ThelmaTodd

Watch out for these girls, they'll make your afterlife a hell! A Sisyphus type punishment. Bocca dell'inferno (in costruzione) nel film Maciste all'inferno, 1925 (The entrance to hell under construction) Does this look like "hell" to you? I guess it's a matter of opinion! From a 1960's remake. Hi mr6666! I appreciate that! A Christmas ending to such a strange film is again such a peculiarly Italian twist! Nothing like this could have been made in America back then. We take notions of hell and Christmas far more seriously. I don't wonder that *Fellini* was deeply inspired by this flick. His own movies often used catholic and religious imagery in absurdist juxtaposition and ironic contrast. The movie I am referring to is *Maciste In Hell (1925),* made in Italy. It details a Hercules type hero winding up alive in hell, having to fend off fun loving, sex crazed female demons who would very much like for him stay and make his residence there permanent! A note of cynical irreverence seems to run through the whole production, concerning a subject that religion has always clothed in the utmost dread, sombreness and seriousness. This film has been posted to the *filmography* thread at: http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?threadID=161844&tstart=0 The print quality is not at all what I would like it to be. However, this film is an unusual and rarely seen relic of the silent era, and was worth posting!

I'll second the administrators' point by saying that privately owned websites are private property. Like with a home, a guest is a guest with the permission and consent of the owner, and can be restricted at the will of the owner. Furthermore, the First Amendament doesn't apply in such a situation. That amendment restricts the government from restricting your free speech, but does not apply to private parties, who are free to restrict expression as they like in their businesses, among their employees, in their homes, or on their websites. If you get your wrists slapped around here, don't start waving the constitution or go running to the Supreme Court.

*KÖRKARLEN - THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE (1921)* *Svensk Filmindustri* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El4KKQeupds&feature=related *Full movie* *Charlie Chaplin* *has called this "the best film I have ever seen"!* *Ingmar Bergman* *is said to have seen it a 100 times. It's based on a novel by the first female to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. It's directed by the father of Swedish cinema. It's cited as an influence on everything from Murnau's Nosferatu to Dryer's Vampyr to Cocteau's Orpheus to Kubrick's The Shining. And author Steven Jay Schneider's ubiquitous book names it one of the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"!* *It's New Year's Eve. Three drunkards evoke a legend. The legend tells that the last person to die in a year, if he is a great sinner, will have to drive during the whole year the Phantom Chariot, the one that picks up the souls of the dead... David Holm, one of the three drunkards, dies at the last stroke of midnight...*

Your the man Fred! BTW, I loved that country tune you put up for me a while back by Jimmie Rodgers! "T for Thelma..." Nice old time country blues, sounds "pre-Nashville"! Are you a fan of vintage country?

Hi Ascot, In my experience, these fraternal organizations have historically served as a means for networking for businessmen and professionals. When your income derives not from wages but from sales, contracts and the patronage of others, this makes sense. Lodge brother wants to develop some land. He asks his lodge brother, the banker for a loan. He gets his lodge brother on the town council to approve the permits. He then goes to his lodge brother who owns the lumber yard and gets a deal on the materials. Lodge brothers who are electrical and plumbing contractors also come in handy. When his kids need braces, he gets his lodge brother who is a dentist to give him a good deal. Because they all have something to bring to the table, they grease each others wheels and everyone is happy! I think a lot of commerce in small towns throughout the country has been driven this way, which is why there were so many of these organizations at one time: Moose, Kiwanis, Freemasons, Elks, Shriners, Odd Fellows etc. etc., with chapters and lodges throughout the country. People who work for wages have less incentive to join such things, unless they are climbers and have social or business ambitions. A man can be an island, but he will have more success in business if he is not! A great satire of fraternal lodges was *Laurel and Hardy's Sons Of The Desert (1934)*

Hi willbefree, I know who you are talking about; he was in a number of films around then. Although I don't know his name, I know he was a character actor who's stock in trade was playing to that ethnic stereotype. It was socially acceptable then and others did it too. Eddie Cantor did blackface, and of course Chico Marx "did" the Italians.

Hi CBogle, There was a practical necessity for their secrecy at one time (see my previous post). Over the years I think they have morphed into a fraternal networking organisation, not unlike the Elks and Shriners. In spite of that, they still perpetuate a lot of loaded symbols and rituals of an earlier time. They are still actively vilified by ultra nationalists and neo nazis, especially in eastern europe. This crowd often declares them to be in alliance with the Jews. Such rhetoric ought to be laughable, but there's nothing amusing about such myths persisting into the 21st century. The people who spout this stuff have no progressive political or social vision. Quoting what I've seen some of them say verbatim here, would not pass the moderation standards of this message board! Trust me on that one!

*MACISTE IN HELL (1925)* *Cines-Pittaluga (Italy)* ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i94dQSpFnLg *Full movie* *Maciste was a 6 decades long running adventure action character in the Italian cinema, based on Hercules. This movie was artistically inspired by Dante and the artwork of Gustav Dore.* ** *Maciste winds up in hell (while alive), and there is some "rule" that no living mortal can stay there more than three days-unless he is seduced by a female demon! The girls of hell go to work on him. Overall, the women demons seem to be having a good time down there. There is a Latin sensibility to the plot and presentation. Not a film that would have been made in Protestant America then, where the subject of hell was treated with greater seriousness.* *Reportedly this was the film that inspired* *Frederico Fellini* *to become a director! This video print is not the best; it's viewable.* *According to one youtube poster: "Sex and Violence. Demons, **** succubii, buff heros in loin cloths, benighted maidens, and shiftless young noblemen making good. "*

Hi hamradio, The attempt to draw a conspiracy of social and world governance between the Illuminati, Freemasons and Jews goes back over two centuries. As such, it greatly pre-dates Dan Brown. To understand the origins of this belief, you have to know a lot about European history, and French history in particular. Under the "Ancien Regime", the old feudal-monarchist order before 1789 in France, the church had certain guaranteed prerogatives: that it could be a large landowner, that it's pre-eminence as a religious sect would be guaranteed by the state and that it would be protected from competition from other faiths. That it would have control over the educational system and that it could invoke the civil authorities to quash any expression or politics with which it disagreed. The climate of repression and prosecution was such that it became a breeding ground for "secret societies" among the educated and cultured classes. The Illuminati and Freemasons emerged pre-eminent, before and after the 1789 revolution when the monarchy was violently overthrown. They championed the so called "Enlightment", which sought to seperate church and state (our own founding fathers were influenced by this as well), democracy, freedom of speech and press and republicanism. The history of France became a turbulent succession of "republics"- the govt that fell to the Germans in 1940 was called the "Third republic", and the post WW2 French govt was the "Fourth republic". Throughout these changes, the church was sometimes suppressed, it's properties confiscated, it's schools closed and civil influence stripped. Other times it came back and sought to reclaim it's "ancient" privileges. It got locked in a savage struggle with freemasonry, and in the midst of all the bad blood, the church actively promoted the idea that Jews and freemasons were teaming up against it, and trying to take control of governments throughout Europe and the world with the idea of opposing the church and replacing it with a secular society. This went on for so long that these notions took on "legs" and later gained traction with fascists and German nazis, people who also opposed "secret societies". They live on today among the neo-nazi nationalists and right wing, especially in eastern Europe. "Freemason" still has a sinister and subversive connotation among this crowd there even today. As cinema exhibit and evidence, take a look at my *Vintage Exploitation Film-Filmography* thread in *Your Favorites*. There, I posted a film made under the German occupation in France, called *"Occult Forces"(1943).* The premise of the film, made by the *Propaganda Abteilung*, was that Jews and Freemasons were behind the sham known as parliamentary democracy (which the nazis opposed) and that their objective was control of governments throughout the world.

Yow! Do I have a great username! I think I'll have it etched on my gravestone! Eddie Cantor Hi misswonderly, Thanks! Jewish people are particularly fond of those of their heritage who have made it big in front of the camera, and who succeeded in entertaining millions! Many of them are BIG fans of the* Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges and Eddie Cantor*. The Stooges got extra love points by their hard satires of Hitler. Although they acknowledge the role of the big "suits" and honchos like *Mayer and Thalberg*, there's just something about the performers that inspire lasting affection.

Hi misswonderly, Ascot is an inveterate thread launcher, and I'm sure he was inspired by the other thread. I myself would have worded the title quite differently, like: "Let's Celebrate Jewish American Contributions to Hollywood". (our friend may want to consider retitling in order to avoid misimpression) Use of the word "control" can be a PC flag. Many Jewish people overlook PC slip-ups in wording, wanting instead to ken the basic intention and purpose of the speaker/ writer.

Hi swithin, Ascot's saving grace was that he put quotation marks around the first part of the thread title; his last word "Celebrate", makes his point. It's a tongue in cheek title, but I get his point. It's not a bad subject to bring up; it's how it is discussed that is the point. I have a LOT of experience dealing with, and fending off neo-nazis, as per my last post. (Indeed, the word "neo" in many instances is redundant and superflous.) I can smell them a mile away by now. I doubt this message board will descend to that level.

Hi gagman, Believe me, if I lived near Rochester, I would be calling the Eastman House right now, asking to get involved with their internship and training! Perhaps there are other film labs and archives throughout the country that offer such opportunities to acquire these skills first hand. Those of us interested, should make inquiries. Sometimes what these people need are dedicated hands- the film is there, the equipment is there, they just need more people helping them. Last night Robert Osborne was co-hosting with the Eastman House curator, and the jist of it was that there is no shortage of film material and sources to work on. Restoration and digitising do indeed cost money, but using interns can help soften the financial impact to an organisation. The interns in turn can get valuable skills in this field, and know that they are helping to preserve history. If I were a film lab or archive, I would never hire someone to do this as a paid position unless they had solid training and some prior experience. For one to be able to say that: "This is where I learned to do such work, and here are a list of films I have helped restore", would be an invaluable resume. Knowing the depths of your passion (as well as my own!), this is something both you and I ought to consider seriously! We both belong at the forefront of saving these films. PS: Those Swanson photos yesterday were remarkable, and bear your distinctive stylistic mark, which I've come to well recognise by now! You bring a personal vision and touch to such work.

Hi ascot! I have a lot of blogging experience with European websites, some cultural, some political. I have published film biographies of Hungarian Jews who have made a big impact in the film business, like *Adolph Zukor of Paramount* and *Alexander Korda* and his brothers, who founded *London Film Studios.* Many, many people, for over 90 years, have pointed out that Jews are/were influential in Hollywood. Whether this ends up being an anti-semitic observation or not depends on the attitude and rhetoric of the commentator. Either one says it with an attitude of positive acknowledgement and recognition, or one is clothing it in the rhetoric of race baiting. My own articles were in the vein of the former. Someone like *Joseph Goebbels,* his regime, as well as the neo-nazi nationalist right that continues to flourish in Eastern Europe, take/took the latter approach. (Goebbels, as head of the German film industry, was absolutely obsessed with the subject of Jews controlling Hollywood.) 95% of the response to my articles has been favorable, but a small portion of comment attacked both me and the Jews. The Jew hating racists, who still abound over there, are driven by paranoia. They feel that control over Hollywood was just one of their spearheads for influencing the world, as well as governments. I took the "radical" approach of not distinguishing between Hungarian Jew or gentile. (I also celebrated gentiles like *Bela Lugosia and Vilma Banky*) I held up anybody born and raised in Hungary, who had made it big, as someone to honor and to be considered an inspiration for other Hungarians to achieve as well (Founding Paramount was no small potatoes!) This unfortunately is too inclusive and liberal an attitude for many of the toxic nationalists over there. I myself am not Jewish, but that did not make a difference to their neo-nazi element: I wasn't supposed to be so accepting; I wasn't supposed to downplay the difference. Worse, I wasn't supposed to highlight Jewish contributions to film in a positive way. In a sense, the 1930's have not yet ended.

For those in the Rochester area, the Eastman House has volunteer and internship programs. I have taken the following from their website, whose link I have provided below: *Internship Projects are offered in the following areas:* *■Archival Arrangement, Preservation, and Description – Archival processing and preservation work, such as arranging historical papers of filmmakers, describing archival collections in online inventories and finding aids, and performing basic preservation work of document-based collections, stills, posters, celebrity portraits, lantern slides and other pre-cinema artifacts.* *■Cataloging and Metadata – Projects to improve and enhance catalog records in TMS (The Museum System) and in our local FileMaker Pro Stills Archive Collections Database. Work may involve data entry clean-up; assigning subject and name access points; preparing descriptive summaries; performing biographical research on art and artists’ authority files; and reviewing catalog records for accuracy.* *■Curatorial – Projects have included archival exhibition research, label and text preparation, and installation and research for upcoming publications.* *■Digital Collections – Digitization initiatives to increase access to collections through digitization and website access. Possible assignments include assisting with scanning and digital curation activities; entering data in our Digital Collections Database; preparing technical and administrative documentation; testing digitization workflows; and assisting with interface design, usability studies, and related web development activities.* This would be an invaluable way to gain experience and to possibly launch a creer in film archiving and preservation. I would think that training and experience at the Eastman House would amount to being gold plated credentials with other film labs and archives throughout the country. There are a great number of gifted and knowledgable people on these meassage boards, and they might like to check out and participate on the blogs and threads on that website as well.

The role of Jewish Americans in cinema goes back to the founders of the majors themselves- people like *Adolph Zukor of Paramount, Jesse Lasky, Louis B. Mayer of MGM, Sam Goldwyn, William Fox, the Warner Brothers*. From there it filtered down to executives like *Irving Thalberg,* to writers, songwriters, directors and many, many others. Our American film industry drew heavily upon their entrepeneurial spirit and creative brilliance; they helped build Hollywood, they changed it, they influenced it at help to make it the globally predominant film capital of the world.

Here is a link to the *George Eastman House*. Great for staying current on their efforts. This is a blog they have devoted to one of the features on TCM early this morning, *Roaring Rails (1924):* ** http://blog.eastmanhouse.org/2010/04/23/roaring-rails-roars-again/

Still from *The Blue Bird (1918),* showing souls awaiting birth, to be ferried by a boat to Earth. This image and idea was drawn from ancient Greek mythology. Hi ugaarte, Thanks, I'm so glad you appreciate it! I do this for the readers, whose number I would assume exceeds the number of active posters to this message board. Besides discussion and pictures, enabling the viewing of films through links has always been the crux of my participation efforts around here. *The Blue Bird (1918)* turned out to be a pleasant surprise, indeed a mindblower! When you consider that hour long feature films were still relatively new in the US (having been introduced by Paramount only 6 years before in 1912), you can see how the industry had grown in it's technical scope and ambitions in just a few short years. I notice you posted another picture from that film. I saw it, and had SO many remarkable images to pick from, that it was quite a call as to which ones to select! I have often sensed that popular art up until about 1920, shows more the influence of the 19th century than the 20th, and the artistic sensibility seen the Blue Bird is a good illustration of that. As you point out, the film draws upon very ancient pagan legends and beliefs of unborn souls, awaiting incarnation. It was an unchristian belief in the "pre-existence" of souls, something believed in by pagans like *Plato* and oriental religions. At the time this film was made, it was safe to use such an image for artistic and fantasy story telling purposes, although most Christian viewers rejected the idea on religious grounds. I gave up my "sentry watch" around 2 AM, and checked to see which of the remaining films had internet links. Whatever films I did not post links to, were not available. The implications of the Spanish civil war were very real for Spain's "stepchildren", the Latin American nations. A similar dynamic and conflict played out through all of Latin America, countries influenced by Spain. You had the large landowners and the church on one side, against populist reformers, democrats and revolutionaries. This produced endless coups, produced the *Mexican revolution of 1911*, produced *Castro* and *Che Guevarra* and *Allende of Chile* among others. Like *Franco*, reactionary governments in Latin America were heavily influenced by nazis and ex-nazis, especially their leaders (like *Juan Peron of Argentina and Pinochet of Chile*) and their police. (Those that would like to read more about this in detail, shoud consult *Aftermath- Martin Bormann and the Fourth Reich*, written by journalist and author *Ladislas Farago. Farago* was writing about long term German influence in South America.) Edited by: ThelmaTodd on Dec 15, 2011 10:14 AM

*PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN (1951)* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8YmfwyJ-AE *Full movie in one upload*

Hi slaytonf! Your welcome! I even deferred to your thread! I started my own Eastman thread this morning, and afterwards noticed that you had already done so, so I shifted my efforts here. First in line, first in consideration! I felt this was an important day to commemorate. Some of these titles are available on youtube, while others are not. The one playing now, *Huckleberry Finn (1920)* is not, and only has the trailer. I will continue to post for the remainder of the presentation one by one, waiting until each film airs. (I don't want to jump the gun!) For some, this will be a reference, for others it will be a chance to catch up on what they missed and didn't manage to record. Some good stuff has been airing today! I was particularly impressed with *The Blue Bird (1918)* and the Japanese silent from 1926, which looked almost radical. Reader interest has been signalled by a hit count that is good for a day old thread! The Spanish Civil war movie is "heavy", as it is a documentary of a real war, narrated by a "heavy" of journalism and English literature and dealt with "heavy" protagonists and involved very serious issues. The world was transfixed, but generally did nothing, just like they did nothing for 4 years in the wars that fllowed the break-up of Yugoslavia. (One of the "sins" that the Humphrey Bogart character committed in Casablanca, in the eyes of the Germans, was running guns to the Republicans in Spain. For those of you who missed my earlier post, we are not referring to US Republicans!) Edited by: ThelmaTodd on Dec 14, 2011 9:36 PM

*FEAR AND DESIRE (1953)* ** http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1827164897920384059#|http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1827164897920384059 *Full movie in one upload* ** The available prints of this film on the internet look terrible. The Eastman print airing is far better.

*DELICIOUS (1931)* Three minute clip showing Janet Gaynor and Raul Roulien singing "You're So Delicious". Film features music by *George Gershwin*. Janet Gaynor impersonating a Scottish accent, in a high pitched girlish voice. She sounds like she's been inhaling helium.

Hi Cody, I started this thread not noticing that slaytonf had already dedicated one to this day! I've been active listing pictures and youtube links to the films as they air on that thread! That might be especially helpful to those who are working throughout the day and might like to be able to catch up on what they missed. This joint effort with the Eastman people is exciting and is turning up a lot of interesting film. It may not be the last time TCM and Eastman work together!

*KURUTTA IPPEIJI- A PAGE OF MADNESS (1926)* ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaePAav_Vds *full movie in one upload* ** A very remarkable silent era movie from Japan. It reminds me of some of the work of the western modernists and dada- surrealists of the time. A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.

*Lottery Bride (1930)* just broke into a two strip technicolor sequence. It happened as the man is out on the ice, stranded and has a vision. It was not at all uncommon for films back then to be part techicolor; such scenes were often saved for highlight points in the film, like dance sequneces and finales.