Silent Film, Swedish Silent Film: Biograph and Svenska Bio; D.W. Griffith and Victor Sjostrom: Scott Lord Silent Film: The Kiss (Vitagraph, 1914)

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Scott Lord Silent Film: The Kiss (Vitagraph, 1914)

Thought to be a lost silent film, "The Kiss" was appreantly rediscovered in the modern era. As early within the historiography of film criticism as 1979, John L. Fell, in his volume A History of FIlm, relates that prevalence of a lack of film preservation, "Becuse of general unavailability, materials of Vitagraph, Selig and Lubin, as well as many French, British and Italian titles have so far been less carefully considered thatn Edison and Biograph work."

Silent Film

Scott Lord on Silent Film, Scott Lord on Danish Silent Film, Scott Lord on Swedish Film, Scott Lord on Mystery Film

Scott Lord on Silent Film including Lost Film, Found Magazines, viewing reviews of silent film printed during their first run and viewing posters, lobby cards and magazine advertisements to study lost silent films within the context of the director’s career and the growing popularity of its star within a specific genre. The films of D.W. Griffith and G.W. BItzer with Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish and Blanche Sweet. Swedish Silent Film of Victor Sjostrom, Victor Seastrom in the United States, Mauritz Stiller, John Brunius and George af Klercker. the Danish Silent Film of August Blom and Carl Th. Ďreyer.

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Lost Silent Film: Lost Film, Found Magazines

In regard to my writing Lost Films, Found Magazines, primarily spurred on by an interest in the Swedish Silent Film of Victor Sjostrom after the death of Ingmar Bergman, fifty years earlier author Gary Carey gave the hope of his publication, “to fill in some lacunae in film scholarship and in sheer film-going by presenting the only remnants of these films, still photographs designed for publicity purposes and plot synopses culled from various publications of the period.” In effect, extratextural discourse that could also include the autobiographical. Gary Carey, writing about his book Stills From Lost Films for the Museum of Modern Art in 1970 addresses use of stills to supplement the lack of existing celluloid, “Stills of course are handy as illustrations or references, but are far from dependable. Most stills are shot by a photographer after the scene has been completed on the set. The actors are asked to repeat bits of action for the still cameraman. There little that the still photograph bears resemblance to the scene of the film.”

Victor Sjostrom

Victor Seastrom Swedish Silent Film More properly the headlines should read, "Garbo Talks, Seastrom Returns Home." Victor Seastrom who had worked in the Swedish theater before pioneering in Swedish Film, returned to Sweden with the advent of the sound film, not to direct, but to act. As in Hollywood, the exterior of the Swedish landscape that had established Sjostrom, Stiller and Molander during the golden age of Swedish Silent Film had taken the innovation of sound back to the proscenium arc of the interior with Molander managing the transition to dialogue centered films.