Monthly Archives: December 2022

Klaus Kreimeier 14:19 on December 28, 2022  

A Romance of the Underworld

The Ferrets
R: Oscar Eagle. D: Joseph Ransome, Lillian Logan, Carl Winterhoff, Jack Nelson, George L. Cox. P: Selig Polyscope. USA 1913
Print: EYE (Jean Desmet Collection)
Dutch titles

Klaus Kreimeier 14:01 on December 27, 2022  

Children’s Fate

Les tout-petits
R: Henry (Henri) Houry. P: Eclipse. Fr 1913
Print: EYE Filmcollection
Dutch intertitles

“Melodrama about two children, who are poorly cared for after their parents’ death. When Pierre Dormain and his wife die in a train disaster, the custody of their children Simon and Dédée is transferred to their uncle Jean de Mareuil. The uncle is persuaded to let his servant’s mother take charge of their care. The money she receives for the care is spent entirely on alcohol and the children have to work hard for their meal. Eventually the children run away from home and roam the streets of Paris. When one of the children is seriously injured after an accident, the uncle finally realizes he has made a grave mistake.”
EYE Filmmuseum

Henry Houry est un acteur, réalisateur et scénariste français, né 1874 à Paris et mort 1972 à Nice (Alpes-Maritimes). Il réalisa et tourna quelques films aux États-Unis durant la période muette. Comme acteur: La Mort du duc d’Enghien en 1804 d’Albert Capellani (1909).
Mémoires de Guerre

Klaus Kreimeier 19:45 on December 14, 2022  

Irene Hunt – Face of the Girl Reporter

The Hop Smugglers
R: Unknow. D: Irene Hunt, Ralph Lewis, Josephine Crowell, William Lowery, John T. Dillon, Eagle Eye. P: Reliance Motion Picture Company. USA 1914
Print: EYE collection
Dutch titles

“Helen, a writer, tries to secure a position on a newspaper to earn necessary luxuries for her invalid mother. Refused a job unless she brings in a real news story, Helen dejectedly trudges off on a hunt for opium smugglers who are operating successfully on the Mexican border. Sikes, the Revenue Officer, has been unable to get evidence of anyone. Helen befriends a denizen of Chinatown and through him learns that the smuggling is being done through the means of an irrigation canal running across the border just outside the city.(…)”
IMDb

“Even before the movies could talk, it became clear that female reporters were perfect for film. Motion pictures offered the meatiest roles for female actors and created the perfect battleground of the sexes: the underrated girl reporter could prove she was as capable as the male, and the boy reporter could gloat that no girl could possibly keep pace with him. The sob sister became a
popular newspaper heroine. (…) Just like their male counterparts, female reporters in serials were daredevil, courageous heroeswho risked everything to get a story and save the day. (…) For silent film audiences, Irene Hunt was the face of the female journalist in film after film. She appeared in 120 films between 1911 and 1915, nine of them featuring her as a journalist. Theywatched her as cub reporter Bella of ‘The Daily Blade’ tracing counterfeits to their lair (The Floating Call, 1914) and as a cub reporter planting a dictograph in a restaurant, enabling her to expose graft by a local councilman in The Exposure (1915); as reporter Helen Harris rounding up opium smugglers in The Hop Smugglers (1915) (…)  One reviewer wrote about Hunt’s portrayal of a journalist: ‘This is another of the very excellent newspaper dramas, in which Miss Irene Hunt gives her clever performance of the girl reporter.’” 
Joe Saltzman with Liz Mitchel: The Image of the Journalist in Silent Film, 1890 to 1929: Part One 1890 to 1919.  A project of The Norman Lear Center 2010, p. 78-81

Another girl reporter:
>>> Marion Leonard in The Conflict’s End, 1912

 

Klaus Kreimeier 12:33 on December 9, 2022  

Émile Cohl as Live-action Director

Les métamorphoses comiques
R: Émile Cohl. P: Société Générale des Cinématographes Éclipse. Fr 1912

“Freudian psychoanalysis? A precursor to surrealism or Dadaism or even the sort of scriptwriting that Quentin Tarrantino does, in which he lifts striking images from old movies and writes a script that connects those images? Or was it simply a matter of Cohl having moved to Eclipse as a distributor and them demanding something to put in their latest catalogue? Well, it’s too late now to ask any of the people involved.”
IMDb (boblipton)

“Les métamorphoses comiques is arguably Cohl’s most avant-garde film. the short features live action images changing into animation and back again. Metamorphosis indeed runs galore, with Cohl’s typical stream-of-consciousness-like flow. Many of the images are pretty abstract, anticipating the work of Norman McLaren. Nevertheless, despite all the avant-garde frenzy, the most disturbing picture is a live action shot of a young boy smoking…”
Dr. Grob’s Animation Review

Jobard a tué sa belle mère
R: Émile Cohl. D: Lucien Cazalis. P: Pathé Frères. Fr 1911

“We’re so used to thinking of Émile Cohl as one of the pioneers of animation, we forget that he sometimes directed live-action sequences in his movies, and one or two completely live-action films. This predictable comedy is enlivened a bit by Cazalis‘ mugging, but it’s nothing special. Still, he was popular enough to abandon the character name and star in a series as ‘Caza'”
IMDb (boblipton)

“Jobard a tué sa belle-mère is not an animation film, but one of ten comedy shorts Émile Cohl directed in a collaboration with actor Lucien Cazalis for Pathé. The ten films all feature the character Jobard, played by Cazalis. It’s a pity that Jobard a tué sa belle-mère appears to be the only one to have survived in some quality, because the film shows Cohl’s skills as a live action comedy director. Indeed, the film is a prime example of early French comedy film. (…) Lucien Cazalis, who plays Jobard is quite a good comedian, and the film clearly shows that French comedy had a huge influence on American slapstick comedy. It’s a pity Lucien Cazalis has been completely forgotten, today, for he clearly deserves more recognition.”
Dr. Grob’s Animation Review

“Les métamorphoses comiques (1912), marqué par le passage hyper fluide du dessin au réel, (…) et Le cheveu délateur (1911), voyant un bourgeois faire analyser le cheveu du prétendant de sa fille par un mage, lequel est lui même tenté par la place de gendre, s’insèrent dans cette même dynamique mais avec un penchant beaucoup plus comique. Pour autant, rien n’est brouillon du suivant ou aboutissement du précédent. Aussi, il faut constater que, même quand l’animation déserte les films de Cohl, son influence se fait sentir, et ce pour notre plus grand plaisir. Certes moins marquant que les œuvres précédemment citées, Jobard a tué sa belle mère (1911), petit sketch d’un gendre persuadé – et ravi malgré une légère inquiétude – d’avoir tué la marâtre avec qui il ne s’entend pas, relève d’une étude du cercle des plus mignonnes. Le symbole est déjà des plus évidents, et amusants : le cercle équivaut tant à la bague du mariage qu’à la couronne de fleur de l’enterrement, que Jobard a passé au doigt de celle qu’il aime pour la première et veut offrir à celle qu’il déteste pour la seconde. Cette petite satire bourgeoise, autour d’Eros et Thanatos, n’a de cesse de convier cette forme à travers différents objets qui rythment le film et ses gags ; la première dispute intervient autour d’un rond de cuir lors d’un repas, puis, alors qu’il ramène la couronne fleurie, celle-ci devient, à l’insu de Jobard, un pneu, une couronne de pain, et… un rond de cuir. Ainsi, Cohl parvient d’une certaine manière à ramener son goût de la mutation, de l’évolution dans la prise de vues réelles, sans jouer d’artifices quelconques. Le résultat souffre peut-être de s’inscrire un peu trop dans le tout venant cinématographique de l’époque, mais on y reconnaît tout de même la patte de son auteur, toujours joueur et insouciant.”
Elie Bartin: Aux origines de l’animation : le cas d’E. Cohl
On se fait un ciné

>>> Émile Cohl: Dreams and Nightmares

>>> Émile Cohl, Master of Animation