Who was the real Charlie Chaplin? Kids will learn all about the comic genius who created "The Little Tramp"!Charlie Chaplin sang on a London stage for the first time at the age of five. Performing proved to be his salvation, providing a way out of a life of hardship and poverty. Success came early and made Chaplin one of the best loved people in the United States until the McCarthy witch hunts drove Chaplin from his adopted country. This is a moving portrait of a multi-talented man—actor, director, writer, even  music composer—and the complicated times he lived in.

For many people the term "silent comedy" conjures up images of Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp, Buster Keaton's Stoneface, or Harold Lloyd hanging precariously from the side of a skyscraper. Even people who have never seen a silent film can recognize these comedians at a glance. But what about the female comedians? Gale Henry, Louise Fazenda, Colleen Moore, Constance Talmadge-these and numerous others were wildly popular during the silent film era, appearing in countless motion pictures and earning top salaries, and yet their names have been almost entirely forgotten. As a consequence, recovering their history is all the more compelling given that they laid the foundation for generations of funny women, from Lucille Ball to Carol Burnett to Tina Fey. These women constitute an essential and neglected sector of film history, reflecting a turning point in women's social and political history. Their talent and brave spirit continues to be felt today, and Comic Venus: Women and Comedy in American Silent Film seeks to provide a better understanding of women's experiences in the early twentieth century and to better understand and appreciate the unruly and boundary-breaking women who have ... [Read More]

In the early days of cinema, when actors were unbilled and unmentioned in credits, audiences immediately noticed Mary Pickford. Moviegoers everywhere were riveted by her magnetic talent and appeal as she rose to become cinema's first great star.In this engaging collection, copublished with the Library of Congress, an eminent group of film historians sheds new light on this icon's incredible life and legacy. Pickford emerges from the pages in vivid detail. She is revealed as a gifted actress, a philanthropist, and a savvy industry leader who fought for creative control of her films and ultimately became her own producer.This beautifully designed volume features more than two hundred color and black and white illustrations, including photographs and stills from the collections of the Library of Congress and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Together with the text, they paint a fascinating portrait of a key figure in American cinematic history.

Veit Harlan (1899–1964) was one of Germany's most controversial and loathed directors. After studying with theatre and film pioneer Max Reinhardt and beginning a promising career, he became one of Joseph Goebbels's leading filmmakers under the National Socialist regime. Harlan's Jud Süss (Jew Suss, 1940), in particular, stands as one of the most artistically distinct and morally reprehensible films produced by the Third Reich. His involvement with this movie has led to many critical questions: Was the director truly forced to make the film under penalty of death? Is anti-Semitism a theme in his other productions? Can and should his work be studied in light of the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust?The first English-language biography of the notorious director, Veit Harlan presents an in-depth portrait of the man who is arguably the only Nazi filmmaker with a distinct authorial style and body of work. Author Frank Noack reveals that both Harlan's life and work were marked by creative vision, startling ambiguities, and deep moral flaws. His meticulously detailed study explores the director's influence on German cinema and places his work within the contexts of World War II and fi... [Read More]

8x12 inch Photographic Print from a high-quality scan of the original.Photo: William Surrey Hart,cowboy outfit,characters,costumes,silent film actors,c1918Note: Some images may have white bars on the sides or top if the original image does not conform to the 8x12 dimensions.Source: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

How Hollywood Does It is a look at the history, techniques, movements and people who create the magic of motion pictures. Mise-en-scene looks at how filmmakers make decisions about what is put before the camera. It includes costumes, props, set design, positioning of actors and much more. Mise en scène is a term that refers to all visual elements that appear within each frame of a motion picture. Without various features of mise en scène, a moving picture would consist of only a series of flickering black or light-infused frames, since even a colored screen would provide visual information that some might consider an element of mise en scène. A French phrase which translates roughly as “placed on stage, ”mise en scène” is a broad concept often difficult to define for film because it only exists when considering a combination of elements within the frame or camera’s eye. Basically, anything to be filmed—the setting, the costumes and make-up, the movement, facial expression, and position of actors on screen, and some elements of lighting—is considered mise en scène. The concept of mise en scène for film shares a lot with theater production in that props, sets and bl... [Read More]

8x12 inch Photographic Print from a high-quality scan of the original.Photo: William Surrey Hart,Devil's Double,costumes,performances,actors,silent film,1914Note: Some images may have white bars on the sides or top if the original image does not conform to the 8x12 dimensions.Source: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

8x12 inch Photographic Print from a high-quality scan of the original.Title: [William S. Hart, half-length portrait, facing slightly right, in cowboy outfit] / Hoover Art Co., L.A. Date Created/Published: c1920 March 8. Notes: J239932 U.S. Copyright Office.Copyright by WSH.Subjects: Hart, William Surrey,--1874-1946--Performances. Actors--1920. Photographic. prints--1920. Portrait photographs--1920. Bookmark /91738540/ Bookmark:91738540Bookmark:91738540Note: Some images may have white bars on the sides or top if the original image does not conform to the 8x12 dimensions.Source: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

The motion picture industry started out ridiculed and despised at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th Century. The first motion pictures in the 1890s were shown in vaudeville; then in penny arcades; then in nickelodeons, named after the price of admission. In the penny arcade you deposited a penny in a small machine and saw though an eye-piece a number of cards flip by in rapid succession, simulating movement. Later the machines would accommodate a small filmstrip spooling by.Nickelodeons were a step forward in some cases and a step backwards in others. Patrons could now

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Harrison Ford (Silent Film Actor)