ALL THE NEWS FIT TO HEAR • VOLUME 06 • NUMBER 05 • SEP/OCT 2012

Harvey said that Urban donated NATIONAL MEDIA MUSEUM Turner’s footage to the London Sci- REVIVES OLDEST COLOR FILM ence Museum in 1937, where it stayed until it was sent to the Na- tional Media Museum. Experts digi- tized the footage, finally allowing it to be shown. (news.yahoo.com/uk- museum-revives-first-ever-film-shot- color-173155108.html) BLANCANIEVES

Mirror, Mirror; Snow White and The Huntsman; Blancanieves–all modern motion pictures with varia- tions on the classic fairytale and all released within the same year–but which one will be the fairest of them all? Any admirer of silent motion pictures will likely choose the final By Raphael G. Satter (Excerpted ar- Michael Harvey, the Media Mu- interpretation, Blancanieves, a goth- ticle, 09/12/12) seum’s curator of cinematography, ic melodrama inspired by the Broth- LONDON (AP). The earliest col- said he hoped the movies would ers’ Grimm tale, and another current or movies known to exist have been change people’s perceptions of “what silent feature paying tribute to cin- revived by film archivists and were was possible back then.” Experts ema's roots. shown to an audience at London’s have dated the movie segments back Science Museum on September 12th, to 1901 or 1902, when cinema was 2012. The obscure film segments still in its infancy and inventors on were long considered failed proto- both sides of the Atlantic were racing types, flickers of color seen by no to produce ever-more realistic films. more than a handful of people before That was no mean feat. London being consigned to an archive. based inventor-photographer Edward The National Media Museum in Turner devised a complex, three- the city of Bradford announced that color process which would shoot digitization had effectively rescued black-and-white negatives through the footage by unlocking remark- Blancanieves red, green and blue filters alternat- ably modern-looking images roughly roughly 5 to 40 seconds in length cre- ing in rapid succession. The idea was Scheduled for public release ated more than a century ago. to project three differently filtered on September 28, 2012 in its home frames at a time on to a screen to cre- country, Blancanieves is a Spanish ate the illusion of a colorful movie. film directed by Pablo Berger, which Turner never quite got the hang retells the Snow White story set in of the process, and his footage was 1920s Madrid. A young child named passed on to American film entre- Carmen has been tormented by her preneur, Charles Urban, who part- vile stepmother and escapes to the nered with film pioneer George woods for sanctuary where she finds Albert Smith to develop a modified a troupe of dwarf bullfighters and re- (and much more successful) system, mains with them as she grows into dubbed Kinemacolor, in 1906. adulthood. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote happened upon Ithaca, New York and SILENT SPOTLIGHT about the picture following a screen- made movie making history. ing at the Toronto International Film The flagship installation, a 90- Festival, and identified it as “A full- foot long sculptural timeline at the THE GOOD GERMAN: bodied, visually stunning silent film Tompkins County Public Library, The Life & Legacy of Conrad Veidt of the sort that might have been made highlights the history of the Wharton by the greatest directors of the 1920s, studio, and the impact it had on the By Caroline Shapiro (Excerpted ar- if such details as the kinky sadomas- approaching Hollywood film boom. ticle, 03/09/12) ochism of the Evil Stepmother could Other exhibit locales scattered Hans Walter Conrad Veidt was have been slipped past the censors.” throughout Ithaca are Gimme! Cof- born on January 22, 1893, in Pots- fee, the State Theatre of Ithaca, dam, Brandenburg, Germany, al- Petrune, the Crescent Building, the though some sources say Berlin. He Schwartz Center, GIAC, and Ithaca was first bitten by the drama bug as Tompkins Regional Airport. an adolescent, a secret he was forced Stars such as Oliver Hardy, Lio- to hide from his father but which was nel Barrymore, Pearl White, and lovingly encouraged by his mother. Irene Castle mingled and made merry with Ithacans and Cornelians alike. Using the city’s dramatic and natural landscape, whether Ithaca Falls or the lakefront property of the Renwick Park [Stewart Park] studio, Pablo Berger’s previous feature the Whartons helped earn Ithaca the film, Torremolinos 73, was a very alias The Biggest Little City. different beast: a comedy about a The exhibition is a creation of man who wants to make arty films Ithaca Motion Picture Project (IMPP), but gets into pornography instead; a non-profit organization committed which proves he’s no stranger to tak- to celebrating and preserving Cen- ing a commercial risk. Back in 2009, tral New York’s silent film history, the script for Blancanieves won a and the transformation of the former special award at Sundance to help Wharton film studio building into a Conrad Veidt fund the finished film, and it looks film museum. like it will pay off in spades. Romance, Exploits, & Peril al- After studying under the tutelage A final element to mention on lows the viewer to discover Ithaca’s of drama coach Albert Blumenreich, this new release is the sumptuous ro- silent film history–an industry so Veidt got his first big break when mantic score composed by Alfonso hypnotic, so unique, you’d expect to he was hired on by Max Reinhardt Vilallonga, whose previous work only see it in the movies. All exhibits as a company extra at the renowned includes the 2008 mystery Transsi- and events are free and open to the Deutsches Theater. berian. (Special Thanks to Pamela public. (www.ithacamotionpicture- After climbing to the top of the Hutchinson of Silent London, http:// project.org) Berlin theater community, it was only silentlondon.co.uk) natural that film producers would start to take an interest in the gaunt, Romance, Exploits & Peril: gangly, altogether unusual-looking Veidt. His first film was 1916’s Der Movie Making in Ithaca, NY Weg des Todes (The Road of Death) alongside Carl de Vogt and Maria NEW YORK. Running from Oc- Carmi. He worked endlessly during tober 1st – November 7th, Romance, the latter half of the 1910s, appearing Exploits & Peril is an 8-part multi- in four films in 1917, eleven in 1918, media exhibit celebrating a time, al- and fourteen in 1919. most 100 years ago, when two broth- One of these, Anders als die An- ers, Theodore and Leopold Wharton, dern (Different from the Others), featured Veidt portraying one of the horror–melodrama The Man Who Veidt, who valued tolerance and first intentionally explicitly homo- Laughs (1928). Adapted from a Vic- liberalism above all else, refused sexual characters in film history (a tor Hugo novel, the film starred Veidt Goebbels’ offer and instead signed film currently being restored by the as Gwynplaine, a sensitive man with on to play the lead role in the Brit- UCLA Film & Televison Archive a hideous permanent ear-to-ear grin ish adaptation of Jew Süss, a pro- & the Outfest Legacy Project). Co- carved into his face, who catches the Jewish historical novel by Lion written by director Richard Oswald attention of a sadistic duchess. By Feuchtwanger. Goebbels was not & pioneering sexologist Magnus enduring the rigorous makeup pro- pleased, and had Veidt placed under Hirschfeld, the film was a condem- cess and successfully rendering the house arrest, and rumor has it there nation of Paragraph 175, Germany’s tenderest of emotions, Veidt proved was even a plot by the Nazis to as- law forbidding homosexuality. himself a viable rival to horror icon sassinate him. Veidt left Germany in Lon Chaney–but alas, it was not to 1933, knowing that he could never be. Along came sound, and with it return. Upon emigrating, Veidt (born went Veidt’s hopes of continuing his a Protestant) wrote “JEW” when rise in Hollywood. asked his religious affiliation. He was welcomed back into the German film community with open arms, but his brief dalliance with Hollywood was not forgotten. Next was the British film industry which Different From The Others came calling. Veidt felt at home in England and began making films and The first role that brought Conrad taking lessons to improve his Eng- Veidt to the world’s attention was as lish. Cesare–the murderous somnambu- However, by the early 1930s list in Robert Wiene’s 1920 ground- tensions were mounting outside of breaking Expressionist masterpiece the movie industry, and soon Veidt The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Veidt was forced to make a choice. Joseph quickly made a name for himself in Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s second-hand the budding horror film industry (he man in the rapidly-growing Nazi Par- The Last Performance was known as the “Demon of the Sil- ty, thought of Veidt as a valuable as- ver Screen”) and became one of the set to Germany and tried to convince Veidt returned to America for the highest-paid film actors in Germany. him to sign an oath of loyalty to the 1940s film Escape starring Norma Eventually Hollywood came call- new totalitarian government & make Shearer and Robert Taylor, in which ing–in the form of a written invitation only pro-Aryan films. he played a Nazi general. In 1942 sent directly from one of America's came a little picture called Casablan- very own stage and screen legends: ca, and he received the highest salary “I saw your picture Waxworks. You among the cast for his portrayal as must play in my picture as King Lou- the villainous Major Heinrich Strass- is XI. I cannot make the picture with- er. By 1943, Veidt was once again out you–sincerely, John Barrymore.” allowed to play a good guy, a leader The picture in question was of the German resistance in Above 1926’s The Beloved Rogue, and Suspicion with Joan Crawford and Veidt agreed to play the part and set Fred MacMurray. Sadly, it was to be sail for America. He was immedi- his last role. Shortly after shooting ately welcomed into the fold of the had been completed, Conrad Veidt Hollywood German ex-patriot com- died suddenly on a Hollywood golf munity by the likes of Paul Leni and course, the victim of a heart attack. Ernst Lubitsch. He was only fifty years old. (Full ar- Perhaps Conrad Veidt’s greatest ticle, http://garbolaughs.wordpress. success in America during the late The Man Who Laughs com/2012/03/09/the-good-german- 1920s was the Paul Leni directed the-life-and-legacy-of-conrad-veidt/) BOOK CORNER moviegoers everywhere were riveted by her magnetic talent as she rose to LES VAMPIRES become cinema’s first great star. American Silent Horror In this engaging collection, Mary The undisputed master of the SCIFI & FANTASY FEATURE FILMS Pickford is revealed as a gifted ac- espionage serial, Louis Feuillade tress, philanthropist, and savvy in- (Fantômas), crafted films with laby- By John T. Soister, Henry Nicolella dustry leader who fought for creative rinthine plots and unforgettable char- with Steve Joyce , Harry H Long, and control of her films. acters that influenced multiple gen- Bill Chase This volume features more than erations of filmmakers. Comprised two hundred color and black and of ten episodes, and clocking in at white illustrations, including photo- nearly 7 hours in duration, Les Vam- graphs and stills from the collections pires is an unqualified masterpiece. of the Library of Congress and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (www.kentuckypress.com) ON DVD & BLU-RAY

The Magician RAGS & RICHES: THE MARY PICKFORD COLLECTION During the Silent Era, when most films dealt with dramatic or comedic Funny, feisty, and diminutive, takes on the “boy meets girl, boy los- Mary Pickford was the first actor to es girl” theme, other motion pictures have complete artistic control of her dared to tackle such topics as reju- films and chose to work with the best venation, revivication, mesmerism, directors, writers, craftsmen and edi- the supernatural and the grotesque. tors throughout her career. The Poor A Daughter of the Gods (1916), The Little Rich Girl (1917), The Hood- Phantom of the Opera (1925), The lum (1919 ), and Sparrows (1926) Magician (1926) and Seven Foot- are newly remastered with full or- prints to Satan (1929) were among chestral scores, and demonstrate the unusual and startling films with the star’s commitment to excellence It follows journalist Philippe story elements that went far beyond and the brilliant range of her acting. Guérande (Édouard Mathé) in his ef- the realm of “highly unlikely.” (www.milestonefilm.com) forts to expose a vast criminal orga- Using surviving documentation nization known as the Vampires. and their combined expertise, the Authorized by the Gaumont Stu- authors catalog and discuss these dios, this 2 disc set was mastered in departures from the norm in this en- HD from the 35mm restoration pro- cyclopedic guide to American hor- duced in 1996 by the Cinémathèque ror, science fiction and fantasy in Française, under the supervision of the years from 1913 through 1929. Feuillade’s grandson, Jacques Cham- (www.mcfarlandbooks.com) preux. (www.kinolorber.com) MARY PICKFORD: TST EDITED & PUBLISHED BY: QUEEN OF THE MOVIES Brandee B. Cox: Content Manager Edited by Christel Schmidt. Steven K. Hill: In the early days of cinema, Layout & Graphic Design when actors were unbilled and un- Contact us at: [email protected] mentioned in credits, audiences im- www.tstnews.net mediately noticed Mary Pickford.