The Scarecrow Filmmakers
2 primary works
Book 10
D.W.Griffith and the Biograph Company
by Cooper C Graham, Steven Higgins, Elaine Mancini, and Joao Luiz Vieira
Published 1 January 1985
The Biograph Company was the most influential American film studio of its time. In 1908 D.W. Griffith, the most important filmmaker in the history of world cinema, joined the company. Until late 1913 he served as Biograph's leading director and/or production supervisor for over 800 films. This fundamental reference guide details that work. Each film is fully documented, with production information, cast, and credits. Biograph refused to release the names of its players but here, for the first time, all of those players, major and minor, are authoritatively identified. With complete cross-index.
Book 13
New in Paper! Leni Riefenstahl's four-hour film, Olympia, a major propaganda achievement of Nazi Germany in the 1930's, deals with the Eleventh Olympic Games that were held in Berlin in 1936. Olympia is also perhaps the best German film produced during the National Socialist period. Graham has scrutinized the history of the film and shows that it was deeply involved with the regime, both in its stages of production and in its later distribution. He also argues that the film can be regarded as a masterpiece of propaganda, and further, that virtually any work of this nature is bound to have a propaganda effect, whether intended or not. The author relates the film's subsequent history against the background of the worsening political situation in Europe. The events leading up to World War II were to have a profound effect on the future of the film. Aside from the political issues, the book describes the fascinating story of the making of an epic film. The book will be of value to film historians, sports scholars, and those interested in the history and culture of Nazi Germany. Available in paperback 2002. Cloth version previously published in 1986.