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.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
In a Garden - 1912
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 25 October 1912 (USA)
Cast: Riley Chamberlin (gardener and narrator), Marie Eline (Miss May [Marie in film inter-title], as a child), Leland Benham (Jack, her childhood sweetheart), Marguerite Snow (May grown up), James Cruze (Jack grown up), Harry Benham (who precipitates a quarrel between May and Jack), Helen Badgley (child visitor to garden), Carl LeViness (butler).
The ups and downs and ups of a romance over 30 years, told as a series of flashbacks by the gardener who witnessed them. The final garden scene, which is back-lit by the sun, appears to use fill lights or reflectors (which would have been a startling innovation) or may be lucky natural fill by scattered or thin clouds. Either way, the Thanhouser cinematographers always showed remarkable skill in dealing with the widely variable lighting conditions in their extensive exterior location work.
Source: www.thanhouser.org
For futher information on films by Thanhouser, visit the site above. Let’s keep memories of this great studio alive.
The Center of the Web - 1914
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 1 December 1914 (USA)
Director: Jack Harvey
Writer: Philip Lonergan (scenario)
Stars: Claire Kroell, Frank Wood and Samuel N. Niblack
The police set out to take down a gang of counterfeiters, using every tool they have including police dogs.
Source: www.thanhouser.org
For futher information on films by Thanhouser, visit the site above. Let’s keep memories of this great studio alive.
His Uncle's Wives - 1913
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 2 February 1913 (USA)
Director: Lawrence Marston
Writer: Lloyd Lonergan (unconfirmed)
Stars: Harry Benham and Jean Darnell
A painter in New York City discovers that he has inherited a harem. Since he's already married and his wife would definitely not approve, he must find a way to rid himself of his inheritance.
Source: www.thanhouser.org
For futher information on films by Thanhouser, visit the site above. Let’s keep memories of this great studio alive.
The Ring - 1927
Country: UK
Release Date: 1 October 1927 (UK)
Filming Locations: Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Carl Brisson, Lillian Hall-Davis and Ian Hunter
Jack Saunders and Bob Corby are two boxers in love with Nellie. Jack and Nellie are married but their marriage is flat so she starts to look to Bob for comfort.
Her Nephews from Labrador - 1913
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 26 January 1913 (USA)
Also Known As: The Nephews from Labrador
Filming Locations: Hudson Park, New Rochelle, New York, USA
Stars: Billy Noel, Ed Brady and Victory Bateman
Two boys from Labrador, Canada, visit their aunt in Westcheser, New York. Although it's in the middle of a cold winter in New York, the nephews from Labrador are used to much colder weather and think the New York winter is too warm for them, and act accordingly.
Source: www.thanhouser.org
For futher information on films by Thanhouser, visit the site above. Let’s keep memories of this great studio alive.
The Farmer's Daughters - 1913
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 28 September 1913 (USA)
Writer: Lloyd Lonergan
Stars: Muriel Ostriche, Jean Darnell and Billy Noel
Unable to find help to work his farm, a farmer gets a bright idea--he advertises that any man willing to work on his farm will be permitted to court his two daughters. The girls and their mother don't take kindly to being offered as an "incentive", so when some college boys show up looking to take advantage of both offers, the girls come up with a plan of their own.
Source: www.thanhouser.org
For futher information on films by Thanhouser, visit the site above. Let’s keep memories of this great studio alive.
In the Tropical Seas -1914
Photographed by Carl Louis Gregory, Thanhouser's senior cameraman, this film employed the Williamson Submarine Tube, an air-filled iron tube. Location: Nassau Harbor, Nassau, Bahama Islands.
Print source: Nederlands Filmmuseum, 12 minutes 52 seconds.
Co-production of Submarine Film Company and Thanhouser, using the Williamson Submarine Tube, with the participation of J. Ernest Williamson and George M. Williamson.
Original music composed and performed by Ben Model (silentfilmmusic.com).
Edited for Netherlands release from film taken by Thanhouser’s cinematographer Carl Louis Gregory in Nassau Harbor, Nassau, Bahamas, April-June 1914.
This was a joint project by Thanhouser and the Williamson Submarine Company produced some 20,000 feet of underwater footage in the Bahamas. Carl Louis Gregory, an important cinematographer in film history, was the Thanhouser cameraman, using the newly-perfected Williamson Submarine, aka Photosphere, a nine-foot-long underwater tube with a viewing window at one end where the camera operator could work perfectly dry while capturing actual underwater views in their natural settings. George M. Williamson and his brother J. Ernest Williamson, sons of the tube’s inventor Capt. C. Williamson, participated both in front and behind the camera.
The first Thanhouser release from this footage was the five-reel "The Terrors of the Deep." After three or four special screenings in July 1914 it was finally released in September. More material was assembled into "Thirty Leagues Under the Sea" (also released in September).
The shark footage of "In de Tropische Zee" is either the final reel of Thirty Leagues Under the Sea or additional footage not used in the two Thanhouser releases, here assembled in a special Dutch or European release by a Dutch distributor or exhibitor. This title is not mentioned in the Thanhouser records or in the U.S. trade press.
Source: www.thanhouser.org
For futher information on films by Thanhouser, visit the site above. Let’s keep memories of this great studio alive.
Joseph in the Land of Egypt - 1914
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 1 February 1914 (USA)
Director: Eugene Moore
Writers: Theodore A. Liebler Jr. (play), Lloyd Lonergan (scenario)
Stars: James Cruze, Marguerite Snow and John Lehnberg
Source: www.thanhouser.org
For futher information on films by Thanhouser, visit the site above. Let’s keep memories of this great studio alive.
Pandora's Box - 1929
Country: Germany
Language: German (intertitles)
Also Known As: Die Büchse der Pandora Germany (original title)
Lulu (undefined) / Greece / Poland (informal title)
La caja de Pandora Argentina / Venezuela
Loulou Canada (French title) / France
Pandora's Box UK / USA
A Boceta de Pandora Portugal
A Caixa de Pandora Brazil
Il vaso di Pandora Italy
La boite de Pandore France
Pandora szelencéje Hungary
Pandoran lipas Finland
Pandoras æske Denmark
Puszka Pandory Poland (imdb display title)
The Box of Pandora International (English title)
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Stars: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner and Francis Lederer
The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
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