Sarah Bernhardt

Stars of Yesterday documentary film.

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The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount Pictures made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. It was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release and includes a brief history of Paramount, interviews with various actors, and clips from upcoming projects (some of which never came to fruition). The title comes from a biography of Paramount founder Adolph Zukor, The House That Shadows Built (1928), by William Henry Irwin.

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Jean is thrown out of the house by his father, a remarried politician, out of jealousy for his friendship with his mother-in-law. He finds refuge at an artist's apartment. In the same building lives a famous fortune teller that the mother-in-law just happens to consult. With her help, Jean will be able to marry his young sweetheart and his father will solve his political troubles.

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Penniless aristocrat Yvonne Dupré ekes out a living selling her paintings to a crooked dealer, Leon Naisson, who passes them off as other more famous artists. Leon confides to his unscrupulous model Romildo, that he is attracted to Yvonne. Romildo drugs his lover, fiery Apache dancer Juliette who closely resembles Yvonne, then tries to extort money from Leon to have his way with her. Leon discovers the duplicity but convinces the artist's sweetheart, Dick Gray, that she has been unfaithful. As police close in on Leon, he frames Yvonne by planting forged paintings in her studio. Following Yvonne's arrest, Juliette is informed by her foster sister that she was stolen by gypsies as a child and is actually Yvonne's twin sister. Juliette exposes Leon's operation to the police, reuniting Yvonne and Dick.

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On July 4, 1917, French actress Sarah Bernhardt speaks in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y., on behalf of French-American cooperation in the war effort. Addressing more than 50,000 people gathered around a decorated music platform, Mme. Bernhardt stands and speaks from an open touring car parked in front of the platform. Medium close shot of Mme. Bernhardt speaking and gesturing, with man who may be her personal physician, Dr. Felix Marot, and woman who is probably her secretary and translator, Miss Elizabeth Ormsby, seated in car.

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A mother loses first her son and then her husband in the trenches of France during the First World War. She devotes herself to the French cause and to helping those wounded in the war.

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With family connections to some famous French artists, writers, and musicians of the time, Sacha Guitry decided to film the individuals in action, to celebrate the greatness of his culture, threatened by Germany in the ongoing Great War.

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Jeanne Doré becomes the accomplice of her son Jacques who unfortunately commits a crime to help his mistress, Fanny, find money.

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A considered lost film from 1913

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Episodes from the life of Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603), focusing on her ill-fated love affair with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

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Marguerite is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hope of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Marguerite discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.

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The movie consists solely of a saber fight. Bernhardt plays a cross-gender Hamlet, and Pierre Magnier is her fellow duelist, Laertes. A few bystanders, in Rennaissance dress, stand off to the right of the screen, and in the background, next to a painted backdrop.

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The Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre was a special pavilion at the 1900 Paris World's Fair which featured filmed performances presented with sound via wax cylinder recordings. Many of these short films were also presented in hand-tinted color. The performances ranged from theatre (Coquelin the eldest, Gabrielle Réjane, Sarah Bernhardt, Félicia Mallet), opera & operetta (Mariette Sully, Emile Cossira, Jeanne Hatto, Mily-Meyer, Désiré Pougaud), to café concert & music hall variety (Footit et Chocolat, Mason and Forbes, Little Tich, Brunin, Polin, Jules Moy) and dance (Blanche and Louise Mante from the Paris Opera, Carlotta Zambelli, Michel Vasquez, Rosita Mauri, Jeanne Chasles, Achille Viscusi, Christine Kerf, Cléo de Mérode).

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