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MORE TREASURES FROM AMERICAN FILM ARCHIVES
1894-1931

Review by Ed Nguyen

Stars: Dorothy Gish, Rin-Tin-Tin, Eddie Cantor, Calvin Coolidge, and much more!
Directors: Edwin S. Porter, D.W. Griffith, Ernst Lubitsch, Thomas Ince, Gregory La Cava, Alice Guy Blaché, W.K.L. Dickson, and much more!
Audio: English monaural/stereo
Intertitles: English
Video: Color and black & white, full-frame with variable aspect ratios
Studio: Image Entertainment
Features: Thirty-plus commentary tracks, film notes and stills, 200-page book
Length: 573 minutes
Release Date: September 7, 2004

"Good morning, Mr. Edison, glad to see you back.  I hope you are satisfied with the Kineto-Phonograph." - W.K.L. Dickson, early sound film (lost), 1889

Films ****

Believe it or not, the motion picture has only been in existence for barely longer than a century.  Modern films, with their ultra-sensitive film stocks and computer-enhanced visuals, bear little resemblance to movies from as recently as two decades ago.  Stereo sound technology (never mind surround sound) did not even exist in any meaningful capacity just three decades ago.  Even the widescreen format has been around for only a half-century.  As film-goers today, we are often spoiled by the astounding technological leaps and bounds seen in modern cinema.  But incredibly, the greater majority of films made since the late nineteenth century have possessed none of these qualities and, primitive though they may appear now to contemporary audiences, are more representative of the true history of the cinema.

For years, film archives across the United States have endeavored to preserve the country's cinematic history.  In 2000, several American film archives combined their collective resources to present rare but significant films in the DVD collection Treasures from American Film Archives.  Produced by the National Film Preservation Foundation, this collection re-introduced viewers to many forgotten but historically important works of cinematic heritage.  More Treasures from American Film Archives 1894-1931, the follow-up to that impressive set, has now arrived, assembling a new collection of films reaching even further back into time.  This new collection is comprised of a dazzling array of film gems, some obscure and some not, from the early, formulative years of cinema.  Among the film archives which contributed to this collection are the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, The Library of Congress, The Museum of Modern Art, and the UCLA Film and Television Archive.  Overall, this new set, curated by Scott Simmon, contains more than nine hours' worth of film.

More so than the previous set, this new collection exclusively covers that period in filmmaking commonly known as the silent era.  The term is actually a misnomer, as many of these films were not shown silently but with musical accompaniment - either a piano, small pit band, or even a full orchestra, depending on the importance of the film.  Several early films even boasted actual recorded sounds and were not silent at all (examples of these rare films can be found in this collection).

Included in this collection of fifty films (and six trailers) are a potpourri of genres - features, serials, documentaries, advertisements, public service announcements, sing-alongs, newsreels, cartoons, and experiments involving color, sound, or obscure photographic techniques.  The films range from brief clips to one-reelers to full-length features, documenting the transition of the motion picture from peepshow curiosities to vaudeville house attractions and photoplays and finally into a thriving entertainment industry.

Unfortunately, motion pictures, or "movies" for short, of the silent era are rarely seen today.  Part of the problem is that the vast majority, upwards of ninety percent, of films made during this period are lost forever, and most of the remaining ones are not in pristine condition.  Nevertheless, among the surviving films are some of the most influential artistic achievements in cinema, though doubtless there are still many gems yet to re-discover.

Within their historical context, these films represent a time capsule of the culture and social standards of their times.  Watching these images of yesteryear creates a sense of wonder and awe, as though we the audience were peering through a window into a time long gone.  Herein, we can recognize the genesis of rudimentary storytelling and photographic techniques which we take so for granted in today's movies.

The contents of More Treasures from American Film Archives 1894-1931 are spread over three DVDs (or "programs").  Read on below for descriptions of the many forgotten treasures and gems rescued from obscurity in our film archives!

1) Dickson Experimental Sound Film (15 sec, 1895)

Appropriately, our journey back into time begins with none other than Thomas Edison, Inventor Extraordinaire, and his remarkable assistant, Walter K.L. Dickson.  Together in 1888, they developed the world's first motion picture camera, the Kinetograph (or Kinetoscope).  Dickson combined this machine with Edison's earlier phonograph invention to create the Kinetophone.  Yes, that's right - the "sound picture" existed from the very start of film back in the late nineteenth century!  The Edison labs had a head-start on Al Jolson by some thirty years.

Today's movies use a sound-on-film approach, but the Kinetophone employed a phonograph synchronized via a mechanical belt to the on-screen action.  The Kinetophone was introduced in various peep-show parlors and later into vaudeville theaters with some limited success.  Experimentation with the phonograph sound format continued until 1914, when a fire in the Edison labs ultimately halted any further advancements with the system.

Program One of More Treasures from American Film Archives 1894-1931 opens with a series of extremely early Dickson films, including an extremely rare sound experiment.  The first film, obviously a test not designed for public screening, shows Dickson himself playing his violin into the Kinetophone's gigantic funnel while, nearby, a pair of male co-workers dance.  Dickson's tune is a barcarole from Les Cloches de Corneville, a 1877 French opera, though the aural fidelity is somewhat poor.  Coupled with the scratchy, cat shriek-like wail of the violin (the sound is quite primitive), this makes for a truly surreal short film, the earliest surviving synchronized sound film.

Coincidentally, the original wax sound recording for this film was of greater duration than the image portion itself.  Sound was recorded for two minutes prior to actual filming, so early conversation and even direction can be heard before the filmed images even appear.  As presented on this disc, however, only the synchronized sound portion is heard.

2) Annie Oakley (20 sec, 1894)

This next short film demonstrates the Kinetoscope's potential as an archival recording device.  The film showcases the real Annie Oakley, "Little Miss Sure Shot" of Buffalo Bill's Wild West fame, displaying her famed shooting skills in a confined studio.

3) Buffalo Dance (15 sec, 1894)

A group of Native Americans, featuring Oglala and Brulé Sioux, perform a ritual dance for the Kinetoscope.  Again, these dancers were regular performers for the Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and may even have participated in the famed "Battle of Little Bighorn" re-enactment in the show.

4) Bucking Broncho (20 sec, 1894)

Lastly, this early outdoor film features cowboy Lee Martin hanging onto his bucking broncho, Sunfish.  Martin was also another regular performer for Buffalo Bill.

5) The Suburbanite (9 min., 1904)

The Mutoscope was a popular peephole motion picture machine of the late 1890s.  It created an illusion of movement through a series of pictures flipping on a horizontal axis whenever a hand crank was operated.  The Mutoscope was intended to be a rival to the Edison Kinetoscope, and in comparison, even produced a sharper image (it used 70mm film stock).  Furthermore, the Mutoscope, being hand-cranked, did not require battery power, unlike the Kinetoscope.  However, the Kinetoscope's projection system was capable of greater film lengths and eventually surpassed the Mutoscope as the public's favored venue for film exhibition.  American Mutoscope, which produced the Mutoscope, ultimately created its own projection system, the Biograph.

The Suburbanite is an example of one such early Biograph film.  While early films tended to be documentaries, often comprised of a static single shot, films by 1904 were beginning to incorporate new editing approaches to narrate a story.  Consequently, films were increasing in length.  While film editing was still rudimentary (one reason why many early silent films are so difficult to follow today), The Suburbanite shows the definite progress achieved in less than a decade of film history.

The Suburbanite chronicles the misadventures of a middle-class family relocating to a New Jersey suburb and, as a film, represents a leap forward in terms of narrative techniques.  Intertitles, still a fresh innovation from 1903's Uncle Tom's Cabin, help to provide coherence to the story.  Multiple shots allow for multiple anecdotes, giving the story a broader scope.  We see the family arriving proudly at its new home, having comic disagreements with the movers (who eventually throw all the furniture out of their truck), "welcoming" a visit from the mother-in-law, and engaging in slapstick mayhem with a disgruntled cook (food and dishes are thrown about).  The film closes when the father of the family, exasperated by life in the suburbs, posts a "To Let" sign before his home (the film is missing its final shot, in which the father then rushes everyone out the door).

6)  The Country Doctor (14 min., 1909)

One of Biograph's best-kept early secrets was director D.W. Griffith.  Today, he is acknowledged as a master of the silent era with such remarkable films as The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance.  However, early in his career, Griffith worked anonymously for the Biograph company and was often unaccredited.  He directed hundreds of short films a year and was instrumental in almost single-handedly propelling Biograph to the forefront of the film industry, such as it existed back then.  With cameraman Billy Bitzer, Griffith crafted many one-reel "photoplays" which took advantage of new innovations involving editing, camera movements and positioning, and close-ups to communicate emotionally-stirring stories.  Griffith may not have invented these innovations, but his skilled direction and usage of these techniques helped to advance the art of filmmaking as never before.

Today, Griffith's films are among the most-preserved of early films, with 440 of his films produced for Biograph between 1908 and 1913 surviving today.  One example, Griffith's 1909 Biograph film The Country Doctor, displays the potential of the photoplay as a narrative medium.  In this lovingly-photographed and well-acted morality tale of a physician torn between his family and his profession, the editing is advanced enough that even modern audiences can easily appreciate and follow the storyline.

Griffith uses alternating sequences and progressively rapid parallel editing techniques to heighten the tension of the story.  Subtle pan shots frame the storyline, introducing a pastoral feel to the film, then drawing us away at the film's conclusion from the grieving family.  The passive neutrality of early silent films is replaced in this film by an emotional resonance that would become a hallmark of Griffith's future masterpieces.

The film starts as the physician, his wife, and young daughter are first seen in a calm pastoral setting, enjoying a pleasant family outing.  Later, the daughter is taken ill, and the physician applies his skills towards improving her health.  However, the child of a neighbor is also taken ill, and the physician is called away from his daughter's side to care for the other patient.  As his daughter's condition worsens, the physician is caught between treating his patient or returning to save his own daughter.  The story has a bittersweet ending - the over-confident physician, having restored his patient's health, returns home too late to a tearful wife, mourning over the death of their daughter.

BONUS TRIVIA:  A very young Mary Pickford, one of the cinema's greatest film stars, has an early role as the elder daughter in the neighbor's household.

7) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (13 min., 1910)

This one is a real treat, the first surviving film version of the classic L. Frank Baum story!  For many years, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was considered a lost film until a nitrate print was re-discovered in 1983.  Its presentation on this disc can thus be considered a small miracle, an all-too-rare occurrence in the never-ending effort to find and restore these early films.

The history behind this film is a fascinating one.  Baum himself commissioned the film from Selig Polyscope to accompany his lecture show.  In return, the company received film rights to Baum's Oz tales.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was to be the first of at least three Selig films about Oz.  One sequel, Dorothy and the Scarecrow of Oz, was known to have been made, but this film and any further unknown sequels are now lost.

For inspiration, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz draws upon the then-popular stage adaptation of the Baum tale.  Like the later famous MGM version, this film is also vaudevillian in style although the storyline is different.  As with many early films, the editing is a little choppy and only highlights key scenes, thus requiring some audience familiarity with the text to follow the plot.  This version is apparently a "musical" comedy, too, featuring a number of quick jigs and dances (involving farm animals and female soldiers of Oz, among others), but there is obviously no audible singing.  The character designs, like those in Return to Oz (1985), also accurately reflect the appearances of the characters in the original illustrations that accompanied the books.

The story begins in Kansas, introducing Dorothy, her family, and some farm animals.  Dorothy meets the Scarecrow and unties him from his post just before a cyclone hits, sending both of them and several farm animals (a cow, and mule, and Toto, all clinging for dear life to a haystack) off to the Land of Oz.

This Oz lacks munchkins or a Yellow-Brick Road.  A wicked witch (named Mombo here) is terrorizing the land, and the Wizard of Oz, ruler of Emerald City, decrees that he will abdicate his crown to whomever can free Oz from the witch's clutches.  Meanwhile, Glinda the Good transforms Toto into a big dog to protect Dorothy from an attack by the Cowardly Lion, who quickly repents and journeys the traveling party.  They soon encounter the Tin Woodsman who, after an oil job, recovers his movements, pulls out a flute, and play a jig to which everyone dances.  Dorothy then spots a sign announcing the Wizard's proclamation, and it's off to Emerald City for everyone.

Along the way, the party is ambushed near a forest cottage by Mombo and her hench-things (bats, giant spiders, and flying ghoulies).  Everyone is captured and imprisoned.  Dorothy is ordered to clean Mombo's floors with a bucket of water, which she instead deposits over Mombo's head with predictable results.

The witch vanquished, Dorothy frees her friends and it's off again for Emerald City.  The Wizard crowns Scarecrow as the new king, and there is another jig as the Wizard prepares to leave Oz for Omaha.  The film ends somewhat abruptly with Dorothy still happily in Oz.  Further sequels, or even a serial, would surely have continued the story and may have included the sleepy poppy field scene (seen in MGM's version) or Dorothy's return to Kansas.  As it stands now, we will never know for certain, although the re-discovery of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz certainly makes it one of the gems in this DVD set.

8) Admiral Cigarette (30 sec, 1897)

Next, we move on to a series of four advertisements.  Yes, even before the turn of the century, manufacturing companies were keenly aware of film's potential as a viable medium for promoting their products.  So, if all the promo ads in movie theaters today vex many audiences, they may take some solace in the fact that such ads have always existed.

This ad, a 30-second spot, uses famous personalities like Uncle Sam, John Bull, and the iconic girl-popping-out-of-a-cake to promote Admiral cigarettes.  The ad's motto is "We All Smoke."  While hardly politically-correct, this ad was certainly effective in its day.

9) Flash Cleaner (45 sec, 1920)

This next ad is for a detergent, strong enough for the workplace but gentle enough for the home environment.

10) Buy an Electric Refrigerator (30 sec, 1926)

Next, there is a quick blurb encouraging the purchase of electric refrigerators.  This clip is remarkably well-preserved and was produced by the Electric League of Pittsburgh.  Modern audiences should keep in mind that during the 1920's, less than half of all homes had refrigeration, the vast majority of which were non-electric iceboxes.

11) The Stenographer’s Friend (8 min., 1910)

Lastly, we come to what amounts to a short film in itself.  This advertisement tells a tale of an overwhelmed stenographer.  With two bosses continually piling papers before her, she is unable to keep pace with the dictations.  Soon, she is clutching her head and even weeping.

Never fear, the Edison salesman is here!  The salesman comes through the office door and proceeds to promote and demonstrate the Edison Phonograph as a time-saving device that can increase office efficacy and reduce the work load.  Using a re-usable wax sound cylinder to record dictations, the Phonograph can help the stenographer to complete all her work and leave on time!

In reality, the business Phonograph, as with all new innovations, was initially resisted for fear that it would replace stenographers at the workplace.  By 1910 though, it was an accepted and successful product, much like the hand-held dictation tape machines commonly used today in law and medical offices.

12) The Invaders (41 min., 1912)

John Wayne notwithstanding, the Golden Age of the Western occurred during the silent era, when literally thousands of Westerns were produced.  The western supplied ample potential for action and chases, with built-in heroes and villains, so movie halls of this time were routinely floated with westerns.  The Invaders, a western made by early film pioneer Thomas Ince, was an above-average production, not only for its unusually long length (nearly all westerns at the time were one-reelers) but also for its sympathetic portrayal of both sides of the conflict.  Authentic Native Americans were even cast in the film, too, another atypical feature.

The Invaders opens with a treaty between the Sioux and the U.S. government, which promises to halt further settlement into Sioux territory.  However, only one year later, that promise is broken when railroad surveyors are allowed to wander onto Sioux territory to scout the land.  They are quickly spotted, and when the Sioux peacefully ride into town to voice their protest to the local U.S. cavalry commander, their pleas are essentially brushed aside.  Inevitably, this indifference leads to a full-scale Sioux and Cheyenne retaliation in which the surveyors are overwhelmed, local telegraph lines are cut, and the local cavalry outpost is attacked.  The Indian attack is ultimately repulsed when help arrives from a nearby military fort.

The film contains some genre conventions which will be recognizable to modern audiences.  There is the typically pretty commander's daughter, whose father disapproves of her sweetheart until the young lad saves the day by gallantly riding through the Indian assault to recruit help.  There is also an analogous romance among the Sioux, in which the chief's own daughter becomes attracted to one of the young surveyors.  When a spurned Sioux suitor spots the Indian princess together with the surveyor, his alarmed report to the chief starts the fateful chain of events which soon spirals out of control.  As in the familiar Pocahontas tale, the Indian princess ultimately sacrifices her own life to warn the White Men of the impending attack.  Sadly, The Invaders ends on a down note as the survivors mourn over the dead body of the chieftain's daughter.

Although audiences might initially assume the "invaders" of the film's title to be a reference to the Indians themselves, the film makes a sly statement about the true nature of these "invaders."  The blind avarice of the typical Big Company, as personified in the railroad surveyors, can be seen as "invading" the native land.  In such a light, who is truly the villain of the story?

BONUS TRIVIA:  Ince reputedly died under mysterious conditions while abroad William Randolph Heart's yacht.  Some rumors persisted that Ince had been shot by a jealous Hearst.

13) The Wild Engine, Episode #26 from the serial The Hazards of Helen (14 min., 1915)

Serials were all the rage during the early years of cinema.  Offering sensational thrills and cliff-hanger suspense, they enticed audiences back to the theaters again and again to follow an on-going story line (in much the same addictive fashion as modern soap operas or reality shows).

The most popular serial of the day was The Perils of Pauline, whose iconic image of a damsel-in-distress, tied to the tracks in the path of an oncoming train, is still recognized today.  However, there were certainly many other serials, and The Hazards of Helen was another very popular serial.  It featured a strong female lead in Helen Holmes.  Helen was no damsel-in-distress; instead, she was frequently the action heroine, regularly performing such stunts as leaping upon moving vehicles or falling from heights.

This DVD includes one episode, The Wild Engine, from the serial.  A variant on the popular railroad cliffhangers of the day, this episode finds Helen as a newly-hired railroad worker.  Being a woman, she must work harder than the men to prove her worth.  Helen's chance arrives one day when a freak accident sends three locomotives upon a collision course.  With time running out and her colleagues unable to help, it is up to Helen to stop all three trains and to save the day.  Naturally, this involves a lot of rushing about on a motorbike with a stunt or two, such as speeding off a bridge into the flowing waters below.

Despite the age of this episode, it remains as tense and exciting today as it must have seemed ninety years ago.  Featuring suspenseful cross-editing and a charismatic heroine, The Wild Engine was typical of the Hazards of Helen serial, which ran for a remarkable 119 episodes and established Helen Holmes as one of the top serial heroines.

14) Gretchen the Greenhorn (58 min., 1916)

Dorothy Gish was one of the first true film celebrities, a predecessor to Mary Pickford's "America's Sweetheart."  The younger sister to Lillian Gish (probably the silent era's finest dramatic actress), Dorothy Gish was a skilled comedian and a silent film star in her own right.  Few of her films survive today, but in actuality Dorothy appeared in more silent films than did her sister Lillian.

Gretchen the Greenhorn was one of seven five-reelers in which Dorothy Gish appeared in 1916.  A warm and occasionally comedic tale of urban immigrant life, it was not an "event" film but, rather, was representative of the typical entertainment found in the movie halls in the 1910's.  Today, it would be comparable to any number of feel-good but inconsequential comedies in neighborhood theaters.

Gretchen the Greenhorn is the tale of Gretchen (Dorothy Gish), who has just immigrated to America, the Land of Opportunity, to re-join her father, a humble engraver.  The family is re-united at the harbor and, from there, return to the tenement housing in which Gretchen's father lives.  Gretchen is introduced to the other immigrant neighbors, including Pietro, a young Italian man who will become the love interest for the film.  The first half of the film provides an intimate look at immigrant culture and tenement life style in the New World, while the second half embarks upon the "meat" of the story.

Local counterfeiters deceive the honest father into creating engravings for U.S. currency.  When he discovers the true nefarious nature of their plans, the counterfeiters kidnapped him abroad their mercantile ship to keep him quiet.  Gretchen tries to come to her father's rescue but is captured herself.  Pietro arrives with the dock police to save the day, and the film closes with a happy wedding scene for Gretchen and Pietro.

Gretchen the Greenhorn displays a good example of tinting, an early "colorization" technique.  The film demonstrates effectively how tinting was used as a subtle means of conveying emotions or the passage of time.  This film was long considered lost until a nitrate print was miraculously donated for preservation in 1991 by Galen Biery, a private collector who had kept the film safe for years in his barn!

BONUS TRIVIA:  Elmo Lincoln, who plays a ship's captain, would later become the screen's first Tarzan!

15) The Breath of a Nation (6 min., 1919)

Movie cartoons began appearing in the 1910's.  Usually, these were fairly low-budget affairs with crude animation.  They frequently used familiar comic strip characters to off-set their low-production values and were entertaining enough for their day.  Many of these early cartoons no longer exist, so The Breath of a Nation is a rare find indeed.

Produced by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst's International Film Services Company, the cartoon itself is fairly well-preserved and still remains amusing.  As was common with many of these early cartoons, it was printed in sepia tones to reduce the eyestrain from the glare of the transparent cel drawings when projected.  Directed by a young Gregory La Cava (who later did such notable 1930's films as My Man Godfrey and Stage Door), the cartoon offers an amusing social commentary on the "horrors" of drink in the final days before the Prohibition.  It uses the popular Judge Rummy comic strip character to hook audience members.  An unreformed drunk, Judge Rummy wanders into a bar, Silk Hat Harry's Soda Fountain, and eventually causes a bit of a ruckus.

16) De-Light: Making an Electric Light Bulb (12 min., 1920)

Believe it or not, industrial and educational films comprise the largest number of films created over the history of cinema, accounting for over a half-million films.  This early film, by the Ford Motor Company, was part of the company's weekly educational series.  Designed to be shown in schools, churches, and other public venues, films such as this were not only educational but also made for good promotion, presenting a pleasant public image for the producing companies.

De-Light describes the process by which light bulbs are made.  Still quite fascinating to watch today, surviving films such as this are invaluable in illustrating how labor and industry once functioned in this nation's past.  De-Light employs a great number of close-ups to show how the machines and craftsmen assembled the glass bulbs, tungsten filaments, and brass bases into the completed light bulb.  This was all quite hi-tech for the time.  The incredible degree of detail in this particular film suggests that De-Light may also have been used to train factory workers, too.

17) Skyscraper Symphony (9 min., 1929)

This avant-garde documentary by Robert Florey is a montage of multiple shots of Manhattan skyscrapers.  Some are static shots, but many are panning shots which communicate the size and majesty of these large man-made structures.  The image compositions emphasize strong vertical and diagonal lines.  A handheld 35mm DeVry camera was used for many of these shots, and the resulting images would look perfectly at home in the opening scenes of Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

Peter Child composed the new music for this film.  It is a poignant score that is occasionally evocative of a Philip Glass score (such as that for Koyaanisqatsi).

BONUS TRIVIA:  Skyscraper Symphony was considered a lost film before a single print was re-discovered in a Moscow archive in the 1990's.

18) Greeting by George Bernard Shaw (5 min., 1928)

Program One concludes with a sound clip from novelist George Bernard Shaw, shot at his English country retreat.  This film was a first-generation Fox Movietone, later the definitive newsreel of the Great Depression era, and was obviously meant to be shown as an introduction before a main feature.

As a sound film, the audio quality is slightly scratchy but otherwise decent.  One can hear the horn of a passing car, the shuffling of gravel under Shaw's feet, the chirping of birds, and of course, Shaw's own cultivated speaking voice.  The technology used a new sound-on-film process developed by Theodore Case and sold to Fox, which by December 1927 was employing the process to create sound newsreels under the new Movietone News moniker.

In this newsreel, Shaw doesn't say much of importance, although the mere sound of his voice at the time was novelty enough.  Among his comments, he makes fun of Mussolini and jokes about an autograph-seeking girl.  Coincidentally, Shaw never actually introduces himself in the entire film (although he does allude to his profession as a novelist).

19) What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City (75 sec, 1901)

Program Two (on disc two) opens with a series of short films documenting the "Streets of New York."  Since the center of the film industry at this time still resided along the east coast, hundreds of short films were created to document daily splices of life in the major eastern cities, such as New York City.  Today, many of these films survive thanks to paper prints preserved at the Library of Congress.

This first short film offers a surreal sense of time travel, as we can see in the formal attire of the pedestrians and the streets lined with horse-drawn carriages.  This film was shot at a well-known "windy corner," so named by eagle-eyed gentlemen for the site's propensity to cause women's skirts to toss up suddenly (either due to the gusty breezes or the frequent ventilation grates).  That is precisely "what happens" in this Edison film.

20) At the Foot of the Flatiron (1 min., 1903)

Shown here is an American Mutoscope and Biograph clip of another very windy day at the foot of the Fuller Building.  Nicknamed the "Flatiron," this twenty-one story building was the tallest in Manhattan at the time.  Again, this film was also shot on twenty-third street, near Fifth Avenue.

21) New York City “Ghetto” Fish Market (2 min., 1903)

This Edison production shows is a scene from the Lower East Side district of New York City.  This single-shot film captures the activity at an open-air fish market as the locals wander about purchasing fish from the street vendors.

22) From Leadville to Aspen, a Hold-Up in the Rockies (8 min., 1906)

This Biograph film is an early example of the "phantom ride," a genre whose descendant, the simulation ride, can now be found in many amusement parks nationwide.  In the film's original presentation, "passengers" would enter a theater designed to resemble a train passenger car, complete with a conductor.  The film itself would be shown at the front (usually through rear-projection).  The "passenger car" would be gently rocked, with the recorded sound of a moving locomotive being piped into the theater.  Thus, there would be an illusion of an actual joyride on real train.

From Leadville to Aspen, directed by Edwin S. Porter, was part of the popular Hale's Tours simulation series.  This particular episode is comprised of countryside travelogue scenery as might be viewed from the front of a moving train.  The shots are lengthy, using extremely long takes, such that the film only has five total shots.  The travelogue portion begins the film, and a robbery portion concludes the film, alluding to Porter's own famous The Great Train Robbery, which preceded this film by three years.

This Hale's Tours film doesn't quite offer the same thrills as riding space shuttle or roller-coaster simulations, but it is clearly a precursor to those attraction rides.

23) The "Teddy" Bears (13 min., 1907)

Film audiences back in the day were arguably more sophisticated than modern audiences and were frequently expected to bring an awareness of current social, cultural, and political events to the viewing of films.  To some degree, this is one reason why silent films are occasionally difficult to follow now - they are being viewed out of their original sociopolitical context by audiences without the prerequisite foreknowledge.

For this extremely old one-reeler, also directed by Edwin S. Porter, the classic fairy tale "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is combined with a popular anecdote about Theodore Roosevelt's 1902 bear encounter.  For anyone not old enough to remember (and that would be about, oh, 100% of viewers today), President Theodore Roosevelt was presumably on a hunting trip one day when, coming across a bear cub, he refused to shoot the poor thing.  Word of his charitable mercy spread quickly, and soon, a new toy emerged that capitalized upon this tale - a cuddly stuffed bear christened the "teddy bear."

The "Teddy" Bears follows the classic fairy tale storyline as Goldilocks enters a cabin in the woods belonging to a family of three playful bears.  When she is discovered, the three bears run her out of the cabin and pursue her through the woods, the film then evolving into a chase (the "chase" genre was very popular at this time).  They eventually come across a hunter (unidentified but clearly meant to represent Theodore Roosevelt) who quickly shoots and kills the Papa and Mama Bear.  Baby Bear is chained up and taken prisoner.  Goldilocks leads the hunter back to the cabin, which they enter and then re-emerge with armfuls of stuffed teddy bears.

Overall, the plot is slight, but the film is interesting more for its social context than its actual content.  There is also an unusual (and surreally creepy) special effects sequence in which the teddy bears all dance.  This film is somewhat ironic in nature and is not really a children's film (unjust death or captivity awaits the bears, after all).  Alternatively, it has been suggested that the film is a political satire that pokes fun at early U.S. relations with Russia, the "Bear."

24) Children Who Labor (13 min., 1912)

Along that train of thought, the political film was actually more common in the 1910's than today.  Children Who Labor is a good example of a short propaganda film designed as a cautionary tale pleading for better working conditions and child labor reforms (the film also alludes to the sexual harassment present at many factories).

Made by the Edison Manufacturing Company in association with the National Child Labor Committee, this morality play opens with a picture of Uncle Sam, highlighted by the words "GREED," as he watches a procession of child laborers marching into a factory.  It is a not-so-subtle criticism of the U.S. government's inadequate child labor laws at the time (by one census estimate at the time, around 18% of the work force was formed by children ages 10-14).

The story proper begins when a young girl hops off a train one day unbeknownst to her mother.  When the train starts to move again, the young girl is inadvertently left behind.  A friendly family of poor laborers from the local factory find her and kindly take her in.  They provide food, clothing, and shelter for the girl, who goes to work with the children in the factory.

In an ironic twist of fate, the girl's rich father, Mr. Hanscomb, buys the factory but fails to spot her during an inspection tour.  When the girl is later taken ill and carried to the immigrants' home, she is briefly seen by her mother, who also doesn't recognize her daughter.  Only when a doctor is summoned to the immigrants' home at the end of the film is the girl's true identity discovered.  The rich Hanscombs initially threaten to have the kindly laborers arrested for kidnapping until their daughter begs for sympathy.  The Hanscombs see the error of their ways, and in the end, conditions are improved in the Hanscomb factory.

25) Concerning $1000 (85 sec, 1916)

Color in films existed long before the arrival of such 1930's Technicolor extravaganzas as Robin Hood or Gone with the Wind.  As early as the mid-1910's, experiments were already on-going to develop practical ways of producing color images on film.

Achieving one color was simple, and there were several common ways to do so.  Individual frames could be hand-painted, although this was labor-intensive.  Tinting, in which the entire film was colored, could be done by dipping the film into dye or later by using specially-prepared one-color film for a desired shot.  Toning involved a process by which silver in the film's emulsion was chemically altered so that black portions of the film became brownish or colored during development (while the white portions remained white).  Sometimes, a film would use both toning and tinting.

Achieving two colors was much trickier.  Early processes were additive, meaning the black & white film image was sent through filters which "added" color to the original image.  Later subtractive processes offered better color fidelity, though.  In these processes, a beam of white light was projected through a prism that split the image through filters.  In either process, the resultant preliminary negatives were usually combined together such that the final print was a two-color, one-strip film.

The next three films, including this one, are examples of early color films using subtractive processes.  Concerning $1000 was meant as an advertising short for a new Kodak camera.  This ad, shown in a short clip here, was remarkable as the first film to utilize the 2-lens Kodachrome process.  The action was first photographed through two lens which sent the images through a red filter and a green filter.  Both negative frames were then combined onto a single two-sided emulsion print, resulting in a very early, if undoubtedly primitive, example of a color film.  In Concerning $1000, the actors have peach-colored flesh tones, flowers are red, dresses are green or pink, and the furniture is brown.  The film clip starts in an office and ends with a stroll through a flower garden.

26) Exhibition Reel of Two-Color Film (4 min., 1929)

This technology demonstration of the Brewster two-color process offers clips from a cartoon, a car commercial, a busy day in New York City, and even a parade.  The Brewster subtractive process here demonstrates its greater color fidelity over earlier processes but does not quite achieve the crisp hues of the later, successful three-strip Technicolor process (first introduced in 1932 with the famous Disney cartoon Flowers and Trees).  Nevertheless, this was a state-of-the-art demonstration for its time and an extremely rare opportunity to see color documentary footage of early Americana.

27) The Flute of Krishna (7 min., 1926)

The last of this trilogy of color films is the best - the earliest known example of a dance film choreographed by Martha Graham (the famed dancer herself does not appear although her students do).  The Flute of Krishna presents an encounter between the mythical Indian god Krishna and three alluring maidens.  The blue-skinned god is seen cavorting with the Indian maidens in a sensual dance heavily influenced by orientalism.  Then, Krishna's most devoted lover, Radha, arrives, and the second half of the film is devoted to her seduction of Krishna.

The Flute of Krishna makes good use of the Kodak color process, with a mostly muted blue-green color palette.  While the colors can hardly be proclaimed as natural in appearance, they are still remarkable to see in such an early film.  The original film score has been lost, but a new traditional Indian music score has been commissioned and works extremely well with the choreography, making this short film one of the brightest gems in this DVD collection.

28) Lotus Blossom (12 min., 1921)

Lotus Blossom is technically a lost film.  That we are able to view any of it at all now should be considered a small blessing in itself, although the film is still quite incomplete.  The original film consisted of seven reels, of which only the fifth reel, presented here, remains.  This film is also noteworthy for being one of the few remaining examples of a co-production between Chinese and American companies.

The story of Lotus Blossom, drawn from Chinese legends, concerns the creation of a sacred bell.  The previous bell has been broken, and the Ming Dynasty Emperor has commissioned a new bell.  Meanwhile, Mongolian Tartars have begun to besiege the kingdom.  The film's fifth reel picks up the story as a young man (the lover of the film's central heroine, Moy Tai) successfully assassinates a Tartar chieftain.  Moy Tai herself goes in search of an imprisoned inventor who knows the secret of crafting the sacred bell.  The reel ends soon after she meets with the inventor.

Presumably, the film would have continued with the revelation that only virgin flesh could properly fix the metal during the casting process for the bell.  Moy Tai would ultimately sacrifice herself by leaping into a cauldron of molten metal, saving the honor of the kingdom.  The new sacred bell's deep intonation would thereafter always ring with the sound of Moy Tai's name.

As no other reels of The Lotus Blossom are known to exist, viewers now can only speculate on how the film might have looked.  Reviews from the era suggest that the film, although independently produced, possessed very solid production values and was unusual for its large Asian cast and its generally positive attitude towards Asian culture (keep in mind that Asians in American films of the silent era were generally depicted as opium dealers or Fu Manchu-like criminals).

The surviving reel of The Lotus Blossom also boasts gloriously tinted images and intertitle cards with both English and Chinese text.

29) Gus Visser and His Singing Duck (90 sec, 1925)

This is a weird one.  Visser owns a duck that "sings" along with him.  The duck doesn't actually sing but rather quacks on cue during Visser's vaudeville act.  This very short Theodore Case sound film is remarkable as an early demonstration of sound technology, even if the sound quality is admittedly very high-pitched and scratchy (plus, the song is corny).

30) Clash of the Wolves (74 min., 1925)

The universal appeal of the most famous film stars during the silent era far eclipses that of modern movie stars.  It is hard to appreciate the celebrity magnitude of such stars as Douglas Fairbanks or Mary Pickford today.  Some of the most beloved stars were not necessarily human, either.  Language was obviously not much of a barrier in films of the silent era.

There were many silent animal stars, none more celebrated than the original Rin-Tin-Tin.  Born around 1918 and discovered within a bombed-out shelter in the final days of WWI, Rin-Tin-Tin was the sole surviving pup of a brood of eight.  The soldier who rescued the pup named him after a popular French good-luck doll at the time.  He quickly discovered his pet's remarkably physical agility, and movie studios would soon recognized it, too, after Rin-Tin-Tin's record-breaking eleven-foot jump in a 1922 dog show.  Warner Brothers signed Rin-Tin-Tin to a film contract, and for the next decade, this German shepherd would rule the cinema as the most beloved animal star of the day.  At one point, he even had his own radio show!

Clash of the Wolves is a real treat from Warner Brothers and finds the canine star near the height of his popularity.  Rin-Tin-Tin is cast as Lobo, the renegade half-breed leader of a pack of wild wolves in the Wild West.  A forest fire forces the pack from its wooded shelter, and they settle in the open prairie lands and deserts of the Old Wild West.  Unfortunately, cowboys and fortune-seekers are already in the region, and Lobo is soon caught in a desperate struggle between providing for his pack and fending off the cowboys eager to claim his pelt for a rich bounty.  When Lobo is eventually injured falling upon a cactus, a friendly cowboy takes him in and nurtures him back to health.  Lobo thus becomes his faithful companion and later returns the favor by saving the cowboy and his sweetheart from the greedy clutches of a local villain, who is out to steal the cowboy's territorial claim on borax.

Clash of the Wolves is an action film through and through.  It is heavy on the chase sequences and also features many spectacular leaps, fights, and demonstrations of Rin-Tin-Tin's physical agility.  Some of the comic scenes, mostly involving the human performers, seem trite and sweetly inconsequential today, but when Rin-Tin-Tin is on the screen, Clash of the Wolves truly soars.

There have been very few Rin-Tin-Tin films, if any at all, available for home screening.  Clash of the Wolves may well be the first.  If so, let's hope that more vintage films with this classic animal star find their way to home video!

BONUS TRIVIA: According to legend, the retired Rin-Tin-Tin, in his final moments of life, was comforted in the arms of glamour star Jean Harlow.  Not a bad way to go!

31) International Newsreel (13 min., 1926)

No silent era anthology would be complete without a few Hearst products.  William Randolph Hearst was the omnipresent media mogul of his day and certainly one of the most influential men in America.  In addition to his newspapers, Hearst's media conglomerate produced movies, cartoons, and newsreels as well.  When newsreels first began appearing in 1911 with the introduction of Pathé's Weekly, Hearst was soon to follow with the Hearst-Selig News Pictorial.  This Hearst newsreel would actually persist under various names, including International Newsreel, until 1967.  One tinted episode from Hearst's International Newsreel is provided here.

Covering the contemporary topics of the day, this episode (volume 8, issue 97) looks at sporting events, college bonfires, floods in England and Wales, and other human interest stories.  Of note is coverage of the third annual Macy's parade and quick glimpses of Mussolini, not far removed from a recent assassination attempt on his life.  Most spectacularly, this newsreel concludes with a war game exercise involving many British tanks.

32) Now You’re Talking (9 min., 1927)

Contrary to any such suggestions by the title, this is actually a silent film.  Funded by American Telephone and Telegraph, Now You're Talking is an early example of a public service announcement, in this case providing instructions to the general public on the proper etiquette for the use of telephones.  While this may seem an unusually obvious topic, consider that telephones were still relatively new at the time.  An analogous situation today would be the proper etiquette on using cell phones in public locations, such as restaurants or movie theaters.

During the silent era, telephones were leased out by AT&T rather than privately owned.  Since the telephones were AT&T property, it behooved the company to make sure its telephones were not abused (thereby cutting down on maintenance).  This instructional film, an early animated effort from Max Fleischer's Inkwell Studios, offers guidelines on how to hang up the phone properly, how to avoid physically abusing the phone as an outlet for job stress, how to protect the phone from the elements or wear and tear, and how to communicate with live operators to place calls (particularly important, as many phones at the time did not have dials).

33) There It Is (19 min., 1928)

Not all silent comedy was slapstick (à la Keystone) or pathos (à la Charlie Chaplin).  There It Is, a comedy by Charley Bowers, is a celebration of the Theater of the Absurd.  The Bowers comedies were frequently unpredictable and bizarre, bending the laws of physics and logic in their absurdist plots.  There It Is offers Bowers as a Scotland Yard sleuth, complete with a bug, MacGregor, as a sidekick.  Bowers is called to investigate an American household that has suddenly become haunted by a "fuzz-face phantom." The film chronicles the non-stop madcap chase through corridors and walls of the haunted mansion as one by one characters all seem to disappear.  The film concludes when the true identity of the phantom is revealed (in a twist reminiscent of the ending to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an expressionist classic).

Charley Bowers remains relatively obscure today, but his comedy was most akin to that of the Great Stoneface, Buster Keaton.  With comedians like Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd moving onto feature films by the mid-1920's, the niche of the one-reel comedy shorts was filled by comedians such as Charley Bowers who were not afraid to experiment outlandishly.

34) A Bronx Morning (11 min., 1931)

Program Two concludes with an experimental film by a young Jay Leyda, later an accomplished film historian.  A Bronx Morning showcases shots of everyday life in the Bronx taken by Leyda in his first attempt at filmmaking.  It is also a documentation of the early effects of the Depression on urban America.  Like Skyscraper Symphony, this film contains some dynamically-composed shots of the local architecture, but it focuses more on the people themselves and their activities.

35) Rip Van Winkle (4 min., 1896)

Program Three opens with Rip Van Winkle.  This film was actually a collection of eight linked early American Mutoscope films, directed by W.K.L. Dickson, highlighting the adventures of Rip Van Winkle.  The films starred Joseph Jefferson, at the time the world's most successful actor, who early in his career had even performed in the fateful theater play Our American Cousin.  His greatest claim to fame, however, arose with an 1865 stage adaptation of Washington Irving's famous tale "Rip Van Winkle."  For decades afterwards, Jefferson would be completely identified with the lead character, his signature role and one which he was to perform even into the twentieth century.

The Mutoscope films are selections of eight short scenes from the stage play that have been re-enacted outdoors via pantomime.  As the films open, Van Winkle is seen drinking in the mountains and encountering a dwarf carrying a heavy load.  Van Winkle assists the dwarf, who leads Van Winkle to a group of other demonic dwarves.  They trick Van Winkle, giving him a strange brew which causes him to collapse into a twenty-year sleep.  The films end with Van Winkle awakening, an old and feeble man.

Rip Van Winkle is significant not only as a record of early film history but also as a rare opportunity to see one of the leading stage performers of the nineteenth century.  The story itself was so popular that at least eight further adaptations were made before 1915, making Washington Irving's tale one of the most adapted works to film (second only to the Bible) during the silent era.

These Mutoscope films survive today as 35mm paper prints, the source of this transfer.  While only a combined four minutes in length, Rip Van Winkle was an epic, relatively speaking, for its time.

36) Mr. Edison at Work in His Chemical Laboratory (30 sec, 1897)

This short clip employs the Edison Kinetoscope to record the famous inventor mixing chemical reagents in his lab.  For a nineteenth century film, this clip is in quite good condition and is remarkable for presenting a very rare motion picture of Edison himself.

In actuality, for this film, Edison was photographed outside in a mock laboratory using natural sunlight, as electric lighting technology had not yet advanced enough to allow for indoor cinematography.

37) Life of an American Fireman (6 min., 1903)

The Life of an American Fireman was an important film by Edwin S. Porter and is considered one of the first films to tell a story using multiple shots, early editing, and even a close-up.  This Edison Manufacturing Company film combined indoor and outdoor footage with some special effects (double exposure).

The "fire" film was a genre in itself during cinema's early years.  Burning buildings, women and children in peril, heroic rescues - such were the common building blocks for these films.  Porter's innovative contribution was an early editing style that devised a new way to telling a familiar story.

The film opens with an alarm at the fire station.  The firefighters assemble and gear up their horse-drawn fire trucks.  Then, the race is on to save a burning house, where a woman and child are in peril from their second-story room.  Both are rescued and the fire is combated successfully.

Granted, this film today is not in great condition, with very scratchy emulsion, a shaky frame, and copious amounts of film stock degradation.  While the story is certainly nothing extraordinary, the film's early display of sequential story-telling is quite noteworthy.  It is also an early example of a docu-drama, combining real footage with fictional re-enactments.

The new audio track includes "Fireman's Quick March," and an old, vintage song, too, "The Fireman's Call" (1837).

38) Films from the Westinghouse Works Series (6 min., 1904)

By 1896, American Mutoscope had recognized the projector system as the future of film exhibition and had developed its own projector, the Biograph.  The company would eventually alter its name to reflect this new technology.  In 1903, the company used the Biograph to create some thirty films for the National Cash Register Company.

Pre-Hollywood movies generally existed less as story-telling devices than as documentaries or industrial promotional films.  The Biograph industrial films caught the attention of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, which subsequently contracted American Mutoscope and Biograph to create a series of twenty-nine short industrial "actualities" promoting its manufacturing sites.  The three short films included on this disc focus on a huge Westinghouse site completed in 1895 in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, supposedly the largest in the world at the time.  Shot by Billy Bitzer, D.W. Griffith's long-standing cameraman, these films were exhibited at the Westinghouse pavilion in the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and became fairly popular internationally.

First is Panoramic View, Aisle B, a two-minute spectacular crane shot.  Floating along far above the factory floor, the camera peers downwards on the workers and their gigantic generators, converters, and other machineries while gliding from one end of the factory to the other a quarter-mile away!

The second film, Girls Winding Armatures, is a stationary shot of female factory workers affixing copper wires to electric motors.  This film demonstrates the gender division within these early factories as well as an early usage of interior lighting for cinematography (probably from new mercury vapor tubes).  The third, untitled film is also a stationary shot, this time of thousands of cheerful workers leaving a factory at the end of the day.

The musical accompaniment for these films is derived from period pieces - "The Gladiator" (J.P. Sousa), "The Wanderbilder suite" (Adolf Jensen), and "Sam Fox Moving Picture Music" (J.S. Zamecnik).

39) Falling Leaves (12 min., 1912)

"When the last leaf falls, she will have passed away."

Successful and prominent women directors, like Jane Campion or Sofia Coppola, are hardly a new phenomenon in cinema.  From the very start, there were female film directors, none more prolific or talented than Alice Guy Blaché.  Born in France in 1873, by the mid-1890's Blaché was already directing films for the Gaumont studios.  During this time, she also created at least one hundred sound-on-cylinder "phonoscènes."  In 1910, after immigrating to the United States, Blaché started the Solax Company, for which she would direct many of the company's 120 films until its dissolution in 1914.  Overall, Blaché made almost one thousand films, a staggering number by any standard.

Falling Leaves remains one of the few surviving films by Blaché.  Loosely based on the 1907 O. Henry story "The Last Leaf," this melodrama about redemption demonstrated Blaché's gentle and lyrical approach, which emphasized subtle acting over histrionic gesturings and stylistic editing.  Blaché's reminder to her actors, as printed upon a sign in her office, was simply: "Be Natural."

Falling Leaves opens with a scene of Dr. Earl Headley, a bacteriologist, proclaiming his invention of a serum that could cure consumption (or tuberculosis), then the leading cause of death in the United States.  The film then shifts to a docile scene between a young girl, Trixie, and her loving sister.  When the sister starts to develop coughing fits, a doctor is summoned and delivers the grave news to the family, "When the last leaf falls, she will have passed away."

In a touching sequence, Trixie, overhearing the news, later goes into her front yard and begins stringing up the fallen leaves back onto their tree.  She meets a passing Dr. Headley who, learning of her sister's malady, offers his assistance.  Dr. Headley injects his miracle medication into the ill sister, and three months later, she is clearly better and on the path to full recovery.

On its initial release, this film did encounter some difficulties with the newly-formed National Board of Censorship.  The Board complained about the health concerns over the depiction of a tubercular patient cuddling with her sister. Nevertheless, Fallen Leaves remains a fine example of Blaché's artistic directorial style and even featured the "Shirley Temple" of the day, Magda Foy, who was often simply known as the "Solax kid."

Musical accompaniment for the film includes excerpts from the second movement of Beethoven's Pathétique sonata, La Cinquantaine by Gabriel-Marie, and Chopin's melancholy Prelude in E minor.

40) Teaser trailer for Hands Up (7 min., 1918)

Not all movie trailers are meant for public viewing.  Some, such as this Hollywood exhibitor reel for the Hands Up serial, were meant to persuade theater owners to book their films.  Hands Up was a western serial by Cyclonic and remains a lost serial today.  It starred Ruth Roland, one of the queens of the serials who appeared in hundreds of short subjects and serials until 1923, when she retired.  Hands Up was to be a fifteen-episode Pathé production, although due to the influenza epidemic that arose during this time period (effectively scaring audiences away from movie houses in droves), it is doubtful whether all the episodes were ever completed.

This reel introduces the various western heroes (cowboys, of course) and villains (Incas, for a change) of the film.  Some stunts from the film, such as horse chases, escapes from Incan traps, and rescue sequences, are shown, including the prerequisite heroine-in-peril scenes.  To further entice theater owners, the reel shows some of the picturesque nature shots used in the film, various sets (from the throne room to the sacrificial chamber), and a wealth of promotional artwork that would come with the film (including one-sheets, lobby photos, and title cards).

BONUS TRIVIA:  The exhibitor reel for Hands Up was re-discovered buried under the former home of Ruth Roland, along with some of her other films and serials.

41) Newsreel footage from the production of Greed (4 min., 1924)

Erich von Stroheim's masterpiece Greed is one of the legendary films of the silent era.  It is not a lost film but, surviving only in a severely butchered form due to studio interference, it might as well be.  Nevertheless, even in its truncated form, Greed remains a towering achievement in cinematic history and was once numbered among the ten greatest films ever made.

Consequently, any new footage from the film will always be cherished by film enthusiasts.  The newsreel footage, by C-V News, contained on this disc offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this classic film.  It focuses mainly on the crew but also quick glimpses of Von Stroheim and some of his actors from afar.

C-V News documents the shooting of Greed's finale in Death Valley.  The location shoot was ninety miles from the nearest significant settlement and could only be reached by horseback and pack animals.  The shoot occurred during the summer in August, when ground temperatures easily reached over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  Dehydration and sunstrokes were obviously very real concerns, but such were the sacrifices one made for the sake of art!

The newsreel is untinted and possibly incomplete, with signs of early decomposition.  It is highly unusual, however, for its behind-the-scene footage which, while common today, was quite rare during the silent era.

42) "The Movie-Lovers' Contest" (3 min., 1926)

Audience participation in movie halls was encouraged through a number of ways, including contests such as this one.  This particular contest, organized by the Daily Mirror with Photoplay Magazine, offered a total of $10,000 in prize money.  Unfortunately, audiences had to see all forty "photoplaylets" in the contest to solve the series of riddles.  This particular clip, the fourth in the contest, shows a swash-buckling sequence from a film about Henry the VIII; it asks for the film's name and identity of the female lead.

The answer is not obviously not provided, but for the inquisitive, the film is the 1922 Cosmopolitan picture When Knighthood Was in Flower, a Marion Davies starring vehicle.  No need to send in any replies - the contest is long over.

43) A Few Moments With Eddie Cantor (7 min., 1923)

Let's talk briefly about early sound films.  During the 1920's, Theodore Case