HOME
*





The Case Of Lena Smith
''The Case of Lena Smith'' is a 1929 American silent drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Esther Ralston and James Hall, and released by Paramount Pictures. ''The Case of Lena Smith'' is ranked by film critics as among the “lost masterpieces” of the silent era and the Holy Grail for archivists who sift through film repositories. The last remaining prints were destroyed by Paramount Pictures shortly after the end of the Second World War for tax purposes. In 2003, Japanese film historian Komatsu Hiroshi unearthed a four-minute fragment of ''The Case of Lena Smith'' in Manchuria, China, reviving interest in the film. The work was the last of Sternberg's eight silent films and one of three in his career set in the city of his birth and childhood: Vienna. The two other movies are ''Dishonored'' (1931) and ''The King Steps Out'' (1936). American film-maker Curtis Harrington was among the latter people to view a print from the Paramount vaults. Commenting on the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Josef Von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an Austrian-American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the silent to the sound era, during which he worked with most of the major Hollywood studios. He is best known for his film collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich in the 1930s, including the highly regarded Paramount/UFA production, ''The Blue Angel'' (1930). Sternberg's finest works are noteworthy for their striking pictorial compositions, dense décor, chiaroscuro illumination, and relentless camera motion, endowing the scenes with emotional intensity. He is also credited with having initiated the gangster film genre with his silent era movie ''Underworld'' (1927). Sternberg's themes typically offer the spectacle of an individual's desperate struggle to maintain their personal integrity as they sacrifice themselves for lust or love. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Morocco'' ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing since 1952. History and content ''Sight and Sound'' was first published in Spring 1932 as "A quarterly review of modern aids to learning published under the auspices of the British Institute of Adult Education". In 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent British Film Institute (BFI), which still publishes the magazine today. ''Sight and Sound'' was published quarterly for most of its history until the early 1990s, apart from a brief run as a monthly publication in the early 1950s, but in 1991 it merged with another BFI publication, the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'', and started to appear monthly. In 1949, Gavin Lambert, co-founder of film journal ''Sequence'', was hired as the editor, and also brought with him ''Sequence ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Domino Mask
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called '' pips'' or ''dots'') or is blank. The backs of the tiles in a set are indistinguishable, either blank or having some common design. The gaming pieces make up a domino set, sometimes called a ''deck'' or ''pack''. The traditional European domino set consists of 28 tiles, also known as pieces, bones, rocks, stones, men, cards or just dominoes, featuring all combinations of spot counts between zero and six. A domino set is a generic gaming device, similar to playing cards or dice, in that a variety of games can be played with a set. Another form of entertainment using domino pieces is the practice of domino toppling. The earliest mention of dominoes is from Song dynasty China found in the text ''Former Events in Wulin'' by Zhou Mi (1 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Punch And Judy
Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically Mr. Punch and one other character who usually falls victim to Punch's slapstick. ''The Daily Telegraph'' called Punch and Judy "a staple of the British seaside scene". The various episodes of Punch comedy—often provoking shocked laughter—are dominated by the clowning of Mr. Punch. The show is performed by a single puppeteer inside the booth, known since Victorian times as a "professor" or "punchman", and assisted sometimes by a "bottler" who corrals the audience outside the booth, introduces the performance, and collects the money ("the bottle"). The bottler might also play accompanying music or sound effects on a drum or guitar, and engage in back chat with the puppets, sometimes repeating lines that may have been difficult for the audience to understand. In Victorian ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Katavolos) and George Andrew Sarris, and grew up in Ozone Park, Queens. After attending John Adams High School in South Ozone Park (where he overlapped with Jimmy Breslin), he graduated from Columbia University in 1951 and then served for three years in the Army Signal Corps before moving to Paris for a year, where he became a friend of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Upon returning to New York's Lower East Side, Sarris briefly pursued graduate studies at his alma mater and Teachers College, Columbia University before turning to film criticism as a vocation. Career After initially writing for ''Film Culture'', he moved to ''The Village Voice'' where his first piece—a laudatory review of '' Psycho''—was published in 1960. Later he re ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Wurstelprater
The Wurstelprater ( or being the Viennese name for Hanswurst) is an amusement park and section of the Wiener Prater (a park) in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria. This institution dates back to the time of the Austrian Empire, when Emperor Joseph II made the Prater (which had been serving as Imperial hunting ground until then) open to the public in 1766. Soon the first snack bars, stalls and bowling alleys opened up on the grounds and the Wurstelprater was born. The best-known attraction is the Wiener Riesenrad, a Ferris wheel. The park also features various rides, bumper cars, carousels, roller coasters, shooting galleries, ghost trains, a Madame Tussauds wax works cabinet and much more. Apart from the rides, the park features various famous traditional Viennese restaurants (such as the Schweizerhaus and the Walfisch) and souvenir shops. The mascot for the park is Calafati, a 9 m-tall sculpture of a Chinese man, which stands near the Wiener Riesenrad. The park is open from ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist. Biography Arthur Schnitzler was born at Praterstrasse 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire (as of 1867, part of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary). He was the son of a prominent Hungarian laryngologist, Johann Schnitzler (1835–1893), and Luise Markbreiter (1838–1911), a daughter of the Viennese doctor Philipp Markbreiter. His parents were both from Jewish families. In 1879 Schnitzler began studying medicine at the University of Vienna and in 1885 he received his doctorate of medicine. He began work at Vienna's General Hospital (german: link=no, Allgemeines Krankenhaus der Stadt Wien), but ultimately abandoned the practice of medicine in favour of writing. On 26 August 1903, Schnitzler married Olga Gussmann (1882–1970), a 21-year-old aspiring actress and singer who came from a Jewish middle-class family. They had a son, Heinrich (1902–1982), born on 9 Au ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Galicia (Eastern Europe)
Galicia ()"Galicia"
''Collins English Dictionary''
( uk, Галичина, translit=Halychyna ; pl, Galicja; yi, גאַליציע) is a historical and geographic region spanning what is now southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, long part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.See also: It covers much of such historic regions as Red Ruthenia (centered on Lviv) and Lesser Poland (centered on Kraków). The name of the region derives from the medieval city of Halych, and was first mentioned in Hungarian historical chronicles in the year 1206 as ''Galiciæ''. The eastern part of the region was controlled by the medieval Kingdom of Galicia a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War and was dissolved shortly after its defeat in the First World War. Austria-Hungary was ruled by the House of Habsburg and constituted the last phase in the constitutional evolution of the Habsburg monarchy. It was a multinational state and one of Europe's major powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at and the third-most populous (after Russia and the German Empire). The Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry in the world, after the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. Austria-Hungary also became the world's third-largest manufacturer and exporter of electric home appliances, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Ann Brody
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the Netherlands, particularly in the Frisian speaking part (for example, author Anne de Vries). In this incarnation, it is related to Germanic arn-names and means 'eagle'.See entry on "Anne" in th''Behind the Name'' databaseand th"Anne"an"Ane"entries (in Dutch) in the Nederlandse Voornamenbank (Dutch First Names Database) of the Meertens Instituut (23 October 2018). It has also been used for males in France ( Anne de Montmorency) and Scotland (Lord Anne Hamilton). Anne is a common name and the following lists represent a small selection. For a comprehensive list, see instead: . As a feminine name Anne * Saint Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary * Anne, Queen of Great Britain (1665–1714), Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1702–07) ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Lawrence Grant
Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant (30 October 1870 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England – 19 February 1952 in Santa Barbara, California, USA) was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as ''The Living Ghost'', '' I'll Tell the World'', '' Shanghai Express'', ''The Mask of Fu Manchu'' and ''Son of Frankenstein''. He was host of the 4th Academy Awards ceremonies in 1931. Selected filmography * '' The Eternal City'' (1915) - English Ambassador * ''To Hell with the Kaiser!'' (1918) - The Kaiser / Robert Graubel * ''Someone Must Pay'' (1919) - Walter Hargrave * '' Held In Trust'' (1920) - Dr. Babcock * ''The Chorus Girl's Romance'' (1920) - Jose Brasswine * ''Someone in the House'' (1920) - Walter Hargrave * '' Extravagance'' (1921) - Uncle Mark * '' The Great Impersonation'' (1921) - Emperor William of Germany * ''The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln'' (1924) - Actor at Ford's Theatre * ''Happiness'' (1924) - Mr. Rosselstein * ''His Hour'' (1924) - Stephen Str ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Fred Kohler
Fred Kohler (April 20, 1888 – October 28, 1938) was an American actor. Career Fred Kohler was born in Kansas City, Missouri or in Dubuque, Iowa. As a teen, he began to pursue a career in vaudeville, but worked other jobs to support himself. He lost part of his right hand in a mining accident during this time. Eventually he was able to join a touring company, and worked steadily in show business for several years. His son Fred Kohler Jr. also became an actor. America's budding film industry drew a 20-something Kohler to Hollywood, where he made his start in silent films. His first role was in the 1911 short ''The Code of Honor'', and he had an uncredited role in Cecil B. DeMille's feature film ''Joan the Woman'' (1917), but a steady stream of parts did not begin until ''The Tiger's Trail'' (1919). Kohler's stern features earned him a niche playing villains. His role as Bauman in '' The Iron Horse'' (1924) is a notable example. With the advent of the talkies, Kohler reprised ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]