Plane Crazy. 1928. USA. Directed by Walt Disney. Animation by Ub Iwerks. 16mm. Silent, with musical accompaniment. 6 min.
“Mickey Mouse made his first appearance, like Oswald the Rabbit and other little creatures of the animated cartoons evolved by Walt Disney, as a silent figure. His creator took a long time before he was satisfied that he had achieved the proper nose, ears, whiskers and wardrobe for the mouse form, as the early Mickey is called at the Disney studio.”
The Last Command. 1928. USA. Directed by Josef von Sternberg. Story by Lajos Biró, adapted by John F. Goodrich. With Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell. 35mm. Silent, with musical accompaniment. 88 min.
“Distinguished, like all the films directed by Josef von Sternberg, for its painstaking photographic quality. The Last Command was inspired by a real-life occurrence in the film centre. It gives a fairly accurate idea of the conditions under which films at the time were produced and is one of the few pictures in serious mood ever to have presented a study of life behind the scenes in a studio. The pathos inherent in the careers of the many extra and small-part players of Hollywood, especially the aging ones, lent itself admirably to the popular conception of the sort of role Emil Jannings should play.”