Industry | Silent films |
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Founded | 1916Jersey City, New Jersey, United States | in
Founder | |
Defunct | March 1920 |
Fate | The company became Louis J. Gasnier Productions from 1920-1940, then Monogram Pictures acquired the studio in 1941. |
Successor |
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Headquarters |
Astra Film Corp was an American film production company that produced silent films. [1] Louis J. Gasnier was the company's president. George B. Seitz co-founded it. It was making films by 1916. It became Louis J. Gasnier Productions after Seitz left. [2]
The studio operated in Jersey City, New Jersey before expanding to Fort Lee, New Jersey. [3]
The Fort Lee studio site at 1 Congress Street was acquired from Pathé in 1916. [4] The company distributed its films with Pathé. Rolin Studio in Los Angeles also worked with Pathé. [5]
The company's Hands Up serial included a storyline featuring the Inca. [6]
The studio produced Pathé's photoplay films including Stranded in Arcady . It was an adaptation of a story by Francis Lynde and starred Irene Castle. It was directed by Frank Hall Crane. [5]
The company also produced The Fatal Ring and The Seven Pearls serials. [5]
Arthur Miller worked for the company.[ when? ] Grace Darmond left Selig to work for the company.[ when? ]
The Exploits of Elaine is a 1914 American film serial in the damsel in distress genre of The Perils of Pauline (1914).
Pearl Fay White was an American stage and film actress. She began her career on the stage at age 6, and later moved on to silent films appearing in a number of popular serials.
George Brackett Seitz was an American playwright, screenwriter, film actor and director. He was known for his screenplays for action serials, such as The Perils of Pauline (1914) and The Exploits of Elaine (1914).
Benjamin Albert Rolfe was an American musician known as "The Boy Trumpet Wonder" who went on to be a bandleader, recording artist, radio personality, and film producer.
Rolfe Photoplays Inc. was an American motion picture production company established by musical entertainer B.A. Rolfe. Its productions were primarily filmed on the East Coast, usually in and around Fort Lee, New Jersey, although the company also filmed in California. Its films were distributed through an agreement with Louis B. Mayer's Metro Pictures Corporation.
Arthur Charles Miller, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. He was nominated for the Oscar for Best Cinematography six times, winning three times: for How Green Was My Valley in 1941, The Song of Bernadette in 1944, and Anna and the King of Siam in 1947.
Grace Darmond was a Canadian-American actress.
Louis Joseph Gasnier was a French-American film director, producer, screenwriter and stage actor. A cinema pioneer, Gasnier shepherded the early career of comedian Max Linder, co-directed the enormously successful film serial The Perils of Pauline (1914) and capped his output with the notorious low-budget exploitation film Reefer Madness (1936) which was both a critical and box office failure.
The Perils of Pauline is a 1914 American melodrama film serial produced by William Randolph Hearst and released by the Eclectic film company, shown in bi-weekly installments, featuring Pearl White as the title character, an ambitious young heiress with an independent nature and a desire for adventure. The premise of the story was that Pauline's wealthy guardian Sanford Marvin, upon his death, has left her inheritance in the care of his secretary, Raymond Owen, until the time of her marriage. Pauline wants to wait a while before marrying, as her dream is to go out and have adventures then write about them afterward. Owen, hoping to ultimately keep the money for himself, tries to turn Pauline's various adventures against her and have her "disappear" to his own advantage.
Margaret Victoria Anderson known professionally as Myrtle Lind was an American film actress. She was one of Mack Sennett's Bathing Beauties and appeared in several comedy films including with Oliver Hardy and John Gilbert. The Library of Congress has a photo of her holding a large camera on the beach.
Frederick A. Thomson (1869–1925), sometimes spelled Thompson, was a director of silent films in the United States. He began his directing career in theater.
George Majeroni, also known as Giorgio Majeroni, (1877–1924) was a stage and screen actor. His starring roles in silent films included My Lady Incog opposite Hazel Dawn.
Gordon Sackville was a film actor. Earlier in his career he appeared on stage. He was part of several Hobart Bosworth productions. He was in The Best Man Wins, one of the first Hollywood films.
Gilbert P. Hamilton was an American film company executive and director. He worked at Essanay as a cinematographer, headed the St. Louis Motion Picture Company, and then launched the Albuquerque Motion Picture Company.
James Parks Jones was an actor in many silent films in the United States. His roles included many leading and supporting roles over more than a decade.
Mollie King was an American stage and screen actress.
The Dawson Film Find (DFF) was the accidental discovery in 1978 of 372 film titles preserved in 533 reels of silent-era nitrate films in the Klondike Gold Rush town of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. The reels had been buried under an abandoned hockey rink in 1929 and included lost films of feature movies and newsreels. A construction excavation inadvertently uncovered the forgotten cache of discarded films, which were unintentionally preserved by the permafrost.
Ralph Kellard was an actor in the U.S. who appeared in theatrical productions and films. His film work included leading roles in several films such as The Shielding Shadow (1916), The Restless Sex (1920) and The Cost (film). His son Robert Kellard also became an actor.
Mary Warren, was an American silent film actress.