Beyond Hollywood's Grasp

by Harry Waldman

Published 1 June 1994
Between 1914 and 1945, many Hollywood fixtures ventured outside America to make films. This group ranged from directors such as Rex Ingram, Josef von Sternberg, and Orson Welles, to stars such as Erich von Stroheim, Louise Brooks, Dorothy Gish, and Buster Keaton, among others. During WWII, even Alfred Hitchcock produced two French language films in Britain, Aventure Malgache and Bon Voyage. As a group they produced more than 200 films in 30 years. But out of sight, many of these films were quickly forgotten, or worse, ignored back home. Here for the first time is the story of these many films—illustrated with 60 rarely seen stills—and the filmmakers who created them.