Silent Film Fest Day 5 - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)

Sorry about the delay in getting this last part of the silent film fest posted, folks. Its been a tumultuous couple of weeks here, but all that's now passed and we should be getting back to regular postings.

Way back in the day, when yours truly was but a young perfessor, one of my favorite movies was the 1954 Disney-produced version of Jules Verne's classic tale 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Sure, from today's historical and literary perspective it was horribly miscast, and much of the subtleties of Verne's original characterizations is missing, but for a young lad there was nothing that could spark the imagination like the undersea adventures of the Nautilus and her crew. James Mason cast an imposing regality as the imperious Captain Nemo, and when Kirk Douglas risked his life battling that giant octopus, well, to my young mind there was no match for his cleft-chinned heroics.

Imagine my delight, then, in discovering while researching the silent films to include in this mini-festival that there was a much earlier silent version of the tale that I could include here. Of course, almost as soon as I saw the opportunity, the questions also began to arise. Was there any way that such an early version could pull off the effects necessary to tell the story? At this point, filmmakers were only just exploring land based photography, how would they possibly pull off the underwater effects? And was there any way that it could bring the excitement and joy that the Disney version had to my young boy's heart? And would it, being an adaptation much closer in time to the source material also be closer in details?

Silent Film Fest - Day 4 - Nosferatu (1922)

Ah, what has become of the vampire? When did they become the good guys, the object of teenage angst and lust? For that matter, when did they themselves become full of teenage angst and lust? Whatever happened to the vampire who was a creature to be feared - the creature of the night who was a hunter subject to an uncotrollable bloodlust? Where now is the vampire who changes into a bat or mist, who controls and communes with the creatures of the night, who is a nearly unstoppable force that threatens to overrun towns and turn innocents into hellborn creatures like itself?

In short, when did vampires begin to sparkle in the sunlight instead of cringing and turning to dust?

Silent Movie Fest - Day 3 - Tarzan of the Apes (1918)

Just a short note to start things off: You may have noticed that instead of "Silent Movie Week", the title above says "Silent Movie Fest". that's because, truth be told, I'm simply finding that trying to keep to a one movie per day schedule is negatively affecting the quality of the posts that I'm able to do here, and not giving me the time to really treat them properly. Therefore, I'm going to be cutting the schedule back a bit. For instance, rather than trying to cover all five of the silent films I'd planned to this week, I'll still be doing the same number of films just over a two-week period instead on one. Not only will this change in schedule allow me to spend a bit more time with each film, it will give me a chance to work on some other projects that I hope you'll enjoy, including making some cosmetic changes to the site and updating the Master List which has been woefully neglected of late. There are also some new surprises coming down the lane which I'm not quite ready to announce yet, but I think will be a lot of fun.


Ok, enough of that for now, let's move on to today's film, shall we?

Tarzan. Lord Greystoke. The Lord of the Apes. When most people think of cinematic representations of the jungle hero, their mind immediately goes to Johnny Weismuller, whom many consider the definitive interpreter of the role. Weismuller was not, howevver, the first cinematic Tarzan. That honor actually goes to Elmo Lincoln who portrayed the Apeman in two feature films and a 15 chapter serial from 1918 to 1921. He also actually appeared as a circus roustabout in the 1942 Weismuller outing Tarzan's New York Adventure and had a small role in 1949's Tarzan's Magic Fountain which starred Lex Barker as the jungle king.

(Ok, for those sticklers out there, I'll grant you that technically Gordon Griffith, who plays the young Lord Greystoke in the film is the first cinematic Tarzan, but it's not really until Lincoln steps in that he's actually the Tarzan that we recognise as the Lord of the Jungle.)

Silent Movie Week - Day Two - The Lost World (1925)

Poor Professor Challenger - though he may very well be as intelligent, his temper, I fear, made him always destined be live in the shadow of his literary step-brother Shelock Holmes. Unfortunately for the professor, this secondary creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never was able to burst into the limelight or gain the popularity of the famed detective. Even in today's feature, the second in our look at silent films, he is truly upstaged by a pack of dinosaurs.

Of course, these were not your ordinary dinosaurs, to be sure. Instead they were the work of stop-motion pioneer Willis O'Brien, who would go on to also create a certain Empire-State-Building-climbing, Fay-Wray-loving giant ape. By then, the creations of O'Brien would be truly spectacular, but even in this early effort they are quite amazing. How amazing? Well according to a report published in the New York Times the day after Conan Doyle himself showed some of the test footage to the Society of American Magicians, "(Conan Doyle’s) monsters of the ancient world, or of the new world which he has discovered in the ether, were extraordinarily lifelike. If fakes, they were masterpieces"

Silent Thursday - The End of an Era

In anticipation of Silents Week coming up in May, I thought I'd share with you today this documentary which chronicles the transition from silent films to "talkies". It's roughly 50 minutes long and is in five parts which should (if I've made this playlist right) play one after the other. Enjoy, and until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting!

-Professor Damian

Sunday Shorts -Alice in Wonderland (1903)

Ok, Kiddies,yer ol' Professor's got a truly special film for you today: the first ever filmed version of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Filmed in 1903, this version has, until recently been available in extremely worn fragments. Even now, only about 9 of the original 12 minutes are known to exist. However, the British Film Institute has painstakingly restored those fragments and released the results to the public. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about this monumental release, instead, i'm going to let the BFI speak for themselves.

First, from the BFI's Youtube posting of the film:

The first-ever film version of Lewis Carroll's tale has recently been restored by the BFI National Archive from severely damaged materials. Made just 37 years after Lewis Carroll wrote his novel and eight years after the birth of cinema, the adaptation was directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow, and was based on Sir John Tenniel's original illustrations. In an act that was to echo more than 100 years later, Hepworth cast his wife as the Red Queen, and he himself appears as the Frog Footman. Even the Cheshire cat is played by a family pet.

With a running time of just 12 minutes (8 of which survive), Alice in Wonderland was the longest film produced in England at that time. Film archivists have been able to restore the film's original colours for the first time in over 100 years.

Music: 'Jill in the Box', composed and performed by Wendy Hiscocks.

Next, from the BFI's Screenonline site:

At 800ft, Alice in Wonderland was the longest film yet produced in Britain, running about 12 minutes. Its unusual length meant that it was not suitable for all film showings, where a variety of short subjects was considered ideal, so all the scenes were sold individually. A showman need only buy and show a single sequence, such as the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, not the whole film, which was less a self-contained story than an illustration of key moments from the book.

In 1903, there were two directors working at the Hepworth studio in Walton-on-Thames, Cecil Hepworth himself and Percy Stow. Hepworth was responsible for the studio's non-fiction films, while Stow made all the fiction films. This was such a large production that the two men worked together.

The film required an unusual amount of planning for its day. Hepworth was insistent that the images stay faithful to the drawings of Sir John Tenniel, the original illustrator of Lewis Carroll's story, and so before filming could begin, a large number of costumes had to be made, including several dozen playing card costumes, and flats painted to Tenniel's original designs. The film was made on the small wooden stage in the garden of the villa housing Hepworth's company, with exteriors shot in the lavish gardens of Mount Felix, a local estate which until recently had been owned by the son of Thomas Cook the travel agent.

Alice was played by Mabel Clark, who as well as acting also ran errands and acted as a kind of studio secretary. There were no professional actors at the studio, so all of the staff pitched in and played parts. Hepworth played the frog footman and his wife played the White Rabbit and the Queen. The film also featured an early appearance by the family dog, Blair, who would become famous as the star of Rescued by Rover (1905).

We all owe a large debt of gratitude to the BFI not only for preserving and restoring this piece of film history, but for giving us all a chance to see it in its true glory.

And now for your viewing pleasure, the original 1903 version of Alice in Wonderland:



And now, the skinny:
Title: Alice in Wonderland
Release Date: 1903
Running Time (of this fragment): 8min, 20 sec
Tinted Colors
Starring: Mabel Clark
Directed by: Cecil M. Hepworth, Percy Stow
Production Company: Hepworth & Co.

A black and white version of this film is available for download at the Internet Archive. The best quality version, however, is definitely the one available at the Youtube link above.
This version is also available as an extra on the BFI's DVD release of Jonathan Miller's 1966 version of the story. It has not been released released in the US, but is available on a PAL format import from Amazon: Alice in Wonderland ( The Wednesday Play ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ].

Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian