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SLIFF 2014 – A Look at IVANHOE from 1913 Starring King Baggot – Screens November 14th
“Gurth the Swineherd , do you not recognize me?”
“Ivanhoe ! My young master”
It’s been said that 75% of all silent films are lost – scrapped for their silver nitrate content, destroyed by fire, left to decompose, or simply abandoned by an industry so lacking in foresight that it neither knew nor cared about their own products value to the future. In the case of the silent films that St. Louis native King Baggot starred in, that number is closer to 99%. Baggot likely appeared in over 300 films during his most active period 1909 to 1916, mostly one-reelers (1000 feet of film running around 16 minutes). When Cinema St. Louis and I teamed up to plan the King Baggot Tribute night coming up November 14th, we knew we wanted to show one film featuring one of his performances and another that he directed. We chose to represent his directing career with the 1925 western TUMBLEWEEDS starring William S. Hart. Securing the film he acted in was a bit trickier. There were really only two choices as far as access to loanable prints; DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE or IVANHOE. Both were made in 1913 and they were the two top-grossing films of that year. A couple of his one-reelers, including the serial THE HAWK’S TRAIL, exist at the Library of Congress in D.C., but you have to go there to watch them – they don’t loan them out. UCLA has a loanable print of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, a two-reeler lasting 27 minutes. It’s the only film starring King Baggot that can be easily viewed. It’s on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3XahtXgMzU)
JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE was not even the first adaption of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s story but it’s a decent film and considered to be Universal Studio’s ‘First’ horror film (it was produced by New York-based IMP studios, but released under Universal’s umbrella). But like many films over 100 years old, it’s primitive and static, more interesting for its historical value than to actually sit through. I had never seen IVANHOE, but had read in author Sally Dumaux’s book “King Baggot, a Biography and Filmography of The First King of the Movies” that it was a much livelier film than JEKYLL AND HYDE. Ms Dumaux wrote:
“IVANHOE was an amazing film for its time and it holds up today, even if viewed with Dutch intertitles from a copy made by the Museum of Modern Art from one owned by the Nederlands Filmmuseum. (director) Herbert Brenon’s battle scenes carry the picture.”
We contacted the Museum of Modern Art in New York and they agreed to loan us the print of IVANHOE for the King Baggot Tribute event. The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra was hired to score the film and will perform while it plays on November 14th. Securing a digital print of IVANHOE to have in advance so the orchestra would have something to rehearse to, became an unexpected challenge. The Museum of Modern Art did not have a digital copy of the film, just the 35mm print which wouldn’t arrive until just before the screening, and it became clear that IVANHOE had never been released in any other format. I began posting inquiries at silent film chatrooms and reached out to silent film historians with no success. Finally I was put in touch with Elif Kaynakci, Silent Film Curator at the EYE Film Institute in the Netherlands. He sent me a link to an online running of their archive print which I was able to film right off of my computer monitor with my camcorder – not a great transfer, but good enough for reference.
Screen shots from the tinted print of IVANHOE that will screen at the King Baggot Tribute November 14th
After finally watching IVANHOE I was thrilled with how good it actually was. The ambitious 100-year old film is filled with pageantry and excitement, overflowing with epic battle scenes, swordfights, burnings at the stake, romance, and drama. St. Louis film buffs will be in for a rare treat and a great entertainment when the tinted 35mm print screens November 14th.. The screening will be followed by an illustrated powerpoint lecture about the life and career of King Baggot delivered by me. I’ve been collecting images of Baggot for many months and have some rare photos and anecdotes about the actor, and his St. Louis roots, to share. My talk will be followed by a screening of TUMBLEWEEDS (digital source) with live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.
The story behind the making of IVANHOE is a fascinating look at early American silent film history. In 1913, the American film industry had been around for over twenty years. In 1909 Carl Laemmle, a renegade and maverick movie mogul and film distributor, founded his own company in New York – Independent Motion Pictures (IMP) Company, aka IMP Studios. After several years on the East Coast, Laemmle would begin making plans to journey West where he would expand his film production and in 1912 co-founded the Universal Film Manufacturing Co., or Universal Film Company – the precursor to Universal Pictures in Hollywood. The studio had its sights set on bigger and better things than the one and two-reel shorts that Hollywood had been grinding out. European studios were producing big, ambitious feature productions and Universal felt the need to compete.
Sir Walter Scott’s classic novel Ivanhoe was first published in 1820. The story was set in 1194 during the reign of King Richard I and focused on Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a Saxon Knight who returns from the Holy Lands to England. There he teams up with Robin Hood to rescue his father Sir Cedric, who has been captured by the evil Prince John. Universal saw Ivanhoe as the perfect property to film, and spent a record amount of money to produce it. Their 1913 film IVANHOE was the first example of a studio sending a cast and crew to a remote venue to film on location. They travelled by train to New York, then sailed by ship the 3000 miles to Wales. Their destination was Chepstow Castle, located in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye. Chepstow Castle was, and remains, the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain, being constructed between the years 1067 and 1188. By the early 20th century, Chepstow had become a major tourist attraction in Wales (In 1977 Terry Gilliam shot some of his film JABBERWOCKY at the castle). The castle was owned at the time by the Duke of Beauford, who agreed to rent it to the studio for one month.
On the set of IVANHOE – note the residents of Chepstow watching the filming
Universal tapped its biggest star, 34-year old King Baggot, to play the title role in IVANHOE. Bagget, who was born and raised in St. Louis, was the first internationally famous movie star of the silent era and the first individually publicized leading man in America, Baggot was referred to as “King of the Movies,” “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon.”
Herbert Brenon directing
Director Herbert Brenon, who had directed dozens of shorts for the studio, shot IVANHOE and co-starred as Isaac of York. Leah Baird was cast as Rebecca and Evelyn Hope played Lady Rowena. The rest of the cast was made up of local British actors.
Chepstow Castle today
For three or four weeks in 1913, the town of Chepstow took on the state of a festival, as nothing like the filming of IVANHOE had been done on British soil up until that time. All the local hotels were full of Norman knights and damsels with American accents, the local ‘supers’ or extras, apparently went about their work in costume. Locals assisted with the costumes and ‘The Church Boy’s House’, a large social hall, was converted into a props and makeup facility. Reporters from national newspapers and the film press covered the making of IVANHOE in detail, wanting to see how a “great cinematograph picture is taken”. They gave high praise to the making of the battle scenes.
The sack of ‘Torquilstone’ caused two days of great excitement involving an army of 300 locals (Universal would claim ‘A Cast of Thousands’ in the film’s marketing). Enthusiastic participation resulted in a number of injuries, mostly minor, as well as many broken ‘weapons’. King Baggot himself was injured during the making of the film when an extra smacked him on the chin with a sword. Baggot can be seen staggering away from the blow in the final film.
King Baggot makes his entrance in IVANHOE disguised as a monk
The filming of IVANHOE was described as “the biggest venture of the kind ever attempted in England,” It had a cast of 50 horses as well as 500 people. 20,000 feet of negative were exposed by the two cameramen out of which 3,500 ft made the final three-reel film which lasted a whopping 48 minutes. Correspondents for the British press were on location for the filming and praised King Baggot.
The Cinematograph Exhibitors Mail wrote:
“What a wonderfully perfect actor is Mr. King Baggot and what an enormous amount of energy he puts into his work. He seems to inspire the rest of the company whenever he is in the picture, with the result that they put much more force into their work than they would otherwise deem necessary. He takes his work completely to hrart, and this past week I am sure he has forgotten that he is King baggot, the best film actor I the world!”
IVANHOE was a huge hit for Universal in 1913. It opened in England September 11th 1913 and in the U.S. two weeks later. The domestic ads boasted that the film was smashing box-office records in the UK. In an interesting twist, a British studio, Zenith, produced their own version of IVANHOE in 1913 as well. It was nearly twice as long as the Universal film, but not nearly as well received. It was released in the U.S. under the title REBECCA THE JEWESS and is now considered a lost film.
Moving Picture World magazine covered the film of IVANHOE in 1913 and gave it an excellent review. They wrote:
“An earnest and ambitious effort to film high class popular fiction of the type of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, deserves the hearty commendation of every friend of moving pictures. Even it the production resulting from such an effort was feeble and imperfect, harsh criticism would be out of place. Happily, the film rendering of Ivanhoe. by the Universal Film Company, does not stand in need of any indulgence but is, on the contrary, entitled to sincere praise purely on its merits. The director has evidently grown with his task and there is-plenty of evidence all through this feature, that care, and time, and patience, and skill entered into the production. In, this film, the Universal Film Company have aimed higher than usual and I am glad to say that their mark is close to the center of the target.”
William Calvert steals the show as Gurth the Swineherd
That was 100 years ago. Since then, Ivanhoe has been filmed at least four more times (perhaps the most famous being the 1952 version starring Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor) and was even a TV show in the ‘50s. Chepstow Castle continued to serve as a major tourist site and an adjacent museum was added to the property which has served as a venue for all sorts of cultural activities. This past year, to celebrate the centennial of IVANHOE being filmed there, the castle sponsored a screening of the movie on its grounds. The event took place July 13th and was a well-attended success. A local renaissance group adorned in medieval garb began the show by dancing while local opera star Karl Daymond sang. A newly assembled score, played by a pianist, accompanied the film. IVANHOE, the first American Studio film epic, has slipped into obscurity in the 100 years since its release and it looks like this opportunity to view it again was a big hit in Chepstow,as it will likely be when it plays November 14th at 7pm at Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. The screening will be followed by my illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot, which will be followed by the screening of TUMBLEWEEDS (digital source) with piano accompaniment by Matt Pace. Ticket information for the event can be found HERE.
http://tributetokingbaggot.bpt.me/
The Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE
https://www.facebook.com/events/1503897816519760
Here are some photos of the screening of IVANHOE that took place July 2013 at Chepstow Castle in Wales (Photos provided by David Howell)
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