Do you feel a disturbance in the Force? That’ll be courtesy of young Grogu – about to make his long-awaited return along with his space-dad Din Djarin, as The Mandalorian Season 3 takes a world-exclusive deep-dive into the show with its stars and creators – and it’s about to hit shelves on Thursday 16 Feb.
While it’s nearly ready to make its way into the world – become an Empire member now to access the issue in full on launch day.
The Mandalorian Season 3
Kicking off our epic 20-page blowout on The Mandalorian’s glorious return, we go under the helmet with the Mandalorians themselves, speaking to Pedro Pascal, Emily Swallow and more – talking about their experiences donning the iconic armour and stepping into the Star Wars galaxy.
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni
The combined might of filmmaker Jon Favreau brought us the magic of The Mandalorian – and with more adventures in the ‘Mando-verse’ on the way,...
While it’s nearly ready to make its way into the world – become an Empire member now to access the issue in full on launch day.
The Mandalorian Season 3
Kicking off our epic 20-page blowout on The Mandalorian’s glorious return, we go under the helmet with the Mandalorians themselves, speaking to Pedro Pascal, Emily Swallow and more – talking about their experiences donning the iconic armour and stepping into the Star Wars galaxy.
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni
The combined might of filmmaker Jon Favreau brought us the magic of The Mandalorian – and with more adventures in the ‘Mando-verse’ on the way,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Ben Travis
- Empire - Movies
Do you know when the first movie premiere in Hollywood history was held?
On Oct. 18. 1922 Sid Grauman opened his movie palace the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. with superstar Douglas Fairbank’s latest swashbuckler “Robin Hood.” The red carpet was rolled out for Fairbanks, his wife Mary Pickford and their good friend (and partner in United Artists) Charlie Chaplin. It cost 5 to attend the premiere. And the movie, which was the top box office draw, played there exclusively for several months. The Egyptian cost 800,000 to build and took 18 months to complete for Grauman and real estate developer Charles E. Toberman. It is currently being renovated by Netflix in cooperation with the American Cinematheque.
“Robin Hood,” directed by Allan Dwan, was one of the most expensive movies of the silent era, costing just under 1 million. The castle was the biggest set ever made for a silent movie. Some scenes feature over 1,200 extras.
On Oct. 18. 1922 Sid Grauman opened his movie palace the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. with superstar Douglas Fairbank’s latest swashbuckler “Robin Hood.” The red carpet was rolled out for Fairbanks, his wife Mary Pickford and their good friend (and partner in United Artists) Charlie Chaplin. It cost 5 to attend the premiere. And the movie, which was the top box office draw, played there exclusively for several months. The Egyptian cost 800,000 to build and took 18 months to complete for Grauman and real estate developer Charles E. Toberman. It is currently being renovated by Netflix in cooperation with the American Cinematheque.
“Robin Hood,” directed by Allan Dwan, was one of the most expensive movies of the silent era, costing just under 1 million. The castle was the biggest set ever made for a silent movie. Some scenes feature over 1,200 extras.
- 10/25/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
This review of “Lucy and Desi” was first published on Jan. 22, 2022, following the film’s Sundance premiere.
There were a lot of scenarios in which Amy Poehler’s affectionate documentary “Lucy and Desi” might never have existed. As Lucille Ball herself recounts via wonderful vintage interviews, the future superstar couldn’t even make it as a showgirl in the early years. She was kicked out of drama school and canned from various chorus lines. “I was a dud. A real nothing,” she admits, adding that at one desperate point she changed her name to Dianne Belmont, pretended she was from Montana (instead of New York) and gave herself the nickname “Two Gun.”
By Ball’s own modest account, it wasn’t talent but unrelenting hard work that pulled her up a few rungs, until she’d done enough low-budget studio movies that she was considered “Queen of the Bs.” Her...
There were a lot of scenarios in which Amy Poehler’s affectionate documentary “Lucy and Desi” might never have existed. As Lucille Ball herself recounts via wonderful vintage interviews, the future superstar couldn’t even make it as a showgirl in the early years. She was kicked out of drama school and canned from various chorus lines. “I was a dud. A real nothing,” she admits, adding that at one desperate point she changed her name to Dianne Belmont, pretended she was from Montana (instead of New York) and gave herself the nickname “Two Gun.”
By Ball’s own modest account, it wasn’t talent but unrelenting hard work that pulled her up a few rungs, until she’d done enough low-budget studio movies that she was considered “Queen of the Bs.” Her...
- 3/4/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
While the summer movie season will kick off shortly––and we’ll be sharing a comprehensive preview on the arthouse, foreign, indie, and (few) studio films worth checking out––on the streaming side, The Criterion Channel and Mubi have unveiled their May 2021 lineups and there’s a treasure trove of highlights to dive into.
Timed with Satyajit Ray’s centenary, The Criterion Channel will have a retrospective of the Indian master, along with series on Gena Rowlands, Robert Ryan, Mitchell Leisen, Michael Almereyda, Josephine Decker, and more. In terms of recent releases, they’ll also feature Fire Will Come, The Booksellers, and the new restoration of Tom Noonan’s directorial debut What Happened Was….
On Mubi, in anticipation of Undine, they’ll feature two essential early features by Christian Petzold, Jerichow and The State That I Am In, along with his 1990 short documentary Süden. Also amongst the lineup is Sophy Romvari’s Still Processing,...
Timed with Satyajit Ray’s centenary, The Criterion Channel will have a retrospective of the Indian master, along with series on Gena Rowlands, Robert Ryan, Mitchell Leisen, Michael Almereyda, Josephine Decker, and more. In terms of recent releases, they’ll also feature Fire Will Come, The Booksellers, and the new restoration of Tom Noonan’s directorial debut What Happened Was….
On Mubi, in anticipation of Undine, they’ll feature two essential early features by Christian Petzold, Jerichow and The State That I Am In, along with his 1990 short documentary Süden. Also amongst the lineup is Sophy Romvari’s Still Processing,...
- 4/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
When Charlie Chaplin passed away on Christmas Day in 1977, aged 88, he left the screenplay for a last unfinished film titled “The Freak,” a passion project about a young woman with wings named Serapha who is exploited in all kinds of ways.
Italy’s Cineteca di Bologna archives, which have long been in charge of the preservation and restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s oeuvre, has just published a book that for the first time unearths the final version of Chaplin’s complete “The Freak” script. The book also comprises previously unseen materials, such as preparatory notes, drawings, photos and stills from filmed rehearsals of the film that Bologna archives chief Gianluca Farinelli calls Chaplin’s “artistic testament.”
Born to a couple of British missionaries, Serapha winds up in Patagonia, where she becomes an angel-like figure at a pilgrimage site for invalids seeking to be cured; she is then kidnapped and brought...
Italy’s Cineteca di Bologna archives, which have long been in charge of the preservation and restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s oeuvre, has just published a book that for the first time unearths the final version of Chaplin’s complete “The Freak” script. The book also comprises previously unseen materials, such as preparatory notes, drawings, photos and stills from filmed rehearsals of the film that Bologna archives chief Gianluca Farinelli calls Chaplin’s “artistic testament.”
Born to a couple of British missionaries, Serapha winds up in Patagonia, where she becomes an angel-like figure at a pilgrimage site for invalids seeking to be cured; she is then kidnapped and brought...
- 12/25/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Illustration by Lucy Jones.One of Sunset Boulevard’s most iconic lines is also one of its most prophetic. Consciously or not, Norma Desmond (played self-referentially by silent film star Gloria Swanson) says a mouthful when she utters, “I am big—it’s the pictures that got small!” In 1950 when the film was released, TV sets were just beginning to creep into American homes. Desmond couldn’t have imagined that screens would shrink to a size much smaller than a piece of furniture, or that audiences would one day be able to hold a famous face like hers on a device nestled in the palm of their hand. Desmond’s every line and movement drips with grandiosity. Swanson plays the character—one of the biggest and brightest stars of the silent cinema era in her youth—as a woman entombed by her onscreen past. Performing with the exaggerated gestures and...
- 7/13/2020
- MUBI
This episode of Broadway Rewind takes you to the opening night celebration of the new production of Michael Bennett's Pulitzer Prize winning musical A Chorus Line. But we start things off at a rehearsal for the one night only Actors Fund Benefit of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which starred Emily Skinner as Miss Mona and Broadway's original 'Annie' herself, Andrea McArdle as Doatsey Mae. McArdle told BroadwayWorld's own Richard Ridge about her take on the role and her song, 'She reminds me a little bit of that Mabel Normand character. Doatsey Mae is very smart. If it wasn't for that Chicken Ranch in town, she would have been a happening girl. She's overshadowed by all of this tardiness in this tiny little town, and the song, is a heartbreaking number. It's sweet and a great country number.
- 4/9/2020
- by BroadwayWorld TV
- BroadwayWorld.com
New York City Center today announced complete casting for the Encores production of Mack Mabel. Joining previously announced cast members Douglas Sills as Mack Sennett and Alexandra Socha as Mabel Normand are Major Attaway Fatty Arbuckle, Michael Berresse William Desmond Taylor, Lilli Cooper Lottie Ames, Ben Fankhauser Frank Wyman, Jordan Gelber Mr. Kessel, Evan Kasprzak Freddy, Raymond J. Lee Andy, Kevin Ligon Eddie, Janet Noh Ella, and Allen Lewis Rickman Mr. Bauman.
- 1/10/2020
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
An underappreciated gem of the silent era gets a welcome return to the big screen with the rerelease of four classics
The BFI is releasing this collection of four short films from the neglected pioneer of silent comedy, Mabel Normand – a performer, producer and director who worked with Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennett, Roscoe Arbuckle, Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel. It was in a film she directed, Mabel’s Strange Predicament (1914), that Chaplin first wore the “tramp” outfit, although that is not included here.
The shorts are Mabel’s Blunder (1914), in which Mabel misreads her fiance’s apparent dalliance with another woman; Mabel’s Dramatic Career (1913), with Sennett, in which she heads off to Hollywood after her cruel fiance rejects her, and he suffers the poetic justice of seeing her triumphantly up on the silver screen in a Keystone production – surely one of the earliest meta-cinema moments; His Trysting Places (1914), directed...
The BFI is releasing this collection of four short films from the neglected pioneer of silent comedy, Mabel Normand – a performer, producer and director who worked with Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennett, Roscoe Arbuckle, Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel. It was in a film she directed, Mabel’s Strange Predicament (1914), that Chaplin first wore the “tramp” outfit, although that is not included here.
The shorts are Mabel’s Blunder (1914), in which Mabel misreads her fiance’s apparent dalliance with another woman; Mabel’s Dramatic Career (1913), with Sennett, in which she heads off to Hollywood after her cruel fiance rejects her, and he suffers the poetic justice of seeing her triumphantly up on the silver screen in a Keystone production – surely one of the earliest meta-cinema moments; His Trysting Places (1914), directed...
- 11/8/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Hollywood’s queen of silent comedy was the first actor to have her name above a studio – and to hurl a custard pie on screen. Now she is back in the spotlight
She was, said Julian Johnson, a lyrical critic at Photoplay, “a kiss that explodes in a laugh; cherry bon-bons in a clown’s cap; sharing a cream puff from your best girl; a slap from a perfumed hand”. At the height of her career, this tomboy daredevil with screen-idol looks was Hollywood’s queen of comedy. At its nadir, a pariah.
Today, Mabel Normand is largely unknown, but a forthcoming BFI season looks set to refocus the spotlight on the woman who changed cinema for ever through pies, pratfalls – and her protege, Charlie Chaplin.
She was, said Julian Johnson, a lyrical critic at Photoplay, “a kiss that explodes in a laugh; cherry bon-bons in a clown’s cap; sharing a cream puff from your best girl; a slap from a perfumed hand”. At the height of her career, this tomboy daredevil with screen-idol looks was Hollywood’s queen of comedy. At its nadir, a pariah.
Today, Mabel Normand is largely unknown, but a forthcoming BFI season looks set to refocus the spotlight on the woman who changed cinema for ever through pies, pratfalls – and her protege, Charlie Chaplin.
- 9/7/2018
- by Jay McCarthy
- The Guardian - Film News
Girl Talk is a weekly look at women in film — past, present, and future.
From July 20 – July 26, New York City’s BAMcinématek presents “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers,” a new program in collaboration with Kino Lorber and The Library of Congress. Produced for Kino Lorber by Bret Wood and curated by historian Shelley Stamp, the series includes a number of brand-new 2K restorations of classic (and often forgotten) films, mostly focused on female directors from America’s rich silent-era in cinema.
As the series’ official synopsis notes, “as was frequently the case, women directors remained uncredited or were co-credited as director, even though for all intents and purposes, they were the de-facto directors and primary creative forces of the film.” For every Alice Guy-Blaché, there was a Ruth Ann Baldwin or an Ida May Park or a Mabel Normand, and that’s just the start of the rich history of women behind the camera.
From July 20 – July 26, New York City’s BAMcinématek presents “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers,” a new program in collaboration with Kino Lorber and The Library of Congress. Produced for Kino Lorber by Bret Wood and curated by historian Shelley Stamp, the series includes a number of brand-new 2K restorations of classic (and often forgotten) films, mostly focused on female directors from America’s rich silent-era in cinema.
As the series’ official synopsis notes, “as was frequently the case, women directors remained uncredited or were co-credited as director, even though for all intents and purposes, they were the de-facto directors and primary creative forces of the film.” For every Alice Guy-Blaché, there was a Ruth Ann Baldwin or an Ida May Park or a Mabel Normand, and that’s just the start of the rich history of women behind the camera.
- 7/13/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
'Amazing Tales from the Archives': Pioneering female documentarian Aloha Wanderwell Baker remembered at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival – along with the largely forgotten sound-on-cylinder technology and the Jean Desmet Collection. 'Amazing Tales from the Archives': San Francisco Silent Film Festival & the 'sound-on-cylinder' system Fans of the earliest sound films would have enjoyed the first presentation at the 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, held June 1–4: “Amazing Tales from the Archives,” during which Library of Congress' Nitrate Film Vault Manager George Willeman used a wealth of enjoyable film clips to examine the Thomas Edison Kinetophone process. In the years 1913–1914, long before The Jazz Singer and Warner Bros.' sound-on-disc technology, the sound-on-cylinder system invaded the nascent film industry with a collection of “talkies.” The sound was scratchy and muffled, but “recognizable.” Notably, this system focused on dialogue, rather than music or sound effects. As with the making of other recordings at the time, the...
- 6/28/2017
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
One of cinema's early comediennes, Dorothy Devore: between 1918 and 1930, the Ft. Worth-born actress was seen in nearly 100 movies, both features and shorts. Among them were 'Salvation Sue,' 'Naughty Mary Brown' and 'Saving Sister Susie,' all with frequent partner Earle Rodney. 'Comediennes of the Silent Era' & film historian Anthony Slide at the American Cinematheque Film historian and author Anthony Slide, once described by Lillian Gish as “our preeminent historian of the silent film,” will attend the American Cinematheque's 2017 Retroformat program “Comediennes of the Silent Era” on Sat., May 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the Spielberg Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Slide will be signing copies of his book She Could Be Chaplin!: The Comedic Brilliance of Alice Howell (University Press of Mississippi), about the largely forgotten pioneering comedy actress of the 1910s and early 1920s. The book signing will take place at 6:30 p.
- 5/5/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Comedy actress Alice Howell on the cover of film historian Anthony Slide's latest book: Pioneering funky-haired performer 'could have been Chaplin' – or at the very least another Louise Fazenda. Rediscovering comedy actress Alice Howell: Female performer in movie field dominated by men Early comedy actress Alice Howell is an obscure entity even for silent film aficionados. With luck, only a handful of them will be able to name one of her more than 100 movies, mostly shorts – among them Sin on the Sabbath, A Busted Honeymoon, How Stars Are Made – released between 1914 and 1920. Yet Alice Howell holds (what should be) an important – or at the very least an interesting – place in film history. After all, she was one of the American cinema's relatively few pioneering “funny actresses,” along with the likes of the better-known Flora Finch, Louise Fazenda, and, a top star in her day, Mabel Normand.[1] Also of note,...
- 4/20/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Last week Kino Lorber launched a new Kickstarter aimed to fund their latest project “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers,” a collection of important American films directed by women, including Alice Guy Blaché, Lois Weber, Nell Shipman, Dorothy Davenport, and many more, between 1910 and 1929.
The ambitious project will be presented in association with the Library of Congress and be the largest commercially-released video collection of films by female helmers. It will include HD restorations of both the most important films of the era, as well as lesser-known works, including short films, fragments and isolated chapters of incomplete serials.
“By showcasing the ambitious, inventive films from the golden age of women directors, we can get a sense of what was lost by the marginalization of women to ‘support roles’ within the film industry,” reads the Kickstarter page.
Read More: ‘The Eyeslicer,’ A New Variety Series By and For Indie Filmmakers, Launches Kickstarter Campaign...
The ambitious project will be presented in association with the Library of Congress and be the largest commercially-released video collection of films by female helmers. It will include HD restorations of both the most important films of the era, as well as lesser-known works, including short films, fragments and isolated chapters of incomplete serials.
“By showcasing the ambitious, inventive films from the golden age of women directors, we can get a sense of what was lost by the marginalization of women to ‘support roles’ within the film industry,” reads the Kickstarter page.
Read More: ‘The Eyeslicer,’ A New Variety Series By and For Indie Filmmakers, Launches Kickstarter Campaign...
- 10/25/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
The recent box office success of The Boss firmly establishes Melissa McCarthy as the current queen of movie comedies (Amy Schumer could be a new contender after an impressive debut last Summer with Trainwreck), but let us think back about those other funny ladies of filmdom. So while we’re enjoying the female reboot/re-imagining of Ghostbusters and those Bad Moms, here’s a top ten list that will hopefully inspire lots of laughter and cause you to search out some classic comedies. It’s tough to narrow them down to ten, but we’ll do our best, beginning with… 10. Eve Arden The droll Ms. Arden represents the comic sidekicks who will attempt to puncture the pomposity of the leading ladies with a well-placed wisecrack (see also the great Thelma Ritter in Rear Window). Her career began in the early 1930’s with great bit roles in Stage Door and Dancing Lady.
- 8/8/2016
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Mack amp Mabel, which will embark on a UK amp Ireland Tour in Autumn 2015 following its premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre, stars double Oliver award-winning Michael Ball and Rebecca Lachance. Based on the real-life romance between Hollywood legends Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, it tells the story of a group of pioneering filmmakers who changed the world surrounded by the great fun of the silent screen heroes in capes, girls tied to the tracks, glamorous Bathing Beauties and the chaos of the Keystone Kops.
- 7/28/2015
- by Review Roundups
- BroadwayWorld.com
Mack amp Mabel, whichwill embark on a UK amp Ireland Tour in Autumn 2015 following its premiere atChichester Festival Theatre, stars double Oliver award-winningMichael BallandRebecca Lachance.Based on the real-life romance between Hollywood legends Mack Sennettand Mabel Normand, it tells the story of a group of pioneering filmmakers who changed the world surrounded by the great fun of the silent screen heroes in capes, girls tied to the tracks, glamorous BathingBeauties and the chaos of the Keystone Kops. Check out photos of the cast in action below...
- 7/20/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Stevie Nicks has some words of wisdom for rising starlets: Spend more time in a bikini. "I wouldn't go out to the beach without a sarong from my neck to my ankles," she tells Billboard of her younger years. "Now I see a picture of myself from that era in a bikini and I'm like, 'You looked great. And you missed out on a lot of fun vacations, because you were so sure that you were fat.' " Now 66, the Fleetwood Mac singer admits times have changed, making it even harder to be a young woman in show business. "All...
- 9/29/2014
- by Michele Corriston, @mcorriston
- PEOPLE.com
Stevie Nicks has some words of wisdom for rising starlets: Spend more time in a bikini. "I wouldn't go out to the beach without a sarong from my neck to my ankles," she tells Billboard of her younger years. "Now I see a picture of myself from that era in a bikini and I'm like, 'You looked great. And you missed out on a lot of fun vacations, because you were so sure that you were fat.' " Now 66, the Fleetwood Mac singer admits times have changed, making it even harder to be a young woman in show business. "All...
- 9/29/2014
- by Michele Corriston, @mcorriston
- PEOPLE.com
The celebrated musician has been very candid about her drug use, and the sad story of a silent movie actress who inspired her to kick the addiction.
In a recent interview with Billboard, singer Stevie Nicks talked about her turbulent past with the band Fleetwood Mac, and about the massive cocaine addiction she used to have that, according to Nicks, could have easily killed her.
Interviewer Rob Tannenbaum asked Nicks, "Didn't a doctor warn you in the '80s that if you did one more line of coke, you might have a heart attack?"
"He said I'd have a brain hemorrhage, actually," Nicks responded.
Photos: 9 Music Superstars Who Sang At Celebrity Weddings
The subject came up when Nicks opened up about her song 'Mabel Normand', off her upcoming album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault. Mabel Normand was an actress in the silent movie era whose career began to spiral after getting addicted to cocaine...
In a recent interview with Billboard, singer Stevie Nicks talked about her turbulent past with the band Fleetwood Mac, and about the massive cocaine addiction she used to have that, according to Nicks, could have easily killed her.
Interviewer Rob Tannenbaum asked Nicks, "Didn't a doctor warn you in the '80s that if you did one more line of coke, you might have a heart attack?"
"He said I'd have a brain hemorrhage, actually," Nicks responded.
Photos: 9 Music Superstars Who Sang At Celebrity Weddings
The subject came up when Nicks opened up about her song 'Mabel Normand', off her upcoming album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault. Mabel Normand was an actress in the silent movie era whose career began to spiral after getting addicted to cocaine...
- 9/29/2014
- Entertainment Tonight
Honorary Award: Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth among dozens of women bypassed by the Academy (photo: Honorary Award non-winner Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Blvd.') (See previous post: "Honorary Oscars: Doris Day, Danielle Darrieux Snubbed.") Part three of this four-part article about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Honorary Award bypassing women basically consists of a long, long — and for the most part quite prestigious — list of deceased women who, some way or other, left their mark on the film world. Some of the names found below are still well known; others were huge in their day, but are now all but forgotten. Yet, just because most people (and the media) suffer from long-term — and even medium-term — memory loss, that doesn't mean these women were any less deserving of an Honorary Oscar. So, among the distinguished female film professionals in Hollywood and elsewhere who have passed away without...
- 9/4/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Mabel Normand in Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916)
Mabel Normand is someone I knew more as a concept than as an actual screen personality. As Mack Sennett's one-again-off-again betrothed, and his favorite leading lady at Keystone, she helped discover Charlie Chaplin and threw the screen's first custard pie. And she was a wild girl who gave good copy. ("Say anything you like, but don't say I love to work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, that prissy bitch. Just say I like to pinch babies and twist their legs. And get drunk.")
I'd seen her in some early Chaplin films, typically rather disorganized affairs where she cries a lot and is almost crowded off the screen by rhubarbing clowns (Mabel's Busy Day, 1914). It was always a problem, making any impression amid the chaos of a Keystone movie, which is part of why Chaplin hated it. No room to breathe for the gags,...
Mabel Normand is someone I knew more as a concept than as an actual screen personality. As Mack Sennett's one-again-off-again betrothed, and his favorite leading lady at Keystone, she helped discover Charlie Chaplin and threw the screen's first custard pie. And she was a wild girl who gave good copy. ("Say anything you like, but don't say I love to work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, that prissy bitch. Just say I like to pinch babies and twist their legs. And get drunk.")
I'd seen her in some early Chaplin films, typically rather disorganized affairs where she cries a lot and is almost crowded off the screen by rhubarbing clowns (Mabel's Busy Day, 1914). It was always a problem, making any impression amid the chaos of a Keystone movie, which is part of why Chaplin hated it. No room to breathe for the gags,...
- 5/29/2014
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Review by Sam Moffitt
I love the silent era of movie making. I’ve written of this before and will again, many times I’m sure. Roger Ebert, on his website, made the observation (accurately I’d say) that silent films are not just movies without sound; they are a different medium altogether from the movies we are used to seeing now. Silent films are as different to sound films as radio is to television.
Hollywood Cavalcade was one of the first movies to look back at Hollywood history, and managed to involve several artists who were instrumental in making films that are still enjoyable today.
Hollywood Cavalcade tells the story of Mike Conners (Don Ameche) and his partner, ace cameraman Pete Tinney (Stu Erwin) and their trip to New York City to find a stage actress they can take back to Hollywood and make into a star of moving pictures.
I love the silent era of movie making. I’ve written of this before and will again, many times I’m sure. Roger Ebert, on his website, made the observation (accurately I’d say) that silent films are not just movies without sound; they are a different medium altogether from the movies we are used to seeing now. Silent films are as different to sound films as radio is to television.
Hollywood Cavalcade was one of the first movies to look back at Hollywood history, and managed to involve several artists who were instrumental in making films that are still enjoyable today.
Hollywood Cavalcade tells the story of Mike Conners (Don Ameche) and his partner, ace cameraman Pete Tinney (Stu Erwin) and their trip to New York City to find a stage actress they can take back to Hollywood and make into a star of moving pictures.
- 5/23/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
D.W. Griffith movies at the American Cinematheque (photo: D.W. Griffith circa 1915) A series of D.W. Griffith movies made at Biograph at the dawn of both the 20th century and the art of moviemaking will be screened at the American Cinematheque next weekend. "Retroformat Presents: D.W. Griffith at Biograph, Part 3 - 1909 – 1910" will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. in the Steven Spielberg auditorium of The Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. The evening will be hosted by Tom Barnes; musical accompaniment will be provided by Cliff Retallick. Among the D.W. Griffith films to be presented by Retroformat are the following: Lines of White on a Sullen Sea The Gibson Goddess The Mountaineer’s Honor Through the Breakers A Corner in Wheat Her Terrible Ordeal The Last Deal Faithful D.W. Griffith and his stars As found in Retroformat’s press release, those early D.W. Griffith efforts feature "innovative cinematography" by frequent Griffith collaborator G.W. Bitzer,...
- 4/24/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Book review: Mabel and Me: a novel about the Movies by Jon Boorstin (Angel City Press)The first movie book I ever read—borrowed from my local public library—was Mack Sennett’s autobiography, King of Comedy. I returned to it over and over again, mesmerized by the producer’s stories about the early days of moviemaking and his love for the beguiling comedienne Mabel Normand. Some years later, I came to realize that many of Sennett’s tales were fanciful and not to be trusted, but the broad outlines were true, as was his devotion to Mabel—in spite of his infidelities. My abiding fondness for this book, and the period it evokes, made it difficult to enjoy Jerry Herman’s Broadway...
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- 3/24/2014
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Hi all, it’s Tim, here to celebrate a milestone of particular significance in the history not just of movies, but of pop culture generally. This weekend marks a centennial of one of the most iconic figures of the modern world: silent comedian Charles Chaplin’s legendary Little Tramp, who premiered in a pair of short comedies that released 100 years ago by Keystone Studios. The second to be shot, but the first to be released, was the half-reel comic short Kid Auto Races at Venice, Cal. on February 7, 1914; two days later, it was followed by the single-reel Mabel’s Strange Predicament, during the production of which Chaplin threw together a costume on the fly made of too-large shoes, baggy pants, a tight jacket, and a bowler hat. Within months – if not, indeed, within weeks – the character thus assembled through a quick burst of inspiration had become a sensation with audiences,...
- 2/7/2014
- by Tim Brayton
- FilmExperience
In search of flickering reminders of Chaplin's La, Kira Cochrane follows in the footsteps of The Little Tramp, on the centenary of his arrival in Hollywood
Charlie Chaplin slept here: La hotels
The footprints and signature on the doorstep have faded, but there's no confusion about who built these studios: Charlie Chaplin, dressed as the Little Tramp, is painted on the door. Time-lapse footage of the construction of this mock Tudor village – now owned by the Jim Henson Company and identified by a 12ft statue of Kermit above the entrance – appears in How To Make Movies, a film directed by Chaplin in 1918. It shows the small hamlet emerging among the lemon groves that once undulated here, a city rising from the dust.
I wonder how much of Hollywood would exist if Chaplin had never arrived. If the manager of his touring vaudeville troupe had never received that abrupt, misspelled...
Charlie Chaplin slept here: La hotels
The footprints and signature on the doorstep have faded, but there's no confusion about who built these studios: Charlie Chaplin, dressed as the Little Tramp, is painted on the door. Time-lapse footage of the construction of this mock Tudor village – now owned by the Jim Henson Company and identified by a 12ft statue of Kermit above the entrance – appears in How To Make Movies, a film directed by Chaplin in 1918. It shows the small hamlet emerging among the lemon groves that once undulated here, a city rising from the dust.
I wonder how much of Hollywood would exist if Chaplin had never arrived. If the manager of his touring vaudeville troupe had never received that abrupt, misspelled...
- 12/8/2013
- by Kira Cochrane
- The Guardian - Film News
This year's edition of the silent film festival featured Welles' previously-thought-lost Too Much Johnson amid a typically irreverent and varied selection
• Orson Welles's first professional film discovered in an Italian warehouse
• Review: Peter Bradshaw on Blancanieves
The first full day of the 32nd Giornate del Cinema Muto, the world's most prestigious silent-film festival, took place exactly 86 years after The Jazz Singer premiered in New York. There were no mournful faces in the town of Pordenone, Italy, where the Giornate is held, however. In this corner of the world, for one week only, it is not quite as if the talkies never arrived, but rather that they failed to stop the party. Silent cinema continues to reinvent itself, to surprise even its most protective guardians, and to multiply.
The opening gala night of the festival featured a recent film that paid tribute to European silent cinema, Pablo Berger's invigoratingly...
• Orson Welles's first professional film discovered in an Italian warehouse
• Review: Peter Bradshaw on Blancanieves
The first full day of the 32nd Giornate del Cinema Muto, the world's most prestigious silent-film festival, took place exactly 86 years after The Jazz Singer premiered in New York. There were no mournful faces in the town of Pordenone, Italy, where the Giornate is held, however. In this corner of the world, for one week only, it is not quite as if the talkies never arrived, but rather that they failed to stop the party. Silent cinema continues to reinvent itself, to surprise even its most protective guardians, and to multiply.
The opening gala night of the festival featured a recent film that paid tribute to European silent cinema, Pablo Berger's invigoratingly...
- 10/14/2013
- by Pamela Hutchinson
- The Guardian - Film News
RomCom Filming in NY: Grant, Tomei Star for Director Lawrence Marc Lawrence’s as-yet untitled, New York-set romantic comedy toplining Hugh Grant and Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei began principal photography yesterday, April 17, producer Martin Shafer announced. -- Pictured above: Marisa Tomei, looking more beautiful than ever. Here's the plot, as per the film's press release: In 1998, Keith Michaels, played by Hugh Grant, was on top of the world -- a witty, sexy, Englishman in Hollywood who had just won a major screenwriter’s award. Fifteen years later, he’s creatively washed up, divorced, and broke. With no other options, he takes a job teaching screenwriting at a small college in Binghamton, New York. Although the idea of teaching is less than thrilling, he hopes to make some easy money and enjoy the favors of impressionable young co-eds. What he doesn’t expect to find is romance...
- 4/18/2013
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
In Robert Wiene’s 1920 dreamlike horror classic, veteran German actor Werner Krauss plays the mysterious Dr. Caligari, the apparent force behind a creepy somnambulist named Cesare and played by Conrad Veidt, who abducts beautiful Lil Dagover. The finale in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has inspired tons of movies and television shows, from Fritz Lang's 1944 film noir The Woman in the Window to the last episode of the TV series St. Elsewhere. In addition, the film shares some key elements in common (suppposedly as a result of a mere coincidence) with Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's 2011 thriller Shutter Island. The 1920 crime melodrama Outside the Law is not in any way related to Rachid Bouchareb's 2010 political drama. Instead, the Tod Browning-directed movie is a well-made entry in the gangster genre (long before the explosion a decade later). Browning, best known for his early '30s efforts Dracula and Freaks,...
- 4/1/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Hollywood Scandals: Errol Flynn / Roman Polanski / Charles Chaplin / Mary Miles Minter / Rex Harrison. (Photo: A young Errol Flynn. See previous article “In Good Company: Rupert Sanders and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.”) William Desmond Taylor murder / Mabel Normand, Mary Miles Minter According to Hollywood lore, director William Desmond Taylor’s still unsolved murder ruined the careers of actresses Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter in the early ’20s. Normand, however, continued making movies after the scandal; her failing health may have been the reason — or at least one reason — for her less frequent output in the mid-to-late ’20s. [...]...
- 7/28/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
There are two stories I want to tell with this glorious 1922 poster: one is about the film itself—a forgotten silent melodrama—and the sad fates of its main protagonists, and the other is about the artist Henry Clive.
The Green Temptation, a film which I’m not even sure is extant (the silent film database silentera.com says “survival status: unknown”), starred Betty Compson as Genelle, a member of the Parisian underworld who, along with her partner Gaspard, runs a travelling theatre as a ruse to pickpocket their patrons and burgle their homes while they’re watching the show. When the First World War starts, Genelle joins the Red Cross as a nurse to evade the police and after the War emigrates to America to start a new life. But her attempt to turn over a new leaf is foiled by the reappearance of Gaspard who forces her to...
The Green Temptation, a film which I’m not even sure is extant (the silent film database silentera.com says “survival status: unknown”), starred Betty Compson as Genelle, a member of the Parisian underworld who, along with her partner Gaspard, runs a travelling theatre as a ruse to pickpocket their patrons and burgle their homes while they’re watching the show. When the First World War starts, Genelle joins the Red Cross as a nurse to evade the police and after the War emigrates to America to start a new life. But her attempt to turn over a new leaf is foiled by the reappearance of Gaspard who forces her to...
- 3/30/2012
- MUBI
William Friedkin's 1975 interview with Fritz Lang
If you happen to be in the market for Fritz Lang Christmas ornaments, they do exist, though they don't come cheaply. At any rate, much of the third issue of Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism (the successor to Movie, the print journal Ian Cameron edited from 1962 to 2000) is given to the second part of its Fritz Lang dossier featuring — and I should mention before you start clicking that these are PDFs — Stella Bruzzi on Fury (1936), Vf Perkins on You Only Live Once (1937), Edward Gallafent on The Return of Frank James (1940), Adrian Martin on Scarlet Street (1945), Peter William Evans on The Big Heat (1953), Deborah Thomas on Human Desire (1954) and Peter Benson on Moonfleet (1955).
Also in this issue: Christian Keathley on Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Alex Clayton on Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake and John Gibbs on Jamie Thraves's...
If you happen to be in the market for Fritz Lang Christmas ornaments, they do exist, though they don't come cheaply. At any rate, much of the third issue of Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism (the successor to Movie, the print journal Ian Cameron edited from 1962 to 2000) is given to the second part of its Fritz Lang dossier featuring — and I should mention before you start clicking that these are PDFs — Stella Bruzzi on Fury (1936), Vf Perkins on You Only Live Once (1937), Edward Gallafent on The Return of Frank James (1940), Adrian Martin on Scarlet Street (1945), Peter William Evans on The Big Heat (1953), Deborah Thomas on Human Desire (1954) and Peter Benson on Moonfleet (1955).
Also in this issue: Christian Keathley on Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Alex Clayton on Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake and John Gibbs on Jamie Thraves's...
- 12/24/2011
- MUBI
Paddy Considine is the latest actor to turn film-maker, with his highly acclaimed Tyrannosaur. Who else has made the switch?
Best known for his performances in Shane Meadows-helmed films such as A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man's Shoes, Paddy Considine is swapping his acting career – which includes stints in Hollywood in The Bourne Ultimatum and Cinderella Man – for the director's chair. His film Tyrannosaur, which he wrote and directed, was released on 7 October. But Considine isn't the first actor to sign up for a spell behind the camera. What drives other performers to make the switch?
The egoists
The need to take absolute control can be a powerful motivator. Charlie Chaplin began his film career working under the tutelage of Mack Sennett, who laid down the essentials of slapstick comedy, and directors such as Mabel Normand and Henry Lehrman. But pretty soon he was writing scripts, directing...
Best known for his performances in Shane Meadows-helmed films such as A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man's Shoes, Paddy Considine is swapping his acting career – which includes stints in Hollywood in The Bourne Ultimatum and Cinderella Man – for the director's chair. His film Tyrannosaur, which he wrote and directed, was released on 7 October. But Considine isn't the first actor to sign up for a spell behind the camera. What drives other performers to make the switch?
The egoists
The need to take absolute control can be a powerful motivator. Charlie Chaplin began his film career working under the tutelage of Mack Sennett, who laid down the essentials of slapstick comedy, and directors such as Mabel Normand and Henry Lehrman. But pretty soon he was writing scripts, directing...
- 10/10/2011
- by Matt Thomas
- The Guardian - Film News
Beverly Hills, CA . The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will present the American re-premiere of the first three reels of “The White Shadow,” the 1924 movie thought to be the earliest surviving feature film work of Alfred Hitchcock, on Thursday, September 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Following the screening, Oscar®-winning actress Eva Marie Saint, who starred in Hitchcock.s “North by Northwest,” will offer a description of the remaining scenes which are still lost. Michael Mortilla and Nicole Garcia will provide live musical accompaniment on piano and violin.
The evening also will include a screening of “Won in a Closet” (1914), a film starring and directed by Mabel Normand, and “Oil.s Well,” a Monty Banks comedy. Both films were part of the New Zealand Film Archive collection and have now been added to the collection of the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art,...
The evening also will include a screening of “Won in a Closet” (1914), a film starring and directed by Mabel Normand, and “Oil.s Well,” a Monty Banks comedy. Both films were part of the New Zealand Film Archive collection and have now been added to the collection of the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art,...
- 9/12/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Huckleberry Finn (1920) Direction: William Desmond Taylor Cast: Lewis Sargent, George Reed, Katherine Griffith, Frank Lanning, Gordon Griffith, Esther Ralston, Edythe Chapman, Martha Mattox Screenplay: Julia Crawford Ivers; from Mark Twain's novel Lewis Sargent in William Desmond Taylor's Huckleberry Finn Directed by William Desmond Taylor, Huckleberry Finn stars a fresh, freckle-faced Lewis Sargent as Huck. (Sargent was also featured in another 1920 Taylor production, The Soul of Youth.) Set in the antebellum South, this sentimental retelling of Mark Twain's iconic story revolves around the adventures of Huckleberry Finn after he is kidnapped by his no-good, drunken father (Frank Lanning). When Huck manages to escape, he enjoys his newfound freedom so much that he continues to elude the search party. As a result, everyone thinks he is dead. Soon, Huck is joined by Jim (George Reed), a slave on the run. Later on, they meet up with a pair of...
- 8/24/2011
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Los Angeles -- Alfred Hitchcock is still surprising his fans.
Film preservationists said Wednesday they've found the first half of the earliest known surviving feature film on which Hitchcock has a credit: a silent melodrama called "The White Shadow."
The first three reels of the six-reel film, made in 1923, were discovered by the National Film Preservation Foundation at the New Zealand Film Archive.
"The White Shadow" was directed by Graham Cutts, and the 24-year-old Hitchcock was credited as writer, assistant director, editor and art director.
Hitchcock made his own directing debut two years later with the chorus-girl melodrama "The Pleasure Garden." He went on to direct such suspense classics as "Psycho," "The Birds," "Rear Window" and "Vertigo."
"The White Shadow" is a "missing link, one of those few productions where we are able to bridge that gap of Hitchcock, the young guy with all these ideas, and Hitchcock the filmmaker,...
Film preservationists said Wednesday they've found the first half of the earliest known surviving feature film on which Hitchcock has a credit: a silent melodrama called "The White Shadow."
The first three reels of the six-reel film, made in 1923, were discovered by the National Film Preservation Foundation at the New Zealand Film Archive.
"The White Shadow" was directed by Graham Cutts, and the 24-year-old Hitchcock was credited as writer, assistant director, editor and art director.
Hitchcock made his own directing debut two years later with the chorus-girl melodrama "The Pleasure Garden." He went on to direct such suspense classics as "Psycho," "The Birds," "Rear Window" and "Vertigo."
"The White Shadow" is a "missing link, one of those few productions where we are able to bridge that gap of Hitchcock, the young guy with all these ideas, and Hitchcock the filmmaker,...
- 8/4/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
As with the 2009 original, the basic model for The Hangover Part II isn’t the Ferrell-Sandler-Carrell-Vaughn comedies but the noir quicksands of Maté’s D.O.A. and Nolan’s Memento, where dying or amnesic protagonists scramble to decipher the vortexes they’re in. The first film remained fairly repellent in its view of frat-house regression unquestioningly papered over with massive smirks, so it’s a nifty surprise to see Todd Phillips’s sequel willing to smear a dash of grime on the original’s outlandish morning-after routines even as it virtually recreates them. As the action shifts from Las Vegas to Bangkok and their dazed characters experience severed body parts and invaded orifices, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis amp up their screen personas—Alpha douchebag, elongated nervous Nellie and Zen Lou Costello, respectively—to an interestingly unpleasant degree, positing a stark comic version of the Hostel films...
- 6/4/2011
- MUBI
The National Film Preservation Foundation announced today that the next volume in their invaluable series of DVD releases will be Treasures 5: The West, 1898-1938. The 10-hour, 3-disc box set celebrates "the dynamic, gender-bending, ethnically diverse West that flourished in early movies but has never before been seen on video."
The full lineup is here and today's announcement plucks out a few of the highlights: "Among the 40 selections are Mantrap (1926), the wilderness comedy starring Clara Bow in her favorite role; Ws Van Dyke's legendary The Lady of the Dugout (1918), featuring outlaw-turned-actor Al Jennings; Salomy Jane (1914), with America's first Latina screen celebrity Beatriz Michelena [image above]; Gregory La Cava's sparkling Old West–reversal Womanhandled (1925); Sessue Hayakawa in the cross-cultural drama Last of the Line (1914); one-reelers with Tom Mix and Broncho Billy, Mabel Normand in The Tourists (1912), and dozens of other rarities." The set is slated for a September release.
Speaking of the wild,...
The full lineup is here and today's announcement plucks out a few of the highlights: "Among the 40 selections are Mantrap (1926), the wilderness comedy starring Clara Bow in her favorite role; Ws Van Dyke's legendary The Lady of the Dugout (1918), featuring outlaw-turned-actor Al Jennings; Salomy Jane (1914), with America's first Latina screen celebrity Beatriz Michelena [image above]; Gregory La Cava's sparkling Old West–reversal Womanhandled (1925); Sessue Hayakawa in the cross-cultural drama Last of the Line (1914); one-reelers with Tom Mix and Broncho Billy, Mabel Normand in The Tourists (1912), and dozens of other rarities." The set is slated for a September release.
Speaking of the wild,...
- 5/31/2011
- MUBI
Colleen Moore in Alfred E. Green's Ella Cinders (top); Mabel Normand (bottom) The Silent Society of Hollywood Heritage will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in the company of silent-era superstars Norma Talmadge, Constance Talmadge, Colleen Moore, Viola Dana, and Mabel Normand. Never heard of them? Never seen them? Well, that's your loss. A loss that can be rectified on Saturday, April 2, at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, 2100 N. Highland Avenue, right across from the Hollywood Bowl. The day-long rare-movie marathon will feature 16mm prints of the following: Viola Dana's melodrama The Innocence of Ruth (1916); Constance Talmadge's comedy of errors The Veiled Adventure (1919); Norma Talmadge's slice of exotica The Forbidden City (1918), co-starring future superstar Thomas Meighan and directed by The Good Earth's Sidney Franklin; the Mabel Normand short A Dash Through the Clouds (1912); and the Colleen Moore comedy Ella Cinders (1926), in which starstruck Ella wants to go...
- 4/1/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight Written by Online Film Critics Society members Phil Hall and Rory Leighton Aronsky, What If They Lived? (BearManor Media, 2011) takes a look at the lives and oeuvre of celebrities whose film careers were prematurely curtailed by death. As befitting their book's title, Hall and Aronsky then wonder, "What if they lived?" Encompassing the early days of cinema all the way to the early 21st century, What If They Lived? features an eclectic mix of film talent gone much too soon. Those include Rudolph Valentino, Jean Harlow, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Dorothy Dandridge, Lon Chaney, Bruce Lee, John Belushi, River Phoenix, Mabel Normand, Carole Lombard, John Gilbert, Will Rogers, Robert Walker, Chris Farley, Natasha Richardson, and Heath Ledger, in addition to mostly forgotten luminaries such as early D. W. Griffith leading man Robert Harron, silent-era superstar Wallace Reid, Evelyn Preer, Carole Landis, Laird Cregar, Robert Francis,...
- 3/31/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
1914, U, BFI
This important, instructive, hugely enjoyable four-disc set contains painstakingly restored and attractively scored prints of 34 of the 35 films Charlie Chaplin made at Mack Sennett's Keystone studio between January and December 1914. They introduced Chaplin to the cinema, turning him in the process from an admired music hall artist into an accomplished film-maker, who ended the year on the threshold of becoming the most famous man in the world and its highest-paid entertainer. In the course of this astonishing 12 months, he worked with silent stars Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle and Chester Conklin, and we see a great artist evolve, appearing first as a silk-hatted pseudo-toff in his debut film, Making a Living, competing for work at a Los Angeles newspaper. In his second film, the seven-minute Kid Auto Races at Venice, he discovered his tramp persona complete with bowler and cane, delighting and puzzling the crowds at a children's...
This important, instructive, hugely enjoyable four-disc set contains painstakingly restored and attractively scored prints of 34 of the 35 films Charlie Chaplin made at Mack Sennett's Keystone studio between January and December 1914. They introduced Chaplin to the cinema, turning him in the process from an admired music hall artist into an accomplished film-maker, who ended the year on the threshold of becoming the most famous man in the world and its highest-paid entertainer. In the course of this astonishing 12 months, he worked with silent stars Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle and Chester Conklin, and we see a great artist evolve, appearing first as a silk-hatted pseudo-toff in his debut film, Making a Living, competing for work at a Los Angeles newspaper. In his second film, the seven-minute Kid Auto Races at Venice, he discovered his tramp persona complete with bowler and cane, delighting and puzzling the crowds at a children's...
- 1/30/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Between 1914 and 1928, people laughed longer, louder, and more often than at any other time in history. The reason why is that during those fourteen extremely turbulent years in the world, a group of comic geniuses did things on the movie screen that were more elaborately conceived for comedy, more brilliantly constructed for laughs, and, simply, funnier than anything ever done—-before or since. These extraordinary people—-among them, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Mabel Normand, Charlie Chase, and numerous others—-had four distinct advantages over all other comedians in the annals of entertainment: They could not be…...
- 12/12/2010
- Blogdanovich
On Tuesday morning, Wamg was invited to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ special press preview of John Ford’s Upstream (1927), one of 75 films recently found in the New Zealand Film Archive and repatriated to the U.S. with the cooperation of the National Film Preservation Foundation.
The 1927 silent film, that was thought lost for decades, had it’s re-premiere Wednesday night, September 1, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Many of the VIP’s on hand included Silent Film Historians and those involved with the restoration, as well as the general public.
Having seen the film on Tuesday, I must say the transfer is absolutely beautiful. I was so impressed by the special care taken with the film’s clarity and how vibrant the tinting is on the multiple color frames throughout. The smoky special effects combined with the subtle transitions made me forget I was...
The 1927 silent film, that was thought lost for decades, had it’s re-premiere Wednesday night, September 1, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Many of the VIP’s on hand included Silent Film Historians and those involved with the restoration, as well as the general public.
Having seen the film on Tuesday, I must say the transfer is absolutely beautiful. I was so impressed by the special care taken with the film’s clarity and how vibrant the tinting is on the multiple color frames throughout. The smoky special effects combined with the subtle transitions made me forget I was...
- 9/2/2010
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
It’s all happening down under recently. We’ve had Guillermo Del Toro walking from The Hobbit and now this wonderful news regarding seventy-five of rare and ‘lost’ silent-era films being discovered and sent back to the Us for restoration. Only something like fifty-nine per cent of films made before 1950 can be accounted for and the further one goes back the less a movie has of survival.
It’s a great shame, but some of the greatest films ever made are completely gone. Until somebody finds them! Alas, not last year was Fritz Lang’s full director’s cut found in a cinema in Argentina and restored to glory.
Among the stash of films found is western legend John Ford’s Upstream, made in in 1927. Steve Russell, manager of New Zealand’s film archive told the BBC:
“Finding Upstream was a fabulous discovery for our American colleagues, but also for ourselves.
It’s a great shame, but some of the greatest films ever made are completely gone. Until somebody finds them! Alas, not last year was Fritz Lang’s full director’s cut found in a cinema in Argentina and restored to glory.
Among the stash of films found is western legend John Ford’s Upstream, made in in 1927. Steve Russell, manager of New Zealand’s film archive told the BBC:
“Finding Upstream was a fabulous discovery for our American colleagues, but also for ourselves.
- 6/8/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Collection of 75 early American films, including several that had been considered lost to history, have been discovered in New Zealand
An extraordinary collection of 75 early American films, including several that had been considered lost to history, have been discovered in New Zealand and are being returned to the Us.
The cache includes the only copy believed to exist of a late silent movie by one of the giants of American film-making, John Ford, as well as several works produced between 1910 and 1920 starring important female actors such as Clara Bow and Mabel Normand.
The collection had been stored at the New Zealand Film Archive but their significance was not fully recognised until last year when they were dug out by a Los Angeles-based film preservationist. A deal has since been struck with the National Film Preservation Foundation based in San Francisco to preserve the reels and return them to the Us.
An extraordinary collection of 75 early American films, including several that had been considered lost to history, have been discovered in New Zealand and are being returned to the Us.
The cache includes the only copy believed to exist of a late silent movie by one of the giants of American film-making, John Ford, as well as several works produced between 1910 and 1920 starring important female actors such as Clara Bow and Mabel Normand.
The collection had been stored at the New Zealand Film Archive but their significance was not fully recognised until last year when they were dug out by a Los Angeles-based film preservationist. A deal has since been struck with the National Film Preservation Foundation based in San Francisco to preserve the reels and return them to the Us.
- 6/7/2010
- by Ed Pilkington
- The Guardian - Film News
Talk about a treasure chest of films.
Over the weekend, a massive collection of early U.S. films, clocking in at a robust 75 films, was discovered in a vault in New Zealand. According to Variety, the collection of films will be preserved by the New Zealand Film Archive and National Film Preservation Foundation, along with the help of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, UCLA Film and Television Archive, as well as the Library of Congress, and the Museum of Modern Art to boot.
Among the films, there are films showing such things as how hats are made by Stetson, how someone can set an underwater explosive, and a neo-commercial for a Ford tractor trailer. However, the most interesting piece is not something like that at all.
Uncovered in this collection is an early film from the filmography of John Ford. Upstream, a film previously thought to have been lost,...
Over the weekend, a massive collection of early U.S. films, clocking in at a robust 75 films, was discovered in a vault in New Zealand. According to Variety, the collection of films will be preserved by the New Zealand Film Archive and National Film Preservation Foundation, along with the help of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, UCLA Film and Television Archive, as well as the Library of Congress, and the Museum of Modern Art to boot.
Among the films, there are films showing such things as how hats are made by Stetson, how someone can set an underwater explosive, and a neo-commercial for a Ford tractor trailer. However, the most interesting piece is not something like that at all.
Uncovered in this collection is an early film from the filmography of John Ford. Upstream, a film previously thought to have been lost,...
- 6/7/2010
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
An early silent film directed by legendary moviemaker John Ford has been discovered in a stash of 75 rarities recently uncovered in New Zealand.
The 1927 feature, titled Upstream, tells the story of a romance between a Shakespearean actor and a girl from a knife-throwing act, and was previously thought to have been lost. Only 15 per cent of Ford's early works are believed to have survived into the present day.
The movie was released eight years before Ford won his first Academy Award for The Informer - he went on to land four coveted Best Director trophies, including prizes for The Grapes of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley.
The collection, discovered in a remote storage vault deep in New Zealand's movie archives, also includes 1923 film Maytime starring a young Clara Bow, and Won in a Closet, directed by and starring Mabel Normand.
Executives at the New Zealand Film Archive have struck a deal with America's National Film Preservation Foundation (Nfpf) and several other organisations, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Museum of Modern Art (Moma), to have the reels returned to the U.S. for preservation, according to Variety.com.
The Nfpf has called the collection "a time capsule of American film production in the 1910s and 1920s", while Jamie Lean, of the New Zealand Film Archive, adds, "We hope that our example will encourage other international partners who have safeguarded 'lost' American films for decades to share their long-unseen treasures with the world community."...
The 1927 feature, titled Upstream, tells the story of a romance between a Shakespearean actor and a girl from a knife-throwing act, and was previously thought to have been lost. Only 15 per cent of Ford's early works are believed to have survived into the present day.
The movie was released eight years before Ford won his first Academy Award for The Informer - he went on to land four coveted Best Director trophies, including prizes for The Grapes of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley.
The collection, discovered in a remote storage vault deep in New Zealand's movie archives, also includes 1923 film Maytime starring a young Clara Bow, and Won in a Closet, directed by and starring Mabel Normand.
Executives at the New Zealand Film Archive have struck a deal with America's National Film Preservation Foundation (Nfpf) and several other organisations, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Museum of Modern Art (Moma), to have the reels returned to the U.S. for preservation, according to Variety.com.
The Nfpf has called the collection "a time capsule of American film production in the 1910s and 1920s", while Jamie Lean, of the New Zealand Film Archive, adds, "We hope that our example will encourage other international partners who have safeguarded 'lost' American films for decades to share their long-unseen treasures with the world community."...
- 6/7/2010
- WENN
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