Treasures III social issues in American film, 1900-1934 /

In the years before World War I, virtually no issue was too controversial to bring to the screen. The first American movies were deeply engaged with society, coming from an era when movies and entertainment were intimately interwoven with public debate. As such, they were shown in commercial movie t...

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Other Authors: Simmon, Scott., Marks, Martin Miller., American Mutoscope and Biograph Company., Thomas A. Edison, Inc., Essanay Film Manufacturing Co., Universal Film Manufacturing Company., Ford Motion Picture Laboratories., Associated Screen News Ltd., Realart Pictures Corp., Hearst Metrotone News, Inc., Mutual Film Corporation., Kalem Company., Vitagraph Company of America., United States. Extension Service., Pathé Frères (U.S.), Rothacker Film Manufacturing Co., United States Steel Corporation., Biograph Company., General Film Company., National Film Preservation Foundation (U.S.), Image Entertainment (Firm)
Format: DVD
Language: English
Published: [San Francisco, CA] : Chatsworth, CA : National Film Preservation Foundation ; Distributed by Image Entertainment, [2007]
Physical Description: 4 videodiscs (approximately 738 min.) : sound, black and white with color sequences ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 book (xv, 173 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm)
Subjects:
Summary: In the years before World War I, virtually no issue was too controversial to bring to the screen. The first American movies were deeply engaged with society, coming from an era when movies and entertainment were intimately interwoven with public debate. As such, they were shown in commercial movie theaters but also in clubs, churches, schools, and everywhere screens could be hung outdoors--from the sides of city tenements to country barns. This archive sends these treasures back into the world, where they found their inspiration. "The City Reformed" deals with the urban problems: poverty, criminality, health, safety, child welfare, and corruption. Gender, family, and the crusade for equal voting rights dominate in program 2, "New Women." Labor struggles and oppression are central to program 3, "Toil and Tyranny." The final program, "Americans in the Making," brings together films confronting immigration, race relations, and wartime home-front sacrifice.
Item Description: DVD; Region 0 (All), NTSC; Dolby digital sound.
Commentators include Richard Abel, Margaret Archuleta, Blaine M. Bartell, Jennifer M. Bean, Lendol Calder, Donald Crafton, Margaret Finnegan, Jere Gulden, Tom Gunning, Randy Haberkamp, Jennifer Horne, Patrick Loughney, Russell Merritt, Chon A. Noriega, Rick Prelinger, Cecilia deMille Presley, Steven J. Ross, Shelley Stamp, Gregory A. Waller, Kristen Whissel.
Film curator, Scott Simmon ; music curator, Martin Marks ; contributing archives, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, National Archives and Records Administration, UCLA Film & Television Archive ; composers, Aardett Sextet, Allen Feinstein, Stephen Horne, Martin Marks, Michael Miller, Brian Robison, Elena Ruehr, Charles Shadle, G. Scott Vercoe.
In the years before World War I, virtually no issue was too controversial to bring to the screen. The first American movies were deeply engaged with society, coming from an era when movies and entertainment were intimately interwoven with public debate. As such, they were shown in commercial movie theaters but also in clubs, churches, schools, and everywhere screens could be hung outdoors--from the sides of city tenements to country barns. This archive sends these treasures back into the world, where they found their inspiration. "The City Reformed" deals with the urban problems: poverty, criminality, health, safety, child welfare, and corruption. Gender, family, and the crusade for equal voting rights dominate in program 2, "New Women." Labor struggles and oppression are central to program 3, "Toil and Tyranny." The final program, "Americans in the Making," brings together films confronting immigration, race relations, and wartime home-front sacrifice.
Program 1. The city reformed : Black hand / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1906) (11 min.) -- How they rob men in Chicago / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1900) (25 sec.) -- Voice of the violin / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1909) (16 min.) -- Usurer's grip / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1912) (15 min.) -- From the submerged / Essanay Film Manufacturing Co. (1912) (11 min.) -- Hope : a Red Cross seal story / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1912) (14 min.) -- Cost of carelessness / Universal Film Manufacturing Company (1913) (13 min.) -- Lights and shadows in a city of a million / Ford Motion Picture Laboratories (1920) (7 min.) -- 6,000,000 American children--are not in school / Associated Screen News Ltd. (1922) (2 min.) -- Soul of youth / Realart Pictures Corp. (1920) (80 min.) -- A call for help from Sing Sing! / Hearst Metrotone News, Inc. (1934) (3 min.).
Program 2. New women : Kansas saloon smashers / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1901) (1 min.) -- Why Mr. Nation wants a divorce / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1901) (2 min.) -- Trial marriages / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1907) (12 min.) -- Manhattan Trade School for Girls (1911) (16 min.) -- Strong arm squad of the future / Mutual Film Corporation (1912) (1 min.) -- A lively affair (1912) (7 min.) -- A suffragette in spite of himself / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1912) (8 min.) -- On to Washington / Universal Film Manufacturing Company (1913) (80 sec.) -- Hazards of Helen : Episode 13 "The escape on the fast freight" / Kalem Co. (1915) (13 min.) -- Where are my children? / Universal Film Manufacturing Company (1916) (65 min.) -- Courage of the commonplace / Vitagraph Company of America (1913) (13 min.) -- Poor Mrs. Jones! / U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (1926) (46 min.) -- Offers herself as bride for $10,000 / Hearst Metrotone News, Inc. (1931) (2 min.).
Program 3. Toil and tyranny : Uncle Sam and the Bolsheviki-I.W.W. rat / Ford Motion Picture Laboratories (1919) (40 sec.) -- Crime of carelessness / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1912) (14 min.) -- Who pays? Episode 12, "Toil and tyranny" / Pathé Frères (1915) (35 min.) -- Surviving reel of Labor's reward / Rothacker Film Manufacturing Co. (1925) (13 min.) -- Listen to some words of wisdom / Hearst Metrotone News, Inc. (1930) (2 min.) -- Godless girl / Pathé (1928) (128 min.).
Program 4. Americans in the making : Emigrants landing at Ellis Island / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1903) (2 min.) -- An American in the making / United States Steel Corporation (1913) (15 min.) -- Ramona / Biograph Company (1910) (16 min.) -- Redskin / Paramount Pictures (1929) (82 min.) -- United Snakes of America / Ford Motion Picture Laboratories (1917) (80 sec.) -- Uncle Sam donates for Liberty Loans / Ford Motion Picture Laboratories (1919) (75 sec.) -- 100% American (1918) (14 min.) -- Bud's recruit / General Film Company (1918) (26 min.) -- Reawakening / Ford Motion Picture Laboratories (1919) (10 min.) -- Eight Prohibition newsreels / Hearst Metrotone News, Inc. (c1923-1933) (13 min.).
Special features: Commentary [optional audio feature with each film]; About the film [text feature]; Book includes essay about each film by Scott Simmon, essay about the music for each film by Martin Marks.
Silent with music and English intertitles.
Physical Description: 4 videodiscs (approximately 738 min.) : sound, black and white with color sequences ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 book (xv, 173 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm)
Format: DVD; Region 0 (All), NTSC; Dolby digital sound.
Production Credits: Film curator, Scott Simmon ; music curator, Martin Marks ; contributing archives, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, National Archives and Records Administration, UCLA Film & Television Archive ; composers, Aardett Sextet, Allen Feinstein, Stephen Horne, Martin Marks, Michael Miller, Brian Robison, Elena Ruehr, Charles Shadle, G. Scott Vercoe.
ISBN: 0974709948
9780974709949