The Birth of Cinema

The mesmerizing, utterly unclassifiable science films of Jean Painlevé (1902-89) must be seen to be believed: delightful, surrealist-influenced dream works that are also serious science. The French filmmaker-scientist-inventor had a decades-spanning career in which he created hundreds of short films on subjects ranging from astronomy to pigeons to, most famously, such marine-life marvels as the sea horse and the sea urchin. This definitive three-disc Criterion collection brings together the best of these, and includes more than two hours of interviews with the filmmaker, drawn from the eight-part French television series Jean Painlevé Through His Films, directed by Denis Derrien and Hélène Hazera. Also included is The Sounds of Science, an original score by Yo La Tengo to Jean Painlevé’s films, plus an interview with the band.Read More »

Quote:
Judith of Bethulia was a 1914 film and starred Blanche Sweet and Henry B. Walthall, and was produced and directed by D. W. Griffith in 1913. This was the first feature-length film made by pioneering film company Biograph, although the second that Biograph released. Shortly after its completion and a disagreement Griffith had with Biograph executives on making more future feature-length films, Griffith left Biograph, and took the entire stock company with him. Biograph delayed the picture’s release until 1914, after Griffith’s departure, so that it would not have to pay him in a profit-sharing agreement they had.Read More »

As the woman he loved lay dying, the former suitor swore to protect the child of the other man, just killed in battle. The baby grown to womanhood, the man’s love for the mother was felt again, but a stranger claimed the girl’s love. So the man with his trust left for the far Northwestern country and joined in the government wars against the Indians. There again he met the life which he had sworn to protect. How well he succeeded, the returning young husband could most appreciate, after one of the most deadly massacres and Indian battles of the period.Read More »

A young woman’s peaceful existence is shattered when she is abducted by the crew of a boat of smugglers, who then also turn against their captain.Read More »

At the mining-camp of Golden Creek, the little orphan girl of the late proprietor of Golden Creek Inn is the pet of all the miners. Her father had long been their great friend and adviser, and hence his little daughter always commanded their greatest respect. She becomes greatly infatuated with Dandy Jack, who is considered by all as her sweetheart. Jack decides to leave the camp for other diggings, and the little one is almost heartbroken. As he is leaving, he meets Bob, his old chum, who has just arrived at the camp. Their greeting shows clearly the value of that little word “friends.” Later on, Bob comes to the Inn and falls deeply in love with the little orphan, who has realized by this time that her feeling for Jack was infatuation rather than love. Hence she and Bob are engaged to be married. Shortly before the day set for the wedding, Jack returns and is twitted by the boys about the apparently fickle girl, whereupon he wagers that he can win her back, not knowing, of course, who the successful suitor is. The outcome is a revelation to all.Read More »

A wagon train heading west across the great desert runs out of water, and is attacked by Indians. One man — their last hope — is sent out to find water.Read More »

On the day of the dog feast at the Indian encampment, the waifs arrived at Elderbush Gulch. Their pet pups came with them. ‘”Now we eat,” said the chief’s son, when he saw the pup’s fat little hides, but he met his death instead. “The blood of the whites,” cried the red men, and all on account of two small dogs, the settlement at Elderbush Gulch was wiped from the map. Yet many strong hearts lived to tell the tale, along with the dogs, the waifs and the baby.Read More »

Two business partners pursue the same woman. She accepts the marriage proposal of the irresponsible partner, much to her later regret. He squanders money on gambling, as his interest in her gradually wanes. One day after losing the company money in a card game, he decides to commit suicide. He telephones his wife from the office, as he puts a revolver near his head. The wife tries to keep him talking while the reliable business partner races to the office in an attempt to save his old friend. Will he make it in time?Read More »

Set in a tenement boarding house, a lonely confirmed bachelor occupies a room across the hall from a dour spinster. Children run amok in the hallways playing pranks. Believing the bachelor perpetrated one particular prank, the spinster woman enters his room to confront him. She is followed by a neighbor child. Meanwhile, the other children have stolen a scarlet fever quarantine sign and posted it on the bachelor’s door. The police, unaware that the quarentine sign is a prank, enforce the confinement. But aided by the sweet disposition of the toddler quarantined with them, the icy relations between spinster and bachelor begin to thaw…Read More »