Expert: DM - 8/5/2009

Question
QUESTION: I found an old silent movie (around 190?? maybe) and the title is "Night before Xmas".  The title is followed by frames with the words "Looking up the record of good little girls and good little boys".  Next is a picture of Santa standing by what appears to be a podium and a large book.  I can't find any info about this film and am not sure where to go next.  It is similar to but definitely not the same film as the Edison "Night Before Christmas".  There is a scene with iron beds that look a lot like those in the Edison film.

ANSWER: Thank you for your very interesting question. Edison's The Night Before Christmas was made and released in 1906. Not having seen the film you have, it is difficult to identify it. I am curious about what you have: is it celluloid film, a videotape, a DVD, or what? If it is celluloid film, is it 8mm, 16mm, or 35mm? These are important clarification questions. If it is an 8mm film, then it was probably something reproduced in the 1960s to 1970s for home viewing. If it is videotape, it was probably made in the 1980s or 1990s. If it is a DVD, then one would have to contact the recent manufacturer to identify the source of their transfer.

That said, be aware that it was common in the early years of motion picture production for one producer to stage and virtually duplicate a film made by another producer. A case in point would be the various imitations produced of Edison's The Great Train Robbery, some actually scene for scene restagings of the original film. Legit producers often did this, and unscrupulous producers even went so far as to simply make illegal duplicates of films and offer those dupes as if they were original prints struck from the original negatives. (That practice is still being done today with the comparative ease of duplicating DVD!)

If you have 35mm film, I might suggest that you get it transferred to DVD, and then send that DVD to the UCLA film department. They might be interested in identifying the film and would probably have more resources available for that effort than you or I.

After nearly fourteen years of painstaking research, work is finally complete on the first full-length biography of actor Richard Barthelmess. I hope you will find the book as pleasing to read and share as I found the research and writing. For more information, either visit my web site www.thegreatstars.com, or visit the publisher at www.bearmanormedia.com.

Sincerely,

David Menefee


Author
Sarah Bernhardt in the Theater of Films and Sound Recordings
The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era
The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era
Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures
Texting Harry (with Connie Podesta)
A Craving for Travel (with Jim Strong)
George O'Brien: A Man's Man in Hollywood
Buckwheat (with William Thomas, Jr.)
The Unflappable Irving Link (with Ferdinand Hauslein, Jr.)

PS: My new book, Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures, has just come out. I hope you will get a copy and share it with your friends.

Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures
No one will ever forget the scene in D. W. Griffith’s Way Down East where Richard Barthelmess as David rescued Anna Moore from certain death on an ice floe as it was about to plummet over a waterfall. The exciting sequence still thrills audiences to this day. Richard went on to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor for The Noose and The Patent Leather Kid, and he won an Academy Award Citation for "Special Achievement" in producing The Patent Leather Kid.

His signature roles are in many of D. W. Griffith’s silent films including Broken Blossoms, Scarlet Days, The Love Flower, and The Idol Dancer. Few people are aware that he was nearly felled by the chaos of Hollywood’s transition from silent to talking pictures when he used a voice double to sing for him in Weary River. Despite the setback, his transition to talking pictures and work in The Dawn Patrol, Cabin in the Cotton, and Only Angel’s Have Wings proved that his talent was enduring.  

For the first time, the story is fully told how Alla Nazimova, a famous Russian star, plucked him from obscurity to play in her first film, and how his worldwide fame was nearly snuffed out when he followed America’s call to arms and gave up his movie career to assist in the fight against Nazi aggression in World War Two. Richard retired to a happy life as a senior citizen after appearing in more than 80 films, and this book reveals them with a richly researched biography, an extensive Filmography, and hundreds of rare portraits, posters, and lobby cards that capture the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Era.

Published exclusively at www.bearmanormedia.com

For more information, contact:

Ben Ohmart books@benohmart.com

www.bearmanormedia.com


 
Other books by David W. Menefee

The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era

E-mail: books@benohmart.com
Internet: www.bearmanormedia.com
www.amazon.com (free shipping)
www.barnesandnoble.com
www.borders.com
www.walmart.com

Sarah Bernhardt in the Theater of Films and Sound Recordings

Internet: www.mcfarlandpub.com
www.amazon.com (free shipping)
www.borders.com    
www.barnesandnobles.com
www.walmart.com

The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era

E-mail: orders@greenwood.com
Internet: www.greenwood.com
www.amazon.com (free shipping)
www.barnesandnoble.com
www.borders.com
www.walmart.com
 
Also coming soon in 2010:
George O'Brien: A Man's Man in Hollywood



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: This is really not a question but more information on the film.  It is on celluloid and is definitely NOT a imitation of the Edison film.  It just appears to be from the same era.  My grandfather was born in 1885 and this was in his collection of movies.  It is the only one that appears to be a commercial film.  What I find most intriguing is the use of Xmas rather than Christmas in the title.  I will take your advice and get a copy made once I find someone that will do it reasonably--I hate to pay over a hundred dollars just to copy a movie!

Answer
Can you tell the guage of the celluloid film, whether it is 8mm, 16mm, or 35mm? This is important because if it is 8mm or 16mm, then it is a copy of something that has already been passed around various distributors for some time and it will not be considered rare. If it is 35mm, you might possibly have discovered a lost film. Just a few years ago, a man found a single reel of 35mm film that turned out to be the "lost" one-reel Edison version of Frankenstein. I urge you to have a look at this web site:

http://www.sci.fi/~animato/filmhist/filmhist.html

See if this will help you determine what kind of film you have. Pay special attention to the warning about handling nitrate film.

Let me know what you find out.

Feel free to e-mail me directly at davemenefee@aol.com.

Sincerely,
David W. Menefee