A curiosity: the term spoiler is derived from this film. [...] in The Spoilers Kevin Brownlow has called the treacherous intertitles, or intertitles that anticipate what will happen in the immediate, depriving the public of the taste of suspense and surprise. Also, when there is an exchange of lines, is shown in an entirely superfluous method the name of the character who speaks, faithfully following a bit too much the novel on which the film is based. These are some of the defects of growth that can be seen in earlie American feature film. (from cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/ed_precedenti/screenings_recordit.php?ID=6897) The efforts of William Selig to attract a wide audience of the middle class by increasing the length and articulating the content of their films, they found their culmination in The Spoilers (1914), the first two-hour feature film made in America. Selig was no doubt inspired by the success of several films in most Italian rolls as The Last Days of Pompeii and Quo Vadis? The Spoilers was a smart choice and winning a popular novel, successfully adapted for the stage only a few years before. In other words, a guaranteed audience for an American story told by an American author. The film retains all the essential elements of the novel from which it is drawn: the return from a vacation in Alaska in the United States, Glenister and Dextry, co-owners of Midas, the largest gold mine in Nome, saving the beautiful Helen Chester from a gang of criminals. Backed by his accomplices, the corrupt politician McNamara plot to steal the gold mines of the area to its rightful owners. Glenister and Dextry uncover the conspiracy and recapture Midas with the help of Cherry Malotte, owner of a dance hall and madly in love with Glenister. Helen, became aware of the sinister plan, endangers her life and her power to help the two miners. In juncture, Glenister has the opportunity to blow up the mine with dynamite and to engage in a furious fist fight with McNamara. The Spoilers was directed by the directors most important Selig, Colin Campbell, assisted by Alvin Wyckoff, future operator DeMille, who leads the team of professionals here. The cast was made up almost entirely by the usual actors Selig, with the exception of William Farnum, popular Broadway actor makes his feature debut in the role of Roy Glenister. In the interval between the creation and release of the film Kathlyn Williams (who plays Cherry Malotte) became a star as the protagonist of the first American film serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913-14). The production of The Spoilers lasted for eight weeks, from July to early September 1913 The interiors were shot in large part to the study of Selig Edendale; an elaborate set reproducing the main street name at the turn of the century, was built in the studio backlot and zoo in Mission Road. The harbor of the nearby San Pedro was called to represent the name of, and set more grandiose, he reconstructed what the gold mine of Midas and outbuildings, was set up in the mountains north of Los Angeles. William Selig made the first film to coincide with the opening gala of the Strand. Located in the Broadway district of Times Square, this was the first movie palace built in New York, with a seating capacity of almost 3500 seats. As was noted, first attracted an audience of both the high society more accustomed to the evenings at the opera that the film shows, both by a crowd of excited about where cinema is the most popular, and indeed the only fun . The Spoilers was praised by critics in newspapers across America. According to the New York Clipper, the extraordinary revelation of a new art form (film) made by Selig [is] an amazing piece of Americana ... for the length and quality surpasses any other film produced in this country. In the two weeks when it was screened at the Strand, the film had 172,000 viewers. The Spoilers also became an international phenomenon: Rangoon reached at the end of 1914, Singapore in 1915 and Shanghai in early 1918 Years later, William Selig would often the fact that, if he had retired from business immediately after this film, it would have been rich for the rest of his long life. The Spoilers met a total of five movie versions: the later ones date back to 1923 (with Milton Sills and Anna Q. Nilsson), 1930 (Gary Cooper and Betty Compson), 1942 (John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich), and finally to 1955 (Jeff Chandler and Anne Baxter). One of the most immediate effects of the films success was the adoption of the footage from the competition. Before the end of 1914, the Universal set up a special section for the production of feature films from four to six rollers, while Paramount, Warner Brothers and William Fox distributed film of all five reels. The projectors were modified to work with larger rollers and the halls were forced to buy a second machine to avoid the disruption caused by the change of the rollers. Since the cost of production of a feature film higher, retailers had to bear higher costs of hiring and managers of nickelodeon - uses a relatively inexpensive programs change on a daily basis - so they had to give way to the largest and most elegant movie palaces that were in able to recover the rental rates over a longer time. (Translated from italian with Google Translate) #selig #spoiler
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 10:25:38 +0000
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