This post's purpose is to collect my common tags in one place, so readers (and I!) can easily access entries on several subjects.

I visited the WOMDA archive again today, this time to check out some of their digital video of WWI film footage.

The clips are all very, very short, I think to aid downloading speed, but they're also captioned very well, including interesting annotations like telling you to note the hairstyle of one of the soldiers shown because it was in vogue at the Front in 1916. It's worth a look if you have a fast connection. I viewed the clips in QuickTime.

A long while back, I bought World War I Films of the Silent Era on DVD, which is pretty good. ( Summary. )

I checked out a video copy of the 1915 Theda Bara movie, A Fool There Was. Here's a summary and review of the DVD. It's a silent, intended both to titillate and to warn against dangerous women. Interestingly, Bara's character has no name--she's simply called "The Vampire."

Well. I did not find Theodosia Goodman (Bara's real name) to be quite as much a vampire, i.e., vamp, as the audience was obviously meant to. C. and I kept making up little reasonable stories to explain her seemingly awful behavior towards men, because at least she had some spine.

The video quality wasn't great, and she only had one or two closeups. This is a film I wouldn't necessarily recommend to anyone for fun, but it's good research material.

My favorite intertitle: "Kiss me, my fool!"

Vampiric seduction technique: Theda Bara enthralls Schuyler first by having his deck chair placed next to her own, then later by dropping one of her trademark flowers. When he bends to pick it up, she lifts her skirt. Above her ankles. Twice, later on, she deflects him from returning to his wife and Adorable Daughter of the Long Curls simply by entering the room and clasping him in her arms. Did she smear her body with opium?

Favorite cultural anthropology moment: The wife of one of Schuyler's old friends finds out about him and Bara, and refuses to stay in the same hotel.

Best Evil Laugh: Bara yukking it up after a former lover shoots himself in front of her. Really, it was hysteria, because he'd done Bad Things to her...she wasn't bad, she was just acted that way.

I need to watch my D.W. Griffith WWI propaganda flick before it's due on Saturday.