Back to Golden Days

Did you know that...  The Gulf Between (1917) was the first ever motion picture made in Technicolor and first feature-length colour film produced in the United States.   Two of the few surviving frames from The Gulf Between , showing Grace Darmond (left) and Charles Brandt, Grace Darmond and Niles Welch (right). In 1912, Herbert Kalmus and Daniel Comstock, two graduates and professors of the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), teamed up with mechanic W. Burton Westcott to form an industrial research and development firm. Three years later, when the company was hired to analyze an inventor's flicker-free motion picture system, they became intrigued by the art and science of filmmaking, particularly the cutting-edge colour processes that were being developed in England. The trio then decided to set up a film laboratory in Boston inside a charcoal black railroad car, which was outfitted with an electrical generator, a darkroom, a fireproof safe, a photochemical lab and ...

This week on «Film Friday,» I bring you one of the first silent movies I saw. It is also the only film that paired real-life husband and wife Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Crawford. Directed by Jack Conway, Our Modern Maidens (1929) tells the story of Billie Brown (Joan Crawford), the fun-loving daughter of motorcar tycoon B. Bickering Brown (Albert Gran), who plans to marry her childhood sweetheart, Gil Jordan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), as soon as his diplomatic promotion comes through. Hoping to expedite matters, Billie begins a fake romance with a well-connected diplomat, Glenn Jordan (Rod La Rocque). While Billie is spending all of her time with Glenn, Gil drunkenly seduces her friend, Kentucky Strafford (Anita Page), who becomes pregnant. Billie's manipulations work and Gil is soon assigned to a diplomatic post in Paris. When their engagement is officially announced, Glenn is devastated, as he had thought that Billie was really in love with him. Heartbroken, Glenn accepts a di...

This week on "Film Friday" I bring you the first (and so far only) silent film I ever saw. It is highly unplausible and overly melodramatic, but (surprisingly enough) I loved it. Theatrical release poster Directed by Clarence Brown, A Woman of Affairs (1928) tells the story of Diana Merrick (Greta Garbo), a young British aristocrat in love with Neville Holderness (John Gilbert), to whom she pledged herself when their were children. Their plans to marry are thwarted by Neville's father, Sir Morton (Hobart Bosworth), who disapproves of the Merrick family's lifestyle . Hoping to force his son to forget Diana, Sir Morton sends Neville on a business trip to Egypt. After waiting in vain for two years for Neville's return, Diana marries David Furness (John Mack Brown), who is also in love with her and whom her alc oholic brother Jeffr y (Douglas Fairban ks Jr.) w orships. During their honeymoon in Paris, they receive a visit from detectives, which ends wi...