The Spectacle Maker
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The Spectacle Maker
''The Spectacle Maker'' is a 1934 short film directed by John Farrow and starring Nora Cecil. It was Farrow's directorial debut. It was filmed in full three-strip Technicolor. Plot Summary Once upon a time, Peter, a lame boy who requires a crutch to walk, dreams of being able to dance like all the other children. His grandfather, Hans Schmidt, the village's spectacle maker, is presented with an opportunity by a mysterious man who walks into his shop: make a lens that when looked through makes everything and everyone appear beautiful, in return for his shop being filled with gold. Hans wants to oblige if only to be able to fix Peter's leg, but first Hans has to learn what beauty actually is. In consulting with the wisest source he knows, Hans is able to produce such a lens which makes everything and everyone on the surface appear beautiful on the surface, and in return he is showered with gold. Another mysterious man comes forth explaining to Hans that the spectacle is deceitful in h ...
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John Farrow
John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS (10 February 190427 January 1963) was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Wake Island'', and in 1957 he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for ''Around the World in Eighty Days''. He had seven children by his wife, actress Maureen O'Sullivan, including actress Mia Farrow. Early life Farrow was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of Lucy Villiers (née Savage; 1881–1907), a dressmaker, and Joseph Farrow (1880–1925), a tailor's trimmer. His mother died when he was born.Unpublished letter dated Oct 3, 1939 His parents were both of English descent. Farrow was educated at Newtown Public School and Fort Street Boys' High School and then started a career in accountancy. He claimed to have run away to sea in an American barquentine, sailed "all over the Pacific," and fought in revo ...
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Angelo Rossitto
Angelo Salvatore Rossitto (February 18, 1908 – September 21, 1991) was an American actor and voice artist. He had dwarfism and was 2'11" (89 cm) tall, and was often billed as Little Angie or Moe. Angelo first appeared in silent films opposite Lon Chaney and John Barrymore. On screen, he portrayed everything from dwarfs, midgets, gnomes and pygmies as well as monsters, villains and aliens, with appearances in more than 70 films. Biography Rossitto was born in Omaha, Nebraska to Salvatore Rossitto and Carmela Caniglia, both born in Carlentini, Province of Siracusa, Sicily, Italy and had a sister, Josephine Rossitto. He was discovered by John Barrymore and made his screen debut opposite Barrymore in ''The Beloved Rogue'' (1927). That same year he appeared in Warner Brother's ''Old San Francisco''. He appeared in the controversial 1932 film ''Freaks'' directed by Tod Browning, and another controversial film, 1938's '' Child Bride''. During the 1940s, he appeared in severa ...
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1930s Fantasy Films
Year 193 (Roman numerals, CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 193 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Roman Senate chooses Pertinax, Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will, to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which were wrecked under Commodus, to reestablish discipline in the Roman army, and to suspend the food programs established by Trajan, provoking the ire of the Praetorian Guard. * March 28 – Pertinax is assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, who storm the imperial palace. Th ...
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American Fantasy Films
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * Ba ...
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Short Films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 and based in Beverly Hills, California. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious film studio, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of '' Ben Hur''. After that, it divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain, and, in the 1960s, diversified into television production. In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian bought 4 ...
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American Short Films
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * B ...
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1934 Films
The following is an overview of 1934 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1934 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events *January 26 – Samuel Goldwyn (formerly of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) purchases the film rights to ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000. *February 19 – Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade. *April 19 – Fox Studios releases ''Stand Up and Cheer!'', with five-year-old Shirley Temple in a relatively minor role. Shirley steals the film and Fox, which had been near bankruptcy, finds itself owning a goldmine. *May 18 – Paramount releases '' Little Miss Marker'', with Shirley Temple, on loan from Fox, in the title role. *June 13 – An amendment to the Production Code establishes the Production Code Administration, and requires all films to obtain a certificate of approval before being released. *July 28 †...
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IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan and critical reviews. IMDb began as a fan-operated movie database on the Usenet group "rec.arts.movies" in 1990, and moved to the Web in 1993. It is now owned and operated by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon. the database contained some million titles (including television episodes) and million person records. Additionally, the site had 83 million registered users. The site's message boards were disabled in February 2017. Features The title and talent ''pages'' of IMDb are accessible to all users, but only registered and logged-in users can submit new material and suggest edits to existing entries. Most of the site's data has been provided by these volunteers. Registered users with a prov ...
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Robert Taylor (American Actor)
Robert Taylor (born Spangler Arlington Brugh; August 5, 1911 â€“ June 8, 1969) was an American film and television actor and singer who was one of the most popular leading men of cinema. Taylor began his career in films in 1934 when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He won his first leading role the following year in ''Magnificent Obsession''. His popularity increased during the late 1930s and 1940s with appearances in '' Camille'' (1936), ''A Yank at Oxford'' (1938), ''Waterloo Bridge'' (1940), and ''Bataan'' (1943). During World War II, he served in the United States Naval Air Forces, where he worked as a flight instructor and appeared in instructional films. From 1959 to 1962, he starred in the television series ''The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor''. In 1966, he assumed hosting duties from his friend Ronald Reagan on the series ''Death Valley Days''. Taylor was married to actress Barbara Stanwyck from 1939 to 1952. He married actress Ursula Thiess in 1954, and the ...
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Sumner Getchell
Sumner Getchell (October 20, 1906 – September 21, 1990) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1926 and 1953. He was born in Oakland, California, and died in Sebastopol, California. Partial filmography * '' The College Widow'' (1927) - Jimmie Hopper * '' Pirates of the Pines'' (1928) * ''The Air Circus'' (1928) - (uncredited) * ''The Flying Fleet'' (1929) - Kewpie (uncredited) * ''New Year's Eve'' (1929) - Edward's Friend * ''College Love'' (1929) - Fat * ''Cheer Up and Smile'' (1930) - Paul * '' Maybe It's Love'' (1930) - Whiskers * '' Man to Man'' (1930) - Jerry (uncredited) * ''Don't Bet on Women'' (1931) - Office Boy (uncredited) * '' Daybreak'' (1931) - Emil * ''Pleasure'' (1931) - Slug - Party Guest (uncredited) * ''Crooner'' (1932) - Teddy's Band Member (uncredited) * '' That's My Boy'' (1932) - Carl * ''Vanity Street'' (1932) - Scottie (uncredited) * ''The Son-Daughter'' (1932) - Dr. Dong's Servant (uncredited) * ''Her First Mate'' ( ...
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Nora Cecil
Nora Cecil (September 26, 1878 – May 1, 1951) was an English-born American actress whose 30-year career spanned both the silent and sound film eras. Career Stage Cecil's career began on the stage, when she debuted in London at age 19. She appeared in the Broadway production ''The Sleeping Beauty and the Beast'', which ran for more than 240 performances at the Broadway Theatre in 1901–1902. (A 1930 newspaper article says that Cecil "made her debut, three decades ago, on the London stage.") Film Cecil appeared in well over 100 feature films and film shorts. In 1915, she moved from the stage into films, her first appearance being in a starring role in ''The Arrival of Perpetua'', directed by Émile Chautard. She often played "thin-lipped, stern-visaged dowagers and forbidding mothers-in-law" and "welfare workers, landladies, schoolmistresses and maiden aunts". One of the most significant roles was in the W.C. Fields vehicle '' The Old Fashioned Way'' in 1934. Som ...
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Nigel De Brulier
Nigel De Brulier (born Francis George Packer; 8 August 1877 – 30 January 1948) was an English stage and film actor who began his career in the United Kingdom before relocating to the United States. Biography De Brulier was born in Frenchay, a suburb of Bristol on August 8, 1877 as Francis George Packer, the son of James Packer, a Gloucestershire coachman, and his wife Louisa Packer (née Field). De Brulier launched his career as an actor and singer on the stage in his native country and transferred to the American stage after moving to Canada and then to the United States in 1898. In the 1900 U.S. census he was recorded as Francis G. Packer, butler, in a private household in Denver, Colorado. His first film role was a poet in ''The Pursuit of the Phantom'' in 1914. In 1915 he acted in the film ''Ghosts'' based on a play by Henrik Ibsen. He portrayed Cardinal Richelieu in the following four films, ''The Three Musketeers'' (1921), ''The Iron Mask'' (1929), ''The Three Musketeer ...
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