A blog dedicated to the Silent era of movies. Here you will find quotes from famous and little known stars of the day, along with a weekly segment called "Silent Film Saturday" where I review a Silent Film.
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In 2020, 27% of US Tumblr users had an annual household income of over $100,000.
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This Day in History:
On July 23, 1879, Margret Illington was born Maude Light in Bloomington, Illinois. Before becoming a popular actress on the silver screen, she made a living acting on Broadway, staring in plays such as The Two Orphans (1904). She was active in the movie making industry from 1900-19.
She died in Flordia at the age of 57, in 1934.
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Buster Keaton, (1895-1966), actor, director, writer, producer and editor.
"The Great Stone Face," noted for his ability to withstand the most brutal slapstick comedy while still sporting an emotionless face. From 1920-29 he was one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood, appearing in well over one hundred films.
Orson Welles said of Keaton’s 1926 ‘the General,’ was one of the greatest pieces of cinema ever produced.
Keaton was still a hot commodity when Sound came into play, however, the deal he signed with MGM following the invention of Sound was, in his words ‘the worst decision of his life.’
With his creative input severely limited, and being forced to use a stunt double for the acts which garnered so much fame, Keaton was demoralized and left Hollywood in 1933 after MGM fired him, despite his last picture ‘What! No Beer?’ being a smash hit.
In 1999 AFI listed Keaton as the 21st Greatest Actor of the Classic Age.
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Adelqui Migliar, actor, director and producer.
Adelqui appeared in well over 100 movies as an actor, captivating audiences with his roles in Toen 't licht verdween, (1918) and As God Made Her, (1920)
As a director he showed great skill as well, excelling at Romances, one such example is the Inseparables (1929), a film about star crossed lovers, a smuggler and a gypsy who try to live happily ever after.
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This Day in History
On April 20, 1888
Actor Fred Kohler was born, he would become a focal point of early American cinema due to his imposing size, giving him several roles in Westerns.
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Alice Brady, actress.
A true star of both the silent and sound era, Brady appeared in over eighty movies, winning Best Supporting Actress in 1937 for her role In Old Chicago.
The previous year Brady had been nominated for the same honnor, for her part in My Man Godfry.
In 1960 she was awarded a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.
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Hiatus
The blog will be down for a few days. I feel terrible and I am booked up until Wednesday. Sorry, but I’ll make sure that on Thursday I’ll make up for it.
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This Day in History
On March 18, 1921:
Actor Thomas V. Emory died at the age of thirty-eight.
He acted in only one film, "the Price He Paid" (1914), as a supporting role named Duke Charlie.
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Silent Film Saturday 02
Now we are in the second week of Silent Film Saturday, and this week our focus will be on one of the more important Silent Films (that still exists today) from Japan, 小雀峠, otherwise known as Kosuzume Tōge (1925).
First released in 1923, Kosuzume Tōge is a film that is split into two separate parts, and weaves multiple storylines together over the course of it. An early Jidaigeki Film, Kosuzume is both the story of a young child, Tokutaro (Hataya Ichikawa), making his living by selling sweets on street corners, while the other portion is that of three villainous bandits who are slowly converted from their evil ways by the innocence of the child. One of the many things that helps win over the bandits are the songs that Tokutaro sings while selling the candy. He describes them as songs his father taught him as a child, though he has no other memory of him. It is not entirely clear if he sings these in the hopes of his father hearing them. However, by the end of the film, a samurai is walking past Tokutaro and hears one of the tunes. Through this he realizes that Tokutaro is his son. Keeping with the times, although this was a Silent Film, there was a Benshi who would help guide the audience throughout the film.
There are two main reasons as to why Kosuzume Tōge is highly valued, both reasons, concern the actors in the film and how early of a piece it is. Starring in the lead role is Hataya Ichikawa, one of the highest profile Jidaigeki actors around the turn of the twentieth century. Ichikawa, whose career spanned from 1922-29, has sixty-eight acting credits to his name. Throughout his career he would often play fatherly or wise figures in film, perhaps the best example of this comes from Ofune to Tonbei (1925), where as an Elder in his village he must lead his people to victory in an unnamed war. Prior to starring in Kosuzume, Ichikawa had acted in twenty-five other films, all of which are now Lost. Due to this, Kosuzume is the earliest example we have of Ichikawa on film.
Continuing with the theme of actors in the film, the next important figure on screen is Tsumasaburō Bandō. From 1923-53, Bandō established himself as one of the greatest Japanese actors of the twentieth century. Noted for how skilled he was in fighting, Bandō starred in some of the most prominent Jidaigeki Films during his time as an actor. Bandō found instant fame and fortune when he signed with Makino Productions, where he met writer and director, Rokuhei Susukita. The two men paired together to make some of the finest pieces of Silent Film to come out of Japan. One of their early collaborations, and one of their best as well, is Gyakuryû (1924). In the film, Bandō plays a nihilistic samurai who suffers several tragedies in his lifetime, he sees his mother die, watches helplessly as his sister is married off and turns against him, but perhaps worst comes with the death of the only woman he ever truly loved. Throughout the entire movie she was his support system, and with her death he sinks into a deep Depression. However, despite all the success that Bandō enjoyed on screen, it can be said that his most famous work came while he was behind the camera. In 1925 he directed the film Orochi, a film about a samurai who struggles with the demands of his lifestyle and the society he tries to protect. The ending of the film has been cited as one of the saddest in the history of Japanese cinema. After an extended fight sequence, Bandō is dragged off by his enemies while he tries to protect the woman he loves. Although Bandō acted in eighteen films before the release of Kosuzume, none of them now survive. Meaning that much like Ichikawa, Kosuzume is the earliest film that survives today of Bandō.
The only other actor of note in the film is Shinpei Takagi, and while he did have a long and extensive career, he is most remembered for being the Bandit Chief in the 1954 classic, Seven Samurai.
The director of the film, Kôroku Numata, lived a very short life dying at the age of thirty-six in 1927. However, he was a very active director during his lifetime, and from 1915-26 he filmed seventy-six movies. Though his early work is looked upon fondly, he did not hit his stride until a few years before he died. Aside from Kosuzume, one of his other, more popular films, is Kago no sensei (1925). It too involves a samurai character, though this time there is little action and is more character driven as an older samurai passes along all is knowledge to his pupil.
Unlike the previous film on Silent Film Saturday, this one not only remains intact, but can also be purchased through a collection known as: Talking Silents.
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This Day in History
On March 17, 1920:
The film Titimekuv náhrdelník was released. Staring famed actor Ladislav H. Struna, the film is an Action/Adventure film about one mans quest to find ancient Aztec treasure.
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Lecch Owron, actor.
Owron began his acting career to much critical and financial success with the 1925 film Vampires of Warsaw, where he played primary antagonist.
He continued his acting career for another twelve years before going into semi-retirement. Unfortunately, he became typecast and the majority of his twenty-one credits were as villains.
In 1960 he came out of retirement for one final film, Krzyzacy.
He died just five years later at the age of seventy-one.
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This Day in History
On March 16, 1884:
Harrison Ford was born. A star of the silver screen from 1915-32, Ford captivated audiences for his roles in Shadows (1922) and Zander the Great (1925).
He often acted alongside other leading people of the time, including but not limited to: Norma Talmadge, Clara Bow and Marion Davies.
His career died out with the invention of sound, and his last film, a Talkie was released in 1932 entitled Love in High Gear.
In 1951 he was struck by a car and never fully recovered, he died six years later in 1957.
In 1960 he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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This Day in History
On March 15, 1881:
Actor Charles Ray was born. He had a lengthy career in acting, with 127 credits to his name spanning from 1911-44. Ray was a star early in his career, amassing a fortune and becoming one of the richest men in Hollywood.
However, he began alienating himself from directors, producers and other actors. Soon he was unable to find work due to his attitude, and in 1923 he released the self-funded picture the Courtship of Myles Standish, to both critical and financial failure. It wiped out his fortune and he never fully recovered.
In 1960 he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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Daisuke Itō, writer and director,
While active, 1921-71, Itō was one of the more active Japanese directors, and also one of the most influential.
He pioneered the Jidaigeki films, or Period Pieces, and defined the Samurai moves as we know them today.
Between screenwriting and directing, Itō has 176 credits to his name.
Most notably, A Diary of Chuji’s Travels (1927), which has been voted the greatest Japanese film of all-time.
Long thought to be Lost, a partial print of it was found in 1991.
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This Day in History
On March 14, 1931:
The Trans-Lux Modern Theater opened in New York, NY on Madison Avenue. This was the first theater to utilize rear-projection system.
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Marguerite De La Motte, ballet dancer and actress with sixty-two credits to her name from 1918-41.
In the 1920s she rose to fame, often playing alongside Douglas Fairbanks in iconic moves such as the Mask of Zoro (1920), the Three Musketeers (1921), Shadows (1922) and the Iron Mask (1929).
Her time as a top actress faded with the invention of the Talkies though, and in 1941 she acted in her final film Overland Mail.
Her life was marred by tragedy. At the age of sixteen she lost both of her parents, and her first husband committed suicide.
In the end, she died on March 10, 1950 at the age of forty-seven.
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This Day in History
On March 13, 1927: The comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy, appeared in the famous short, Duck Soup. A film about two people pretending to or a mansion while the owner is away.
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Frances Marion, writer, veteran and director.
You will be hard pressed to find a more important writer in the medium than Marion.
She was the first ever female writer to win an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the Big House (1930), and just two years later she won the Academy Award for Best Story for the Champ, becoming the first ever writer to win two Academy Awards.
Throughout her career in Hollywood, 1912-72, she wrote for the biggest stars of the time. Names such as, Mary Pickford and Jean Harlow.
At one point in time she was making $50,000 a week, becoming one of the highest paid people in the medium.
In the later years of her career she turned to stage productions and novels, in 1972 Marion published a memoir entitled Off With Their Heads: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood.
Sadly, she died the next year due to a ruptured aneurysm . She was eighty-four.
(Photo from Gettyimages.com)
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