10 American Silent Films Returned Home from Russia

[drednm]

Long account on The Arab in the Soares bio of Novarro.

Four month of filming in Tunisia and a studio in Paris. The entourage includes Novarro, Alice Terry, her husband/director Rex Ingram, and Novarro's BF, the writer Herbert Howe.

Apparently Novarro had trouble walking in the hot Tunisian sands like "a man of the desert" but had worse problems with his shiek-like character. During one scene when the Novarro character is supposed to lear at a woman, Ingram screamed out in exasperation, "For God's sake, try to look interested!"

This was the last time Novarro worked for Ingram although all their films together were successes.

There is a review of the film on IMDb by you know who.....

[Penfold]

....which is interesting as he mentions the print he saw - in an archive - having Russian intertitles. I wonder if the Gosfilm print has....

[drednm]

Yes he claims it to have had Russian title in 2005, when he lived in Wales.

He doesn't say where he saw the film but mention a Russian curator.

[drednm]

The Valley of the Giants is the 1919 film during which Reid was injured in a train wreck on location in Oregon. This was the beginning of his drug addiction.

[drednm]

You know who also has reviews posted for Circus Days and You're Fired but he neglects to say where he saw them.

[sepiatone]

THE ARAB! I've always wanted to see that; here's hoping it gets released now....

one thing about Rex Ingram, he managed to get funding from Hollywood and then went far far away to shoot the film he wanted without any interference or disturbance from the front office. For instance some of his films are made in exotic locations:

The Arab - Morocco(North Africa)
Where the Pavement Ends - (Cuba)
The Magician - Paris
Mare Nostrum - Mediterranian

I hope in succeeding batches of the 200 films remaining in Gosfilmofond, that WHERE THE PAVEMENT ENDS shows up.

[drednm]

Yes but with The Arab Mayer (about the time of the MGM merger)demanded the film be sent back to Hollywood for final editing. This ended Ingram's Hollywood career. Apparently Ingram complied only because he thought he was to be MGM's choice to direct Ben-Hur.

[Marilyn Slater]

Information on the digital films from the Gosfilmofond that were given to the Library of Congress is at Looking-for-Mabel, here is the link http://looking-for-mabel.webs.com/gosfi ... lmsloc.htm

[moviepas]

http://www.kaleidoscope.org.uk/kaleidos ... t.2010.pdf

A link this weekend that might interest some in this forum

[drednm]

Marilyn, terrific collection of info on that website. Thanks.

Odd that the Richard Dix section shows a picture of Ramon Novarro. Did they mean to post a picture of Ricardo Cortez?

[drednm]

So who has a copy of The Three Passions?

[sepiatone]

Information on the digital films from the Gosfilmofond that were given to the Library of Congress is at Looking-for-Mabel, here is the link http://looking-for-mabel.webs.com/gosfi ... lmsloc.htm

cast photos for "The Eternal Struggle" states Barbara LaMarr. The photo there is actually of Anna Q. Nilsson.

[sepiatone]

LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT, if found amongst these films, would've been a heck of a Halloween treat for everyone.

[Jason Liller]

Any sign of CHIMPS AHOY?

[westegg]

Any word when the next batch will be announced? Or perhaps the list of the remaining balance? I'm on the edge of my seat.

[Gagman 66]

Here are a few films that I forgot about. For Colleen Moore how could I fail to mention SO BIG? also COME ON OVER, APRIL SHOWERS, and OH, KAY, And a couple other Renee Adoree titles BANDELERO and BLARNEY? How about some Gloria Swanson? Perhaps AN AMERICAN WIFE, or BLUE BEARDS EIGHTH WIFE? What about PRODIGAL DAUGHTERS, and yes MADAME SANS-GENE? Any hope to the missing reel to SADIE THOMPSON?

Also curious about couple of films with Greta Nissen. THE WANDERER, and THE POPULAR SIN? Oh, how we need some of the Paramount Bebe Daniels features to surface, especially, SHE'S A SHEIK, and STRANGERS IN HEAVEN. But I would be happy with anything. Not much of Betty Compson seem to be around. A RUSTLE OF SILK, THE FORBIDDEN WOMAN, and THE SCARLET SEAS with Richard Barthlemess. any of those would be nice. Dolores Costello in the THE LITTLE IRISH GIRL is of interest too. Is THE NOOSE even lost? Madge Bellamy in MOTHER KNOWS BEST. What about some RIN-TIN-TIN?

[boblipton]

And why has no one mentioned their aspirations for the lost Snooky the Humanzee masterpieces?

Bob

[Mike Gebert]

Including the one Fedor Ozep is supposed to have directed, Humanzee Desire? With its unmistakable foreshadowing of Don Taylor's work on Conquest of the Planet of the Apes? When will the conspiracy of silence against both Ozep and Snooky end?

[westegg]

I was just thinking, if FOUR DEVILS can't be found in Russia, then it's probably realllly lost. I wonder what early sound films are apparently in the collection...oh the suspense.

[Brooksie]

I was just thinking, if FOUR DEVILS can't be found in Russia, then it's probably realllly lost. I wonder what early sound films are apparently in the collection...oh the suspense.

I think the chance of finding the higher profile lost films in archvies like these is low. Everyone knows `London After Midnight' is lost and everyone's looked for it.

I hold out more hope for the lower profile gems. Although I have not yet seen it, `Upstream' sounds like one of these. `Sorrell and Son' is another relatively recent find that would fall into that category.

[LampyMeier2007]

For FIAF members this films werent a surprise that there are not lost !

Can someone (who is a FIAF member)look which silentfilms of Crawford and Haines also survive somewhere in a Archive ?

I mean films like Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) and The Taxi Dancer (1927).

Maybe, Also the same for Rupert Julian and Tod Browning films (which he done before 1925)

[syd]

http://www.examiner.com/silent-movie-in ... ants-video

A 26 second clip from Valley of The Giants (1919).
The quality is amazing. This is a major discovery.
This could be the best movie version of the Peter B. Kyne
novel.

[westegg]

Zowie! It looks great and "moves" great too.

It looks just like what 1919 audiences knew it as.

[Elif]

I believe Mae Murray's IDOLS OF CLAY and THE RIGHT TO LOVE both directed by George Fitzmaurice are at Gosfilmofond.

To be honest, we also hold a copy of RIGHT TO LOVE in the Netherlands. Is this film really sought after? We never noticed anyone being interested in it so far...

[drednm]

I'll take a copy....

[Thomas]

The quality of the recently found copy of "The Three Passions" seems to be good. Someone put a sequence of seven minutes on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F-5WwtvUnc

So why isn't there an official statement of the finder(s)?

[rogerskarsten]

The FIAF database entry for THE THREE PASSIONS currently indicates only one holding archive: Lobster Films in Paris.

~Roger

[sepiatone]

I believe Mae Murray's IDOLS OF CLAY and THE RIGHT TO LOVE both directed by George Fitzmaurice are at Gosfilmofond.

To be honest, we also hold a copy of RIGHT TO LOVE in the Netherlands. Is this film really sought after? We never noticed anyone being interested in it so far...

Are you kidding, both of those films were directed by George Fitzmaurice and in the case of 'IDOLS' , probably a minor masterpiece, showcases Mae's acting chops rather than being the great clothes horse she usually was when appearing in films directed by hubby Robert Z. Leonard

[Gagman 66]

Thomas,

Yikes, that music to the THE THREE PASSIONS clip its truly horrible. My copy was scoreless and I added my own music. Yes, the print is much better than the THE MAGICIAN. At least I thought that it was. I still don't know where it came from.

Yeah, I want to see RIGHT OF LOVE as well.

[Lokke Heiss]

I wonder what good ole 'Gwyn Mac' would think if he were still here. Oh! he wouldn't think nothing of it, he's seen all of these films.

He'd think, while they have their moments, all of these films are not as good as their reputation says they are.