This short experimental film tells the story of a man who comes to Hollywood to become a star, only to fail and be dehumanized (he is identified by the number 9314 written on his forehead), after which he dies and goes on to Heaven where the number is removed. —IMDb
Robert Florey (14 September 1900, Paris – 16 May 1979, Santa Monica, California) was a French screenwriter, director of short films, and actor who moved to Hollywood in 1921. In 1950, Florey was made a knight in the French Légion d’honneur.
Florey worked as assistant director to Josef von Sternberg and others before making his feature directing debut in 1926. He directed more than 50 movies over the next 23 years, from the first Marx Brothers movie The Cocoanuts (1929), to the Bette Davis melodrama Ex-Lady, to horror movies such as Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) starring Bela Lugosi, the spy film Man from Frisco (1944), the skillful film noir The Crooked Way (1949), and the first Hollywood film about the First Indochina war, Rogues’ Regiment (1948) with Dick Powell and Vincent Price .
Florey made a significant but uncredited contribution to the script of the classic 1931 film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Florey was also originally slated to direct… read more
Slavko Vorkapić (born name Slavoljub Vorkapić) (English Slavko Vorkapich, originally in Serbian Cyrillic Славко Воркапић) (March 17, 1894 – October 20, 1976), was a Serbian-American film director and editor, former Dean of USC Film School, painter, and a prominent figure of modern cinematography and film art.
Early life
Slavko Vorkapić was born on March 17, 1894, in the small village of Dobrinci near Ruma in Syrmia, Vojvodina (at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia), later Yugoslavia, now Serbia). His father Petar, the town clerk, insisted that young Slavko should be well-educated. After finishing his primary education, he became a student in a well-known regional high-school in the nearby town of Sremska Mitrovica, where he made his first steps in art and drawing. (Mileva Marić-Einstein, the first wife and work associate of Albert Einstein went to the same high school.) He continued his high-school education in Zemun and later… read more
1 min worth of expressionist lighting and gags extended pointlessly over 11 minutes.
The Life and Death of 9413, A Hollywood Movie Extra is one of the most whimsical and enjoyable early abstract narrative films. Employing formal qualities of early animation, German Expressionism, montage, and art deco, this short uses intriguing imagery and semi-satirical tone to provide a sharp critique of the burgeoning Hollywood star system. It remains unique in its style.
This week’s essential film items include an incredible new issue of La Furia Umana, trailers for films by Van Sant and Park, and more.