At le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2024 in Pordenone, one of the major retrospectives is dedicated to Latin America. The curator of this festival section, Paolo Tosini, has put together a programme of 31 titles. It aims to be an impulse for research and the preservation of silent material in Latin America, involving 16 archives from 10 different countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay. Most of the silent films of these countries are little known outside Latin America. For the occasion, EFSP selected 12 film stars born in Latin America.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1036/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Phoebus Film. Ramon Novarro in Scaramouche (Rex Ingram, 1923).
Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. He was the star of silent Hollywood's biggest epic, Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).
French postcard by Editions Cinemagazine, no. 237. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ramon Novarro in Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925).
French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 207. Photo: Enrique (de) Rivero as Henri de Rogier in Le tournoi dans la cité/The Tournament (Jean Renoir, 1928), with . The film was scripted by Henry Dupuis-Mazuel. Sets by Robert Mallet-Stevens, costumes by George Barbier and exteriors shot at Carcassonne.
Enrique Rivero aka Riveros (1906-1954) was a Chilean actor, who peaked in the late 1920s and early 1930s French cinema. He is famous for his lead in Jean Cocteau's Le sang d'un poète/The Blood of a Poet (1930).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1035/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Phoebus-Film, Berlin. Paul Ellis in The Bandolero (Tom Terriss, 1924).
Manuel Granada (1896-1974) was an Argentine actor who appeared in American, Spanish, Argentine and Mexican films. He made his film debut in the Metro-Goldwyn film The Bandolero in 1924 under the name Manuel Granado, but would soon become better known as Paul Ellis in films such as Three Hours (1927) and The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929). Indeed, our card already uses the name of Paul Ellis for his first Hollywood film. Ellis would have a long career but mostly as a supporting actor. In the early 1930s, he was in Spanish language versions of Hollywood productions, while after the war he acted in Argentine in various films. All in all, he acted in over 110 films.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 5639/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Fox. Warner Baxter and Mona Maris in Romance of the Rio Grande (Alfred Santell, 1929).
Sultry, sleepy-eyed Argentine brunette Mona Maris (1903-1991) appeared in both European and Hollywood silent films. After the arrival of sound, she starred in a string of Spanish-language versions of American films.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1854/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Fox.
Barry Norton (1905-1956) was a boyishly handsome Argentine-born actor, who had a career in the United States. In Hollywood, he acted in over 90 films by F.W. Murnau and others. He started in silent films in 1925 and is perhaps best known for his role as Juan Harker in Universal Pictures' Spanish-language version of Drácula (1931). The English-language role of Jonathan Harker was originated by David Manners.
Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5161. Photo: United Artists.
Mexican-born American film star Gilbert Roland (1905–1994) was often cast in the typical 'Latin Lover' role during the silent era. Roland later played romantic lead roles in Spanish language adaptations of American films. In the mid-1940s, he was featured in the popular film series The Cisco Kid. Beginning in the 1940s, critics began to take notice of his acting and he was praised for his supporting roles in John Huston's We Were Strangers (1949), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964). His last film appearance was in the Western Barbarosa (1984).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 331. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox Film. Dolores Del Rio and Edmund Lowe in What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926).
Mexican and American actress Dolores del Río (1905–1983) was a Hollywood star in the 1920s and 1930s. She was also one of the most important female actresses of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Del Río was the first major Latin cross-over star in Hollywood and was considered one of the most beautiful faces that have emerged in Hollywood cinema. She also appeared in several European films.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3241/1, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Lupe Velez in The Gaucho (F. Richard Jones, 1927).
Lupe Velez (1908-1944) was one of the first Mexican actresses to succeed in Hollywood. Her nicknames were 'The Mexican Spitfire' and 'Hot Pepper'. She was the leading lady in such silent films as The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928), and Wolf Song (1929). During the 1930s, her well-known explosive screen persona was exploited in a series of successful films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934), and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez's popularity peaked after appearing in the Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalise on Vélez's well-documented fiery personality. She had several highly publicised romances and a stormy marriage. In 1944, Vélez died of an intentional overdose of the barbiturate drug Seconal. Her death and the circumstances surrounding it have been the subject of speculation and controversy.
Romanian postcard. Photo: Dorian-Film. Maria Corda and Adelqui Migliar in Die Sklavenkönigin/The Moon of Israel (Mihaly Kertesz aka Michael Curtiz, 1924).
Adelqui Migliar aka Adelqui Millar (1891-1956) was a Chilean actor who was the male star of Dutch silent cinema in the 1910s and early 1920s. Later on, he acted and directed in Britain, Austria and Argentina.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4768/1, 1929-1930. Photo: United Artists.
Mona Rico (1907-1994) was a Mexican American actress. Ernst Lubitsch discovered Rico in 1928 and gave her the lead of the female antagonist in the United Artists silent drama Eternal Love (1929), starring John Barrymore and Camilla Horn, and set in the Swiss Alps in the early 19th century.
French postcard for Campari. Photo: Studio G.L. Manuel Frères.
Mona Goya (1909–1961) was a Mexican-born French film actress who probably debuted in film in Germaine Dulac's late silent film Princesse Mandane (1928). In the same year, she also acted in various other films, such as the period piece Madame Recamier (1928) by Gaston Ravel and she had a small part in Marcel L'Herbier's lavish production L'Argent (1928). Goya's career really set off with the arrival of sound film around 1930.
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5780. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Raquel Torres (1908-1987) was a Mexican-born American film actress. She had her breakthrough as a Polynesian beauty in White Shadows in the South Seas (1928). She played island girls, and biracial beauties and was a sexy foil to the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup (1933). After marrying a stockbroker in 1935, she retired.
Source: Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (Italian).
A good beginning, cool photos, well done. Thanks for posting.
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