Wednesday, July 31, 2013

still, even MORE film ads!

Wow, kinda hard to believe I haven't had a post of these films ads since 2010, so while I'm still gearing up to start writing on the blog again, let's have some more, shall we??
















Friday, July 26, 2013

"What, No Men?" alternate/test frame discovered


The internet is truly a great invention. Hell, we can find anything we want here from video's of cats being well........cats, to the grossest of the most sickest individuals alive on the planet. But we aren't talking about that on this blog. Nope, we are talking about film and more specifically vintage films and El Brendel. And it's nice to know that there are some people who are still concerned about finding old film, trying to identify it, and preserving it so future generations can see what we were doing way back when.

Case in point, the Nitrate Film Interest Group. They have a wonderful flickr site showing scan of all sorts of nitrate film of which 85-90% is unidentified. The site is overseen by Rachel Parker who works at the Library of Congress and you could certainly spend hours there looking at all the old film scans and trying to identify what date, studio, actors, film stock, etc., and commenting on what is your best guess is. I usually have trouble identifying anything on there until I ran across this gem, a little over a week ago:


This is certainly our boy, Mr. Brendel on the right and Wini Shaw on the left, from the 1935 Vitaphone short, "What, No Men?", one of the first shorts filmed in 3 strip Technicolor. What's noticeable right off the bat is this "head-on" shot does not appear in the short, but there is a similar scene from a different angle right near the end:


Unfortunately, this one frame is all we have of the alternate/test, the rest is gone. It's interesting to note that the Kodak edge code is on the frame and we can certainly date it as 1934 stock. Research into the short's production has shown that the film was originally supposed to be released in late 1934 but was held back from distribution due to censorship issues which had to be corrected.

I have done a bit of photoshopping and cropped the frame to show it in all it's Technicolor glory!



Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Capitolfest 2013! August 9-11, Rome NY!



I'm back! Yes, after a short hiatus which I spent going back to school, I am now back in the saddle and hopefully can devote more time to this blog! And what a better way to kick it back into gear again than writing about one of my favorite film festivals, Capitolfest!

 featured star of Capitolfest 11, Carole Lombard

For the past 10 years, the Capitol Theater staff have been providing hungry, vintage film fanatics with the rarest from Hollywood's golden age and each year they seem to out-do themselves. For this year's fest, they have picked Carole Lombard as their featured star, so there are plenty of opportunities to see her in some elusive titles. Also, as I wrote about previously, Capitolfest will be screening the RARE El Brendel film, "Mr. Lemon of Orange" which I believe has not been screened publicly in over 80 years!! Add to that, there are rare films with Lon Chaney, Charley Chase, Zasu Pitts (in a flick which hasn't been seen since 1935!) among MANY other notable stars.

The complete film list is below, but to get more details on the individual films, ticket sales (yes, you can buy them on line!), lodging, etc., please go to the Capitolfest website.

El Brendel & Fifi D'orsay in "Mr. Lemon of Orange"

Friday, August 9

12:00 pm Flaming Waters (FBO, 1926)  
1:15 pm Along Came Ruth (Warner Bros./Vitaphone, 1933)
1:40 pm My Pal, the King (Universal, 1932) 
3:10 pm DeForest Phonofilm: CASEY AT THE BAT (192?) 
3:20 pm DeForest Phonofilm: A FEW MOMENTS WITH EDDIE CANTOR (1923) 
3:30 pm The Affair of Susan (Universal, 1935) 
7:00 pm The Campus Vamp (Sennett/Pathe, 1928)
7:20 pm Show Folks (Pathe, 1928) 
8:35 pm DeForest Phonofilm: PRESIDENT COOLIDGE TAKEN ON THE WHITE HOUSE GROUNDS (1924) 
8:40 pm DeForest Phonofilm: BEN BERNIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA (192?)
8:55 pm Nothing Sacred (David O. Selznick/United Artists, 1937)

 Carole Lombard in a scene from "Nothing Sacred", which will be shown in a new 35mm restoration from the original three-stripTechnicolor camera negatives.



Saturday, August 10

9:30 am From Hell to Heaven (Paramount, 1933)
11:05 am Don't Weaken (Rolin/Pathe, 1920)  
11:20 am DeForest Phonofilm: WEBER AND FIELDS IN THEIR FAMOUS POOL ROOM SCENE (1925)
11:40 am The Cohens and Kellys in Africa (Universal, 1931)  
2:10 pm Lon Chaney Fragment: A Mother's Atonement (Rex/Universal, 1915) 
2:40 pm Lon Chaney Fragment: The Place Beyond the Winds (Red Feather/Universal, 1916) 
3:45 pm Broadway Love (Bluebird/Universal, 1918)
4:55 pm DeForest Phonofilm: SISSLE & BLAKE (1923)  
5:00 pm Mr. Lemon of Orange (Fox, 1931)


El Brendel goofs with a bunch of kids as Oscar Lemon in "Mr. Lemon of Orange"
 
8:00 pm Assistant Wives (Hal Roach, 1927)
8:20 pm The Showdown (Paramount, 1928)
9:55 pm DeForest Phonofilm: COHEN ON THE TELEPHONE (c. 1923)
10:00 pm DeForest Phonofilm: EUBIE BLAKE PLAYS HIS FANTASY ON 'SWANEE RIVER' (1923)
10:10 pm The Night Ride (Universal, 1930) 

Sunday, August 11
9:30 am DeForest Phonofilm: ABBIE MITCHELL IN SONGS OF YESTERDAY (c. 1925) 
9:45 am Captain of the Guard (Universal, 1930)  
11:25 am The Bicycle Flirt (Sennett/Pathe, 1928)
11:45 am The Bedroom Window (William C. DeMille/Paramount, 1924)  
2:10 pm Voice of Hollywood #12 (Tec-Art/Tiffany, 1931)
2:30 pm It Pays to Advertise (Paramount, 1931)


 Eugene Pallette, "Skeets" Gallagher, Carole Lombard, & Norman Foster in "It Pays To Advertise"


3:40 pm Jack Theakston's Short Subject Follies
4:50 pm The Dancing Town (Paramount Pictures, 1928)
5:10 pm The Cruise of the Jasper B (William C. deMille/PDC, 1926)

Hope to see you there!!