1920s Actresses

[somnambule]

they didn´t fit into my last post...
mary philbin
know next to nothing about the actress but i like the waif look



the famous and popular constance talmadge.saw her only at the very beginning of her carreer in griffith´s intolerance.her look changed a lot in the 20s


and her sister

[lady stardust]

the madge bellamy photo...
she was soo cute!

more silent ladies
1.marion nixon
2.mary pickford
3.sally o'neil
4.olive borden
5.gloria swanson

source/ebay

[lady stardust]

some photos of beautiful dorothy sebastian

source/ebay

[somnambule]

thanks so much,lady stardust!i remember dorothy sebastian from another buster keaton film-spite marriage.she was great together with keaton.i liked her role and performance more than marceline day´s,because she seemed more like a real comedienne to me.although regarding the film as a whole i preferred the cameraman.
die filmwoche,german cinema mag,23th march 1927
with jenny jugo on the cover,an austrian actress who mainly worked in german cinema



from inside:
famous italian actress
carmen boni


grete schmidt,
a german actress i´ve actually never heard of before



and an announcment of a forthcoming film "der rote pirat" (the red pirate)
(mildred harris,the girl with a tesament on her back)

[GBArt]

^Great stuff!!

[GBArt]

There's such a drastic difference between the twenties and thirties. To me, the twenties seem so much cooler, and I'm not sure what it is. Less sophistication (in the sense of worldly fashion) and more unrestrained imagination, maybe? Or were they simply more theatrical? One argument, I suppose, is that they were closer to the age when traditional theater was the only game in town and most of the actors had strong theatrical backgrounds. Any thoughts?

[somnambule]

regarding society and cultural development i also definitely prefer the twenties to the thirties.there had never been more freedom in arts than during the twenties.the weimar berlin would have been the place i would have liked to live then.it was a very dynamic decade in every respect.the great division between the twenties and thirtues came with the black friday and the following depression.many were unemployed then and struggled in every day life.society changed totally and also the zeitgeist and culture.as for films you cannot compare the twenties with the 30s.after all the 20s were reigned by silent film ,which died out (if you leave chaplin aside) with this decade.there was a very prosperous time in films at the beginning of the 30s before the hays-code stopped that.gangster-films like scarface ,the roaring 20s etc emerged and showed real life as brutal as it was.there were also risqué comedies like red-headed woman with jean harlow.a woman who sleeps her way into the higher society without scruples or regrets...there was relatively great freedom during these years and many great films surfaced .all this was ended by the hays-code around 33-34.in general i think this meant a regression from reality.but filmmakers always found new niches.the screwball comedies for exmple emerged.i love them and think they are timeless.what i find most astonishing about silent film is the german expressionism later replaced by french surrealsim.they were regarding film as a means ,as a new artform to express their ideas.in caligari you dive deep into the distorted subconcsious of a mentally ill person.they made inner turmoil visible on screen and dissolved reality.now that was more than film-making that was real art.never since has there been anything like it.i think that only silent films made such an approach to cinema possible.spoken dialogue doesn´t fit into this concept.later mid-20s to 29 they ,especially american film tried to tell stories that were close to real life.the docks of new york were such a society study and also the german asphalt.or even the comedy it with clara bow.murnau of course brought his reflections on humanity on a whole new level through wonderful allegories,like in sunshine.
well,what was i trying to say.....yes,that i prefer the twenties as a whole,but that i love the films of the 30s too !they´re just too different to make a real comparison possible and to do them justice.it´s just a pity that the possibilkities that silent film offered are forever lost now.

one of my favourite film-couples:director rex ingram and actress alice terry,finallly without her blonde wig

[GBArt]

Great analysis!

Originally Posted by somnambule

regarding society and cultural development i also definitely prefer the twenties to the thirties.there had never been more freedom in arts than during the twenties.the weimar berlin would have been the place i would have liked to live then.it was a very dynamic decade in every respect.

That period of German cinema was perhaps like no other and is no doubt extremely influential even to this day. There was a young girl from Paris who went to Germany during that period to help make Der Blaue Engel with Marlene Dietrich (1930). The girl's name was Dominique Schlumberger, and she eventually became Dominique de Menil and founded the Menil Museum in Houston, Texas, which the late architect Philip Johnson said was the finest private art collection in the world. Its strong suit is surrealism, and has maybe the best collection of Magrittes in the world.

http://www.menil.org/

Would that have happened without her experience with German Cinema in the late 1920s? I doubt it.

the great division between the twenties and thirtues came with the black friday and the following depression.many were unemployed then and struggled in every day life.society changed totally and also the zeitgeist and culture.as for films you cannot compare the twenties with the 30s.after all the 20s were reigned by silent film ,which died out (if you leave chaplin aside) with this decade.there was a very prosperous time in films at the beginning of the 30s before the hays-code stopped that.gangster-films like scarface ,the roaring 20s etc emerged and showed real life as brutal as it was.there were also risqué comedies like red-headed woman with jean harlow.a woman who sleeps her way into the higher society without scruples or regrets...there was relatively great freedom during these years and many great films surfaced.

I definitely agree that the thirties brought more of a reality focus to film and a retreat from the fantasy focus of the twenties. At least we still have the great work of Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Lilian Gish, Mary Pickford, and many, many others whenever the need for pure cinematic fantasy strikes!

all this was ended by the hays-code around 33-34. in general i think this meant a regression from reality.but filmmakers always found new niches.the screwball comedies for exmple emerged.i love them and think they are timeless.

I do too. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert were amazing.

what i find most astonishing about silent film is the german expressionism later replaced by french surrealsim.they were regarding film as a means ,as a new artform to express their ideas.in caligari you dive deep into the distorted subconcsious of a mentally ill person.they made inner turmoil visible on screen and dissolved reality.now that was more than film-making that was real art.never since has there been anything like it.

Fritz Lang's Metropolis is another German expressionist film that has never quite been equalled for sheer willingness to question reality as we know it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_021...eature=related

And of course there has never been an anti-war movie quite like Renoir's La Grande Illusion.

i think that only silent films made such an approach to cinema possible.spoken dialogue doesn´t fit into this concept.

My all-time favorite silent film is The Wind with Lilian Gish. Dialogue would have ruined it.

later mid-20s to 29 they ,especially american film tried to tell stories that were close to real life.the docks of new york were such a society study and also the german asphalt.or even the comedy it with clara bow.murnau of course brought his reflections on humanity on a whole new level through wonderful allegories,like in sunshine.

So true.

well,what was i trying to say.....yes,that i prefer the twenties as a whole,but that i love the films of the 30s too !they´re just too different to make a real comparison possible and to do them justice.it´s just a pity that the possibilkities that silent film offered are forever lost now.

I still think, though, that the magic of the twenties would not have been possible without the truly unbelievable stage magic of the Victorian Era.

Who could forget the incomparable Anna Pavlova:

0000248136-23972L.jpg

allstarpics.net

Or the exquisite Sarah Bernhardt:

BernhardtS.jpg

uoregon.edu

Or the lovely Ellen Terry:

ZINGALE489.jpg

playle.com

[lady stardust]

more ladies

1 & 2 betty boyd
3 carmel myers
4,5 dolores costello

source/ebay

[lady stardust]

never heard of dorothy janis
but my God she was beautiful

source ebay

[somnambule]

gbart,that you mentioned those great ladies-anna pavlova,sarah bernhardt..yes,early cinema was most definitely influenced by other art forms and the people who helped to create innovative pieces of art that were often beyond the borders of their time.

i´ve wanted to see the wind for ages...makes me think of another film with lillian gish that would have been ruined by spoken dialogue-broken blossoms.the poetry of lillian gish´s expressions,gestures and movements is so strong that spoken words seem much too profane.

saw her in barbed wire only lately....she was such a great actress,even though today she´s probably more famous for her lavish style,exotic looks and her dramatic performances on the stage of life (valentino´s funeral )...








nita naldi,another vamp and probably the legitime successor to theda bara


and while i´m unfastening vamps lya shouldn´t be left out



an exquisite beauty and actress


virginia valli,saw her in hitchcock´s first film-the pleasure garden


charleston is in the air

[somnambule]

soft and beautiful vilma banky-valentino and her were a screen-dream couple imo


and


alice terry


another silent film i´d like to watch

from wikipedia.org
Lya Mara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Jump to: navigation, search
Lya Mara (* August 1, 1897 - † 1960?) was one of the biggest stars of the German silent cinema.
Lya Mra
Autographed photo of Lya Mara ca.1920BornAleksandra Gudowicz
August 1, 1897(1897-08-01)
Riga, LatviaDied1960?
Other name(s)Mia MaraSpouse(s)Frederic Zelnik (1885-1950)
Lya Mara was born as Aleksandra Gudowicz in a Polish family in Riga, Livonia. As a young girl she wanted to become a chemist, as then famous Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Just before the World War I,in 1913 Lya Mara moved with her family to Warsaw, as Poland and Latvia were part of the Russian Empire. She began her acting career as a dancer.
In Warsaw, Lya Mara played her first small part in a short fiction silent film under a characteristically simplified title We want husband (We want husband, 1916, as Mia Mara) and soon after in another film Bestia (The Beast, premiere on January 5, 1917) directed by a Polish director of older generation Alexander Hertz. Another Polish actress Pola Negri, who later made an extraordinary career in Germany and in America, was the star of this film. Soon after that film Pola Negri left for Berlin and Lya Mara followed her steps. It was a time of the World War I and Poland occupied since 1915 by the Germans, became a part of the German Empire.
Lya Mara's first film in Germany was Halkas Gelöbnis (1918) directed by an Austrian director Alfred Halm, who also scripted her another film Jadwiga. Both films were produced by young and energetic director-producer Frederic Zelnik. Lya Mara married him in 1918.
Frederic Zelnik promoted Lya Mara to a major star in Germany as she played mainly in films he directed and produced. Since 1920 Zelnik's film production company was named Zelnik-Mara-Film GmbH. Lya Mara played important parts as Charlotte Corday, Anna Karenina (1919) and Manon, attracting audience with her charm and youthful appeal. Lya Mara and her husband Frederic Zelnik became real celebrities, receiving at their home many known artists. Her popularity has been further cemented by hundreds of her photographs issued as postcards, chocolate and cigarettes trade cards.
A serious car accident at the end of the 1920s interrupted her career.
Somehow Lya Mara could not adapt her acting to the new artistic conditions after the introduction of sound in cinema in 1929, while Zelnik became first director in Germany who postsynchronized foreign films. Lya Mara's only film from the sound era is Jeder fragt nach Erika(1931) directed by her husband.
When Hitler took power in Germany (1933), Lya Mara left with Frederic Zelnik for London. There is no record of her acting there, in none of her husband films produced until 1939 in England and The Netherlands.
Frederic Zelnik died in London on November 29, 1950. It is generally admitted, that Lya Mara spent last years of her life in Switzerland.

[GBArt]

Welcome back, somnambule!

[-lucyinthesky-]

Some pictures of the fascinating Brigitte Helm:

delcampe, ebay

[somnambule]

thank you,gbart,i knew that you are a sharp observer !!!i´m glad my time machine works again since it´s fatiguing to be stuck in the future .

i love those,lucy!!she had such a classic face and one of the most beautiful profiles....almost a female barrymore...




(from the booklet of the dvd l´argent)


--------------------------------------------
(source:silent stars by jeanine basinger)
constance talmadge


mabel normand


mary pickford


marion davies


pola negri