Robert Downey Jr. has played legendary detective Sherlock Holmes in two feature films directed by Guy Ritchie — “Sherlock Holmes” (2009) and “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” (2011) — and now the actor is preserving the character’s legacy in an even greater way by serving as honorary chair of “Searching for Sherlock: The Game’s Afoot.” The project is a joint effort between the UCLA Film and Television Archive and Baker Street Irregulars and seeks to discover long-lost Sherlock Holmes movies from the silent film era and beyond.
“Sherlock Holmes is really an international phenomenon,” UCLA Film & Television Archive director Jan-Christopher Horak told the Los Angeles Times. “We decided that it would really be worthwhile to, first of all, do a research project and find out how many of these Sherlock Holmes films survived and in what condition, and what we at UCLA Film and TV archive could then do to preserve some of them.
“Sherlock Holmes is really an international phenomenon,” UCLA Film & Television Archive director Jan-Christopher Horak told the Los Angeles Times. “We decided that it would really be worthwhile to, first of all, do a research project and find out how many of these Sherlock Holmes films survived and in what condition, and what we at UCLA Film and TV archive could then do to preserve some of them.
- 9/6/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Sean Wilson Jan 16, 2017
From the BBC's Sherlock, through Disney, Hans Zimmer and Young Sherlock Holmes: we salute the music of Mr Holmes...
Few characters have enjoyed as much reinvention as Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth Sherlock Holmes, an enduring icon who is as much bound up with the history of cinema (and indeed stage, TV and radio) as he is with literature. Indeed, adaptations of Holmes stories stretch right the way back to the earliest days of film at the start of the 20th century. Fittingly enough given Holmes' penchant for a violin serenade, the musical scores to his adventures are as richly varied as the outcomes to his mysteries are unexpected. Here are Holmes' musical highlights, from Buster Keaton through to Benedict Cumberbatch.
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Not, strictly speaking, a Sherlock movie but as the title implies, the legacy of the character casts a long shadow over Buster Keaton's silent classic.
From the BBC's Sherlock, through Disney, Hans Zimmer and Young Sherlock Holmes: we salute the music of Mr Holmes...
Few characters have enjoyed as much reinvention as Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth Sherlock Holmes, an enduring icon who is as much bound up with the history of cinema (and indeed stage, TV and radio) as he is with literature. Indeed, adaptations of Holmes stories stretch right the way back to the earliest days of film at the start of the 20th century. Fittingly enough given Holmes' penchant for a violin serenade, the musical scores to his adventures are as richly varied as the outcomes to his mysteries are unexpected. Here are Holmes' musical highlights, from Buster Keaton through to Benedict Cumberbatch.
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Not, strictly speaking, a Sherlock movie but as the title implies, the legacy of the character casts a long shadow over Buster Keaton's silent classic.
- 1/15/2017
- Den of Geek
African-American film 'Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day.' With Williams and Odessa Warren Grey.* Rare, early 20th-century African-American film among San Francisco Silent Film Festival highlights Directed by Edwin Middleton and T. Hayes Hunter, the Biograph Company's Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) was the film I most looked forward to at the 2015 edition of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. One hundred years old, unfinished, and destined to be scrapped and tossed into the dust bin, it rose from the ashes. Starring entertainer Bert Williams – whose film appearances have virtually disappeared, but whose legacy lives on – Lime Kiln Club Field Day has become a rare example of African-American life in the first years of the 20th century. In the introduction to the film, the audience was treated to a treasure trove of Black memorabilia: sheet music, stills, promotional material, and newspaper clippings that survive. Details of the...
- 6/16/2015
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
"Over the span of two decades, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (Sfsff) has transformed itself from a one-day, three-film event into the second most prestigious silent movie showcase in the world," writes Michael Hawley at the top of his extensive overview. Featured in the 20th edition opening today are "Pauline Kael's all-time favorite film (the 1926 French short Ménilmontant), Harold Lloyd's last silent picture (Speedy) and Frank Capra's first sound film (The Donovan Affair, whose lost soundtrack will be recreated by live actors). The roster of high-profile guests includes Kevin Brownlow, Serge Bromberg and Leonard Maltin." We're gathering previews of highlights including Andre Antoine’s The Swallow and the Titmouse, Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes and more. » - David Hudson...
- 5/28/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
"Over the span of two decades, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (Sfsff) has transformed itself from a one-day, three-film event into the second most prestigious silent movie showcase in the world," writes Michael Hawley at the top of his extensive overview. Featured in the 20th edition opening today are "Pauline Kael's all-time favorite film (the 1926 French short Ménilmontant), Harold Lloyd's last silent picture (Speedy) and Frank Capra's first sound film (The Donovan Affair, whose lost soundtrack will be recreated by live actors). The roster of high-profile guests includes Kevin Brownlow, Serge Bromberg and Leonard Maltin." We're gathering previews of highlights including Andre Antoine’s The Swallow and the Titmouse, Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes and more. » - David Hudson...
- 5/28/2015
- Keyframe
Warner Bros. Pictures
According to Guinness World Records, Sherlock Holmes is the “most portrayed movie character,” with more than 70 actors having played the sleuth in over 200 films. Current renditions of the show, such as Sherlock and Elementary, give modern spins on the 125-year-old character, and recently Sir Ian McKellen has announced that he will be playing a 93-year-old version of the infamous ‘consulting detective’ in the 2015 film Mr. Holmes. Needless to say, Sherlock Holmes is alive and well, and possibly more popular than he’s ever been.
Holmes first appeared in print in 1887 by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He was featured in four novels and 56 short stories by Conan Doyle, and has since been written about by numerous other authors. Holmes made the leap to the visual medium in William Gillette’s 1899 play, Sherlock Holmes, or The Strange Case of Miss Faulkner, and has since been portrayed in every decade since,...
According to Guinness World Records, Sherlock Holmes is the “most portrayed movie character,” with more than 70 actors having played the sleuth in over 200 films. Current renditions of the show, such as Sherlock and Elementary, give modern spins on the 125-year-old character, and recently Sir Ian McKellen has announced that he will be playing a 93-year-old version of the infamous ‘consulting detective’ in the 2015 film Mr. Holmes. Needless to say, Sherlock Holmes is alive and well, and possibly more popular than he’s ever been.
Holmes first appeared in print in 1887 by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He was featured in four novels and 56 short stories by Conan Doyle, and has since been written about by numerous other authors. Holmes made the leap to the visual medium in William Gillette’s 1899 play, Sherlock Holmes, or The Strange Case of Miss Faulkner, and has since been portrayed in every decade since,...
- 12/29/2014
- by Cory Barclay
- Obsessed with Film
We never stop recovering our film history. In 2014 alone we found a 1916 version of Sherlock Holmes starring the legendary stage actor William Gillette (the only known footage of the man considered the definitive Holmes of his era in character) and an unfinished orphan film shot in 1913 starring black Broadway star Bert Williams. The digital tools have given filmmakers, producers, studios and film archivists and restorers the ability to resurrect damaged prints and rescue damaged footage previously beyond the scope of physical and chemical methods and the transition from film prints to theatrical digital formats for repertory and revival showings has created new incentives to restore and remaster classic films for new theatrical screenings. >> - Sean Axmaker...
- 11/23/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
We never stop recovering our film history. In 2014 alone we found a 1916 version of Sherlock Holmes starring the legendary stage actor William Gillette (the only known footage of the man considered the definitive Holmes of his era in character) and an unfinished orphan film shot in 1913 starring black Broadway star Bert Williams. The digital tools have given filmmakers, producers, studios and film archivists and restorers the ability to resurrect damaged prints and rescue damaged footage previously beyond the scope of physical and chemical methods and the transition from film prints to theatrical digital formats for repertory and revival showings has created new incentives to restore and remaster classic films for new theatrical screenings. >> - Sean Axmaker...
- 11/23/2014
- Keyframe
Of the well-over-200 Sherlock Holmes films produced since 1900, one you might not have expected to see was 1916's Sherlock Holmes. Before Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr, Ian McKellen and Jonny Lee Miller; before Jeremy Brett and Peter Cushing; before even Basil Rathbone, there was William Gillette, in the blockbuster 1899 stage play Sherlock Holmes: A Drama In Four Acts. Long thought to have been lost forever, a nitrate copy of the film adaptation has just been uncovered in the vaults of the French film archive the Cinémathèque Français.Gillette toured the world with the play and became indelibly linked to the famous Baker Street detective. It was Gillette that popularised the deerstalker hat and the big pipe (though he in turn got them from Strand magazine illustrator Sidney Paget); coined the phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson"; and was the recipient of the famous telegram from a bored-of-Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle telling him that he could,...
- 10/6/2014
- EmpireOnline
'Sherlock Holmes' movie found at Cinémathèque Française (image: William Gillette in 'Sherlock Holmes') Sherlock Holmes, a long-thought-lost 1916 feature starring stage performer and playwright William Gillette in the title role, has been discovered in the vaults of the Cinémathèque Française. Directed by the all-but-forgotten Arthur Berthelet for the Chicago-based Essanay production company, the approximately 90-minute movie is supposed to be not only the sole record of William Gillette's celebrated performance as Arthur Conan Doyle's detective, but also the only surviving Gillette film.* In the late 19th century, William Gillette himself wrote the play Sherlock Holmes, which turned out to be a mash-up of various stories and novels featuring the detective, chiefly the short stories "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Final Problem." ("May I marry Holmes?" Gillette, while vying for the role, telegraphed Conan Doyle. The latter replied, "You may marry or murder or do What you like with him.
- 10/3/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Some good news for silent film fans. The Cinémathèque Française film archive/museum in Paris, France announced this week that they've "rediscovered" and will be restoring a print of a 1916 silent film directed by Arthur Berthelet, starring William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes. The newly restored print will premiere at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in May 2015 next year, and this news was released jointly between these two organizations (via Variety). Gillette is a classic British actor known for playing Sherlock Holmes on stage, and this is his one and only film role as the detective in one of the first film adaptations. The report states that a "nitrate dupe negative" was discovered in Cinémathèque Française's vaults just last week and will be digitally restored, with the very first premiere at the Toute la Mémoire du Monde, before going on to play at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The film,...
- 10/2/2014
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Before Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Brett, or Basil Rathbone donned the deerstalker, the world’s first film version of Sherlock Holmes was performed by an actor named William Gillette. Never heard of him? That is hardly surprising, as Gillette was primarily a stage actor and made only one film: Sherlock Holmes, from 1916. Long thought lost, Sherlock Holmes was recently discovered by the Cinematheque Francaise, and is currently in the process of a digital restoration with the help of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Directed by Arthur Berthelet and produced by Essanay Studios in Chicago, the 1916 film version of Sherlock Holmes features Gillette in the titular role as he comes into conflict with his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty. The film contains a number of set pieces that were part of Gillette’s original play, and apparently illustrates how Gillette brought a number of elements from various Sherlock Holmes stories into the plot.
Directed by Arthur Berthelet and produced by Essanay Studios in Chicago, the 1916 film version of Sherlock Holmes features Gillette in the titular role as he comes into conflict with his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty. The film contains a number of set pieces that were part of Gillette’s original play, and apparently illustrates how Gillette brought a number of elements from various Sherlock Holmes stories into the plot.
- 10/2/2014
- by Lauren Humphries-Brooks
- We Got This Covered
French-film archive Cinémathèque Française announced today that it has uncovered a lost, silent film version of Sherlock Holmes from 1916 in its archives. The film is the only surviving footage of actor William Gillette — the first to don Holmes's iconic deerstalker hat — in a role that he made famous in stage portrayals. It is currently being restored and will make its U.S. debut at the the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in May 2015. "William Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes has ranked among the holy grails of lost film and my first glimpse of the footage confirms Gillette’s magnetism,” said Robert Byrne, board president of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. "Audiences are going to be blown away when they see the real Sherlock Holmes on screen for the first time.” Um, the real Sherlock Holmes? Mr. Byrne should be glad the Cumberbitches don’t have some sort of Beygency-type enforcement organization (Cumberbeygency?...
- 10/2/2014
- by Anna Silman
- Vulture
A 1916 silent movie about Sherlock Holmes, long thought to be lost, has been discovered by the Cinematheque Francaise, which has joined with the San Francisco Film Festival to create a digital restoration. The restored film will be unveiled in Europe at the Cinematheque Francais' festival of film restoration in Paris in January, and its American premiere will take place at the San Francisco Silent Film festival in May, the Sfsff announced Wednesday. Sherlock Holmes, directed by Arthur Berthelet and produced by the Essanay Studios in Chicago, starred William Gillette, an American actor and playwright popular in the late 19th
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- 10/1/2014
- by Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sherlock Holmes has appeared on stage and on screen numerous times played by dozens of actors, and now, thanks to a recent discovery, fans of the world's greatest detective will be able to view a lost but key piece of his on-screen history. The French film archive Cinémathèque Française announced on Wednesday that a silent film version of Sherlock Holmes produced in 1916 was discovered in their collection a few weeks ago. Produced by Essanay Studios, the film, simply titled Sherlock Holmes, stars William Gillette as the titular detective, a role for which he was known around the world. Gillette is...
- 10/1/2014
- by Jonathon Dornbush
- EW - Inside Movies
Before 1941’s Citizen Kane, director Orson Welles played around with film to make 1938’s Too Much Johnson, an unfinished project now available to stream online for free.
When Welles’ Mercury Theatre put on a production of William Gillette’s 1894 comedy Too Much Johnson, he made silent film counterparts to be shown throughout the live production. The film never made it into the production though and was unseen by the public until it was discovered in Italy in 2013, and has only been shown publicly a handful of times since its uncovering.
The National Film Preservation Foundation put the work on its...
When Welles’ Mercury Theatre put on a production of William Gillette’s 1894 comedy Too Much Johnson, he made silent film counterparts to be shown throughout the live production. The film never made it into the production though and was unseen by the public until it was discovered in Italy in 2013, and has only been shown publicly a handful of times since its uncovering.
The National Film Preservation Foundation put the work on its...
- 8/21/2014
- by Ariana Bacle
- EW - Inside Movies
The rediscovered 1938 film, which has launched the Academy's Essential Orson Welles series, anticipates his later Diy spirit
Last summer, much excitement greeted the news that a work print of Orson Welles's long-lost Too Much Johnson, which pre-dates his first feature, Citizen Kane, had been discovered in a warehouse in Pordenone, Italy. Produced in 1938 as part of a mixed-media staging of actor/playwright William Gillette's 1894 comedy, it consists of three filmed interstitial segments designed to provide backstory and context for the play, which unfortunately flopped in tryouts at Connecticut's Stony Creek theatre and never opened on Broadway.
Restored under the auspices of George Eastman House and the National Film Preservation Foundation, the footage (about 66 minutes) had been screened for the public only three times before its presentation at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on 3 May as part of a double bill with Welles's earliest known film, the...
Last summer, much excitement greeted the news that a work print of Orson Welles's long-lost Too Much Johnson, which pre-dates his first feature, Citizen Kane, had been discovered in a warehouse in Pordenone, Italy. Produced in 1938 as part of a mixed-media staging of actor/playwright William Gillette's 1894 comedy, it consists of three filmed interstitial segments designed to provide backstory and context for the play, which unfortunately flopped in tryouts at Connecticut's Stony Creek theatre and never opened on Broadway.
Restored under the auspices of George Eastman House and the National Film Preservation Foundation, the footage (about 66 minutes) had been screened for the public only three times before its presentation at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on 3 May as part of a double bill with Welles's earliest known film, the...
- 5/5/2014
- by Jordan Riefe
- The Guardian - Film News
Orson Welles Lost 1938 Film Too Much Johnson Receives New York City Premiere Mon., Nov. 25, 6:30 pm!
In 1934 a 19-year-old Orson Welles created his first short film Hearts Of Age, mostly seen by audiences many years later on home video. In 1938, to accompany his stage adaptation of William Gillette's 1894 play Too Much Johnson, Welles created three short films to act as prologues to each act of the play. Originally including live music and sound effects, and despite starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles himself, the three-act slapstick was never finished, and the play opened August 16, 1938, without the filmed sections. The film never received any public screenings, Welles moved on and the film was mislaid, and lost, later believed to have burned in a fire at his Spanish villa. Then, in 2012, almost 75 years after its...
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- 11/22/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Orson Welles' Too Much Johnson, screened for the first time to a full house at Pordenone Festival of Silent Cinema, comes trailing clouds of mystery like so much else in the life and work of its maker.
We know Welles shot the film in 1938 with a newsreel cameraman, intending it as a series of insert sequence within a play he was producing with the Mercury Theater. For various reasons, the three sequences, intended to carry the exposition in William Gillette's 1894 farce, were not ready or could not be projected when the play opened, and as a result the show was not a success.
Now George Eastman House has restored what it describes as Welles' cutting copy, apparently discovered in a warehouse in Pordenone itself. It consists of several reels of loosely ordered material with multiple takes, and was presented without any alteration apart from the preservation necessary to make the material projectable.
We know Welles shot the film in 1938 with a newsreel cameraman, intending it as a series of insert sequence within a play he was producing with the Mercury Theater. For various reasons, the three sequences, intended to carry the exposition in William Gillette's 1894 farce, were not ready or could not be projected when the play opened, and as a result the show was not a success.
Now George Eastman House has restored what it describes as Welles' cutting copy, apparently discovered in a warehouse in Pordenone itself. It consists of several reels of loosely ordered material with multiple takes, and was presented without any alteration apart from the preservation necessary to make the material projectable.
- 10/30/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Lost footage shot by Citizen Kane director Orson Welles has been recovered.
Three short films from 1938 were found in a warehouse in north-east Italy. They were originally intended to be screened during a staging of the 19th Century comedy Too Much Johnson.
The movies were planned as prologues to each act of William Gillette's three-part farce but were never finished.
It was previously thought that the only known print was destroyed in a fire in 1970, according to the BBC.
Simon Callow, Welles's biographer, said the shorts represent "a very significant missing piece in the jigsaw of Welles's art".
He added: "It will tell us an enormous amount about his visual sensibility and indeed about his theatrical instincts."
Too Much Johnson was staged without the shorts at the Stony Creek Theatre in Connecticut in August 1938 but wasn't a success.
The short films, which weren't all intact, have been restored and...
Three short films from 1938 were found in a warehouse in north-east Italy. They were originally intended to be screened during a staging of the 19th Century comedy Too Much Johnson.
The movies were planned as prologues to each act of William Gillette's three-part farce but were never finished.
It was previously thought that the only known print was destroyed in a fire in 1970, according to the BBC.
Simon Callow, Welles's biographer, said the shorts represent "a very significant missing piece in the jigsaw of Welles's art".
He added: "It will tell us an enormous amount about his visual sensibility and indeed about his theatrical instincts."
Too Much Johnson was staged without the shorts at the Stony Creek Theatre in Connecticut in August 1938 but wasn't a success.
The short films, which weren't all intact, have been restored and...
- 8/8/2013
- Digital Spy
Silent short Too Much Johnson features Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles.
A 1938 Orson Welles film has been discovered in a warehouse in Italy.
Silent film Too Much Johnson, starring Joseph Cotten in the lead role, was found in a warehouse by the staff of Cinemazero, an art house in Pordenone, Italy.
The silent film was originally intended to be used in conjunction with Welles’ stage adaptation of an 1894 play by William Gillette. The Mercury Theatre planned to show the three short films as prologues to each act of the play.
The nitrate print of the film - left unfinished by the Mercury Theatre and never shown in public - was given by Cinemazero to one of Italy’s major film archives, the Cineteca del Friuli in nearby Gemona, and transferred from there to George Eastman House in order to be preserved.
According to published sources, until now the only known print of Too Much Johnson had burnt...
A 1938 Orson Welles film has been discovered in a warehouse in Italy.
Silent film Too Much Johnson, starring Joseph Cotten in the lead role, was found in a warehouse by the staff of Cinemazero, an art house in Pordenone, Italy.
The silent film was originally intended to be used in conjunction with Welles’ stage adaptation of an 1894 play by William Gillette. The Mercury Theatre planned to show the three short films as prologues to each act of the play.
The nitrate print of the film - left unfinished by the Mercury Theatre and never shown in public - was given by Cinemazero to one of Italy’s major film archives, the Cineteca del Friuli in nearby Gemona, and transferred from there to George Eastman House in order to be preserved.
According to published sources, until now the only known print of Too Much Johnson had burnt...
- 8/8/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
A 35mm nitrate work print of Orson Welles' long-lost 1939 slapstick short film "Too Much Johnson" has been recovered.
Welles made the never completed short for his Mercury Theatre's stage production of William Gillette's 19th century comedy of the same name.
The plan was to show three short films as prologues to each act of the three-part slapstick comedy. It was never confirmed why the project was never completed, though the stage production was a flop.
A then 23-year-old Welles directed the work the same year he presented his infamous radio production of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds". Two years later he created his revered 1941 cinematic classic "Citizen Kane".
Until recently, the only known print of the film was destroyed in a fire at Welles' home near Madrid in 1970. This newly discovered print was located in a warehouse in Pordenone, Italy, by staff from the film exhibition organization Cinemazero.
Welles made the never completed short for his Mercury Theatre's stage production of William Gillette's 19th century comedy of the same name.
The plan was to show three short films as prologues to each act of the three-part slapstick comedy. It was never confirmed why the project was never completed, though the stage production was a flop.
A then 23-year-old Welles directed the work the same year he presented his infamous radio production of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds". Two years later he created his revered 1941 cinematic classic "Citizen Kane".
Until recently, the only known print of the film was destroyed in a fire at Welles' home near Madrid in 1970. This newly discovered print was located in a warehouse in Pordenone, Italy, by staff from the film exhibition organization Cinemazero.
- 8/8/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
As any good film student or person with working Internet can tell you, Orson Welles made his feature-film debut with 1941’s Citizen Kane, thus ruining the lives of every first-time filmmaker thereafter. But somewhat less known is that Kane wasn’t Welles’ first at-bat: He shot his first short film in 1934 (in the same town that later hosted Groundhog Day), and in 1938, he even directed an almost-feature-length movie, the 40-minute Too Much Johnson. (Please keep reading.) Based on an 1894 William Gillette play, the film was meant to be the cinematic component of an ambitious, early multimedia ...
- 8/7/2013
- avclub.com
In 1941, Orson Welles released what was widely considered his feature film debut: A little movie called Citizen Kane. However, three years earlier, he shot another fullish-length (40 minutes) movie, Too Much Johnson, an adaptation of William Gillette's 1894 play. Welles originally shot the movie to play before his own stage version of the comedy, but never showed it to an audience as the play closed before he could finish editing it. It remained unseen for decades and, after a fire destroyed Welles' Spanish villa in 1970, it was widely considered that no copies existed.However, a copy was recently discovered in a warehouse in the northern Italian town of Pordenone. It's in surprisingly salvageable shape and is currently being restored by the George Eastman House with the help of the National Film Preservation Foundation with the intention of premiering it at Pordenone's silent film festival Le Giornate del Cinema Muto on October...
- 8/7/2013
- by Jesse David Fox
- Vulture
Though Orson Welles has been gone from this world for 28 years, but that doesn't mean he's done giving films to the world. Back in 1938, Welles worked on a stage production of an 1894 play from William Gillette. As part of the show, Welles and his Mercury Theater planned to show three short films as prologues to each act of the play. The segments together formed a three-part slapstick comedy starring Citizen Kane and Soylent Green actor Joseph Cotten, which were originally supposed to be screened with music and live sound effects, but the project was never completed and was thought lost. But it has just been found in Italy! Variety reports the film, called Too Much Johnson, was discovered in an Italian warehouse and has been restored and set for premiere at Italy’s silent film fest Le Giornate del Cinema Muto on October 9th. Following its debut overseas, the film...
- 8/7/2013
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
A long lost, never-before-seen film that was written and directed by 20-year-old wunderkind Orson Welles three years before the premiere of Citizen Kane has been unearthed in Italy and restored for a premiere in October. Too Much Johnson (1938), a screwball marital farce that starred Joseph Cotten, Arlene Francis and Ruth Ford, was done by Welles’ famed Mercury Theatre as a companion piece for a planned multimedia stage adaptation of the 19th century play by William Gillette. The silent work, filmed in three acts and about an hour in length, was never finished or seen publicly,
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- 8/7/2013
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As film lore tells us, director Orson Welles made his feature film debut with "Citizen Kane," widely considered to be the greatest movie of all time.
But as it turns out, "Citizen Kane" wasn't Welles's first film; he made a three-part slapstick comedy called "Too Much Johnson" in 1938 that was never seen by the public. The trio of short, silent films were meant to be screened as part of Welles's production of an 1894 William Gillette farce -- but the director never finished editing the footage, and the play closed early after terrible previews.
For years, film scholars have been intrigued by Welles's first movie project, but there was no known print in existence. Until now.
A copy of "Too Much Johnson" was unearthed in an Italian warehouse and is being restored at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, New York. "Too Much Johnson" will...
But as it turns out, "Citizen Kane" wasn't Welles's first film; he made a three-part slapstick comedy called "Too Much Johnson" in 1938 that was never seen by the public. The trio of short, silent films were meant to be screened as part of Welles's production of an 1894 William Gillette farce -- but the director never finished editing the footage, and the play closed early after terrible previews.
For years, film scholars have been intrigued by Welles's first movie project, but there was no known print in existence. Until now.
A copy of "Too Much Johnson" was unearthed in an Italian warehouse and is being restored at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, New York. "Too Much Johnson" will...
- 8/7/2013
- by Kelly Woo
- Moviefone
Orson Welles made his feature film debut as a director with Citizen Kane and before that he directed the eight-minute short film Hearts of Age, which you can watch at the bottom of this post. However, Welles worked on another film between those two efforts, which was believed lost forever... until now. Dave Kehr at the New York Times has posted a feature article on Welles' Too Much Johnson, a 1938 film he wrote, directed and never finished based on the play by William Gillette, which has recently resurfaced "in the warehouse of a shipping company in the northern Italian port city of Pordenone, where the footage had apparently been abandoned sometime in the 1970s." Classic film organization Cinemazero is working with George Eastman House and the National Film Preservation Foundation to preserve and transfer the nitrate film to safety stock, after which the 40 minutes of surviving footage will be screened...
- 8/7/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
If there is one famous literary character that has made such an impact on film and television, it has to be Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s immortal detective. Holmes has generated such a fascination for filmmakers; he is probably more popular, and certainly more prolific, than Dracula and James Bond put together. The number of Holmes films produced since the pioneering days of the silent era is so extensive it’s unlikely the Great Detective will ever be absent from our screens for very long.
Within the last couple of years, Holmes has become fashionable again thanks to Robert Downey Jr’s cinematic reinvention of the role in two successful Guy Ritchie movies and the excellent TV series Sherlock, which effectively transports Holmes (brilliantly played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to modern day London. Oddly enough the concept is not a new one considering Holmes, like Dracula, is a man of his time...
Within the last couple of years, Holmes has become fashionable again thanks to Robert Downey Jr’s cinematic reinvention of the role in two successful Guy Ritchie movies and the excellent TV series Sherlock, which effectively transports Holmes (brilliantly played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to modern day London. Oddly enough the concept is not a new one considering Holmes, like Dracula, is a man of his time...
- 2/13/2012
- Shadowlocked
Ferociously intelligent actor who reigned supreme in Stoppard and Shakespeare
John Wood, who has died aged 81, was one of the greatest stage actors of the past century, especially associated with his roles in the plays of Tom Stoppard. But a combination of his enigmatic privacy and low profile on film – he cropped up a lot without dominating a movie – meant that he remained largely unknown to the wider public.
As with all great actors, you always knew what he was thinking, all the time. Wood was especially striking in the brain-box department. Tall, forbidding and aquiline-featured, he was as much the perfect Sherlock Holmes on stage as he was the ideal Brutus. He exuded ferocious intelligence, and the twinkle in his eye could be as merciless as it was invariably amused.
As the Royal Shakespeare Company's Brutus in Julius Caesar in 1972, he was undoubtedly the noblest Roman of them all,...
John Wood, who has died aged 81, was one of the greatest stage actors of the past century, especially associated with his roles in the plays of Tom Stoppard. But a combination of his enigmatic privacy and low profile on film – he cropped up a lot without dominating a movie – meant that he remained largely unknown to the wider public.
As with all great actors, you always knew what he was thinking, all the time. Wood was especially striking in the brain-box department. Tall, forbidding and aquiline-featured, he was as much the perfect Sherlock Holmes on stage as he was the ideal Brutus. He exuded ferocious intelligence, and the twinkle in his eye could be as merciless as it was invariably amused.
As the Royal Shakespeare Company's Brutus in Julius Caesar in 1972, he was undoubtedly the noblest Roman of them all,...
- 8/10/2011
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Having had the TV hit of the summer with Sherlock, Mark Gatiss is now bringing cult horror to the masses – and putting Edwardians on the moon. Stuart Jeffries meets a shooting star
'When I was a boy," says Mark Gatiss, "I wanted to be a whiskery man in a white coat saying, 'Look, it's a pterodactyl!'" He elaborates, mentioning one of his film heroes, who died earlier this year: "I wanted to be Lionel Jeffries in an Edwardian-set family fantasy film."
Gatiss, now 43, has his wish. He's playing Edwardian inventor Joseph Cavor in his own defiantly kidultish adaptation of Hg Wells's 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon. Cavor is white-coated, facially hirsute and occasionally ditsy. Just before they set off for the moon, fellow astronaut Arnold Bedford inquires: "I say, Cavor, we will be able to get back, won't we?"
"I don't see why not," says Cavor vaguely.
'When I was a boy," says Mark Gatiss, "I wanted to be a whiskery man in a white coat saying, 'Look, it's a pterodactyl!'" He elaborates, mentioning one of his film heroes, who died earlier this year: "I wanted to be Lionel Jeffries in an Edwardian-set family fantasy film."
Gatiss, now 43, has his wish. He's playing Edwardian inventor Joseph Cavor in his own defiantly kidultish adaptation of Hg Wells's 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon. Cavor is white-coated, facially hirsute and occasionally ditsy. Just before they set off for the moon, fellow astronaut Arnold Bedford inquires: "I say, Cavor, we will be able to get back, won't we?"
"I don't see why not," says Cavor vaguely.
- 10/11/2010
- by Stuart Jeffries
- The Guardian - Film News
As a long time fan of both Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek, it seems fitting to me that these two cultural icons have become intertwined. Prior to the original airing of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I had mused over the similarity in personalities between Spock and Holmes. I had no inkling that Tng would make a connection between the creations of Arthur Conan Doyle and Gene Roddenberry real on screen.
That connection came courtesy of the android Lt. Commander Data. He fancied himself as Sherlock Holmes and in the episode 'Elementary Dear Data', he created a facsimile of Victorian London so that he could 'play' Sherlock Holmes opposite Geordi La Forge's unconventional Doctor Watson.
'Elementary Dear Data' was one of the most entertaining episodes in Tng's second season but I was never entirely satisfied with it. The writers played fast and loose with Holmes canon and Brent Spiner's...
That connection came courtesy of the android Lt. Commander Data. He fancied himself as Sherlock Holmes and in the episode 'Elementary Dear Data', he created a facsimile of Victorian London so that he could 'play' Sherlock Holmes opposite Geordi La Forge's unconventional Doctor Watson.
'Elementary Dear Data' was one of the most entertaining episodes in Tng's second season but I was never entirely satisfied with it. The writers played fast and loose with Holmes canon and Brent Spiner's...
- 2/16/2010
- CinemaSpy
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