Poster for “The Shrine of the Vampire” with Theda Bara, 1919.

Les métamorphoses comiques (1912) - Émile Cohl

Four Screenplays (La passion de Jeanne d'Arc [The Passion of Joan of Arc] —Vampyr [Vampire] —Vredens dag [Day of Wrath] —Ordet [The Word]), by Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1889-1968. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1970.

The Astronomer's Dream (French: La lune à un mètre), is a trick film from 1898 realized by Georges Méliès .

A new, visually rich photo-essay with accompanying text on early cinema and what Maxim Gorky called its "Kingdom of Shadows"--eerie images from cinema's first few decades. A HAUNTED JOURNEY THROUGH EARLY CINEMA'S KINGDOM OF SHADOWS at Archatron.org

The Magician / Le magicien (1898, Georges Méliès)

4/20/23

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

My ★★★★★★ review of All Quiet on the Western Front #CharityShopCinema #FilmReview

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Synopsis – A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror – All Quiet on the Western Front. Director – Lewis Milestone Starring – Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray Genre – War | Drama | Historical Released – 1930 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 6 out of 6. If you liked: 1917, Dunkirk, Empire of the…

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Iroquois Indian tribe of Ecuador killing HRH Prince Albert of Canada and Norway 1850 

Enrico Prampolini, Il Perfido Incanto, 1916

Louise Brooks, 1927

Because I'm in a very good mood, here is the first [known of] Sherlock Holmes film ever made:

I love how Holmes is like "Huh, the burgler just dissolved into nothing? Fine, I will just sit here and smoke" and "Well, I guess I'll never solve that" in the end.

(Altough this film has almost nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes except showing a mystery. Something to look and marvel at, an attraction.)

I also think it's interesting that this was made in 1900 (and apparently listed for copyright in 1901? I'm not familiar with the provenance), so at this point, Sherlock Holmes was still canonically dead (The Final Problem was published in 1893; The Hound of the Baskervilles is from 1901 and The Empty House from 1903). I wonder if there were any copyright issues back then? It also proves that SH was already a popular icon by 1900 because his name was used as part of the attraction of the film.

This also really makes me wonder if there are/were any amateur SH films at that time? There already were lots of amateur films with many sujets, for documentary purposes as well as just for fun or interest in experimentation (for example Julius Neubronner from Kronberg, Germany, who filmed his family, local festivities and celebrity like the German emperor Wilhelm II. when he came to Kronberg. You can find all his digitised films here, but allow me to show you two of my personal favourites:)

For example "The Hunter's Dream" ["Des Jägers Traum"] from 1903 which has a rather complicated story line but more importantly uses the same stop trick as the SH example above when Neubronner "transforms" the gun with the same baffling comical effect. (And look at the detailed scenery! He was an enthusiast. <3)

And, just because I find it awfully touching (and I'm in a good mood) this little film with his son and his grand daughter (190?).

Course à la saucisse (1907) Alice Guy

The Race for the Sausage (French: Course à la saucisse )  is a 1907 film by Alice Guy. A comedy film with a chase, already a classic feature of the early cinema.  Dotted with accidents caused by the procession of pursuers, in a partly natural setting, the film also depicts everyday life at the time. And the spectacular effect of the stunts and damage has lost none of its effectiveness (a fall among the pigs: 1:46, a pram run over by a train: 4:21...).

Synopsis. (0:15) A poodle steals a long sausage from a grocery counter. Alarmed by this precious loss, the owners set off in pursuit of the delinquent animal. (0:21) Running through the city streets, the dog creates a procession of unlikely pursuers who end up fighting over a piece of the precious sausage thanks to the unexpected intervention of a hunter (3:47), who fires a shotgun and splits the sausage in two. The poodle, meanwhile, will have already consumed his booty without further ado (4:21).

Check out the film The Policemen's Little Run (1907) by Ferdinand Zecca

Alice Guy (b. 1873, Saint-Mandé, France; d. 1968, Wayne, New Jersey, USA) was a pioneering filmmaker, the world's first director and producer. She began working as a secretary for the Gaumont company and became a key figure, shooting numerous short films, reports, short silent scenes and sound phonoscenes. Lacking collaborators, she devoted herself personally to training directors, editors and set designers. In 1907, Alice Guy resigned from Gaumont, married Herbert Blaché, employed by the same company, and both moved to the United States. There, Alice Guy-Blaché founded her own production company, Solax, the first film company run by a woman. However, Solax failed to survive the transition from shorts to feature films.

Recommending Lotte Eisner's books on early German cinema and the crowd involved. The Haunted Screen isn't too difficult to find. Her book on F. W. Murnau and his work is written with a lot of affection.

Jim Shepherd's 'Nosferatu' covers the romantic relationship between F. W. Murnau and poet Hans Ehrenbaum-Degele. The events of their lives in Weimar Berlin are really beautifully captured.

Omg! Thank you sm!! 🩷

Katharina "Käthe" Dorsch was a German stage and film actress.

The Famous Box Trick / Illusions fantasmagoriques (1898, Georges Méliès)

6/20/23