The Count of Monte Cristo 1913  N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Drama / Adventure
Director: Joseph A. Golden, Edwin S. Porter
Cast: James O'Neill, Murdock MacQuarrie, Nance O'Neil, Hobart Bosworth, Eugenie Besserer
In this first film version of "The Count of Monte Cristo," action does not stray far from the novel. It tells the story of Edmond Dantes who, during imprisonment, learns of the treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. Later, he escapes, finds the treasure, and lives happily ever after with Mercedes. (James O'Neill was Eugene O'Neill's father.)
|  | |
Flesh and the Devil 1926 N/R, 112 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Clarence Brown
Cast: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lars Hanson, Barbara Kent, William Orlamond, George Fawcett, Eugenie Besserer, Marc McDermott, Marcelle Corday, Rolfe Sedan
The friendship of military cadets Leo von Harden (John Gilbert) and Ulrich von Eltz (Lars Hanson) is almost destroyed because of the immoral temptation of femme fatale Felicitas (Greta Garbo).
| | |
 The Jazz Singer 1927  N/R, 89 min.
Genre: Musical
Director: Alan Crosland
Cast: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, William Demarest, Roscoe Karns, Myrna Loy, Eugenie Besserer, Otto Lederer, Robert Gordon, Richard Tucker, Nat Carr, Will Walling
Although this film is considered the first "talkie," in reality it is a silent film with a musical score. Al Jolson plays Jack Robin, the son of a cantor (Warner Oland) who, to his father's regret, finds jazz more appealing than the music of his father's synagogue. Warner Brothers received an Honorary Oscar for this pioneer talkie.
| | |
Lilac Time 1928 N/R, 78 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: George Fitzmaurice
Cast: Colleen Moore, Gary Cooper, Cleve Moore, George Cooper, Edward Dillon, Burr McIntosh, Eugenie Besserer, Arthur Lake, Kathryn McGuire
Royal Air Force pilot, Captain Blythe (Gary Cooper), encounters love and danger in Normandy during World War I.
| | |
Madame X 1929  N/R, 95 min.
Genre: Drama
aka: Absinthe
Director: Lionel Barrymore
Cast: Ruth Chatterton, Lewis Stone, Raymond Hackett, Holmes Herbert, Eugenie Besserer, John P. Edington, Mitchell Lewis, Ullrich Haupt, Sidney Toler, Richard Carle, Carroll Nye, Claude King
Certainly not the best rendition of the story, but it is a heavy melodrama curio. A bored wife (Ruth Chatterton) is cast into the streets by her husband (Lewis Stone) after he finds out she has been unfaithful. Years later her son (Raymond Hackett), not knowing who she is, defends her on a murder charge. This is the first film to utilize a moving microphone (attached to a fishing pole). The film received Oscar nominations for Best Actress (Chatterton) and Director.
| | |
| 1. Anna Christie (1923)
2. The Count of Monte Cristo (1913)
3. Flesh and the Devil (1926)
4. The Jazz Singer (1927)
5. Lilac Time (1928)
6. Madame X (1929)
aka: Absinthe
In The News
|
