Greed! LOVE! Sex! TORRENT! Flapper! Hearts! 6 films 4 DVDs
Greed (1924) Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt
It was directed by Erich von Stroheim and starring Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller, Tempe Pigott, Sylvia Ashton, Chester Conklin, Joan Standing and Jack Curtis.
The plot follows a dentist whose wife wins a lottery ticket, only to become obsessed with money. When her former lover betrays the dentist as a fraud, all of their lives are destroyed.
The movie was adapted by von Stroheim (shooting screenplay) and Joseph Farnham (titles) from the 1899 novel McTeague by Frank Norris. (The on-screen writing credit for June Mathis was strictly a contractual obligation to her on the part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (the parent studio), as she was not actually involved in the production.)
Originally over ten hours long, Greed was ultimately edited against von Stroheim's permission to about two and a half hours, and the full-length version is a lost film. This DVD is TCM airing; 240 minutes.
Sex (1920) Louise Glaum and Olive Thomas THE Flapper (1920)
Sex (1920) silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo, written by C. Gardner Sullivan, produced by J. Parker Read, and starring Louise Glaum. On its surface, the film was a morality story on the evils of marital infidelity. However, the film's producer, J. Parker Read, had made a series of pictures on sex themes. The release of Sex, with its provocative title and explicit scenes of seduction and debauchery, made it the subject of controversy among censors and commentators.
One of the unusual elements in the filming of Sex was the use of three cameras. One camera was used to produce the negative from which prints were to be made for use in the United States, and a second was used to be used for foreign prints. The third camera was "placed at an angle different from either of the others" and was used in the expectation that a unique angle might provide a more interesting view of the dramatic action."
The film's title and subject matter were the subject of controversy in some locations. Playing off of the film's provocative title, newspaper advertising urged readers to "SEE SEX SEE SEX SEE SEX."
The Pennsylvania State Board of Motion Picture Censors refused to allow the film to be shown in Pennsylvania under its provocative title. To appease the censors, the film was distributed in Pennsylvania under the title "Sex Crushed to Earth."
In Hagerstown, Maryland, the theater owner defended his showing of the film by pointing to its "social import": "Of all the social problems that beset the world that of 'Sex' is indubitably the greatest. The 'mystery' of the sex equation has given rise to innumerable pruderies and pruriencies but Manager Thropp of the Colonial Theatre has come out flatly with the pronouncement that he has booked 'Sex' ... because of its vast social import."
The film was a box office success, and the Los Angeles Times reported that it had led to a war being declared in some quarters against "sex pictures." Echoing the response of Sex producer, J. Parker Read, the Times in February 1921 wrote: "Sex has an important part in life either for evil or good, and it is the producers' privilege to show the error of the former and the virtue of the latter. Anybody who would wish to ban sex pictures from the screen, would be simply eliminating a highly important, if not the most important phase of life from the pictures. Thus did J. Parker Read, impresario of sensational sex films, outline his attitude toward the present agitation against pictures on sex themes."
The Flapper (1920) It was the first movie in the United States to portray the "flapper" lifestyle which would soon become a 1920's fad.
Starring Olive Thomas, Warren Cook
Directed by Alan Crosland
Produced by Myron Selznick
Written by Frances Marion
Cinematography, John W. Brown
Distributed by Selznick Pictures Corporation
Release date: May 10, 1920
Running time: 88 mins.
Original Score, Brian Pinette
A Brian Pinette EXCLUSIVE Release
Lillian & Dorothy Gish “Hearts of the World”
Hearts of the World (1918) is a silent film directed by D. W. Griffith, a wartime propaganda classic that was filmed on location in Britain and near the Western Front, made at the request of the British Government to change the neutral mindset of the American public. Stars: Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Robert Harron.
Torrent (1926) / Love (1927) Greta Garbo - double feature - 1 DVD
In DVD/CD sleeves, photo labels. Guaranteed, replaced with same title.
Digitally mastered from various sources.
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