| The Pill Pounder | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Gregory La Cava |
| Produced by | C.C. Burr |
| Starring | Charles Murray Clara Bow James Turfler |
| Cinematography | Charles E. Gilson |
Production company | All Star Comedies |
Release date |
|
Running time | 20 minutes (2 reels) |
| Country | United States |
The Pill Pounder is a 1923 silent film starring Charles Murray and featuring Clara Bow. The film is 20 minutes long. It was a lost film until a print was found at an auction in Omaha, Nebraska in 2023. [1] [2]
Charles Murray is a druggist ("pill pounder") who tries to host a clandestine poker game in the back room of his drugstore. [3]
The two-reel film was shot on Long Island, New York. It was directed by Gregory La Cava and features Bow and "rubber-faced vaudeville veteran Charlie Murray". [3]
In their April 28, 1923 edition, Exhibitors Herald "unhesitatingly recommended" the film. [4]
The film was purchased in a lot from a bankrupt distributor Modern Sound Pictures at an auction in 2023. The film was included in a pallet of film canisters, bought for $20. The purchaser noticed a few rare films in the lot, which could only be purchased as a unit. The lost film, which was found to be a 35mm print from either the 1950s or 1960s to be included in an anthology, was in good condition. However, this copy was missing its intertitles as well as some scenes and shots. It was cleaned up and projected for audiences at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival on April 11, 2024. [3] [5]
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.
A lost film is a feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. Early films were not thought to have value beyond their theatrical run, so many were discarded afterward. Nitrate film used in early pictures was highly flammable and susceptible to degradation. The Library of Congress began acquiring copies of American films in 1909, but not all were kept. Due to improvements in film technology and recordkeeping, few films produced in the 1950s or beyond have been lost.
Beyond the Rainbow is a 1922 American silent drama film starring Billie Dove, Harry T. Morey and Clara Bow in her film debut. A 16mm print of the film is in the collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Enemies of Women is a 1923 American silent romantic drama film directed by Alan Crosland and starring Lionel Barrymore, Alma Rubens, Gladys Hulette, Pedro de Cordoba, and Paul Panzer. The film was produced by William Randolph Hearst through his Cosmopolitan Productions. Pre-fame actresses Clara Bow and Margaret Dumont have uncredited bit roles.
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.
The Scarlet Drop is a 1918 American silent Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. For several decades, just over 30 minutes of footage of the film was thought to have survived in the Getty Images Archive. In January 2024, academic film historian Jaime Córdova Ortega found it at an abandoned warehouse in Providencia, Chile, discovered a complete version. It was later digitized, and screened at the Valparaiso Recovered Film Festival, organized by Córdova Ortega.
Peacock Alley is a 1922 American silent drama film starring Monte Blue and Mae Murray. The film was directed by Murray's husband at the time, Robert Z. Leonard. Set design for the film was done by Charles Cadwallader. The film premiered on November 9, 1921 at the Hotel Commodore in New York City.
Black Oxen is a 1923 American silent fantasy / romantic drama film starring Corinne Griffith, Conway Tearle, and Clara Bow. Directed by Frank Lloyd, the film is based on the controversial best-selling 1923 novel of the same name by Gertrude Atherton.
The Devil's Pass Key is a 1920 silent drama film directed by Erich von Stroheim. Considered a “lost film”, no print is officially known to exist.
Rough House Rosie is a 1927 American silent romantic comedy film produced and released by Paramount Pictures and directed by Frank Strayer. The film is a starring vehicle for Clara Bow who was then Paramount's most popular actress. Reed Howes, a model turned actor, is Bow's leading man.
Kick In is a 1922 American silent crime drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky, distributed by Paramount Pictures, and starring Betty Compson and Bert Lytell. The picture was directed by George Fitzmaurice, who previously directed a 1917 film version of the story. Both films are based on Willard Mack's 1913 play that was produced on Broadway in 1914 starring John Barrymore. The supporting cast features Charles Ogle, who had played the first screen Frankenstein's monster in the original 1910 version of Frankenstein.
Shadow of the Law is a 1926 American silent crime drama film starring Clara Bow as a woman sent to prison for a crime she did not commit. Directed by Wallace Worsley, the screenplay was written by Leah Baird and Grover Jones and was based on the novel Two Gates by Harry Chapman Ford.
Clara Bow (1905–1965) was a 16-year-old living in the New York City borough of Brooklyn when she won the 1921 nationwide "Fame and Fortune Contest" advertised in Motion Picture Magazine. After submitting their autobiography with a completed entry form clipped from the magazine, finalists were given multiple screen tests. As the winner, she was cast in a small role in the silent era film Beyond the Rainbow. Although her part was eventually edited out, the contest inspired her to pursue an acting career. She relocated to Los Angeles and in 1923 signed with producer B.P. Schulberg. Over the next seven years, she would make more than 40 silent-era films, the majority of them under contract to Paramount Pictures. Her 1927 starring role in It, about an attractive and charismatic young woman, led the public to label Bow the "It girl".
The Strange Adventures of Prince Courageous, also known as The Adventures of Prince Courageous, is a 1923 American silent fantasy film series starring Bessie Love and five-year-old Arthur Trimble, directed by Frederick G. Becker.
The Gilded Lily is a surviving 1921 American silent drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Clara Beranger and Tom McNamara. The film stars Mae Murray, Lowell Sherman, Jason Robards, Sr., Charles K. Gerrard, and Leonora von Ottinger. The film was released on March 6, 1921, by Paramount Pictures.
Two Can Play is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Nat Ross and starring George Fawcett, Allan Forrest, and Clara Bow.
The Adventurous Sex is a lost 1925 American silent drama film that was directed by Charles Giblyn and starred Clara Bow, Herbert Rawlinson, and Earle Williams. The Howard Estabrook production was shot in studios in New York City and on location at Niagara Falls.
Grit is a 1924 American silent crime drama film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Glenn Hunter, Clara Bow, and Roland Young. It is based upon a screen story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Thunder the Dog was a male German Shepherd that performed in American silent films from 1923 through 1927. Although Thunder's filmography is rather brief, his six- and seven-reel features were much longer and more elaborate than the films in which many of his fellow canine actors appeared during the silent era. His releases did, though, have to compete in the 1920s with other feature films starring rival German Shepherds such as Peter the Great, Napoleon, Rex, and, most notably, Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin. During his career, Thunder worked for Paramount, Gotham Pictures, and Fox Film Corporation; and he shared screen time with Clara Bow, Dorothy Dalton, William Russell, Caryl Lincoln, and other prominent actors of the period.