Fifty Great American Silent Films 1912–1920: A Pictorial Survey

Before 1912, a "feature" film was any picture lasting two or three reels. In that year the standard feature expanded to five reels, inaugurating a decade of experimentation and innovation that established the basic cinematic art from which American cinema has never radically deviated. This survey documents 50 outstanding silent feature films which characterize that achievement. From the early extravagance of From the Manger to the Cross (1912; filmed in Egypt and Palestine) to Chaplin's first full-length starring feature The Kid (early 1921), America's great pioneer producers, directors, actors and technicians are represented in their first and some of their best work. Film historians Anthony Slide and Edward Wagenknecht provide for each film credits, synopsis, critical commentary, and above all stills -- 210 scenes, many never before seen, from films for which there is often no existing print. Stills and commentary cover: The Count of Monte Cristo (1913). Traffic in Souls (1913)-Perhaps the first sexploitation film. Tess of the Storm Country (1914)-Mary Pickford's vehicle to stardom. The Bargain (1914)-William S. Hart's first great film role. A Fool There Was (1915)-Theda Bara as The Vamp. The Birth of a Nation (1915)-D.W. Griffith's controversial epic of the Ku Klux Klan. War Brides (1916)-Controversial pacifism, Nazimova's first. Joan the Woman (1916)-C.B. DeMille's first historical spectacular. Polly of the Circus (1918)- Samuel Goldwyn's first production. The Mark of Zorro (1920)-Douglas Fairbanks' first swashbuckler. . plus some 40 more. America's earliest feature films are the focus of growing interest among cinéastes and scholars, who will appreciate the fund of documentation provided here. Film lovers of all generations will delight in the rare stills of John Barrymore as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Geraldine Farrar as Carmen, Billie Burke, Lillian Gish, Francis X. Bushman, Norma Talmadge, Mabel Normand, Lon Chaney and even Rudolph Valentino as a low gigolo.