Showing posts with label F. W. Murnau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label F. W. Murnau. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Spooktaober 27: The Head of Janus (1920)

 


I know... this is two Conrad Veidt films in as many days, but this lost gem is so much more.  It has connections to so many other really famous horror and near horror films (Karl Freund was the chief cinematographer), many of them amongst the most well known silents films out there. The most recognizable connection is that it's a Murnau film from 1920. Murnau needs no introduction; he was famous in his native Germany and later in his adopted United States. Veidt would follow a similar path, via the U.K. But, it is yet another player in this silent German adaptation of Stevenson's Jekyll And Hyde, who became a much bigger fixture the American psyche than Veidt or Murnau combined who is of interest here: Bela Lugosi. Lugosi who was famously Hungarian, born in what is now Romania and a World War I veteran, made his way to Germany after the war (he had already appeared in a Hungarian production directed by future Casablanca director Michael Curtiz), where he appeared in a handful of films, including this one. The film is lost, but stills do survive. We are fortunate that one of them contains Lugosi in his role as Dr. Warren's Diener. 

 


 

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Born Today October 6: Janet Gaynor


1906-1984

Born Laura Augusta, with either her last name spelled Gainor or Gainer, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, she was nicknamed "Lolly" as a child.  Her father was a theatrical painter and paperhanger; it was he that began to teach her song and dance, as well as acrobatics when she was just a toddler.  When she entered school, she then began to act in school plays.  After her parents divorced and her mother remarried, the family eventually settled in San Francisco. When she graduated from high school there, she began doing stage work in Melbourne, Florida while on winter vacation. Upon her return to San Francisco, the whole family moved to Los Angeles so she could be pursue a career in acting.  She, accompanied by her stepfather, began to present herself at studios there, where she eventually landed a role as an extra in a Hal Roach film.  The film was Cupid's Rustler, the year was 1924.  She continued to get work in roles as extras regularly until 1926, when she began to get small roles that she credited for, the first of which was The Johnstown Flood, a Fox film that she was hired for after Fox offered her a screen test. By 1927, she had blossomed into one of Hollywood's leading ladies.  She played a lead role as "The Wife" in F. W. Murnau's 1927 feature Sunrise, for which she won one of the very earliest Oscars, in the category of Best Actress in a Leading Role--she was the very first winner for this category.  She also won for her role in Street Angel (a partial sound film).  The award, which was presented in the year 1929, combined the work.  Another interesting fact is that she was only 22 years of age at the time; she would remain the youngest actress to win in the category until 1986, when at 21 Marlee Matlin won for Children Of A Lesser God.  Her first full sound film came in 1928 with 4 Devils, which had an alternative silent print, and was also directed by Murnau. By 1929, she had made the transition to speaking roles and even starred in a film with early color sequences (Sunnyside Up).  By the age of 33, she had been making films for almost 20 years and had made up her mind to retire, which she did in 1938.  After this, she worked sporadically, and almost entirely in television.  She found a new profession is painting however, becoming very accomplished in still life depictions of flowers and vegetables.  She finally made her professional stage debut in 1980!  She worked in the theater for 2 years.  In September of 1982, a taxi in which she was a passenger was struck by a van that had run a red light; she was left with several very serious injuries, including 11 broken ribs.  She passed away 2 years later on 14 September; with her long time doctor declaring that her death was brought on by the accident, from which she had never fully recovered.  She is buried in the famous Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  [For anyone that interested in visiting, it is located in the Garden of Legends section, Lot 193)



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Sunday, September 6, 2015

Born Today September 6: Max Schreck


Max Schreck:  1879-1936

Born Friedrich Gustav Maximillian Schreck on September 6, 1879 in Berlin-Friedenau, Germany, his is the most definitely the most famous face (albeit in heavy makeup) of the silent era in the modern age!  Even the youngest people with any passing knowledge of film know his face.  For a while as a child he lived in Friedenau proper, which has a very interesting history all it's own.  As he got older, he became more and more enamored with the theater, of which is father thoroughly disapproved.  His mother, however, secretly gave him money to study acting, which he did enthusiastically, graduating and got work in a number of live productions all across the country until he ended up in Berlin and Munich.  It was after this point that he began to work in films.  Despite that he's only known widely across the world for Nosferatu (1922), he acted in over 20 silent films (as the silent era lasted much longer in Germany than it did in the US), with his first talkie in 1930 funnily enough being a musical (The Land Of Smiles).  Nosferatu was basically the only horror film he acted in, however he was in one Sci-Fi talkie in 1933 entitled The Tunnel.  It turns out that the vast majority of the films he appeared in were comedies.  He had a reputation of being a rather strange character, a loner, and apparently spent a good deal of time wandering around in forests.  Despite this, he apparently also possessed a unique (some said unusual) sense of humor, and like his American contemporary Lon Chaney Sr., he had a talent for playing grotesque characters, and didn't mind make-up jobs, that other actors had no patience for.  This was helped by the fact that he stood 6'3".  His life was cut short at the age of 56 of a heart attack.  Due to his theater training, he had successfully made the transition into talkies, only to pass away from an early onset of heart failure.  Right up until his death he continued to do live theater; in fact, the night before his death he took a stand-in role as "The Great Inquisitor" in Don Carlos.  His obituary apparently made no mention of Nosferatu (as it was not the well known film then as it became), but rather highly praised a live performance as "The Miser" in a Moliére's comedy.  He is buried in the German cemetery located near Brandenburg--Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof Stahndorf. 

Publicity photo of Schreck from 1922, year of Nosferatu

Silent Film Credits


Der zeugende Tod (1921) (a mystery film)



Nosferatu (1922) (as Graf Orlok, his first Horror film)

Nathan der Weise (1922) (formerly lost film, essentially banned in Bavaria by intimidation from the early Nazi party who considered it "Jewish propaganda." It is a historical drama.)

The Jew of Mestri (1924) (shot in 1923, premiered in Finland in 1924, based on Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice.)

Die Straße (1923) (a drama)

The Mysteries Of A Hairdresser's Shop (1923) (comedic short, just over 30 minutes long, this remained an unreleased short for years.)

Finances Of The Grand Duke (1924) (A comedy.  A Murnau film, the only other time he worked with the director.)








Dona Juana (1928) (a drama)


Luther (1929) (a biographical and historical drama based on the life of Martin Luther.  Filmed in 1928.)

Scampolo (1928) (a comedy)

Rasputins Liebesabenteur (1928) (an historical drama)

Teenager's Republic (1929) (filmed in 1928)





Ludwig der Zweite, Kônig von Bayern (1930) (a biographical historical drama)

Schreck on the stage.

Entrance into the graveyard where Schreck is buried--the whole cemetery is located in an old grove forest.