Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures is an American film production and distribution company, a division of Universal Studios, which is owned by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast.
William Wallace Halleck Reid was an American actor in silent film, referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". He also had a brief career as a racing driver.
John J. Mescall, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. He photographed such silent films as Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), but he is best known for his work in the 1930s at Universal Pictures, where he often worked on the films of James Whale. Mescall was famous for his elaborate, some might say grandiose, effective camera movements, in which the camera would often track completely across or around a set, or even one performer. He did not always use these kinds of camera movements, but his most famous films all have them.
Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), registered as FBO Pictures Corp., was an American film studio of the silent era, a midsize producer and distributor of mostly low-budget films. The business began in 1918 as Robertson-Cole, an Anglo-American import-export company. Robertson-Cole began distributing films in the United States that December and opened a Los Angeles production facility in 1920. Late that year, R-C entered into a working relationship with East Coast financier Joseph P. Kennedy. A business reorganization in 1922 led to its assumption of the FBO name, first for all its distribution operations and ultimately for its own productions as well. Through Kennedy, the studio contracted with Western leading man Fred Thomson, who grew by 1925 into one of Hollywood's most popular stars. Thomson was just one of several silent screen cowboys with whom FBO became identified.
John Francis Dillon was an American film director and actor of the silent era. He directed 130 films between 1914 and 1934. He also appeared in 74 films between 1914 and 1931. He was born in New York, New York, was a brother of Robert A. Dillon, and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack. He was married to the actress Edith Hallor.
The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures between 1943 and 1947 which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes that were usually developed by the same film crew and frequently recurring actors who played similar characters in each. They were mostly based on popular books by female novelists and they encompassed costume dramas, such as The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945), and modern-dress dramas, such as Love Story (1944) and They Were Sisters (1945). The popularity of the films with audiences peaked mid-1940s when cinema audiences consisted primarily of women. The influence of the films led to other British producers releasing similarly themed works, such as The Seventh Veil (1945), Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945), Hungry Hill (1947), The White Unicorn (1947), Idol of Paris (1948), and The Reluctant Widow (1950) and often with the talent that made Gainsborough melodramas successful.
Broken Journey is a 1948 British drama film directed by Ken Annakin and featuring Phyllis Calvert, James Donald, Margot Grahame, Raymond Huntley and Guy Rolfe. Passengers and crew strugge to survive after their airliner crashes on top of a mountain; based on a true-life accident in the Swiss Alps.
Stanley O'Toole was a British film producer. His best known productions include: The Boys from Brazil, Enemy Mine, Quigley Down Under, and Outland. O'Toole has produced works for the top studios in the world including, Columbia, Paramount, Warner Bros., MGM, Universal, and 20th Century Fox.
Forget Me Not, also known as Forget-Me-Not, is a 1922 American silent melodrama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and distributed by Metro Pictures. The film starred Bessie Love and Gareth Hughes. It is considered a lost film.
The Third Alarm is a 1922 American silent melodrama directed by Emory Johnson. FBO released the film in January 1923. The film's "All-Star" cast included Ralph Lewis, Johnnie Walker, and Johnson's wife, Ella Hall. Emilie Johnson, Johnson's mother, wrote both the story and screenplay. The Third Alarm was the second picture in Johnson's eight-picture contract with FBO.
The West~Bound Limited is a 1923 American silent melodrama film directed by Emory Johnson. FBO released the film in April 1923. The film's "All-Star" cast included Ralph Lewis, Claire McDowell, Johnny Harron, and Ella Hall. Emilie Johnson, Johnson's mother, wrote both the story and screenplay. The West~Bound Limited was the third film in Johnson's eight-picture contract with FBO.
Life's Greatest Game is a 1924 American silent melodrama directed by Emory Johnson. FBO released the film in October 1924. The film's "All-Star" cast included Johnnie Walker, Tom Santschi, Jane Thomas, David Kirby, and Gertrude Olmstead. Emilie Johnson, Johnson's mother, wrote both the story and screenplay. She was inspired by the 1919 World Series Black Sox Scandal scandal. Life's Greatest Game was the sixth film in Johnson's eight-picture contract with FBO.
Benjamin Bowles Hampton (1875–1932) was an American film producer, writer, and director. He led a 1916 plan to conglomerate film companies via acquisition. He was married to actress Claire Adams and was a partner in Zane Grey Pictures. He wrote the History of the American Film Industry from Its Beginnings to 1931. He is credited with producing numerous films.
Joseph J. Franz was an actor and film director during the silent film era in the United States. Franz was born in Utica, New York. He died in Los Angeles in 1970. He was sometimes credited as Joseph J. Franz. He features in a Frontier advertisement with two of the studio's other stars.
The Broken Violin is an American silent film directed by Oscar Micheaux, released in 1928.
Hugh E. Dierker was an American film director and producer.
William H. Clifford was a writer, director, and film company head during the silent film era. He was a production manager for Monogram Film Company. He worked for Marcus Loew and Thomas Ince.
While Thousands Cheer is a lost American film released in 1940. Leo C. Popkin directed. It was the only football-themed film with an African American lead character for decades. It starred Kenny Washington, a football star from UCLA who went on to become the first African American in the NFL after initially being refused an opportunity to play in the league due to segregation.
The Broken Silence is a feature-length 1922 American film. It is an adaptation of a James Oliver Curwood novel. It was directed by Dell Henderson. It was a Pine Tree Pictures production distributed by Arrow Film Corp. A melodrama love story involving a murder and devoted siblings, it is set in Canada's northwest. Thomas F. Fallon adapted the screenplay.
Lillian Biron, also known as Lillian Thompson, was an actress in American comedy films. She was in Vogue Comedies. She then featured in Gayety Comedies with George Ovey. She starred in Below the Deadline with H. B. Warner. She featured in Mack Sennett comedy films.
