Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about feature films.
On March 4, 1922, F.W. Murnau released Nosferatu (1922). Nosferatu was Murnau’s adaptation of the Dracula novel by Bram Stoker. Murnau neglected to purchase the rights to film the story from Stoker’s estate, which almost led to this film being lost to film viewers. Stoker’s widow successfully sued Murnau and the German film company that produced the motion picture. The
I wanted to write about one of my favorite movies, The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935). It is an adaptation of the novel by the same name, written by Baroness Orczy. The film (affiliate link) concerns an English peer, who risks his life by saving French aristocrats from the guillotine. The story is complicated by the fact the peer is married to
The Canary Murder Case (1929) was originally shot as a silent film. However, the Paramount Studio executive thought it would be better as a talking picture. The studio delayed the release until they could add sound to the film. The addition of sound was not without its challenges. Unfortunately, one of the main stars of the film, Louise Brooks, had
Since the beginning of commercial film making, production companies are always looking for new content. Film companies have always used popular books as a source of content and inspiration. Since the 1950s, popular television shows provided film adaptations and inspiration. In the early days of talking films, popular radio shows led to many film adaptations. Lum and Abner, Jack Benny,
H.G. Wells wrote the story of Things to Come, which was turned into a film in 1936. The film opens during Christmas 1940 in Everytown (obviously London) right before the outbreak of war. The war lasts almost thirty years before “the Airmen” led by John Cabal, a former resident of Everytown, leads the survivors to victory over the remaining war
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy star in one of my favorite holiday films, Babe in Toyland (affiliate link) or March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934). It is normally shown around Thanksgiving. This film features Stan Laurel as Stannie Dum and Oliver Hardy as Ollie Dee, who are trying to help Mother Peep, the little old women in the shoe. Barnaby, the wicked
Scrooge (1935) is Twickenham Studios version of the Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. Seymour Hicks plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserly owner of a London business. He employs an assistant named Bob Cratchit. Scrooge will eventually meet three ghosts on Christmas Eve, who will cause a miraculous change in Scrooge’s attitude towards Christmas and his assistant. Seymour Hicks was born
What happens is the first commercially successful art film. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) was released in January 1920 becoming a German and international sensation. It marked the beginning of the German film revival during the 1920s The German Expressionist Movement in German art strongly influenced this film. Expressionist painters drew buildings sloped at odd angles, oddly shaped furniture,