Battling Bunyan | |
---|---|
Directed by | Paul Hurst |
Written by | Jefferson Moffitt Ford Beebe |
Starring | Wesley Barry Frank Campeau Molly Malone |
Cinematography | Frank Cotner |
Edited by | Fred Burnworth |
Production company | Encore Pictures |
Distributed by | Pathé Exchange |
Release date |
|
Running time | 53 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Battling Bunyan is a 1924 American silent sports comedy film directed by Paul Hurst and starring Wesley Barry, Frank Campeau, and Molly Malone. [1] It was based on a short story in the Saturday Evening Post by Raymond Leslie Goldman. In order to raise cash in a hurry, a young man takes up professional boxing despite the fact he is totally unsuited to it.
As described in a review in a film magazine, [2] Bunyan (Barry), a young chap who has gained a lot of experience in the school of hard knocks, has a small position in a garage. The light-weight champion fighter (Ralesco) comes in and flirts with Bunyan’s girl Molly (Malone) and Bunyan tries to fight him. Jim Canby (Campeau), the local fight promoter, gets the idea of signing Bunyan up for fights to give his patrons a laugh, billing him as Red Aiken Bunyan, and it works. Bunyan knows he is a clown but the money helps to buy a partnership in the garage. Finally, the champion returns and again starts after Molly. The prize fight is to be a frame-up and Bunyan agrees at $200 a round. He takes a terrific beating and tries to stay out five rounds but only lasts four. Mollie, thoroughly won over by his gameness, tries to see Bunyan, but the champion intercepts her and tries to attack her when she repulses him. Bunyan jumps on him and finally beats him. Canby gives Bunyan the full thousand dollars prize and he buys into the garage partnership and then marries Molly.
While Battling Bunyan was acceptable in the United States, the British Board of Film Censors banned the film when it was submitted for review in 1926. [3] [4]
Silent Movie is a 1976 American satirical comedy film cowritten, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in summer 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters and Sid Caesar, with cameos by Anne Bancroft, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Marcel Marceau and Paul Newman as themselves. The film was produced in the manner of a 20th-century silent film, with intertitles instead of spoken dialogue; the soundtrack consists almost entirely of accompanying music and sound effects. It is an affectionate parody of slapstick comedies, including those of Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennett and Buster Keaton. The film satirizes the film industry, presenting the story of a film producer trying to obtain studio support to make a silent film in the 1970s.
The Last Man on Earth is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by John G. Blystone, starring Earle Foxe and produced by Fox Film Corporation and based on the short story of the same name by John D. Swain that appeared in the November 1923 issue of Munsey's Magazine. The film was remade as the semi-musical comedy It's Great to Be Alive (1933) and in Spanish as El último varon sobre la Tierra (1933), and influenced the sci-fi novel Mr. Adam (1946).
Wesley Barry was an American actor, director, and producer. Barry began his career as a child actor in silent motion pictures and later became a producer and director of both film and television. As a director, he was sometimes billed as Wesley E. Barry.
Bucking Broadway is a 1917 American silent Western film directed by John Ford, probably his sixth feature film. Long thought to be lost, along with about 60 of Ford's 70 silent films, it was found in 2002 in the archives of the CNC. It was subsequently restored and digitized and is available on the Criterion Blu-Ray of John Ford's Stagecoach.
Virginia Lee Corbin was an American silent film actress.
The Garage is a 1920 American two-reel silent comedy film directed by and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton. This was the fourteenth and last film starring the duo before Keaton set up his own studio and Arbuckle started making feature-length films. The film also stars Luke the Dog, who starred in many other short comedies with Arbuckle. The film was also known as Fire Chief.
Violet Isabel Malone was an American actress of the silent film era. She appeared in more than 80 films between 1916 and 1929. Her father, Lewis Malone, was a metallurgist for mining companies. Her mother was Violet St. John, born in Nebraska to immigrant parents from England.
Straight Shooting is a 1917 American silent Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. Prints of this film survive in the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House. Like many American films of the time, Straight Shooting was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors refused to issue a permit for this film as submitted as it consists of detailed portrayal of murder and outlawry.
A Marked Man is a 1917 American silent Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. It is considered to be a lost film.
The Phantom Riders is a 1918 silent American Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. The film is considered to be lost.
Thieves' Gold is a 1918 American Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. It is considered to be a lost film.
The Scarlet Drop is a 1918 American silent Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. Just over 30 minutes of footage of the film now survives in the Getty Images Archive.
Frank Campeau was an American actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1911 and 1940 and made many appearances in films starring Douglas Fairbanks.
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is a 1918 American silent romantic comedy film starring Mary Pickford that was directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Frances Marion based upon a novel by Belle K. Maniates.
Her Country's Call is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Lloyd Ingraham and starring Mary Miles Minter, along with George Periolat and Allan Forrest. The film is the final instalment in a series a films written by Abraham Lincoln impersonator Benjamin Chapin, who also appeared in the film as Lincoln. It was one of many films of the time that catered to the vogue for patriotic pictures after America joined World War I, with ample shots of soldiers and the American flag. As with many of Minter's features, it is thought to be a lost film.
Arizona is a 1918 American silent melodrama film produced by and starring Douglas Fairbanks and released by Famous Players–Lasky under its Artcraft Pictures banner. Based on the successful 1899 play of the same name by Augustus Thomas, the film was directed by Albert Parker.
Love's Whirlpool is a 1924 American silent crime drama film directed by Bruce Mitchell and starring James Kirkwood and Lila Lee.
Three Who Paid is a 1923 American silent Western film directed by Colin Campbell, and starring Dustin Farnum, with Bessie Love and Frank Campeau. The film was based on the 1922 short story by George Owen Baxter, and was produced and distributed through Fox Film.
Made in Heaven is a 1921 American silent comedy film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Tom Moore, Helene Chadwick and Molly Malone. The film is considered to be lost.
Raymond Leslie Goldman (1895-1950) was a prolific American author of short stories and detective novels. He almost always signed his works R. L. Goldman.