A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before sound motion pictures became commercially practical. Reliable synchronization was difficult to achieve with the early sound-on-disc systems, and amplification and recording quality were also inadequate. Innovations in sound-on-film led to the first commercial screening of short motion pictures using the technology, which took place in 1923.
The Big Pond is a 1930 American Pre-Code romantic comedy film based on a 1928 play of the same name by George Middleton and A.E. Thomas. The film was written by Garrett Fort, Robert Presnell Sr. and Preston Sturges, who provided the dialogue in his first Hollywood assignment, and was directed by Hobart Henley. The film stars Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert, and features George Barbier, Marion Ballou, and Andrée Corday, and was released by Paramount Pictures.
Val Lewton was a Russian-American novelist, film producer and screenwriter best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. His son, also named Val Lewton, was a painter and exhibition designer.
The Big Trail is a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh.
John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Wake Island, and in 1957 he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days. He had seven children by his wife, actress Maureen O'Sullivan, including actress Mia Farrow.
Arthur Housman was an American actor in films during both the silent film era and the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The Shadow of the Eagle is a 1932 American Pre-Code Mascot 12 episode film serial, directed by Ford Beebe and B. Reeves Eason and produced by Nat Levine. The film stars John Wayne in his first serial role. He would go on to star in two other serials for Mascot, The Hurricane Express (1932) and The Three Musketeers (1933). The Shadow of the Eagle is now in the public domain.
The Easiest Way is a 1931 American pre-Code MGM drama film directed by Jack Conway. Adapted from the 1909 play of the same name written by Eugene Walter and directed by David Belasco, the film stars Constance Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, Robert Montgomery, Marjorie Rambeau, Anita Page, and Clark Gable
Charles d'Authier de Rochefort was a French film actor, principally of the silent era. He appeared in 34 films between 1911 and 1932. He also directed seven films between 1930 and 1931.
Paramount on Parade is a 1930 all-star American pre-Code revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H. Knopf, Frank Tuttle, and Victor Schertzinger—all supervised by the production supervisor, singer, actress, and songwriter Elsie Janis.
Silver Blaze is a 1937 British, black-and-white crime and mystery film, based loosely on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1892 short story "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". It was directed by Thomas Bentley, and was produced by Twickenham Film Studios Productions. It stars Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes, and Ian Fleming as Dr. Watson. In the United States the film was released in 1941 by Astor Pictures, where it was also known as Murder at the Baskervilles, retitled by distributors to capitalize on the success of the Basil Rathbone Holmes film, The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Street of Shadows is a 1937 French spy film directed by G. W. Pabst. An English-language version with exactly the same plot was filmed at the same time under the direction of Edmond T. Gréville, but with some changes in the cast. Dita Parlo remained as Mademoiselle Docteur, but Erich von Stroheim took over the part of the German spy chief. The English-language version was released in the United States under the title Under Secret Orders. It was shot at the Joinville Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Robert Hubert and Serge Piménoff.
Barry Norton was an Argentine-American actor. He appeared in over 90 films, starting in silent films from 1925 until his death in 1956. He is perhaps best known for his role as Juan Harker in Universal Pictures' Spanish-language version of Drácula in 1931, the English language role of Jonathan Harker originated by David Manners.
Ada Williams was an American film actress.
Stage Struck is a 1925 American silent comedy film starring Gloria Swanson, Lawrence Gray, Gertrude Astor, and Ford Sterling. The film was directed by Allan Dwan, and released by Paramount Pictures with the opening and ending sequences filmed in the early two-color Technicolor.
Free and Easy is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film starring Buster Keaton. It was Keaton's first leading role in a talking motion picture.
Blaze o' Glory is a 1929 American musical war film directed by George Crone and Renaud Hoffman. It stars Eddie Dowling and Betty Compson.
The Land of Missing Men is a 1930 American pre-Code Western film written and directed by John P. McCarthy – with a script from Bob Quigley – and produced by Trem Carr for his studio Trem Carr Productions. Starring Bob Steele, Al St. John, Eddie Dunn, Caryl Lincoln, Al Jennings and Fern Emmett, the plot concerns Steve O'Neil (Steele) and his partner, Buckshot who, after being accused of holding up a stagecoach in cattle country, are asked by a dying man to save his daughter from a planned stagecoach holdup.
Henry McCarty (1882–1954) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was employed by several studios including Warner Brothers, RKO and Gotham Pictures in the silent and early sound eras. He directed eleven silent films between 1922 and 1926, generally for independent companies.
George W. Weeks (1885–1953) was an American film producer. During the early 1930s he was involved with Sono Art Pictures and Mayfair Pictures. In the 1940s he released his films, including the Range Busters series featuring Ray "Crash" Corrigan, through Monogram Pictures.
