Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Floorwalker - 1916


Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 15 May 1916 (USA)
Director: Charles Chaplin
Writers:Charles Chaplin, Vincent Bryan
Stars: Charles Chaplin, Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance
After causing havoc on the sales floor Charlie goes to the office floor. There he runs into the store inspector (who looks exactly like him) who has just robbed the safe and knocked out the manager. Charlie thinks he is in front of a mirror till he notices he holds a stock and his "image" the bag of loot. This film was noted for the first "running staircase" used in films.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Second presentation on sound movies



Images kindly sent by Ligia Mattos
Music extracted from Heineken Commercial 2011 by band The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

Friday, July 8, 2011

Fantômas



Fantômas is the first of 32 novels penned from 1911 to 1913 by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre. The title character is a ruthless thief and killer, a bloodthirsty successor to LeBlanc's Arsène Lupin. The first five novels were made into silent film serials. The character and the movies caught the eye of the French Surrealists who admired the primal violence of Fantômas, as well as his portrayal in the films, which are considered landmarks in French Cinema. In Fantômas, the Marquise de Langrune is savagely murdered and Inspector Juve, who is obsessed with capturing Fantômas, arrives to solve the murder. (Summary by Alan Winterrowd).

See the audio files of all novels on the following link: http://www.archive.org/details/fantomas_1007_librivox

Presentation on sound movies



I must say a special thank you to Ligia Mattos, a big supporter of this site, who kindly sent me the pictures used in this presentation. We both truly know that good things and people remain eternal while they live in other people’s hearts and the boundaries of time and death are just a way in which things are transformed. And transformation doesn’t mean leaving our dreams and beliefs behind. Good things are here to be remembered and cherished for good. This is life, this is hope, this love present in everything forever. Thank you for all your nice words.
Music by The Platters (The Great Pretender  - 1955)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Une idylle à la ferme - 1912



Country: France
Language: French
Director: Max Linder
Writer: Max Linder
Stars: Max Linder and Suzy Depsy
Also Known As: Ein Idyll im Gutshofe Austria / Germany
A Farm-house Romance UK

Roméo se fait bandit - 1909



Country: France
Language: French
Director: Romeo Bosetti
Writer: William Shakespeare (characters)
Stars: Romeo Bosetti and Max Linder
Also Known As: Romeo als Dieb Austria / Germany
Romeo Turns Bandit USA
Romeo Turns Brigand UK
Based on characters from Shakespeare's play: Romeo seeks out Juliet at her estate, and leaps atop a stone wall so that he can kiss her. But Juliet's father dislikes Romeo, and refuses to allow him to court his daughter. So Romeo organizes a group of friends to follow Juliet's father to a deserted place, where they tie him up. Juliet then joins Romeo and his group, as Romeo proceeds with a plan to use the situation to win the approval of Juliet's father.

Mon pantalon est décousu - 1908



Country: France
Language: French
Release Date: 15 February 1908 (France)
Director: André Heuzé
Writer: André Heuzé
Stars: Max Linder
Max Linder was one of the greatest early film comics who deserves to be wider known than he is. Long before the likes of Keaton, Lloyd and Chaplin - who acknowledged Linder as a major source of inspiration - Linder was creating short comedies that were far in advance of anything else being produced. While most early short comedies relied too much on people kicking each other up the backside for laughs, Linder took a look at the small things in life from which laughs could be wrung.
In the case of this film he plays a young man about town who splits his trousers while getting ready to go out one night. After applying some rather risky repairs without taking the trousers off, Max gingerly heads off to a dinner party. Of course, disaster strikes almost as soon as he arrives, and he spends the rest of the film frantically attempting to hide the gaping tear in his trousers from the other guests.

Max et sa belle-mère - 1912



Country: France
Language: French
Directors: Max Linder, Lucien Nonguet
Writer: Max Linder
Stars: Max Linder, Léon Belières and Charles de Rochefort
Also Known As: Max and His Mother-in-Law UK / USA
Max und seine Schwiegermutter Austria / Germany
Max and His Ma-in-Law UK
Pior que uma Sogra Portugal
Max and his young bride attempt to enjoy an Alpine honeymoon, despite the presence of her mother. The story here is that Max is newlywed, and not very fond of his voluminous mother-in-law, but she refuses to be left out of their honeymoon trip to some winter sports resort, and bravely soldiers on. They depart by train.. and it's a REAL train, with bi-level coaches that I've known to exist, but never seen in motion. What a contrast to the silly prop-model trains in studio used by Méliès several times! Arrived at the resort, they go through the motions of several sports: skating, sleigh-riding, skiing - all of course played for slapstick, but with nice surprising details, and great outside scenes which must have been very difficult in early movie-making, considering the reflections of snow. Mother-in-law is the only one who makes it almost all the way downhill on skis, while the others run down behind her.Even on the train ride back, she still sticks to at least one ski, so is transported in an unconventional way.. but the final scene indicates she now has really won the respect of her son-in-law.

Les débuts d'un patineur - 1907



Country: France
Language: French
Release Date: 10 May 1907 (France)
Director: Louis J. Gasnier
Writer: Louis J. Gasnier
Stars: Max Linder
Also Known As: Erster Versuch eines Schlittschuhläufers Germany
Max Learns to Skate USA
Max Wants to Skate USA
Max patineur France (alternative title)
Max veut apprendre à patiner France
The Unskillful Skater UK
Versuch eines Schlittschuhläufers Austria
Production Co: Pathé Frères
Max causes havoc when he joins other skaters on a frozen lake. This was the first movie in which Max Linder appeared as the charming gentleman dressed in silk hat and mustache, a character who soon made him one of the most beloved comedians on the silver screen before World War I.

Max et son âne - 1912


Country: France
Language: French
Directors: Max Linder, René Leprince
Writers: Max Linder, Louis Z. Rollini
Stars: Max Linder, Paulette Lorsy and Joé Dawson
Also Known As: Der eifersüchtige Esel Austria / Germany
Joe Teaches Max a Lesson UK
L'âne jaloux France (alternative title)
Max and the Donkey UK
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.
Max Linder strays further from his usual haunts of situational comedy, far into straight slapstick as he gets into a dispute over the woman he is courting with a pantomime donkey -- although whether the donkey wants the girl or Max i something I can not quite make out.
In any case, Max and the Donkey go on the set slapstick chase of the French and Italian cinema, including crawling down the side of a building. It is here that we get a touch of Max' character: while Max just leaps, the donkey stops and thinks it over on the rooftop before finally heading down the building, an effect which s achieved by putting a painting of a wall on the floor and shooting each of them crawling backwards in turn.
While straight slapstick chase is not Max' usual meat, he manages to pull it off with enough charm to make this worthwhile.

Le premier cigare d'un collégien - 1908



Country: France
Language: French (intertitles)
Release Date: 18 January 1908 (USA)
Director: Louis J. Gasnier
Stars: Max Linder
Also Known As: Die erste Zigarre des Primaners Austria / Germany
First Cigar USA
His First Cigar USA
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.
The French comic Max Linder is largely forgotten today, but he was so huge in his native country that he became sufficiently well-known in the States to have a crack in Hollywood (thanks largely to Charlie Chaplin identifying him as a major influence). This is one of Linder's earliest films, and it's well worth seeking out. He plays a callow youth who steals a cigar on which he liberally puffs in an attempt to impress a young lady. Of course it's not long before he's feeling a little sick and begins staggering around under the force of an attack of hiccoughs that sees him blundering into a neighbour's flat as he tries to make his way home.
The film is quite sophisticated for it's time with a relatively large number of scene changes as we follow Max's misadventures. It also features a close-up shot to show his reactions to the effects of the cigar he is smoking. Linder's movements when he is under the influence of the cigar are remarkably similar to Chaplins, and fans of the little tramp shouldn't miss the opportunity to watch this. You can find it on the internet.

Max lance la mode - 1912



Country: France
Language: French
Release Date: 4 June 1912 (USA)
Directors: René Leprince, Max Linder
Writer: Max Linder
Stars: Max Linder, Stacia Napierkowska and Jane Renouardt
Also Known As: Max Sets the Fashion UK / USA
Max als Modekönig Austria / Germany
Max Starts the Fashion UK
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.
Max Linder was arguably the greatest comic actor on the screen until Charlie Chaplin, who called him 'The Professor' came on the scene. In hundred of short subjects he generally played a Parisian boulevardier in some recognizable form.
In this one, he is courting Stacia Napierkowska, best remembered for her lead in the silent version of L'ANTIDE. But first he oversleeps and then he burns his shoes, so when he buys the pair off the feet of a cole-porteur, she is horrified by his lack smart footwear, But Max always has a plan in mind and in this one-reeler, he gets off a very nice gag or three.

Max ne se mariera pas - 1910



Country: France
Language: French
Writer: Max Linder
Stars: Max Linder and Gabrielle Lange
Also known as: Max bleibt ledig Austria / Germany
Max Is Almost Married USA (reissue title)
Max Is Stuck Up USA
Max Misses Another Good Chance UK
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.

Max à Monaco - 1913



Country: France
Language: French
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.
When this German count is in a hurry in order to attend one of those worthless soirées, watching a short film by Herr Max Linder is the perfect choice in order to satisfy the silent film anxiety of this German aristocrat and keep his fat Teutonic heiresses happy as well.
This time the short film was "Max À Monaco" but the title is a deceptive one because the whole story of the film happens at sea, mostly in a French warship anchored near the Monte Carlo casino port (a complete waste of time, certainly… you know, to visit a warship instead of visiting the Monte Carlo casino where you can waste both your time and your money.) Anyway, in spite of that, our hero will stagger from stem to stern in a complete state of drunkenness and that causes him some problems with the crew and of that frenchified warship. It's the perfect excuse then to watch those funny slapstick Herr Linder moments.
Ironically, "Max À Monaco" premiered in Berlin cinemas ( this German count was there at the theatre with his medals won in futile wars... ) the same day that Germany declared war; the First World War, a terrible time full of disgrace and sorrow. It was particularly tragic for Herr Linder who was called to arms. From that time on, nothing was ever the same again for the world or Max Linder.

Max et son chien Dick - 1912



Country: France
Language: French
Directors: René Leprince, Max Linder
Writer: Max Linder
Stars: Max Linder, Jane Renouardt and Henri Bosc
Also Known As: Max und sein Hund Austria / Germany
Max and Dog Dick UK
Max and His Dog USA
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.
MAX AND HIS DOG is an entertaining short comedy with the great Max Linder. Here, our hero is deeply in love with a pretty girl named Hanni; or at least he's highly attracted to her. The feelings are returned to some extent, but Hanni finds it difficult to choose between Max and another lover. She finally marries Max, which apparently turns out as a wise decision, until the girl receives a note from the rival: "My Dear, I have now realized that you are the only and true love." Max discovers the message by accident, and rightfully suspicious, he gives his dog Dick orders to keep an eye on his wife. As man's best friend, Dick is polite; when the lover arrives to Max's home while the latter is at work, he calls him through a telephone and barks that Max must rush home in a hurry.
Max's mistrust in his wife seems to be reasonable. When he arrives home, he finds her sitting on the bed in the arms of the other man. In a Keystone Comedy, the husband would've got furious and strangled his rival. Max's reactions to the circumstances, on the other hand, confirms his far more mature style of comedy. When he enters the room he's shocked, but quickly changes his appearance: he simply takes a brief look at his wife as shame increase inside her, lights a cigarette, leans himself to his stick, and asks Dick to bring his ex-wife's suitcase.
After Hanni and the lover has left, Max invites his friend to dinner; the dog, that is. In the last shot, we witness a happy Max enjoying his meal in Dick's company. The moral is simple: one should prefer a sincere friendship with a polite dog rather than false love from an impolite girl.
When Max Linder made this amusing little flick in 1912, he was in his late twenties and at the peak of his popularity; he'd starred in more than four hundred short comedies already, and many more were to come. Unfortunately, less than hundred of them survive today; most of them are archived in The French Film Insitute. Happily, MAX AND HIS DOG can be found on the DVD Comedy With Max Linder from Grapevine Video, as one out of fourteen short comedies starring the incurable dandy Max Linder.

Max prend un bain - 1910



Country: France
Language: French
Director: Lucien Nonguet
Stars: Max Linder
Also Known As: Maxens Bad Austria / Germany
By the Doctor's Orders UK
Max Embarrassed USA
Max Takes a Bath USA
Max has purchased a new bathtub, but bathing in it proves to be more difficult than he anticipated. This is one of the most enjoyable comedies made by Max Linder, the French film pioneer. The story, told without any explanatory titles, is easily understood, the photography is good, and, happily, surviving prints are clear and sharp. Linder himself is charming. Charlie Chaplin cited him as an important influence, and although each comedian had his own individual style one can see parallels between the two. Linder's screen persona "Max," like Chaplin's Tramp, is usually gallant towards the ladies, somewhat fussy about his grooming and appearance, and quick to retaliate when challenged. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that Charlie, in his early films, could be aggressive and even sadistic, while Max is generally civil towards others unless provoked. Max is more often a victim of circumstance than a deliberate instigator of trouble.
At any rate, as MAX TAKES A BATH begins our hero has just purchased an ornate bathtub, and is attempting to hail a horse-drawn cab to haul it back to his apartment building. A carriage stops for him, but, once the driver sees the big tub, the carriage moves off again: a Buster Keatonesque moment. So Max hauls the tub home himself (on his back, like a turtle) and then immediately prepares to bathe, but is once more faced with difficulty; apparently, the only spigot to which he has access, bizarrely enough, is in the corridor outside his room, sticking out of the wall on a landing of the staircase. Max attempts to fill the tub one cupful at a time, but realizes that this would take too long, and therefore decides to park the tub under the spigot and bathe in the hallway.
Two points of interest: first, lest you conclude that French architects of the period must have been crazy, the corridor with the spigot is obviously a set made up of painted flats, devised for the sake of the plot. And when Linder lowers himself into the tub, no effort is made to imply total nudity-- his swim trunks are clearly visible. Still, Max's audacity seems to upset the neighbors anyhow, the situation escalates, and of course the law gets involved. If this had been a Keystone comedy made a few years later, the climax would have involved the actors racing across rooftops firing pistols, but instead the finale is fairly low key. Still, MAX TAKES A BATH is clever, well-paced, and-- did I forget to mention this? --quite funny.

L'anglais tel que Max le parle - 1914


Country: France
Language: French
Release Date: 6 March 1914 (France)
Director: Max Linder
Stars: Max Linder and Cécile Guyon
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.

Max joue le drame - 1910



Country: France
Language: French
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.

Une nuit agitée - 1912



Country: France
Language: French
Also Known As: Der kleine Störenfried (Germany)
Director: Max Linder
Writers: Louis Feuillade (story), Max Linder (scenario)
Stars: Max Linder, Stacia Napierkowska and Jane Renouardt
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.
If you are unfamiliar with Max Linder's films, it might be worthwhile to tell you that he was the first international comedy star and that Charlie Chaplin said he learned a great deal from watching his films. In his film career, which extended from 1905 through the mid-1920s, he typically played variations on the young boulevardier.
In this one, it is his wedding night, married to the beautiful Stacia Napierkowska. He and his bride are sleeping..... and a flea keeps disturbing him. The variety of his reactions and his increasingly agitated efforts to get rid of the pest are the whole of this excellent movie. A fine introduction to this comedian.

Max entre deux feux - 1916



Country: France
Language: French
Director: Max Linder
Writer: Max Linder
Stars: Max Linder
Also Known As: Max zwischen zwei Feuern (Germany)
Filming Locations: Geneva, Canton de Genève, Switzerland
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.
The story is about Max who in holiday in Switzerland meets two young American girls. They're friends, the first one is blond, the other one is brunette. He falls in love with the two of them and decide to declare his flame first to the brunette then to the blond. When they realize the game Max is playing, they decide to play also. It is a delicate comedy between the three characters realized all in outsides (certainly around the Leman's lake)with a very good direction and very pretty images. The two unknown actress are also very charming. One of the best of Max Linder.

Max victime du quinquina - 1911



Country: France
Language: French
Release Date: 12 July 1912 (USA)
Director: Max Linder
Writer: Maurice Delamare
Stars: Max Linder, Georges Coquet and Lucy d'Orbel
Also Known As: Max Takes Tonics
Production Co: S.C.A.G.L.
Max Linder was not only a master of physical comedy (creating lots of gags later imitated by almost everybody else) but also a great director in the "primitive mode of representation". Almost every scene is done in only one long shot but every bit of the frame is fully utilised with very studied actors' movement and creating different spaces within the frame.
The film mixes very successfully slapstick with farce and even social commentary with hilarious results thanks to Linder's wonderful performance and visual precision.

Max in a taxi - 1917



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 23 April 1917 (USA)
Production Co: Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, The
Director:Max Linder
Writer: Max Linder
Stars: Max Linder and Martha Mansfield
This film was previously thought lost, but a print has since been discovered.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Suds - 1920



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 27 January 1920 (USA)
Director: John Francis Dillon
Stars: Mary Pickford, Albert Austin and Harold Goodwin
A London laundry girl tries to rise above her station in order to capture the love of a wealthy young man, and thus misses out on the truer love of one of her own class.

The Penalty - 1920



Country: USA
Language: English (titles)
Release Date: August 1920 (USA)
Filming Locations: Goldwyn Studios, Culver City, California, USA
Director: Wallace Worsley
Stars: Charles Clary, Doris Pawn and Jim Mason
Blizzard, deranged from a childhood operation in which both his legs were perhaps needlessly amputated after an accident, becomes a vicious criminal, and eventually mob leader of the San Francisco underworld. Out for revenge against the surgeon who performed his operation, he undergoes brain surgery which has a chance of altering his anti-social behavior.

Mother - 1926



Country: Soviet Union
Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin
Writers: Maxim Gorky (novel), Nathan Zarkhi
Stars: Vera Baranovskaya, Nikolai Batalov and Aleksandr Chistyakov
The Film Version Of Gorki's Great Story Of The 1905 Revolution. Released right after "Battleship Potemkin", "Mother" shows a woman forced to choose between siding with her labor-organizing son or her corrupt husband. The movie makes double sure that we get to see the living conditions in Russia in 1905, but it also uses ice as a metaphor. There are a few scenes where we see ice breaking up on the ocean; it basically shows that the old order is slowly but surely coming apart. I have to admit that this is the only Vsevolod Pudovkin movie that I've ever seen, but it's certainly a good one, if only as a historical reference. A noticeable difference between Eisenstein and Pudovkin was that Eisenstein was into typage (meaning that he liked to choose any random person who looked right for the role), while Pudovkin was very fixated on whom he wanted. (imdb).

The Midnight Girl - 1925



Country: USA
Release Date: 15 February 1925 (USA)
Director: Wilfred Noy
Stars: Lila Lee, Gareth Hughes and Dolores Cassinelli
A corrupt art patron finds himself in love with the same girl as his stepson.

Wolf Blood - 1925



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 16 December 1925 (USA)
Directors: George Chesebro, Bruce M. Mitchell
Writers: Bennett Cohen (story), Cliff Hill (story)
Stars: Marguerite Clayton, George Chesebro and Ray Hanford
Dick Bannister is the new field boss of the Ford Logging Company, a Canadian logging-crew during a time when conflicts with the powerful Consolidated Lumber Company, a bitter rival company, have turned bloody, like a private war. His boss, Miss Edith Ford, comes to inspect the lumberjack camp, bringing her doctor fiancé with her. Dick is attacked by his rivals and left for dead. His loss of blood is so great that he needs a transfusion, but no human will volunteer, so the surgeon uses a wolf as a source of the blood. Afterwards, Dick begins having dreams where he runs with a pack of phantom wolves, and the rival loggers get killed by wolves. Soon, these facts have spread through the camp and most of the lumberjacks decide that Dick is a werewolf. (taken from Wikipedia)

WW1-ChateauThierry - 1917



Producer: US Army Signal Corps.
Production Company: US Army Signal Corps
Audio/Visual: none, B&W
WW1 footage telecined from 35mm film circa 1917 made by the US Army Signal Corp.

Wife and Auto Trouble - 1916



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 5 March 1916 (USA)
Directors: Dell Henderson, Mack Sennett
Writer: Roy Del Ruth (scenario)
Stars: William Collier Sr., Blanche Payson and Joseph Belmont
After being bossed around at breakfast by his wife and mother-in-law, a husband goes to his office, where he is romantically involved with his secretary. His brother-in-law tries to get him caught in the act, but his attempt backfires. Then, when a car is delivered that the man bought for his secretary, his wife sees it, and he has to pretend that he bought it for her. In the confusion that follows, the police are called in.

West of Hot Dog - 1924



Country: USA
Language: English (intertitles)
Release Date: 30 December 1924 (USA)
Director: Joe Rock, and Murray Rock assistant director
Writer: Tay Garnett (titles)
Stars: Stan Laurel
Silent western starring Stan Laurel before he teamed up with Oliver Hardy. On his way to collect inheritance in the small town on Hot Dog, Stan gets robbed by highwaymen, one of which is the other person who shall attend the reading of their late Uncle's will. The reading of the will states Stan will get everything, including 'The Last Chance Saloon', but in the case of Stan's death, the saloon will be split between Bad Mike and his friend. Stan nows flees town, but gets on Bad Mike's horse, which takes him to Bad Mike's house. Bad Mike and his gang arrive at the house, after robbing the saloon. They soon hear Stan, and an epic gun battle follows, with the town Sheriff not far behind.

The Flapper - 1920



Country: USA
Release Date: 10 May 1920 (USA)
Director: Alan Crosland
Writers: Frances Marion (screenplay), Frances Marion (story)
Stars: Olive Thomas, Warren Cook and Theodore Westman Jr.
16-year-old Genevieve 'Ginger' King (Thomas), is growing up in the boring town of Orange Springs, Florida where having a soda with a boy is scandalous. Because of her behavior and yearning for a thrilling life her father decides to send her to a boarding school, which is run by strict disciplinarian Mrs. Paddles (Marcia Harris).
Despite the strictness, the girls have fun getting into flapper lifestyle trouble including flirting. Richard Channing (William P. Carleton), an older man, rides past the seminary every day, prompting romantic fantasies among the school girls. When 16-year-old Ginger connives a sleigh ride with Channing, she tells him she's 'almost twenty'. She ends up falling for him.
Ginger gets in trouble with the headmistress when she sneaks out to the local country club where Channing is having a party. One of her schoolmates named Hortense (played by Katherine Johnston) tells on her, but her motive is to get the headmistress out of the way so she can rob the school's safe and sneak away with her crooked boyfriend Thomas Morran (Arthur Housman). Thanks to a vague note Ginger goes to a hotel in New York on her way home from school where Hortense and her boyfriend are. They force her to take the suitcases back with her. The suitcases end up containing the valuables, which include fancy clothes and jewels.
Knowing that Channing has gone to Orange Springs on a yachting trip, Ginger decides to use the clothes and jewels and pretend to be a woman of the world when she goes home. The plan backfires, and her father believes she is lying when she says its a joke. Detectives show up wanting to know why she has stolen loot, and both her young admirer, Bill, and Channing think she has really become a wicked woman.

The Electric House - 1922


Country: USA
Release Date: October 1922 (USA)
Directors: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton
Writers: Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline
Stars: Buster Keaton
The Electric House starts with Buster's graduation ceremony as the first of his comic misfortunes, including a mix-up of diplomas so Buster receives a diploma in electrical engineering. This leads to a job opportunity: electrifying the family house of the girl he's sweet on. A great chance, so Buster studies hard and soon installs a useful and impressive set of electric appliances.

The Cheat - 1915



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 13 December 1915 (USA)
Writers: Hector Turnbull (scenario), Jeanie Macpherson (scenario)
Stars: Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa and Jack Dean
Edith Hardy uses charity funds for Wall Street investments in hopes of buying some new gowns. She loses all the money and borrows from wealthy oriental Tori. When her husband gives her the amount she borrowed, Tori won't take it back, branding her shoulder with a Japanese sign of his ownership. She shoots him. Her husband takes the blame. In court Edith reveals all to an angry mob.

Burstup Holmes' Murder Case - 1913



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 26 March 1913 (USA)
Stars: Blanche Cornwall and Darwin Karr

Queen of Sports - 1934



Country: China
Language: Mandarin
Director: Yu Sun
Writer: Yu Sun
Stars: Lu Bai, Langen Han and Feiguang He
Young sprinter Lin Ying enrolls in a sports college in Shanghai. As she becomes a sports celebrity, she starts to mangle with the upper class and has gradually forgotten the true essence of sports.
The director is the legendary Sun Yu, and the film stars Li Lili and Bai Lu. Li Lili is in her element here as Lin Ying, a young woman with energy to burn who has come to Shanghai to study at a sports school. As a child, she was fond of climbing trees and running around, and has great natural talent. The focus of the film is clearly on sport, including physical training, study and competition, though while at the school, she becomes rather fond of her coach, the brother of a classmate whom she knew in her childhood, as well as earning the jealousy of some catty classmates.
The film advocates sport and physical health as important for the whole nation, and there is also implicit criticism of the effete manners of the upper-classes in the city. There are also moments of humor that lighten several scenes, including a Laurel-and-Hardy duo of grounds-men. An interesting and entertaining example of an early sports film.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Behind The Screen - 1916



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 13 November 1916 (USA)
Director: Charles Chaplin
Stars: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance and Eric Campbell
Also Known As (AKA)
Behind the Screen USA (original title)
Bakom kulisserna Sweden
Carlitos no Estúdio Brazil
Chaplin a filmstúdióban Hungary (imdb display title)
Chaplin i filmatelieret Denmark
Charlot fait du ciné France
Charlot machiniste Belgium (French title)
Charlot, actor de cine Spain (reissue title)
Charlot, artista de cine Spain (reissue title)
Charlot, debuta en el cine Spain (reissue title)
Charlot, entre bastidores Spain (reissue title)
Charlot, tramoyista Spain (reissue title)
Charlot, tramoyista de cine Spain (imdb display title)
Derrière les coulisses Belgium (French title)
Detrás de la pantalla Spain
Dietro lo schermo Italy
Hinter der Leinwand Germany
Kulissimies näyttelijänä Finland
Le machiniste héberlué Belgium (French title)
På filmateljen Sweden
The Pride of Hollywood USA (alternative title)
Valkokankaan takana Finland
Filming Locations: Lone Star Studio - 1751 Glendale Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
Three movies are being shot simultaneously and Charlie is an overworked scene shifter. The foreman is waited on hand and foot until all the shifters but Charlie go on strike. A girl looking for work pretends to be a man and helps Charlie. Charlie discovers her gender and falls in love with her. The foreman thinks they are homosexual and in the ensuing fight they become involved in a long pie throwing scene from one of the movies in production. The frustrated workers dynamite the studio

Poor Daddy - 1929



Director: Yang Xiaozhong
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Language: Traditional Chinese & English
A 1929 B&W silent comedy from Shanghai, describing a vindictive funnyman's efforts to get back at his cheating wife, as aided by his smarter and more moralistic young son. B&W, Silent, with original Chinese and English intertitles.

One Week - 1920


Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 1 September 1920 (USA)
Filming Locations: Congregational Sunday School, Los Angeles, California, USA
Directors: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton
Writers: Buster Keaton (screenplay), Buster Keaton (story)
Stars: Buster Keaton, Sybil Seely and Joe Roberts
Buster and Sybil exit a chapel as newlyweds. Among the gifts is a portable house you easily put together in one week. It doesn't help that Buster's rival for Sybil switches the numbers on the crates containing the house parts.
This was Buster Keaton's first film appearance without Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.
No models were used. All of the stunts were done with the full-sized house as seen on-screen.
After two more appearances in Keaton's shorts, Sybil Seely was replaced as leading lady by Virginia Fox. However, Buster asked her back for The Boat (1921) with the idea of combining it with One Week into a four reel feature. But this never came to pass.
Continuity: When Buster climbs onto the roof, the ladder is leaning against the front of the house, but when he climbs back down, it's leaning against the side of the house.
Continuity: The piano changes between when it is delivered (flat back) and when Buster tires to bring it into the house (typical uptight piano back).

One Is Business, the Other Crime - 1912



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 25 April 1912 (USA)
Filming Locations: California, USA
Director: D.W. Griffith
Writer: George Hennessy
Stars: Charles West, Dorothy Bernard and Edwin August
Griffith intercuts between the lives of two couples married on the same day. One couple is rich, the other is poor. Time passes, and in desperation over joblessness, the poor husband attempts to burgle a home, only to be captured a gunpoint by the mistress of the house. It is the home of the rich couple. While holding the poor intruder at gunpoint, the rich wife accidently discovers evidence implicating her own husband in a bribery scheme . . .

Officer Henderson - 1913



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 12 March 1913 (USA)
This 1913 film from Solax is a bit broader than the comedies that usually came out of that studio -- perhaps they were feeling the pressure from Mack Sennett at Keystone. It's certainly much more straightforward and realistic-looking with none of the dazzling stuntwork or editing that Keystone excelled in, but is a pleasant, polite little comedy for the period.
The idea of this little drag comedy is that a couple of husky cops are told to dress up as women to try and catch some purse snatchers. The title character, Officer Henderson does so, making a very dainty target in the process. But after he goes off duty and hangs the outfit up in the closet for the next day's work, his wife comes home from vacation....
Drag actors were just about respectable in this period. The premiere man in the field was Julian Eltinge, and women used to ask for beauty tips from him. The theater named for him still stands on 42nd Street in New York. Not far behind was Bothwell Browne, whose act consisted of dressing in men's and women's attire, and when he was dressed up as a man, he was likely to pick a fight. By the late twenties the drag craze had passed, but it comes back every once in a while.

Number, Please? - 1920



Country: USA
Language: English (intertitles)
Release Date: 26 December 1920 (USA)
Filming Locations: Amusement Park, Venice Beach, Venice, Los Angeles, California, USA
Directors: Hal Roach, Fred C. Newmeyer
Writer: H.M. Walker (titles by)
Stars: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis and Roy Brooks
While at an amusement park, trying vainly to forget the girl he has lost, a young man sees the girl with her new boyfriend. When her dog gets loose in the park, both suitors have to help her catch it. Then, the girl's uncle, a balloonist, gives her a pass for two in his balloon, provided that her mother approves. She then offers to take along the first of her admirers who is able to get her mother's consent.

Never Weaken - 1921



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 22 October 1921 (USA)
Filming Locations: Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
Director: Fred C. Newmeyer
Writers: Hal Roach (story), Sam Taylor (story)
Stars: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis and Roy Brooks
Our hero (Lloyd) is infatuated with a girl in the next office. In order to drum up business for her boss, an osteopath, he gets an actor friend to pretend injuries that the doctor "cures", thereby building a reputation. When he hears that his girl is marrying another, he decides to commit suicide and spends the bulk of the film in thrilling, failed attempts.

Neighbors - 1920



Country: USA
Language: English (intertitles)
Release Date: 22 December 1920 (USA)
Directors: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton
Writers: Buster Keaton (screenplay), Buster Keaton (story)
Stars: Buster Keaton, Virginia Fox and Joe Roberts
The Romeo and Juliet story played out in a tenement neighborhood with Buster and Virginia's families hating each other over the fence separating their buildings

Mabel's Dramatic Career - 1913



Country: USA
Language:English
Release Date: 8 September 1913 (USA)
Director: Mack Sennett
Stars: Mabel Normand, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Mack Sennett
A young man falls in love with his mother's kitchen maid, Mabel. But his mother objects strongly, and arranges for him to meet another young woman whom she considers more suitable. Mabel confronts the young woman, and is dismissed from her position. Later, when the young man learns about the new career that Mabel has found, he begins to act in an agitated and unpredictable manner.

Manslaughter - 1922



Country: USA
Release Date: 24 September 1922 (USA)
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Stars: Leatrice Joy, Thomas Meighan and Lois Wilson
Society-girl thrillseeker Lydia causes the death of motorcylce policeman and is prosecuted by her fiance Daniel who describes in lurid detail the downfall of Rome. While she's in prison she reforms and Daniel becomes a wasted alocholic.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Brighton Beach - 1896



British Film Institute.

Mud and Sand - 1922



Country: USA
Language: English (intertitles)
Release Date: 13 November 1922 (USA)
Director: Gilbert Pratt
Writer: Tom Miranda (titles)
Stars: Stan Laurel
Rhubarb Vaselino lives in a small village, when he and his friend, Sapo, enter a bullfighting contest, Sapo dies, but Rhubarb kills three bulls and becomes a local hero earning money. Two years later, he is living in Madrid as a national hero , when he becomes involved with Filet de Sol, and his lover finds out, he must fight the most deadliest in Spain, in the last bull fight of the season.

Photographie électrique à distance - 1908


Country: France
Also Known As: Long Distance Wireless Photography
Into a photography studio full of large fantastic machines steps an elderly couple. The bearded proprietor explains the equipment and gives them a demonstration: he starts machines whirring, and projects a painting of three women onto a large screen; suddenly the women begin to move. The customers are impressed. First the women sits in the special seat: she's projected onto the screen, and her good nature comes out in the laughing image. Then it's the man's turn, but the machine discloses a vastly different nature in him. Will his reaction threaten our proprietor's inventions?

Lady Windermere's Fan - 1925



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 26 December 1925 (USA)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writers: Oscar Wilde (play), Julien Josephson (adaptation)
Stars: Irene Rich, May McAvoy and Bert Lytell
Mrs Erlynne, the mother of Lady Windermere - her daughter does not know about her - wants to be introduced in society, so that she can marry Lord Augustus Lorton. Lord Windermere, who helped her with a cheque, invites her to his wifes birthday-party, but Lady Windermere thinks, she has reason to be jealous, so she decides to leave her husband and go to Lord Darlington, who is pining for her. Mrs Erlynne finds this out and tries to prevent her of this mistake, but her daughter leaves her fan in Lord Darlingtons residence.

Just Neighbors - 1919



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 13 July 1919 (USA)
Suburban neighbors (Lloyd and Pollard) join together to build a garden shed, but through carelessness, wind up ruining the garden, as well as the laundry, which is drying in the yard. Further mayhem ensues when chickens are set loose.

Haxan - 1922



Country: Denmark | Sweden
Also Known As: Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages
Filming Locations: Copenhagen, Denmark
Director: Benjamin Christensen
Writer: Benjamin Christensen
Stars: Benjamin Christensen, Elisabeth Christensen and Maren Pedersen
The writer and director Benjamin Christensen discloses a historical view of the witches through the seven parts of this silent movie. First, there is a slide-show alternating inter-titles with drawings and paintings to illustrate the behavior of pagan cultures in the Middle Ages regarding their vision of demons and witches. Then there is a dramatization of the situation of the witches in the Middle Ages, with the witchcraft and the witch-hunts. Finally Benjamin Christensen compares the behavior of hysteria of the modern women of 1921 with the behavior of the witches in the Middle Ages, concluding that they are very similar.

Harakiri - 1919



Country: Germany
Also Known As: Madame Butterfly
Filming Locations: Decla Lot, Hagenbeck's Tierpark, Hamburg, Germany
Director: Fritz Lang
Stars: Paul Biensfeldt, Lil Dagover and Georg John
Harakiri is a silent, black and white film directed by Fritz Lang released in 1919. The inter-titles are in Dutch, however an English subtitle file (srt format) is muxed into the original mkv, and available separately as well. The subtitle source is unknown.
The source appears to be a VHS, the audio source and copyright is unknown. Quality is not the best.
The Buddah priest wants the Daughter of the Daimyo to become a priest at the Forbidden Garden. The Daimyo thinks, if he was in Europe, that his daughter should decide on her own, but he is denuciated and has to comit harakiri. She meets Olaf, a European officer, falls in love and marries him but after a few months he has to return to Europe. She gave birth to a child and is waiting for him, while he marries in Europe. When he comes back to Japan 4 years later, he is accompained by his European wife...

His Picture in the Papers - 1916



Country: USA
Release Date: 13 February 1916 (USA)
Director: John Emerson
Writers: Anita Loos, John Emerson
Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Clarence Handyside and Rene Boucicault
A young man can only get the woman he loves if he becomes famous and manages to get his picture in the newspapers. He determines to let nothing stand in the way of his doing exactly that, and in the process winds up getting involved with a gang of criminals and a locomotive chase.

Le mariage de Victorine - 1907


French movie. Also known as: How Bridget's Lover Escaped.

Hearts in Exile - 1915



ountry: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 12 April 1915 (USA)
Filming Locations: Peerless Studios, Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA
Director: James Young
Writers: Owen Davis (scenario), John Oxenham (novel), and 1 more credit »
Stars: Clara Kimball Young, Montagu Love and Claude Fleming
In Czarist Russia, attractive Clara Kimball Young (as Hope aka Anna Ivanovna) has "consecrated her life to work among Russia's persecuted poor." She dispenses food, medicine, and funds to the needy, from a busy charity headquarters. Poor doctor Vernon Steele (as Paul Pavloff) helps as much as he can, and wealthy merchant Claude Fleming (as Serge) donates money. Both men are in love with Ms. Kimball Young. In fact, her "pretty face" attracts most men in Russia. Another significant suitor is married Count Montagu Love (as Nicolai), who doesn't know how to take "Nyet!" for an answer…
Although Mr. Fleming is a nice guy, Kimball Young loves Mr. Steele. However, to help with her work for the poor, she marries the wealthier Fleming. Unfortunately, both men are jailed as the revolution picks up steam. As married Fleming is sentenced to serve more time, Steele decided to trade identities with his friend, to help Kimball Young and Fleming remain together.
But, as fate would have it, a mix-up puts Kimball Young with Steele in Siberia. Since she's still married to Fleming, the two must resist their sexual urges. Then, one day they learn Fleming has died. As she is free from holy matrimony, the lovers call upon Jesus Christ to preside over a hasty wedding ceremony. The couple is happy until "you-know-who" shows up alive…
The story concludes conveniently, as you might expect from seeing this plot play out both before and after this 1915 feature, with various settings. "Hearts in Exile" was one of the last in the series of films Kimball Young made with actor-director and husband James Young. Like much of what she did around the time, it was a success. Kimball Young was, at this time, one of the most popular stars in Hollywood. "Hearts in Exile" was #22 in Motion Picture Magazine's poll for the year; Kimball Young emotes well, but readers preferred her performances in "My Official Wife" (1914) and "Trilby" (1915).

La colle universelle - 1907


Country: France
Also Known As: Good Glue Sticks
A peddler of "the best glue" sets up his outdoor stall. A crowd gathers for a demonstration. As he gives his pitch, two observant cops decide drive off his customers and close him down, much to his fury. He seeks revenge as they sit on a park bench. Incensed, they give chase to administer frontier justice. The crowd, with a mob's psyche, cheers on whomever is on top. It's a pity because this glue really does work

Goketsu Jiraiya - 1921



Country: Japan
Language: Japanese (intertitles)
Release Date: 1 February 1921 (Japan)
Director: Shôzô Makino
Stars: Matsunosuke Onoe, Suminojo Ichikawa and Kijaku Otani
Also Known As: Jiraiya the Hero

Fugitive Apparitions - 1905



French movie. Although he produced, directed and starred in almost every category of film of the era with the possible exception of the western -- he left those to his brother Gaston in America, where he recruited Francis Ford, later more famous as John Ford's brother -- Georges Melies' most numerous films are those in which he appears as a magician, performing magic. As he started out as a stage magician and, indeed, went into film production for fillers during his stage shows, this is hardly surprising. But almost invariably, the magic in his movies is a mixture of stage and movie magic -- combining sleight-of-hand and trap doors with double exposures and hidden cuts.
In this short, he performs magic, but the techniques he uses are all those of the movie camera. A unique and interesting example of his work.

For The Term of His Natural Life - 1927



Country: Australia
Filming Locations: Berrima, New South Wales, Australia
Director: Norman Dawn
Writers: Marcus Clarke (novel), Norman Dawn (adaptation)
Stars: George Fisher, Eva Novak and Dunstan Webb
Switch me back to the normal player

This is the greatest of all Australian Silent films. Made just before the advent of synchronised sound, this film had a limited period of commercial viabilty before it dissapeared from sight. Based on the serialised novel by Marcus Clarke, this was the most expensive film produced in Australia at the time. It costed 50,000 pounds when the average Australian film was made for around 1000 pounds.
Based on the Australian classic by Marcus Clarke, the story of convict Rufus Dawe was based on fact and reflects that of many convicts of Australia's early days. Rufus Dawe has been wrongfully accused of a crime he did not commit, and sent to the harsh penal colony of Van Diemen's Land, Australia - for the term of his natural life. In his attempts to escape the colony forever, he falls in love with a warden's daughter, Sylvia, confronts his sinister lookalike John Rex, and the evil convict Gabbet. American director Norman Dawn's movie adaptation strays from the original book but retains a strong visual style, especially in climactic crowd scenes. It is notorious as the movie that was meant to launch Australia into the world movie market, but instead cost investors thousands after the coming of sound stymied its potential for overseas success.

Flirting with Fate - 1916



Country: USA
Release Date: 9 July 1916 (USA)
Director: Christy Cabanne
Cast (in credits order):
Douglas Fairbanks... Augy Holliday
Jewel Carmen ... Gladys, the Girl
Howard Gaye ... Roland Dabney
W.E. Lawrence ... Harry Hansum
George Beranger ... Automatic Joe
Dorothy Haydel ... Phyllis
Lillian Langdon ... Mrs. Kingsley
Wilbur Higby ... The Landlord
J.P. McCarty ... The Detective
In the midst of an emotional depression, a man hires a murderer to kill him. But the despair soon passes, and the man must now escape the killer he's hired to end his life.

Flesh and Blood - 1922



Country: USA
Release Date: 27 August 1922 (USA)
Director: Irving Cummings
Writers: Louis D. Lighton (story), Louis D. Lighton (scenario)
Stars: Lon Chaney, Edith Roberts and Noah Beery
David Webster escapes from prison after 15 years, having been framed by Fletcher Burton, a prominent businessman. He hides out with Li Fang, a Chinese politician and former friend of Webster's. In order to move about the city undetected, he disguises himself as a cripple, dragging himself about on a pair of crutches. At a local mission, he meets his daughter, a young girl known as "The Angel Lady" because of her many kindly deeds and good works. She befriends the cripple, unaware of his identity, and the two play songs together, he on violin and the girl on piano. Detective Doyle is determined to capture Webster and, learning that Li Fang knows his whereabouts, gives the Chinaman the third degree until he reveals his identity. Webster breaks in on Burton and forces him into signing a confession stating that he framed Webster; however, his victory is a hollow one, as he learns that his daughter plans to marry Ted Burton, the son of the elder Burton. Realizing that the imprisonment of Burton would ruin the son and destroy his daughter's happiness, Webster destroys Burton's confession and returns to prison.

Fatty's Magic Pants - 1914



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 14 December 1914 (USA)
Director: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Stars: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Charley Chase and Minta Durfee
Fatty notices in the newspaper that there is a formal dress Grand Benefit Dance this evening. He wants to go and bring his girl with him, but he doesn't have the appropriate clothes. He and a rival for the girl's affections fight over the issue, the rival who does have a dress suit suitable for the occasion. Unable to get the money from his mother to rent a suit, Fatty manages to "borrow" the rival's suit. Despite the suit being too small, Fatty is able to put it on and go to the dance with his girl. However his rival won't tolerate Fatty's antics and decides to go to the dance and exact his own form of revenge against Fatty. Total mayhem ensues at the dance, with Fatty needing some help from a policeman to be "decent".

Enoch Arden - 1911



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 8 April 1915 (USA)
Director: Christy Cabanne
Writers: D.W. Griffith, Alfred Lord Tennyson (poem)
Stars: Alfred Paget, Lillian Gish and Wallace Reid
Seamen Enoch Arden returns home after a long absence marooned on a desert island. At home he finds his wife married to another, and though he loves her, he cannot bear to disrupt her current happiness.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde - 1925



Country: USA
Language: English (intertitles)
Release Date: 30 July 1925 (USA)
Directors: Scott Pembroke, Joe Rock
Writer: Tay Garnett (titles)
Stars: Stan Laurel, Julie Leonard and Pete the Dog
Dr. Pyckle, a respected British scientist, searches for the correct combination of chemicals for a powerful potion. Once he finds it, he tries it on himself. But instead of the wonderful effect the doctor had hoped for, the potion turns him into the diabolical Mr. Pride, a fiend who outwits police at every turn while scouring London for fresh victims -- of practical jokes

Dnevnik Glumova - 1923



Country: Soviet Union
Filmic insert to Eisenstein's modernized, free adaptation of Ostrovskiy's 19th-century Russian stage play, "The Wise Man" ("Na vsyakogo mudretsa dovolno prostoty"). The anti-hero Glumov tries to escape exposure in the midst of acrobatics, derring-do, and farcical clowning. Several members of Eisenstein's troupe at the legendary "Proletkult" stage theatre in Moscow briefly appear in this little film.
Also known as: Дневник Глумова Soviet Union (Russian title)
Glumov's Diary (undefined)
Kinodnevik Glumova Soviet Union (informal alternative title) (Russian title)
Le journal de Gloumov France
O Diário de Gloumov Portugal

Canned Harmony - 1912



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 9 October 1912 (USA)
Director: Alice Guy
Stars: Lee Beggs, Billy Quirk and Blanche Cornwall

By the Sun's Rays - 1914



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 22 July 1914 (USA)
Filming Locations: Nestor Studios, Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
Director: Charles Giblyn
Stars: Murdock MacQuarrie, Lon Chaney and Seymour Hastings
Frank Lawler, a clerk for a mining company, colludes with a bandit gang about the timing of gold shipments with a mirror signal system and has designs on Doris Davis, the daughter of the local branch manager. The company's main office dispatches their top detective John Murdock, who goes undercover to expose the scheme and rescue the Doris from the unwanted advances of the dastardly Lawler.

Bout-de-Zan vole un éléphant - 1913



Director: Louis Feuillade
Writer: Louis Feuillade
Stars: René Poyen, Jeanne Saint-Bonnet and Renée Carl
Country: France
Language:French

Friday, July 1, 2011

Algie, the Miner - 1912



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 28 February 1912 (USA)
Algie Allmore has one year to prove he's a man in order to wed Harry Lyons' daughter.
Produced in 1912, this film has three directors credited which might explain its quirky jumps in scenes. Algie is played by Billy Quirk in a performance which got the film mentioned in the movie "The Celluloid Closet" which discussed gays in early movies that were otherwise straight.

A Day's Pleasure - 1919



Country: USA
Release Date: 15 December 1919 (USA)
Also Known As: A Ford Story
Director: Charles Chaplin
Writer: Charles Chaplin
Stars: Charles Chaplin and Edna Purviance
Father takes his family for a drive in their falling-apart Model T Ford, gets in trouble in traffic, and spends the day on an excursion boat. As the boat is about to leave Charlie rushes ashore for cigarettes. As he returns the boat is leaving, but a fat lady has fallen forward with feet on the dock and hands on the deck so Charlie is able rush aboard across her back.

Kohlhiesels Töchter - 1920



Country: Germany
Also Known As: Kohlhiesel's Daughters See more »
Filming Locations: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writers: Hanns Kräly, Ernst Lubitsch
Stars: Henny Porten, Emil Jannings and Jakob Tiedtke
Somewhere in Southern Bavaria Xaver wants to marry Gretel, but her father Kohlhiesel wants his elder daughter Liesel to marry first. The problem is, nobody wants to marry her, because she's too brutal. Seppel suggests, that he should marry Liesel first, get rid of her and then he can marry Gretel...

Mabel's Married Life - 1914



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 20 June 1914 (USA)
Also Known As: The Squarehea
Director: Charles Chaplin
Writers: Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand
Stars: Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand and Mack Swain
Mabel goes home after being humiliated by a masher whom her wimpy husband won't fight. The husband goes off to a bar and gets drunk. She buys a boxing dummy hoping it will inspire her husband, but when he returns he gets in a fight with it, taking it to be the ladykiller.

Tragedy of the Dress Suit - 1912



Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 15 August 1912 (USA)
Director: Mack Sennett
Writer: Mabel Normand
Stars: Dell Henderson, Mabel Normand and Edward Dillon

The Story of Jewel City (Exposition Players Corp., 1915)



Country: USA
Language: English
A short fantasy film from 1915 made, strangely, by D.W. Griffith (identified as "W.L. Griffin" in the credits), which few note as being done by him. The film is in poor condition, but is the only remaining print.

Kolozsvári némafilm-Silent movie from Kolozsvár



In Kolozsvar ( Cluj Napoca- Romania) was film factory between 1905-1920. In this studio worked Michael Curtiz, Alexander Korda and others hungarian filmmakers, actors composers. After the I. War the factory was closed. This film one of the few films wich survived the distroying.