Silent Beauties: 12/12/12

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.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Her Crowning Glory - 1911

Country: United States

Language: English

Stars: John Bunny, Flora Finch and Helene Costello

Release Date: 12 September 1911 (USA)

Production Co: Vitagraph Company of America

Runtime: 14 min (19 fps)

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Genres: Comedy | Short

A widower becomes infatuated with his daughter's governess, to the displeasure of the child and her nurse. A widower has been bringing up his young daughter with the help of a nurse. The widower's sister, though, considers the child to be spoiled and undisciplined, so she insists on hiring a strict governess for the girl. When the governess arrives, both the daughter and the nurse dislike her, but the father is captivated by the governess's long, wavy, chestnut-colored hair. When the father asks the governess to marry him, the nurse and the daughter realize that they have to act quickly.

Trivia

One of the 50 films in the 4-disk boxed DVD set called "Treasures from American Film Archives (2000)", compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 18 American film archives. This film was preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. This version has a piano music score and runs 14 minutes. Only 4 of John Bunny's 162 films are known to have survived.

The Totville Eye - 1912

Country: United States

Language: English

Director: C.J. Williams

Writer: Bannister Merwin (scenario)

Stars: Walter Edwin, Yale Boss and Robert Brower

Release Date: 27 November 1912 (USA)

Production Co: Edison Company

Runtime: 14 min

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Genres: Short | Comedy

A printer and his young assistant take over a local newspaper while the editor is away. Scotty and his young helper Sammy do the printing for the local newspaper, The Totville Eye. Scotty has ideas for improving the paper, but his stodgy editor refuses to change anything. When the editor is called away by a family illness, Scotty is left in charge. He soon puts Sammy to work as a cub reporter, and the stories in the paper's next edition are quite a bit different from its usual content.

Connections

Edison: The Invention of the Movies (2005) (Video). The entire film is included on the DVD

The Struggle - 1913

The Struggle

(1913) American

B&W : Two reels

Directed by Jack Conway and Frank E. Montgomery (Frank Montgomery)

Cast: Princess Red Wing, J. Barney Sherry, Jack Conway, Edna Maison, Elmer Morrow, Francis Ford, Richard Stanton

New York Motion Picture Company production; distributed by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated [101-Bison]. / Produced by Thomas H. Ince. Scenario by William Clifford. / Released 23 September 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format.

Drama: Western.

Survival status: Print exists in the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House film archive [35mm positive].

Keywords: Chases - Transportation: Stagecoaches

Listing updated: 9 March 2011.

References: ClasIm-224 p. 42 : Website-GEH; Website-IMDb; Website-NFPF.

This review was extracted from the site Silent Era: http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/Struggle1913-3.html