October 20: One Glorious Day (1922)

 

One Glorious Day is a lost Paramount production directed by James Cruze starring Will Rogers and released in early 1922.  Judging from the surviving materials, it was probably quite the strange little comedy. Frankly most of the stills show that the "spirit" Ek, an entity featured in the film only briefly in his original form, look far scarier than the film likely intended, this was a comedy after all. 

Rogers plays Professor Ezra Botts a scientist, who dabbles in psychic experiments. Ek is a mischievous little spirit who is waiting his turn for a body to inhabit (is this a story of reincarnation??), but sneaks off to the earthly plane to find a vessel for himself. In other words, he skips the queue. Owed to his experiments, professor Botts makes himself vulnerable to "inhabitation" and Ek takes advantage of this. In the meantime, Botts' actual spirit finds itself wandering the astral plane, disembodied and confused. He must wait until the little spirit Ek has enough of it's antics in Botts' body and leaves, to re-inhabit his own body. Apparently all kinds of physical comedy ensues. From the descriptions that survive of the film, it sounds like a cross between the drunken nightmare in Dream of a Rarebit Fiend in Edwin S. Porter film from 1906 and a slapstick comedy from the 1910's such as one finds in an Arbuckle/St. John/Keaton film.

And, in fact, the film was actually intended to be a vehicle for Roscoe Arbuckle; Will Rogers only took his place as the protagonist after the Virginia Rappe scandal broke early in the film's production.  Arbuckle had been the main creative force behind the project; he had contributed the lion's share of the film's concept. The rest of the cast was little changed and included Lila Lee as the love interest, and Alan Hale Sr. Child actor John Fox was mocked up as Ek, who I am sure was thought to be silly by the make-up crew...but, really, come on, it comes off quite creepy today! Even by the standards of the day, Ek made an impression; and for a lost film, the image is pretty famous, making regular rounds on the social media sites every year around Halloween.  Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine founder Forrest J. Ackerman, who is a GIANT in the science fiction (and horror) community, and is credited the coining "Sci-Fi" as a phrase, claimed that this was the film that sparked is life long love of both the science fiction and horror/monster genres. Some sources have it as the first film that he actually ever saw as a child. 

Suviving photo from the set of the film (wikimedia commons)

As far as what the film might have been up to in regards to the supernatural, one of it's working titles, Souls Before Birth, gives a hint that Ek is indeed some sort of "pre-born" or even reiencarnated spirit. His incarnating within the body of the professor (taking temporary possession of) also seems to be a kind of precursor to "possession" films that we all so familiar with today; the most famous of which remains The Exorcist. 

Below are a couple of lobby cards from the film.

[Images in public domain, from Wikimedia and IMDb film photos]

October 19: The Mysterious Mirror [Der geheimnisvolle Spiegel] (1928)

 

Der geheimnisvolle Spiegel (or The Mysterious Mirror/Mystic Mirror) was a 1928 German silent fantasy set in a Bavarian schloss (castle). It was principally directed by Carl Hoffmann, who had been a prolific cinematographer since 1913 (Richard Tescher is credited as a co-director, it is his only known direction credit). Though the story is based on recognizable from fairy tales--such as magic mirrors found in tales from the Brothers Grimm--the script is credited solely to writer Robert Reinert, who had previously been a script writer for fantasy serials in German cinema. The story revolves around a mirror that is supposed to allow the gazer to see their future if they stare into on nights of a full moon (or, alternatively, when the moon is up).  Usually what they see drives them into insanity and some into self-destruction. The protagonist of the film--a man who wishes to know his future for romantic reasons--is played by Fritz Rasp.  Released the year after Fritz Lang's Metropolis, where Rasp was "The Thin Man;" there is little doubt that the film makers thought they could capitalize on casting Rasp and using his name for promotion.  The story is rather simple, Rasp's "mann" steals into the old edifice where the mirror "resides" on a bright moonlit night, gazes into it, hates what he sees, smashes the mirror and then kills himself. After his death, the mirror reassembles itself, like it has likely done on countless occasions before. The description would lead one to believe that the film was a short, but it was in fact a feature and ran for nearly an hour and ten minutes. It was padded out with a story of gothic romance, featuring actress Fay Wall (aka Felicitas "Fee" Malten) in the part of Anna, the love interest. 

From Germany: The Adventures Of Prince Achmed (1926) & Nosferatu (1922) Trailer

The Adventures Of Prince Achmed is a German animated feature length fantasy adventure film from 1926; it features black etchings against brilliant hued background!

From France: A Trip To The Moon (1902)

It is United Nations Day, and over at the Scare Me On Fridays blog spot we are celebrating with a Countdown To Halloween theme of scary films from different countries, so I thought it would be fun to track that here.  First up is France, and more Melies.  The is perhaps his most famous film!  I've even seen tattoos of the moon are arms and backs!  At over 10 minutes long, this was considered a wonder of modern cinema when it debuted.  Happy Halloween!  Happy UN Day.

Mary And Gretel (1916 or 1917)

Here is a fairly short animated fantasy feature from either 1916 or 1917 depending on the source you consult.  This has been described and Alice In Wonderland meet Garden Of Eden; and features, besides the two little girls from the title, a surreal story of a very drunken rabbit and bowling dwarfs!  This was part of a very short lived stop-motion puppet series by animator Howard S. Moss.  It was transferred at 20 frames per second from an original p35 mm print that was in the AFI/James Ashton Collection.  

The Talion Punishment (1906)

The Patchwork Girl Of Oz (1914)

This is a very early multi-reel movie.  Up until 1910 the one reeler ruled the movie world as 15 minutes or less.  At first this was simply the limit of the manufacturers and producers; later on multi-reel (mostly 2 reels) films were being produced by not widely marketed, largely because early film producers like Edison thought there was not market for longer film (this lack of insight was decried by many prominent employees, is the major reason Edison exited the film industry in 1918).  In less than five years, however, 5-reel films became the accepted and expected norm.  This is a very early, rather obscure Fantasy picture.  It owes a great deal to the early trick films, and doesn't represent any rear advances in editing for the time--it is pure whimsy.  Though this is not the first film depiction of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book by L. Frank Baum, it is to my knowledge the first feature length film to do so, at a running time of 48 to near 70 minutes.  The really important fact here is that Baum himself adapted his book for the screenplay!  There are two surviving films produced by the Oz Manufacturing Company, which went out of business in 1915, under this title at the Library of Congress, this is the truncated version.  

Countdown To Christmas Day 5

Classic early stop motion animation from pre-revolutionary Russia!!  

The Insect's Christmas (1913)

Countdown To Christmas 4

Yet another Edison Christmas short, but this is one of the company's earliest, dating from 1905.  Of all of Edwin S. Porter's directed holiday shorts, I tend to favor his earliest work.  They just have a glint of silvery charm to them.

The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1920)

The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)

The Cameraman's Revenge 1912

This is a masterpiece world of stop motion animation from 1912 Russia.