Thais - 1916

Country: Italy

Director: Anton Giulio Bragaglia

Writer: Riccardo Cassano

Stars: Augusto Bandini, Alberto Casanova and Thaïs Galitzky

Also known as: Les possédées (France)

Production Co: Novissima Film

Runtime: 35 min (18 fps) (2001 restoration)

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Plot Keywords: Futurism

Genres: Short

"Futurism" was an avant-garde artistic movement, created in 1909 ( as you can see your grandfathers were long haired and dangerous youngsters for a while ) that demands a rejection of tradition and the past while exalting technical innovations, especially the mechanical ones, present and future. This avant-garde artistic movement ( literature and music genres) found great acceptance in Italy where many artists developed the Futurism postulates.

Herr Anton Giulio Bragaglia was a notable Italian Futurist who began experimenting with photography and published an important manifesto as a theoretical basis for Futurist photography, "Fotodinamismo Futurista". In addition to his career as set designer Herr Bragaglia had a short but intense film career, "Thais" being his debut as a Futurist director.

In any case "Thais" is a film that combines in a strange way classicism and the ( Futurist ) modernism, a paradox since we know that the Futurists were people who rejected tradition and the"Thais" story is a very conventional one. It tells of a "femme fatale" who toys with and uses her admirers for her capricious purposes with the expected tragic ending. Classicism can be seen too in the beautiful images from evocative landscapes sequences as the ferry at the river or Bianca's race to the abyss ( "Naturalism" reminiscences?... ) or Herr Charles Baudelaire's poems ( "Impressionism" reminiscences? ) Only at the end of the film do we see the "Futurist" influences in the highly stylized and geometrical décors in which our heroine suffers her particular punishment, a sequence in which Herr Bragaglia's talent as a set designer is put to good effect.

For those reasons for this German Count "Thais" is a kind of interesting film catalogue of many artistic movements ( curious artistic duality ) strangely mixed, a display of the spirit of those innovative early years that grants the film an artistic and remarkable balance as a whole.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must retrieve his conservative Teutonic influences. 

L'Odissea - 1911

Country: Italy

Language: Italian

Directors: Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, Adolfo Padovan

Writer: Homer

Stars: Giuseppe de Liguoro, Ubaldo Maria Del Colle and Eugenia Tettoni Fior

Release Date: February 1912 (USA)

Also known as: De dwaalwegen van Odysseus (Netherlands - informal literal title); Die Irrfahrten des Odysseus (Germany); Homer's Odyssey (USA); L'odissea di Omero (Italy - alternative title); L'odyssée (Switzerland - French title); L'odyssée d'Homère (France);

Odisea de Homero (Spain); Odyssee (Austria); Odysseian harharetket (Finland)

Production Co: Milano Film

Sound Mix: Silent

Taglines: Homer's Odissey appeals to every one. It's a story of love, death, passion and destruction. The greatest epic poem the world has ever had. It has lived for centuries, the film will too.

Color: Black and White

Genres: Drama | Adventure | Fantasy

One of hundreds of movies produced by Milano films, L'Odissea is good enough to let us know why Italy was one of the world's top film producers before WWI. At a time in which most films ran for about 10-12 minutes, this half an hour film (part of it is said to be missing, so its length could be even longer) is quite an accomplishment.

The Oddysey is told to every last detail: from the departure from Ithaca to the adventures involving the cyclops Polyphemus, the sirens, the monster Scylla, the nymph Calypso, Nausicaa and her father Alcinous, the return of Ulysses and his fight against the suitors disguised as a beggar. The style is a little old-fashioned (anything prior to The Birth of a Nation could be considered as such) but the intertitles guide us very well throughout the entire movie (contrary to others in which we can easily get lost, take L'assommoir (1909) as an example). The special effects are good enough: Polyphemus is huge compared to Ulysses and his crew, and Scylla is quite impressive for a 1910 monster. 

Arizona Days - 1928

Country: USA

Language: English

Director: J.P. McGowan

Writers: Brysis Coleman (story), Mack V. Wright (adaptation)

Stars: Bob Custer, Peggy Montgomery and J.P. McGowan

Release Date: 1 August 1928 (USA)

Also known as: Kakourgoi kata liston (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)

Production Co: El Dorado Productions

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Plot Keywords: Undercover Agent | Rustling | Dude | Arizona | B Movie  | Branding Iron | B Western | Rancher | Held At Gunpoint | Anger | Poverty Row Film | Rustler | Gay Character | Henchman | Father Daughter Relationship | Cattleman | Cattle | Cattle Drive | Chases On Horseback | Chewing Tobacco | Spitting | Deceit | Cattleman Association | Sheriff | Falling Off Horse | Gunfire | Sweating | State In Title | Bandana | Englishman | Stock Footage | Cigarette Smoking | Public Domain | Gang Member | Low Budget Film | Gang Leader | Ranch

Genres: Action | Western

To stop the rustling of Hicks, Martin turns to the Cattlemen's Association. They send undercover agent Drexel who sets a trap for the gang. But Drexel's partner Van Wiley, posing as a dude, lets their identity become known putting them in jeopardy.  

A Bird's a Bird - 1915

Country: USA

Director: Edwin Frazee

Writer: Edwin Frazee

Stars: Chester Conklin (Mr. Walrus) , Minta Durfee (Walrus' wife) and Hank Mann (A Foreigner), Al St. John (Pa), Slim Summerville (Mr. Spegle)

Release Date: 8 February 1915 (USA)

Production Co: Keystone Film Company

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Genres: Short | Comedy