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The Best Arbuckle/Keaton Collection, Volume Two
From 1913 to 1916, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle rose from the ranks of bit player to writer, director and star of comedies for Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company. Because of Sennett's belief that actors were interchangeable, he lost Arbuckle to producer Joseph M. Schenck, who not only paid the comedian handsomely, bu...
From 1913 to 1916, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle rose from the ranks of bit player to writer, director and star of comedies for Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company. Because of Sennett's belief that actors were interchangeable, he lost Arbuckle to producer Joseph M. Schenck, who not only paid the comedian handsomely, but also permitted him complete creative control. To help in the new venture, Arbuckle recruited Buster Keaton, popular star of a knockab...
From 1913 to 1916, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle rose from the ranks of bit player to writer, director and star of comedies for Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company. Because of Sennett's belief that actors were interchangeable, he lost Arbuckle to producer Joseph M. Schenck, who not only paid the comedian handsomely, but also permitted him complete creative control. To help in the new venture, Arbuckle recruited Buster Keaton, popular star of a knockabout vaudeville act; Keaton took a large pay cut to act in motion pictures, and Arbuckle welcomed his ideas and taught him all he knew about making movies. This volume of the video collection presents films that Arbuckle and Keaton made for Schenck between 1918 and 1919; they are presented chronologically so we can watch Buster grow from Arbuckle's bit player to his full partner.
Following the 1921 scandal that was inflamed by a publicity-seeking prosecutor and the tabloid press, Arbuckle's films were withdrawn from circulation in America, and the negatives were not preserved. The films in this collection were gathered from international archives and private collections. The English intertitles are new, and except for Back Stage, derived from non-English sources. All the films are digitally mastered from 35mm, sometimes directly from the nitrate originals.
VOLUME TWO INCLUDES:
- Good Night, Nurse (Jul. 1918)
- Back Stage (Aug. 1919) with Molly Malone, John Coogan
- The Hayseed (Oct. 1919) with Molly Malone, John Coogan
- The Garage (Dec. 1919) with Molly Malone, Harry McCoy and music by Robert Israel.
The Cricket On the Hearth
Dickens' London
Early Russian Cinema, Volumes One and Two, Beginnings (1908-1911) Folklore and Legend (1908-1912)
Source: www.milestonefilms.com
Early Russian Cinema Volume One: Beginnings Sten’ka Razin has the distinction of being the first Russian dramatic production — a tribute to the determination of its producer, Aleksandr Drankov. When his first seventeen actualities failed to win serious attention in early 1908, he answered the widespread call f...
Source: www.milestonefilms.com
Early Russian Cinema Volume One: Beginnings Sten’ka Razin has the distinction of being the first Russian dramatic production — a tribute to the determination of its producer, Aleksandr Drankov. When his first seventeen actualities failed to win serious attention in early 1908, he answered the widespread call for Russian-made films with Sten’ka Razin. This account of the popular brigand leader who dallied with a captured Persian princess was...
Early Russian Cinema Volume One: Beginnings Sten’ka Razin has the distinction of being the first Russian dramatic production — a tribute to the determination of its producer, Aleksandr Drankov. When his first seventeen actualities failed to win serious attention in early 1908, he answered the widespread call for Russian-made films with Sten’ka Razin. This account of the popular brigand leader who dallied with a captured Persian princess was adapted from a traditional ballad “From the Island to the Deep Stream” and Drankov commissioned original music to accompany his film from no less than Ippolitov-lvanov, then head of the Moscow Conservatoire. Energetic promotion ensured the film’s commercial success and launched Drankov’s career as a producer.
Princess Tarakanova marked the arrival of the film d’art formula in Russia. By this time, the original Film d’Art company had become a subsidiary of Pathé, but its first success, The Assassination of the Duc de Guise (1908), remained a prestige model for films aimed at “cultured” audiences with their lavish attention to costume, decor and theatrical acting. This first Russian example was based on a play about the martyred Princess and boasted a cast of well-known actors.
Romance with a Double Bass: “If we are not mistaken, this is the first cinema interpretation of Chekhov’s works. And one must give them their due — they have treated it with all the respect owed to the name of Anton Pavlovich. This excellently acted film is further distinguished by the striking purity and richness of the photography and the beauty of the locations in which the action takes place.’’ (Sinefono, 1911, no.2)
Early Russian Cinema Volume Two: FOLKLORE AND LEGEND1908 saw the belated start of Russian film production. Up to this point, imported films from France, America, Britain, and the other main European producers had satisfied a rapidly expanding exhibition market. But there was also growing demand for truly Russian pictures — one which the entrepreneurial Drankov first tapped with his Sten’ka Razin, launched with a fanfare in October 1908. The producer who was to become his only real rival over the next ten years did not manage to release his first film until two months later and then it proved a commercial failure — “thus the dream of releasing Russia’s first picture on an everyday theme,” Khanzhonkov recalled in 1937, “failed to materialize.” Today, however, this simple gypsy tale has a plein air freshness and authenticity (it used real gypsies) which Sten’ka Razin lacks.
But this ex-cavalry officer was undaunted. Recruiting the determined Goncharov as his director, Khanzhonkov backed a group of three historical scenarios, of which Russian Wedding was one. Accounts of the filming reveal how little experience was available, but Goncharov’s attention to setting and costume — and his assistant Chardynin’s help with the actors — resulted in films that had immediate appeal, not least for nationalistic reasons.
Rusalka, based on Pushkin’s play about a prince and a mermaid, followed in Goncharov’s resolutely ornate style, with Fester once again creating a decor based on the popular narrative painting of the time. The film’s trick effects and surreal underwater set are less typical of Russian production and may reflect the popularity of Pathé’s trick films at this time.
By 1911, when the unreleased Brigand Brothers was started, Goncharov’s pantomime style seemed dated. Yet with the future star Mozzhukhin already showing his quality, and superb locations around the Moscow River, he managed one of the most expressive of all early classic adaptations — in this case Pushkin’s epic poem.
Show more Show lessMaison du mystère, Episode 1, L'Ami Félon
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph...
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph Ermolieff produced three serials in 1921, all adapted from roman-feuilletons by the phenomenally successful Jules Mary, a specialist in...
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph Ermolieff produced three serials in 1921, all adapted from roman-feuilletons by the phenomenally successful Jules Mary, a specialist in the genre, who penned many a famous melodrama around the theme of the miscarriage of justice - a theme that must have had special appeal for the unjustly displaced technicians and artists of Ermolieff's Moscow and Yalta studios.
The first two serials have not left a trace in the annals of film archives. But The House of Mystery (La Maison du mystère), Ermolieff's third serial, (begun in the summer of 1921 and not completed until 1923) by Alexandre Volkoff (with fellow studio director Viatcheslav Tourjansky providing some important and uncredited second-unit work), is a triumph of the genre and a complete delight that not only survived, but also was restored in its original ten-episode format by the Cinémathèque française.
The involved plot of La Maison du mystère centers around Julien Villandrit (Ivan Mosjoukine) and his star-crossed courtship to Régine de Bettigny (Hélène Darly), that inspires bitterness and jealousy in Henri Corradin (Charles Vanel), Julien's long-time associate and secret rival in love. For Mosjoukine, who contracted typhoid fever during the course of production, it remains one of the ultimate consecrations to his multifarious talents as actor, writer, and even make-up artist. But the film also opened doors for Vanel (Les Misérables, The Wages of Fear, Diabolique) who gives the "Curses! Foiled again!" school of melodramatic villainy a new lease on life), and the astonishing Nicolas Koline.
Show more Show lessMaison du mystère, Episode 3, L'Ambition au Service de la Haine
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph...
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph Ermolieff produced three serials in 1921, all adapted from roman-feuilletons by the phenomenally successful Jules Mary, a specialist in...
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph Ermolieff produced three serials in 1921, all adapted from roman-feuilletons by the phenomenally successful Jules Mary, a specialist in the genre, who penned many a famous melodrama around the theme of the miscarriage of justice - a theme that must have had special appeal for the unjustly displaced technicians and artists of Ermolieff's Moscow and Yalta studios.
The first two serials have not left a trace in the annals of film archives. But The House of Mystery (La Maison du mystère), Ermolieff's third serial, (begun in the summer of 1921 and not completed until 1923) by Alexandre Volkoff (with fellow studio director Viatcheslav Tourjansky providing some important and uncredited second-unit work), is a triumph of the genre and a complete delight that not only survived, but also was restored in its original ten-episode format by the Cinémathèque française.
The involved plot of La Maison du mystère centers around Julien Villandrit (Ivan Mosjoukine) and his star-crossed courtship to Régine de Bettigny (Hélène Darly), that inspires bitterness and jealousy in Henri Corradin (Charles Vanel), Julien's long-time associate and secret rival in love. For Mosjoukine, who contracted typhoid fever during the course of production, it remains one of the ultimate consecrations to his multifarious talents as actor, writer, and even make-up artist. But the film also opened doors for Vanel (Les Misérables, The Wages of Fear, Diabolique) who gives the "Curses! Foiled again!" school of melodramatic villainy a new lease on life), and the astonishing Nicolas Koline.
Show more Show lessMaison du mystère, Episode 10, Le Triomphe de l'Amour
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph...
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph Ermolieff produced three serials in 1921, all adapted from roman-feuilletons by the phenomenally successful Jules Mary, a specialist in...
Serial films, or ciné romans were well-established in France before World War I, where they are most closely identified with writer-director Louis Feuillade. These melodramas for adult audiences were unlike American serials that were targeted primarily at youngsters. At Albatros, Russian émigré producer Joseph Ermolieff produced three serials in 1921, all adapted from roman-feuilletons by the phenomenally successful Jules Mary, a specialist in the genre, who penned many a famous melodrama around the theme of the miscarriage of justice - a theme that must have had special appeal for the unjustly displaced technicians and artists of Ermolieff's Moscow and Yalta studios.
The first two serials have not left a trace in the annals of film archives. But The House of Mystery (La Maison du mystère), Ermolieff's third serial, (begun in the summer of 1921 and not completed until 1923) by Alexandre Volkoff (with fellow studio director Viatcheslav Tourjansky providing some important and uncredited second-unit work), is a triumph of the genre and a complete delight that not only survived, but also was restored in its original ten-episode format by the Cinémathèque française.
The involved plot of La Maison du mystère centers around Julien Villandrit (Ivan Mosjoukine) and his star-crossed courtship to Régine de Bettigny (Hélène Darly), that inspires bitterness and jealousy in Henri Corradin (Charles Vanel), Julien's long-time associate and secret rival in love. For Mosjoukine, who contracted typhoid fever during the course of production, it remains one of the ultimate consecrations to his multifarious talents as actor, writer, and even make-up artist. But the film also opened doors for Vanel (Les Misérables, The Wages of Fear, Diabolique) who gives the "Curses! Foiled again!" school of melodramatic villainy a new lease on life), and the astonishing Nicolas Koline.
Show more Show lessOliver Twist, 1909
David Copperfield
Early Russian Cinema, Volume Nine, High Society (1916-1919)
Source: www.milestonefilms.com
The discovery of early Russian cinema in recent years has focused on its highly individual characteristics and its hitherto neglected major artists. Relatively little attention has so far been paid to the public image of the industry as a whole — how it appeared to the filmgoer in the Moscow or Petrograd street....
Source: www.milestonefilms.com
The discovery of early Russian cinema in recent years has focused on its highly individual characteristics and its hitherto neglected major artists. Relatively little attention has so far been paid to the public image of the industry as a whole — how it appeared to the filmgoer in the Moscow or Petrograd street. This program includes two short items as well as a major film by Bauer in an effort to redress the balance.
Antosha Ruined by a Corset (...
The discovery of early Russian cinema in recent years has focused on its highly individual characteristics and its hitherto neglected major artists. Relatively little attention has so far been paid to the public image of the industry as a whole — how it appeared to the filmgoer in the Moscow or Petrograd street. This program includes two short items as well as a major film by Bauer in an effort to redress the balance.
Antosha Ruined by a Corset (1916) is one of the 24 Antosha shorts made by the Czech-born comedian Anton Feriner for the Lucifer company between 1915-18. As David Robinson has noted, these made him the most popular Russian comic, with titles in the series like Antosha Sherlock Holmes, Antosha Speculator, Antosha and the Black Hand — many of them topical, others satirical, and like the one seen here, risqué. Robinson traces the influence of French comedy, which would have helped form Russian taste for over a decade.
Khanzhankov explained in a 1937 interview what he wanted to achieve with A Life for a Life. “I wanted to stagger the cinema world with a production of great artistic worth, which would immediately place our firm’s reputation at its rightful level... From a whole range of scenarios offered to him, Bauer, our chief director, selected a dramatization of the French novel by Georges Ohnet. All the studio’s technical resources were mobilized for the production, and the main roles were allocated among the best actors in our company... We had no more than one month to spend on the production and all departments set to work at a feverish pace. Bauer liked this sort of urgent ‘spontaneous’ work and even finished it a few days ahead of the deadline.” [Silent Witnesses, ed. Tsivian et al, London/Pordenone: 1989]
Khanzhankov’s hopes were realized. The Russian film press hailed A Life for a Life as an “artistic treasure” and “a film that deserves a place alongside the best foreign productions,” although Bauer’s taste for columns was also gently mocked, and it was hinted that perhaps he was trying too hard to imitate foreign models. But all hopes of building on this achievement were swept away in the following year; and in 1919 the most-admired star of Russian cinema, Vera Kholodnaia, died in Odessa. Her vast funeral marked the end of on era.
ANTOSHA RUINED BY A CORSET (Antoshu korset pogubil)Director/screenplay: Eduard Puchal’skii. Production Company: Lucifer Film Studio. Released January 26, 1916. Cast: Anton Fertner (Antosha).
A LIFE FOR A LIFE (Zhiznt zo zhizn’) Alternate titles: A Tear for Every Drop of Blood (Za kozhduiu slezu po kople krovi) or The Rival Sisters (Sestry sopernitsy).Director/Screenplay: Evgeni Bauer. Based on the novel Serge Panine by Georges Ohnet. Photography: Boris Zavelev. Production Company: Khanzhankov. Released May 10, 1916. Cast: Ol’ga Rakhmanova (Khromovo, a millionairess). Lidiia Koreneva (Musia, her daughter). Vera Kholodnaia (Nata, her adopted daughter). Vitol’d Polonskii (Prince Bartinskii). Ivan Perestiani (Zhurov, a merchant).
THE FUNERAL OF VERA KHOLODNAIA. Newsreel coverage of the funeral which took place in Odessa in 1919.
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