For over 25 years, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival called the Castro Theatre home. With the iconic theater now closed for a year-plus-long renovation, Sfsff has relocated to the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, located in a beautiful park created for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition at the north edge of the Presidio. The auditorium, primarily a performance space, seats nearly a thousand and features a spacious foyer where passholders could visit and relax between shows (particularly useful on chilly weekends).
Sfsff prides itself on mixing landmark productions and audience favorites with rediscoveries, revelations, and rarities, often recently uncovered and restored. And for its 27th edition this year, the festival presented 20 features and six short films over five days, all with live musical scores by some of the finest silent film accompanists in the world.
The opening night film, Albert Parker’s 1926 swashbuckler The Black Pirate, certainly qualifies as both landmark and favorite.
Sfsff prides itself on mixing landmark productions and audience favorites with rediscoveries, revelations, and rarities, often recently uncovered and restored. And for its 27th edition this year, the festival presented 20 features and six short films over five days, all with live musical scores by some of the finest silent film accompanists in the world.
The opening night film, Albert Parker’s 1926 swashbuckler The Black Pirate, certainly qualifies as both landmark and favorite.
- 4/20/2024
- by Sean Axmaker
- Slant Magazine
One can almost set their watch to film adaptations of J.M. Barrie's celebrated 1904 play "Peter and Wendy."
The story of the flying elf boy from Neverland and his friendship with a human girl from Earth was such a massive success and left such a strong cultural impact, that sequels and cross-media adaptations began cropping up only a few years after its debut. Barrie himself would turn the play into a novel in 1911, but that wasn't before he had already written two Peter Pan sequels in 1906 and 1908. The first filmed version of "Peter Pan" would be made by Herbert Brenon in 1924.
Perhaps the best-known adaptation, however, came to cinemas in 1953 when Walt Disney Studios released their animated version directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Wilfred Jackson. The iconography from the Disney "Peter Pan" remains entrenched most firmly in the pop consciousness, and it continues to be one of the...
The story of the flying elf boy from Neverland and his friendship with a human girl from Earth was such a massive success and left such a strong cultural impact, that sequels and cross-media adaptations began cropping up only a few years after its debut. Barrie himself would turn the play into a novel in 1911, but that wasn't before he had already written two Peter Pan sequels in 1906 and 1908. The first filmed version of "Peter Pan" would be made by Herbert Brenon in 1924.
Perhaps the best-known adaptation, however, came to cinemas in 1953 when Walt Disney Studios released their animated version directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Wilfred Jackson. The iconography from the Disney "Peter Pan" remains entrenched most firmly in the pop consciousness, and it continues to be one of the...
- 4/24/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The public considers the Academy Awards as a Hollywood event. True, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is headquartered in Southern California, and most of the best pic contenders are American and/or in the English language. But Oscar history proves they have been an international event from the beginning.
In the first year (1927-28), there were nominations for directors Herbert Brenon (born in Ireland) and Lewis Milestone (born in Moldova), plus a special award to Charlie Chaplin (from the U.K.).
The next five years saw two noms apiece for directors Ernst Lubitsch (Germany) and Josef von Sternberg (Austria). And the second best actress Academy Award was given to Canadian Mary Pickford.
The early years of Oscar featured a slew of non-Americans. Aside from mega-star Chaplin, the list of early Academy Award winners includes Emil Jannings, George Arliss (U.K.), Claudette Colbert (raised in the U.S. but...
In the first year (1927-28), there were nominations for directors Herbert Brenon (born in Ireland) and Lewis Milestone (born in Moldova), plus a special award to Charlie Chaplin (from the U.K.).
The next five years saw two noms apiece for directors Ernst Lubitsch (Germany) and Josef von Sternberg (Austria). And the second best actress Academy Award was given to Canadian Mary Pickford.
The early years of Oscar featured a slew of non-Americans. Aside from mega-star Chaplin, the list of early Academy Award winners includes Emil Jannings, George Arliss (U.K.), Claudette Colbert (raised in the U.S. but...
- 1/22/2022
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Wendy director Benh Zeitlin on Liza Minnelli’s scream (as Sally Bowles) the moment the train goes by in Bob Fosse’s Cabaret: "I’ve always loved that moment. That character is so wild, like such a great ferocious liberated woman character.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the final instalment of my in-depth conversation with Benh Zeitlin at the Bowery Hotel in New York, we discussed how he developed a relationship between Shay Walker (mother Angela Darling) and Tommie Lynn Milazzo, who plays her baby Wendy, casting the twins Gavin Naquin and Gage Naquin, and working with his sister Eliza Zeitlin on their “shared vision” for Wendy, shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen (Josephine Decker’s Shirley) and starring Devin France as the adolescent Wendy.
Devin France, Gavin Naquin, Gage Naquin, Romyri Ross, and Yashua Mack in Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy
Herbert Brenon’s 1924 silent Peter Pan, my favourite adaptation of Jm Barrie’s play,...
In the final instalment of my in-depth conversation with Benh Zeitlin at the Bowery Hotel in New York, we discussed how he developed a relationship between Shay Walker (mother Angela Darling) and Tommie Lynn Milazzo, who plays her baby Wendy, casting the twins Gavin Naquin and Gage Naquin, and working with his sister Eliza Zeitlin on their “shared vision” for Wendy, shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen (Josephine Decker’s Shirley) and starring Devin France as the adolescent Wendy.
Devin France, Gavin Naquin, Gage Naquin, Romyri Ross, and Yashua Mack in Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy
Herbert Brenon’s 1924 silent Peter Pan, my favourite adaptation of Jm Barrie’s play,...
- 3/10/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Ricardo Cortez: Although never as big a star as fellow 1920s screen heartthrobs Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro, and John Gilbert, Cortez had a long – and, to some extent, prestigious – film career, appearing in nearly 100 movies between 1923 and 1950. Among his directors: Allan Dwan, Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith, James Cruze, Alexander Korda, Herbert Brenon, Roy Del Ruth, Frank Lloyd, Gregory La Cava, William A. Wellman, Alexander Hall, Lloyd Bacon, Tay Garnett, Archie Mayo, Raoul Walsh, Frank Capra, Walter Lang, Michael Curtiz, and John Ford. See previous post: “Remembering Ricardo Cortez: Hollywood's Silent “Latin Lover” & Star of Original 'The Maltese Falcon'.” First of all, why Ricardo Cortez? Since I began writing about classic movies and vintage filmmakers roughly 30 years ago, people have always been curious why I choose particular subjects. It sounds kind of corny, but I have always wanted to do original work and perhaps make a minor contribution to film history at the...
- 7/7/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here
Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot
Article by Tom Stockman
They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had made a stop near the Twentieth Street entrance ten days earlier, but the crowd this day was much larger. Thousands, mostly excited women wearing ankle-length dresses and waving felt pennants lined up hoping for a glimpse, or perhaps...
Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot
Article by Tom Stockman
They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had made a stop near the Twentieth Street entrance ten days earlier, but the crowd this day was much larger. Thousands, mostly excited women wearing ankle-length dresses and waving felt pennants lined up hoping for a glimpse, or perhaps...
- 9/28/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman.
While cleaning out an old barn in New Hampshire recently, a man named Peter Massie discovered an old silent film projector and seven reels of nitrate films hidden in the shadows of a corner of the structure. Among these old reels was a 30-minute 1913 film titled When Lincoln Paid starring Francis Ford (older brother of director John Ford). It was one of six silent films, all presumed lost, in which Ford played Abraham Lincoln. It is stories like this that give hope to silent film fans.
While cleaning out an old barn in New Hampshire recently, a man named Peter Massie discovered an old silent film projector and seven reels of nitrate films hidden in the shadows of a corner of the structure. Among these old reels was a 30-minute 1913 film titled When Lincoln Paid starring Francis Ford (older brother of director John Ford). It was one of six silent films, all presumed lost, in which Ford played Abraham Lincoln. It is stories like this that give hope to silent film fans.
- 9/13/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman.
By 1913, the American film industry had been around for over twenty years. In 1909 Carl Laemmle, a renegade and maverick movie mogul and film distributor, founded his own company in New York — the Yankee Film Company. Laemmle also started producing movies in Fort Lee, New Jersey that same year. His first company was called the Independent Motion Pictures (Imp) Company, aka Imp Studios. Soon however, Laemmle would be making plans to journey West where he would expand his film production and in 1912 co-founded the Universal Film Manufacturing Co.
By 1913, the American film industry had been around for over twenty years. In 1909 Carl Laemmle, a renegade and maverick movie mogul and film distributor, founded his own company in New York — the Yankee Film Company. Laemmle also started producing movies in Fort Lee, New Jersey that same year. His first company was called the Independent Motion Pictures (Imp) Company, aka Imp Studios. Soon however, Laemmle would be making plans to journey West where he would expand his film production and in 1912 co-founded the Universal Film Manufacturing Co.
- 8/4/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by Tom Stockman of We Are Movie Geeks.com. This event is Free!
The most popular film actor in the world 100 years ago was a St. Louis native. Literally the first “movie star”, King Baggot was the first actor to have his name above the title and his stardom marked the first time that audiences went to see a movie because a certain actor was in that film. Born in St. Louis in 1879 and raised in a house on Union Boulevard, King Baggot attended CBC High School and at one time worked for the St. Louis Browns in ticket sales. Baggot was tall and handsome, a blue-eyed Irish boy with a distinctive white streak through his dark hair and the subject of much adoring fan mail. It’s hard to overestimate just how popular King Baggot was in his prime. He was heralded as “King of the Movies,” “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon.” After his acting career faded, King Baggot became a successful director for Universal Studios. Most of his films are long lost and despite his one-time fame, he is now somewhat forgotten, even here in his home town.
The Missouri History Museum will shine a spotlight on the star with The King Baggot Tribute, a celebration of his career. The event will be held on Wednesday, September 28th beginning at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). This is a Free event!
The program will consist a rare screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe, which runs 49 minutes. We screened Ivanhoe at the King Baggot Tribute that was part of The St. Louis International Film Festival in November of 2014. That time, we rented a 35mm print of the film from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It had Dutch intertitles, so I had to translate them, from the podium, while the rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra accompanied the film. This time, we have transferred the film to digital format and have burned English intertitles over the Dutch ones.
Based Sir Walter Scott’s 1820 novel of romance and medievalism. Ivanhoe was filmed at Chepstow Castle in Wales, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye and was the first example of an American studio sending a cast and crew to Europe to film at a remote location. St. Louis native King Baggot plays Ivanhoe, the Saxon Knight who returns from the Holy Lands to England. There he teams up with Robin Hood to rescue his father Sir Cedric, who has been captured by the evil Prince John. Leah Baird plays Rebecca, the Jewish maiden who loves Ivanhoe and the film’s director Herbert Brenon co-stars as Isaac of York. The rest of the large cast was made up of local Welsh actors. The lively and ambitious Ivanhoe, filled with pageantry, lavish sets, costumed horses, epic battle scenes and swordfights was a box-office smash in 1913 and made King Baggot an international star.
Don’t miss the The King Baggot Tribute September 28th!
A Facebook Invite for the event can be found Here
https://www.facebook.com/events/1764545990458351/
The post The King Baggot Tribute Returns to St. Louis – The Missouri History Museum Sept. 28th appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
The most popular film actor in the world 100 years ago was a St. Louis native. Literally the first “movie star”, King Baggot was the first actor to have his name above the title and his stardom marked the first time that audiences went to see a movie because a certain actor was in that film. Born in St. Louis in 1879 and raised in a house on Union Boulevard, King Baggot attended CBC High School and at one time worked for the St. Louis Browns in ticket sales. Baggot was tall and handsome, a blue-eyed Irish boy with a distinctive white streak through his dark hair and the subject of much adoring fan mail. It’s hard to overestimate just how popular King Baggot was in his prime. He was heralded as “King of the Movies,” “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon.” After his acting career faded, King Baggot became a successful director for Universal Studios. Most of his films are long lost and despite his one-time fame, he is now somewhat forgotten, even here in his home town.
The Missouri History Museum will shine a spotlight on the star with The King Baggot Tribute, a celebration of his career. The event will be held on Wednesday, September 28th beginning at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). This is a Free event!
The program will consist a rare screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe, which runs 49 minutes. We screened Ivanhoe at the King Baggot Tribute that was part of The St. Louis International Film Festival in November of 2014. That time, we rented a 35mm print of the film from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It had Dutch intertitles, so I had to translate them, from the podium, while the rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra accompanied the film. This time, we have transferred the film to digital format and have burned English intertitles over the Dutch ones.
Based Sir Walter Scott’s 1820 novel of romance and medievalism. Ivanhoe was filmed at Chepstow Castle in Wales, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye and was the first example of an American studio sending a cast and crew to Europe to film at a remote location. St. Louis native King Baggot plays Ivanhoe, the Saxon Knight who returns from the Holy Lands to England. There he teams up with Robin Hood to rescue his father Sir Cedric, who has been captured by the evil Prince John. Leah Baird plays Rebecca, the Jewish maiden who loves Ivanhoe and the film’s director Herbert Brenon co-stars as Isaac of York. The rest of the large cast was made up of local Welsh actors. The lively and ambitious Ivanhoe, filled with pageantry, lavish sets, costumed horses, epic battle scenes and swordfights was a box-office smash in 1913 and made King Baggot an international star.
Don’t miss the The King Baggot Tribute September 28th!
A Facebook Invite for the event can be found Here
https://www.facebook.com/events/1764545990458351/
The post The King Baggot Tribute Returns to St. Louis – The Missouri History Museum Sept. 28th appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
- 6/13/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
William Cameron Menzies. William Cameron Menzies movies on TCM: Murderous Joan Fontaine, deadly Nazi Communists Best known as an art director/production designer, William Cameron Menzies was a jack-of-all-trades. It seems like the only things Menzies didn't do was act and tap dance in front of the camera. He designed and/or wrote, directed, produced, etc., dozens of films – titles ranged from The Thief of Bagdad to Invaders from Mars – from the late 1910s all the way to the mid-1950s. Among Menzies' most notable efforts as an art director/production designer are: Ernst Lubitsch's first Hollywood movie, the Mary Pickford star vehicle Rosita (1923). Herbert Brenon's British-set father-son drama Sorrell and Son (1927). David O. Selznick's mammoth production of Gone with the Wind, which earned Menzies an Honorary Oscar. The Sam Wood movies Our Town (1940), Kings Row (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). H.C. Potter's Mr. Lucky...
- 1/28/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Sorrell and Son' with H.B. Warner and Alice Joyce. 'Sorrell and Son' 1927 movie: Long thought lost, surprisingly effective father-love melodrama stars a superlative H.B. Warner Partially shot on location in England and produced independently by director Herbert Brenon at Joseph M. Schenck's United Artists, the 1927 Sorrell and Son is a skillful melodrama about paternal devotion in the face of both personal and social adversity. This long-thought-lost version of Warwick Deeping's 1925 bestseller benefits greatly from the veteran Brenon's assured direction, deservedly shortlisted in the first year of the Academy Awards.* Crucial to the film's effectiveness, however, is the portrayal of its central character, a war-scarred Englishman who sacrifices it all for the happiness of his son. Luckily, the London-born H.B. Warner, best remembered for playing Jesus Christ in another 1927 release, Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings, is the embodiment of honesty, selflessness, and devotion. Less is...
- 10/9/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Peter Pan has a long cinematic legacy dating back all the way to the 1920s, when director Herbert Brenon first brought J.M. Barrie.s beloved protagonist to the big screen. Since then, we.ve seen many, many more adaptations in all kinds of forms . from live-action versions to cartoons to TV specials. Now the fairy tale hero is coming back to the big screen thanks to director Joe Wright.s new film Pan - and what separates this version from every other one we.ve seen is that this is the first one to be made in 3D. As we do with every newly released 3D film, we.ve broken down the experience watching Pan into multiple categories to determine exactly the best way to see the movie on the big screen. To 3D or not to 3D, that is the question! So read on for the answer. Fit ...
- 10/6/2015
- cinemablend.com
'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl': Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' review: Mostly an enjoyable romp (Oscar Movie Series) Pirate movies were a Hollywood staple for about three decades, from the mid-'20s (The Sea Hawk, The Black Pirate) to the mid-to-late '50s (Moonfleet, The Buccaneer), when the genre, by then mostly relegated to B films, began to die down. Sporadic resurrections in the '80s and '90s turned out to be critical and commercial bombs (Pirates, Cutthroat Island), something that didn't bode well for the Walt Disney Company's $140 million-budgeted film "adaptation" of one of their theme-park rides. But Neptune's mood has apparently improved with the arrival of the new century. He smiled – grinned would be a more appropriate word – on the Gore Verbinski-directed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,...
- 6/29/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Father of the Bride': Steve Martin and Kimberly Williams. Top Five Father's Day Movies? From giant Gregory Peck to tyrant John Gielgud What would be the Top Five Father's Day movies ever made? Well, there have been countless films about fathers and/or featuring fathers of various sizes, shapes, and inclinations. In terms of quality, these range from the amusing – e.g., the 1950 version of Cheaper by the Dozen; the Oscar-nominated The Grandfather – to the nauseating – e.g., the 1950 version of Father of the Bride; its atrocious sequel, Father's Little Dividend. Although I'm unable to come up with the absolute Top Five Father's Day Movies – or rather, just plain Father Movies – ever made, below are the first five (actually six, including a remake) "quality" patriarch-centered films that come to mind. Now, the fathers portrayed in these films aren't all heroic, loving, and/or saintly paternal figures. Several are...
- 6/22/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Loretta Young films as TCM celebrates her 102nd birthday (photo: Loretta Young ca. 1935) Loretta Young would have turned 102 years old today. Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the birthday of the Salt Lake City-born, Academy Award-winning actress today, January 6, 2015, with no less than ten Loretta Young films, most of them released by Warner Bros. in the early '30s. Young, who began her film career in a bit part in the 1927 Colleen Moore star vehicle Her Wild Oat, remained a Warners contract player from the late '20s up until 1933. (See also: "Loretta Young Movies.") Now, ten Loretta Young films on one day may sound like a lot, but one should remember that most Warner Bros. -- in fact, most Hollywood -- releases of the late '20s and early '30s were either B Movies or programmers. The latter were relatively short (usually 60 to 75 minutes) feature films starring A (or B+) performers,...
- 1/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.
Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot
Article by Tom Stockman
They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had...
Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot
Article by Tom Stockman
They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had...
- 11/14/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“Gurth the Swineherd , do you not recognize me?”
“Ivanhoe ! My young master”
It’s been said that 75% of all silent films are lost – scrapped for their silver nitrate content, destroyed by fire, left to decompose, or simply abandoned by an industry so lacking in foresight that it neither knew nor cared about their own products value to the future. In the case of the silent films that St. Louis native King Baggot starred in, that number is closer to 99%. Baggot likely appeared in over 300 films during his most active period 1909 to 1916, mostly one-reelers (1000 feet of film running around 16 minutes). When Cinema St. Louis and I teamed up to plan the King Baggot Tribute night coming up November 14th, we knew we wanted to show one film featuring one of his performances and another that he directed. We chose to represent his directing career with the 1925 western Tumbleweeds starring William S. Hart.
“Ivanhoe ! My young master”
It’s been said that 75% of all silent films are lost – scrapped for their silver nitrate content, destroyed by fire, left to decompose, or simply abandoned by an industry so lacking in foresight that it neither knew nor cared about their own products value to the future. In the case of the silent films that St. Louis native King Baggot starred in, that number is closer to 99%. Baggot likely appeared in over 300 films during his most active period 1909 to 1916, mostly one-reelers (1000 feet of film running around 16 minutes). When Cinema St. Louis and I teamed up to plan the King Baggot Tribute night coming up November 14th, we knew we wanted to show one film featuring one of his performances and another that he directed. We chose to represent his directing career with the 1925 western Tumbleweeds starring William S. Hart.
- 11/10/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The most popular film actor in the world 100 years ago was a St. Louis native. Literally the first “movie star”, King Baggot was the first actor to have his name above the title and his stardom marked the first time that audiences went to see a movie because a certain actor was in that film. Born in St. Louis in 1879 and raised in a house on Union Boulevard, King Baggot attended CBC High School and at one time worked for the St. Louis Browns in ticket sales. Baggot was tall and handsome, a blue-eyed Irish boy with a distinctive white streak through his dark hair and the subject of much adoring fan mail. It’s hard to overestimate just how popular King Baggot was in his prime. He was heralded as “King of the Movies,” “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar...
- 10/9/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
'Sherlock Holmes' movie found at Cinémathèque Française (image: William Gillette in 'Sherlock Holmes') Sherlock Holmes, a long-thought-lost 1916 feature starring stage performer and playwright William Gillette in the title role, has been discovered in the vaults of the Cinémathèque Française. Directed by the all-but-forgotten Arthur Berthelet for the Chicago-based Essanay production company, the approximately 90-minute movie is supposed to be not only the sole record of William Gillette's celebrated performance as Arthur Conan Doyle's detective, but also the only surviving Gillette film.* In the late 19th century, William Gillette himself wrote the play Sherlock Holmes, which turned out to be a mash-up of various stories and novels featuring the detective, chiefly the short stories "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Final Problem." ("May I marry Holmes?" Gillette, while vying for the role, telegraphed Conan Doyle. The latter replied, "You may marry or murder or do What you like with him.
- 10/3/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Honorary Oscars 2014: Hayao Miyazaki, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Maureen O’Hara; Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award goes to Harry Belafonte One good thing about the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards — an expedient way to remove the time-consuming presentation of the (nearly) annual Honorary Oscar from the TV ratings-obsessed, increasingly youth-oriented Oscar show — is that each year up to four individuals can be named Honorary Oscar recipients, thus giving a better chance for the Academy to honor film industry veterans while they’re still on Planet Earth. (See at the bottom of this post a partial list of those who have gone to the Great Beyond, without having ever received a single Oscar statuette.) In 2014, the Academy’s Board of Governors has selected a formidable trio of honorees: Japanese artist and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, 73; French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, 82; and Irish-born Hollywood actress Maureen O’Hara,...
- 8/29/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
While cleaning out an old barn in New Hampshire recently, a man named Peter Massie discovered an old silent film projector and seven reels of nitrate films hidden in the shadows of a corner of the structure. Among these old reels was a 30-minute 1913 film titled When Lincoln Paid starring Francis Ford (older brother of director John Ford). It was one of six silent films, all presumed lost, in which Ford played Abraham Lincoln. It is stories like this that give hope to silent film fans. 75 per cent of movies from the silent era have been lost to decay or neglect, but when it comes to the over 200 movies that St. Louis native King Baggot acted in between 1909 and 1921, that number is closer to 100%. Here’s a look at Absinthe, a lost film from 100 years ago that I wish someone would find.
Absinthe is a distilled, highly alcoholic (90-148 proof...
Absinthe is a distilled, highly alcoholic (90-148 proof...
- 6/2/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By 1913, the American film industry had been around for over twenty years. In 1909 Carl Laemmle, a renegade and maverick movie mogul and film distributor, founded his own company in New York — the Yankee Film Company. Laemmle also started producing movies in Fort Lee, New Jersey that same year. His first company was called the Independent Motion Pictures (Imp) Company, aka Imp Studios. Soon however, Laemmle would be making plans to journey West where he would expand his film production and in 1912 co-founded the Universal Film Manufacturing Co., or Universal Film Company - the precursor to Universal Pictures in Hollywood. The studio had its sights set on bigger and better things than the one and two-reel shorts that Hollywood had been grinding out. European studios were producing big, ambitious feature productions and Universal felt the need to compete.
Sir Walter Scott’s classic novel Ivanhoe was first published in 1820. The story...
Sir Walter Scott’s classic novel Ivanhoe was first published in 1820. The story...
- 1/23/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Shirley Jones: From book to film A few weeks ago, Shirley Jones, 79, made headlines following the publication of her book of memoirs, concisely titled Shirley Jones: A Memoir. But why the headlines? Does Shirley Jones twerk like Miley Cyrus? Nope. (And that may explain why the release of Jones’ book wasn’t selected as CNN.com’s Top Story of the Day.) So, were The Media and The People interested in Jones’ Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Elmer Gantry, or maybe they were curious about her work in several major 1950s musicals and 1960s comedies? Are you crazy? Who gives a damn about that? The Answer: Let’s just say that the furor had something to do with sweet and innocent all-American bare breasts and three-ways. Keep that in mind next time you watch Oklahoma! (Photo: Shirley Jones ca. 1955.) (On TCM: “Shirley Jones Movies: Innocent Virgins and Sex Workers Galore.
- 8/28/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The latest film version of The Great Gatsby is currently the talk of the film industry, having just debuted Stateside and opened the Cannes Film Festival this week. Based on F Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, the story showcases everything from seduction and money to buried secrets among the elite society in the Roaring '20s.
We take a look back at the five Gatsby screen adaptations in time for the release of Baz Luhrmann's new Leonardo DiCaprio-led film.
1926
This is the only Gatsby film to have been made in Fitzgerald's lifetime and the only silent interpretation of the story. Directed by Herbert Brenon and released by Paramount Pictures, this is a true example of a "lost film" with the below trailer the only evidence of its existence. According to Anne Margaret Daniel in the Huffington Post, the film was not appreciated by the author and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald,...
We take a look back at the five Gatsby screen adaptations in time for the release of Baz Luhrmann's new Leonardo DiCaprio-led film.
1926
This is the only Gatsby film to have been made in Fitzgerald's lifetime and the only silent interpretation of the story. Directed by Herbert Brenon and released by Paramount Pictures, this is a true example of a "lost film" with the below trailer the only evidence of its existence. According to Anne Margaret Daniel in the Huffington Post, the film was not appreciated by the author and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald,...
- 5/17/2013
- Digital Spy
Los Angeles, May 15: Australian director Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gasby" is only the latest in a series of screen adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald's book. From a silent version to, of course, the famous film starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, the novel has had several cinematic renditions.
The first attempt to bring the book on silver screen was by director Herbert Brenon in 1926. The movie was a silent film starring Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson and Neil Hamilton in lead roles. The movie was "rotten", said Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of Scott Fitzgerald. However, the prints of the movie were lost later and no archives are said to.
The first attempt to bring the book on silver screen was by director Herbert Brenon in 1926. The movie was a silent film starring Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson and Neil Hamilton in lead roles. The movie was "rotten", said Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of Scott Fitzgerald. However, the prints of the movie were lost later and no archives are said to.
- 5/15/2013
- by Arun Pandit
- RealBollywood.com
Baz Luhrmann's new version is the latest attempt to adapt a book notoriously hard to bring to the screen
I'm writing this a few days before the UK premiere of Baz Luhrmann's new film of The Great Gatsby – at which stage the broad consensus seems to be that the novel can't be filmed. Aside from a few midway-convincing theories about the impossibility of matching the beauty of Fitzgerald's line-by-line writing, most of this agreement is based on the fact that all previous attempts to bring the book to life have emerged stillborn.
Sadly, the very first effort, a 1926 silent movie directed by Herbert Brenon, is almost entirely lost. Or perhaps, not so sadly. When F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald went to see the film in Los Angeles, they walked out. Zelda wrote to her son Scottie: "We saw 'The Great Gatsby' in the movies. It's Rotten and awful and terrible and we left.
I'm writing this a few days before the UK premiere of Baz Luhrmann's new film of The Great Gatsby – at which stage the broad consensus seems to be that the novel can't be filmed. Aside from a few midway-convincing theories about the impossibility of matching the beauty of Fitzgerald's line-by-line writing, most of this agreement is based on the fact that all previous attempts to bring the book to life have emerged stillborn.
Sadly, the very first effort, a 1926 silent movie directed by Herbert Brenon, is almost entirely lost. Or perhaps, not so sadly. When F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald went to see the film in Los Angeles, they walked out. Zelda wrote to her son Scottie: "We saw 'The Great Gatsby' in the movies. It's Rotten and awful and terrible and we left.
- 5/14/2013
- by Sam Jordison
- The Guardian - Film News
Leonardo DiCaprio The Great Gatsby movie box office: DiCaprio’s second biggest opening ever — but trailing Titanic in ticket sales The Great Gatsby movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel earned $50.08m at the North American box office this past weekend, including $3.25 million from late Thursday night showings, according to weekend box-office actuals found at Box Office Mojo. Despite mostly poor reviews — The Great Gatsby has a 32% approval rating and 5.6/10 average among Rotten Tomatoes‘ top critics — the Baz Luhrmann-directed take on the love story between Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jay Gatsby and Carey Mulligan’s Daisy Buchanan far surpassed the expectations of both distributor Warner Bros. and box-office pundits. In fact, The Great Gatsby trailed only Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man 3, which collected $72.52 million at the domestic box office this past weekend. (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby.) Partly thanks to 3D surcharges and a strong female contingent of ticket-buyers,...
- 5/14/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Leonardo DiCaprio The Great Gatsby movie weekend box office: DiCaprio’s second biggest opening ever? (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby, with Carey Mulligan) Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 1920s novel. A risky move? Well, if so, it has clearly paid off. Although The Great Gatsby will not top the North American box office this weekend, it’ll land in a remarkably (and surprisingly) strong second slot. (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby movie adaptation, with Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan.) Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man 3 will easily lead the domestic box-office charge with approximately $65-70m, after plummeting 71% on Friday, compared to the previous week. True, opening-day Friday also included the box-office take from Thursday late night showings, but, for comparison’s sake, The Avengers was down 64% during that same time frame.
- 5/12/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
The Great Gatsby 2013 movie box office: Way overperforming? (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby) The Great Gatsby 2013 movie adaptation directed by Baz Luhrmann, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan will not top the North American box office this weekend. That’s the not-so-good news. But then again, no one was expecting The Great Gatsby to soar past Robert Downey Jr’s special-effects-laden Iron Man 3. True, both movies are in 3D, but … maybe if Jay Gatsby’s hair gel were capable of blowing up all of New England or something, then it’d have had a chance. (Updated The Great Gatsby weekend box office estimate.) Now, the (really) good news: The Great Gatsby, with the assistance of 3D surcharges and a large percentage of female ticket-buyers, may open north of $50m at 3,525 North American locations, according to early, rough estimates found at Deadline.com. As per Deadline’s "sources,...
- 5/11/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald died 73 years ago so we have no way of knowing what the Great Gatsby author would make of Baz Luhrmann's uproarious adaptation of his 1925 novel that opens on May 10. We can, however, look to his review of the 1926 film adaptation, directed by Herbert Brenon. The author's wife Zelda wrote of the movie: "We saw The Great Gatsby in the movies. It’s rotten and awful and terrible and we left." The Fitzgeralds would be happy to know that the movie is now lost, and all that remains is a one-minute trailer that website Open Culture recently published. The early Gatsby adaptation was 80 minutes long and contained many of the lavish party scenes that Luhrmann's version will feature — starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey...
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- 5/8/2013
- by Alison Nastasi
- Movies.com
New York — F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" is short, almost novella size. It features larger-than-life characters, glamorous extravagance and dramatic demises. On its surface, it's the most Hollywood-friendly of the great American novels.
But "Gatsby" remains elusive, its poetry largely locked on the page despite a century of attempted adaptations. Since it was published (to an initially cold response) in 1925, it has spawned four previous films (including a 1926 silent movie that's since been lost) and numerous stage productions. The folly of transferring the novel to other media was even parodied in an 8-bit Nintendo-style video game where Nick Carraway must evade cocktail-dispensing butlers and Charleston-dancing flappers.
On Friday, Baz Luhrmann tosses his garish hat into the "Gatsby" ring. His is a 3-D blockbuster spectacle with a star-studded cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan) and a contemporary soundtrack (Jay-z, Jack White) that hopes to finally crack the cinematic code of Fitzgerald's novel.
But "Gatsby" remains elusive, its poetry largely locked on the page despite a century of attempted adaptations. Since it was published (to an initially cold response) in 1925, it has spawned four previous films (including a 1926 silent movie that's since been lost) and numerous stage productions. The folly of transferring the novel to other media was even parodied in an 8-bit Nintendo-style video game where Nick Carraway must evade cocktail-dispensing butlers and Charleston-dancing flappers.
On Friday, Baz Luhrmann tosses his garish hat into the "Gatsby" ring. His is a 3-D blockbuster spectacle with a star-studded cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan) and a contemporary soundtrack (Jay-z, Jack White) that hopes to finally crack the cinematic code of Fitzgerald's novel.
- 5/8/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Director Baz Luhrmann hails 'great honour' for his 3D film adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan
Baz Luhrmann's much-anticipated 3D take on The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald's romantic tale of the gilded jazz age, is to open the Cannes film festival.
The fourth adaptation of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel to hit the big screen stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role of Jay Gatsby, Spider-Man's Tobey Maguire as his wide-eyed confidant Nick Carraway and Britain's Carey Mulligan as manipulative socialite Daisy Buchanan. The drama, Luhrmann's follow-up to the poorly-received Australia, will open the 66th Festival de Cannes out-of-competition on 15 May.
"It is a great honour for all those who have worked on The Great Gatsby to open the Cannes film festival," Luhrmann said in a statement. "We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film,...
Baz Luhrmann's much-anticipated 3D take on The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald's romantic tale of the gilded jazz age, is to open the Cannes film festival.
The fourth adaptation of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel to hit the big screen stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role of Jay Gatsby, Spider-Man's Tobey Maguire as his wide-eyed confidant Nick Carraway and Britain's Carey Mulligan as manipulative socialite Daisy Buchanan. The drama, Luhrmann's follow-up to the poorly-received Australia, will open the 66th Festival de Cannes out-of-competition on 15 May.
"It is a great honour for all those who have worked on The Great Gatsby to open the Cannes film festival," Luhrmann said in a statement. "We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film,...
- 3/12/2013
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Pola Negri, The Spanish Dancer Silent-film lovers in The Netherlands will be able to enjoy a new restoration of the 1923 Pola Negri period comedy The Spanish Dancer. Screening with live musical accompaniment, the film will be presented at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, April 6, and at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 8, at the Eye Film Institute Netherlands in Amsterdam. On the Eye Film Institute website, The Spanish Dancer is described as a "comical costume drama." Set in early 17th-century Spain, the story follows gypsy singer Maritana (Negri) and her lover, penniless nobleman Don César de Bazan (Antonio Moreno), as they become enmeshed in court intrigue. The screenplay is based on Adolphe d'Ennery and Philippe Dumanoir's play Don César de Bazan, itself taken from a Victor Hugo novella. Beulah Marie Dix and powerhouse producer-screenwriter June Mathis adapted the tale. Directed by future Academy Award nominee Herbert Brenon (Sorrell and Son...
- 3/16/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, The Great Gatsby The first official The Great Gatsby pictures became available online a few days ago. Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, and Isla Fisher star in this latest big-screen version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous novel. Moulin Rouge's Baz Luhrmann, who became major world news after injuring his head a week or so ago, directs. Set shortly after the end of World War I, The Great Gatsby is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway (Maguire), a returning war veteran who becomes part of the upper-class universe of Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio). There have been (at least) three previous The Great Gatsby adaptations for the big screen. A 1926 silent version is now lost. Only the trailer remains. Directed by future Oscar nominee Herbert Brenon, the silent starred future Oscar winner Warner Baxter as Jay Gatsby and Lois Wilson...
- 12/31/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lon Chaney on TCM: He Who Gets Slapped, The Unknown, Mr. Wu Get ready for more extreme perversity in West of Zanzibar (1928), as Chaney abuses both Warner Baxter and Mary Nolan, while the great-looking Mr. Wu (1927) offers Chaney as a Chinese creep about to destroy the life of lovely Renée Adorée — one of the best and prettiest actresses of the 1920s. Adorée — who was just as effective in her few early talkies — died of tuberculosis in 1933. Also worth mentioning, the great John Arnold was Mr. Wu's cinematographer. I'm no fan of Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), or The Phantom of the Opera (1925), but Chaney's work in them — especially in Hunchback — is quite remarkable. I mean, his performances aren't necessarily great, but they're certainly unforgettable. Chaney's leading ladies — all of whom are in love with younger, better-looking men — are Loretta Young (Laugh, Clown, Laugh), Patsy Ruth Miller...
- 8/15/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Sorrell And Son (1927) Direction: Herbert Brenon Cast: H. B. Warner, Nils Asther, Anna Q. Nilsson, Alice Joyce, Carmel Myers, Mary Nolan, Mickey McBan, Louis Wolheim, Norman Trevor, Lionel Belmore Screenplay: Elizabeth Meehan; from Warwick Deeping's novel Oscar Movies Recommended H. B. Warner, Alice Joyce, Sorrell and Son A skilled melodrama about paternal devotion in the face of both personal and social adversity, Sorrell and Son benefits greatly from Herbert Brenon's assured direction, which deservedly received a nomination in the first year of the Academy Awards. Crucial to the film's effectiveness, however, is the central performance of the war-scarred father who sacrifices it all for the happiness of his son. Luckily, stage and screen veteran H. B. Warner, perhaps best remembered for his portrayal of Jesus Christ in Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings, is the embodiment of honesty, selflessness, and devotion. Unlike many silent-era performers — even...
- 2/21/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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