Art direction by Ben Carré

One of the major retrospectives of the 43rd edition of le Giornate del Cinema Muto is dedicated to Ben Carré's activity as a set designer. For King Vidor's classic La Bohème (1925) with John Gilbert and Lilian Gish, Carré designed most of the sets that recreate the Parisian setting of Mimì and Rodolfo's unhappy love story. The beginning and development of Ben Carré's extraordinary career, first in France, at Gaumont with Louis Feuillade, and then in the United States alongside some of the greatest directors, can be retraced in the section curated by Emmy Award-winning set designer Thomas Walsh. Among the titles are rarely-seen classics such as Trilby (1915) and The Blue Bird (1918), the result of Carré's collaboration with Maurice Tourneur.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 63/1. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) / Parufamet. Lillian Gish and John Gilbert in La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 63/2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) / Parufamet. Lillian Gish, John Gilbert and Renée Adorée in La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926).


German postcard by Bruckmann-Verleih. Photo: Universal. Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin in The Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julian, 1925). Caption: Premiere at the Primus Palast 5 November 1925.


Reproduction of a film still by Warner/ Vitaphone. John Barrymore as Don Juan fights Count Giano Donati (Montague Love), while Cesare Borgia (Warner Oland) and Lucrezia Borgia (Estelle Taylor) look on in Don Juan (Alan Crossland, 1926). Set design by Ben Carré.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/12. Montagu Love as the Captain of the Guards, Jacqueline Logan as Mary Magdelene, Dorothy Cumming as the Virgin Mary, and Joseph Striker as the Apostle John in The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Photo: National Film. Caption: Under the Cross.

The creator of the Emerald City

Ben Carré was born Benjamin S. Carré in Paris, France in 1883. His father, a professional painter and decorator, died when Carré was six years old. At thirteen, Carré left school to become an apprentice house painting estimator. Finding his talent lay in painting rather than arithmetic, he took a job as an assistant scene painter at Atelier Amable, at the time one of the most important scenic art studios in Paris. One of his first jobs was painting a large-scale reproduction of the Paris 1900 World's Fair for London's Earl Court Exhibition Hall. Within two years he was designing and painting backgrounds for the Paris Opéra, the Comédie-Française, and Covent Garden in London.

Like many stage designers of the era, Ben Carré was attracted to the burgeoning film industry. In 1905, the then 22-year-old Carré joined Gaumont as a scenic artist. He worked as Messier's assistant in Alice Guy's last years (1906-1907) at Gaumont before she moved to the U.S. Carré is credited for working as art director on films by Louis Feuillade such as Le Huguenot/The Huguenot (Louis Feuillade, 1909), La Mort de Mozart/Mozart's Last Requiem (Étienne Arnaud, Louis Feuillade, 1909), Le Festin de Balthazar/The Feast of Balthazar (Louis Feuillade, 1910) and Aux lions les chrétiens/The Christian Martyrs (Louis Feuillade, 1911). He overturned previous practice by insisting on painting his sets in colour. Soon after, the rest of Gaumont's scenic artists followed suit, and other studios followed soon after. After seven years at Gaumont, Carré moved to the United States in 1912.

Carré first worked for the American Eclair Film Company, based in New York. Carré was unimpressed by the quality of American production and was reportedly miserable until Maurice Tourneur came along. After director Tourneur emigrated from France in 1914, the pair worked on 31 films together. Carré did the art direction for classic Tourneur films such as the comedy-drama Poor Little Rich Girl (Maurice Tourneur, 1917) starring Mary Pickford, the fantasy The Blue Bird (Maurice Tourneur, 1918), and the adventure drama The Last of the Mohicans (Maurice Tourneur, 1920) with Wallace Beery. Carré also worked for many films with early film stars like Clara Kimball Young, House Peters, Olga Petrova, and Seena Owen.

In the 1920s, Carré worked as a freelance art director. He designed sets for The Red Lily (Fred Niblo, 1924) starring Ramon Novarro and created the catacombs for the Horror film The Phantom of the Opera (Ruper Julian, 1925) starring Lon Chaney. Carré worked on a string of films for the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starting with The Masked Bride (Christy Cabanne, Josef von Sternberg, 1925) with Mae Murray. He produced key sketches for La Bohème (King Vidor, 1925) but received no screen credit because he left MGM mid-production to join Warner Bros. There he worked on the John Barrymore vehicle Don Juan (Alan Crosland, 1925), the first film to feature a synchronised musical score. At Warner he also designed the sets of the part-talkies Noah's Ark (Michael Curtiz, 1928) and The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland, 1927) starring Al Jolson, and later also A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood, 1935). He designed the sets of Murnau's City Girl (F.W. Murnau, 1930), and the Golgotha scene in Cecil DeMille's Biblical epic The King of Kings (1927).

Due primarily to ill health, Ben Carré retired from art direction in 1937 but continued to work on background painting and the creation of miniatures. He created the Emerald City for the Technicolor fantasy The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) and worked on such classic musicals Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944), An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951), and Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1952) starring Gene Kelly. He also painted the backgrounds for the historical dramas Marie Antoinette (W. S. Van Dyke, 1938) starring Norma Shearer as the ill-fated Queen of France, and Julius Caesar (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1953) with Marlon Brando. Ben Carré retired in 1965 at the age of 82. In addition to his film work, Carré was a prodigious painter and exhibitor of watercolours featuring Los Angeles cityscapes. He also designed murals for the General Motors Pavilion at the New York World's Fair in 1969. He died in 1978 in Santa Monica, California.


French postcard. Mae Murray in the American silent film The Masked Bride (Christy Cabanne, Joseph von Sternberg. 1925).


Italian programme card for Il Cinema Ritrovata 2011. Photo: Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin in Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julian, 1925).


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Florence, no. 426. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn, Roma. Antonio Moreno and Alice Terry in Mare Nostrum (Rex Ingram, 1926).


Vintage postcard. Photo: Warner Bros. John Barrymore in Don Juan (Alan Crosland, 1926).


French postcard by Europe, no. 452. Photo: United Artists / Regal Film. Douglas Fairbanks in The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan, 1929).


British large card by Picturegoer, in the Colored Art Series, no. CA 8. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Norma Shearer in Marie-Antoinette (W.S. Van Dyke, 1938). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Vintage autograph card. Photo: Leslie Caron and Gene Kelly in An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951).


Big programme card by Cineteca Bologna for Il Cinema Ritrovato, XXXVI edizione, Selezione Cinema Ritrovato Young, 2 July 2022. Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952).

Sources: Thomas Walsh (BenCarré.com), Encyclopedia, I.S.Mowis (IMDb), le Giornate del Cinema Muto (Italian), Wikipedia (English and French), and IMDb.

George O'Brien

John Ford's 3 Bad Men (1926) starring George O'Brien officially opens the Giornate del Cinema Muto tonight at the Teatro Verdi in Pordenone, Italy. The film accompanied by the Pordenone Chamber Orchestra conducted by Timothy Brock, author of the score. The story of the redemption and sacrifice of the three outlaws of the title, the film is a shining example of the silent Western, with a cinematography that La Rivista Cinematografica did not hesitate to define as "superior to all praise". George O'Brien (1899-1985) was a muscular, barrel-chested, yet sensitively talented leading man of classic silent films, like John Ford's The Iron Horse (1924) and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927). He became a different kind of star as a cowboy in B-Westerns during the sound era.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 991. Photo: Fox Film.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 315. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox Film.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 25: George O'Brien. Image: Martinez Surroca.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 637. Olive Borden and George O'Brien in Fig Leaves (Howard Hawks, 1926). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


French postcard by CAF, Lisonne, no. 205. George O'Brien in Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1340/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Witzel, Hollywood / Fox.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5205/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Fox.

Hollywood's first perfect male physique

George O'Brien was born in San Francisco, California, in 1899. He was the oldest son of Daniel J. and Margaret L. (née Donahue) O'Brien. O'Brien's father later became the Chief of Police for the City of San Francisco and ordered the arrest of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle in September 1921 at the scandalous Labour Day party held by Arbuckle. After he retired from that office, Dan was the Director of Penology for the State of California.

In 1917, George enlisted in the United States Navy to fight in World War I, serving on a submarine chaser. He volunteered to act as a stretcher-bearer for wounded Marines and was decorated for bravery. After the war, O'Brien became the Light-Heavyweight boxing champion of the Pacific Fleet.

O'Brien came to Hollywood in his early twenties hoping to become a cameraman and worked as an assistant cameraman for a while, for both Tom Mix and Buck Jones. He began his acting career in bit parts and as a stuntman. One of his earliest roles was in the drama Moran of the Lady Letty (George Melford, 1922), most notable for starring Rudolph Valentino. In 1924, O'Brien received his first starring role in the drama The Man Who Came Back (Emmett J. Flynn, 1924) opposite the English actress Dorothy Mackaill. That same year he was chosen by the famed film director John Ford to star in The Iron Horse (1924) opposite Madge Bellamy. The film was an immense success at the box office and O'Brien made nine more films for Ford, including the great Western 3 Bad Men (1926).

The athletic O'Brien was truly Hollywood's first perfect male physique. In 1927, he starred in F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) opposite Janet Gaynor, which won three major Academy Awards and remains his most famous film. He also played the lead in the New York City epic East Side, West Side (Allan Dwan, 1927) opposite Virginia Valli. O'Brien often starred in action and adventure roles alongside such popular actresses of the era as Alma Rubens, Anita Stewart, Dolores Costello, Madge Bellamy, Olive Borden (with whom he was linked romantically during the 1920s), and Janet Gaynor.

With the advent of sound, his popularity was sliding. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "With his rugged looks and physical size, he was soon a Western Cowboy Star. He was in some of the best stories ever written, Riders of the Purple Sage (Hamilton MacFadden, 1931), and in some of the worst." So, throughout the 1930s, O'Brien was a consistent Top Ten box-office draw appearing in scores of Westerns, often atop his horse named Mike. He would appear in a few films outside the horse set, such as Ever Since Eve (George Marshall, 1934) with Mary Brian, but those roles would be few.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3836/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Fox.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4404/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 937. Photo: Fox-Film. George O'Brien in Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927).


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 991. Photo: Fox Film.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5121. Photo: Fox-Film. George O'Brien and Virginia Valli in Paid to Love (Howard Hawks, 1927).


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5304. Photo: Witzel, Hollywood / Fox.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5770. Photo: Kahle / Fox.

Directed by his old friend and mentor John Ford

During World War II, George O'Brien re-enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served as a beach master in the Pacific and was decorated several times. He left service with the rank of commander. He later joined the United States Naval Reserve and retired with the rank of captain in 1962, having four times been recommended for the rank of admiral.

Following his service in World War II, O'Brien would occasionally take featured parts in films directed by his old friend and mentor John Ford, including Fort Apache (1948), starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), starring Richard Widmark and Carroll Baker.

O'Brien's last leading role was in Gold Raiders (Edward Bernds, 1951), with top-billed O'Brien handling the action and the Three Stooges (Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, and Moe Howard) doing comedy routines in a feature film more or less evenly dividing screen time between O'Brien and the Stooges. While serving in the Naval Reserve, O'Brien took on a project for the Department of Defense as part of President Eisenhower's 'People to People' program. He was the project officer for a series of orientation films on three Asian countries. One of these films, on Korea, was directed by his old friend, John Ford. The other two countries covered were Formosa (Taiwan) and the Philippines.

In the 1920s, O'Brien dated actress Olive Borden for many years, and most thought they would marry. For some reason (some say his family did not approve of Olive) they ended their relationship and he eventually married actress Marguerite Churchill in 1933. Their first child, Brian, died 10 days after his birth. Daughter Orin O'Brien became a double bassist for the New York Philharmonic. Their youngest child Darcy O'Brien was a successful writer and college professor. George and Marguerite divorced in 1948.

George O'Brien suffered a stroke in 1981 and was bedridden for the last four years of his life. He died in 1985 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He was 86. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, O'Brien was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Blvd., in Los Angeles, California.


Spanish postcard by EFB, no. A-17.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 126. Photo: Fox Film Corp. George O'Brien and Virginia Valli in Paid to Love (Howard Hawks, 1927).


British Real Photograph postcard.


British postcard by Ross Verlag Foreign, no. 3836/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 292. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 313. Photo: Fox Film. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3170/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Fox. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4489/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6126/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Fox.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7572/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Fox.


Dutch postcard, no. 80. Photo: Fox-Film.

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Find-A-Grave, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

La Gerusalemme liberata (1918)

La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders/Jerusalem Liberated (1918) was an Italian silent period piece directed and produced by Enrico Guazzoni. It was an adaptation of an epic poem by Torquato Tasso from 1581 in the late Renaissance. It tells of Christian knights battling Muslims during the First Crusade of 1096 in the Middle Ages, to retake the holy city of Jerusalem. EFSP presents two series of vintage cards made for the film adaptation. Six Spanish cromos in colour were made by Chocolate Imperial when the film was distributed in Spain by José Montañola under the Spanish title 'Jerusalén Libertada'. The other series is a complete set of 12 original Italian postcards by IPA CT Duplex.


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 1 of 6 cards. Photo: Exclusiva José Montañola / Guazzoni Film. Edy Darclea as Armida and Beppo Corradi as Rinaldo in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders/Jerusalem Liberated (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 2 of 6. The attack on Jerusalem in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 3 of 6 cards. The Crusaders' camp in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 4 of 6 cards. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi and Olga Benetti as Clorinda in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 5 of 6 cards. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 6 of 6 cards. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi and Olga Benetti as Clorinda in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).

The master of the revocation of famous historical events

In 1096 Godfrey of Bouillon (Eduardo Monteneve) heads a crusade against the Turks and Aladdin (Ljubomir Stanojevick), the cruel king of Jerusalem. His captains are Tancredi (Amleto Novelli) from Taranto and Rinaldo from Este. Aladin appoints Clorinda (Olga Benetti), an intrepid Persian, to head the troupes defending the city, together with the valiant Argante (Aristide Garbini).

After having saved the lives of Olindo (Rinaldo Rinaldi) and Sofronia, two young Christians condemned to death by the ruthless Aladdin for stealing a sacred image from the mosque, Clorinda fights a duel with Tancredi (Amleto Novelli), one of Godfrey's captains. He has fallen in love with her but doesn't want to fight her on the battlefield. Because of her armour and the darkness, he is ignorant of who he is his adversary. So, he kills his beloved, who converts to Christianity while dying.

Meanwhile, the beautiful magician Armida (Edy Darclea) has enchanted Rinaldo (Beppo Corradi), another crusader, who has fallen in love with her, in her magical garden. Once he re-awakes from the spell, despite the pleas of Armida, he returns to the Christian camp to participate in the assault of Jerusalem, which is conquered after a long and strenuous battle.

The British film journal The Bioscope wrote in 1919 that Gerusalemme liberata confirmed director Enrico Guazzoni's talent after his Quo vadis?. The Bioscope considered Guazzoni the master of the revocation of such famous historical events, even more than D.W. Griffith. While most attention went to the mass scenes, individual praise was for Novelli and Benetti. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem was equaled to the victorious entry of the Allies, 800 years after.

In 1911 Enrico Guazzoni already made an earlier version, again with Amleto Novelli in the lead as Tancredi, but this time also with Gianna Terribili Gonzales as Clorinda, instead of Olga Benetti. In this version, Emilio Ghione played Rinaldo, and Fernanda Negri-Pouget was Armida. Wikipedia mixes up these two versions and mistakes its production year. The 1911 version was well received, nationally and internationally, and considered the second Italian 'feat' after La caduta di Troia/The Fall Of Troy (Giovanni Pastrone, 1911), the first two-reeler epic film. In 1934, Guazzoni re-issued his 1918 version in a 'spoken' and re-cut version with scenes added. The dialogues were written by Fausto Salvadori and an introductory commentary was done by Adolfo Geri who played Torquato Tasso. The version lasted about twenty minutes longer than the silent version and the music was by Luigi Avitabile.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 1 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders/Jerusalem Liberated (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The archangel Gabriel incites Godfrey to go on a crusade. Eduardo Monteneve plays Godfrey of Bouillon, while Gabriel might have been played by the actress Fernanda Negri Pouget.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 2 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: In the presence of Peter the Hermite, Godfrey incites the Christian knights to join the Crusade. Godfrey of Bouillon was performed by Eduardo Monteneve.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 3 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Episode of Olindo and Sofronia. The virgin Sofronia before the tyrant Aladin. Ljubomir Stanojevic played Aladin, and Rinaldo Rinaldi played Olindo, but it isn't clear who played Sofronia.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 4 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The King of Tripoli sends gifts and supplies to Goffredo.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 5 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Tancredi reveals his love for Clorinda. Tancredi was played by Amleto Novelli and Clorinda by Olga Benetti.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 6 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The mortally wounded Clorinda is baptised by Tancredi. Olga Benetti played Clorinda and Amleto Novelli Tancredi.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 7 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/ The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Erminia wears the armour of Clorinda before going to the wounded Tancredi. Elena Sangro played Erminia.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 8 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/ The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The loves of Rinaldo and Armida. Beppo Corradi plays Rinaldo, Edy Darclea Armida.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 9 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Ubaldo liberates Rinaldo from the spells of Armida. Of the stairs, Edy Darclea as Armida and Beppo Corradi as Rinaldo. The man gesticulating in the middle is Amleto Novelli, who plays Tancredi.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 10 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The Christians attack Jerusalem with their siege machinery.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 11 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from the Italian silent film La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Thus Godfrey wins. Goffredo di Buglione/Godfrey of Bouillon was performed by Eduardo Monteneve.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 12 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from the Italian silent film La Gerusalemme liberata/Jerusalem liberated/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The Allied armies enter Jerusalem (during WW I).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1918 (1991), and Vol. 1911, I (1995)), Wikipedia (English and Italian) and IMDb.