Must Read P.D.!

Most of my business involves the sale and use of public domain films. I advise new customers to familiarize themselves with the PD concept -- how, when and why certain films become public domain and can therefore be re-sold, shown on TV, the Internet or almost any use you want to do with them. It can be confusing, so to clarify it in my own mind I wrote up a discussion of copyright and public domain about 8 years ago and posted it on my website. While I may generalize a bit attempting to make it understandable, it is worth reading. If anyone is aware of gross errors, please let me know!

I am happy to report that two law schools have written up the subject far better and more thoroughly than I could ever attempt. Yes, law schools, whose students and faculties are fighting for our rights to use our own cultural and artistic heritage in new works, or simply to read, see or hear them. I could go on and on, but I won't because they have said it better.

First is the Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Website. Go to their home page and click on "Overview" in the top bar, which will lead to dozens of links about Copyright, Fair Use and Public Domain. I have had some contact with Stanford these past ten years since I am one of the plaintiffs in the ongoing "Golan vs. Holder" case. The latest setback was in June 2010 as you can read about HERE. I should devote a column to this. In brief:

Plaintiffs brought this action challenging the constitutionality of Section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (“URAA”), Pub. L. No. 103-465, § 514, 108 Stat. 4809, 4976–81 (1994) (codified as amended at 17 U.S.C. §§104A, 109), which granted copyright protection to various foreign works that were previously in the public domain in the United States.

We did not feel it was constitutional for the copyright law to be changed retroactively so that older films which we had been using as public domain, like "Triumph of the Will" and "Metropolis," were suddenly again protected by copyright. For the record, I do not think that was right! The next and final route for the appeal to repeal is the Supreme Court. Stanford Law School and students, to their great credit, do all the legal work at no charge to the plaintiffs since they feel it is a right fight for the good of the public.

More recently I have become aware of the superb website of the Duke Law School Center for the Study of the Public Domain. This is the "Must Read P.D." I refer to in my title. Go to their site. Spend hours. Read much. Learn more.

Here is an excerpt from "Public Domain Day, 2011": On the first day of each year, Public Domain Day celebrates the moment when copyrights expire. You can read more about Public Domain Day around the world at Communia's excellent site here. The films, photos, books and symphonies whose copyright term has finished become “free as the air to common use.” The end of the copyright on these works means that they enter the public domain, completing the copyright bargain.

Except this refers only to copyrighted works becoming public domain in Europe. In the USA, nothing ever changes. The corporate powers keep changing the copyright laws so they will own everything forever. Seems like it anyway. There is a whole lot more at the site, hours of reading, including a 75 page comic book that goes into the intricacies or making a documentary film these days because of all the rights, incidental logos and music and ringtones and on and on that might show up in the real world you are filming.

Anyone interested in public domain should explore this wonderful resource.



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Ideas to Build a Scheme On!

My topic title derives from the great Louis Armstrong standard "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," which he sings in the Mickey Rooney film The Strip, that I enjoyed on TCM last month. The song, according to the film, was written by the character played by William Demarest. This tidbit of Hollywood lore may be the only thing of interest in today's ranting, which is as dry as The Road to Morocco's desert (tonight on TCM).

I should really write about the wonderful job Turner Classic Movies performs year after year for film fans everywhere. The Star of the Month for January is a producer for the first time -- Hal Roach -- and TCM already ran ten or so hours of silent Our Gang comedies, most of which I had not seen. The weeks ahead promise rare Charlie Chase, Thelma Todd, Harry Langdon and the Taxi Boys. If you haven't enjoyed Ben Blue and the Taxi Boys to date, don't feel left out. No one has ever enjoyed them.

I digress. Quite a few people have come to me over the years looking for public domain films. Ah, the glamour and thrill of it all! If they are a small TV station, a movie theater, an internet site looking to add free movies for viewing, a film society or any bar/restaurant venue that wants to add films, then my Festival Films website can guide them to public domain films, programs and hints for using them.

However, some don't have a specific use and aren't quite sure what to do. They just like the idea of movies you don't have to pay for and can do almost anything you want with. I first ask: "Who are you planning to sell to?" and "How do you plan to reach them?" Line up a few customers before you invest in masters. Have a business plan. Talk it over with friends and family first.

I have been pondering my own additional advice the last two weeks in order to add a web page of ideas. Here are some general principles to consider if you want to make money with public domain films.

#1 Don’t copy others.

Forget retail and internet sales of single PD titles, 2-paks or 10 westerns for $10. Companies like Alpha, Mill Creek, Movies Unlimited and Timeless have cornered this market for years.

If you want to try retail, then develop new concepts with a catchy name like “Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n Roll” or “Prehistoric Television.”

#2 Find a New Audience.

Sell PD films where they are not now being sold. Target a specific audience and advertise where they buy non-film stuff related to their hobby. Find a printed mail order catalog (of anything) that is not already selling DVDs, then get them to carry popular PD films like Lucy, Beverly Hillbillies, WW-II documentaries. Sew up these deal before investing in DVD masters, packaging or advertising. Here are some specific ideas:

>> Sell war films to WW-2 veterans. A great idea 25 years ago when it was tried to death. You can't do it now because too many vets have passed on, but I just saw a TV ad for "Dogfights of World War II" so war interest remains.

>> I sold exclusive Bing Crosby films to Crosby fans for years through their magazines. This business has died back due to using up all of Bing's PD films and few new fans surfacing.

>> Market Black heritage films to schools that teach black history.

>> Create a “Legends of Golf” video to sell only in golf course golf shops or in golfing magazines.

>> Sell westerns in tack stores that cater to horse owners.

>> Create a baseball video to sell in Baseball Hall of Fame or thru sports venues.

>> Create a Circus DVD to sell at circus museums in Baraboo, Wis., and Sarasota, FL.

>> Sell Jazz films to colleges with music studies.

>> Religious Book Stores. Sell “Crossroads” TV shows labeled as “Stories of Faith.”

To be a success selling special videos to target audiences, it helps to be inside that specific hobby world and to have experience selling to colleges and to golf, tack, religious, etc., shops.

3) Create a New Product made from Public Domain Films.

Think outside the box. Create a new product that you can copyright and own. Some ideas:

Make documentaries. Even today simple documentaries could be made on JohnWayne, Gary Cooper or Cary Grant, using trailers from their major movies plus public domain film clips from their few PD movies. Naturally you should find a buyer before making your film!

Create DVDs to be given away free as premiums inside another product, like sports clips inside a Wheaties box. I considered pitching this to Act-II Popcorn to give away inside boxes of microwave popcorn. They could give free discs of "An Old-Fashioned Christmas," "Color Cartoon Festival" or "Saturday Matinee Memories."

Saturday Matinees for movie theaters or TV stations. I do this now at Café Roxy and have been working to bring back the hit PBS series from the 1980s -- Matinee at the Bijou -- on a national platform.

Sell movie trailer discs to sports bars to run when no live sports are on. While I offer these, I have not actively pursued sports bars. Someone who already sells them large-screen TVs might have some luck.

Produce TV series with a name host who introduces PD features, shorts, TV, etc. I recently became aware there is such a series of PD horror films hosted by the ever-popular (at least you've heard her name) -- Elvira. Go check out Elvira's Movie Macabre to see if it plays in your area and for this week's show.

Dub PD films into Spanish. Find where and how to sell them first!!!

Add comment track to films based on books, then sell to a book company to include with sales of the same book.

*****

I have been pondering these and similar ideas for my own future projects, and it worked! I did come up with some new ideas to develop. Exactly what, I'm keeping to myself, but the thought process might work for you.

New product for a new audience = new business venture.

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Quest for the Lightning Warrior!

The Lightning Warrior is a 1931 Mascot serial starring Rin-Tin-Tin. The mysterious, black-cloaked "Wolf Man" leads a band of Indians in terrorizing settlers in a western town. With the help of Rinty, young Jimmy Carter unmasks the Wolf Man and foils his evil plot. Jimmy is played by 14-year-old Frankie Darro who made 6 Mascot serials. The hero, Alan Scott, is actor George Brent in his first film and only action film. George spent the next 20 years in Warners dramas opposite Bette Davis and the like. Aging dog star Rin-Tin-Tin, who is doubled in some scenes, died a few weeks after completion.

I have always felt The Lightning Warrior is one of the best Mascot serials. Other serial fans don't agree with me, which could be because they never had a chance to properly see it like I did as a child. The film needs a major restoration. I have been looking. The following dates are approximate.

1953. At the age of seven I watch The Lightning Warrior one chapter a week on TV. It captures my imagination as few films had up to then due to the chapter endings, stunts, location sets and horror elements. Yes, horror. The mystery villain is cloaked like the Phantom of the Opera with a wide black hat that obscures his face. His every appearance is forewarned by howling, shadows and darkness. He hangs out in caves where he meets his minions. Many are suspected, but no one knows his identity.

Location filming was done in rugged mountain terrain on real sets of sawmills or mining camps. The second chapter ending is one of my favorites from all serials, partly because of the mining setting. Small ore cars suspended on cables like a sky ride in an amusement park transfer ore across a gorge. Jimmy and Alan chase the Wolf Man to the actual location but Alan is delayed by henchmen. The Wolf Man climbs into one of the ore cars to escape and young Jimmy leaps as it leaves the station, catching and dangling from the rim. Rin-Tin-Tin jumps into the car and battles the cloaked villain. The bottom of the ore car opens and Rinty plummets. Jimmy lunges for his pal....

In the 1950s the Mascot serials were distributed to TV stations around the country on 16mm prints that were newly struck from the original negatives. They got a lot of use!

1971. I spend 3 weeks in New York City. Courtesy of Leonard Maltin I am introduced to "Joe's Place," a weekend film club run by Joe Judice. It's a real hole in the wall a few blocks from Times Square, maybe 16 foot square where 20 fans could crowd in. Film buffs who frequented the place that I later came to know include John Cocchi, Alan Barbour, Rick Scheckman and Ed Hulse. They often watched triple features of B-westerns, but on the Saturday afternoon I came they showed the complete serial "Daredevils of the Red Circle." Joe had a large serial collection including one of the TV prints of The Lightning Warrior.

1986. (That's a jump, isn't it!) My wife and I host Cinecon 21 in Minneapolis, and select some of the films. I heard that Joe Judice would attend and I asked Joe to bring the first three chapters of The Lightning Warrior since I had not seen any of them since I was a kid. We scheduled them for midnight, then find I don't have the energy I used to for late night showings, and so have to stand during the screening to stay awake. Through dozing on my feet I am still impressed by the serial, especially the endings of chapters 1 and 2.

Joe Judice moves back to Puerto Rico. He and his films disappear.

2003. I watch The Lightning Warrior on VHS from VCI Video, who no longer sells it. l am sorely disappointed for two reasons. First, pretty lousy quality. You can make out what is going on and follow the plot, but it is just below a standard I can enjoy. I understand why no one else is much excited by the film. I try different versions from Alpha Video and Mill Creek Video, but all came from the same poor film transfer.

Even worse, the last five minutes from Chapter #1 is missing! This terrific action scene with great camera and stunt work sets the tone for the rest of the film that anything can happen. Some of the settlers try to escape in covered wagons but are attacked by Indians in a running chase battle that Republic did so well a few years later. The heroine gets knocked out back into the wagon. Alan Scott transfers to the horses to control the wagon. An Indian also jumps to the horses and they grapple on the wagon tongue. They fall between the horses and hang under the wagon until Alan kicks the Indian away. Yes, it is Yakima Canuut, the king of stuntmen, doing his most famous stunt that he performed so many times like in Stagecoach. This is the very first time Yak ever fell between horses under a wagon and yet managed to get back up!

When Alan gets back in the wagon with the heroine they are far from safe. The horses run off, the wagon stalls and begins rolling backward down a long hill. Escape seems hopeless with the Indians in hot pursuit, especially when the wagon rolls over a cliff and crashes below for the fade out. How could they possibly escape? Although missing in all current DVDs, I knew this was the chapter ending because it shows up in the re-cap to Chapter #2. I recalled the under-the-wagon action from having seen it myself though quite a few years earlier.

2004. I go to a friend's house (Dan Bursik) to watch films. Among others we screen the 1936 Gene Autry film The Big Show. Gene plays a stunt man in B-westerns and in the first scene a Hollywood camera crew films the lost action footage, the Indian attack, from The Lightning Warrior! It is stock footage with close-ups of Gene replacing the close-ups of George Brent. Mascot producer Nat Levine also produced The Big Show for Republic.

I take this scene, the head of chapter two and the Indian attack on wagons footage that is repeated in Chapter 12 to recreate the lost footage. My version runs just over two minutes.

c. 2007. I become friendly with Bruce Cardoza who has a company Restored Serials. Please check out his site since his serial quality is excellent. After awhile I tell Bruce about my quest to find the lost ending to Chapter #1 of The Lightning Warrior.

Bruce finds it!

He obtains a VHS copy from a long time serial collector who does not recall where or when he got it, but the ending is all there. Bruce times it at about five minutes but reports the VHS quality is not good enough to warrant restoration efforts. However, he could insert the missing scenes into a new film transfer if he could find a 16mm or 35mm print. On a related front, The Serial Squadron does have the 16mm print that the incomplete videos came from. They could obtain better quality with a new transfer, but don't want to issue one with such an important scene missing. Bruce and the Serial Squadron have not reached an agreement for working together.

And that's where the matter stands. If I visit Bruce in Hollywood he will show me the footage. If and when he can restore the film he will surely do so. Perhaps the footage will turn up somewhere else. Perhaps Joe Judice's print still survives and will surface. Perhaps SONY has 35mm material on the Mascot serials, since I have heard that they purchased the library years ago. All of Mascot's films are in the public domain.

The quest goes on. I hope to re-see The Lightning Warrior someday to re-live a thrill from my youth. Here is my Chapter #1 ending restoration plus the cliffhanger from Chapter #2:



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1994 Hall Family Christmas Picture!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone! I just found the photo I referred to in my Aug. 22, 2009 blog. Since Santa Claus is also in the picture, it must be Christmas time! Or could it be the Mystery Science Theater 3000 costume ball at their first convention?

So I found the 9/19/94 New York Times in the bottom of a box of movie posters. The picture was not on the cover like I remembered but way back on page 2 of the entertainment section. I built the robot head out of fiber glass using techniques I had learned in the prop department at the Guthrie Theater. In retrospect, the head is too big for the rest of the costume since I am no giant, although it helped boost the costume above 7 feet. I won first prize, probably for strutting around in discomfort, and almost fell getting off the stage. The only video we have of the robot in the parking lot and entering the convention is incorporated into THIS VIDEO.

Click on the photo to open it full size. Besides me, the big tin one, Scott Johnson is a deranged Torgo from "Manos, the Hands of Fate." Scott is my brother-in-law. My son Jeff (age 13 at the time) is the short Torgo in the middle. My wife Chris is behind Scott with her back to the camera. Santa Claus is...?

So Merry Ho-Ho-Ho Christmas from the Hall family, 1994.

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Spoooky Thrillers!

I have always been fascinated by "haunted house" films and TV shows. The earliest one that made an impression was some version of Mary Roberts Rinehart's THE BAT glimpsed on a flickering TV. This might have been the "Broadway Television Theatre" version broadcast live in November of 1953 when I was 7. There is also a "Dow Hour of Great Mysteries" version from 1960, which I should have remembered more clearly being 14 at that time. It is unlikely either will ever surface for a re-see. My memory is people walking down dark hallways and stairs by candlelight. A masked madman stalks the creepy mansion. Suspense builds. The unseen in the shadows engenders fear until... something happens.


That pretty much sums up horror films! I always try to watch a haunted house film today, but mostly they put me to sleep. Seriously, most do not deliver and simply bore. What still spooks one today is a good question with a different answer for everyone. The 1927 Cat and the Canary superbly establishes mood with terrific sets and camerawork, but excessive comedy and unappealing stars Laura LaPlante and Creighton Hale weaken the second half.

The 1930 sound remake called The Cat Creeps is a lost film! I urge you to watch the fascinating 1 minute and 43 seconds that survive although without sound track here on Youtube. The 1926 version of "The Bat" succeeds with eerie shadows and real danger, as does the fascinating 1930 remake by Roland West shot in 70mm widescreen! I need to re-watch the 1959 version with Vincent Price and Agnes Moorhead though I've always felt it lacked shadows, dark camerawork and mood.

Other childhood horrors I remember fondly lurched through the gothic episodes of Boris Karloff's Thriller, all of which were released on video this year. I have been watching them daily for the past few weeks courtesy of Netflix. Half of them are merely crime stories and I skipped a few. Ah, but a lot of the scary shows are absolutely terrific with stories by Robert Bloch, direction by John Newland, Ida Lupino and John Brahm and starring William Shatner, Henry Daniell, Patricia Medina, Ron (Sherlock Holmes) Howard and Karloff himself. Better yet, the best ones still frighten. You can watch a six minute Promo Reel with highlights from the spookiest shows. One viewer commented the following, which is better said than I can:

"The horror episodes of Thriller are the best ever done. They are truly frightening - not the pathetic hack/slash/gore formula common nowadays, a poor substitute for geniune fear, which these episodes so convincingly convey. They are in a class by themselves, true masterworks of the horror genre. Beg, borrow, or steal a video copy of them. Wait until night, when things are still, then turn off the lights and watch them. You will not be disappointed."

The episode I remembered by title all these years since 1962 was The Hungry Glass with William Shatner. It unfolded a bit different than I recalled, but the scene of two ghosts pulling the heroine into the mirrors startled me. They all have outstanding sets, dark lighting, shadows and slow trips up stairs to the locked door. Some are half hour stories stretched to fill hour shows, but the padding creates suspense that today's TV has no patience with. The first horror episode is the seventh show in the series -- The Purple Room. A man must stay overnight in an eerie house in order to inherit. He is visited by a specter resembling the James Cagney make-up of Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera for "Man of a Thousand Faces."

Karloff first acts in the tenth episode, "The Prediction," about a mentalist who starts seeing the truth about the future. A good show but not scary. "The Cheaters" features a decrepit house where spectacles are created that show the wearer the truth; years later a man returns to the even more run down place to see his truth, which naturally drives him mad. Don't miss "The Well of Doom" with Henry Daniell costumed like the vampire in London After Midnight and acting like the Devil himself. Don't miss "Parasite Mansion," "The Prisoner in the Mirror," "The Premature Burial" or "The Devil's Ticket."

Perhaps spookiest of all is "The Pigeons from Hell." Adapted from a Robert E. Howard story, taking place entirely at night, two brothers from up north whose car is trapped in the mud somewhere in the Deep South who take refuge in a deserted plantation house devoid of furniture surrounded by noisy pigeons who give off otherworldly vibes. As they settle down for a night's sleep, one brother ventures upstairs, only to return a few moments later with a split forehead, blood streaming down his face, hatchet in hand and looking ready to kill. The other brother flees the big house, runs into the woods, falls down, and is found by the local sheriff to whom he relates his harrowing experience. The investigation continues into the night and into the gloom of a forbidden room where the lantern keeps blowing out.

Watch if you dare....

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What Are the 39 Steps?

At the climax of Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 suspense classic The 39 Steps, hero Richard Hanney yells at the stage of the crowded London Palladium the enigmatic question: "What are the 39 Steps?" This is my favorite movie moment ever! These are my fond reflections on that oft-viewed scene that still stops my heart with anticipation of the answer.

The specific answer (revealed under the video below) really doesn't matter. In the John Buchan 1915 adventure novel from which Hitchcock borrowed the title and hero's name but little else, the 39 Steps refers to a specific location in Scotland where 39 steps lead down to the ocean. I read the novel as a teenager but don't recall details. I hated the 1959 color remake because it copied the original scene for scene but extremely poorly. The 1978 and 2008 versions go back to the book and I need to check them out.

Needless to say, do not read further unless you have seen the 1935 original. You can watch it online right this second if you subscribe to Netflix. A high quality six-part download starts here on Youtube. The last seven minutes that include my favorite movie scene and favorite moment are in the video below.

Let's back up. Many of these blog ramblings are about what films impressed me when I was young, because those happy times turned me into the raving cineaste who continues to watch away his life. Not a complaint, but that's who I am. I first saw The 39 Steps in 1964 when I was a senior in high school. I saw it in the small movie theater inside the University of Wisconsin student union in Madison. Though not yet a college student, anyone could walk in to see the films. Both my mother and father had attended the U. We lived about one mile from the western edge of the University and five miles from the student union on the eastern end, and I was comfortable going there on my own.

I had long been a Hitchcock fan from his 1955-1962 Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV show. I had lived through a solo theater viewing of Psycho (1960) when I was 14, and had seen The Birds first run in a theater only recently. However, I had never had the chance to see The 39 Steps or any of his other early films. They did not show British films on TV in those days. No video, either, though it's hard to imagine those dinosaur days before VHS came into common usage around 1980. Few film books had been written either. I had William Everson's "Classics of the Silent Screen" (1959) but his "Films of Laurel and Hardy" was not published until 1967.

I mention the dark ages of film scholarship and accessibility to explain one simple fact: when I walked into The 39 Steps screening that memorable evening, I had absolutely no idea what the film was about! I only knew it was an Alfred Hitchcock film about an innocent man on the run, pursued by both the police and a spy ring. I assume I knew that much, but I had read nothing more. The time, location, setting and viewing age can all affect one's reaction to a great film. Watching it for the first time today on Youtube you can see how good it still is, but you can't possibly share my emotional response.

I'll skip most comments about great acting, sets, camera work, ingenious plot and man-on-the-run theme that Hitchcock used many times. I do love that vintage helicopter! There is a big surprise right in the middle when Hanney is shot point-blank by the villain and crumples to the floor. You expect he will get out of his predicament in some manner when he walks into the lion's den, but not by being shot dead. Like the shower scene in Psycho, after this point the viewer can be led down any garden path the director chooses, or is it "up?"

One escape and adventure follows another with the hero and viewer wondering "What the heck is going on?" right up to the denouement in the London Palladium. The suspense builds by painting Hanney into an impossible trap. Wanted for murder, he is surrounded by dozens of police closing in. Only he and Pamela (Madeleine Carroll) are aware of a spy ring stealing secrets that day and that moment. Hanney connects the villain with a missing finger to the vaudeville act onstage, Mr. Memory who knows everything. The viewer figures it out at the same time, and yet how can Hanney possibly extricate himself? How? How? How? The question lingers as the suspense builds. There is no obvious way out.

The quick thinking of the hero saves the day, unlike conventional climaxes resolved by a bullet, fight or chase. Hanney turns the tables on Mr. Memory by challenging him in his own act with the question "What are the 39 steps?" In the brief moment that follows the viewer absolutely knows that Memory must answer, because his professional reputation is at stake. He knows everything and must answer all questions, even if the last question will lead to his own death. He answers, is shot, the bad guy is apprehended and the film fades out within three minutes. It's a surprise ending out of the blue and a most satisfying one. Partly because of when I saw the film in my viewing life, I count it as my very favorite scene and climax of all the movies I have seen. Ever.

Re-watch the climax of Alfred Hitchcock's 39 Steps here:




And what are the 39 Steps? Mr. Memory answers Richard Hanney's question from the audience: "The 39 Steps is an organisation of spies, collecting information on behalf of the foreign office of ...." A bullet cuts short the revelation.

A quick note on posters for the film. The color poster at the top is from the original 1935 release. One sold in 1992 by Christies for $14,300. The similar poster to the right was taken from the exact same litho plates, but with less color. Although undated it is assumed to be from the 1938 re-release. This poster sold in 2002 for $920. I have a near-mint example of this 1938 poster hanging on my wall, and have decided to keep it rather than testing the current market value at auction. Time may prove it to be more valuable. It is right now to me.

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Misremembered Tide of Keaton!

I recently ran across a DVD I had copied off Turner Classic Movies maybe 5 or 10 years ago, who knows? The 1929 MGM silent film with music and effects track is Tide of Empire. This fast-moving, large-scale A-western directed by Alan Dwan is set in the Gold Rush days. Having just scanned through it a few times I can highly recommend it. The ruggedly handsome hero is future cowboy B-star Tom Keene, here billed as George Duryea. So Tom started at the top with MGM but rode off to greener valleys, much like Johnny Mac Brown made love to Greta Garbo in silents until sound revealed his very southern accent and true calling in the West.

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 brings a tide of gold seekers to the area, disrupting the lives of the Guerrero family who have owned nearby Rancho Chico for generations. Among these are Dermod D'Arcy, in partners with a jailer, Bejabbers. At a fiesta where horse races are traditionally run, a stranger notices Dermod's exceptionally fast horse, Pathfinder, and urges him to enter the horse in the race. It becomes a three-horse race, with Don José Guerrero betting his ranch that his horse will win. When Pathfinder wins, Dermod takes the ranch as his share of the winnings and gives it to Don José's daughter, Josephita, with whom he had fallen in love earlier, when he met her. Dermod and Bejabbers leave to search for gold, and the town grows rich as more and more gold is amassed. Meanwhile, a bandit chief, Cannon, met Josephita's brother, Romauldo, and forced him to join the gang.

The female star of the surviving silent version is Renée Adorée, the French star of The Big Parade who is quite appealing there and in other late silent MGMs. Sadly she only made 3 more films after Tide before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 35. A curious credit appears on the IMDB that a second version of Tide of Empire was made with the same cast except that Joan Crawford replaced Renée. Is this a lost sound version, a lost Joan Crawford film, or a mistake by IMDB? I wonder because extensive Joan Crawford sites such as this one do not even mention the film. In search of one mystery I found another.

I recall that Robert Osborne said in his introduction that Buster Keaton was rumored to have visited the set with his wife Natalie, and that Buster appeared in the film in a cameo, but no one could quite find him in the film today.

Certainly Keaton would be welcome on any MGM set between his big hits The Cameraman and Spite Marriage. My wife and I took up the challenge and ran through the crowd scenes again and again until we thought we found him. This may have been ten years ago. My clear memory is that we found Buster in heavy disguise (mustache and beaver hat) but right up front in a wedding scene at the end of the film. My intention today was to put this scene on Youtube with a link so Keaton fans could see the lost scene. Much to my surprise today, there is no wedding scene!

Once more, where the heck is Buster? The IMDB lists him as uncredited as a character called "Bump." So I looked and looked and finally found two seconds of bonafide, I swear it's him, Buster Keaton. But look fast in the clip that follows. Right after the frog race is a brief shot of the fiesta party. Keaton's head is directly above Renée's in the top left quarter of the frame. He opens his mouth wide in a Buster expression and in two seconds it cuts to the title "Come Josepheta ... dance for us!" The next short scene before she dances is a continuation of the same shot. It is harder to be certain it is Buster, because the character is laughing. After the dance, I repeat the Buster cameo without the inter-title for a second look. Tune in the next time Tide of Empire is on TCM. I will. I need to make a sharper transfer!

If anyone knows of another Buster glimpse in the film, I'm all ears. Anyway, he was there that day and looks like he had fun! Viva Keaton!

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