silent films in the talkies

[drednm]

We may have had a thread on this before. What talkies can you think of that show clips from silent films?

Watched Widows' Peak (1994) recently and there's a scene in a movie theater where The Ten Commandments (1923) is playing. During the intermission, an enthralled Joan Plowright says something like, "I hear we see God in the 2nd half." Not sure what year the film is set in but there's a comment about The Big Parade (1925) coming soon. We also get a nice shot of the piano accompanist pounding away as the Red Sea parts. Carl Davis scored the film.

In The Spiral Staircase (1945) Dorothy McGuire sits in a theater watching Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in The Sands of Dee (1912).

[Michael O'Regan]

Queen Kelly in Sunset Boulevard, of course.

[s.w.a.c.]

In the 1957 British comedy The Smallest Show on Earth, the staff of the old "flea pit" Bijou are seen watching the 1923 silent Comin' Thru the Rye, directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor and Ralph Forbes.

I'm pretty sure there's some footage of Buster Keaton in Buster's Bedroom (1991), about a woman who decides to stay in the sanatorium where the Great Stone Face went to dry out.

And might as well mention Hugo (2011) while we're on the subject.

Oops, left out The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, a.k.a. Mad Wednesday (1947), which uses footage from the finale of The Freshman in its opening moments.

[Penfold]

In the 1934 My Old Dutch Gordon Harker takes his missus Betty Balfour to the flicks.....and they see the 1915 version of .........My Old Dutch , starring Florence Turner, Henry Edwards, and Albert Chevalier whose sentimental Music Hall hit provides the title and the setting for the films........
...........unfortunately those clips - shown in great quality - are all that remains of the 1915 film; do we shake a fist at the editor of the 1934 film for (one assumes) throwing the rest away, or thank him for at least preserving some of it.....?????
For a twist on the topic, there are at least a couple of contemporarily-set late Japanese silents from the early 30's that either reference (via posters, etc) or indeed show clips from Hollywood sound films.......in one, the title escapes me, you get to see Laughton in If I Had A Millon....

[bobfells]

Yes, we've done a thread on this before. I think my contribution was ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN (1941) where Frederic March plays a minister who takes his son to the movies to show him specifically why they are a bad influence on young people. They end up seeing Wm. S. Hart in HELL'S HINGES (1916) and Rev. March leaves so impressed with the film's strong moral lesson that he decides to devote his Sunday sermon to it.

[boblipton]

I was trying to remember the thread's name, Bob, but every time I tried inputting something in the search window, it complained the words were too common here. Since you reminded me about One Foot in Heaven, I tracked it down. The thread is "At the Movies, in the Movies" and it is at

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2608&hilit=one+foot+in+heaven" target="_blank

Bob

[Smari1989]

Some embarrasingly obvious titles are CINEMA PARADISO (1988), CHAPLIN (1992) and STAN (2006).

[syd]

In The Grey Fox, Richard Farnsworth plays a
stagecoach robber fresh out of jail who happens
upon a theater showing The Great Train Robbery.
After watching the movie, Farnsworth's character
Miner decides to rob trains.

[skyvue]

Then there are the clip(s) from TOL'ABLE DAVID that appear in William Castle's THE TINGLER.

[Jack Theakston]

Some scenes from THE BIG PARADE are featured in THE MAJESTIC. The famous unmasking scene from PHANTOM OF THE OPERA turns up a number of times in films, most notably Castle's HOLLYWOOD STORY.

[silentfilm]

In Doc Hollywood (1991), Michael J. Fox attends an outdoor screening of Buster Keaton's The General (1927).

[Bob Furmanek]

The first sequence of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KEYSTONE KOPS takes place in a nickelodeon. Several minutes of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN are shown onscreen.

[Richard Finegan]

In CYNARA (1932) Ronald Colman and Phyllis Barry go to a movie and see Charlie Chaplin's 1918 short A DOG'S LIFE.

[sepiatone]

In The Grey Fox, Richard Farnsworth plays a
stagecoach robber fresh out of jail who happens
upon a theater showing The Great Train Robbery.
After watching the movie, Farnsworth's character
Miner decides to rob trains.

God I love that movie "The Grey Fox". One of my alltime favorites. Is it on DVD somewheres?

[sepiatone]

In THE GREAT WALDO PEPPER(1975), an aviation movie about 20s barnstormers, Susan Sarandon and Robert Redford enjoy Valentino and Vilma Banky in SON OF THE SHEIK(1926). They view the film in a makeshift mechanic's tent or hangar doubling as a movie theater.

[s.w.a.c.]

In The Grey Fox, Richard Farnsworth plays a
stagecoach robber fresh out of jail who happens
upon a theater showing The Great Train Robbery.
After watching the movie, Farnsworth's character
Miner decides to rob trains.

God I love that movie "The Grey Fox". One of my alltime favorites. Is it on DVD somewheres?

Sadly no, only VHS as far as I know. I'd pick up a copy in a heartbeat. It's also the favourite film of a friend of mine who's blind, but he loves the sound of Farnsworth's voice, plus the music by the Chieftains.

[drednm]

Here's another. The 1963 film All the Way Home starts out with Robert Preston and Michael Kearney laughing at a Chaplin film. Outside the theater, they both do the Chaplin walk. The scene is of Chaplin with someone whose head is caught in a wall or a fence. No idea which film. They might have been on a boat. Maybe The Immigrant (1917)? I don't think they ever say what year it is but one character buys a new Mercer, which started production in 1909.

[Bruce Long]

Mr. Popper's Penguins has clips from several Chaplin films. The penguins are transfixed watching Chaplin walk.

[drednm]

In the 1952 Has Anybody Seen My Gal they go see Laura La Plante in Hold Your Man (1929). Although there is a clip of the film, the survival of the film is unknown. Both films were produced by Universal.

[Lostintime]

Any information about the movie that Barbara Stanwyck and John Boles are watching at the beginning of Stella Dallas (1937)?

[earlytalkie]

A 1962 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies had the Clampetts back in the hills for Christmas. Pearl Bodine played the "pianny" at the picture show which was showing The Eagle with Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Banky. A portion of the film was shown within the episode and the poster for the film was shown outside the theater.

[earlytalkiebuffRob]

There is a cinema visit c1903, in THE CONQUERORS (1932).