Date Created : 1933 Link : http://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/the-ghoul Creator: T Hayes Hunter Description: The Ghoul is a 1933 British Horror film starring Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger and Ralph Richardson, whose debut film this was. The plot centres around a Professor (Karloff) who is to be buried with an Egyptian jewel in order to attain eternal life. When the jewel is stolen by his servant, the professor rises from the dead to reclaim it. The film, based on The Ghoul (1933) is a British horror film starring Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger, and Ralph Richardson, making his film debut. Plot Gaumont British borrowed just the vaguest outline from the 1928 source novel by Frank King (and subsequent play by King and Leonard J. Hines). King's novel is sub-par Edgar Wallace in which a master criminal popularly erred to as 'The Ghoul' has been responsible for a London crime wave. Betty inherits an estate on the Yorkshire moors from a mysterious benefactor, Edward Morlant, a dabbler in mysticism who years before had been her mother's paramour. But the will requires Betty to take up residence in the old house, where Morlant's corpse soon appears, walking and talking. Morlant tells her that he is an immortal adept and demands the return of his secret diary. The usual suspects and interlopers converge on the house, and upon Morlant's next appearance his resurrected self is killed anew, unquestionably stabbed through the heart. Morlant is soon perambulating again, as people begin turning up dead. All supernatural trappings are dispelled as 'The Ghoul' is penultimately unmasked as Edward Morlant's twin brother, James, a criminal mastermind whose fictive guises included not only his brother, but a bogus police sergeant and his brother's solicitor, Broughton. In a final act of madness, James torches the mansion. The film screenplay uses the merest skeleton of the story and characters and blends it with the Egyptian mysticism of The Mummy (1932 film) while capitalizing on the thunderstorm mystery mood of The Old Dark House (1932), Karloff's two previous Universal Pictures. Eccentric Egyptologist Professor Morlant believes that if he is buried with a jewel called The Eternal Light, in a faux Egyptian tomb he has constructed at his English country estate, Anubis will manifest before him, accept his offering of the diamond, and grant him immortality. Morlant appears to die, but the jewel is snatched by his servant before the interment. No sooner do the heirs arrive for the reading of the will, than Morlant rises from his tomb, finds his bauble gone, and attempts to punish the thieves. The jewel is punted from servant to lawyer to niece to Egyptian fanatic to spinster to mock vicar and eventually back to the revenant Morlant, who makes his blood sacrifice to Anubis before properly expiring. Morlant, it is learned, had merely suffered a cataleptic seizure, and had been buried alive. The mock vicar (Ralph Richardson) is revealed to be the chief villain, and having obtained the Eternal Light sets fire to Morlant's tomb. Betty and her lover manage to escape. Cast Boris Karloff as Prof. Morlant Cedric Hardwicke as Broughton Ernest Thesiger as Laing Dorothy Hyson as Betty Harlon Anthony Bushell as Ralph Morlant Kathleen Harrison as Kaney Harold Huth as Aga Ben Dragore D. A. Clarke-Smith as Mahmoud Ralph Richardson as Nigel Hartley Jack Raine as Davis, the chauffeur (uncredited) George Relph as Doctor (uncredited) Release and preservation The Ghoul was released in the UK in August 1933, in the US in January 1934, and reissued in 1938. The film was popular in the UK but performed disappointingly in the US. karloff/ Subsequently, it disappeared and was considered to be a lost film over the next 31 years. In 1969, collector William K. Everson located a murky, virtually inaudible subtitled copy, Běs , behind the iron curtain in then-communist Czechoslovakia. Though missing eight minutes of footage including two violent murder scenes, it was thought to be the only copy left. Everson had a 16mm copy made and for years he showed it exclusively at film societies in England and the United States, memorably at The New School in New York City in 1975 on a Halloween triple bill of Lon Chaney, Sr. in The Monster (1925 film) , Bela Lugosi in The Gorilla and Boris Karloff in The Ghoul . Subsequently, The Museum of Modern Art and Janus Film made an archival negative of that scruffy Prague print and it went into very limited commercial distribution. Inadvertently in the early 1980s, a disused and forgotten film vault at Shepperton Studios, its door blocked by stacked lumber, was cleared and yielded the dormant nitrate camera negative in perfect condition. The British Film Institute took in The Ghoul , new prints were made, and the complete version aired on Channel 4 in the UK. Bootleg recording videotapes of this broadcast filtered among collectors for years, but when an official VHS release arrived from MGM/UA Home Video, it was the virtually unwatchable Czech copy. Audiences were grateful to simply see a major lost Karloff film in the 1970s and 1980s, but the film was disappointing in its battered condition. Finally, in 2003, just as the title was prepared for DVD, MGM/UA obtained the superior material for release. The restored copy has substantially raised critical appreciation of the film in modern times. Later version Where the original film had comic relief in the person of Kathleen Harrison as the heroine's spinster friend, the 1961 remake, What a Carve Up! (film) ( No Place Like Homicide in the US), was a full blown comedy that owed even less to King's story than the earlier film. Boris Karloff filmography Category:1930s horror films Category:1933 films Category:Black-and-white films Category:British films Category:British horror films Category:English-language films Category:Films based on plays Category:Films directed by T. Hayes Hunter

Date Created : 1932 Link : http://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/betty-boop-minnie-the-moocher Creator: Max Fleischer Description: Minnie the Moocher (1932) is a Betty Boop cartoon produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures.[1] The cartoon opens with a live action sequence of Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing an instrumental rendition of " St. James Infirmary" . Then Betty Boop gets into a fight with her strict, Yiddish speaking, Jewish parents, runs away from home with her

Date Created : 1951 Link : http://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/the-painted-hills Creator: Chester M. Franklin Description: A prospector named Jonathan Harvey (Paul Kelly), whose faithful companion is a rough collie named Shep, looks after the family of his late partner, Martha Blake (Ann Doran) and her son Tommy (Gary Gray). After years of digging in the hills of California (where the movie was shot), he finally strikes gold. However, before he can share it with the Blakes, his greedy partner Lin The Painted Hills , also known as Lassie's Adventures in the Goldrush , is a 1951 action film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and directed by Harold F. Kress. Adapted by True Boardman from Alexander Hull's novel Shep of the Painted Hills , the film stars Paul Kelly (actor), Ann Doran, and dog actor Pal (dog actor) (credited as Lassie) in a story about a collie named Shep who seeks revenge after her master is murdered. Technical Advisor Nipo T. Strongheart for Native Americans in the United States topics worked with the Miwok people for their role in the movie. Strongheart1954/ The Painted Hills was the seventh, and final, MGM Lassie film released. Plot A prospector named Jonathan Harvey (Paul Kelly (actor)), whose faithful companion is a rough collie named Shep, looks after the family of his late partner, Martha Blake (Ann Doran) and her son Tommy (Gary Gray (actor)). After years of digging in the hills of California (where the movie was shot), he finally strikes gold. However, before he can share it with the Blakes, his greedy partner Lin Taylor (Bruce Cowling) kills Jonathan and attempts to lay claim on the gold. He poisons Shep, who nearly dies, and nearly kills Tommy, but ultimately Shep recovers and leads Lin into the mountains, where he falls off a cliff to his death. Main cast Pal (dog) (credited as Lassie) as Shep Paul Kelly (actor) as Jonathan Harvey Bruce Cowling as Lin Taylor Gary Gray (actor) as Tommy Blake Ann Doran as Martha Blake Art Smith (actor) as Pilot Pete Andrea Virginia Lester as Mita Chief Yowlachie as Bald Eagle Brown Jug Reynolds as Red Wing Release According to MGM records, the film earned $783,000 in the US and Canada and $302,000 elsewhere, leading to a loss of $122,000. Mannix/ Public Domain Status Along with seven other MGM films released the first half of 1951, the copyright on The Painted Hills lapsed after MGM neglected to file the necessary renewal applications in 1979. As such, the film is now part of the public domain and has been released to VHS and DVD by a variety of companies. Pierce/ MST 3000 The movie was riffed on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (episode 510) Category:1951 films Category:American films Category:Films about dogs Category:Films based on novels Category:Lassie films Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Category:Films shot in California Category:Films set in California Category:Films set in the 18th century Category:Films featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes

Link : http://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/broken-blossoms-1919-0 Description: david w. griffith " broken blossoms" (1919) Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl is a 1919 American silent film drama film directed by D.W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919. It stars Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess and Donald Crisp, and tells the story of young girl, Lucy Burrows, who is abused by her alcoholic prizefighting father, Battling Burrows, and meets Cheng Huan, a kind-hearted Chinese man who falls in love with her. It was the first film released by United Artists. It is based on Thomas Burke (author)'s short story The Chink and the Child from the 1916 collection Limehouse Nights . Plot Image:Broken Blossoms.webm Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) leaves his native China because he dreams to spread the gentle message of Gautama Buddha to the Anglo-Saxon lands. His idealism fades as he is faced with the brutal reality of London's gritty inner-city. However, his mission is finally realized in his devotion to the broken blossom Lucy Burrows (Lillian Gish), the beautiful but unwanted and abused daughter of boxer Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp). After being beaten and discarded one evening by her raging father, Lucy finds sanctuary in Cheng's home, the beautiful and exotic room above his shop. As Cheng nurses Lucy back to health, the two form a bond as two unwanted outcasts of society. All goes astray for them when Lucy's father gets wind of his daughter's whereabouts and in a drunken rage drags her back to their home to punish her. Fearing for her life, Lucy locks herself inside a closet to escape her contemptuous father. By the time Cheng arrives to rescue Lucy, whom he so innocently adores, it is too late. Lucy's lifeless body lies on her modest bed as Battling has a drink in the other room. As Cheng gazes at Lucy's youthful face which, in spite of the circumstances, beams with innocence and even the slightest hint of a smile, Battling enters the room to make his escape. The two stand for a long while, exchanging spiteful glances, until Battling lunges for Cheng with a hatchet, and Cheng retaliates by shooting Burrows repeatedly with his handgun. After returning to his home with Lucy's body, Cheng builds a shrine to Buddha and takes his own life with a knife to the chest. Cast Lillian Gish as Lucy Burrows Richard Barthelmess as Cheng Huan Donald Crisp as Battling Burrows Arthur Howard as Burrows' manager Edward Peil Sr. as Evil Eye George Beranger as The Spying One Norman Selby as A prizefighter Production and style Unlike Griffith's more extravagant earlier works like The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance (film) , Broken Blossoms is a small-scale film that uses controlled studio environments to create a more intimate effect. Griffith was known for his willingness to collaborate with his actors and on many occasions join them in research outings. She said Griffith himself was sickened while directing her in the closet scene. In 1996, Broken Blossoms was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Themes File:Broken blossoms newspaper ad.png Cruelty and injustice against the innocent are a recurring theme in Griffith's films and are graphically portrayed here. The introductory card says, We may believe there are no Battling Burrows, striking the helpless with brutal whip — but do we not ourselves use the whip of unkind words and deeds? So, perhaps, Battling may even carry a message of warning. Broken Blossoms was released during a period of strong anti-Chinese feeling in the USA, a fear known as the Yellow Peril. The phrase yellow peril was common in the U.S. newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst./ It was also the title of a popular book by an influential U.S. religious figure, G. G. Rupert, who published The Yellow Peril; or, Orient vs. Occident in 1911. Griffith changed Burke's original story to promote a message of tolerance. In Burke's story, the Chinese protagonist is a sordid young Shanghai drifter pressed into naval service, who frequents opium dens and whorehouses; in the film, he becomes a Buddhist missionary whose initial goal is to spread the word of Buddha and peace (although he is also shown frequenting opium dens when he is depressed). Even at his lowest point, he still prevents his gambling companions from fighting. The 'closet scene' The most-discussed scene in Broken Blossoms is Lillian Gish's closet scene. Here Gish performs Lucy's horror by writhing in the claustrophobic space like a tortured animal who knows there is no escape. Category:1919 films Category:American silent feature films Category:Black-and-white films Category:Films about race and ethnicity Category:American romantic drama films Category:United States National Film Registry films Category:Films directed by D. W. Griffith Category:Films based on short fiction Category:1910s romantic drama films Category:United Artists films Category:Interracial romance films