Magic Lantern Video & Book StorePioneers of The Cinema
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Great Films Before The Academy Awards
The Pioneers
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Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson [1880-1971]
wrote, produced, directed & starred in almost 400 silent movies IMDb listing • Broadway credits • Wikipedia |
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, CA
Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival in Fremont, CA
RTJ's Broncho Billy fansite
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"Broncho Billy & The Essanay Film Company" [2003] by David Kiehn Farwell hardcover 10x7 [6/2003] for $32.50 |
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"The Son-of-A-Gun!" silent feature [Golden West/Sherry Feb 1919]
Co-written, produced & directed by & starring Broncho Billy Anderson, with Fred Church, Frank Whitson, A.E. Witting, Mattie Witting & Paul Willis Unknown Video b&w DVD [11/2004] for $19.95 full credits at IMDb |
director Dorothy Arzner [1897-1979]
browse Dorothy Arzner on DVD • book about career • IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
Theodore W. Case [1888-1944]
meager IMDb listing; no entry at Wikipedia
Case Research Laboratory Museum [built 1916] in Auburn, NY
a history of motion picture sound, 1910-1929 {at University of San Diego}
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"Now We're Talking: The Story of Theodore W. Case & Sound-On-Film" [2003] by Antonia K. & Luke P. Colella Authorhouse 9¼x6¼ pb [11/2003] for $13.95 Authorhouse hardcover [1/2003] out of print/rare |
Sir Charles Chaplin [1889-1977] Page
George Eastman [1854-1932]
no data on IMDb • Wikipedia
Kodak website
George Eastman House Museum of Photography [built 1905; chartered 1947]
P.B.S. George Eastman bio
P.B.S. bio on VHS
Thomas Alva Edison [1847-1931] Page
at Spirit of America Bookstore
Sergei M. Eisenstein [1898-1948] Page
Louis Feuillade [1873-1925] of France
browse Louis Feuillade on DVD • IMDb listing 1905-24] •
Wikipedia
 | "Les Vampires" [Gaumont silent serial Nov 1915]
A vast gang of crooks who call themselves 'The Vampires' is undone by an intrepid reporter and a reformed member of the gang. Written & directed by Louis Feuillade; starring Musidora {as Irma Vep}, Édouard Mathé, Marcel Lévesque, Jean Aymé, Fernand Herrmann & Stacia Napierkowska Image Ent. subtitled silent b&w DVD [4/2005] 2 disks for $34.99 full credits from IMDb • film entry at Wikipedia |
 | "Judex" [Gaumont silent serial Dec 1916]
Following French movie pioneer Louis Feuillade's classic "Les Vampires" [1915], he made another great early serial, 12 episodes about a 'caped crusader' avenging wrongs, a precursor to Batman and The Shadow. Co-written & directed by Louis Feuillade; starring René Cresté {as Judex}, Musidora, René Poyen, Édouard Mathé, Gaston Michel & Yvonne Dario Flicker Alley subtitled silent b&w DVD [6/2004] 2 disks for $39.95 full credits from IMDb • film entry at Wikipedia |
 | "Gaumont Treasures: 1897-1913" DVD Box Set [2009]
Kino Video b&w DVD set [9/2009] 85+ films on 3 disks for $79.95 DISK 2 contains 13 silent short films written and-or directed from 1907 to 1913 by Louis Feuillade [1873-1925], plus the documentary "Louis Feuillade: Master of Many Forms" [2009] DISK 1 is films of Alice Guy-Blaché [1873-1968]; DISK 3 is of Léonce Perret [1880-1935] |
actress Margarita Fischer {Pollard} [1886-1975]
no browse/Amazon entry • IMDb listing [1910-27] • Wikipedia
{husband} producer-director Harry A. Pollard [1879-1934]
no browse/Amazon entry • IMDb listing [1910-32] • Wikipedia
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"Margarita Fischer: A Biography of The Silent Film Star" [2008] by Theresa St. Romain McFarland & Co. 10x7 hardcover [3/2008] for $55.00 |
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"Uncle Tom's Cabin" silent feature [Universal Pictures Nov 1927]
Based on the 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe novel; one of the most expensive silent films ever made; the stereotypes and Victorian melodrama are counter-balanced by many moving moments and nail-biting action sequences, especially Eliza's escape across the ice floes. Kino's restoration includes a new recording of the original Movietone orchestral score. Presented by Carl Laemmle; co-produced & directed by Harry A. Pollard; starring Margarita Fischer, James B. Lowe, Arthur Edmund Carewe, George Siegmann, Eulalie Jensen, Mona Ray & Virginia Grey Kino Video b&w DVD [11/99] out of prodn/used Kino Intl. b&w VHS [11/99] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb |
animators Max & Dave Fleischer
producers of the Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman & Inkwell / Koko the Clown cartoons
more details (history, characters, books, DVDs, posters, links) on
Magic Lantern's Fleischer Studios [1921-42] Page
first cinematographer Wm. Friese-Greene [1855-1921]
Friese-Greene's claims to have invented various methods for motion picture photography are considered
to be false; virtually all of his inventions and patents, including a stereoscopic {3-D} camera (1898),
were either impractical or unsuccessful in the marketplace, and he died a pauper. Yet he is honored
as a cinema pioneer in Britain, because many of his ideas were later manifested by others.
B.F.I. profile •
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
 | "Friese-Greene: Close-Up of An Inventor" biography [1948] by Ray Allister Arno Press facsimile edition hardcover [3/72] out of print/scarce Marsland Publns hardcover [1948] out of print/used |
 | "The Magic Box" [Festival of Film 1951, U.K. & USA 1952]
Produced by and for Britain's 1951 'Festival of Film', later released as a theatrical feature. Uses double flashback design to tell the story of the British portrait photographer obsessed with inventing a practical motion picture camera, and later a method for color cinematography. Directed by John Boulting; script by Eric Ambler, based on Ray Allister's biography; Technicolor cinematography by Jack Cardiff; with an all-star cast including Robert Donat {as Friese-Greene}, Margaret Johnston, Maria Schell, Richard Attenborough, Frederick Valk, Eric Portman, Laurence Olivier, Stanley Holloway, Michael Hordern, Michael Redgrave, Margaret Rutherford & Peter Ustinov Region 1 DVD or VHS not available full credits at IMDb • movie entry at BFI |
Abel Gance [1889-1981] of France
search for Abel Gance on VHS & DVD •
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
actress-writer-director {Ms.} Gene Gauntier [1885-1966]
IMDb listing [1906-20] •
Wikipedia
"The Girl Spy: An Incident of The Civil War" silent short [Kalem/G.F.C. May 1909]
Written by & starring Gene Gauntier; VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available;
bare credits at IMDb
"The Further Adventures of The Girl Spy" silent short [Kalem/G.F.C. April 1910]
Directed by Sidney Olcott; written by & starring Gene Gauntier; VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available;
bare credits at IMDb
"The Girl Spy Before Vicksburg" silent short [Kalem/G.F.C. Dec 1910]
Directed by Sidney Olcott; written by & starring Gene Gauntier; VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available;
bare credits at IMDb
"A Hitherto Unrelated Incident of The Girl Spy" [Kalem 1911]
Many questions exist about this film (or films): one version points to a two-year-long serial starring Gene Gauntier,
based on the success of prior shorts; if so, those episodes may be keyed onto IMDb as separate short films.
Written by & starring Gene Gauntier;
bare credits at IMDb
"Blazing The Trail" autobiography serialized in Woman's Home Companion Magazine in 1928
D.W. Griffith [1875-1948] Page
director Alice Guy-Blaché [1873-1968] Page
The only woman filmmaker to this day who owned her own studio.
Blaché made over 700 films; 130 films survive, but only 3 of her 40 features
 | "Gaumont Treasures: 1897-1913" DVD Box Set [2009]
Kino Video b&w DVD set [9/2009] 85+ films on 3 disks for $79.95 DISK 1 contains 70+ silent short films produced and-or directed from 1897 to 1907 by Alice Guy-Blaché [1873-1968], including the 33-minute religious epic "La Vie du Christ" aka "The Birth, The Life and The Death of Christ" [1906], and performances by Félix Mayol with 'Phono-Cinema' synchronous sound DISK 2 is films of Louis Feuillade [1873-1925]; DISK 3 is films of Léonce Perret [1880-1935] |
cowboy star William S. Hart [1864-1946] Page
at 'Readers of The Purple Sage' Western Bookstore
studio head Thomas H. Ince [1882-1924] Page
comedian Buster Keaton [1895-1966] Pages
inventor Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince of France
[1842 - disappeared 1890]
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
Victorian Cinema's Le Prince page
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"The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of The Lost Inventor of Moving Pictures" [1990] by Christopher Rawlence Penguin 7¾x5¼ pb [3/92] out of print/used Atheneum hardcover [12/90] out of print/rare |
silent-era comedian
Max Linder [1883-1925] of France Page
Lumière Brothers of France
Louis [1864-1948] at IMDb •
Auguste [1862-1954] at IMDb
browse videos/DVDs •
Wikipedia
Institut Lumière museum [est. 1982] in Lyon, France
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"Landmarks of Early Film" Volume 1 [1994] Image Ent b&w DVD [7/98] for $26.99 includes Edison Kinestoscope films (1894-96), films by the brothers Lumière (1895-97), films by French special effects pioneer Georges Méliès, documentary 'actualities' {1897-1910), and selected short films from 1903 to 1913 |
 | "Lumière and Company" [France Dec 1995, USA March 1996]
French producers asked 40 modern movie directors to use the 100-year-old Lumière camera to film 52-second shorts; other rules included non-synchronous sound, and maximum of three takes. Participating directors include Merzak Allouache, Theodoros Angelopoulos, Vicente Aranda of Spain, Gabriel Axel of Denmark, John Boor-man, Youssef Chahine of Egypt, Alain Corneau, Costa-Gavras, Raymond Depardon, Francis Girod, Peter Greenaway, Lasse Hallström, Michael Haneke, Hugh Hudson, Gaston Kaboré, Abbas Kiarostami of Iran, Cédric Klapisch, Andrei Konchalovsky of Russia, Patrice Leconte, Spike Lee, Claude Lelouch, Bigas Luna, David Lynch, Ismail Merch-ant & James Ivory, Claude Miller, Sarah Moon, Idrissa Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso, Arthur Penn, Lucian Pintilie, Jacques Rivette, Helma Sanders-Brahms, Jerry Schatzberg, Nadine Trintignant, Fernando Trueba, Liv Ullmann, Jaco van Dormael of Belgium, Régis Wargnier, Wim Wenders, Yoshishige Yoshida & Zhang Yimou: participating actors include Bruno Ganz, Isabelle Huppert, Liam Neeson, cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Lena Olin, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman & Max von Sydow Fox Lorber color/b&w DVD [8/00] out of prodn/used Fox Lorber color/b&w VHS [11/97] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb |
Georges Méliès [1861-1938] of France
search for Georges Méliès on VHS & DVD •
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
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"Méliès Encore: 26 Additional Rare and Original Films By The First  Wizard of Cinema, 1896-1911" [2010] Flicker Alley b&w DVD [2/2010] for $17.99 contains 23 short films by Méliès, from fragments to half-hour works, plus imitator "Excursion To The Moon" and two 'in the Méliès style' by Segundo de Chomon |
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"Georges Melies: First Wizard of Cinema" DVD box set [2008]
Flicker Alley b&w/color DVD set [3/2008] 5 disks for $89.95 more than 170 short films by Méliès, fifteen in hand-tinted color, from fragments to half-hour works, including "Partie de Cartes" [1896], "After The Ball" [1897], "The Misfortunes of An Explorer" [1900], "A Trip To The Moon" [1902], "The Kingdom of Fairies" [1903], "The Impossible Voyage" [1904], "The Untamable Whiskers" [1904], "The Palace of The Arabian Knights" [1905], "The Merry Frolics of Satan" [1906], "Conquest of The Pole" [1912], and "Voyage de la Famille Bourrichon" [1913]; extras include Georges Franju's touching filmed tribute "Le Grand Méliès" [1953] (which features son André Méliès & widow Marie-Georges Méliès), and a booklet of essays |
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"Georges Méliès (French Film Directors Series)" [2000] by Elizabeth Ezra Manchester Univ Press 8x5 pb [9/2000] for $21.95 Manchester Univ Press 8x5¼ hardcover [9/2000] out of print/used |
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"Melies The Magician" tv documentary [Gaumont 1997] Directed by Jacques Meny Facets b&w DVD [1/2002] for $34.99 full credits at IMDb |
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"Landmarks of Early Film, Volume 2: The Magic of Méliès" [1994]
includes the documentary "Georges Melies: Cinema Magician" [1978] and 15 restored shorts Image Ent. b&w/color DVD [3/99] for $26.99 |
'race' filmmaker Oscar Micheaux [1884-1951]
| Oscar Micheaux, the son of freed slaves, worked as a Pullman porter and homestead farmer, and wrote autobiographical novels; when Hollywood wouldn't buy his stories, he took up filmmaking in 1919 (at age 35). He was more skilled at marketing movies than at making them, yet the 40-plus films that he produced over a 30-year span shed valuable light on the harsh realities of African American life. His career began to fizzle, along with race films, in the late 1930s, and he died in obscurity. Two-thirds of Micheaux's films are lost, and those surviving are mostly truncated by censorship. |
Magic Lantern's Oscar Micheaux Page
cowboy star Tom Mix [1880-1940] Page
at 'Readers of The Purple Sage' Western Bookstore
F.W. Murnau [1888-1931] of Germany
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
 | "Murnau Silents" DVD box set [2009]
Kino Video b&w DVD set [3/2009] 6 disks for $89.99 contains "The Haunted Castle" [1921], "Nosferatu" [1922], "The Last Laugh" [1924], "The Finances of The Grand Duke" [1924], "Tartuffe" [1925], and "Faust" [1926]; extras include 3 documentaries, photo gallery |
Eadweard Muybridge [1830-1904]
posters •
browse books •
Artcyclopedia •
Wikipedia
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"The Human Figure In Motion" [1955] by Eadweard Muybridge, Edited by R. Taft Dover Publng 11x8 hardcover [6/55] for $26.40 "Animals In Motion" [1957] by Eadweard Muybridge, Edited by Lewis S. Brown Dover Publng 10¾x8½ hardcover [6/57] for $26.37 |
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"River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge & The Technological Wild West" [2003] by Rebecca Solnit Penguin 8½x5½ pb [3/2004] for $10.20 Viking 9¼x6¼ hardcover [1/2003] out of print/many used |
Pathé Brothers of France
Charles Pathé [1863-1957]
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
with Émile, Théophile & Jacques Pathé founded
Société Pathé Frères [est. 28 September 1896] of Paris, France
company website •
Wikipedia
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"The Red Rooster Scare: Making Cinema American, 1900-1910" [1999] by Richard Abel During the era of the nickelodeon theater, the French company Pathé dominated film distribution in America & Europe. But then American filmmakers fought back ... Univ CA Press 8¾x6 pb [3/99] for $32.95 Univ CA Press 9¼x6 hardcover [3/99] for $55.00 |
Léonce Perret [1880-1935]
search for Léonce Perret on DVD •
IMDb listing [1909-35] •
Wikipedia
| "Gaumont Treasures: 1897-1913" DVD Box Set [2009]
Kino Video b&w DVD set [9/2009] 85+ films on 3 disks for $79.95 DISK 3 contains two silent features written & directed in 1912 & 1913 by Léonce Perret [1880-1935], including the 100-minute silent feature "L'Enfant de Paris (The Child of Paris)" [1913] and the 45-minute silent feature "The Mystery of The Rocks of Kador" [1912], plus the documentary "Léonce Perret: The Filmmaker's Filmmaker" [2009] DISK 1 is films of Alice Guy-Blaché [1873-1968]; DISK 2 is of Louis Feuillade [1873-1925] |
Edwin S. Porter [1870-1941]
search for Edwin S. Porter on VHS & DVD •
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
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"Before The Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter" [Oct 1982]
Co-produced, directed & edited by Charles Musser; written by Warren Leight; narration by silent-era star Blanche Sweet Kino Video b&w/color DVD [4/2008] for $21.99 Kino Video color/b&w VHS [11/98] out of prodn/rare full credits at IMDb |
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"Before The Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter & The Edison Manufacturing Company" [1991] by Charles Musser Univ CA Press 9¼x6 pb [6/91] out of print/used Univ CA Press 9¾x6¾ hardcover [6/91] out of print/used Thomas Alva Edison Page / Edison Motion Pictures Section |
studio head Hal Roach [1892-1992] Page
Laurel & Hardy Page
Little Rascals / Our Gang Page
U.S. Army's First Motion Picture Unit {at Hal Roach Studios in WWII) Page
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"A History of The Hal Roach Studios" [2005] by Richard Lewis Ward S.I.U. Press 9x6 pb [8/2006] for $16.88 S.I.U. Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [3/2005] out of print/used |
William Selig [1864-1948]
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
| | 'The King of Comedy' Mack Sennett [1880-1960] Page |
director Wm. Desmond Taylor [1872-1922]
IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
MTS's Wm. Desmond Taylor fansite
BL's 'Taylorology' fansite
DMK's William Desmond Taylor fansite
director King Vidor [1894-1982] Page
Erich von Stroheim [1885-1957]
browse Erich von Stroheim on DVD • IMDb listing •
Wikipedia
von Stroheim's "Greed" 1924 Movie Page
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"Stroheim" biography [2000] by Arthur Lennig Univ Press of KY 8½x5½ pb [4/2003] out of print/used Univ Press of KY 10¼x6¼ hardcover [1/2000] for $45.00 |
Books
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"Hollywood On The Hudson: Film & Television In New York From Griffith To Sarnoff" [2008] by Richard Koszarski Rutgers Univ Press 10x7 hardcover [7/2008] for $28.76 covers East Coast filmmakers, writers & actors: Thomas Edison, animators Max & Dave Fleischer, D.W. Griffith, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, Oscar Micheaux, Paul Robeson, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and others |
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"Images of America: Silent-Era Filmmaking In Santa Barbara" [2007] by Robert S. Birchard Arcadia Publng 9x6¼ pb [7/2007] for $19.99 |
 | "Images of America: Fort Lee - Birthplace of The Motion Picture Industry" [2006] by Fort Lee {NJ} Film Commission Arcadia Publng 9x6¼ pb [9/2006] for $15.59 |
 | "Before Hollywood: From Shadow Play To The Silver Screen" [2005] by Paul Clee Clarion Books 9x9 pb [8/2005] for $14.96 |
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"Fort Lee: The Film Town" [2005] by Richard Koszarski John Libbey & Co. 9¼x7¾ pb [4/2005] for $27.95 Indiana Univ Press 9¾x8 hardcover [4/2005] out of print/used |
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"Celebrating 1895: The Centenary of Cinema" [1998] Edited by John Fullerton Indiana Univ Press hardcover [11/98] out of print/used |
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"Who's Who of Victorian Cinema: A Worldwide Survey" [1996] Edited by Stephen Herbert & Luke McKernan British Film Institute 9¼x6½ hardcover [10/96] out of print/used |
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"The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen To 1907" [1990] by Charles Musser (History of The American Cinema, Vol. 1) Univ CA Press 10x7 pb [5/94] for $34.95 Scribner's 10¼x7½ hardcover [2/90] for $99.00 |
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"The Transformation of Cinema, 1907-1915" [1990] by Eileen Bowser (History of The American Cinema, Vol. 2) Univ CA Press 10x7 pb [5/94] for $18.21 Scribner's 10¼x7½ hardcover [12/90] for $99.00 |
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"Hollywood: The Pioneers" [1979] by Kevin Brownlow & John Kobal Knopf hardcover [3/80] out of print/used HarperCollins hardcover [10/79] out of print/used |
Videos & DVDs
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"Hollywood: A Celebration of The American Silent Film" [H.B.O. 1980]
Written & directed by David Gill & Kevin Brownlow, narration by James Mason Vol. 1: "The Pioneers" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 2: "In the Beginning" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used complete box set
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"Landmarks of Early Film" Volume 1 [1994]
Image Ent b&w DVD [7/98] for $26.99 includes Edison Kinestoscope films (1894-96), films by the brothers Lumière (1895-97), films by French special effects pioneer Georges Méliès, documentary 'actualities' {1897-1910), and selected short films from 1903 to 1913 |
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"Before Hollywood, There Was Fort Lee: Early Moviemaking In New Jersey"
Image Ent. color/b&w DVD [5/2003] for $22.49 includes 40-minute featurette produced by Fort Lee Film Commission in 1964, plus a half-hour version of Maurice Tourneur's "A Girl's Folly" [World Film 1917] showing scenes inside a movie studio; D.W. Griffith's "The New York Hat" [Biograph 1912 short] starring Mary Pickford & Lionel Barrymore; "The Wishing Ring" [World Film 1914 feature] adapted & directed by Maurice Tourneur; and portions of Edwin S. Porter's "Rescued From The Eagle's Nest" [Edison 1908 short] and D.W. Griffith's "The Curtain Pole" [Biograph 1909 short] starring Mack Sennett & Florence Lawrence |
Cinema Pioneers Links
Cinema Pioneers category at Wikipedia
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