Silent Beauties

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.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Keystone Cops Festival

Country: United States
To read more about the Keystone Cops, click here

Ella Cinders - 1926

Country: United States

Director: Alfred E. Green

Writers: Mervyn Leroy (story) and Frank Griffin (story); Mervyn Leroy (scenario) and Frank Griffin (scenario); George Marion Jr. (titles); William M. Conselman (comic strip) and Charles Plumb (comic strip)

Stars: Colleen Moore, Lloyd Hughes and Vera Lewis

Release Date: 6 June 1926 (USA)

Production Co: John McCormick Productions

Runtime: USA: 75 min | USA: 60 min (edited version)

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Arizona | Hollywood Agent | Actress | Wicked Stepmother | Character Name In Title

Genres: Comedy | Romance

Poor Ella Cinders is much abused by her evil step-mother and step-sisters. When she wins a local beauty contest she jumps at the chance to get out of her dead-end life and go to Hollywood, where she is promised a job in the movies. When she arrives in Hollywood, she discoves that the contest was a scam and the job non-existant. But through pluck, luck, and talent, she makes it in the movies anyway, and finds true love.

Connections

Featured in Hollywood: Single Beds and Double Standards Clip with Moore as aspiring actress; Hollywood; Hollywood: Trick of the Light clip shown; Special Effects: Anything Can Happen; Lost Forever Clips from this film are shown in Lost Forever.

His Majesty The Scarecrow Of Oz - 1914

Country: United States

Language: English

Director: L. Frank Baum

Writers: L. Frank Baum (novels), L. Frank Baum (screenplay)

Stars: Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore and Pierre Couderc

Release Date: 14 October 1914 (USA)

Also known as: Óz madárijesztője (Hungary); His Majesty, the Scarecrow (USA - review title); The New Wizard of Oz (USA - new title); The Scarecrow of Oz (USA - alternative title); The Wizard of Oz (USA - promotional title)

Production Co: Oz Film Manufacturing Company, The

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Taglines: The Oz Film Company presents L. Frank Baum's famous comedy

Genres: Family | Fantasy | Adventure | Comedy

A wicked king has taken over the Emerald City, and wants his daughter, Princess Gloria to marry the horrid courtier Googly-Goo, though she loves Pon, the Gardener's Boy. The camera follows two farmers placing a Scarecrow upon a pole in a cornfield. Pon rescues a Kansas girl named Dorothy from the evil witch Mombi, whom Princess Gloria has been taken to by King Krewl to freeze her heart so she will no longer love Pon. An Indian princess has a ceremony to bring the Scarecrow to life. Pon rescues the cold-hearted princess and they flee for help, discovering the Scarecrow, who promptly falls in love with the princess, and Button-Bright, a lost boy from America. They come to the castle of the Tin Emperor, Nick Chopper, and after oiling him, he falls in love with Gloria. After a bit of a chase aided by the Sawhorse and the Wizard, Mombi turns Pon into a Kangaroo, and a slough of Fred Woodward's animals battle it out.

Connections

Featured in Wiz on Down the Road; The Whimsical World of Oz A scene from this film is shown; The Hollywood Road to Oz; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic;

In Search of Oz; Oz: The American Fairyland; The Yellow Brick Road and Beyond footage shown

Follows The Patchwork Girl of Oz; The Magic Cloak

Referenced in The Wizard of Oz; Aysecik ve sihirli cüceler rüyalar ülkesinde; Return to Oz

The Magic Cloak - 1914

Country: United States

Language: English

Director: J. Farrell MacDonald

Writers: L. Frank Baum (novel), L. Frank Baum (screenplay)

Stars: Mildred Harris, Violet MacMillan and Fred Woodward

Release Date: 28 September 1914 (USA)

Also Known As: The Magic Cloak of Oz (USA - alternative title), The Witch Queen (UK - cut version)

Filming Locations: Oz Film Manufacturing Company Studios - Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Production Co: Oz Film Manufacturing Company, The

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Genres: Short | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

The fairies of Oz gather in the forest of Burzee one evening and weave a magic cloak that gives the wearer one wish, so long as it has not been stolen. The man in the moon tells them that their messenger should give it to the first miserable person she sees. Two children, Fluff and her younger brother "Bud" (a child's attempt at "brother," which stuck), have just lost their father and are taken by Aunt Rivette to live in Nole, the capital city of Noland, where the king has just died without heir. The messenger gives Fluff the cloak, who wishes to be happy again, while a legal loophole places Bud on the throne, and they empty the treasury to buy toys. Their pet mule Nickodemus is captured by robbers and puts together a small animal army (including the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, the Lonesome Zoop, the Woozy, and others) to battle the Rolly Rogues that have invaded the city...

Connections

Featured in Like Babes in the Woods; The Hollywood Road to Oz; Oz: The American Fairyland

Followed by The New Wizard of Oz

Follows The Patchwork Girl of Oz

Referenced in The Church

References A Trip to the Moon

Broncho Billy's Fatal Joke - 1914

Country: United States

Language: English

Director: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson

Stars: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, Carl Stockdale and Marguerite Clayton

Release Date: 8 August 1914 (USA)

Filming Locations: Niles, California, USA

Production Co: Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, The

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Plot Keywords: Directed By Star | Broncho Billy | Character Name In Title

Genres: Short | Western

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Dogs of War - 1923

Country: United States

Language: English (intertitles)

Director: Robert F. McGowan

Writers: Hal Roach (story), H.M. Walker (titles)

Stars: Hal Roach's Rascals, Roy Brooks and Joe Cobb

Release Date: 1 July 1923 (USA)

Filming Locations: Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Production Co: Hal Roach Studios

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Plot Keywords: Children | Our Gang | Reference To Theda Bara | Actor Shares First Name With Character

Genres: Comedy | Family | Short

Two groups of children are staging a mock trench battle in a tomato patch. When the battle ends, one girl's mother comes to take her to her job at the nearby motion picture studio. The other children decide that it might be fun to work there, too, and they sneak into the unsuspecting studio.

This Hal Roach comedy short, Dogs of War, is the fourteenth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series of films produced in the studio named after Mr. Roach, a.k.a. "The Lot of Fun". In this one, the kids reenact a war scene with Mary a nurse that smitten Jack and Mickey fake injuries for fake treatment by her. During many of these proceedings, many members of the gang throw tomatoes as weapons and Farina wanders around and finds a skunk that gets everyone, including the toddler, putting on gas masks! Then Mary's mother comes and takes her daughter away to put her in a picture that pays her five bucks. The gang decide to follow along but they get thrown out. Farina, however, has disappeared so the others crash the West Coast Studios (actually Hal Roach Studios) to find "her". That's when the fun really starts...Hilarious from beginning to end, director Robert McGowan really hits his peak as the series' filmmaker during this silent movie era. Allen Hoskins as Farina has many of the short's scene stealing moments like the time he accidentally makes a treadmill on an empty set move while some workers are standing on it causing them to run in the same place for awhile. This happens to the gang later on. Also very funny is when they see Mary "strangled" by the "villian" and they attempt to kick his butt as a result and their later reenactment of that scene with Jackie ending his with (via inter-title) "Kiss me my boob!" Then there's the later double-exposure scene that must have had the audience of the time in stitches and, finally, there's the other big Hal Roach star at the time, Harold Lloyd at the time of filming "Why Worry?", helping the gang, one of whom happening to be his brother-in-law Jack Davis, escaping the studio guard with the cute way he playfully spanks Farina being the topper of his cameo. Erine "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison's father, also named Ernie, appears as an assistant director.

Trivia

Filmed alongside Harold Lloyd's Why Worry?, using the South American town set built for that film, and featuring Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston as themselves.

Connections

References: Why Worry? (1923)

Featured in "American Masters: Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (#4.9)" (1989).

A Midsummer Night's Dream - 1909

Country: United States

Language: English

Directors: Charles Kent, J. Stuart Blackton

Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Eugene Mullin (scenario)

Stars: Walter Ackerman, Charles Chapman and Dolores Costello

Release Date: 25 December 1909 (USA)

Production Co: Vitagraph Company of América

Sound Mix: Silent

Color: Black and White

Genres: Drama | Fantasy | Romance | Short

The Duke of Athens, on the eve of his wedding to Hippolyta, decrees that Hermia shall marry Demetrius, as per her father's wishes. Demetrius and Hermia's father are the only ones happy about this arrangement. Hermia is in love with Lysander. And a fourth lover, Helena, is in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander elope into the woods; Demetrius follows them. And Helena follows Demetrius. Meanwhile, Titania, the queen of the fairies, quarrels with Penelope, who gets her revenge by enlisting Puck to find a magic herb that, when placed upon the eyes of a sleeper, will cause him to fall in love with the first person he sees upon waking. Puck's mischief soon involves the four young lovers as well as a group of tradesmen rehearsing for a play. The weaver among them finds himself with the head of an ass. Stranger still, Titania falls in love with him.

Quotes

[first title card]

Title Card: The Duke of Athens, soon to be married to Hippolyta, decrees that his subject, Hermia, shall give up her lover, Lysander, and marry Demetrius whom her father has chosen. The lovers decide to elope. They are followed by Demetrius and Helena in love with Demetrius.

Title Card: [last title card]

[SPOILER]

Title Card: Penelope discovers the mischief that has been done. She restores the weaver to his normal shape and happily unites the lovers.