Research Catalog

Title

One reel a week / by Fred J. Balshofer and Arthur C. Miller, with the assistance of Bebe Bergsten, foreword by Kemp R. Niver.

Author

Balshofer, Fred J.

Publication

Berkeley : University of California Press, 1967.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Miller, Arthur C.
• Niver, Kemp R.
• Bergsten, Bebe.

Description

x, 218 pages : illustrations, portrait; 24 cm

Summary

This book is a documentary of the very earliest days of American film. The authors give a thorough review of their experiences with the small companies, the actors and the business of producing film in the first decades of the century when they began their careers. The earlier material is what gives this book its value, though the authors discuss their later work - Miller filmed such black and white classics as John Ford's "How Green Was My Valley" and William Wellman's "The Oxbow Incident". The great bulk of the book covers the earlier period, and is a marvelous record of a little discussed but significant aspect of early film-making. We are treated to inside tips on shooting from legends such as Billy Bitzer, and endless little moments of discovery as the author's relate their developing skill at the craft of cinematography. The photographic stills give striking glimpses into the workings of early movies. A still picture from MGM's 1927 trial scene from the feature "The Bellamy Trial" captures almost the entire nature of filming: Miller behind the Mitchell camera; director Monta Bell astride the judge's bench looking like a cheerleader holding a semaphore; star Leatrice Joy measured for focus in the witness stand; the other actors in tuxs milling around below the bench; Betty Bronson listening up forward to a violinist; and at the far right an actor leans across the witness stand and is drawing a sly smirk from Ms Joy. There is also a great shot of the New York Motion Picture Stock Company in 1911 with a tiny Bebe Daniels centering the front row. Early film-making involved everything from gang battles, legal threats, to taking sledgehammers and smashing open locked studios! In 1912 the legal challenges reach the point that the best lawyers in California are fighting it out over the film rights over the Keystone comedies. Perhaps best of all is the detailed story of the 1914 filming of the immortal serial "The Peri.

Subject

• Motion pictures > United States > History
• Motion pictures
• Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)
• California > Los Angeles > Hollywood
• United States
• Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) > History

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes index.

Contents

Early career with Shields, Lubin and others -- The early film companies : Crescent and Bison -- Making The true heart of an Indian -- Patents company troubles and the decision to move west -- Working for Edwin S. Porter -- Filming in the Wild West -- With the Pathé News Weekly -- The Keystone Film Company and rivalry among the companies -- The perils of Pauline -- The Sterling Film Company and actor troubles -- Working for George Fitzmaurice -- The Yorke Film Corporation -- Filming Mae Murray, Elsie Ferguson, Richard Barthelmess, and others -- Filming in London and Rome -- With Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford -- Last films before retirement.

LCCN

67024119

OCLC

• ocm00330708
• 330708
• SCSB-227259

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library