SYNOPSIS:
While Sandy Adams (Hoot Gibson) waits for the sheriff, three thugs, led by Slim Allen (Jim Corey) conspire to frame Duncan McKenna (Charles Newton) of rustling the sheriff’s cattle by branding them with McKenna’s brand. The sheriff returns to his office only to be greeted by Allen, whom tells the sheriff that McKenna has branded one of his calves. Adams overhears this conversation and rides off.
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SYNOPSIS:
Lucy (Edna Fisher), the daughter of tavern owner Riley (Arthur Mackley) is seen flirting with her lover (Fred Church). Riley objects to the relationship, forbids the lover from ever seeing Lucy again and vows to kill him if he is ever seen on his property again. Moments later Broncho Billy (Broncho Billy Anderson) arrives at the tavern to take up lodging for the night. Riley and Billy share a drink and practice straight shooting together.
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SYNOPSIS:
A group of bandits referred to as “The Raiders,” led by Black Deering (William S. Hart) are forced to vote on if they will retire or pull off one more job. Deering wants to quit, but his lieutenant Jordan (Joseph Singleton) has another heist planned for the group. The band of thieves decides to go ahead and take on one more job.
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As a nod to Turner Classic Movies (TCM)’s “Silent Sunday Nights,” hosted by Academy Museum Director and President Jacqueline Stewart, the museum is launching a series of silent film screenings this summer. Historian David Pierce has concluded that only 26% of American silent features survive in complete form.
Both TCM and the Academy Museum are dedicated to showcasing the films of this important period in filmmaking history as part of our cultural heritage. Taking place on Sundays at 2pm, Silent Sundays will showcase iconic movies from the silent era as well as forgotten gems and international classics.
Among just some of the films being screened are Earth (Zemlya), the ever first screening of the film outside of Europe with a new soundtrack for the film created by Luke Corradine by order of the UFACE association, Flesh and the Devil with Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla, and the 100th Anniversary screening of the Harold Lloyd masterpiece Safety Last!
“Silent Sundays” will screen at the Academy Museum at Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, for more information on the programming, movie times, and purchasing tickets, visit the Academy Museum Website.
Billed as the “first million-dollar movie” when it was released in 1922, Erich von Stroheim’s “Foolish Wives” is a film whose reputation is greater than its contents.
Stroheim stars as a grifter who pretends to be a Russian count – a pair of his ex-lovers masquerade as his cousins, also putting on the fraudulent personas of being aristocrats of the tsarist orbit. They live a precarious existence in Monte Carlo, paying their mounting bills with counterfeit money while staking out rich suckers for extortion. The “count” finds his latest mark in the young and naïve wife of a newly-arrived American diplomat – but he overplays his hand when he juggles his chicanery with lascivious recklessness involving the affections of a chambermaid and the mentally retarded teenage daughter of his counterfeit money provider.
SYNOPSIS:
Young and weak-hearted Reverend Henley [Jack Standing] is sent from the big city church to preach in the town of Placer Centre, a city known locally as “Hell’s Hinges” for the cutthroat and violent behavior of its gun-toting townsfolk. However, two rogue citizens, Silk Miller [Alfred Hollingsworth] and “Blaze” Tracey [William S. Hart], do not care for Henley’s appearance in town and plot to do away with the reverend and his sister Faith [Clara Williams].
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BOOTLEG FILES 823: “The Hero” (1917 short starring Billy West and Oliver Hardy).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A blatant (if effective) rip-off of Charlie Chaplin’s act.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: There is no great call for a Billy West revival.
When Charlie Chaplin’s popularity exploded into superstardom status during the mid-1910s, the demand of his films became greater than his ability to create original new works. To fill the void, a number of comic actors began to dress up in Chaplin’s distinctive Little Tramp costume and make-up and churn out short films of a Chaplinesque nature. Most of these imitators were not that special and their work has been lost to oblivion. But one copycat created a near-perfect facsimile of Chaplin’s act, to the point that his films were occasionally marketed as being genuine Chaplin films.
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