Oldest Extant Feature 100th Anniversary— L'Inferno (1911)

At long last, the oldest complete extant feature film turns 100 today (it's first screening), Italy's L'Inferno.  The films general release in Italy and France came in the ensuing weeks.  This terrific adaptation of Dante's Inferno is easily one of the best silents of it's era.  It's available on DVD, an excerpt below.

100th Anniversary of Edison's "A Christmas Carol" -- Released December 23, 1910

Pretty wild to see films reaching their 100th... next year will be the first opportunity to see features hitting their centennial (starting with L'Inferno [1911]).  Tangerine Dream: Inferno
This version of A Christmas Carol is not the first... and there is a three-and-a-half-minute 1901 UK version called Scrooge, Or Marley's Ghost on You Tube (see below).  Both are pretty good.  The 1910 version has the added interest of featuring Charles Ogle as Bob Cratchit-- Ogle played Frankenstein's monster in Edison's March 1910 film.

"A Corner in Wheat" Celebrates Centennial

D. W. Griffith's film A Corner in Wheat was released on December 13, 1909— one-hundred years ago today. This social commentary was based on source material from Frank Norris (the novelist whose McTeague became 1924s Greed). A Corner in Wheat is shown in film school classes and currently resides as the #1 film on IMDb's list of 1909 films by total votes.

Mary Pickford's "Cinderella" (1914) on Internet Archive

The other week I pointed out that 1915s Alice in Wonderland was now posted on the Internet Archive.

Just noticed that the Mary Pickford Cinderella (1914) is on their too (in two parts). Here's the link. This is another not-that-easily found silent that I was happy to see posted.

Plus, Georges Melies' 1899 version is up there as well: link.

W. W. Young's "Alice in Wonderland" (1915) Now Available on Internet Archive

Considered the first "significant" version of the story, this 1915 five reel feature film has been among the harder-to-locate silent era titles-- but no longer, since its Internet Archive posting.

Click here for Link.

Silent Film Benefit Calendar Funds Silent Film Restoration

Here's a good cause: the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra puts out a calendar that supports Silent Film Restoration. What's more, their website clearly shows that the money does go where it should-- a listing of what each year's proceeds went to, from 2003-08, is listed on their site (on the calendar page-- link below).

The cost is an economical $17.83 (less for multiple copies).

This year's calendar features stills from lost silent films, such as The Patriot (1928).

Link to Mont Alto site.

Link to Silent Film Calendar info.

Alfred Hitchcock's Silent Features: "Easy Virtue"

Continuing my irregularly scheduled capsule reviews of Alfred Hitchcock's eight extant silent features, I present Easy Virtue. Easy Virtue can be found on those cheapy DVD sets of Hitchcock's early films; it's one of his more interesting early efforts (second only to The Lodger).

Hitchcock's silents were his training ground; and his later films are that much more visual as a result of his having started in the silent era. His silents are unfortunately either unreleased on VHS/DVD or in unrestored state on poorly presented DVDs. For the best quality/most reliable seller out there, if you are looking for Hitchcock's unreleased DVD titles (such as Downhill, Waltzes From Vienna, among others) I recommend this seller.

Easy Virtue (1927)
A woman, fleeing the tabloid gossip surrounding an artist’s suicide and her subsequent divorce, falls in love with a young suitor at a French Riviera resort and silently suffers as she keeps her real identity a secret from him and his family.

Dated melodrama (based on a Noel Coward play) is given momentum by Hitchcock’s deft direction. Some interesting visuals include: in the opening courtroom scene, the judge looks through his monocle and we see a closer shot of the lawyer through it, a stationary tennis racket starts in motion as its owner runs toward the ball and away from the camera, the expressions of a nosy switchboard operator reveal the various subjects of a conversation she’s listening in to. The use of a still camera as a motif is, however, heavy handed. The opening courtroom scene presents a well-constructed series of flashbacks; however, the bulk of the film from then on, is straight soap opera (consisting of such title cards as: “If only I could remember where I’ve seen her face before… I’m certain she wants to conceal something from us!”). Beautiful on-location scenery (interior as well as exterior) abounds during the second half of the movie. SPOILER!: Memorable final title card, as Larita is greeted by photographers: “Shoot! There’s nothing left to kill.” Worthy of a screening to see the hand of the (young) master at work.

Kino Puts Out Second Griffith Box Set

The modern eye may wince at the mere mention of D.W. Griffith, but he was such a significant figure in the push for film as an art form, that every single one of his films should be (a) restored (b) released on DVD. Kino Video is leading the way to getting the Griffith films out, including now, the obscure The Avenging Conscience (1914), plus a few of his more familiar titles, including his two sound features: Abraham Lincoln (1930) and The Struggle (1931). Griffith Masterworks 2 comes out on Nov. 18.

Alfred Hitchcock's Silent Features: "Downhill"

Continuing my irregularly scheduled capsule reviews of Alfred Hitchcock's eight extant silent features, I present Downhill. Downhill has never been released on DVD or video in the U.S. but can be purchased online (see recommendation below), but is recommended only to the Hitchcock completest.

Hitchcock's silents were his training ground; and his later films are that much more visual as a result of his having started in the silent era. His silents are unfortunately either unreleased on VHS/DVD or in unrestored state on poorly presented DVDs. For the best quality/most reliable seller out there, if you are looking for Hitchcock's unreleased DVD titles (such as Downhill, among others) I recommend this seller.

Downhill (1927)
A college undergraduate, protecting a friend, is expelled for getting a girl pregnant and is shunned by his wealthy family, suffering a number of ups-and-downs as he attempts to make it on his own.

Very few title cards are used to tell this simple story, but the freedom for interesting visuals is only somewhat taken up. There are some great uses of the wide-angle lens in the earlier part of the movie (football game, dining hall). One interesting (if static) shot shows star Ivor Novello going down an escalator, growing smaller and smaller as he heads into the abyss; the idea is repeated twice later, when after his break-up with his wife, he descends in an elevator and, after he becomes a vagrant, he is brought into the bowels of a boat. Another bold shot shows Novello upside down, seen by the point-of-view of an actress as she cranes her neck and sees him with her head tilted back. The final minutes, showing Novello’s point-of-view as he staggers through the city in a delirium is the best sequence in the entire movie (which plays like a sequence from Man With a Movie Camera). Little distinguishes the rest of the film— and it amounts to no more than a sleep-inducing simple melodrama of the period.

First Modern Olympics— 1896— Wasn't Filmed

I was surprised to learn that the first Olympics wasn't filmed (neither was the second). This is such a shame since film came in just in time for it to be possible, and especially since, sporting events were typical of early film subjects.



Here is Bioscope's very detailed comments about the various filmed records of Olympic Games.

Here is a link to the olympics.org site with stills from the 1896 games.

Below is a You Tube compilation showing stills from the 1896 game:

"The Salvation Hunters" To Be Preserved By MOMA

The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) newsletter notes that Josef von Sternberg's first film, The Salvation Hunters, has received a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation to be preserved by the Museum of Modern Art (i.e. costs cover a preservation master and two viewing copies). Film historian Tag Gallagher is quoted in AMIA as saying: "It is good news indeed that a restoration of this groundbreaking feature is in the works."— so perhaps the film is actually getting a full restoration as well. In addition to being von Sternberg's debut, The Salvation Hunters is also noteworthy as a forerunner in American independent filmmaking. This film has a checkered past in terms of its evaluation. As noted by Gallagher in the AMIA mention, the film was "hissed at its premiere and later hailed a masterpiece." Currently there is an imdb review that rates it 2 out of 10! Hopefully a DVD release is on the way so we can all evaluate it....

D. W. Griffith's Screen Debut- "The Adventures of Dollie" Celebrates Its 100th Anniversary

Griffith's first film as a director was released today in 1908. This short film can be seen on YouTube. It's not much, but has enough drama to get you through a viewing based on its historical significance (mute the score that's been attached though).

Complete Version of Metropolis (1927) Found

Big news on the silent film discovery front: a few days ago it was announced that twenty-odd minutes of lost footage from Metropolis has been found in the form of a complete print dating back to 1928.

Although much of it is of poor quality, the discovery 80 years later is remarkable.

Here is a link to Zeit Online's article regarding the find.

Top Ten Silents To See List

Well since I've been on a silents kick lately I wanted to assemble my top ten silent films to see list (listing them by year of release). It'll be handy when checking the listings on TCM.

Silents To See:
Quo Vadis? (1912/ It./ d. Enrico Guazzoni) [photo above]
The Squaw Man (1914/ US/ d. Cecil B. DeMille, Oscar C. Apfel)
Hamlet (1921/ Den./ d. Sven Gade, Heinz Schall)
La Roue (1922/ Fr./ d. Abel Gance)
When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922/ US/ d. Robert G. Vignola)
Children's Faces (1925/ Fr./ d. Jacques Feyder)
Smouldering Fires (1925/ US/ d. Clarence Brown)
Mother (1926/ Rus./ d. Vsevolod Pudovkin)
Chang (1927/ US/ d. Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack)
I Flunked But… (1930/ Japan/ Yasujiro Ozu)

Kevin Brownlow Speaks on "Napoleon" (1927) and D. W. Griffith's Legacy

Silver Screen Oasis had Kevin Brownlow as a guest on their message boards (from London) and the discussion was so interesting and chock full of information that I printed the whole thing out for future reference!

First of all Brownlow says on the long awaited DVD release of Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927) that "I think a compromise has been reached" between the parties involved with the two warring sides of the films' score. I really hope this is true— it's easily one of the few great masterpieces yet to be released on DVD.

Brownlow takes on D. W. Griffith. He notes that Griffith made some bad films indicating One Exciting Night, Dream Street, and Scarlet Days. I've seen all three of these Griffiths (believe it or not) and they are definitely his worst; Scarlet Days was a particular disappointment because it's really hard to find (Griffith's only western feature). Brownlow discusses the maligned Birth of a Nation. He acknowledges it's groundbreaking techniques and also it's overt racism ("... in the second half you get the hair-raising racism"). His comments on it should be read completely if you're interested. He notes something that I've never heard before— that Griffith made a film called Rose of Kentucky, in which the KKK were the villains and an African-American boy was the hero. According to silentera.com, the survival status of this 1911 film is unknown.

Browlow mentions a silent film out on DVD that I've been meaning to catch up with: "I just showed some silents in Ireland and while the audience loved them all, they were particularly impressed by an almost-forgotten French silent called Children's Faces (Visages D'Enfant). Highly recommended; one of the finest films about children..." Well this has now been bumped up on my list of films-to-see. (Brownlow gives examples of many other obscure silents he feels are masterpieces as well...)

Here's a link to the boards.

"Moscow Clad in Snow" (1908)

It's weird now that so many films exist in which we can see life 100 years ago. Moscow Clad in Snow is considered one of the first "travelogue" films. It shows things you'd expect: marching soldiers, horse-drawn carriages & sleighs, beautiful architecture, and lots of snow.

"J'Accuse" (1918) and "La Roue" (1922) to be Released on DVD

Director Abel Gance gave the world one of the greatest silent films, 1927's epic Napoleon, which has seen celebrated theatrical, TV, and video exposure. However, little has been seen of his other silent films. At the tail end of an interview with Film Threat, Jeff Masino offered the news that his company, Flicker Alley, whose releases include the classic French silent serial Judex, is planning to release new digital editions of both Gance's antiwar J'Accuse (1918) (still above) and landmark drama La Roue (1922). The restoration is being carried out by Netherlands Filmmuseum, Lobster Films in Paris, Film Preservation Associates, and others. The films will feature scores composed by Robert Israel.

Both J'Accuse and La Roue were widely seen and influential films in their day.

Napoleon itself has not seen DVD-- perhaps it too is on the way.

John Gilbert/King Vidor Silent Found; Much Sought-After Janet Gaynor/F. W. Murnau Film May Also be Extant

Heard a rumor through the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) listserve that a 1926 John Gilbert film, Bardelys the Magnificent (an historical drama set against 17th century France and directed by King Vidor), has recently been discovered. This film is listed as one of the most wanted silents on silentera.com's website.

Additionally, Silentera.com has a link at the top of their site homepage to a very curious exchange that appeared on Criterion's Forum blog. Apparently a copy of the much sought-after film Four Devils (1929) might exist. This was F. W. Murnau's follow-up to Sunrise (which is often cited as the greatest silent film of all time). The film is about a trapeze act, two of whose members fall in love (played by Janet Gaynor and Charles Morton) but who are torn apart by the entrance of a "vamp" who tempts the male away (played by Mary Duncan)


A 1928 novelization of the film offers several stills (two I've posted here), which don't necessarily strike me as making for the best film (nor does the film's plot); however the historical value of the film alone would make it one of the film finds of the decade.