1907

"Budweiser's a Friend of Mine."

(L-R Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, Rosalind Russell, John Wayne, Fay Wray)

MUSIC MusicTimeline / RateYourMusic / Wikipedia

FILM IMDB (Most Voted) / IMDB (Highest Rated) / RateYourMusic / Films101 / Wikipedia

Births include Cesar Romero, Fred Zinnemann, Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, John Wayne, Rosalind Russell, Fay Wray, Gene Autry and Barbara Stanwyck.

I've only seen a handful of Barbara Stanwyck movies, and they're all from the 40's onwards. When I think of her, it's usually Double Indemnity's Phyllis Dietrichson that springs to mind, so I was quite happy to find some pictures of her from the 1920's and 30's before she was blonde. Not that I have anything against blondes. But I do like a variety of looks for any one individual. The whole aim of this blog is to learn more about those great moments and people in recent artistic history, and Ms. Stanwyck and her work ranked high on my potential list of discoveries. Below are some great photos:



Left to right:- 1) 1924 - as a Ziegfeld girl. 2) 1933 colourised pic of Barbara looking gorgeous from Ladies They Talk About. 3) Later picture, more in common with the Barbara I know.

Satan s'amuse
Dir: Segundo de Chomón
Time: 10mins


La course des sergents de ville [The Policemen's Little Run]
Dir: Ferdinand Zecca
Time: 6mins


La maison ensorcelée
Dir: Segundo de Chomón
Time: 6mins


L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune [The Eclipse]
Dir: Georges Méliès
Time: 9mins


Le Farfalle [The Butterflies] - excerpt only ~ Click here for full version
Time: 2mins (6mins FULL version)


Le scarabée d'or [The Golden Beetle]
Dir: Segundo de Chomón
Time: 3mins


Le spectre rouge
Dir: Segundo de Chomón, Ferdinand Zecca
Time: 10mins


Kiriki, acrobates japonais [Kiri-Kis]
Dir: Segundo de Chomón
Time: 3mins


Le Tunnel sous la Manche ou le Cauchemar franco-anglais [Tunneling the English Channel]
Dir: Georges Méliès
Time: 15mins

1907 looks to be dominated by the works of Georges Méliès and Segundo de Chomón once again. The films are fine, but unlike audiences in 1907 (I have hindsight to assure me that great things follow quite soon in the history of cinema), I have started to find the work to be much of the same, and not really refreshing enough to keep my interest to a maximum.

La course des sergents de ville [The Policemen's Little Run] seems quite fresh for its time. A few different techniques applied whilst following the same principle of many early comedic shorts. This definitely looks like an influence of Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops (who would appear in 1912).

Wikipedia's entry on movies for this year did lead me to El Sartorio. The earliest surviving "adult" film. A few quick searches haven't got me anywhere. God knows what a porno from 104 years ago looks like. I'll just have to imagine!

My film ratings for 1907.

My music ratings for 1907.

07FILMbirths Fred Zinnemann, Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, John Wayne, Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck, Fay Wray, Gene Autry etc..

— Through the darkness (@120Yrs120Months) December 15, 2011

07WATCHED The Policemen's Little Run, La maison ensorcelée, The Eclipse, The Golden Beetle, Le spectre rouge, Tunneling the English Channel

— Through the darkness (@120Yrs120Months) December 18, 2011

1907 Did the French invent Keystone Kops? More from Méliès & Segundo de Chomón. Pics of the beautiful Barbara Stanwyck alturl.com/zi3m4

— Through the darkness (@120Yrs120Months) December 18, 2011