Wolf Blood - 1925

Country: USA
Language: English
Directors: George Chesebro, Bruce M. Mitchell
Writers: Bennett Cohen (story), Cliff Hill (story)
Stars: George Chesebro, Roy Watson and Milburn Morante
Release Date: 16 December 1925 (USA)
Also known as: Wolfblood: A Tale of the Forest (USA - alternative title); Wolfsblood (USA - alternative spelling)
Production Co: Ryan Brothers Productions
Runtime: 68 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Wolf | Blood Transfusion | Melodrama | Werewolf | Suicide  |  Lumber Camp | Hallucination
Genres: Adventure | Crime | Drama | Horror | Romance | Western
After wolf blood transfusion, man thinks he's becoming a wolf.  

The Forbidden City - 1918

Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Sidney Franklin
Writers: Mary Murillo, George Scarborough (story)
Stars: Norma Talmadge, Thomas Meighan and E. Alyn Warren
Release Date: 6 October 1918 (USA)
Also known as: A Tale of the Forbidden City (undefined)
Production Co: Norma Talmadge Film Corporation
Runtime: 62 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: China | Melodrama | Interracial Romance
Genres: Drama | Romance
The daughter of a Chinese mandarin is sentenced to death for her secret marriage to an American. Their child, raised in the mandarin's palace, grows up and escapes to seek her father, now a high-ranking official in the Philippines. 

The Squaw Man - 1914

Country: USA
Writers: Edwin Milton Royle (play), Cecil B. DeMille (picturizer), Oscar Apfel (picturizer) (as Oscar C. Apfel)
Stars: Dustin Farnum
Release Date: 15 February 1914 (USA)
Also known as: Az asszonyember (Hungary), O Exilado (Portugal), The White Man (UK)
Filming locations: Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA; Green River, Wyoming, USA; Hollywood Heritage Museum - 2100 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (studio); Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA; Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; Railroad Station, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA; San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA; Vine & Selma Corner, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (near)
Budget: $20,000 (estimated)
Gross: $244,700 (USA)
Production Co: Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Trivia
The first film made by (and involving) Cecil B. DeMille.
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The Motion Picture Patents Trust, headed by Thomas A. Edison, was at that time engaged in an attempt to control all motion picture production in the U.S., and went to great lengths - often including destruction of property and physical violence - to do so. The Trust was based on the East Coast, which is why many independent producers, such as Cecil B. DeMille, began shooting their films in California. The Trust's intimidation tactics probably explain why DeMille - who was one of their most vocal opponents - put no cast or crew credits on this film.
The site where most of the interior scenes were filmed, on the corner of Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, is now a bank. A mural on one interior wall of the building commemorates the production with four scenes from the film.
Several one-act versions of the play were produced as early as 1904. The complete play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 23 October 1905 and closed about 1 April 1906 after 222 performances. The opening night cast included George Fawcett, William S. Hart and William Faversham.
Film debut of Raymond Hatton.
Cecil B. DeMille's ledger noted that he hired an extra named Hal Roach for $5 per day, and rejected actress Jane Darwell, who was already commanding $60 per week.
The musical composition "Nat-u-ritch: An Indian idyll. Intermezzo from The Squaw Man" by Theodore Bendix was published to promote the picture.
Revealing mistakes
When he is in his hotel room in New York, Captain Wynnegate looks out of his window. This is followed by a cut to an obvious still photograph of the Broadway/Times Square district by night, meant to represent the view from the Captain's window.
Early in the film, when Captain James Wynnegate (played by Dustin Farnum) is on board the sailing ship, he writes a note asking that a "check" enclosed with the note be cashed for him. Since Captain Farnum is an Englishman, he would have spelled the word as "cheque", the standard British spelling. (Moreover, the handwriting in the note is scarcely that of an educated British military officer: the lines of writing are crooked and the letters are crudely formed.)
Quotes
Lady Diana: If you are an honest man, you may kiss me goodbye.
Nat-U-Rich: Me kill 'um.
Captain James Wynnegate: [on death of Nat-U-Rich] Poor little mother!
Lady Diana: Jim, I want you to go away for my sake!
Big Bill: Come out West where people keep their hands in their own pockets.
Captain James Wynnegate: I won't drink with a man who robbed the orphans of the King's soldiers!
Lady Diana: We're going to find Jim and bring him home.
Big Bill: Get a-goin', Bud, and don't stop to pick flowers!
Captain James Wynnegate: I'm broke. Tell the boys I'll pay 'em somehow.
Lady Diana: Whose little boy are you?
Plot Keywords: Earl | England | Mountain Climbing | Ranch | Embezzlement  | Suicide | Ship Fire | Rescue | Fire | Ship | Constable | Aunt | Race Track | Scotland Yard | Confession Of Crime | Honor | Gambling | Jealousy | Feud | Falling From Height | Times Square Manhattan New York City | Wyoming | Pacific Northwest | Native American | Alcoholic | Historical Landmark | Saloon | Snow Blindness | Gunfire | Fight | Accidental Death | Medicine Man | Marriage | Cousin Cousin Relationship | Transatlantic Trip | Little Boy | Train | New York City | Rescue At Sea | Interracial Marriage | Drunkenness | Alps |
Old West | Manhattan New York City | Handcuffs | Native American Chief | Forgery |
Family Honor | Horse Race | Loneliness | Miscegenation | Nobility | Snowblind | Chivalry | Self Sacrifice | Frontier | Drunken Indian | Murder | Pickpocket | Based On Play
Genres: Drama | Western 
A chivalrous British officer takes the blame for his cousin's embezzlement and journeys to the American West to start a new life on a cattle ranch.

Headin' Home - 1920

Country: USA
Language: English (intertitles)
Director: Lawrence C. Windom
Writers: Arthur 'Bugs' Baer (titles), Earle Browne (story)
Stars: Babe Ruth, Ruth Taylor and William Sheer
Release Date: 19 September 1920 (USA)
Filming Locations: Polo Grounds, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Production Co: Kessell & Baumann
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Trivia
Ironically, this film was partially financed by gambler Abe Attell, a gambler who had helped Arnold Rothstein fix the 1919 World Series. Babe Ruth, the star of the film, has always been credited with saving baseball after the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Babe Ruth received $25,000 for this, his first film. The sum was a large amount for the time, and Ruth refused to cash his paycheck and carried it around to show to friends. By the time Ruth had decided to cash his check for the film, the check bounced because of the film's poor box office results. Ruth shrugged off his loss and kept the check as a memento. 
Plot Keywords: Baseball | Actor Playing Himself
Genres: Biography | Comedy | Drama | Sport

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.