Best Films – 1924
Erich von Stroheim’s masterpiece and one of the best silent films ever made, Greed remains a powerful indictment against the deadly sin of the title. Based on Frank Norris‘ McTeague, the film revolves around the misdeeds of a California dentist (Gibson Gowland, center), his miserly wife (ZaSu Pitts, left), and her former lover (Jean Hersholt, not in the above picture), all of whom sacrifice their selves to the all-powerful God of Dollar Bills. Stroheim’s initial cut had 47 reels, though eventually Greed was pared down to 10 reels (approximately 2h15m). That is all that is known to survive from the original film. But in spite of the drastic cuts, many of Stroheim’s magnificently perverted excesses are very much [...]
by Andre Soares | April 2, 2009
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Tags: Best Films, Classic Movies, Conrad Veidt, Douglas Fairbanks, Eleanor Boardman, Emil Jannings, Enid Bennett, Erich von Stroheim, George Hackathorne, Gibson Gowland, Greed, He Who Gets Slapped, Laura La Plante, Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, Richard Barthelmess, Silent Films, The Enchanted Cottage, The Last Laugh, The Sea Hawk, The Thief of Bagdad, The Turmoil, Victor Sjöström, ZaSu Pitts
HOLLYWOOD DREAMS MADE REAL: IRVING THALBERG AND THE RISE OF M-G-M – Q&A with Mark Vieira
Author and photographer Mark A. Vieira (right), who’s been a friend for a number of years, has recently written no less than two books on Irving G. Thalberg, the young MGM mogul whose high-quality productions earned him both a reputation as Hollywood’s "Boy Wonder" and a special place in Oscar history as the name attached to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ Memorial Award given to “creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” Thalberg even inspired a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, the unfinished The Last Tycoon.
Now, Mark’s two books may cover the same ground in terms of subject matter, but they’re radically different in terms of approach to same:
Hollywood [...]
by Andre Soares | February 12, 2009
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Tags: Books, Clark Gable, Classic Movies, Erich von Stroheim, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Hurrell, Greed, Greta Garbo, Harry N. Abrams, Hollywood Dreams Made Real, Interviews, Irving G. Thalberg Award, Irving Thalberg, Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Mark Vieira, Norma Shearer, Producers, Rasputin and the Empress, The Good Earth, The Last Tycoon, The Merry Widow, University of California Press
