Silent Film Online has added 137 new titles to the streaming collection this month. They’ve also added some information about the score composer for some of the films. Highlights in the new content include:
British Film Institute: examples of early British and French cinema from the 1900s
- A Visit to Peek Frean and Co.’s Biscuit Works, 1906 This company publicity film is one of the earliest surviving examples of film documenting British industry.
- Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs, 1905. This 1905 Pathé Brothers production by director Segundo de Chomon is a French film version of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. An example of color stencil color film print, a technique patented as the Pathéchrome process.
- A Day in the Life of a Coalminer, 1910.
- Rescued by Rover, 1905. This highly successful kidnapping drama directed by Cecil Hepworth features the Hepworth family dog, Blair, who went on to be one of the first dog film stars. Recognized as the United Kingdom’s first major fiction film, it is also said to have been the first film to have used paid actors.
Flicker Alley: first installment of over 80 hours of content acquired from Flicker Alley, this update features selections from the definitive Rudolph Valentino DVD, Valentino: Rediscovering an Icon of Silent Film, a compilation that details several aspects of the Italian actor’s remarkable life and legacy.
- Character Studies, 1927. This comedy features cameo appearances by Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, Buster Keaton, Jackie Coogan, and Harold Lloyd.
- A Trip to Paramountown, 1922. A behind-the-scenes look at the Paramount Pictures studio.
- Valentino: Screen Snapshots. This documentary features a behind-the-scenes look at the 1921 Valentino film The Sheik.
Kino International
- Harry Houdini: Archival Footage. This documentary features archival footage of Houdini’s escapes, from the collection of the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department.
- By the Sun’s Rays, 1914. A silent one-reel Western film featuring Lon Chaney considered to be his earliest film that has survived.
- The Silent Years. A 1970s PBS series hosted by Orson Welles which features stars like Lillian Gish discussing monumental silent films like Broken Blossoms.
- Faust: Deluxe Edition. This special Kino edition contains the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation’s meticulous restoration of the original German version of the film (with unique hand-painted intertitles), as well as a lengthier alternate cut prepared by the Ufa Studios in 1930.