
			World Classics
			Mythology & history has always dominated the world literature. No wonder the infect film industry was also spelled by the mythological & historical subjects.
			Ben-Hur:
			Made by director Fred niblo for M.G.M. the title role was played by ramon novarro. This was the most expensive silent movie ever made it cost about $ 4 million. The film was a great success with a box office collection over $ 8 million. Ben-hur was remade in 1959. (More…)
			The Ten Commandments:
			Made in 1924 by producer-director Cecil B. Demille. A huge exterior ser was created for the film using 550,000 feet of timber, 300 tons of plaster, 25,000 pounds of nails and 75 miles of cable & wire. Almost 19 miles of cloth were used for costumes. The Ten Commandments was remade in 1956. (More…)

Sunrise:

Made in 1927 for Fox, Sunrise was written by Carl Mayer and directed by Friedrich Murnau. Both from German Cinema.

Sunrise was a story of a farmer who is torn between love for his wife and attraction to a sophisticate lady from the city. Murnau treated the subject in his own artistic style using a fantastic sense of compositions, camera and lighting.

The role of the farmer was played by George O’Brien & his wife was played by Janet Gaynor.

The film won an Oscar for “Artistic Quality of Production” at the first academy award ceremony. The cameramen and actress Janet Gaynor also won Oscars.

Moving Pictures Start Talking

The year was 1926. Warner Bros. introduced a continuous sound track into “Don Juan” starring John Barrymore. But the beginning of sound era was marked with the release of “The Jazz Singer” in October 1927. The film had synchronized song and dialogue.

Blackmail:

Sir Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980), a London born film-maker and an unexcelled master of suspense, made his directorial debut in British Cinema (1925). He established himself as a skillful director in silent cinema with films like “The Lodger” (1926), “The Ring” (1927), and “The Farmer’s Wife” (1928).

“BLACK MAIL” was the first British Sound film made in 1929 for Maxwell/British International by the director Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock took no time in using the sound to derive optimum effect in a sequence. He used sound to establish the mood of a sequence or project a character’s state of mind.

The most remarkable thing in the making of the film was the dubbing of the leading lady. The role was played by a German-speaking actress stood behind the camera and spoke into a microphone, matching the lip movements of the heroine on screen.

King Kong:

Written by Edgar Wallace and directed by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest Schoedsack “King Kong” was made in 1933 for R.K.O. The special effects were taken care of by Willis O’Brien.

A documentary filmmaker plans a film featuring a sexy actress Fay Wray with a gorilla. They settle for Kong, a gorilla found on a Polyresian island. Kong is captured and brought to New York and is exhibited as the “Eighth wonder of the world”. Kong gets attracted towards the heroine Fay Wray. One day he breaks loose and wreaks havoc in New York. Towards the climax Kong climbs on the top of the Empire State Building, where he is attacked and shot dead by a squadron of fighter planes.

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