Mexican silent cinema

[Thomas]

The Filmoteca of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) shows three classics of the mexican silent era online in good quality. The intertitles are in spanish and english. The movies are:

-Tepeyac (MX 1917)
-El tren fantasma (MX 1927)
-El puño de hierro (MX 1927)

And here is the link:
http://www.filmoteca.unam.mx/cinema/

[moviepas]

Looks good but can one save these movies to HDD for future viewing???

[Gaucho]

You can.
But they are divided by chapter on the site and you will only be able to save them as separate files. If you are using Firefox, try DownloadHelper - it worked for me.

[boblipton]

Thanks a lot -- or should I say "Muchos Gracias."


I'd see a doctor about that eye, Gaucho.

Bob

[salus]

Some Hollywood actresses did silents in Mexico, Lupita Tovar, Dolores Del Rio and a few others.

[Thomas]

The great mexican divas Dolores del Rio, Lupe Velez and Lupita Tovar never made silent movies in Mexico. Del Rio was brought to Hollywood by Edwin Carewe, for whom she made her debut in "Joanna" (USA 1925). All her silents were US-productions. Later, in the talkie era, she returned to Mexico for some movies. Lupe Velez was already in the US as a dancer, when Hal Roach engaged her. All her silents were US-productions, too. And at least Lupita Tovar had her big career in the talkie era. She made only a view silents in uncredited roles. Robert Flaherty discovered her in 1929 and brought her to the US.

[Thomas]

The Filmoteca of the UNAM has published on the 22nd of november a DVD of "El automovil gris" (MX 1919). Unfortunately most of the silent serial is lost. So the Filmoteca restored the syncronized version of 1937, which was cut from the original serial. But surely it will bring an impression the serial.
Here is an article of the mexican newspaper El Universal:
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/espectaculos/101408.html

[FrankFay]

I am glad to hear that this is available for viewing without the benshi additions.

[ssreverb]

Does anyone have the dvd of EL PUÑO DE HIERRO seen here? I'd love to buy a copy, but can't find it anywhere.
Amazon Link

[Rollo Treadway]

The link in the opening post doesn't seem to work anymore, but I found the goodies here:

http://www.filmoteca.unam.mx/cinelinea/ ... e_ini.html

[ssreverb]

Yes, I found that as well. Still looking for the dvd as well though

[Native Baltimoron]

When sound first came in, Hal Roach wanted his stars to be multi-lingual. Charley Chase displayed an aptitude for language. He made a few shorts with Hispanic leading ladies and other Hispanic cast members. I have even seen some newspaper ads promoting a premiere of his Spanish-speaking shorts in Los Angeles' Hispanic community. Do any of the Roach Spanish-language productions exist in the Mexican archives?

[Rollo Treadway]

The British 21-disc collection of Laurel & Hardy includes:

- Noche de duendes (combining The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case and Berth Marks)
- Politiquerias (extended version of Chickens Come Home)
- Tiembla y titueba (extended version of Below Zero)
- Ladrones (extended version of Night Owls)
- La vida nocturna (extended version of Blotto)
- Los Calaveras (combining Be Big and Laughing Gravy)

The last named is also included in its French language version, Les carottiers.

A German version of Laurel-Hardy Murder Case, called Spuk um Mitternacht, has also been released.

The one I'd really like to see is the French language version of Pardon Us, with Boris Karloff taking the Walter Long role of prison tough guy. However, it seems that no copy is known to exist.

[FrankFay]

When sound first came in, Hal Roach wanted his stars to be multi-lingual. Charley Chase displayed an aptitude for language. He made a few shorts with Hispanic leading ladies and other Hispanic cast members. I have even seen some newspaper ads promoting a premiere of his Spanish-speaking shorts in Los Angeles' Hispanic community. Do any of the Roach Spanish-language productions exist in the Mexican archives?

I've seen one of Chase's Italian shorts. I thought he sounded fairly decent, but another man said his Italian wife said "Who is that murdering the Italian language?"