Vintage | MONOVISIONS - Black & White Photography Magazine

Vintage: Douglas County, Colorado (19th Century)

16 May 2019 0

Douglas County was one of the original 17 counties created in the Colorado Territory by the Colorado Territorial Legislature on November 1, 1861. The county was named in honor of U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who died five…

Vintage: Nazi Propaganda Film Director Leni Riefenstahl (1930s)

14 May 2019 0

Leni Riefenstahl (1902 – 2003) was a German film director. Riefenstahl heard Nazi Party (NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler speak at a rally in 1932 and was mesmerized by his talent as a public speaker. Describing the experience in her memoir,…

Vintage: Broken Blossoms (1919)

12 May 2019 0

Broken Blossoms is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by D.W. Griffith. Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) leaves his native China because he “dreams to spread the gentle message of Buddha to the Anglo-Saxon lands.” His idealism fades as he…

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Delhi, India (1890s)

10 May 2019 0

In 1757, the Afghan ruler, Ahmad Shah Durrani, sacked Delhi. He returned to Afghanistan leaving a Mughal puppet ruler in nominal control. The Marathas again occupied Delhi in 1758, and were in control until their defeat in 1761 at the…

Vintage: Portraits of Colleen Moore – Silent Movie Star

5 May 2019 0

Colleen Moore (1899 – 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. At age 15 she was taking her first step in Hollywood. Her uncle arranged a screen test with director D.W. Griffith.…

Vintage: The Last Laugh (1924)

27 April 2019 0

The Last Laugh is a 1924 German silent film directed by German director F. W. Murnau. Jannings’ character is a doorman for a famous hotel, who takes great pride in his work and position. His manager decides that the doorman…

Vintage: Sherlock Jr. (1924)

20 April 2019 0

Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton. A movie theater projectionist and janitor (Buster Keaton) is in love with a beautiful girl (Kathryn McGuire). However, he has a rival, the “local sheik”…

Vintage: Greed (1924)

14 April 2019 0

Greed is a 1924 American silent film, written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague. John McTeague is a miner working in Placer County, California. A traveling dentist calling himself Dr. “Painless”…

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Singapore (1890s)

10 April 2019 0

Raffles arrived in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and soon recognised the island as a natural choice for the new port. The island was then nominally ruled by the Sultan of Johor, who was controlled by the Dutch and the…

Vintage: Pandora’s Box (1929)

8 April 2019 0

Pandora’s Box is a 1929 German silent melodrama film based on Frank Wedekind’s plays Erdgeist (Earth Spirit, 1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora (1904). Lulu (Louise Brooks) is the mistress of a respected, middle-aged newspaper publisher, Dr. Ludwig Schön (Fritz…

Vintage: Portraits of Bebe Daniels – Silent Movie Star

5 April 2019 0

Bebe Daniels (1901 – 1971) was an American actress. In the 1920s, Daniels was under contract with Paramount Pictures. She made the transition from child star to adult in Hollywood by 1922 and by 1924 was playing opposite Rudolph Valentino…

Vintage: The Wind (1928)

2 April 2019 0

The Wind is a 1928 pre-code American silent romantic drama film directed by Victor Sjöström. An impoverished young woman named Letty Mason (Lillian Gish) travels west by train from Virginia to live at her cousin Beverly’s isolated ranch in Sweetwater,…