The Taming of the Shrew
R: David W. Griffith. B: William Shakespeare (comedy). K: Billy Bitzer. D: Florence Lawrence, Linda Arvidson, Harry Solter, George Gebhardt. P: American Biograph. USA 1908

La folie du Docteur Tube
R: Abel Gance. B: Abel Gance. K: Léonce-Henri Burel. D: Albert Dieudonné. P: Le Film d’Art. Fr 1915
Print: Cinémathèque Française

“Abel Gance (25 October 1889 – 10 November 1981) was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: J’accuse (1919), La Roue (1923), and the monumental Napoléon (1927. (…)
With the outbreak of World War I, Gance was rejected from the army on medical grounds and in 1915 he started writing and directing for a new film company, Film d’Art. He soon caused controversy with La Folie du docteur Tube, a comic fantasy in which he and his cameraman Léonce-Henry Burel created some arresting visual effects with distorting mirrors. The producers were outraged and refused to show the film.”
The Early Cinema

“The films that Abel Gance is best known for, Napoleon, and J’Accuse, maintain their reputation thanks to the many innovative techniques in editing and cinematography employed by their director. Gance’s intention was to make films that audiences could immerse themselves in, and it’s an early experiment with subjective viewpoints that provides the backbone of Dr Tube.
It looks as though the film’s entire raison d’etre is as a vehicle for the effects Gance was able to create by filming the action through distorting mirrors. It’s not clear whether the consequent druggy overtones (springing from the highly suspicious idea that the Doctor uses a white powder to alter reality, (…) are intentional or accidental. Some sources report that the producers, on seeing Gance’s completed film, were ‘outraged’ and refused to release it. If true, this would seem to endorse the distinctly trippy qualities of the visuals that the modern viewer can’t help but notice.
(…)
The misshapen bodies in the film were shot by cameraman Leonce-Henry Burel. Dr Tube could be considered a trial run for the kind of techniques Burel would put to use in his future collaborations with Gance to place their audience in the thick of the action. Cameras were suspended on wires, swung from pendulums, tied to running horses, and more. This experimental streak was arguably put to it’s best use for the epic Napoleon, which also starred Dieudonné — minus the pointed head this time — in the title role. But where the restored Napoleon‘s revival in 1980 saw it hailed as a masterpiece, Dr Tube would appear to provoke the same reactions now as it probably did in 1915: curiosity, and mild bewilderment.”
The Devil’s Manor

20.000 Leagues under the Sea
R: Stuart Paton. B: Stuart Paton, Jules Verne (novel). K: Eugene Gaudio; underwater: George M und J. Ernest Williamson. D: Allen Haloubar, Dan Hanlon, Edna Pendleton. P: Carl Laemmle / Universal Film Manufacturing Co. and Williamson Submarine Film Co. USA 1916

“This is the first adaptation of ‘20000 Leagues Under the Sea’ as Melies 1907 eponymous short film only shares with Verne’s book a submarine called Nautilus. The film does not follow strictly Jules Verne‘s two books. The two main differences are that the end of ‘20000 Leagues Under the Sea’ is omitted, i.e. when the Nautilus disappears in the Maelstrom off the coast of Norway, and that two characters are added, Nemo’s daughter and the evil Denver. Quite strangely, an inter-title informs the viewer towards the end of the film ‘Captain Nemo reveals the secret of his life, which Jules Verne never told’ when the script actually follows quite closely ‘The Mysterious Island’, in particular with the revelation that Nemo is an Indian Prince whose family was massacred by the British.
This is the first film featuring under sea filming thanks to watertight tubes and mirrors allowing the camera to shoot reflected images. This allows quite spectacular (for the time) views of corrals, wrecks, sharks and actors in scuba diving suits. The filming on location on New Providence Island and the use of real sailing boats, of a full-size navigable mock-up of the Nautilus, and of large sets and exotic costumes gives authenticity to the action.
The film uses quite an elaborate narrative with cross-cutting between the parallel actions of Nemo, Lt. Bond and Denver, leading to their meeting on Mysterious Island. The chronological development is interrupted by flashbacks for the actions which took place in India many years before.”
A Cinema History

“Carl Laemmle (January 17, 1867 in Laupheim, Germany – September 24, 1939 in Los Angeles, California) was a German Jewish pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios – –Universal. Laemmle produced or was otherwise involved in over four hundred films.
Regarded as one of the most important of the early film pioneers, Laemmle was born on the Radstrasse just outside the former Jewish quarter of Laupheim. He emigrated to the US in 1884, working in Chicago as a bookkeeper or office manager for 20 years. He began buying nickelodeons, eventually expanding into a film distribution service, the Laemmle Film Service.
On April 30, 1912, in New York, Carl Laemmle of IMP, Pat Powers of Powers Motion Picture Company, Mark Dintenfass of Champion Film Company, William Swanson of Rex Motion Picture Company, David Horsley of Nestor Film Company and Charles Baumann and Adam Kessel of the New York Motion Picture Company merged their studios and the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated. They founded the Universal Motion Picture Manufacturing Company in 1912, and established the studio on 235 acres (0.95 km2) of land in the San Fernando Valley, California in 1915.”
The Early Cinema

 

 

Love, Speed and Thrills
R: Walter Wright. D: Mack Swain, Minta Durfee, Chester Conklin. P: Mack Sennett / Keystone Film Co. USA 1915

“With financial backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman of the New York Motion Picture Company, in 1912 Sennett founded Keystone Studios in Edendale, California, (which is now a part of Echo Park). The original main building, the first totally enclosed film stage and studio in history, is still there. Many important actors started their careers with Sennett, including Mabel Normand, Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle, Raymond Griffith, Gloria Swanson, Ford Sterling, Andy Clyde, Chester Conklin, Polly Moran, Louise Fazenda, The Keystone Kops, Bing Crosby, and W. C. Fields.
Sennett’s slapstick comedies were noted for their wild car chases and custard pie warfare. His first comedienne was Mabel Normand, who became a major star (and with whom he embarked on a tumultuous personal relationship). Sennett developed the Kid Comedies, a forerunner of the Our Gang films, and in a short time his name became synonymous with screen comedy. In 1915 Keystone Studios became an autonomous production unit of the ambitious Triangle Film Corporation, as Sennett joined forces with movie bigwigs D. W. Griffith and Thomas Ince.”
The Early Cinema

 

His Uncle’s Wives
R: Lawrence Marston. D: Jean Darnell, Harry Benham. P: Thanhouser Film Co. USA 1913
Print: Library of Congress

“An artist unexpectedly inherits six wives who come to him from his uncle in Constantinople. His wife makes serious objections, and he finally packs them off to join a theatrical troupe, and happiness is restored. Split with Seven Ages of an Alligator“.
Vimeo

Seven Ages of an Alligator
K: Carl Louis Gregory. P: Thanhouser Film Co. USA 1913
Print: Library of Congress

“In early 1913 as Thanhouser staff and crews were setting up a facility in Los Angeles, cameraman Carl Louis Gregory was taking documentary footage, from which four ‘split reel’ short subjects were created: A Million Birds, filmed at California pigeon and ostrich farms; Los Angeles the Beautiful (two different version with the same title), showing scenic attractions; and Seven Ages of an Alligator, filmed at an alligator farm. Released together, His Uncle’s Wives and Seven Ages of an Alligator filled up one 1,000-foot ‘split reel’.”
Vimeo

Split Reel:
“A reel that can be screwed apart in order to place film on the core between its two halves. The film on the core becomes the film on the reel. One should be careful not to screw the two halves too tightly together, because they may become difficult to separate.”
Creative Glossary

Die schwarze Natter
R: Franz Hofer. D: Emmerich Hanus, Miriam Horwitz, Margarete Hübler. P: Luna Film Berlin. D 1913
Print: Nederlands Filmmuseum Amsterdam
Dutch titles

“Two agents from different sides are working in a circus, one – the Schwarze Natter (Black Adder)- as a dancer, the other as a horseback artist. The Schwarze Natter is informed that the other is receiving information by one of the visitors this night, who is also in love her. She is trying to get him and the information herself, making it look like the other side has her finger in this incident. But an officer of the local police had an eye on them, because some things happening before made him suspicious and starts playing his little game.”
Stephan Eichenberg
IMDb

“Die Handlung selbst besteht aus nicht viel mehr als einer düsteren Liebesintrige, irgendwo zwischen Melodrama und Detektivgeschichte. Hofer geht in seiner Inszenierung äußerst geschickt vor, er verwendet große Sorgfalt auf Details (zum Beispiel bei der Kleidung der beiden Frauen, die ihre unterschiedlichen Charaktere spiegelt) und eine sehr dynamische Raumkonzeption: Die Flucht Blanches vor der Polizei führt die Kamera durch die Manege, über Dächer, durch Jahrmarktsbuden und unter die Karussellfahrer eines Luna-Parks.”
Elena Dagrada: Franz Hofer. Voyeur der Kaiserzeit. In: Thomas Elsaesser / Michael Wedel Hrg.): Kino der Kaiserzeit. Zwischen Tradition und Moderne. München 2002, S. 255

TRAUM UND EXZESS, S. 320f.

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Fräulein Piccolo
R: Franz Hofer. B: Franz Hofer. K: Gotthardt Wolf. D: Dorrit Weixler, Franz Schwaiger, Alice Hechy , Max Lehmann, Helene Voss , Martin Wolff, Grete Weixler. P: Luna-Film GmbH, Berlin. D 1914
Print: Deutsche Kinemathek

“Miss Lo leaves finishing school and returns to her parents’ hotel ‘Zum Weißen Schwan’. One of the chambermaids eloped with the bellboy and now the daughter has to help out – sometimes as a maid, sometimes in the guise of a bellboy. When she falls in love with Lieutenant Clairon, her male disguise begins to stand in her way. At a ball she has to to look on helplessly while he’s flirting with other women. But with the help of her friend Röschen, who’s the cousin of Clairon, Miss Lo gets her happy ending.”
europeana

“Fräulein Piccolo, ein harmloses Backfisch- und Soldatenlustspiel, wird im August 1914 als fertiggestellt annonciert (Lichtbild-Bühne vom 1.8.1914). Dorrit Weixler spielt die Tochter eines Hotelbesitzers – und weil diesem das Zimmermädchen mit dem Piccolo durchgebrannt ist, spielt sie dem Papa zuliebe abwechselnd den Piccolo und das Zimmermädchen. Ernst Lubitsch hat einen schönen 60-Sekunden-Auftritt. Er ist der Gast von Zimmer 6, ein Handelsvertreter mit Koffer und Stöckchen, der nach dem Zimmermädchen grapscht und eins auf die Finger bekommt. Später, bei einem Schwenk über die Tafel mit den Dauergästen, erfährt man seinen Namen: Pinkeles. Und so ist auch die kleine Szene: Sie verweist in ihrer Charakteristik auf Lubitschs spätere Hauptrollen. Weil die Leutnants im Film nicht sehr patriotisch wirken, sondern vor allem hinter den Mädchen her sind, wird der Film vorsichtshalber erst 1915 der Zensur vorgelegt – und für die Dauer des Krieges verboten.”
Hans Helmut Prinzler in: Hans Helmut Prinzler / Enno Patalas (Hrg.): Lubitsch. München 1984, S. 18

“Hofer also won acclaim for his womens’ dramas and comedies, such as Das rosa Pantöffelchen (‘The Pink Slipper’, 1913) and Fräulein Piccolo (‘Miss Piccolo’, 1914). In these, as in other films, Hofer’s preferred star was Dorrit Weixler (1892-1916) who projected the one-screen persona of a sassy, rebellious ingénue on the cusp of maturity. In subsequent years Hofer promoted several other talents, including Ernst Lubitsch and Hans Albers.”
Hans-Michael Bock / Tim Bergfelder (Hrg.): The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books 2009, p. 203/04

Deutsche Helden. Um des Lebens Glück betrogen
R: Franz Hofer. D: Mia Cordes, Rudolf Del Zopp, Max Laurence, Dorrit Weixler. P: Luna Film Berlin. D 1914 (Fragment)
Print: Deutsche Kinemathek

“Hofer scheint sich genau auf halbem Wege zwischen der vor-kinematographischen Tradition des Attraktionsspektakels und jenen linearisierenden Erzählinnovationen anzusiedeln, die mit der Autorenfilmbewegung das deutsche Kino der 10er Jahre erreichten. Wenn es zutrifft, dass das deutsche Kino vor Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1919/20) dem Autorenfilm eine aktive Emanzipation vom Erbe des Theaters und die Hinwendung zu den expressiven Möglichkeiten des Kinos verdankt, dann scheinen Hofers Filme die praktische Umsetzung dieses positiven Einflusses zu bestätigen.”
Elena Dagrada: Franz Hofer. Voyeur der Kaiserzeit. In Thomas Elsaesser/Michael Wedel (Hrg.): Kino der Kaiserzeit. Zwischen Tradition und Moderne. München 2002, S. 254

Foto: DIF

>>> Franz Hofer-2

TRAUM UND EXZESS, S. 320 f.

The Bangville Police
R: Henry Lehrman. D: Mabel Normand, Fred Mace, Nick Cogley. P: Keystone Film Company. USA 1913

“The Keystone Cops (often spelled “Keystone Kops”) were fictional incompetent policemen, featured in silent film comedies in the early 20th century. The movies were produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. The idea came from Hank Mann who also played police chief Tehiezel in the first film before being replaced by Ford Sterling. Their first film was Hoffmeyer’s Legacy (1912) but their popularity stemmed from the 1913 short The Bangville Police starring Mabel Normand.
As early as 1914, Sennet shifted the Keystone Cops from starring roles to background ensemble, in support of comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle. The Keystone Cops serve as supporting players for Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and Chaplin in the first full-length Sennett comedy feature, Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914), as well as in Mabel’s New Hero (1913) with Normand and Arbuckle (see below); Making a Living (1914) with Chaplin in his first screen appearance (pre-Tramp); In the Clutches of the Gang (1914) with Normand, Arbuckle, and Al St. John; and Wished on Mabel (1915) with Arbuckle and Normand, among others. Comedian/actors Chester Conklin, Jimmy Finlayson, Ford Sterling and director Del Lord were also Keystone Cops.”
Wikipedia

“The Keystone Kops were a ragtag gang and began as prize fighters, race car drivers, circus acrobats, strongmen, clowns, roustabouts and vaudevillians. They were a wild bunch, up for nearly any stunt the Sennett writers could concoct, and left behind a hilarious legacy of diverse performances. They were doused in oil, tossed off rooftops, launched into the ocean, butted by wild animals and plastered with pie. Their wacky “Kopwagon” was rigged to handle outrageous chases, near misses, collisions and explosions. Through improvisation and experimentation they developed many stunts and stunt techniques that remain popular today. The Keystone Kops were the first Movie Stunt Team and is a great example of why being a great acrobat is of so importance as a stunt performer.”
Donovan Montierth
Brothers’ Ink Productions

Mabel’s New Hero
R: Mack Sennett. D: Mabel Normand, Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, Charles Inslee, Virginia Kirtley, Edgar Kennedy, ‘Keystone Kops’. P: Keystone Film Company. USA 1913

The Water Nymph
R: Mack Sennett. D: Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett, Ford Sterling. P: Keystone Film Company. USA 1912

“Keystone Studios was an early movie studio founded in Edendale, California in 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Baumann, owners of the New York Motion Picture Company. The company filmed in and around Glendale and Silver Lake for several years, and its films were distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation between 1912 and 1915.
The studio is perhaps best remembered for the era under Mack Sennett when he created the slapstick antics of the Keystone Cops, from 1912, and for the Sennett Bathing Beauties, beginning in 1915. Charles Chaplin got his start at Keystone when Sennett hired him fresh from his vaudeville career to make silent films. Charlie Chaplin at Keystone Studios is a 1993 compilation of some of the most notable films Chaplin made at Keystone, documenting his transition from vaudeville player to true comic film actor to director. In 1915 Keystone Studios became an autonomous production unit of the Triangle Film Corporation with D. W. Griffith and Thomas Ince. In 1917 Sennett gave up the Keystone trademark and organized his own company.
Many other important actors also worked at Keystone toward the beginning of their film careers, including Marie Dressler, Harold Lloyd, Mabel Normand, Roscoe Arbuckle, Gloria Swanson, Louise Fazenda, Raymond Griffith, Ford Sterling, Ben Turpin, Harry Langdon, Al St. John and Chester Conklin.
Sennett, by then a celebrity, departed the studio in 1917 to produce his own independent films (eventually distributed through Paramount). Keystone’s business decreased after his departure, and finally closed after bankruptcy in 1935.”
Wikipedia

The Ragtime Band
R: Mack Sennett. D: Ford Sterling, Mabel Normand, Nick Cogley. P: Keystone Film Company. USA 1913

Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life
R: Mack Sennett. K: Lee Bartholomew, Walter Wright. D: Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett, Ford Sterling. P: Keystone Film Company. USA 1913

TRAUM UND EXZESS, S. 351f.