Vintage

Behind the Scenes: Scarface (1932)

Behind the Scenes: Scarface (1932)

With “Little Caesar” and “The Public Enemy” proving hits, plenty of imitators lined up and one of the first, and best, came from producer Howard Hughes, who lined up an impressive roster of talent for his cautionary crime tale “Scarface” (sometimes subtitled “The Shame Of A Nation”). Writer Ben Hecht was underway on the script when he received a visit…
Vintage B&W photos of Venice, Italy (19th century)

Vintage B&W photos of Venice, Italy (19th century)

In the late 19th century Venice flourished as a port and a manufacturing center. The railway reached Venice in 1846. However Venice did not prosper under Austrian rule. In 1848 revolutions swept Europe and Venice rose in rebellion against the Austrians. For a short period Daniele Manin became president of an independent Venice. However Austrian forces bombarded the city and…
Behind the Scenes: Gone With the Wind (1939)

Behind the Scenes: Gone With the Wind (1939)

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American epic historical romance film adapted from Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel. Set in the 19th-century American South, the film tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, from her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, to her marriage to…
History of Mercedes-Benz in Motorsport

History of Mercedes-Benz in Motorsport

From the first automotive competition in history to its return to the Formula One championship with a works team for the 2010 season, the racing activities of Mercedes-Benz tell a success story that has its roots in the early days of the automobile. Since the 19th century, racing cars, racing sports cars and rally cars made in Stuttgart have consistently…
Behind the scenes: Metropolis (1927)

Behind the scenes: Metropolis (1927)

Metropolis (1927) is a stylized, visually-compelling, melodramatic silent film set in the dystopic, 21st century city of Metropolis – a dialectical treatise on man vs. machine and class struggle. Austrian director Fritz Lang’s German Expressionistic masterpiece helped to develop the science-fiction genre, with innovative imagery from cinematographer Karl Freund, art design by Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, and Karl Vollbrecht, and…
Vintage: Classic Polish Films (1940s and 50s)

Vintage: Classic Polish Films (1940s and 50s)

After the horrors of the Nazi occupation and repressive postwar Soviet domination, Polish cinema suddenly took off in the mid-50s to become a major international force. Initially, it was Andrzej Wajda’s trilogy (1954-58) on wartime resistance that attracted attention. That was followed by a wave of films approaching contemporary society with skilful circumspection before there was a further clampdown in…
Behind the Scenes: G-Men (1935)

Behind the Scenes: G-Men (1935)

G Men is a 1935 Warner Bros. crime film starring James Cagney, Ann Dvorak, and Margaret Lindsay, and presenting Lloyd Nolan’s film debut. According to Variety Magazine, the movie was one of the top-grossing films of 1935. The supporting cast features Robert Armstrong and Barton MacLane. G Men was made as part of a deliberate attempt to counteract what many…
Historic B&W photos of Milan, Italy (19th century)

Historic B&W photos of Milan, Italy (19th century)

The political unification of Italy cemented Milan’s commercial dominance over northern Italy. It also led to a flurry of railway construction that had started under Austrian partronage (Venice–Milan; Milan–Monza) that made Milan the rail hub of northern Italy. Thereafter with the opening of the Gotthard (1881) and Simplon (1906) railway tunnels, Milan became the major South European rail focus for…
Vintage: Sweden in 1880s and 1890s

Vintage: Sweden in 1880s and 1890s

Carl Curman (1833–1913) was a physician and a scientist. He is mainly known as a pioneer in his commitment in public health care, especially in bathing. He founded two public indoor baths in Stockholm and developed a minor outdoor bath in the fisherman village of Lysekil on the west coast into a high-society seaside resort. He was an associate professor…
Vintage: Manhattan Bridge Under Construction (New York, 1903-1909)

Vintage: Manhattan Bridge Under Construction (New York, 1903-1909)

The Manhattan Bridge was the last of the three suspension bridges built across the lower East River, following the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges. It has four vehicle lanes on the upper level, split between two roadways. The lower level has three lanes, four subway tracks, a walkway and a bikeway. The upper level, originally used for streetcars, has two lanes…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Dutch Windmills in 19th Century

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Dutch Windmills in 19th Century

The first windmills were invented in antiquity, but it was the Dutch who really hit it off with this wooden giant. In a flat country, where the wind always blows, windmills sprouted from the ground like mushrooms. They were used to mill, saw, pump and press. The production of boards, paint, oil and paper, as well as bread and mustard…
Vintage: The Wolf Man (1941)

Vintage: The Wolf Man (1941)

The Wolf Man (1941) is a mishmash of several wolf legends, with added ingredients. Siodmak stirs pentagrams, gypsies, silver bullets and the full moon together to create a robust myth. It owes little to established European traditions, but established a new set of cinematic rules which Hollywood lycanthropes would adhere to for decades. Set in a contemporary Wales (where no…
Behind the Scenes: Vertigo (1958)

Behind the Scenes: Vertigo (1958)

Vertigo is a 1958 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel D’entre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac. The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson. Scottie is forced into early retirement because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an…
Behind the Scenes: Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

Behind the Scenes: Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

Angels with Dirty Faces is a 1938 American gangster film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, the Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart, along with Ann Sheridan and George Bancroft. The film was written by Rowland Brown, John Wexley, and Warren Duff with uncredited assistance from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.
Vintage photos of Warsaw before World War 1914

Vintage photos of Warsaw before World War 1914

Warsaw has had a particularly tumultuous history for a European city. It experienced numerous plagues, invasions, and devastating fires. The most destructive events include the Deluge, the Great Northern War (1702, 1704, 1705), War of the Polish Succession, Warsaw Uprising (1794), Battle of Praga and the Massacre of Praga inhabitants, November Uprising, January Uprising, World War I, Siege of Warsaw…
Historic photos of The Chicago  ’​L ’

Historic photos of The Chicago  ’​L ’

The first ‘L’ began revenue service on June 6, 1892, when a small steam locomotive pulling four wooden coaches carrying a total of 27 men and 3 women departed the 39th Street station and arrived at the Congress Street Terminal 14 minutes later, over tracks that are still used by the Green Line. via Chicago Tribune
Vintage: Bergen-Belsen Nazi Concentration Camp Guards

Vintage: Bergen-Belsen Nazi Concentration Camp Guards

When British and Canadian troops finally entered Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in northern Germany they found over 13,000 unburied bodies and (including the satellite camps) around 60,000 inmates, most acutely sick and starving. The prisoners had been without food or water for days before the Allied arrival partially due to the allied bombing. In the period immediately preceding and following liberation, prisoners…
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders. The film features a dark and twisted visual style,…
Vintage Glass Plate negatives of workers and the machinery they manufactured (1900s)

Vintage Glass Plate negatives of workers and the machinery they manufactured (1900s)

Almost all of the glass plate negatives in the Clyde photograph collection were taken at the Clyde works in Granville, and depict both the workers and the machinery they manufactured. Subjects covered include: railway locomotives and rolling stock; agricultural equipment; large engineering projects funded by Australian State and Federal governments; airplane maintenance and construction and Clyde’s contribution to the first…