Easy Virtue - 1928

Country: United Kingdom
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Noel Coward (play), Eliot Stannard (scenario)
Stars: Isabel Jeans, Franklin Dyall and Eric Bransby Williams
Release Date: 1928 (USA)
Also known as: Easy Virtue (UK - original title); Frágil virtud (Venezuela); Fragile virtù (Italy); Könnyed erkölcsök (Hungary); Kevytkenkäinen (Finland); Le passé ne meurt pas (France); Mulher Pública (Brazil); Olovlig kärlek (Sweden); Virtud fácil (Argentina)
Filming locations: French Riviera, Alpes-Maritimes, France; Islington, London, England, UK (studio)
Production Co: Gainsborough Pictures
Runtime: 79 min  | 89 min (Hypercube restored version)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Trivia
The play opened in London and New York City in 1925. The New York City production began on 7 December 1925 and had 147 performances with Jane Cowl as Larita, Robert Harris as John and Halliwell Hobbes as Colonel Whittaker.
Director Cameo
Alfred Hitchcock:  walking past a tennis court carrying a walking stick.
Continuity
While sitting with Larita after she is hit with the tennis ball, John's sitting position changes between shots. 
When Larita's hurt face is being tended to by a nurse, Larita's hand jumps from being in her lap to near her face between shots. 
John's distance from Larita changes dramatically after she shakes shaking her cocktail at the another table then suddenly is next to Larita's table.
When Sarah and Larita first meet, John stands in between them. But in the next shot he is shown on the far left of the girls. 
After talking to his mom about Larita and sitting next to Sarah, John's leg and arm positions change between shots.
When the three men are talking together at the horse track, the people standing in the background change positions then disappear in subsequent shots. 
Quotes
[first title card]
Title Card: Virtue is its own reward they say - but 'easy virtue' is society's reward for a slandered reputation.
[first lines]
Prosecutor: Mrs. Filton, do you wish the Jury to believe the co-respondent never kissed you?
[last lines]
Larita Filton: [to news photographers] Shoot! There's nothing left to kill.
Mrs. Whittaker: In our world we do not understand this code of easy virtue.
Plot Keywords: Artist | Divorce | France | Secret | Trial  | Cigarette Smoking | Mansion |
Drunkenness | Scandal | Photographer | Public Domain | Signature | Director Cameo | Marriage | Camera | Alcoholic | Mother Son Relationship | Judge | Courtroom | Tennis |
Newlywed Couple | Eavesdropping | Estate | Father In Law Daughter In Law Relationship | Dog | England | Deception | Secret Past | Portrait | Mother In Law Daughter In Law Relationship | Attorney | Male Female Relationship | Telephone Operator | Polo | Cigar Smoking | Party | Secret From Husband | Bedroom | Husband Wife Relationship |
Family Relationships | Hotel | Lawyer | Secret From Family | Jury | Court | Reputation |
Co Respondent | Train | French Riviera | Romantic Kiss | Mediterranean Sea | Party Invitation | Gunfire | Character Says I Love You | Flashback | Guilt | Dining Room | Horse And Carriage | Based On Play | Title Spoken By Character
Genres: Romance | Thriller
A divorcée hides her scandalous past from her new husband and his family. Larita Filton is named as correspondent in a scandalous divorce case. She escapes to France to rebuild her life where she meets John Whittaker. They are later married, but John's well-to-do family finds out Larita's secret.

The Manxman - 1929

Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Hall Caine (novel), Eliot Stannard (scenario)
Stars: Anny Ondra, Carl Brisson and Malcolm Keen
Release Date: 16 December 1929 (USA)
Also known as: La isla del pecado (Argentina / Venezuela), A Man-szigeti ember (Hungary), El hombre de la isla de Man (Spain), Exileosis dikaiou (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), L'isola del peccato (Italy), Man saaren tuomari (Finland - theatrical title), Manboen (Denmark), Mansaaren tuomari (Finland - video title), Manxmannen (Sweden), Pobre Pete (Portugal), The Manxman (France)
Filming locations: Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK (studio);  Isle of Man; Polperro, Cornwall, England, UK
Production Co: British International Pictures (BIP)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Trivia
Alfred Hitchcock's last silent film.
A signatory on the fishermen's petition against steam trawlers is Jack Cox. Jack E. Cox was Hitchcock's cameraman on the film.
Two key lines in the film have no intertitles, the viewer having to lip read them. About 64 minutes into the film, Kate reveals to Philip "Philip, I am going to have a baby." 4 minutes later, she reveals to her husband Pete "I am going to have a baby." 
Continuity
(At 21:00) Philip puts his right hand in his pocket, but it is not in the pocket in the subsequent shot. 
The facing of Pete's head changes between shots when he is resting it on Phil's shoulder while awaiting news about the baby. 
Discontinuity with Kate's doctor's hands when he holds the back of the rocking chair before telling Pete the news about the baby. In one shot he has two hands on the chair, then in the next shot of Pete's face there aren't any hands seen on the chair.  Share this
After Kate tells Philip she is going to retrieve their baby, Philip is shown running to the door twice in subsequent shots.
Quotes
[first title card]
Title Card: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
[last lines]
Philip Christian: Pete, we too have suffered. 
Connections
Version of The Manxman (1917)
A fisherman and a rising young lawyer, who grew up as brothers, fall in love with the same girl.

Tarzan of the Apes - 1918

Country: USA
Director: Scott Sidney
Writers: Edgar Rice Burroughs (novel), Fred Miller, Lois Weber (writer)
Stars: Elmo Lincoln, Enid Markey and True Boardman
Release Date: 27 January 1918 (USA)
Also known as: Tarzan der Affen (Germany), Tarzan, a majomember (Hungary), Tarzan, o Homem Macaco (Portugal)
Filming locations: Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil; Morgan City, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA; Selig Zoo, California, USA; Topanga Canyon, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
Box office
Gross: $1,000,000 (USA)
Production Co: National Film Corporation of America
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Trivia
Young men from the New Orleans Athletic Club played the ape parts.
In one scene a lion is supposed to crawl through the window of Tarzan's cabin to devour Jane. Tarzan grabs him and pulls him out. Rumor has it that the old and drugged lion turned on Elmo Lincoln who stabbed and killed him. "I stepped on him to beat my chest. As my foot pressed down on him, the remaining air in his lungs escaped with a loud whoosh. I was already shaken and you should have seen me jump!" The lion wound up as a lobby display when the picture opened on Broadway. However, Enid Markey and others from the cast have disputed this version of events, saying that the lion was actually killed off screen. Contrary to popular opinion, the death of the lion is not actually shown on screen. It is already dead when Elmo stabs at it, barely puncturing its skin.
Production began with Stellan Windrow playing Tarzan. After five weeks of shooting, Windrow quit to enlist in the First World War. Footage of him swinging from vines remains in the final film. According to Burroughs' biographer Robert Fenton, Windrow was using Winslow Wilson as a stage name at the time.
Originally, this movie was three hours long and was divided into three parts. The longest extant print is seventy-three minutes in length.
Louisiana was chosen as the main shooting location because of the cooperation of the residents of Morgan City, the lush jungle vegetation, bayous, waterways, abundant black extras, and facilities such as hotels, a railway-serviced wharf and an adjacent storage warehouse.
Sets, costumes and equipment were sent from Los Angeles by rail car.
For the African village scenes native huts were constructed and 800 locals were hired as extras. The village was burned to the ground for the final village scene.
National Film Corporation, the production company, hired eight acrobats to play apes, for which costumes made from goat skins and elaborate masks were constructed.
Over 300 locals in Morgan City, LA, were hired as cannibal extras for $1.75 a day.
Edgar Rice Burroughs sold the film rights for "Tarzan of the Apes" to the National Film Corporation on June 6, 1916. He received a record $5,000 cash advance on royalties, $50,000 in company stock and 5% of gross receipts.
Elmo Lincoln was stockier than original Tarzan Stellan Windrow and had trouble doing the sequences in the trees, so they kept the footage shot of Windrow.
Alice Guy was originally offered the job as director, but turned it down. It was eventually given to Scott Sidney.  
Plot Keywords: Tarzan | Ape | Knife | Gift | Child Nudity  | Elephant | Rhinoceros | Lion |
Spear | Giraffe | Mutiny | Crocodile | Gun Battle | Slave Trade | Spanish Moss | Animal Attack | Banana Tree | Strangulation | Snake | Revolver | Skeleton | Chimpanzee | Actual Animal Killed | Rifle | Leopard | Little Boy | Monkey | Based On Novel | Character Name In Title
Taglines
With an unusually brilliant cast including...[list of cast members]...and 500 others
Was produced in the jungles during 11 months of the most tremendous effort at faithfulness to detail in emphasizing all the powerful situations in the original story
The Wonder Story of the Age
The most startling and unforgettable story ever written
Genres: Action | Adventure
The plot follows the novel more closely than does any other Tarzan movie. John and Alice Clayton take ship for Africa. Mutineers maroon them. After his parents die the newborn Tarzan is taken by a great Ape, Kala. Later the boy finds his father's knife and uses it to become King of Apes. Binns, the sailor who saved the Claytons and who has been held by Arab slavers for ten years, finds the young Tarzan and then heads for England to notify his kin. A scientist arrives to check out Binns' story. Tarzan, now a man, kills the native who killed Kala; when their chief is killed the black villagers appease Tarzan with gifts and prayers. The scientist's daughter Jane is carried off by a native, rescued by Tarzan (who has burnt the native village), aggressively loved by him ("Tarzan is a man, and men do not force the love of women"), and at last accepts him with open arms.

The Shock - 1923

Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Lambert Hillyer
Writers: Charles Kenyon, William Dudley Pelley (story)
Stars: Lon Chaney (Wilse Dilling), Virginia Valli (Gertrude Hadley) and Jack Mower (Jack Cooper)
Release Date: 10 June 1923 (USA)
Budget: $90,220 (estimated)
Gross: $257,327 (Worldwide)
Production Co: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 96 min  | 69 min (DVD)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White  | Color (tinted)
Trivia
A Jewel Production. Universal, lacking a proprietary theater chain, devised a 3-tiered branding system to enable it to market its feature product to independent theater owners: Red Feather (low budget programmers), Bluebird (mainstream releases) and Jewel (prestige productions capable of drawing higher roadshow ticket prices). This branding system ended in late 1929.  
Plot Keywords: Melodrama | Earthquake | San Francisco California
Genres: Crime | Drama
Mysterious, sinister Wilse Dilling receives a coded message to go to the home of Queen Ann, a powerful crime boss. When Wilse meets with her, she sends him to the town of Fallbrook, where he is to await her instructions. Being practically wheelchair-bound has not stopped Dilling from committing a lengthy series of crimes, but to his surprise, he finds that the small town atmosphere makes him feel differently about everything. He finds a good friend in banker's daughter Gertrude Hadley, who helps him believe that he can make a fresh start. But Wilse's new-found contentment is soon shattered by a series of new developments. 

The Whistle - 1921

Country: USA
Director: Lambert Hillyer
Writers: May Wilmoth (story), Olin Lyman (story) and Lambert Hillyer (scenario)
Stars: William S. Hart, Frank Brownlee and Myrtle Stedman
Release Date: April 1921 (USA)
Production Co: William S. Hart Productions
Runtime: 70 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Accident | Revenge | 1910s | Milk Bottle | Father Son Relationship  | Factory | Worker | Birthday Cake | Pipe Smoking | Factory Whistle | Whistle | Male Female Relationship | Millionaire | Birthday | Factory Owner | Mother Son Relationship |
Child Labor | New England | Kitchen | Negligence | Death Of Mother | Death Of Son
Genres: Drama | Romance
Taglines: I did it to avenge the death of my son Danny (original lobby card) 
Robert must avenge his son who was killed in a workplace accident.
Laborer William S. Hart (as Robert Evans) lives in the New England town of Chappleville, which is owned and operated by his wealthy boss, Frank Brownlee (as Henry Chapple). Mr. Hart lives with his adolescent son, Will Jim Hatton (as Danny Evans); "Mrs. Evans" having died during childbirth. Mr. Brownlee lives with wife Myrtle Stedman (as Mrs. Chapple) and baby Richard Headrick; later, baby grows into boy Georgie Stone. Hart regular Bob Kortman (as Scardon) has a pivotal role.
Hart and company make a bold statement picture, which is also shamelessly emotional entertainment; and, the star is so effective in the "non-western" lead role, it's a shame he saddled up so much more than not. Hart and Hatton are so convincing as father and son, you can't help but sympathize with Hart. His face shows his son's soul being ripped from Hart, after his gut-wrenching workplace incident. Hart conscientiously carries the remainder of the film well; but, given the melodramatics, the ending is unnecessarily a downer for one cast member.

Outside the Law - 1920

Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Tod Browning
Writers: Gardner Bradford (titles), Tod Browning and Lucien Hubbard        
Stars: Priscilla Dean, Wheeler Oakman and Lon Chaney
Release Date: 6 January 1921 (USA)
Also known as: Fuera de la ley (Spain), Les révoltés (France), Paa kant med loven (Denmark)
Filming locations: Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA, Nob Hill, San Francisco, California, USA
Production Co: Universal Film Manufacturing Company
Plot keywords: Villain | Theft | Jewel Theft | Jewel Thief | Male Female Relationship | Chinese | Criminal | Gangster | Aftermath | Jewel Robbery | Melodrama
Taglines: Tricky eyes. Dangerous smile. Exquisitely gowned. Nimble fingers
Genres: Crime | Romance
Trivia
The gang fight at the end of the film took two weeks to shoot.
Was found in the estate of farmers wife Miss Bishman where a traveling man left the prints and never returned.
The reference in the original ads to the film being a "Universal Jewel" didn't have anything to do with the content of the film. It was a designation Universal president Carl Laemmle put on certain films to signal that these were the most prestigious, highest-budgeted productions of his studio.  
Goofs
The name of San Francisco's Nob Hill is misspelled "Knob Hill" in a title.

The Mirages - 1916

Country: Russia
Starring  Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya