 Lger, Fernand 244 Leni, Paul 108, 235 Lewin, Albert 125, 196 Litvak, Anatole 122 Lloyd, Frank 75, 76, 112 Lord, Del 133, 147, 150, 154 Lubin, Arthur 124 Lubitsch, Ernst 103, 230 Lynn, Robert 214, 215 M MacPherson, Kenneth 94 Magnall, G. A. 272 MarcO 254 Marin, Edwin 116 Marion, Frances 75 Marshall, George 134, 135, 136 McCay, Winsor 280 Mlis, Georges 242 Mendes, Lothar 184 Menzies, William Cameron 184 Micheaux, Oscar 94 Middleton, Edwin 90 Miller, David 128 Mirams, Roger 194 Moxey, John 212, 213 Murnau, Friedrich W. 234 Murphy, Dudley 95, 156 Musso, Jeff 225 N Niblo, Fred 50, 51, 85 Nieter, Hans 273 Nilsson, Leopoldo Torre 220 Nosseck, Max 125 O OKeefe, Dennis 201 Olden, John 236 OShea, John 194
Index: Directors
C Cabanne, W. Christy 46, 47 Cambria, Frank 160 Cantor, Eddie 142 Capra, Frank 40, 43 Carn, Marcel 225 Carstairs, John Paddy 188, 189 Cass, Henry 202 Chaffey, Don 209 Chalmers, Thomas 138 Chrisander, Nils Olaf 105 Clair, Rene 112, 113 Clements, John 188 Cline, Eddie 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 142, 147, 148 Comfort, Lance 188, 202, 203 Cook, Fielder 209 Cozine, Ray 149, 160 Crisp, Donald 19, 51 Crowley, William 135, 136 Cruze, James 82 D Dalrymple, Ian 176 de Polgny, Serge 225 Dearden, Basil 185 DeMille, William C. 95, 104 Dreyer, Carl Theodor 236 Duvivier, Julien 97, 224 Dwan, Allan 46, 47, 48, 51, 56
286
Index: Directors
287
Index: Actors
P Pabst, G. W. 235 Padovan, Adolfo 224 Parker, Albert 51 Parker, John 266 Parry, Gordon 171 Pearce, Leslie 90, 132, 134, 135, 154 Pegram, Lorna 276 Pennington, C. M. 213 Perry, Gordon 208 Pichel, Irving 109 Pollack, George 208, 209 Pommer, Erich 185 Potter, H. C. 112 Powell, Paul 48 R Ragneborn, Arne 226, 227 Raker, Hugh 208 Rapper, Irving 194 Rathony, Akos 212 Ray, Albert 149 Ray, Bernard B. 117 Ray, Man 250, 251 Raymond, Jack 169, 170 Read, David 276 Reed, Ted 50 Renoir, Jean 116 Riefenstahl, Leni 236 Riesner, Charles 25 Ripley, Arthur 91, 113, 134 Roach, Hal 35, 36 Robinson, Casey 144 Robison, Arthur 234 Rock, Joe 270 Rogell, Al 201 Rouch, Jean 272 Roush, Leslie 138, 139, 140, 161 Rowland, William 116 Rye, Stellan 230 S Saville, Victor 112, 176, 184 Schmitz, John 264, 265 Schuster, Harold 181, 186 Sennett, Mack 34, 42, 154 Shaw, George Bernard 271 Sidney, Scott 102 Sirk, Douglas 116, 120 Sjstrm, Victor 185 Sloman, E. B. 108 St. Clair, Malcolm 16, 17, 77 Stafford, Babe 132, 134, 136, 154 Stafford, John 180 Stanley, Joseph 160 Stauffacher, Frank 264 Stein, Paul 109 Stevens, George 124 Stevenson, Robert 112 Stone, Andrew L. 117 Sutherland, A. Edward 57, 112
T Tansey, Robert 124 Tarkas, Aarne 227 Taurog, Norman 144, 149, 160 Taylor, Sam 56, 77, 80 Tierney, Lawrence 125 Tully, Montgomery 200, 203 U Ulmer, Edgar G. 117 Urson, Frank 105 V Vajda, Ladislas 188, 189 Varnel, Max 212 Vidor, Charles 259 Vidor, King 124 Vogel, Joseph 260 von Sternberg, Josef 101 von Stroheim, Erich 81 Vorkapich, Slavko 260 W Waldman, Myron 280 Walker, Norman 169 Walsh, Raoul 52, 165 Watson, James Sibley 258 Webb, Millard 108 Wegener, Paul 231 Weinberg, Herman G. 259 Weinberg, Maxwell 261 West, Roland 74, 77, 98 Whale, James 106 Whelan, Tim 166, 176, 181, 184, 185 Wiene, Robert 231 Wilcox, Herbert 112, 168, 169, 170 Williamson, George 270 Williamson, J. Ernest 270 Wills, J. Elder 95, 97 Windom, Lawrence C. 102 Withey, Chet 74 Witt, Claus Peter 236 Worsley, Wallace 88 Y Yashin, D. I. 271 Young, Terence 190 Z Zebba, Sam 265, 273 Zeisler, Alfred 164, 181
Index: Actors
A Abbey Players, The 208, 209 Abel, Alfred 234 Adams, Jimmie 105 Adler, Larry 176 Adoree, Renee 18 Aherne, Brian 112 Aiken, Spottiswoode 61 Aimos, Raymond 224 Ainley, Anthony 215 Ajilo, Comfort 273 Akponu, Patrick 273 Alba, Maria 57 Alber, Frank 136 Albertier, Luigi 160 Alderson, Erville 70 Alexander, Ben 61, 134 Alexander, Chester A. 94 Allan, Elizabeth 180 Allen, Steve 91 Allgood, Sara 112, 176 Allworth, Frank 149 Alvarado, Don 71, 77, 109 Ames, Robert 103 Anderson, Eddie 97 Anderson, Jean 214 Andra, Fern 231 Annabella 181, 185, 186 Arbuckle, Roscoe Fatty 25, 32, 33 Archerd, Bernard 214 Arlen, Richard 117 Armstrong, Louis 124 Armstrong, Robert 108 Arthur, Charlotte 94 Arthur, Gavin 94 Arthur, George K. 76, 77, 101 Astaire, Fred 112 Astaire, Marie 39 Astor, Gertrude 40, 77, 108 Astor, Mary 51 Attenborough, Richard 188, 209 Audley, Maxine 214 Auric, Georges 251 Austin, William 98 Aylmer, Felix 169, 170, 212 Ayres, Agnes 86 B Bach, Vivi 215 Baddeley, Hermione 209, 210 Baker, Nellie Bly 101 Baker, Stanley 209 Bakewell, William 71 Bakus, George 46 Balch, Anthony 266 Balfour, Michael 200 Ball, Lucille 120 Ball, Vincent 203 Banks, Leslie 95, 169, 175, 178, 184, 186 Banky, Vilma 85, 86 Barker, Lex 214 Barnes, Barry K. 188 Barnes, Ray 24 Barr, Patrick 202
Barrault, Jean-Louis 225 Barrett, Adrienne 266 Barrie, Wendy 112 Barry, Leon 51 Barrymore, Lionel 70 Barthelmess, Richard 64, 65, 68 Barton, James 160 Baskomb, A. W. 180 Bass, Alfie 203 Baumer, Jacques 165 Baur, Harry 224 Bayler, Terence 194 Beatty, Robert 200 Beaulieu, Yolande 246 Beebee, Marge 132, 134, 135, 136, 137 Beery, Noah 77, 108, 169 Beery, Wallace 19, 50, 51, 75 Bela, Nicholas 259 Belajeff, Olga 235 Bellamy, Madge 109 Belmont, Guy 246 Belmore, Lionel 19 Benchley, Robert 139, 140 Bennefeld, Albert 231 Bennett, Belle 56, 71 Bennett, Enid 51 Bennett, Joan 108 Benny, Jack 146 Benson, Martin 215 Beranger, George 47 Berger, Grete 230 Bergman, Erna 259 Berry, Noah 50 Besserer, Eugenie 64 Best, Edna 184 Billington, Francella 81 Blake, Meredith 161 Blore, Eric 112 Blue, Monte 69 Blystone, Stanley 149 Bogarde, Dirk 188, 201, 204 Bolger, Ray 112 Bond, Derek 189 Bondi, Beulah 116 Booker, Beulah 19 Borden, Christine 188 Borden, Eddie 77 Boulton, Betty 50 Bow, Clara 103 Boyce, Helen 117 Boyd, William 105 Brace, Kate 64 Bracken, Eddie 117 Brazzi, Rossano 201 Brennan, Walter 114 Brent, Romney 181, 185 Breon, Edmund 180 Brian, Mary 181 Brice, Fanny 108 Bridges, Roland 215 Brockwell, Gladys 43 Brogan, Harry 208, 209 Brook, Clive 104, 181 Brook, Lyndon 208
Brown, Joe E. 109 Browne, Irene 166 Browning, Tod 62 Bruce, Kate 61, 64, 68 Bruce, Nigel 109, 112 Brunoy, Blanchette 225 Buchanan, Jack 168 Bums, Edmund 132 Burke, Joseph 74 Burke, Marie 149 Burns and Allen 141 Burroughs, William 266 Busch, Mae 81, 98 Butterworth, Charles 112 Byrne, Eddie 203 Byron, George 133 Byron, Marion 25 C Cadell, Jean 181 Caine, Michael 212 Calloway, Cab 155 Calthrop, Donald 181 Calvert, Phyllis 189 Campeau, Frank 49, 50 Cantor, Eddie 108, 146 Carew, Arthur Edmund 75 Carew, James 97 Carmen, Jule 47 Carmichael, Hoagy 161 Carminati, Tullio 169, 189 Carpenter, Johnny 124 Carpenter, Paul 203 Carrel, Danny 212 Carson, Charles 170 Casson, Lewis 170 Castellani, Bruto 224 Catlett, Walter 134, 135, 136 Cavanagh, Paul 164 Cavanna, Elise 90, 91, 136 Cavender, Glen 28 Cawthorn, Joseph 150, 164 Chandler, George 91 Chaney, Lon 88 Chaplin, Charlie 34, 50 Chase, Charley 34 Chenault, Lawrence 94 Chisholm, Robert 109 Christian, Linda 201 Christiansen, Arthur 213 Cilento, Diane 209 Clark, Frank 84 Clark, Petula 195, 200 Clements, John 184, 185, 188 Clifford, Kathleen 50 Clifton, Elmer 65 Cline, Eddie 12, 13, 16, 17 Coburn, Charles 112, 113, 120 Cochran, Steve 215 Cody, Lew 75, 76 Coleman, Richard 215 Collins, Monty 17 Colman, Ronald 76, 77, 103 Compson, Betty 82
288
Index: Actors
289
Index: Actors
Compton, Joyce 134, 135, 136 Conklin, Chester 34, 147 Conklin, Heine 133 Connery, Sean 203 Connor, Kenneth 209 Cook, Elisha, Jr. 122 Cooke, Ray 133 Cooper, Gladys 112 Cooper, Miriam 60, 65 Cornwall, Anne 24 Corri, Adrienne 208 Cortez, Ricardo 70, 103 Cosgrove, Jack 61 Cossy, Hans 236 Court, Hazel 166 Coward, Noel 61 Cramer, Richard 91 Crandall, Edward 108 Crane, Ward 22 Crane, William H. 19 Crawford, Anne 189 Crawford, Joan 42, 128 Crisp, Donald 51, 60, 61, 64, 112 Cromwell, Richard 169 Crosby, Bing 56, 91, 154 Crowe, Eileen 209 Crowell, Josephine 61 Cruickshank, Andrew 188 Culver, Roland 165, 194 Cummings, Irving 19 Cummings, Robert 112 Cuny, Alain 225 Curram, Roland 214 Currie, Finlay 170 Cusack, Cyril 202 D Dagover, Lil 231, 234 Dainton, Patricia 202, 203 Daisy 124 Dallas, Julian 195 Dane & Arthur 147 Daniel, Elsa 220 Daniels, Bebe 35, 36, 56 Darnell, Linda 113 Darvas, Charles 259 Daumery, Carrie 103 Davidson, Max 102 Davis, Bette 194 Davis, Edward 74 Davis, Mildred 36 Daw, Marjorie 49 Day, Olga 252 de Beaumont, Le Comte 251 De Brulier, Nigel 56, 102 De Carlo, Yvonne 194 De Grasse, Sam 47, 48, 81 de Gunzberg, Baron Nicholas 236 De La Motte, Marguerite 50, 51, 56 de la Rivire, Andr 250 de Mille, Agnes 160 de Noailles, Le Vicomte 251 de Noailles, Marie-Laure 251 De Putti, Lya 70, 234
Debar, Andree 202 Debucourt, Jean 252 Del Rio, Dolores 109, 164 Delaney, Charlie 135 Dell, Wheezer 17 Demarest, William 124 Dempster, Carol 64, 65, 68, 69, 70 Deneuve, Catherine 222 Dent, Vernon 38, 39, 42 Depew, Joseph 103 Desmond, Florence 164 Desnos, Robert 250 DeSota, Bruno 266 Deutsch, Ernst 231 Devore, Dorothy 102 Dieterle, Wilhelm 235 Digges, Dudley 95 Dignam, Basil 215 Dione, Rose 102 Donald, James 195 Donell, Alla 225 Donlan, Yolande 194, 195, 200, 210 Donlevy, Brian 114 Doorn, Helga 94 Dorat, Charles 224 Dorziat, Gabrielle 225 Douglas, Don 82 Douglas, Melvyn 106 Douglas, Robert 169 Dove, Billie 51 Dowling, Constance 113 Drache, Heinz 214 Dresdel, Sonia 166 Dresser, Louise 85, 105 Dressler, Marie 34, 77 Drinkwater, John 271 Driscoll, Martha 117 Dunbar, Helen 103 Duprez, June 112 Dvorak, Ann 122 Dwyer, Ruth 24 E Eaton, Mary 108 Eaton, Shirley 208, 209 Eddy, Nelson 113 Edthofer, Anton 235 Edwards, Jimmy 209 Edwards, Snitz 24, 52, 88, 104 Egede-Nissen, Aud 234, 235 Ekborg, Lars 226 Ellington, Duke 156 Ellison, James 124 Emerton, Roy 97 Emney, Joan Fred 95 Emory, Richard 125 Esmond, Jill 180 Etting, Ruth 157 Evans, Clifford 202 Eyes, Brown 24 Eythe, William 166 Eytons, Bessie 84
F Fabre, Fernand 165 Fair, Elinor 104 Fairbanks, Douglas 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 56, 57 Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr. 164, 165, 195 Farmer, Michael 180 Farnum, William 57, 80, 84 Farr, Derek 166, 189, 202 Farrar, David 170 Farrar, Jane 116 Farrell, Charles 181, 184 Fawcett, George 46, 61, 64, 68, 74, 86 Feher, Friedrich 231 Ferguson, W. J. 69 Ferrer, Mel 212 Fert, Ren 252 Feuillere, Edwige 225 Field, Betty 116 Field, George 85 Fields, W. C. 70, 90, 91 Finch, Flora 74, 108 Finlayson, James 91, 112 Fitzgerald, Barry 208 Fitzgerald, Walter 166 Flynn, Errol 170 Fonda, Henry 122, 124, 186 Fong, Benson 125 Ford, Harrison 75 Ford, Wallace 97 Forest, Helen 161 Forrest, Lottie Pickford 51 Forrest, Steve 125 Fox, Virginia 12, 13, 16, 17, 18 Francen, Victor 165 Francis, Alec B. 42, 75 Fraser, Ronald 214 Freeman, Mona 201 Fresnay, Pierre 225 Friend, Philip 200 G Gabin, Jean 225 Gable, Christopher 276 Gadd, Renee 185 Gahagan, Helen 109 Gance, Marguerite 252 Garbo, Greta 235 Gardner, Ava 196 Garnett, Tay 40 Garrick, John 109 Gastoni, Lisa 203 Gaye, Howard 47 Geddes, Barbara Bel 122 Gemora, Charles 133 Genn, Leo 185 George, Maud 81 Gerard, Henrietta 236 Gerrard, Charles K. 103 Gibbon, Eddie 134 Gilbert, Billy 136 Gilbert, Mercedes 94 Gillet, John 266 Gillie, Jean 168 Gish, Dorothy 60, 61, 69
Gish, Lillian 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 68, 69 Gleason, James 108 Goddard, Paulette 112, 124 Goddard, Willoughby 208 Goodliffe, Michael 213 Goring, Marius 196, 212 Gottowt, John 230, 231, 235 Goudal, Jetta 105 Gowing, Gene 105 Gowland, Gibson 81 Graavey, Fernand 168 Grahame, Gloria 128 Grahame, Margot 164 Granger, Dorothy 132 Grant, Cary 181 Grant, Eldon 97 Graves, Peter 170 Graves, Ralph 64, 65, 69 Gravey, Fernand 168 Gravina, Cesare 81 Gray, Coleen 195 Gray, Dulcie 166 Gray, Harriette Ann 260 Green, Barry 108 Greene, Barbara 184 Greene, David 189 Griffith, D. W. 71 Griffith, Eleanor 98 Griswold, Grace 75 Griy, Mara 247 Gronau, Ernst 231 Guerin, Bruce 101 Guinan, Texas 108 Gurie, Sigrid 113 Guthrie, Tyrone 176, 185 Gwenn, Edmund 112, 184 Gynt, Greta 203 H Hackathorne, George 103 Hale, Alan 51, 165 Hale, Binnie 181 Hale, Creighton 68, 108 Hale, Georgia 101 Hall Johnson Choir, The 97 Hamilton, Lloyd 137, 149 Hamilton, Neil 69, 70 Hammond, Kay 71, 165, 168, 188 Harding, Ann 181 Hardwick, Cedric 120 Hardy, Oliver 112 Harker, Gordon 164, 169, 170 Harlan, Kenneth 74 Harlan, Macy 46 Harris, Julie 209 Harris, Marcia 70 Harris, Mildred 104 Harrison, Irma 69 Harrison, James 74 Harrison, Kathleen 170 Harrison, Rex 176, 185 Harron, John 109 Harron, Robert 60, 61, 64, 65, 68 Hart, Caroline 190
Hart, Ferdinand 224 Hartnell, William 171 Harvey, Laurence 210 Haskel, Leonhard 235 Hattara, Pia 227 Haupt, Ullrich 80, 109 Haver, Phyllis 18, 71, 91 Hawkins, Jack 169, 180 Hayter, James 203 Hayward, Helen 43 Hayward, Louis 116 Hazell, Hy 200 Helbling, Jeanne 252 Hemingway, Richard 135 Henabery, Joseph 61 Hepburn, Barton 116 Herbert, Sidney 69 Herman, Woody 124 Herrick, Virginia 124 Herring, Aggie 132, 137 Herring, Robert 94 Hersholt, Jean 51, 71, 76 Hiatt, Ruth 42 Hickman, Cordell 97 Hickson, Joan 181 Hieronimko, Jan 236 Hiers, Walter 102 Higby, Wilbur 48 Hildebrand, Willy 259 Hill, Bonnie 17 Hobson, Valerie 165 Hodges, Horace 169 Hflich, Lucie 235 Holiday, Billie 124 Holliday, John 180 Holloway, Stanley 166 Holmes, Stuart 101 Holt, Jany 225 Holt, Jennifer 117 Homeier, Skip 203 Horner, Penelope 212 Horton, Edward Everett 56, 112 Houdini, Harry 276 Houston, Donald 171, 208 Howard, Frances 103 Howard, Joyce 165 Howard, Tom 142 Howerd, Frankie 200 Hubschmid, Paul 215 Hughes, Lloyd 104 Hull, Henry 69 Hunt, Marsha 117 Hunt, Martita 170 Hunter, Edna 74 Hunter, Glenn 75 Hunter, Ian 188 Huntley, Raymond 185 Hurst, Brandon 76 Huston, Walter 71 Hytten, Olaf 101
I Ingram, Rex 95 J Jackie the Lion 132 Jackson, Peaches 64 Jaimison, William 43 James, Harry 124 Jamison, Bud 35, 36, 42 Jannings, Emil 234, 235 Jeffries, Lionel 202 Jerrold, Mary 165 Jessel, Patricia 213 Johann, Zita 71 Johns, Glynis 184 Johns, Mervyn 189 Johnson, Katie 166 Johnson, Noble 19 Johnston, Julanne 52 Jones, Emrys 166 Jones, Griffith 203 Joy, Leatrice 103, 104 Joyeux, Odette 225 Judd, Edward 213 Justice, James Robertson 125, 212, 213 Justin, John 188, 202 K Kahn, Otto 108 Kane, Babe 90, 91, 133 Kane, Margie (Babe) 82 Kane, Marjorie 133 Karl, Roger 224 Karloff, Boris 49, 106, 120 Kearn, Sam 142 Keaton, Buster 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 28, 32, 33, 112 Keaton, Buster, Jr. 19 Keaton, Joe 12, 13, 19, 22 Keaton, Joe, Myra and Louise 18 Keefe, Cornelius 43, 134 Kellino, Pamela 196 Kelly, Dermot 208 Kelly, John 97 Kendall, Henry 181 Kendall, William 168 Kennedy, Arthur 209 Kennedy, Edgar 34, 113 Kennedy, Joyce 97 Kent, Arnold 77 Kent, Crauford 68 Kent, Jean 201 Kerry, Norman 81, 88 Kiki of Montparnasse 250 Kilbride, Percy 113, 116 Kingsley, Ben 276 Kingston, Natalie 39, 133 Kirkwood, Jack 60 Klpfer, Eugen 235 Knef, Hildegard 215 Koch, Marianne 214 Kohler, Estelle 276 Kohler, Fred 98 Kokette 280
Koko the Clown 280 Kokonut 280 Koontz, Melvin 132 Korene, Vera 165 Korner, Lothar 230 Kortner, Fritz 234 Korvin, Charles 201 Kossoff, David 209 Krauss, Werner 231, 234, 235 Kroger, Otto 113 Kruger, Harold Snubby 149 Kuosmanen, Mirjami 226 Kurlan, David 261 L La Plante, Laura 108 La Verne, Lucille 69 Laage, Barbara 202 LaBarr, Marta 189 Lagerstam, Hillevi 226 Lake, Alice 33 Lamaison, Lydia 220 LaMarr, Barbara 50, 51 Lamour, Dorothy 124 Lanchester, Elsa 112, 185 Landi, Ellissa 164 Landis, Carole 116 Lane, Lapino 70 Lane, Mara 201 Lane, Nora 134, 135, 136 Lane, Priscilla 117 Langdon, Harry 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 104 Langdon, Lillian 49 Lardner, Ring 108 LaRocque, Rod 104, 105 Laughton, Charles 106, 112, 175, 176, 185 Laurel, Stan 112 Laurie, John 97, 196 Lawrence, Gertrude 180 Lawrence, Lillian 19 Lawson, Wilfrid 165, 210 Leahy, Margaret 19 Lederer, Francis 113 Lee, Ann 114 Lee, Christopher 190, 212, 213 Lee, Lila 85 Legal, Ernst 235 Lehesmaa, Arvo 226 Lehmann, Carla 165 Leigh, Vivien 176, 178 Lester, Bruce 195 Lestina, Adolphe 61, 64, 65, 68 Lewis, Blanche 94 Lewis, Mitchell 102 Lewis, Ralph 61 Lewis, Ronald 213 Lewis, Vera 65, 104 Li, Sung 125 Liedtke, Harry 230 Lieven, Albert 165, 194, 212 Lincoln, Elmo 62, 64, 65 Lindholm, Maj-Britt 227 Lindman, ke 226 Lindroth, Helen 103
Littlefield, Lucien 133 Livesey, Jack 189 Livingston, Margaret 103 Lloyd, Alison 98 Lloyd, Harold 35, 36 Lloyd, Norman 116 Lobreau, Pierre 247 Lockhart, Gene 112, 116 Lockwood, Alyn 124 Lockwood, Margaret 164, 188, 204 Lotis, Dennis 213 Love, Bessie 47, 62 Lovell, Raymond 195 Lowe, Arthur 202 Lowe, Edmund 109 Lowell, Helen 70 Lowery, William E. 46 Lugosi, Bela 109 Lukas, Paul 181 Lunt, Alfred 70 Lupino, Ida 112 Lyon, Joe 142 Lytell, Bert 103 M MacDonald, Jeanette 109 MacDonald, Wallace 76 Mack, Charles Emmett 69 Mack, Marion 28 Macken, Walter 209 MacMurray, Fred 124 Mkel, Toivo 226, 227 Malleson, Miles 188 Mandel, Rena 236 Mander, Miles 168 Mane, Mirja 226 Marcus, James 85 Marsh, Garry 189, 194 Marsh, Mae 60, 61, 62, 65, 69 Marshall, Alan 168 Marshall, Herbert 112 Marshall, Tully 102, 108 Martindel, Edward 103 Marzia, Duilio 220 Maskell, Virginia 209 Mason, James 196 Massey, Raymond 106, 185 Matlesen, Otto 101 Mattalia, Irene 224 Matthews, A. E. 185 Maude, Joan 190 Maxwell, Edwin 56 Mayble, Jackie Moms 95 McAvoy, May 103 McCallum, Neil 212 McConnell, Gladys 43 McConnell, Lulu 143 McCormack, John 186 McDonald, Francis 24 McGuire, Kathryn 19, 22 McHugh, Frank 98, 117 McHugh, Matt 133 McIntosh, Ellen 214 McKern, Leo 213, 214
290
Index: Actors
291
Index: Actors
McKinney, Nina May 95 McLaglen, Victor 112 McQuarrie, George 68 Mean Moe 280 Menjou, Adolphe 51, 70, 103 Meredith, Burgess 112, 124 Merkel, Una 71 Merman, Ethel 158 Merrill, Gary 194 Methot, Mayo 98 Middleton, Guy 165 Milla, Augusto 224 Milland, Ray 112 Miller, Jack 149 Miller, Patsy Ruth 88 Mills, John 184 Minnevitch, Borrrah 160 Monet, Carlos Lopez 220 Montana, Bull 48 Montevecchi, Lilliane 125 Moore, Colleen 39, 104 Moore, Eva 106 Moore, Owen 60 Moore, Tom 136 Moreno, Marguerite 225 Morgan, Helen 108 Morris, Chester 98 Morris, Wayne 208 Mozart, George 95 Mulhall, Jack 56, 76 Mullen, Barbara 165, 190 Munro, Janet 213, 214 Murray, Barbara 189 Murray, Charles 34, 91, 132 Murray, Stephen 202 Muse, Clarence 97 Myers, Kathleen 24 N Nagel, Conrad 80 Naish, J. Carrol 97, 113, 116 Naldi, Nita 85 Nattier, Nathalie 225 Nazimova, Alla 102 Neagle, Anna 112, 168, 169, 170 Negri, Pola 230 Nero, Franco 222 Neutze, Gunther 236 Neve, Suzanne 215 Newton, Robert 175, 184, 185 Ngarimu, Kay 194 Nielsen, Asta 235 Nissil, Kalervo 226 Niven, David 181 Normand, Mabel 34, 91 Novelli, Amleto 224 Novello, Ivor 69, 180
O Oakie, Jack 113 Oberon, Merle 112 OBrien, John 19 OConnor, Una 112 ODea, June 160 OHara, Joan 209 OHara, Maureen 175 OKeefe, Dennis 114, 195, 200, 201, 203 Oland, Warner 51 OLeary, Liam 266 Oliver, Edna May 168 Olivier, Laurence 178, 180 ONeil, Sally 24, 71 Oravisto, Matti 227 Ormonde, Eugene 49 Ory, Kid 124 Owen, Seana 46 P Paderewski, Ignacy Jan 184 Padovani, Lea 188 Paget, Alfred 65 Palance, Jack 128 Palette, Eugene 51 Pangborn, Franklin 91, 133, 135, 136 Papa, Salvatore 224 Parker, Cecil 171, 176, 189 Parker, Frances 65 Parry-Holroyd, Gordon 273 Pasanen, Veijo 227 Patrick, Nigel 196, 201 Paulsen, Harald 231 Payne, Laurence 213 Payson, Blanche 133 Percy, Eileen 48, 49, 76 Percy, Esme 95, 168, 169 Perrins, Leslie 170 Pertwee, Jon 189 Peterson, Pat 168 Philbin, Mary 81, 88 Philipe, Grard 225 Phillips, Leslie 171 Pickford, Jack 60 Pickford, Mary 51, 56 Piel, Edward 64 Pierson, Suzy 252 Pirovano, Arturo 224 Pitoeff, Ludmilla 225 Pitts, Zasu 109, 168 Playfair, Nigel 180 Pleasence, Donald 212 Pollard, Daphne 133 Pollard, Snub 35, 36 Porter, Nyree Dawn 212 Portman, Eric 166, 184, 190 Portman, Michael 266 Powell, Dick 113 Power, Tyrone 69 Powley, Bryan 181
Pretty, Arline 48 Price, Dennis 214 Price, Kate 17 Price, Vincent 122 Priestley, J. B. 185 Prince, William 117 Pringle, Aileen 108 Puglia, Frank 70 R Ragneborn, Arne 226, 227 Raines, Ella 202 Rains, Claude 112 Ralston, Jobyna 105 Rand, Sally 104 Randolf, Anders 51, 68 Randolph, Elsie 168 Rathbone, Basil 181 Raucourt, Jules 260 Rawlings, Margaret 203 Ray, Rene 164, 184 Ray, Ted 203 Raymond, Cyril 166 Redgrave, Michael 165, 201 Reed, George 97 Reed, Maxwell 201 Reid, Wallace 61 Renick, Ruth 50 Rennie, Michael 188, 189, 194, 200 Rey, Fernando 222 Rhodes, Marjorie 166 Rich, Irene 103 Richard, Cliff 210 Richard, Frieda 234 Richard, Fritz 230 Richardson, Ian 276 Richardson, Ralph 184 Richman, Charles 75 Richman, Harry 108, 160 Ridgeway, Fritzi 105 Rigaut, Jacques 250 Rigby, Edward 189 Rilla, Walter 170, 214 Roberts, Gail 260 Roberts, Joe 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19 Robertson, Dale 214 Robeson, Eslanda 94 Robeson, Paul 94, 95, 97 Robson, Flora 178, 184 Robson, May 168 Rodgers, Anton 212 Rogez, Marcel 97 Roland, Gilbert 77 Romance, Viviane 225 Rome, Stewart 186 Romney, Edana 190 Ronque, John 214 Rosanova, Rosa 85
Roscoe, Al 43 Roseman, Ben 266 Ross, Shirley 116 Rossiter, Leonard 214 Rowbotham, Bill 188 Rubens, Alma 47, 48 Russell, Jane 116 Russell, Julia Theresa 94 Ruth, Babe 102 Rutherford, Margaret 97, 166, 200 Ryan, Kathleen 203 S Salmonova, Lyda 230 Sanders, George 116, 120, 168 Sandkvist, Gunvor 227 Santschi, Tom 84 Sarno, Gilliane 247 Schildkraut, Joseph 69, 75 Schmitz, Sybille 236 Schoenherr, Dietmar 215 Schreck, Max 235 Schutz, Maurice 236 Scott, Margaretta 181 Scott, Randolph 109 Scott, Zachary 116 Secombe, Harry 209 Seely, Sybil 12, 13, 16 Seely, Tim 209 Sellars, Elizabeth 209 Sen, Bachoo 266 Sennett, Mack 91 Seton, Bruce 181, 184 Seymour, Clarine 64, 65, 68 Shannon, Effie 70, 74 Shaw, Artie 112, 161 Shaw, George Bernard 271 Sheridan, Margaret 200 Sherman, Lowell 68 Shiner, Ronald 171 Short, Florence 68 Sibirskaa, Nadia 246 Siegmann, George 51, 61 Sim, Sheila 188 Simpson, Ronald 95 Sinclair, Upton 220 Singleton, Joseph 47 Singleton, Penny 116 Skelly, Hal 71 Smith, C. Aubrey 112, 170 Smith, Cyril 170 Smith & Dale 144 Smyrner, Ann 214 Snowden, George 160 Somerville, Ian 266 Southern, Eve 56 St. John, Al 13, 32, 33, 148 St. John, Betta 213 Standing, Wyndham 75 Stanley, Forrest 108
Stanton, Fred R. 74 Steel, Anthony 194, 200, 201 Steinruck, Albert 231 Stem, Herbert 258 Sterling, Ford 149 Stern, Herbert 258 Stevens, Ronnie 209 Stewart, James 124 Stifter, Magnus 230 Stone, Arthur 132 Strong, Porter 69 Stuart, Gloria 106 Sullivan, Ed 149 Sullivan, Francis L. 181 Sutton, Grady 91, 134, 135, 136 Swain, Mack 34, 91 Swanson, Gloria 91, 180 Sweet, Blanche 60, 61 Swinburne, Nora 180, 181 Sydney, Basil 164, 166, 212 Sylvie, Lucien Coedel 225 Syms, Sylvia 210 T Tafler, Sidney 208 Talbott, Lori 117 Talmadge, Constance 48, 65, 74, 76, 77 Talmadge, Natalie 19 Talmadge, Norma 74, 75, 76, 77, 80 Tamiroff, Akim 116, 171 Tappert, Horst 236 Tashman, Lilyan 104 Teagarden, Jack 161 Tearle, Conway 75 Tearle, Godfrey 195 Tempest, Marie 184 Terry-Lewis, Mabel 185 Thamar, Tilda 208 Theby, Rosemary 91 Thomas, Jane 69 Thompson, Carlos 201 Thompson, Ray 24 Thomson, Al 149 Thorburn, June 208 Thorndike, Dame Sybil 209 Thulin, Ingrid 226 Thundercloud, Chief 124 Tierney, Edward 125 Tierney, Lawrence 125 Tikkanen, Aino-Maija 227 Tincher, Fay 60 Todd, Ann 181, 184 Todd, Richard 171, 214 Todd, Thelma 98 Tomlinson, David 194 Toomey, Regis 98 Torrence, Ernest 25, 88 Trocchi, Alex 266 Truesdale, Howard 24 Tubb, Ernest 117 Turpin, Ben 91
U Ustinov, Peter 194 V Valentino, Rudolph 85, 86 Vallee, Rudy 108, 159 van Bergen, Ingrid 212 Van Derman, Carol 195 van Eyck, Peter 212 Varconi, Victor 105 Veidt, Conrad 176, 185, 231, 235 Velez, Lupe 56 Verne, Karen 185 Villard, Frank 202 von Seyffertitz, Gustav 49, 56, 109 von Stroheim, Erich 49, 62, 81, 82 von Twardowski, Hans Heinrich 231, 234 Voya, Georges 260 Vroom, Frederick 19 W Walbrook, Anton 170 Walcott, George 103 Walker, Jimmy 108 Wallace, Morgan 69 Walsh, Dermot 202 Walsh, Kay 204 Walsh, Raoul 61 Walthall, Henry B. 60, 61, 71 Ward, Alice 42 Ware, Irene 170 Warner, H. B. 168, 169 Warner, Jack 200, 213 Warren, Kenneth J. 212 Warrick, Ruth 112 Warwick, John 165 Washburn, Bryant 77 Washington, Fredi 95 Waterman, Ida 103 Waters, Ethel 97 Watling, Jack 202 Watson, Barry 91 Watson, Hildegarde 258 Wattis, Richard 209 Webb, Chic 160 Webber, Melville 258 Wegener, Paul 230, 231 Weissmuller, Johnny 108, 149 Welch, Elisabeth 95, 97 West, Dorothy 46 West, Julian 236 Westerlund, Catrin 227 White, Barbara 166 Whitley, Crane 260 Whitty, Dame May 112 Wilcoxon, Henry 97 Williams, Arthur 95 Williams, Emlyn 175, 194 Williams, Hugh 164, 165, 168 Williams, Kathlyn 84
Wilson, Frank 95 Wilson, Margery 46 Wilson, Tom 17 Winters, Shelley 113 Withers, Googie 164, 165, 185, 195 Wolfit, Donald 202, 212 Wolheim, Louis 69, 70 Wong, Anna May 52 Wood, Freeman 17 Wooland, Norman 202, 203, 208 Worthing, Helen Lee 103 Wright, Tony 208 Wymore, Patricia 170 Wynters, Charlotte 71 Y Young, Roland 112 Younger, Eddie 160 Yurka, Blanche 116 Z Zetterling, Mai 209 Ziegfeld, Florenz 108 Zouka, Princess 97 Zukor, Adolph 108

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Cohen Film Collection

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

268 278 282 285 287

The Documentaries Animation Index: Titles Index: Directors Index: Actors

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

One Week 1920

The Scarecrow 1920

The Haunted House 1921

Hard Luck 1921

The High Sign 1921

One Week 1920

Convict 13 1920 The Haunted House 1921

Neighbors 1921 Hard Luck 1921

The Play House 1921 The Boat 1921

The High Sign 1921 The Scarecrow 1920

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

The Goat 1921

The Play House 1921

The Boat 1921

The Paleface 1922

My Wifes Relations 1922

The Blacksmith 1922

The Frozen North 1922

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

Day Dreams 1922

The Electric House 1922

The Balloonatic 1923

The Love Nest 1923

The Saphead 1921

The Three Ages 1923

Our Hospitality 1923

The Navigator 1924

The Navigator 1924

The Paleface 1922 The Three Ages 1923

The Frozen North 1922 The Balloonatic 1923

The Love Nest 1923 The Electric House 1922

The Saphead 1921 Cops 1922

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

American Classics 9 Buster Keaton Comedies

Sherlock, Jr. 1924

Fast-moving, gag-filled comedy which ranks among its stars best.

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

Seven Chances 1925

Battling Butler 1926

Steamboat Bill, Jr. 1928

The Great Stone Face 1968

Our Hospitality 1923

Steamboat Bill Jr. 1928

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

The General 1926

The Goat 1921

The Blacksmith 1922

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library

Cohen Film Collection The Rohauer Library