Harry H. Buckwalter (director)
Selig Polyscope (production)
Is this where the chase film ultimately leads to?
Edwin S. Porter (director)
Robert Hilliard (author)
Edwin Holland (author)
Edison (production)
Message: Social problems of the working class can only be resolved for certain individuals - and only when that serves the interest of some middle-class individual.
Wallace McCutcheon (director)
Edwin S. Porter (director/cinematographer)
Edison (production)
The two men renown as pioneers of early US cinema, Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith, shared another claim to fame/infamy: each created a work inspired by Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 The Clansman. Griffith's 1915 film The Birth of a Nation was adapted from the stage version of the novel. Edwin S. Porter was inspired by the novel to create this film. According to Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company, Edison advertisements held a pro-vigilante view, proclaiming: A lawless and criminal element almost invariably accompanied the advance guard of civilization and to keep this element in check the law abiding citizens were compelled to secretly organize themselves for their own protection...We have portrayed in Motion Pictures, in a most vivid and realistic manner, the method employed by the “White Caps” to rid the community of undesirable citizens.
While the White Caps role here as Morality Police may seem relatively benign compared to the lynch justice in The Birth of a Nation, the book also points out: This film narrative exactly parallels an earlier account of “White Cap” activity in a turn-of-the-century newspaper. In the newspaper account, the tar clogged up the man's pores and he eventually died.
André de Lorde (author)
Charles Foley (author)
Pathé (production)
A home invasion, a phone call of distress, and a race to the rescue trigger a parade of films that shows no signs of ending.
D.W. Griffith (director)
G.W. Bitzer (cinematographer)
Mack Sennett (lead/writer)
André de Lorde (author)
Charles Foley (author)
David Miles (lead)
Marion Leonard (lead)
Mary Pickford (lead)
Charles Avery (lead)
Biograph (production)
To con The Master, a diabolical mulatto dons a whiteface then pulls a Stepin Fetchit to sneak his gang into the inner sanctum of Pure White Virgins, intent on stealing hair ribbons to add to their arsenal of kinky chicken chokers. When The Master learns his monopoly on hair ribbons is threatened, he immediately summons The Klan, but they were busy with their own chicken-choking, so instead he grabs a gypsy cab and arrives in time to restore the Confederate South, in this D.W. Griffith parody of "The Bitch Of A Nation" (which he hadn`t filmed yet), where the rescue ride won`t start, the rescue gun won`t shoot, and the rescue phone goes dead.
Pyotr Chardynin (director/writer)
Louis Forestier (cinematographer)
Alexander Pushkin (author)
Pavel Biryukov (lead)
Aleksandra Goncharova (lead)
Andrey Gromov (lead)
Khanzhonkov (production)
Fails as an adaptation: had to consult a summary of the short story it is based on to make sense of it.
Fails as dramatic performance: the star hams it up with all the worst excesses of early cinema performance, constantly on his toes, ballet-style.
But won a place in my heart at the ball, with the hilarious Three Couples Dance.
Max Linder (director/lead/writer)
René Leprince (director)
Jane Renouardt (lead)
Henri Bosc (lead)
Pathé (production)
Max, unsure about his wife's fidelity, gives his dog Dick the job of keeping an eye on her. No furry toys, but a definite hint of zoophilia.
Mack Sennett (director)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Fred Mace (lead)
Dell Henderson (lead)
Edward Dillon (lead)
Biograph (production)
Parody of the (unintentionally) much funnier rescue thriller, "The Lonely Villa" (that Sennett wrote and performed in), and steppingstone to the (intentionally) funnier debut (or semi-debut according to some) film of The Keystone Cops released a year later, "The Bangville Police".
D.W. Griffith (director)
G.W. Bitzer (cinematographer)
Edward Acker (writer)
Lillian Gish (lead)
Dorothy Gish (lead)
Elmer Booth (lead)
Robert Harron (lead)
Harry Carey (lead)
Grace Henderson (lead)
Walter Miller (lead)
Biograph (production)
A return to Physician Of The Castle and The Lonely Villa - but with wife and husband replaced by teen sisters and elder brother, and where the invasion is an inside job. Serves as the debut of Lillian and Dorothy Gish, with cinematography that showcases the screen magnetism that made them popular.
D.W. Griffith (director)
G.W. Bitzer (cinematographer)
Anita Loos (writer)
Edward Acker (author)
Mae Marsh (lead)
Claire McDowell (lead)
Alfred Paget (lead)
Charles Hill Mailes (lead)
Harry Carey (lead)
Lionel Barrymore (lead)
Biograph (production)
Yet another riff on the invasion-call-rescue theme, but made more interesting because the distress call goes not to a male Master Of The Home, but to the girl in the telephone office who, like The Lonedale Operator, thinks quick to save the day (without even fainting!). Plus 11 more points of interest...
Henry Lehrman (director)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Fred Mace (lead)
Charles Avery (lead)
Nick Cogley (lead)
Keystone Cops (lead)
Mack Sennett (producer)
Keystone (production)
Debut (or semi-debut according to some) of The Keystone Cops in a parody of the invasion-call-rescue plot formula, popularized by D.W. Griffith films.
Phillips Smalley (director)
Lois Weber (director/lead)
Val Paul (lead)
Sam Kaufman (lead)
Rex (production)
Even though D.W. Griffith led the pack in quantity of invasion-call-rescue films, the pinnacle of development of the form during that period came from this lesser-known crew. With its stark title and startling visuals, more realistic characters, less reliance on explicit narrative and instead favoring more subtle story-telling, this bears less resemblance to its contemporaries than to the films that would later be created by Hitchcock (known as 'The Master Of Suspense').
Emilio Ghione (director/lead)
Alberto Collo (lead)
Celio (production)
Peculiar piece of work this one... Starts like a Fantômas-style gentleman-thief/mysterious criminal ring flick. When Our Deadbeat Hero stiffs The Villain with a gambling debt, Deadbeat is given a choice: join The Black Circle or die. Just when he is initiated, the scene immediately switches from Italy to a Chicago wool business - for 16 seconds - then to sheep Out West - for 12.5 seconds - then back to Deadbeat and the Black Circle. Deadbeat is assigned a theft and accepts. But then he sees a picture of his Mom and punks out.
So, after only 17.5 minutes of zero action, less than halfway, The Black Circle crime story ends, and Deadbeat loses his cherished greasy hairstyle (just a bit) to go Out West, where men are men, to join the cow-boys doing whatever it is that cow-boys do with sheep, in a new spaghetti Western romance story: A Fistful of Sheep.
Clearly, footage is missing. Nonetheless, it's hard to conceive of any footage that could credibly link these two stories. Peculiar piece of work this one...
George Nichols (director)
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (lead)
Minta Durfee (lead)
Edgar Kennedy (lead)
Virginia Kirtley (lead)
Keystone Cops (lead)
Echo Park Lake Bridge (location)
Keystone 3.5-step Porch (location)
Keystone (production)
As simple as it gets: no story, just the title, that leads to a chase. Yet it still manages to deliver the laughs, thanks to Roscoe's comic skills and a manic pace.
Broncho Billy Anderson (director/lead/writer)
Lee Willard (lead)
Marguerite Clayton (lead)
Essanay (production)
Broncho Billy weighs into the debate on multiculturalism. Definitely not starring Jerry Mathers as "The Greaser".
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Glen Cavender (lead)
Charles Lakin (lead)
Al St. John (lead)
Frank Hayes (lead)
Keystone Cops (lead)
Echo Park (location)
Keystone 5-step Porch (location)
Keystone (production)
Although the title may suggest this is the sequel to the 1914 “Mabel's Married Life” (with Fatty replacing Chaplin's Tramp), it's actually more like an upgrade of Mabel's 1912 “Help! Help!”, where she now more actively defends herself - so this time she's not the one hiding in a dark enclosed space. Featuring:
Carmine Gallone (director)
Domenico Grimaldi (cinematographer)
Nino Oxilia (writer)
Lyda Borelli (lead)
Cecyl Tryan (lead)
Fulvia Perini (lead)
Augusto Poggioli (lead)
Pina Menichelli (lead)
Società Italiana Cines (production)
The frequent visual jumps and disconnects make it obvious that parts are missing from this fragmented restoration. As further evidence, one of the three character names listed in the opening credits (“Richard Ruggero”) - presumably a main character - doesn't appear in any subsequent title card. Yet, unlike Malombra [1917], there is no source material to refer to for clarification of the story. In fact, it's possible that even if all fragments existed and were correctly assembled, the result would still be confusing as the story lacks depth and solid construction. It feels less like a coherent story, more like a string of cliche hacks quickly thrown together merely to capitalize on a star's appeal (by crew who didn't even spare the time to name the characters!).
But who cares about story? We're here to see the diva flammin' in high fashion, twisted into sultry poses (even dancing!), with that dreamy gaze that wails her tragic fate of being too hip for this world that doesn't deserve her. Lyda in motion is all the story we need...
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