Poster for Lucrezia Borgia (1922)
This silent German film featured Conrad Veidt as Cesare Borgia. In an odd coincidence, he had famously played a character named Cesare just two years earlier in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). His best part was probably the title role in The Man Who Laughs (1928), though he is best known for his portrayals of Jaffar in The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and Maj. Strasser in Casablanca (1942).
In his article “The Strange Case of Alfred Hitchcock, Part Three,” Raymond Durgnat writes that “Dr. Goebbels loved watching Foreign Correspondent.” Goebbels predicted it would make “an impression upon wide broad masses in the enemy countries.” Hitchcock later speculated that a print was probably brought in through Switzerland. Was this a case of an evil manipulator recognizing the skills of a more benign manipulator?
On November 28, 2000, a British radio program titled “The Birth of Screen Comedy” included something most people had never heard before — the voice of Harpo Marx. The program’s staff had found an old interview tape of Harpo explaining how he had once fallen off a piano stool and how that had prompted a doctor’s visit.
If you prefer to imagine Harpo as never having a voice, maybe you should skip this one. But if you’ve always wondered what Harpo might have sounded like, here is your chance. The link to stream or download the MP3 audio file is here.
“Studio publicity in 1941 claimed that Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan were scheduled to appear in this film, and Dennis Morgan is mentioned as the third lead. This was never the case, however, and the false story was planted, either by a studio publicist or a press agent for the three other actors, to keep their names in the press. Meanwhile George Raft was angling for the part with Jack L. Warner, but Hal B. Wallis had been assigned to search for what would be Humphrey Bogart’s next starring role. He wrote to Warner that he had found the next movie for Bogart, and the role was perfect for him. Nobody else was ever considered for the part.”
— Source: Internet Movie Database
One of the first Japanese films to be shot in anamorphic widescreen, The Mysterians (1957) is also the first of a long line of low-budget Toho Studio movies that feature alien invaders.
“When former Olympic star Johnny Weissmuller was approached to play Tarzan, he was under contract with BVD to advertise their underwear and swimming trunks. BVD strenuously objected to its spokesman appearing in just a loincloth — the company only wanted him to appear wearing its product. In return for letting Weismuller play Tarzan, MGM allowed BVD to run ads featuring the studio’s contract players in BVD swimsuits (including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, and Marie Dressler).”
— Source: Gabe Esso’s book Tarzan of the Movies (as cited by Internet Movie Database)
Independently produced by Sherman S. Krellber, The Lost City (1935) was a 12-part low-budget serial that mixed not-so-convincing jungle locales with cool-looking mad scientist laboratory equipment. If the laboratory equipment looks familiar, it may be because Ken Strickfaden also created the electrical effects for Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
“I sit in the lobby and I watch people. I like to watch people. Once in a while someone will ask me where Stan and I dreamed up the characters we play in the movies. They seem to think that these two fellows aren’t like anybody else. I know they’re dumber than anyone else, but there are plenty of Laurels and Hardys in the world. Whenever I travel, I still am in the habit of sitting in the lobby and watching the people walk by — and I tell you I see many Laurels and Hardys.”
— Oliver Hardy, interviewed for Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy (1961)
Produced by Hal Roach and directed by Fred Guiol, Flaming Flappers (1925) may survive today only as a fragment. Sadly, the majority of silent films are lost forever.
