There’s a lot to digest in Damien Chazelle’s overstuffed Hollywood epic, “Babylon.” The story of three disparate movie denziens trying to survive the transition between the silent era and the talkies boasts some stellar performances, but what people might remember after the credits roll is just how wild Chazelle’s hedonistic world is. As he sees it, the silent era of Hollywood is packed to bursting with orgies, dancing, booze, woozy elephants, and a lot of nudity. Oh, and a ton of cocaine.
To many modern-day viewers, cocaine is likely more synonymous with ’80s excess than the supposed glamour of the ’20s. Movies like “Goodfellas” and “Less Than Zero” present cocaine as a party drug of a more contemporary era, so it’s understandable that it would show up in Chazelle’s film, particularly its raucous opening party sequence, as the filmmaker threads historical accuracies with his own special skew.
To many modern-day viewers, cocaine is likely more synonymous with ’80s excess than the supposed glamour of the ’20s. Movies like “Goodfellas” and “Less Than Zero” present cocaine as a party drug of a more contemporary era, so it’s understandable that it would show up in Chazelle’s film, particularly its raucous opening party sequence, as the filmmaker threads historical accuracies with his own special skew.
- 12/22/2022
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
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
From “The King of Kings” to “The Northman,” hundreds of films have premiered within the storied walls of the Tcl Chinese Theatre, which celebrates its 95th anniversary May 18.
Indeed, as early as 1933, the famed movie house appeared in other media as a boilerplate for how a premiere should, and often does, look like. Since then, the theater played itself in dozens of television shows and movies, some of which went on to debut on its iconic screen. The forecourt holds the signatures and imprints of concrete immortalization.
The former Grauman’s Chinese Theatre will fete its 95 years by launching a full year of programming, while also navigating premieres for first-run films and special events including the annual TCM Film Festival. It repertory programming was scheduled both in the big house and at its sister location, the Tcl Chinese 6.
“We’re going to be having screenings of seminal movies that have...
Indeed, as early as 1933, the famed movie house appeared in other media as a boilerplate for how a premiere should, and often does, look like. Since then, the theater played itself in dozens of television shows and movies, some of which went on to debut on its iconic screen. The forecourt holds the signatures and imprints of concrete immortalization.
The former Grauman’s Chinese Theatre will fete its 95 years by launching a full year of programming, while also navigating premieres for first-run films and special events including the annual TCM Film Festival. It repertory programming was scheduled both in the big house and at its sister location, the Tcl Chinese 6.
“We’re going to be having screenings of seminal movies that have...
- 5/18/2022
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
When Jennifer Aniston won a SAG Award Jan. 19, the mainstream media seized on one fact: She and her ex Brad Pitt were together in the winner’s circle. Woo-woo, hot stuff!
For gossip rags, that’s fun, but this angle misses the bigger picture. First, her award for “The Morning Show” was a nice validation for Apple TV Plus. Second, this was a project on which she and Reese Witherspoon are exec producers, meaning actor-producers have moved beyond the realm of “vanity productions,” as such deals used to be called for performers.
The 21st century has seen a sharp rise in actors with successful production companies. That list includes Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Eva Longoria and Nicole Kidman.
Though 2019 Oscar nominations inspired protests for lack of gender diversity among directors, the tallies in the best picture rank are better — not 50-50 yet, but getting there. Eight...
For gossip rags, that’s fun, but this angle misses the bigger picture. First, her award for “The Morning Show” was a nice validation for Apple TV Plus. Second, this was a project on which she and Reese Witherspoon are exec producers, meaning actor-producers have moved beyond the realm of “vanity productions,” as such deals used to be called for performers.
The 21st century has seen a sharp rise in actors with successful production companies. That list includes Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Eva Longoria and Nicole Kidman.
Though 2019 Oscar nominations inspired protests for lack of gender diversity among directors, the tallies in the best picture rank are better — not 50-50 yet, but getting there. Eight...
- 1/31/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
They called themselves United Artists, but the trades called it a “rebellion against established producing and distributing arrangements.” Paramount Pictures founder Adolph Zukor reportedly said, “The inmates have taken over the asylum.” But when Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith went before the cameras on Feb. 5, 1919, to announce the creation of a corporation to distribute their own films, they claimed it was necessary to protect their own interests as well as to “protect the exhibitor and the industry from itself.”
It wasn’t any great prescient vision that had brought Hollywood’s biggest moneymakers to this point. Rather, they were reacting — and quickly — to what they saw as a threat to limit their salaries and the quality of their films.
A little backstory: During the 1910s, as the demand for films skyrocketed, production companies, theaters and distribution mechanisms multiplied and, in retrospect, reaction was often the catalyst for change.
It wasn’t any great prescient vision that had brought Hollywood’s biggest moneymakers to this point. Rather, they were reacting — and quickly — to what they saw as a threat to limit their salaries and the quality of their films.
A little backstory: During the 1910s, as the demand for films skyrocketed, production companies, theaters and distribution mechanisms multiplied and, in retrospect, reaction was often the catalyst for change.
- 10/4/2019
- by Cari Beauchamp
- Variety Film + TV
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 look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.
- 9/20/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
On this day in history as it relates to the movies...
1828 Feral teenager Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering Nuremberg, claiming to have been raised in total isolation. Theories abound and the story inspires many artists down the road including Werner Herzog in the film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974).
1877 Influential dancer Isadora Duncan is born. Vanessa Redgrave gets an Oscar nomination playing her in Isadora! (1968)
1886 Al Jolson is born. Will later star in the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer (1927)
1894 Silent film star Norma Talmadge is born
1897 Bram Stoker's epistolary novel "Dracula" is published. Never stops being adapted for film and television but our hearts will always belong to Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) despite the aggravating double possessive
1907 John Wayne was born. Did he always talk like that?
1913 Peter Cushing is born in England. Later stars in Hammer Horror films with his irl best friend Christopher Lee, the Dracula to his Van Helsing.
1828 Feral teenager Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering Nuremberg, claiming to have been raised in total isolation. Theories abound and the story inspires many artists down the road including Werner Herzog in the film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974).
1877 Influential dancer Isadora Duncan is born. Vanessa Redgrave gets an Oscar nomination playing her in Isadora! (1968)
1886 Al Jolson is born. Will later star in the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer (1927)
1894 Silent film star Norma Talmadge is born
1897 Bram Stoker's epistolary novel "Dracula" is published. Never stops being adapted for film and television but our hearts will always belong to Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) despite the aggravating double possessive
1907 John Wayne was born. Did he always talk like that?
1913 Peter Cushing is born in England. Later stars in Hammer Horror films with his irl best friend Christopher Lee, the Dracula to his Van Helsing.
- 5/26/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Ramon Novarro: 'Ben-Hur' 1925 star. 'Ben-Hur' on TCM: Ramon Novarro in most satisfying version of the semi-biblical epic Christmas 2015 is just around the corner. That's surely the reason Turner Classic Movies presented Fred Niblo's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ last night, Dec. 20, '15, featuring Carl Davis' magnificent score. Starring Ramon Novarro, the 1925 version of Ben-Hur became not only the most expensive movie production,[1] but also the biggest worldwide box office hit up to that time.[2] Equally important, that was probably the first instance when the international market came to the rescue of a Hollywood mega-production,[3] saving not only Ben-Hur from a fate worse than getting trampled by a runaway chariot, but also the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which could have been financially strangled at birth had the epic based on Gen. Lew Wallace's bestseller been a commercial bomb. The convoluted making of 'Ben-Hur,' as described...
- 12/21/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Kitty Gordon: Actress in silent movies and on the musical comedy stage. Rediscovering a long-forgotten silent film star: Kitty Gordon It seems almost unthinkable that there are still silent stars who have not been resurrected, their lives and films subject to detailed, if not always reliable, examination. Yet I am reminded by Michael Levenston, a Canadian who has compiled what is best described as a “scrapbook” of her life and career, that there is one such individual – and not just a “name” in silent films, but also from 1901 onwards famed as a singer/actress in musical comedy and on the vaudeville stage in both her native England and the United States. And she is Kitty Gordon (1878-1974). 'The Enchantress' and her $50,000 backside Kitty Gordon was a talented lady, so much so that Victor Herbert wrote the 1911 operetta The Enchantress for her; one who also had a “gimmick,” in that...
- 12/12/2015
- by Anthony Slide
- Alt Film Guide
Constance Cummings: Actress in minor Hollywood movies became major London stage star. Constance Cummings: Actress went from Harold Lloyd and Frank Capra to Noël Coward and Eugene O'Neill Actress Constance Cummings, whose career spanned more than six decades on stage, in films, and on television in both the U.S. and the U.K., died ten years ago on Nov. 23. Unlike other Broadway imports such as Ann Harding, Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, and Claudette Colbert, the pretty, elegant Cummings – who could have been turned into a less edgy Constance Bennett had she landed at Rko or Paramount instead of Columbia – never became a Hollywood star. In fact, her most acclaimed work, whether in films or – more frequently – on stage, was almost invariably found in British productions. That's most likely why the name Constance Cummings – despite the DVD availability of several of her best-received performances – is all but forgotten.
- 11/4/2015
- 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
Teresa Wright: Later years (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon.") Teresa Wright and Robert Anderson were divorced in 1978. They would remain friends in the ensuing years.[1] Wright spent most of the last decade of her life in Connecticut, making only sporadic public appearances. In 1998, she could be seen with her grandson, film producer Jonah Smith, at New York's Yankee Stadium, where she threw the ceremonial first pitch.[2] Wright also became involved in the Greater New York chapter of the Als Association. (The Pride of the Yankees subject, Lou Gehrig, died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1941.) The week she turned 82 in October 2000, Wright attended the 20th anniversary celebration of Somewhere in Time, where she posed for pictures with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. In March 2003, she was a guest at the 75th Academy Awards, in the segment showcasing Oscar-winning actors of the past. Two years later,...
- 3/15/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Cary Grant films on TCM: Gender-bending 'I Was a Male War Bride' (photo: Cary Grant not gay at all in 'I Was a Male War Bride') More Cary Grant films will be shown tonight, as Turner Classic Movies continues with its Star of the Month presentations. On TCM right now is the World War II action-drama Destination Tokyo (1943), in which Grant finds himself aboard a U.S. submarine, alongside John Garfield, Dane Clark, Robert Hutton, and Tom Tully, among others. The directorial debut of screenwriter Delmer Daves (The Petrified Forest, Love Affair) -- who, in the following decade, would direct a series of classy Westerns, e.g., 3:10 to Yuma, The Hanging Tree -- Destination Tokyo is pure flag-waving propaganda, plodding its way through the dangerous waters of Hollywood war-movie stereotypes and speechifying banalities. The film's key point of interest, in fact, is Grant himself -- not because he's any good,...
- 12/16/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
First Best Actor Oscar winner Emil Jannings and first Best Actress Oscar winner Janet Gaynor on TCM (photo: Emil Jannings in 'The Last Command') First Best Actor Academy Award winner Emil Jannings in The Last Command, first Best Actress Academy Award winner Janet Gaynor in Sunrise, and sisters Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge are a few of the silent era performers featured this evening on Turner Classic Movies, as TCM continues with its Silent Monday presentations. Starting at 5 p.m. Pt / 8 p.m. Et on November 17, 2014, get ready to check out several of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s. Following the Jean Negulesco-directed 1943 musical short Hit Parade of the Gay Nineties -- believe me, even the most rabid anti-gay bigot will be able to enjoy this one -- TCM will be showing Josef von Sternberg's The Last Command (1928) one of the two movies that earned...
- 11/18/2014
- 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 look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...
- 11/6/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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
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
Randolph Scott and Cary Grant: Gay lovers or good friends and roommates? (See previous post: “Randolph Scott Movies: From Westerns to Cary Grant Comedy.”) Now, one suggestion: Do not believe those rumors about Randolph Scott and Cary Grant having been gay lovers. Anything is possible, of course, but there’s no credible evidence indicating that the two actors were more than good friends / roommates who had first met on the set of the Nancy Carroll star vehicle Hot Saturday in 1932. (See also: “TCM Movie Lineup: Randolph Scott Westerns.”) (Image: Shirtless Randolph Scott and Cary Grant in publicity photo ca. 1933.) But what about all those pictures showing Randolph Scott and Cary Grant cozying up at the house they shared in the posh Los Feliz Hills? Well, those were publicity photos, taken at a time when both actors were up-and-coming Paramount contract players. Rooming up likely gave them a chance to...
- 8/19/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Everybody's favorite movie decade: Which ones are the best movies released in the 20th century's second decade? Best Film (Pictured above) Broken Blossoms: Barthelmess and Gish star as ill-fated lovers in D.W. Griffith’s romantic melodrama featuring interethnic love. Check These Out (Pictured below) Cabiria: is considered one of the major landmarks in motion picture history, having inspired the scope and visual grandeur of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance. Also of note, Pastrone's epic of ancient Rome introduced Maciste, a bulky hero who would be featured in countless movies in the ensuing decades. Best Actor (Pictured below) In the tragic The Italian, George Beban plays an Italian immigrant recently arrived in the United States (Click below for film review). Unfortunately, his American dream quickly becomes a horrendous nightmare of poverty and despair. Best Actress (Pictured below) The movies' super-vamp Theda Bara in A Fool There Was: A little...
- 3/27/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
“Movie House of Worship” is a regular feature spotlighting our favorite movie theaters around the world, those that are like temples of cinema catering to the most religious-like film geeks. This week, guest submitter Shannon Scott shares one of her favorite historic theaters. Her comments are those quoted. If you’d like to suggest or submit a place you regularly worship at the altar of cinema, please email our weekend editor. Name: The Kentucky Theatre Location: 214 E. Main Street, Lexington, Ky Opened: October 4, 1922. The first program was a parody of The Sheik, a newsreel and the Norma Talmadge romance The Eternal Flame. No. of screens: 2 Current first run titles: The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Robot and Frank. Repertory programming: Throughout the year, the theater schedules special screenings of repertory titles. This year has seen new prints of Ghostbusters, The Leopard and Carousel and rare prints of Charade, The Manchurian Candidate and Johnny Guitar. A...
- 11/4/2012
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund: AFI Fest 2012 On the Road red carpet Kristen Stewart and Garrett Hedlund, two of the leads in Walter Salles’ On the Road, and producers Charles Gillibert and Rebecca Yeldham were present at Los Angeles’ AFI Fest Saturday screening of Salles’ film adaptation (written by José Rivera) of Jack Kerouac’s iconic novel. The On the Road screening — and U.S. premiere — was held at the equally iconic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, L.A.’s preeminent site for movie premieres since superstar Norma Talmadge [...]...
- 11/4/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
You want action? Movie-movie action? Then forget The Avengers, which opens in the Us on May 4. The following day, head instead to the Niles Essanay Film Museum in the northern Californian town of Fremont, where they’ll be screening two action-packed flicks: Laughing at Danger and "The Tragic Plunge," episode 7 of the serial The Perils of Pauline. Haven’t heard of either one? Well, Laughing at Danger was an independent production released in 1924. It stars Richard Talmadge (no relation to sisters Constance Talmadge and Norma Talmadge), who, according to some sources, was quite popular in the Soviet Union, of all places. As for the serial The Perils of Pauline, it was a humongous success in 1914, turning Pearl White (photo) into a major screen star. Actually, more than that. White became a near-legendary movie icon, one whose adventures have been copied, remade, and rebooted ever since. In fact, I wouldn’t...
- 4/26/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Mary Pickford Building: The Lot aka Pickford-Fairbanks Studios Los Angeles just got uglier. Despite protests, the Mary Pickford Building on West Hollywood's The Lot has been destroyed by its current owner, the Cim Group. (See video below.) The Lot, as previously reported on this site, was built in the 1910s, when it was known as The Hampton Studios. Silent-era superstars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks purchased the place, which they renamed the Pickford-Fairbanks Studios. That's where Pickford's and Fairbanks' 1920s blockbusters — Robin Hood, Rosita, Sparrows, and The Thief of Bagdad among them — were shot. Renamed the United Artists Studios, it also became the workplace for the likes of Charles Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Norma Talmadge, Constance Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, and others. Independent producer Samuel Goldwyn also worked on the lot, where he made most of his later films: Frank Tuttle's Roman Scandals with Eddie Cantor, Titanic's Gloria Stuart, and...
- 4/6/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Barbara Kent, a minor leading lady during the transition from silent to sound films, died October 13 in Palm Desert, in Southern California. A resident of the local Marrakesh Country Club, Kent was either 103 or 104. No cause of death was given. Barbara Kent was never a star. Not even close. In fact, most of her 35 movies were probably forgotten the week after their release. Paradoxically, Kent has become one of the most important performers of the silent era. No, not because she was Harold Lloyd's leading lady in his first talkie, Welcome Danger (1929). Or because of her career highlight: romancing Glen Tryon in Paul Fejos' naturalistic drama Lonesome (1928), frequently compared to F. W. Murnau's Sunrise. Barbara Kent has taken an importance incommensurate to her actual movie career because she was the very last individual to have had notable adult leads in American silent films. Everybody else, from Lillian Gish to Joan Crawford,...
- 10/21/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
A memorial service for Kino International's former president Donald Krim will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 27, between 10 a.m.-12 noon, at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater in New York City. The former President of DVD and film distributor Kino International, Krim later became co-President of the recently formed Kino-Lorber. He died last May 20 at his New York home following a year-long battle with cancer. He was 65. During Donald Krim's tenure, among Kino's Us releases were films by Wong Kar Wai (Happy Together; Fallen Angels), Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher), Amos Gitai (Kippur; Kadosh), Aki Kaurismäki (The Match Factory Girl; Ariel), Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust), and Andrei Zvyagintsev (The Return). Kino also distributed independent American productions (e.g., Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy), and both Hollywood and international classics, including numerous silent films, e.g., Fritz Lang's Metropolis,...
- 9/18/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Pert, pretty, multi-talented, actress-singer-dancer-Hollywood collector Debbie Reynolds is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Day on Friday, August 18, as TCM continues its "Summer Under the Stars" series. TCM is presenting 13 Debbie Reynolds movies. [Debbie Reynolds Movie Schedule.] Fans of Gene Kelly's Singin' in the Rain (1952) will be able to watch the romantic comedy-musical for the 118th time. I'm not one of them; in fact, I much prefer Kelly and Stanley Donen's On the Town (1949), and I'd say that George Sidney's Show Boat (1951) and Donen's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) are my favorite musicals of the 1950s. But fan or no, there's much to enjoy in Singin' in the Rain, including Reynolds and Donald O'Connor's performances, several great songs from the 1920s, and Jean Hagen's high-pitched mix of Norma Talmadge, (the British) Mabel Poulton, and Corinne Griffith. The iconic "Singin' in the Rain" number is one of my least favorite...
- 8/20/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Lost Horizon Ronald Colman on TCM: Random Harvest, Kiki, A Tale Of Two Cities Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Lucky Partners (1940) Two strangers who share a sweepstakes ticket take it on the lam. Dir: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers, Jack Carson. Bw-99 mins. 7:45 Am My Life With Caroline (1941) A man thinks his high-spirited wife is cheating on him. Dir: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Ronald Colman, Anna Lee, Charles Winninger. Bw-81 mins. 9:15 Am The White Sister (1923) Thinking her lover was killed in the war, a young woman becomes a nun. Dir: Henry King. Cast: Lillian Gish, Ronald Colman, Gail Kane. Bw-135 mins. 11:30 Am Kiki (1926) A Parisian dancer vies with a glamorous actress for a producer's heart. Dir: Clarence Brown. Cast: Norma Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Gertrude Astor. Bw-97 mins. 1:30 Pm Raffles (1930) A distinguished British gentleman hides his true...
- 8/4/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ronald Colman, A Tale of Two Cities Ronald Colman is Turner Classic Movies "Summer Under the Stars" performer on Thursday, August 4. One of the finest film actors ever, at ease in both heavy drama and light comedy, Ronald Colman will have his extensive career represented by 13 films. Among those are three TCM premieres: the silent comedies Kiki (1926) and Her Night of Romance (1924), and the 1931 romantic drama The Unholy Garden. [Ronald Colman Movie Schedule.] Kiki is notable as one of Drama Queen Norma Talmadge's relatively rare comedy forays. Though all but forgotten today, Talmadge was one of the top two or three movie stars of the 1920s, starring in a series of melodramas that gave her the chance both to suffer for love and to wear some really fancy gowns. Women loved her. And I'm assuming many men loved her as well. In fact, had the Academy been founded a few years earlier, I...
- 8/4/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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
As Robert Duvall turns 80 today, he'll celebrate by becoming "the latest star immortalized in the famous collection of celebrity prints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre," reports Marilyn Sparks in the Examiner. "[T]he Oscar-winner will join less than 200 celebrities who have left their handprints, footprints (and sometimes other strange prints) in the cement forecourt of the Hollywood landmark since actress Norma Talmadge first started the tradition in May 1927."...
- 1/5/2011
- MUBI
The Russian impresario had a profound effect on 1920s film-making, yet he never made a movie himself
Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes sparked a revolution in taste after the first world war, taking modernism out of the salon and into the music hall. The splendid exhibition Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, currently showing at the V&A, covers the impresario's legacy in music, dance, fashion, painting, and literature; but less well documented is the spell he cast over British film. Michael Powell, who drew on 1920s memories of the Diaghilev milieu for The Red Shoes, was just one among a generation of cineastes who found inspiration in the same source.
Ballet sequences held a special appeal for the likes of Anthony Asquith and Thorold Dickinson, who cast the young Audrey Hepburn as a ballerina in Secret People; but their interest went beyond merely recording dance on film.
Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes sparked a revolution in taste after the first world war, taking modernism out of the salon and into the music hall. The splendid exhibition Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, currently showing at the V&A, covers the impresario's legacy in music, dance, fashion, painting, and literature; but less well documented is the spell he cast over British film. Michael Powell, who drew on 1920s memories of the Diaghilev milieu for The Red Shoes, was just one among a generation of cineastes who found inspiration in the same source.
Ballet sequences held a special appeal for the likes of Anthony Asquith and Thorold Dickinson, who cast the young Audrey Hepburn as a ballerina in Secret People; but their interest went beyond merely recording dance on film.
- 12/22/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
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
Updated through 7/21.
"The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (Sfsff) is the biggest and most prestigious event of its kind in the Americas," writes Michael Hawley at the top of his extensive overview, "and it's gonna be even bigger for its 15th anniversary edition which begins Thursday. This year the fest expands from three days to four and will feature a massive 18 programs from seven countries. The line-up includes works by well known directors (Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, Gw Pabst) and stars (Laurel and Hardy, Louise Brooks, Norma Talmadge), as well as rarities like The Flying Ace, a 1926 film that features an all African-American cast. And as a special treat, David Shepard and Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films have curated a selection of shorts by George Méliès (the French fantasist best known for 1902's A Trip to the Moon) which will play throughout the festival."...
"The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (Sfsff) is the biggest and most prestigious event of its kind in the Americas," writes Michael Hawley at the top of his extensive overview, "and it's gonna be even bigger for its 15th anniversary edition which begins Thursday. This year the fest expands from three days to four and will feature a massive 18 programs from seven countries. The line-up includes works by well known directors (Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, Gw Pabst) and stars (Laurel and Hardy, Louise Brooks, Norma Talmadge), as well as rarities like The Flying Ace, a 1926 film that features an all African-American cast. And as a special treat, David Shepard and Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films have curated a selection of shorts by George Méliès (the French fantasist best known for 1902's A Trip to the Moon) which will play throughout the festival."...
- 7/21/2010
- MUBI
[Our thanks to Michael Hawley for offering his Sfsff lineup preview to the Twitch readership.]
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (Sfsff) is the biggest and most prestigious event of its kind in the Americas--and it's going to be even bigger for its 15th anniversary edition which begins Thursday. This year the fest expands from three days to four and will feature a massive 18 programs from seven countries. The line-up includes works by well known directors (Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, G.W. Pabst) and stars (Laurel and Hardy, Louise Brooks, Norma Talmadge), as well as rarities like The Flying Ace, a 1926 film that features an all African-American cast. And as a special treat, David Shepard and Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films have curated a selection of shorts by George Méliès (the French fantasist best known for 1902's A Trip to the Moon), which will play throughout the festival.
If you've been to the Sfsff before, you don't need me to tell you what a fabulous, class...
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (Sfsff) is the biggest and most prestigious event of its kind in the Americas--and it's going to be even bigger for its 15th anniversary edition which begins Thursday. This year the fest expands from three days to four and will feature a massive 18 programs from seven countries. The line-up includes works by well known directors (Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, G.W. Pabst) and stars (Laurel and Hardy, Louise Brooks, Norma Talmadge), as well as rarities like The Flying Ace, a 1926 film that features an all African-American cast. And as a special treat, David Shepard and Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films have curated a selection of shorts by George Méliès (the French fantasist best known for 1902's A Trip to the Moon), which will play throughout the festival.
If you've been to the Sfsff before, you don't need me to tell you what a fabulous, class...
- 7/13/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Louise Brooks (center) in Diary of a Lost Girl (top); Fritz Lang‘s Metropolis (upper middle); George O’Brien (center) in John Ford‘s The Iron Horse (lower middle); Norma Talmadge in Sam Taylor and Henry King‘s The Woman Disputed (bottom) The San Francisco Silent Film Festival kicks off on July 15 with a screening of John Ford‘s The Iron Horse, at 7 p.m. at the Castro Theatre. The festival’s Opening Night Party will follow the screening. Starring George O’Brien (the male lead in F. W. Murnau‘s Sunrise) and popular silent-film actress Madge Bellamy, The Iron Horse is a grandiose 1924 Western epic about the building of the United States’ transcontinental railroad. Among the Sfsff’s other highlights are a screening of the restored version of Fritz Lang‘s Metropolis, starring Brigitte Helm; Louise Brooks in G. W. Pabst‘s Diary of a Lost Girl; and Benjamin Christensen...
- 7/8/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
James L. Brooks, among whose films are Terms of Endearment (1983), Broadcast News (1987), and As Good As It Gets (1997) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library celebrated the acquisition of 12 unique collections on Wednesday, May 19. Among the collections are the Joseph L. Mankiewicz Papers, Alan J. Pakula Papers, Sydney Pollack Papers, Jane Powell Papers, and Norma Talmadge Photographs. Mankiewicz won back-to-back Academy Awards for directing and writing A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950); among Pakula’s films are Klute (1971) and All the President’s Men (1976); Sydney Pollack was the director of The Way We Were (1973) and the Oscar-winning Out of Africa (1985). Powell was [...]...
- 5/21/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Wholesome silent-era superstars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks drawn by Vargas (perhaps best known for his drawings of naked and semi-naked women in Playboy), Motion Picture Long before Robert Pattinson, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart, Zac Efron, and Will Smith, there were Tyrone Power, Claudette Colbert, Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe. And before them, Norma Talmadge, Rudolph Valentino, Charles Chaplin, Florence Lawrence, and Lillian Gish. Just like long before Entertainment Weekly and PopSugar.com, there were Photoplay, Motion Picture, Modern Screen, Picture-Play, and The New Movie Magazine. Film historian Anthony Slide’s recently published Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers (University of Mi [...]...
- 5/5/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Silent era superstars Norma Talmadge, Constance Talmadge at Norma’s Santa Monica beach house Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge are the stars of two recent Kino International releases. Talmadges who? Well, just two of the most popular stars of the silent era. In fact, in terms of popularity they were two of the biggest stars of any era. Many more people today would be aware of that fact if a) cultural, social, and/or political history had its place in today’s world b) more than a handful of film historians, chroniclers and critics knew that Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Citizen Kane weren’t the only four movies made before Star Wars and E.T. c) the above [...]...
- 3/26/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Norma Talmadge Collection (Kino) The Constance Talmadge Collection (Kino) Two of the most popular female stars of the 1920s are all but unknown today—sisters Norma and Constance Talmadge. In recent years some of their long-unseen features have been restored by the Library of Congress, using 35mm materials from the Rohauer collection, and now four of those films have been released on DVD by Kino. The Norma Talmadge disc includes Kiki (1926) and Within the Law (1923), while the Constance Talmadge disc features a pair of films costarring Ronald Colman, Her Night of Romance (1924) and Her Sister from Paris…...
- 3/16/2010
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Milton Sills in The Sea Hawk (top); William Farnum in A Tale of Two Cities (bottom) Frank Lloyd Intro I: Two-Time Oscar Winner Unlike George Cukor, Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, William Wyler, or even John Ford, Frank Lloyd specialized in one movie genre: melodrama. From A Tale of Two Cities to Cavalcade, from The Sea Hawk to The Howards of Virginia, from Black Oxen to Blood on the Sun, the vast majority of Lloyd’s movies were supposed to make you leave the theater at least a little shaken up after having suffered for a couple of hours with Pauline Frederick, Norma Talmadge, Milton Sills, Clara Bow, Richard Barthelmess, Ann Harding, Claudette Colbert, Cary Grant, or James [...]...
- 1/6/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Palm Beach Winter Antiques Show is headed to West Palm Beach in January and with it comes a rare and unique collection of marine art and nautical antiques featuring authentic items of the 19th Century.
The show will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel from January 16 through January 18 and will feature items such as ships cannons, sea service edged weapons, diving gear, sextants and more.
Silent film star Norma Talmadge's collection includes a British Woolwork of warships and will also feature original paintings of ship portraits and marine scenes, antique model ships, rare edged weapons and a famous sabre dating back to the War of 1805. A collection of four America's Cup Prints that have been acquired from Newport's Museum of Yachting will also be included.
Collectors can also find lots of other marine antique jewels such as vintage ships and navy clocks, polished brass, nautical shipbuilder plates and marine artifacts.
The show will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel from January 16 through January 18 and will feature items such as ships cannons, sea service edged weapons, diving gear, sextants and more.
Silent film star Norma Talmadge's collection includes a British Woolwork of warships and will also feature original paintings of ship portraits and marine scenes, antique model ships, rare edged weapons and a famous sabre dating back to the War of 1805. A collection of four America's Cup Prints that have been acquired from Newport's Museum of Yachting will also be included.
Collectors can also find lots of other marine antique jewels such as vintage ships and navy clocks, polished brass, nautical shipbuilder plates and marine artifacts.
- 1/5/2009
- icelebz.com
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