This site is dedicated to the preservation of memory of silent films. Although they were quite important in the evolution of cinema, they remain virtually forgotten nowadays. Since the best way to understand the present is taking an attentive look at the past, here you have some movies, pictures, interviews, etc. on silent cinema. Some occasional material on sound films will also be presented. I hope you enjoy getting to know a bit more about the beauty and sheer fun of these golden oldies.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The Conquering Power - 1921
Country: United States
Director: Rex Ingram
Writers: Honoré de Balzac
(story), June Mathis
Stars: Alice Terry, Rudolph
Valentino and Ralph Lewis
Release Date: 8 July 1921 (USA)
Also known as: Eugénia Grandet
(Portugal), Eugénie Grandet (France), Eugenia Grandet (Spain), Eugenie Grandet
(USA - alternative title), Unga hjärtan (Sweden)
Production Co: Metro Pictures
Corporation
Runtime: 89 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Drama
Young playboy Charles Grandet is
sent to live with his miserly uncle after his father loses his fortune. He and
his cousin Eugenie fall in love, but his uncle sends him away and tries to
arrange a marriage more to his liking (and profit!). Will true love triumph?
Memorable quotes
Victor Grandet: [in a letter read
by his brother Pere Grandet] My dear brother, After twenty years, I am sending
my son to you for by the time this letter reached you, I shall be no more. My
entire fortune has been swept away by speculation on the stock market. I owe
millions. In three days all Paris will say I was a rogue and I shall be wrapped
in a winding sheet of infamy. My dying prayer is that you will be a father to
my boy and may God bless you as you fulfill this trust. Your despairing
brother, Victor Grandet.
Connections
Version of Eugénie Grandet (1994)
(TV Movie)
All Night -1918
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Paul Powell
Writers: Edgar Franklin (story),
Fred Myton (scenario)
Stars: Carmel Myers, Rudolph
Valentino and Charles Dorian
Release Date: 30 November 1918
(USA)
Also known as: Cala noc (Poland),
One Bright Idea (USA - working title)
Production Co: Universal Film
Manufacturing Company
Runtime: 58 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Eccentric | Farce
Genres: Comedy | Drama
A married society couple (Dorian
and Warren) persuade an unmarried pair (Valentino and Myers) to take their
places at a party while they pretend to be the servants.
Trivia
A Bluebird Production. Universal
utilized a three-tiered brand system until 1929: Red Feather (low-budget
programmers), Bluebird (mainstream) and Jewel (prestige pictures).
Sunday, June 24, 2012
All Wet - 1921
Country: United States
Language: English
Stars: Bud Duncan and Billy
Gilbert
Production Co: Schiller
Productions (II)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
All Dressed Up - 1920
Country: United States
Director: Charley Chase
Writer: Hal Roach (story)
Stars: Eddie Boland, Ernie
Morrison Sr., Ernest Morrison and 'Snub' Pollard
Release Date: 23 May 1920 (USA)
Production Co: Rolin Films
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Plagues and Puppy Love - 1917
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Larry Semon
Writer: C. Graham Baker
Stars: Larry Semon, Florence
Curtis and Joe Simberg
Release Date: 1 October 1917
(USA)
Production Co: Vitagraph Company
of América
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Larry Semon produces his take on
a typical Keystone farce, the flirting-in-the-park routine, where pretty
Florence Curtis is pursued by four typical Keystone types: the wealthy geezer,
the mustachioed Italian, the derby-wearing tough and, of course, the big-footed
cop.... and here comes Larry, if not to save the day, at least to make us
laugh.
In this period, when Semon was
taking over the Vitagraph comedy unit and changing it from a situational comedy
style to a Keystone-farce style, he turned out a number of decent comedies. His
unit's camera-work was better than Keystone's -- or at least shot in such a way
that , as the prints degraded, they developed chiaroscuro instead of simply
becoming unwatchable -- his editing was more understandable to the modern
viewer and he had not developed the egotism that blighted his work in the '20s.
Everyone has a fair share of gags, even the dog. If you like Keystones, you
should give this one a try.
Save the Ship - 1923
Country: United States
Directors: George Jeske, Hal
Roach
Stars: Stan Laurel (Husband), Marie
Mosquini (Wife) and Mark Jones (Father in law)
Release Date: 18 November 1923
(USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Money to Burn - 1920
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Fred C. Newmeyer
Writer: Hal Roach (story)
Stars: 'Snub' Pollard, Marie
Mosquini and Ernest Morrison
Release Date: 29 August 1920
(USA)
Production Co: Rolin Films
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Friday, June 15, 2012
School Pals - 1924
Country: United States
Director: Lewis Seiler
Release Date: 13 January 1924 (USA)
Production Co: Fox Film Corporation
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The Phoney Cannibal - 1915
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Chance Ward
Writer: Doty Hobart (story)
Stars: Lloyd Hamilton, Bud Duncan and Charles Inslee
Release Date: 27 April 1915 (USA)
Production Co: Kalem Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Ham And Bud Series | Actor Shares First Name
With Character
Genres: Short | Comedy
Ham fears he's accidentally killed his landlady, so he
and Bud go on the run, disguised as an explorer and a cannibal.
The Water Nymph - 1912
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Mack Sennett
Stars: Mabel Normand, Mack
Sennett and Ford Sterling
Release Date: 23 September 1912
(USA)
Also known as: The Beach Flirt
(USA - reissue title)
Filming Locations: Venice, Los
Angeles, California, USA
Production Co: Keystone Film
Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Remake
Genres: Comedy | Short
Mabel and her sweetheart go to
the beach and play a trick on the boyfriend's father.
Trivia
Released with Cohen Collects a
Debt as the second half of a single reel offering on 23 September 1912, this
was the initial Mack Sennett Keystone comedy release.
Connections
Remake of The Diving Girl
(1911)
His Mother - 1912
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Sidney Olcott
Writer: Gene Gauntier
Stars: J.P. McGowan, Gene
Gauntier and Jack J. Clark
Release Date: 26 January 1912
(USA)
Filming Locations: Beaufort,
County Kerry, Ireland
Production Co: Kalem Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Drama | Short
An Irish mother uses her life savings to pay for her
son, a talented musician, to study in America.
What's the World Coming To? - 1926
Country: United States
Language: English
Directors: Richard Wallace, F.
Richard Jones
Writers: Malcolm Stuart Boylan
(titles), Frank Terry, Stan Laurel, Hal Yates
Stars: Clyde Cook, Katherine
Grant and James Finlayson
Release Date: 17 January 1926
(USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Question Mark In
Title | Apostrophe In Title | Question In Title | Contraction In Title |
Punctuation In Title
Genres: Short | Comedy
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
How Jones Lost His Roll - 1905
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Edwin S. Porter
Release Date: May 1905 (USA)
Production Co: Edison
Manufacturing Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Neighbor | Dinner
| Miser | Skinflint | Cigar Smoking |
Card Playing | Cardsharp | Card Scam | Wearing Barrel | Cheating | Lighting
Someone's Cigar | Handshake | Playing Card | Card Shark | Dinner Invitation |
Card Cheat | Mirror | Invitation | Cheating At Cards | Suburbia
Genres: Comedy | Short
Jones is on his way home,
carrying a roll of money, when he meets a neighbor who is a notorious miser.
The neighbor unexpectedly invites Jones to dinner, and serves him a large meal
with plenty of wine. After dinner, the neighbor suggests a way of passing the
time - and soon his real intentions become clear.
Trivia
This film is notable for its
early use of animation, which is limited strictly to the intertitles. A jumble
of letters from off-screen appears and forms the words and sentences. One of
the intertitles also features two pictures of hands performing a very crude
animated handshake.
Yes, Yes, Nanette - 1925
Country: United States
Language: English
Directors: Clarence Hennecke,
Stan Laurel
Writer: Carl Harbaugh
Stars: James Finlayson, Grant
Gorman and Jack Gavin
Release Date: 19 July 1925 (USA)
Also known as: Ja, Ja, Nanette
(Netherlands - DVD title)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Dog | Letter | Wig
| Collapsing Chair | William Jennings Bryan
| Cigar Smoking | Family Relationships | Hal Roach | Husband Wife
Relationship | Family Home | Piano | Character Name In Title
Genres: Family | Short | Comedy
Nanette sends a letter to her
family telling of her new husband, Hillory. When Hillory arrives to meet the
family, he gets insulted by each member, including the dog, and loses his wig.
After having dinner with the family, Nanette's former lover returns, and
Hillory must confront him.
Trivia
The title is a spoof of the name of a hugely
successful Broadway musical from 1925, "No, No, Nanette".
The Battle Royal - 1916
Country: United States
Director: Willard Louis
Stars: Oliver Hardy, Billy Ruge
and Elsie MacLeod
Release Date: 13 April 1916 (USA)
Also known as: A Battle Royal
(USA - alternative title)
Filming Locations: Jacksonville,
Florida, USA
Production Co: Vim Comedy Film
Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Hill | Neighbor |
Kentucky | Bootlegger | Backwoods
| Still | Illegal Still | Rifle
| Chop Down Tree | Off Screen Narration | Feuding Families | Whiskey | White
Lightning | Alcohol | One Reeler | Treasury Agent
Genres: Comedy | Short
In the hills of Kentucky, the Plumps and the Runts are
neighbors and bootleggers. Peter Plump is in love with one of the Runts, and
her brother is in love with one of the Plumps. The courting and the spooning go
well until Peter and his future brother-in-law hook the same fish and start a
fight over whose it is. The fracas escalates, and soon the two families are
shooting at each other. If love can't bring the two sides back together, what
can?
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Look Out Below - 1929
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Stephen Roberts
Stars: Raymond McKee, Thelma Todd
and Clem Beauchamp
Release Date: 18 August 1929
(USA)
Production Co: Jack White (as
Cameo Comedies)
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Beautiful Woman
Genres: Comedy | Short
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Cornwall, NY. Memorial Day - 1920
Country: United States
Cornwall, NY is a small town
located 52 miles North of New York City on the West side of the Hudson River.
Here is an old movie as the town prepared for a Memorial Day Parade back in
1920. Of special interest is the presentation of a captured German gun by the
French to the officials of Cornwall, NY.
PS: The cameraman sure enjoyed
using his circular iris attachment over the lens!
Filmed: May 31, 1920
Thursday, June 7, 2012
A Prodigal Bridegroom - 1926
Country: United States
Language: English
Directors: Lloyd Bacon, Earle
Rodney
Writers: Randall Faye (story), Al
Giebler (titles), James Gruen (story), Reed Heustis (titles), Harry McCoy (story), Jefferson Moffitt (story), Mack Sennett
Stars: Ben Turpin, Thelma Hill and William McCall
Stars: Ben Turpin, Thelma Hill and William McCall
Release Date: 26 September 1926
(USA)
Production Co: Mack Sennett
Comedies
Runtime: USA: 18 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Vamp | Sweetheart
| Scheme | Big City | USA | Bride | Two Reeler |
Duplicity | 1920s | Deception |
Parody | Bridegroom | Small Town | Gold Digger | Slapstick | Crossed Eyes |
Farce | Deceit | Marriage | Minister | Seduction | Actor Shares First Name With
Character
Genres: Short | Comedy
Ben returns from the big city
with his pockets full of cash. A hard-hearted, gold-digging vamp ensnares him.
Ben enjoys being ensnared. In order to get rid of his faithful sweetheart, he
schemes up a preposterous tale.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Bacon Grabbers - 1929
Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Director: Lewis R. Foster
Writer: H.M. Walker (titles), Leo
McCarey (uncredited)
Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Edgar Kennedy
Release Date: 19 October 1929
(USA)
Also known as: Gli
acchiappamosche (Italy); Príncipe Sem Sorte (Brazil); Schnorrer (Germany);
Squadra sequestri (Italy); Une saisie mouvementée (France)
Filming Locations: 10341
Bannockburn Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Runtime: 20 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Beautiful Woman
Genres: Comedy | Short
Stan & Ollie find work as
debt collectors. Their first assignment is to collect a late payment on a radio
set. The owner refuses to pay the debt, so Stan & Ollie decide to reclaim
the set. The owner will not let the duo in to reclaim the radio, and a fight
breaks out as Stan & Ollie try to break in while the owner tries his
hardest to keep them out.
While it isn't among the
best-known Laurel & Hardy films, and isn't as readily available as some,
Bacon Grabbers is well worth seeking out for anyone who enjoys slapstick comedy
crafted by experts. This movie marked the boys' penultimate appearance in
silent films before the switch to talkies, and, like many late silents, it
presents the medium in its purest form: the story is told with a minimum of
title cards, the wording is witty, and the cinematography (allowing for brief
tattered portions in surviving prints) is a joy to behold. Most of this film
takes place outdoors in the Culver City sunshine, giving us interesting
glimpses of a bygone suburban lifestyle: the cars, the clothes, the houses,
etc., of 1929. But best of all we have a great comedy team in peak form,
surrounded by familiar faces from the Hal Roach stock company.
Stan and Ollie work best when
they aren't overly hampered with plot, so it's nice to report that the premise
here is simple: because Edgar "Collis P." Kennedy has stopped making
payments on his radio, the sheriff sends two men over to serve a summons and
repossess it. The boys have a number of difficulties delivering the document to
the uncooperative Kennedy, but, once they succeed in this, they find that
seizing the radio itself is no easy matter. And by the way, this is no dinky
table-top radio we're talking about here, it's a massive wooden console, about
the size of a 3-drawer file cabinet.
This is the ideal structure for a
Laurel & Hardy comedy: they are given an assignment, conflict arises
instantly, and then complications-- many of which are self-generated --set in.
And then the complications develop complications. When we view a Keystone
comedy of the 1910s we often sense that the actors were improvising their
knockabout while the cameras rolled, come what may. The Roach comedians of the
'20s and '30s were more methodical, and yet they kept the structure loose
enough to allow room for spontaneity. The first big laugh sequence in Bacon
Grabbers comes at the sheriff's office, when Stan and Ollie encounter great
difficulty simply leaving the room with their hats and the summons they're
supposed to deliver. The scene rolls along quite smoothly, and may well have
been improvised on the spot, but without the mugging and hokey shtick we get
from the Keystone comics. Has anyone noticed what good actors Stan Laurel and
Oliver Hardy were? They do their stuff so naturally, we don't even think of
them as actors.
One additional treat is offered
in the final scene: when the young actress playing Edgar Kennedy's wife arrives
with important information, we are given a peek at Jean Harlow, still a
teenager and strikingly pretty. Her brief appearance serves as icing on the
cake, for even without her Bacon Grabbers stands as a fast-paced and funny
example of silent comedy at its apex.
Connections
Featured in The Crazy World of
Laurel and Hardy (1967)
The 'Teddy' Bears - 1907
Country: United States
Release Date: 2 March 1907 (USA)
Also known as: Teddy Maci
(Hungary)
Production Co: Edison
Manufacturing Company
Runtime: 13 min (2004 National
Film Preservation Foundation print)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White (tinted)
Plot Keywords: Bear | Teddy Bear
| Goldilocks | Girl | Bed | Chase | Escape | Based On Fairy Tale | Snow
| Animated Sequence | Cottage | Theodore Roosevelt | Jumping From Height |
Spanking | Rescue | Shooting | Breaking And Entering | Stop Motion | Satire
Genres: Short | Comedy | Family
Seven toy teddy bears of varying
sizes suddenly come to life, getting in all sorts of merry misadventures.
A combination of the story of
Goldlocks and the Three Bears with the true story of how Teddy Roosevelt spared
a bear cub after killing its mother while hunting, an event which led to the
popularization of the teddy bear. Goldilocks goes to sleep in the bears' home
after watching six teddy bears dance and do acrobatics, viewing them through a
knothole in the wall. When she is awoken by the returning bear family, they
give chase through the woods, but she runs to the aid of the Old Rough Rider,
who saves her.
Trivia
One of the 50 films in the 3-disk
boxed DVD set called "More Treasures from American Film Archives, 1894-1931"
(2004), compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 5 American
film archives. This film has a running time of 13 minutes, an added piano music
score.and is preserved by the Library of Congress (from the Richard Marshall
collection, with supplementary portions).
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Scorching Sands - 1923
Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Directors: Hal Roach, Robin
Williamson
Stars: Stan Laurel, James
Finlayson and Katherine Grant
Release Date: 9 December 1923
(USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Plot Keywords: French Foreign
Legion
Connections
Spoofs Burning Sands (1922)
Hello Sailor - 1927
Country: United States
Director: Mark Sandrich
Stars: Lupino Lane, Wallace
Lupino and Charlene Aber
Release Date: 25 December 1927
(USA)
Production Co: Lupino Lane Comedy
Corporation
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Monday, June 4, 2012
Taxi Dolls - 1929
Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Del Lord
Writers: Robert Eddy (story),
Harry McCoy (story)
Stars: Jack Cooper, Otto Fries
and Virginia Vance
Release Date: 14 April 1929 (USA)
Production Co: Mack Sennett
Comedies
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Pass the Gravy - 1928
Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Directors: Fred Guiol, Leo
McCarey
Stars: Max Davidson, Martha
Sleeper and Spec O'Donnell
Release Date: 7 January 1928
(USA)
Also known as: Und ein stolzer
Hahn dazu (Germany - alternative title)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Runtime: 23 min | Germany: 25 min (2011 restoration)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Chicken As Live
Animal | Chicken As Food | Two Reeler
Genres: Short | Comedy
Max's neigbour Schultz is breeding chicken, that are
always after Max's flower seed, and Schultz bride is his rooster Brigham. Max's
daughter loves Schultz's son, so they try to forget their battling, and decide
to have a nice engagement party. Max gives his son $2 to buy a chicken, but he
wants to keep the money and takes one of Schultz's chicken - Brigham. At the
table he notices his mistake, informs his sister, who informs her fiancee. Only
Max and Schultze don't notice and the evidence of Max's son's misdoings, the
rooster's ring is on Schultze's plate. The two lovebirds try to inform Max who
first doesn't understand, neither does Schultz, who notices them doing strange
things behind his back. When Max realises, what is on his table, it is almost
too late...
Friday, June 1, 2012
President Coolidge's Inauguration - 1925
Country: United States
On March 4, 1925, Calvin Coolidge was inaugurated the 30th President of the United States. He was sworn in by Chief Justice William H. Taft on the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol. Coolidge was already President after the death of President Harding in 1923 and this was to become his only elected term.
From this old silent newsreel, you'll see Coolidge along with his wife and Senator Curtis leaving by automobile. You'll see the swearing in and the many bands that played in the parade in Washington, DC. Also there is official duties and speeches at various events including Arlington National Cemetery.
Calvin Coolidge died in January of 1933 and had some important firsts: his inauguration was the first broadcast on radio, he was the first President to make a sound film, and was the first to be on a coin during his lifetime.
Even many years ago, the Inauguration of a President was a grand event.
Filmed: March 4, 1925
Tombs and Temples of the Pharoahs - 1920s
Country: Egypt
A tour of Egyptian tombs and temples in the 1920s.
To purchase a clean DVD or digital download of this film for personal home use or educational use only contact us at questions@archivesfarms.com.
To license footage from this film for commercial use visit: www.travelfilmarchive.com
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