When looking back on the silent films released by Fox Film Corporation, we tend to gravitate toward the early efforts of directors who went on to long and prominent careers: John Ford (The Iron Horse, Four Sons), Frank Borzage (7th Heaven, Street Angel), Howard Hawks (Fazil, A Girl in Every Port), … [Read more...] about The Last Man on Earth
The Last Laugh
The now-forgotten expression “clothes maketh the man” dates to the Middle Ages, but it seems to echo loudest from the early twentieth century when office jobs multiplied in new skyscrapers and country folk migrated to the cities by the tens of thousands. It could have been coined to describe the … [Read more...] about The Last Laugh
The Last Edition
Emory Johnson entered the film business strictly by chance exactly 100 years ago. While a sophomore studying architecture at the University of California in Berkeley, he took a drive through Niles Canyon and came upon a curious sight: a gang of cowboys on horseback firing their guns at a stagecoach. … [Read more...] about The Last Edition
The Last Command
Russia’s frozen inaccessibility, its mink-clad aristocrats, impeccable ballerinas, and candy-colored turrets further piqued American fascination when the Russian Revolution toppled the Romanov dynasty in the second decade of the twentieth century. Hollywood, housing a small community of the former … [Read more...] about The Last Command
L’Argent
The sky was the limit during the 1920s as aviators conquered the airways. The first practical airliner, the 12-passenger Ford Trimotor, debuted in 1925. The world’s stock markets also reached for the stratosphere, with the value of common stock rising an average of 22 percent each year from 1925 … [Read more...] about L’Argent
Lady Windermere’s Fan
In June of 1925 Motion Picture World announced “‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ Is Lubitsch’s New Warner Film.” Industry insiders must have marveled at the news that Rin Tin Tin, Warners’ profitable pup, would soon be sharing space with the dead, gay, Irish playwright whose 1892 hit play was known for … [Read more...] about Lady Windermere’s Fan
Lady of the Pavements
Lady of the Pavements opened in 1929 to rave reviews. Although directed by the distinguished D.W. Griffith, recognized as a master even then, it was Lupe Vélez’s performance both on and off screen that got all the attention. While Griffith was reinventing his style with the emergence of sound, Vélez … [Read more...] about Lady of the Pavements
Lady of the Night
In the 1930s, Norma Shearer was the Queen of MGM. She had elegant screen presence, a string of successful films, and an Oscar—and she was married to Irving Thalberg, the studio’s head of production. (As driven and ambitious as Shearer, Joan Crawford famously quipped, “What chance do I have? She … [Read more...] about Lady of the Night