Identify This Movie

[Richlive]

Hi Folks
Can anyone help? A friend has asked me to identify this film. I have uploaded two stills here.

It is clearly a silent film, probably European, and dating from (I think) the early to mid. 1920s.
She has about 50 stills, all 14 x 11, and numbered in the corners. No marks on the back or front to indicate title of film.

Other stills show an Egyptian/ Syrian influence in terms of set , which was evidently on a lavish scale.

Any help very much appreciated!
Richard.

[Rob]

I've not seen the stills - perhaps you could upload them somewhere that does not require viewers to register with the site in order to see them. Without seeing the stills my first thoughts are that it might be Jacques Feyder's 1921 film 'L'Atlantide' (Queen of Atlantis).

[MichaelB]

Do you have to sign in to Box.net in order to see them? I don't particularly want to open up an account just to view a couple of stills.

[karmajuice]

Post the stills at imgur or some other simple image sharing site. You don't have to register to upload pictures or view them.

[Richlive]

Thanks karmajuice - I didn't know about imgur until you told me.

I've uploaded them there.

Thanks for the Feyder suggestion too- I'll investigate further. Should more stills be needed to verify the movie I can probably borrow a couple more.

[rockysds]

Isn't the man Léon Mathot?

[karmajuice]

The film isn't familiar to me, but are you certain these are stills? They look like they could be photographs taken for publicity purposes; they have that stagey-ness about them. In other words, they might be photographs recreating scenes from the film, rather than images taken directly from film frames.

Not that this has any bearing on the identification of the film, but if the distinction is there it should be made.

[Roger Ryan]

The film isn't familiar to me, but are you certain these are stills? They look like they could be photographs taken for publicity purposes; they have that stagey-ness about them. In other words, they might be photographs recreating scenes from the film, rather than images taken directly from film frames.

"Production stills" are generally publicity photos taken on the set whereas "frame enlargements" is usually the term used for actual images from the film itself.

[karmajuice]

As a general rule you should just ignore me.

[Rob]

The woman in the picture is very familiar, but this may be because she looks a lot like Clara Bow.

However, if the man is Leon Mathot, and he certainly looks a lot like him, it would be unlikely to actually be Clara Bow as I don't think they would have made a film together.

The other thing to consider is that if these are indeed original silent era production stills, they are more likely than not to belong to a film that no longer exists, because the majority of films from the silent period are now lost. This could make the stills of great interest.

The sure-fire way to get them identified is to send copies to Kevin Brownlow and Patrick Stanbury of Photoplay Productions. They'll identify them for you in about two seconds flat! Contact details can be found here.

[domino harvey]

Anyone?

[carax09]

A Swedish Love Story.

edit-Have you seen the Summer Camp video that uses footage from the film to nice effect?

[domino harvey]

Thanks, I've been meaning to check that film out anyways. And I hadn't seen the Summer Camp video either, though I enjoy the EP that song comes from

[zedz]

Thanks, I've been meaning to check that film out anyways.

This might just be another of those films we can both agree upon (but I've been wrong before).

[Peacock]

Hey guys, so, I need someone to identify which Angelopoulos film this is from. I haven't seen any of his films yet (will order The Beekeeper soon!), and am looking forward to; anyway I recall seeing a clip online from one of his films, which I wasn't really watching too intently as I didn't want to spoil it for when I actually saw the film. I was just having a taster.

My memory is a bit foggy, but it was definitely color, and had a man in an overcoat (?) walking and talking with a young boy, on the streets at night, possibly near a motorway or something; I think it was all one shot - camera mainly following from behind, not very much dialogue. Any ideas? I'll get everything AE releases and watch them all; but I'm just keen to know which one this is from. Thanks in advance.

[knives]

Was the motorway modern? I can promise that it's not from The Beekeeper though.

[Peacock]

Yes, definitely modern.
It was on youtube, the whole scene, not sure how I found it, but i'd presume it's a pretty famous scene or near the end of one of his more well known films or something. I can't completely recall where they were, it might have been raining, and they seemed to know each other, and there was definitely quite a few cars driving past, and lots of walking...

EDIT: Apologies, I just searched 'angelopoulos' on youtube and it came up pretty high on the list
It's Eternity and a Day and my memory wasn't quite accurate, but anyway, here is the scene in question.

Thanks Knives.

[Richlive]

Thanks all for the help about these silent film stills.
Would it help if I uploaded more stills?
I believe it IS Leon Mathot, but which film? It's clearly an epic, with a Biblical-style set.

[Roger Ryan]

Thanks all for the help about these silent film stills.
Would it help if I uploaded more stills?
I believe it IS Leon Mathot, but which film? It's clearly an epic, with a Biblical-style set.

What struck me about the stills is that the lead actor appears in modern dress (circa 1920s) whereas the other actors do not. I'm thinking the film involves time travel (the lead character travels back to Biblical times).

[Richlive]

Yes- I fully agree!
There are curious buildings on some stills too, which remind me of Babylon in 'Intolerance'.

[Gregory]

Thanks all for the help about these silent film stills.
Would it help if I uploaded more stills?
I believe it IS Leon Mathot, but which film? It's clearly an epic, with a Biblical-style set.

Please do, especially any more with distinctive sets or close-ups of actors. This (or just the actors maybe) looks familiar to me, but it's probably my memory playing tricks on me. It could very well be a lost film.
I noticed the contrast in dress too, but instead of time travel I thought it was probably one of those films about an archaeologist who finds a lost civilization.

[Mr Pixies]

a woman in the rain, its pouring, she seems soaked, coming home to her apartment, she seems exhausted, glad to be home, in from the rain, she has a cat, when she sees the cat she is glad, smootchie poos it to come to her, and she is shocked to see it has a severed finger, maybe a hand, in its mouth,....

Does anyone know what this is from? I feel like it is a movie i have seen more than once, and its almost like i only saw that seen, it could be from a dream i had, so sorry if it is, but if you know it, please tell me!

[Richlive]

Folks- more uploaded images of this mysterious silent film, here and here.

Current knowledge/ status- think it is Leon Mathot on the left of the lower picture in the first group (talking to the bearded man). The film has a historical basis but also a modern day period (they were sold to a friend of mine as 'The Ten Commandments' which they are not!). It was an epic (there are about 50 stills in total, about 11x14 inches in size), and probably European (French/ Italian in all probability). Date? I'm guessing early 1920s- say 1922 to 1926. I have ordered Feyder's 'L'Atlantide', so if they are from that I will soon know!

[Ovader]

a woman in the rain, its pouring, she seems soaked, coming home to her apartment, she seems exhausted, glad to be home, in from the rain, she has a cat, when she sees the cat she is glad, smootchie poos it to come to her, and she is shocked to see it has a severed finger, maybe a hand, in its mouth,....

Could it be The Uncanny since I remember seeing it once and a cat had someone's tongue in its mouth.

[RNL]

A friend was saying to me that he remembers watching TV as a kid and seeing a disturbing image of a tank-tread rolling over a human head and crushing it. We were discussing "Come and See" (which neither of us has seen) when this came up, if that's any help - it might even be that film for all we know.

(It's not Terminator, btw, I think he meant a non-skeletal head, so maybe a corpse but not a skeleton.)

Thanks!