Released 114 Years Ago

Méliès film La Chaudron Infernal or The Infernal Boiling Pot was released 114 years ago today.  It is now considered one of the earliest horror films, made by the man who is credited with making the very first horror film back in the 1890's. Happy Early Halloween! 

Born Today July 2: Friedrich G. Klopstock

1724-1803

German poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was born on this day in Quedlinburg, in what was then part of the Holy Roman Empire (now part of Germany).  He was the eldest son of a prominent lawyer.  In his youth, reported to be a happy one, he was devoted to physical activity, and by his very early teens had become an expert on horseback.  When he was 13 years of age, he entered the local gymnasium for study and in 1739 matriculated to a boarding school where he excelled in Greek and Latin.  It was at this time that he began write, mostly odes and such, in the German language.  He next turned his pen to writing an epic religious poem in the style of Milton.  What he is principally remembered for today is his epic Der Messias (The Messiah), which he was already working on while at school.  He then decided to go to Jena to study theology, not finding that atmosphere to his liking, he then went to Leipzig.  He fell in with a young circle of young male writers, and contributors to the periodical Bremer Beiträge; it was in this periodical that the first parts of Der Messias was published in 1748.  With German literature enjoying a resurgence in popularity, it was not long before Klopstock got noticed.  This lead to, some time later, an invitation by the king of Denmark Frederick V for Klopstock to settle in Copenhagen with a handsome annuity.  He accepted with the agreement that he would finish Der Messias once settled there.  In the meantime, he had married a woman that had a writing spirit of her own; however she died suddenly, leaving him broken hearted.  Thus the last parts of Der Messias are melancholy to the extreme.  He became personally prone to bouts of grief and sadness for the rest of his life, despite having remarried at the age of 67.  He is credited with giving German poetry of "voice" of it's own outside of what were considered poetic standards of the day, which were based on French verse.  His prose work was mostly non-fiction in nature and was principally concerned with the history of German poetry and philology.  He was also an avid correspondant in letters.  Later in life, he developed a keen interest in the revolutionary movements in both France and what would become the United States of America.  Though he spent a good deal of his adult life in Copenhagen, by the time of his death on the 14th of March in 1803, he had relocated back to Germany and settled in Hamburg.  He was 78 years of age.  News of his death sparked national mourning and he given an elaborate funeral, finally being laid to rest next to his first wife in the village of Ottensen.  His work has only been used once for film source material and that came in a film entitled Satana (or Satan), an Italian horror film from the year 1912.  It was developed from Klopstock's poetic works in the style of English poet John Milton.  

[Source: Frankie (Find A Grave)]

For More:

Wikipedia

IMDb

Find A Grave entry

Countdown To Halloween: Melies' The House Of The Devil (1896)

Widely believed to be the first horror movie made.

Born Today September 20: Victor Sjöström

1879-1960

Born Victor David Sjöström in Silbodal Sweden, he is primarily known as a very prolific director of films, but, in fact, he was also a prolific actor as well, often directing himself in his own films.  He is well known as "The Father Swedish Film" and is regarded as one of the very best film directors ever.  He directed some very famous and influential silent films, especially in the 1920's that includes one of my favorite silent horror films of all time The Phantom Carriage (which he also wrote) in 1921.  Though born in Sweden he was only one year old when his father Olof moved the family the New York; when 6 years later his mother died, at just the age of 7 he returned alone to Sweden to live with relatives in Stockholm.  He started down the path toward making films, when at the age of 17 he started acting with a touring theater company. He left the stage to make his first film in 1912 and continued to direct films through the year 1937. In all he made 41 films in Sweden, many are probably and  sadly lost.  Though he started directing in Sweden, he made the move to Hollywood in the 1920's at the invitation Louis B. Mayer, where he went on to direct the likes fellow Swede Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Lon Chaney Sr. and John Gilbert, just to name a few. When in Hollywood he was credited as "Victor Seastrom." He made only two talkies in the US, with only one A Lady To Love (1930) actually made for US consumption.  Though his next film Die Sehnsucht jeder Frau (1930) was produced by MGM, it was in the German language and debuted in Finland; on this one he insisted that his real name be credited as director.  This marked his end in Hollywood, when he returned to Sweden to direct a further two films.  His last film Under The Red Robe (1937) was made in England, where he was once again credited as Seastrom (it is currently on Amazon Prime).  He then stopped directing films and returned to the theater in Stockholm.  He did, however, continue acting in movie, with his last role coming in the year 1957 in no less than the Ingmar Bergman directed Wild Strawberries.  In addition to being an incredibly talented actor and director, he was also very good writer of screenplays.  He passed away in Stockholm on the 3 of January in 1960 at the age of 80 and it interred at Norra begravningsplatsen (Northern Cemetery), where a number of other famous Swedes are buried including actress Ingrid Bergman is also buried.

In Hollywood with Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson, amongst other on an outdoor shoot.

His Very Prolific Silent Era Work:

Ett hemligt giftermål (1912)

Trädgårdsmästaren (1912) (a formerly lost film, it was also a banned film)

De svarta maskerna (1912)

I livets vär (1912)

Äktenskapsbyrån (1913)

Löjen och tårar (1913)

Lady Marions sommarflirt (1913)

Blodets röst (1913)

Livets konflikter (1913) (lost film)

Ingeborg Holm (1913)

Halvblod (1913)

Miraklet (1913)

Barnet (1913) (short)

Vampyren (1913) (short)

När käleken dödar (1913) (lost film)

Kälek starkare än hat eller skogsdotterns hemlignet (1914)

Prästem (1914)

Dömen icke (1914)

Strejken (1914)

Bra flicka reder sig själv (1914)

Gatans barn (1914)

Högfjällets dotter (1914)

Hjärtan som mötas (1914)

För sin kärleks skull (1914)

Havsgamar (1915) (short)

En av de många (1915)

Sonad skuld (1915)

Det var i maj (1915)

Landshövdingens döttrar (1915)

Skomakare, bliv vid din läst (1915)

I prövningens stund (1915)

Judaspengar (1915)

Skepp som mötas (1916)

Hon segrade (1916)

Dödskyssen (1916) (partially lost film)

Therése (1916)

Terje vigen (1917)

Tösen från Stromyrtorpet (1917)

Thomas Graals bästa film (1917)

Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru (1918)

Thomas Graals bästa barn (1918)

Ingmarssönerna (1919)

Hans nåds testamente (1919)

Klostret i Sendomir (1920)

Karin ingmarsdotter (1920) (a sequel)

Mästerman (1920)

Körkarlen [The Phantom Carriage] (1921)

Vem dömer (1922)

Det omringade huset (1922)

Eld ombord (1923)

Name The Man (1924) (his first Hollywood film)

He Who Gets Slapped (1924) (this will be aired on TCM on the 28th of this month)

Confessions Of A Queen (1925) (partially lost film)

The Tower Of Lies (1925) (set in Sweden, filmed in California, I believe the above still may be a cast photo from this film.)

1925 Studio Tour (2015) (a Himself)

The Scarlet Letter (1926)

The Divine Woman (1928) (here he directed Garbo, it such a shame that only 9 minutes of this film survives!  At least we have the one reel!)

The Wind (1928)

The Masks Of The Devil (1928) (sadly a lost film

Silent Horror Image Of The Day

Early direction by D. W. Griffith, The Sealed Room 1909.  This is basically the only horror film that he made.

Silent Horror Still Of The Day

Still from Melies 1903 film The Monster.

A Halloween You Tube Mystery

There is some controversy over whether tinted film above is actually British film maker George Albert Smith's 1897 remake of the 1896 black and white Melies film below or not.  The main confusion seems to come in with the title card on the above remastered film showing Melies film studio stamp, but this could be have been added later by some mistake or other.  They don't look the same to me!  Either way they represent two of the very earliest horror films every made.  Happy Spooks!!

Melies

Smith

Countdown To Halloween Movie Celebration

I know I posted this last year, but I'm such a Melies fan, I figured, what the hell....re-post!  This represented one of the earliest horror movies.  Happy Early Halloween

The man himself.

HAPPY EARLY HALLOWEEN!

Hello!  Welcome to the first day of the countdown to the great pumpkin here in "Silent Room."  I love silent horror and science fiction films, and have a real fascination with the technology of the earliest cinema.  Which why I decided to create a blog to occasionally explore these topics.

I am intending to post on one film a day that counts as "fright" of some sort.  A lot of the earliest films can either be embedded directly or can be viewed on valuable website like the Internet Archive through a link.  So, I am looking to provide as many of these as possible this month.

I'm pleased to say that this blog has been included this year over at the Countdown To Halloween.  Two of my other blogs have been included as well.  New World Food is my Native American food spot, and that will include harvest recipes and ingredients all month long--featuring a different native American ingredient each day.  Scare Me On Fridays is my regular blog spot, for the countdown month, what we call "Fright Month" at my house, every day in October in treated as a Friday Night Fright.

I hope everyone has a great month and enjoys reading all the great blogs over at the Countdown!  Happy Early Halloween!