Thanhouser films online, People On Sunday coming to DVD

Posted on March 29, 2011
Filed Under film news, films, miscellany, silent films

Dr. Jekll and Mr. Hyde (1912) from Ned Thanhouser on Vimeo.

Thanhouser Film Preservation Company has put their films online!

This is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912), from the Thanhouser Company, a pioneering American film studio in New Rochelle, New York that was active from 1910 to 1918. The studio was established by Edwin Thanhouser and his wife Gertrude, both experienced stage players, and earned a reputation for the quality of its films and the excellence of its literary adaptations. This one-reeler is the second U.S. adaptation of Stevenson’s novella, following Selig’s 1908 version. That’s James Cruz in the title part(s); Cruze, a Thanhouser regular in front of the camera, later established himself as a major feature director with pictures like The Covered Wagon (1923), Old Ironsides (1926) and I Cover the Waterfront (1933). (Harry Benham plays Hyde in some scenes in this film, although it’s difficult for me to tell the two actors apart.)

Thanhouser’s run was brief but brilliant. The studio opened its doors in 1910 and soon was sufficiently successful to attract the attention of Charles J. Hite, an investor in Mutual Film. Hite bought Thanhouser in 1912 and served as its president until his death in 1914. The studio’s biggest star was Florence La Badie, who Thanhouser snatched away from Biograph in 1911. She plays Jekyll’s love interest, the minister’s daughter, in this film. La Badie remained Thanhouser’s top draw until her death in an automobile accident in 1917.

Thanhouser closed its doors in 1918 with money in the bank and an archive of priceless films. These days the Thanhouser Film Preservation Company restores and re-releases the surviving Thanhouser films, and a few days ago made an archive of more than 50 of their films freely available online. Viewers intrigued by the work of this early American studio are advised to pick up one of the company’s DVD collections–I have Volume One–which present a fascinating picture of a little-remembered early motion picture powerhouse.

–

I learned about the Thanhouser films on Nitrateville, the great discussion board devoted to early cinema, and there I also learned–o! frabjous day!–that Criterion will release People on Sunday (1930) in June. I’ve wanted to see this film for 20 years. Here’s Criterion’s synopsis:

People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag) represents an astonishing confluence of talent—an early collaboration by a group of German filmmakers who would all go on to become major Hollywood players, including eventual noir masters Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer and future Oscar winners Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann. This effervescent, sunlit silent film, about a handful of city dwellers enjoying a weekend outing (a charming cast of nonprofessionals), offers a rare glimpse of Weimar-era Berlin. A unique hybrid of documentary and fictional storytelling, People on Sunday was both an experiment and a mainstream hit that would influence generations of film artists around the world.

Oh, and Eugen Schüfftan shot it. If you’re interested in Weimar cinema, film noir (or Weimar’s influence on film noir!) this is obviously a must-see.

–

previous: Gene Autry in the nitrous-oxide-inspired The Phantom Empire (1935).

Recently


Twitter

Facebook

Categories


Archives


Blogroll