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hey guys! Here is the video of Theda Bara in Cleopatra... this all I found in youtube.. very interesting though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWn7L2pL5dI

doggit!, Gagman they removed the clip from Youtube. Sorry I missed this fragment. Fritz Leiber appeared in great in 1920's IF I WERE KING where he played the part of King Louie, the same part Conrad Veidt played in 1927's THE BELOVED ROGUE.

The original You Tube post that has been removed stated that it had been removed as it infringed the copyright of the Cinemateque Francais - so perhaps they know what it is?

[Christopher Jacobs]

So if the clip is really from THE QUEEN OF SHEBA and if it really was removed because it "infringed on the copyright(!)" of the Cinematheque Francaise (as if a 1921 film is still protected in the US and as if Fox somehow managed to transfer their original copyright to the Cinematheque Francaise in the first place), does that mean for a fact that there is surviving footage from the supposedly lost film THE QUEEN OF SHEBA and that it apparently is at the Cinematheque Francais, who haven't bothered to let anybody know it exists (except YouTube)?

I'd certainly like to see the rest (or any) of THE QUEEN OF SHEBA after reading Kevin Brownlow's tantalizing chapter in "The Parade's Gone By."

Excellent detective work. That looks like exactly the same costume on the man, presumably that would be King Solomon -- anyone here know Fritz Leiber well enough to ID him?

This is Fritz Leiber a couple of years earlier in the 1917 version of Cleopatra:



Here's a quote from the Wikipedia article on Fritz Leiber Sr:

In the film Champagne Waltz, Leiber portrayed an orchestra maestro; the role required him to play classical music on a violin and jazz on a clarinet. In a 1979 interview with journalist F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, Fritz Leiber Jr. stated that these scenes were not dubbed, and that his father played several instruments expertly.

Both Leibers have been dead for a couple of decades, so there's now to ascertain whether Leiber was indeed an accomplished musician or not.

Champagne Waltz will be shown at Cinefest in a few days. Between Philip Carli, Jack Theakston & Myself we can figure out if he's faking on one or both instruments. Sometimes there are odd circumstances such as STREET GIRL- Betty Compson's violin playing is dubbed- but she dubbed it herself.

Champagne Waltz will be shown at Cinefest in a few days. Between Philip Carli, Jack Theakston & Myself we can figure out if he's faking on one or both instruments. Sometimes there are odd circumstances such as STREET GIRL- Betty Compson's violin playing is dubbed- but she dubbed it herself.

Recording violins can be difficult, and in the day I expect you'd want the violin a lot closer to the mic than an on-camera performance would allow, so that could be why you'd dub your own performance. A violinist can usually tell if an actor knows how to play violin. The actors in The Red Violin generally did a very good job, but in Peter Jackson's King Kong the orchestra in Radio City is clearly playing something very different from what's on the sound track.

In really bad cases the bowing isn't even close to being in sync with the music.

The classic case is supposed to be John Garfield's closeup shots in golden boy. I've heard that the fiddle was propped under his chin, one violinist did the fingering, and another moved the bow. Of course this was filmed silent...one would hope.

In really bad cases the bowing isn't even close to being in sync with the music.

The classic case is supposed to be John Garfield's closeup shots in golden boy. I've heard that the fiddle was propped under his chin, one violinist did the fingering, and another moved the bow. Of course this was filmed silent...one would hope.

First of all, the film was HUMORESQUE, not GOLDEN BOY. (While Garfield played the male lead in Golden Boy on the Broadway stage, William Holden was in the film.)

In any event, I have always taken the stories about Garfield's violin playing in HUMORESQUE with a block of salt. Speaking as a violinist myself, playing the violin is an extremely tactile activity. I could literally feel what I was playing and know it was in tune, as well as hear it. Two or three people doing the playing requires just as many tactile points of view, and it would be extremely hard, as well as clumsy, to get them all playing together.

My personal theory is that Garfield learned how to finger the instrument and play simple passages for his medium close-ups in the film, and the rest was done through ingenious use of doubling in long shots and extreme close-ups. Jane Wyatt learned the violin in a similar way for her part in LOST HORIZON.

Alan Alda said that with intensive training he learned how to play some Liszt for THE MEPHISTO WALTZ, but without practice he forgot every bit of it soon after.

This clip is truly an exciting find. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA is on my list of top 10 lost silents that I would like to see. Maybe more of this film exists in France.

Here's a bit regarding the way they shot the violin sequences in Humoresque:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-sFEjLUEaIwC&pg=PA79&dq=humoresque+negulesco+violin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4vZdT4PQGYL50gH6p9CTAw&ved=0CFIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=humoresque%20negulesco%20violin&f=false

Here's a bit regarding the way they shot the violin sequences in Humoresque:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-sFEjLUEaIwC&pg=PA79&dq=humoresque+negulesco+violin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4vZdT4PQGYL50gH6p9CTAw&ved=0CFIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=humoresque%20negulesco%20violin&f=false

Try this at home and see how well it works.

Here's a bit regarding the way they shot the violin sequences in Humoresque:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-sFEjLUEaIwC&pg=PA79&dq=humoresque+negulesco+violin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4vZdT4PQGYL50gH6p9CTAw&ved=0CFIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=humoresque%20negulesco%20violin&f=false

Try this at home and see how well it works.

It could work quite well, as long as you don't use the sound from the exercise. As long as the left and right hand violinist know how Isaac Stern plays the piece, and if they're listening to his recording for the timing of the bowings and fingerings, they could probably get quite close to realism.

According to the featurette on the Humoresque DVD those are Stern's fingers in the close-ups.

According to the featurette on the Humoresque DVD those are Stern's fingers in the close-ups.

To be more specific, those are Stern's hands in the extreme close-ups where Garfield is not in the frame.

Hey Gagman I think you may be right THIS MAY BE Queen of Sheba PERHAPS

So if the clip is really from THE QUEEN OF SHEBA and if it really was removed because it "infringed on the copyright(!)" of the Cinematheque Francaise (as if a 1921 film is still protected in the US and as if Fox somehow managed to transfer their original copyright to the Cinematheque Francaise in the first place), does that mean for a fact that there is surviving footage from the supposedly lost film THE QUEEN OF SHEBA and that it apparently is at the Cinematheque Francais, who haven't bothered to let anybody know it exists (except YouTube)?

I'd certainly like to see the rest (or any) of THE QUEEN OF SHEBA after reading Kevin Brownlow's tantalizing chapter in "The Parade's Gone By."

Unless the infringement was done in other videos by the same uploader.

Did anyone keep in touch with him? Was any of the film saved in the end?

[silentfilm]