1.
The Birth of a Nation
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The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed and co-produced by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from the novel and play The Clansman and it was released on February 8,1915. Three hours long, the film was presented in two parts separated by an intermission, it was the first 12-reel film in America. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth is dramatized, there were widespread African-American protests against The Birth of a Nation, such as in Boston, while thousands of white Bostonians flocked to see the film. The NAACP spearheaded a campaign to ban the film. Griffiths indignation at efforts to censor or ban the film motivated him to produce Intolerance the following year. The films release is credited as being one of the events that inspired the formation of the second era Ku Klux Klan at Stone Mountain, Georgia. The Birth of a Nation, along with the trial and lynching of Leo Frank for the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan in Atlanta, was used as a tool for the KKK. Under President Woodrow Wilson, it was the first American motion picture to be screened at the White House, Griffiths innovative techniques and storytelling power have made The Birth of a Nation one of the landmarks of film history. In 1992, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, the film follows two juxtaposed families. One is the Northern Stonemans, abolitionist U. S, representative Austin Stoneman, his daughter, and two sons. The other is the Southern Camerons, Dr. Cameron is married to his wife, the couple also has three sons and two daughters. Phil, the elder Stoneman son, falls in love with Margaret Cameron, while the visit to the the Cameron estate in South Carolina. Meanwhile, young Ben Cameron idolizes a picture of Elsie Stoneman, during the Civil War, the young men from both families enlist in their respective armies for the war. The younger Stoneman and two of the Cameron brothers are killed in the war, meanwhile, the Cameron women are rescued by Confederate soldiers who rout a Black militia, after an attack on the Cameron home. Ben Cameron leads a charge at the Siege of Petersburg. But he is wounded and captured. He is then taken to a Union hospital in Washington, D. C, during his stay at the hospital, he is told that he will be hanged
2.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypnotist who uses a somnambulist to commit murders, the films design was handled by Hermann Warm, Walter Reimann and Walter Röhrig, who recommended a fantastic, graphic style over a naturalistic one. The film presents themes on brutal and irrational authority, Dr. Caligari represents the German war government, and Cesare is symbolic of the common man conditioned, like soldiers, to kill. He says the film is a premonition of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, other themes of the film include the destabilized contrast between insanity and sanity, the subjective perception of reality, and the duality of human nature. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was released just as foreign film industries were easing restrictions on the import of German films following World War I, so it was screened internationally. Accounts differ as to its financial and critical success upon release, critic Roger Ebert called it arguably the first true horror film, and film reviewer Danny Peary called it cinemas first cult film and a precursor to arthouse films. Considered a classic, it helped draw attention to the artistic merit of German cinema and had a major influence on American films, particularly in the genres of horror. As Francis sits on a bench with a man who complains that spirits have driven him away from his family and home. Francis explains she is his fiancée and that they have suffered a great ordeal, most of the rest of the film is a flashback of Franciss story, which takes place in Holstenwall, a shadowy village of twisted buildings and spiraling streets. Francis and his friend Alan, who are competing for Janes affections. Meanwhile, a man named Dr. Caligari seeks a permit from the rude town clerk to present a spectacle at the fair. The clerk mocks and berates Dr. Caligari, but ultimately approves the permit and that night, the clerk is found stabbed to death in his bed. The next morning, Francis and Alan visit Dr. Caligaris spectacle, upon Dr. Caligaris orders, Cesare awakens and answers questions from the audience. Despite Franciss protests, Alan asks, How long will I live, to Alans horror, Cesare answers, Until dawn. Later that night, a figure breaks into Alans home and stabs him to death in his bed, a grief-stricken Francis investigates Alans murder with help from Jane and her father, Dr. Olsen, who obtains police authorization to investigate the somnambulist. That night, the police apprehend a criminal in possession of a knife who is attempting to murder an elderly woman. When questioned by Francis and Dr, at night, Francis spies on Dr. Caligari and observes what appears to be Cesare sleeping in his box. However, the real Cesare sneaks into Janes home as she sleeps and he raises a knife to stab her, but instead abducts her after a struggle, dragging her through the window onto the street
3.
RKO Radio Pictures
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RKO Pictures Inc. also known as RKO Radio Pictures and in its later years RKO Teleradio Pictures, was an American film production and distribution company. It was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywoods Golden Age, RCA chief David Sarnoff engineered the merger to create a market for the companys sound-on-film technology, RCA Photophone. By the mid-1940s, the studio was under the control of investor Floyd Odlum, RKO has long been celebrated for its series of musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the mid-to-late 1930s. Actors Katharine Hepburn and, later, Robert Mitchum had their first major successes at the studio, cary Grant was a mainstay for years. The work of producer Val Lewtons low-budget horror unit and RKOs many ventures into the now known as film noir have been acclaimed, largely after the fact, by film critics. The studio produced two of the most famous films in motion picture history, King Kong and Citizen Kane, RKO Pictures is also a member of Motion Picture Association of America. Maverick industrialist Howard Hughes took over RKO in 1948, after years of turmoil and decline under his control, Hughes sold the troubled studio to General Tire and Rubber Company in 1955. The original RKO Pictures ceased production in 1957 and was dissolved two years later. In 1981, broadcaster RKO General, the heir, revived it as a production subsidiary. In October 1927, Warner Bros. released The Jazz Singer and its success prompted Hollywood to convert from silent to sound film production en masse. The Radio Corporation of America controlled an advanced optical sound-on-film system, RCA Photophone, the industrys two largest major studios, Paramount and Loews/MGM, with two other studios Universal and First National, were poised to contract with ERPI for sound conversion as well. Next on the agenda was securing a string of exhibition venues like those the leading Hollywood production companies owned, Kennedy began investigating the possibility of such a purchase. Around that time, the large Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuit of theaters, built around the medium of live vaudeville, was attempting a transition to the movie business. In mid-1927, the operations of Pathé Exchange and Cecil B. De Milles Producers Distributing Corporation had united under KAOs control, early in 1928, KAO general manager John J. Murdock, who had assumed the presidency of Pathé, turned to Kennedy as an adviser in consolidating the studio with De Milles company, PDC. This was the relationship Sarnoff and Kennedy sought, on October 23,1928, RCA announced the creation of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum holding company, with Sarnoff as chairman of the board. Kennedy, who withdrew from his positions in the merged companies, kept Pathé separate from RKO. RCA owned the governing stock interest in RKO,22 percent, in the early 1930s, the companys production and distribution arm, presided over by former FBO vice-president Joseph I
4.
Film
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A film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession, the process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. The word cinema, short for cinematography, is used to refer to the industry of films. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process, the adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the process of production, distribution. Films recorded in a form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected, Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them, Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer, some have criticized the film industrys glorification of violence and its potentially negative treatment of women. The individual images that make up a film are called frames, the perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called phi phenomenon. The name film originates from the fact that film has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for a motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field, in general, include the big screen, the screen, the movies, and cinema. In early years, the sheet was sometimes used instead of screen. Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film, scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scène. Owing to the lack of any technology for doing so, the moving images, the magic lantern, probably created by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s, could be used to project animation, which was achieved by various types of mechanical slides
5.
Art Deco
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Art Deco, sometimes simply referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It took its name, short for Arts Decorators, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925 and it combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. It featured rare and expensive materials such as ebony and ivory, the Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York were the most visible monuments of the new style. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel and plastic, a more sleek form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s, it featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco became one of the first truly international architectural styles, with examples found in European cities, the style came to an end with the beginning of World War II. Deco was replaced as the dominant global style by the functional and unadorned styles of modernism. The term arts décoratifs was first used in France in 1858, in 1868, Le Figaro newspaper used the term art décoratifs with respect to objects for stage scenery created for the Théâtre de lOpéra. In 1875, furniture designers, textile, jewelry and glass designers and it took its present name of ENSAD in 1927. The term Art déco was then used in a 1966 newspaper article by Hillary Gelson in the Times, describing the different styles at the exhibit. Art Deco gained currency as a broadly applied stylistic label in 1968 when historian Bevis Hillier published the first major book on the style. Hillier noted that the term was already being used by art dealers and cites The Times, in 1971, Hillier organized an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which he details in his book about it, The World of Art Deco. The emergence of Art Deco was closely connected with the rise in status of decorative artists, the term arts décoratifs had been invented in 1875, giving the designers of furniture, textiles, and other decoration official status. The Société des artistes décorateurs, or SAD, was founded in 1901, a similar movement developed in Italy. The first international exhibition devoted entirely to the arts, the Esposizione international dArte decorative moderna, was held in Turin in 1902. Several new magazines devoted to decorative arts were founded in Paris, including Arts et décoration, Decorative arts sections were introduced into the annual salons of the Sociéte des artistes français, and later in the Salon dautomne. French nationalism also played a part in the resurgence of decorative arts, in 1911 the SAD proposed the holding of a major new international exposition of decorative arts in 1912
6.
Silent film
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A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. The silent film era lasted from 1895 to 1936, in silent films for entertainment, the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, mime and title cards which contain a written indication of the plot or key dialogue. During silent films, a pianist, theatre organist, or, in large cities, pianists and organists would either play from sheet music or improvise, an orchestra would play from sheet music. The term silent film is therefore a retronym—that is, a term created to distinguish something retroactively, the early films with sound, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were referred to as talkies, sound films, or talking pictures. A September 2013 report by the United States Library of Congress announced that a total of 70% of American silent feature films are believed to be completely lost, the earliest precursors of film began with image projection through the use of a device known as the magic lantern. This utilized a glass lens, a shutter and a persistent light source, such as a powerful lantern and these slides were originally hand-painted, but still photographs were used later on after the technological advent of photography in the nineteenth century. The invention of a practical photography apparatus preceded cinema by only fifty years, the next significant step towards film creation was the development of an understanding of image movement. Simulations of movement date as far back as to 1828 and only four years after Paul Roget discovered the phenomenon he called Persistence of Vision. This experience was further demonstrated through Rogets introduction of the thaumatrope, the first projected primary proto-movie was made by Eadweard Muybridge between 1877 and 1880. Muybridge set up a row of cameras along a racetrack and timed image exposures to capture the many stages of a horses gallop, the oldest surviving film was created by Louis Le Prince in 1888. It was a film of people walking in Oakwood streets garden. Edison also made a business of selling Kinetograph and Kinetoscope equipment, due to Edisons lack of securing an international patent on his film inventions, similar devices were invented around the world. The Lumière brothers, for example, created the Cinématographe in France, the Cinématographe proved to be a more portable and practical device than both of Edisons as it combined a camera, film processor and projector in one unit. In contrast to Edisons peepshow-style kinetoscope, which one person could watch through a viewer. Their first film, Sortie de lusine Lumière de Lyon, shot in 1894, is considered the first true motion picture, the invention of celluloid film, which was strong and flexible, greatly facilitated the making of motion pictures. This film was 35 mm wide and pulled using four sprocket holes and this doomed the cinematograph, which could only use film with just one sprocket hole. From the very beginnings of film production, the art of motion pictures grew into maturity in the silent era. Silent filmmakers pioneered the art form to the extent that virtually every style, the silent era was also pioneering era from a technical point of view
7.
Robert W. Paul
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Robert W. Paul was an English electrician, scientific instrument maker and early pioneer of British film. In 1891, he established a company, Robert W. Paul Instrument Company, initially with a workshop at 44 Hatton Garden, London. In 1894, he was approached by two Greek businessmen who wanted him to make copies of an Edison Kinetoscope that they had purchased and he at first refused, then found to his amazement that Edison had not patented the invention in Britain. Subsequently, Paul himself would go on to purchase a Kinetoscope, intent on taking it apart and he manufactured a number of these, one of which was supplied to Georges Méliès. However, the films available were bootleg copies of those produced for the Edison machines. As Edison had patented his camera, Paul resolved to solve this bottleneck by creating his own camera and he was introduced to Birt Acres, a photographic expert, who had invented a device to move film as part of the developing process. Paul thought that Acres principle could be used in a camera and this camera, dubbed the Paul-Acres Camera, invented in March 1895, would be the first camera made in England. Acres would present his projector, Englands first, on 14 January 1896, Paul would present his own, the more influential Theatrograph shortly after on 20 February. Ironically this is exactly the day the Lumieres films would first be projected in London. In 1896, he pioneered in the UK a system of projecting motion pictures onto a screen and this coincided with the advent of the projection system devised by the Lumiere Brothers. This included films featuring cartoonist Tom Merry drawing caricatures of the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, Merry had previously performed his lightning-fast drawing as part of a music hall stage act. The use of his Theatrograph in music halls up and down the country popularised early cinema in Britain, there were many showmen who wished to imitate Pauls success, and some of these wanted to make their own films of local interest. It was necessary to set up a separate manufacturing department producing cameras, projectors. Paul would also continue his innovations in the camera field. 1, built in April 1896, would be the first camera to feature reverse-cranking and this mechanism allowed for the same film footage to be exposed several times. The ability to create super-positions and multiple exposures would be of great significance and this technique was used in Pauls 1901 film Scrooge, or, Marleys Ghost, the oldest known film adaptation of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. It is noted that the first camera that George Melies would use was built by R. W. Paul, in 1898 he designed and constructed Britains first film studio in Muswell Hill, north London. In the meantime, he continued with his business, focusing on his internationally renowned Unipivot galvanometer
8.
Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost
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Scrooge, or, Marleys Ghost is a 1901 British short silent drama film, directed by Walter R. Filmed in 35mm and in black and white, only 620 feet of this silent films footage survives today. It was produced by the English film pioneer R. W. Paul and it was released in November 1901. It was presented in Twelve Tableaux or scenes, the film contains the first use of intertitles in a film. Evidence suggests that Pauls version of A Christmas Carol was based as much on J. C, buckstones popular stage adaptation Scrooge as on Dickens original story. Like the play, the film dispenses with the different ghosts that visit Scrooge, instead relying upon the figure of Jacob Marley, draped in a white sheet, to point out the error of Scrooges ways. The film featured impressive trick effects by 1901 standards, superimposing Marleys face over the door knocker, R. W. Paul was a trick film specialist, Walter Booth, credited as the films director, was a well-known magician as well as a trick and comic film specialist. The film makes use of dissolving between scenes. The film was shown to King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra at Sandringham House in December 1901 in a Royal Command Performance, the only known surviving footage, about 3 minutes and 26 seconds in length, is preserved by the British Film Institute. This footage starts with Bob Cratchit showing someone out of Scrooges office on Christmas Eve, just before he and Scrooge leave for the night, and ends at a scene showing the death of Tiny Tim. The film does not show the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, or Christmas Yet to Come, the actor who played Scrooge in the film has never been identified. The Death of Poor Joe the oldest surviving film featuring a Charles Dickens character
9.
1st Academy Awards
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AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show. Tickets cost $5,270 people attended the event and the ceremony lasted fifteen minutes. Awards were created by Louis B, Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not to be broadcast either on radio or television, during the ceremony, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards in twelve categories. Winners were announced three months before the live event, some nominations were announced without reference to a specific film, such as for Ralph Hammeras and Nugent Slaughter, who received nominations in the now defunct category of Engineering Effects. Unlike later ceremonies, an actor or director could be awarded for works within a calendar year. Emil Jannings, for example, was given the Best Actor award for his work in both The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command, moreover, Charlie Chaplin and Warner Brothers each received an Honorary Award. Major winners at the ceremony included 7th Heaven and Sunrise, which received three awards, and Wings, receiving two awards. Among its honors, Sunrise won the award for Unique and Artistic Picture and these two categories at the time were seen as equally the top award of the night intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior film making. The next year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award, in 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was established by Louis B. Mayer, originator of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, which then would be joined into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, mayers purpose in creating the award was to unite the five branches of the film industry, including actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. Mayer commented on the creation of the awards I found that the best way to handle was to hang medals all over them, if I got them cups and awards theyd kill them to produce what I wanted. Thats why the Academy Award was created, Mayer asked Cedric Gibbons, art director of MGM, to design an Academy Award trophy. Nominees were notified through a telegram in February 1928, in August 1928, Mayer contacted the Academy Central Board of Judges to decide winners. The ceremony was held on May 16,1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, located in Los Angeles and it consisted of a private dinner with thirty-six banquet tables, where 270 people attended and tickets cost five dollars. Actors and actresses arrived at the hotel in luxury vehicles, where many attended to encourage celebrities. The ceremony was not broadcast on radio or television, and was hosted by AMPAS director Fairbanks, winners were announced three months before the ceremony. Three categories were eliminated for subsequent presentations, Best Engineering Effects, Best Title Writing, the larger film producers received the preponderance of awards, Fox Films Corporation, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Radio-Keith-Orpheum and Warner Brothers Production
10.
Joseph W. Farnham
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Joseph White Farnham was an American playwright and a film writer and film editor of the silent movie era to the early 1930s. He was also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts. Farnham got his start in film through his business relationship with theatre empresarios Gustave, the Big Parade is probably the most famous of his works adapted to film. In the 1st Academy Awards of 1929, nominees could be considered for an Oscar for an award on the basis of films within the year. Joseph won his Best Writing - Title Cards award for the films Fair Co-Ed, Laugh, Clown, Laugh and this was the only year that an Oscar for title cards would be awarded. Joseph Farnham has the distinction of being the very first Academy Award-winner to die. He died of an attack while living in Los Angeles, California and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale
