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The Big V

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The Big V
This book is the revised edition(something I have been getting a lot lately chasing older publications in the film history field. I got a used University copy. I enjoyed the book and started reading it soon after I received it. easy to read and very informative on a company, Vitagraph Films that was taken over by Warners mid-1920s to get Vitagraph's film exchanges & Flatbush/Brooklyn film studios. The surviving films are sparse due to vault fires. A 1914 fire destroyed much of the pioneering productions back to about 1904 and a later one finished off a lot more. Some of their 20s productions were later remde by Warner Bros and some by RKO as Talkies. A fascinating book about J Stuart Blackton & Albert E Smith, two British emigres to USA as youngster who founded this company after being involved in a stage act together. Their earliest star was The Vitagraph Girl, Florence Turner and they briefly employed the giant so-called comedian John Bunny who died young.

Slide often appears in extras on DVDs and is a fan of silent films. He emigrated from England several years ago and lectures and writes on silent film.

This revised edition includes an extensive added filmography of the company compiled by another for inclusion in this edition. Recommended.