Posted: April 18th, 2008, 3:19 am
catherine
1)What a good idea. I have a collection of silent-era motion picture cameras which I always intended to load with film and put to the test...but you know how it is...
2) I think Mary Pickford was fulfilling her showman's role when she spoke of the alligator sequence. And when I interviewed her prop man Irving Sindler, he supported her, by telling me he hung upside down from a tree to catch any kids that might have slipped. I was too gullible. See Wendy Marshall's excellent book on her grandfather William Beaudine. I do hope THE HOODLUM is made available on DVD. It was seeing a nitrate print of that in the 1950s that inspired me to send a fan letter to Charles Rosher - as a result of which, he telephoned me on his next trip to England and we were able to run him that film and MY BEST GIRL. Incidentally, isn't it a tribute to Hollywood technicians that Murnau chose the camera crew from SPARROWS to work on SUNRISE!
3) Since this is the 40th anniversary of THE PARADE'S GONE BY... I was hoping the University of california press might bring out THE WAR, THE WEST AND THE WILDERNESS (this year is its 30th anniversary) which was never issued as a paperback but which contains lots more interviews. Alas, they don't see the commercial justification. To complete the trilogy, BEHIND THE MASK OF INNOCENCE, which is in paperback, has a few more interviews.
PS I hope those Gance films stand up to my first impressions from 40 years ago. Remember, i saw them on the big screen in original tinted prints with a theatre packed to the rafters. I was terrified that they would be disappointing (and some of the sound films were) and I was so relieved at their extraordinary qualities. But on the tv screen, with two long films squeezed into one evening - anyone left at the end will deserve the Croix de Guerre![size=18][/size][size=7][/size][size=7][/size]
1)What a good idea. I have a collection of silent-era motion picture cameras which I always intended to load with film and put to the test...but you know how it is...
2) I think Mary Pickford was fulfilling her showman's role when she spoke of the alligator sequence. And when I interviewed her prop man Irving Sindler, he supported her, by telling me he hung upside down from a tree to catch any kids that might have slipped. I was too gullible. See Wendy Marshall's excellent book on her grandfather William Beaudine. I do hope THE HOODLUM is made available on DVD. It was seeing a nitrate print of that in the 1950s that inspired me to send a fan letter to Charles Rosher - as a result of which, he telephoned me on his next trip to England and we were able to run him that film and MY BEST GIRL. Incidentally, isn't it a tribute to Hollywood technicians that Murnau chose the camera crew from SPARROWS to work on SUNRISE!
3) Since this is the 40th anniversary of THE PARADE'S GONE BY... I was hoping the University of california press might bring out THE WAR, THE WEST AND THE WILDERNESS (this year is its 30th anniversary) which was never issued as a paperback but which contains lots more interviews. Alas, they don't see the commercial justification. To complete the trilogy, BEHIND THE MASK OF INNOCENCE, which is in paperback, has a few more interviews.
PS I hope those Gance films stand up to my first impressions from 40 years ago. Remember, i saw them on the big screen in original tinted prints with a theatre packed to the rafters. I was terrified that they would be disappointing (and some of the sound films were) and I was so relieved at their extraordinary qualities. But on the tv screen, with two long films squeezed into one evening - anyone left at the end will deserve the Croix de Guerre![size=18][/size][size=7][/size][size=7][/size]