#798) The Maid of McMillan (1916)

#798) The Maid of McMillan (1916)

OR “For the W”

Directed & Written by George Daniel Bartlett and Donald Wilson Stewart

Class of 2025

The Plot: Jack Tower (Gordon Morrison) is the captain of the track team at St. Louis’ Washington University and pines for the lovely Myrtle Maroon (Dean Marion McDaris). Although Jack has his heart set on winning the big track meet and earning his letterman W, he is easily beat during training by “hick” Aloisius Higgins (Philip Bryan). There’s not much else plot-wise, but “Maid” was filmed at Washington University and produced by the campus Drama Club, making it, according to the opening credits, “the first college movie ever produced”.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film a “whimsical romance”, states its status as “the first student film on record”, and devotes a whole paragraph to its rediscovery and restoration.

But Does It Really?: Well, the NFR loves their student films, so of course they would include the first one ever. On its own, “Maid of McMillan” is a fun, cute little film; clearly made by a group of young theater students not taking things too seriously and just trying to entertain their classmates. “Maid” holds up well enough that a modern viewing can still elicit a few chuckles (it did for me), though it makes the NFR primarily due to its status as the first student film (as well as a time capsule of 1916 campus life). While I’m not enthusiastically supportive of the NFR decision to induct “Maid”, I’m not mad about it either.

Everybody Gets One: Both George D. Bartlett and Donald Stewart were law students at Washington University, as well as members of the school’s Thyrsus Drama Club, which in the spring of 1916 decided to try its hand at filmmaking. The cast is comprised almost entirely of Thyrsus Drama Club members, and Bartlett and Stewart make cameos near the end as the highwaymen. Stewart would go on to marry the film’s leading lady Dean Marion McDaris a few years after graduation. Side note: In Greek mythology, the Thyrsus is the scepter held by Dionysus, the god of – among other things – theatre.

Title Track: McMillan Hall was the all-female dorm at Washington University, and is still standing today, though as best I can tell it is now gender-inclusive housing.

Other notes 

  • Before the opening credits (and after the retroactive credit for the National Film Preservation Foundation), there’s a typewritten prologue from “The Producer” informing us about the film’s student film status, and encouraging the viewers not to judge the film with “too critical an eye. Remember you are looking at a movie made in 1916.” That’s cute and all, but now what am I supposed to do?
  • Myrtle looks a bit like Lelia Goldoni from “Shadows”. Also the name Myrtle Maroon is an in-joke for Washington University students: the school’s colors – red and green – were referred to as “the maroon and myrtle” by students at the time. Today I learned that myrtle is a color.
  • The film’s first laugh-out-loud moment for me was the intertitle describing the nerdy Higgins upon his first appearance: “He means well.”
  • That is Washington University’s actual track coach Bill Edmunds playing the track coach. The school’s Chancellor Frederic Aldin Hall also makes an appearance giving Higgins his trophy, and later giving Jack the W for his letterman jacket.
  • The film’s other LOL moment for me: the handwritten “Censored” note when Jack and Myrtle go in for a kiss.
  • After Myrtle and Jack get engaged I had a feeling we were wrapping things up. Turns out there’s another five minutes in this 15 minute short, and not too much happens. There’s a funny bit with Myrtle and her suitcases, plus some drama with the highwaymen encounter, but honestly this thing should have ended at the 10 minute mark. But hey, I might be judging things with “too critical an eye”.

Legacy 

  • “The Maid of McMillan” premiered at Washington University’s Univee Surkuss, an annual student-organized carnival. The film was so popular it was screened six times to accommodate student demand. “Maid” was also screened around that same time at local St. Louis theaters.
  • Outside of a screening in 1966 for the Class of 1916 50th reunion, “Maid of McMillan”  was all but forgotten until its rediscovery in 1982 by university archivist Beryl Manne and student Mitch Walker. Following an on-campus screening, the original 35 mm film disappeared. Fortunately two 16mm acetate prints were made from the original 35 mm print (most likely in 1966 for the reunion screening), and “Maid of McMillan” finally received a proper restoration in 2021 with a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.
  • Washington University is still going strong, now known as Washington University of St. Louis (or WashU for short). Among the school’s countless alumni are at least three with an NFR connection: Harold Ramis, Peter Sarsgaard, and Robert Guillaume. Bonus shoutout to Tennessee Williams, who attended during the 1936-1937 school year, but dropped out when he didn’t win the school’s poetry prize.

Further Viewing: After bashing countless student films on this blog, it’s only fair that I show the one that I’m in: 2008’s “Floater” by Chad Janusch. I got involved through my mutual friendship with my co-lead Clay Newman and the film’s director of photography Mark Sandhoff. And no, we definitely did not have permission to film on Red Rock Island.

#797) The Tramp and the Dog (1896)

#797) The Tramp and the Dog (1896)

OR “Sit! Stay! Cut! Print!”

Directed by William Selig

Class of 2025

The Plot: In its fleeting runtime, this cinematic offering addresses an agglomeration of contemporary issues: the unhoused situation, the famine crisis within urban metropolitan areas, societal ambivalence regarding free-ranging canines, and our human proclivity for…oh wait, never mind. It’s an 80 second short about a tramp who tries to steal a pie but then a dog bites him on the butt. That’s it.

Why It Matters: The NFR gives some historical context (this was apparently “the first commercial film made in Chicago”), and makes special mention of the film’s 2021 rediscovery.

But Does It Really?: When the Class of 2025 was announced, I was chatting with some of my fellow NFR enthusiasts about the selections, and the consensus was that while there were many fine choices, ultimately this was a safe list of movies. Nothing too controversial, nothing that’ll ruffle any feathers, just 25 movies we can all agree are good, or at the very least worthy of preservation. And that’s how I feel about “The Tramp and the Dog”. It’s not groundbreaking or entertaining, but it’s an early piece of film being rediscovered over 125 years after its creation, and that’s good enough for me. “Tramp” is the first film of the Class of 2025 for which I bestow the slightest of passes for its NFR inclusion.

Title Track: I’m confused, I thought the Tramp was the Dog. And when do they share a plate of spaghetti?

Other notes 

  • I covered William Selig back in my “Something Good” post, but to recap: Selig was a vaudeville performer who became fascinated with film after seeing a demonstration of Edison’s Kinetoscope at the 1894 Texas State Fair. He founded the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago in 1896, and filmed several local acts for his short films. Very little is known about the production of “The Tramp and the Dog” (there is no information about the creative team other than Selig), but we do know this was the Selig Polyscope Company’s first film, and that it was shot in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago.
  • The main thing I love about this film is how unpolished it is. For example, when the Tramp steals the pie, he mimes taking the pie and walking away, but then turns around and takes the pie for real. I can just imagine Selig shouting from behind the camera, “No, you fool, take the pie!”. I also love towards the end when the woman stops swatting the Tramp with her broom and stands there a second before looking at the camera as if to say “Are we still rolling?”
  • As the Tramp tries to jump over the fence and escape the dog, there’s a random guy in a bowler hat standing on the other side of the fence clapping his hands. I have no evidence to support this, but I bet you anything he’s the dog’s trainer. And all that clapping is definitely working because that dog is biting the hell out that Tramp’s ass and will not let go.
  • Due to its short runtime, this film left me with several unanswered questions, such as: Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy? Is it you? Yes it is, you’re a good boy. You’re such a good boy.

Legacy 

  • According to the NFR write-up, “The Tramp and the Dog” began the film trend of “pants humor”, in which “a character loses (or almost loses) his pants during an altercation.” This is your reminder that a page on a US government website describes “pants humor”. It is speculated that “Tramp” also influenced future comedies centering around hobos and tramps. Is “The Tramp and the Dog” responsible for Chaplin’s Tramp? Probably not, but you can’t prove it wasn’t.
  • “The Tramp and the Dog” was presumed lost for many years after its initial run, and its rediscovery is connected to Selig’s other NFR title “Something Good”. In 2021, the National Library of Norway identified a film reel that had come into their possession in the early 1990s as an alternate version of “Something Good” with the same actors and costumes. “The Tramp and the Dog” was included on the same reel, and garnered some attention when mentioned in articles about the lost version of “Something Good”. I can’t think of another instance of a non-NFR movie benefiting from another movie’s NFR Bump, and then subsequently making the NFR itself.

#796) The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

#796) The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

OR “In Fiennes Form”

Directed & Written by Wes Anderson. Story by Anderson & Hugo Guinness.

Class of 2025

The Plot: As told as a flashback within a flashback within a novel, Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori) is hired as a lobby boy at Zubrowka’s elegant Grand Budapest Hotel. He is taken under the wing of Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), the meticulous concierge who has had a number of dalliances with the hotel’s elderly dowager patrons. When his longtime conquest Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) passes away, she bequeaths Gustave the valuable painting Boy with Apple, much to the disdain of her adult son Dmitri (Adrien Brody), who plots to steal it. But you’re not watching a Wes Anderson movie for the plot; you’re here for his trademark vintage aesthetic and ever-expanding roster of A List ensemble members.

Why It Matters: The NFR praises the film’s “visually striking and emotionally resonant story” and hails Wes Anderson as “one of the most stylistically distinctive American filmmakers of the last half-century.” There’s also an extended quote from Anderson describing the major influence the Library of Congress Photochrom Prints collection had on the final film.

But Does It Really?: As with many a recent NFR inductee, it’s a bit odd watching a movie for this blog that I feel I just saw when it came out (and by “just” I mean 12 years ago). I recall enjoying “The Grand Budapest Hotel” at the time, even if it did feel like Wes Anderson had finally fully escaped reality into Wes Anderson Bingo Land. Looking back on the film with some historical context, “Grand Budapest” is the Wes Anderson movie where it all comes together. With this film, not only did Anderson achieve the full aesthetic we associate with “a Wes Anderson movie”, but he achieved success with audiences, critics, and the awards circuit, a hat trick that none of his subsequent films have surpassed. While I’m still on the fence about whether “Grand Budapest Hotel” is a worthy NFR inductee, Wes Anderson is an iconic and canonized director who should have more than one film on the Registry, and “Grand Budapest” will do in a pinch.

Everybody Gets One: As the most recent NFR entry (as of this writing), “The Grand Budapest Hotel” serves as the NFR debut for a number of major actors, including Adrien Brody, Jude Law, Edward Norton (along with his performance in “Frida”), Saoirse Ronan, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, and Tom Wilkinson. This is also the only NFR credit for Hugo Guinness, artist and New York Times illustrator who contributed paintings to previous Anderson films (though somewhat ironically he didn’t paint Boy with Apple).“Grand Budapest” is Guinness’ first writing credit.

Seriously, Oscars?: A rare Oscar contender from the first half of a calendar year, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” tied “Birdman” for the most nominations at the 2015 Oscars (nine) and most wins of the night (four). Although “Birdman” prevailed as the Best Picture winner, “Grand Budapest” won for its Production Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Costume Design, and Music (Original Score). While Wes Anderson went home empty-handed that night, he would finally win his first Oscar in 2024 for his animated short “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”.

Other notes 

  • When we last saw Wes Anderson on this blog, he had just established himself as a promising new filmmaker with the success of “Rushmore”. In the next 15 years he made such films as “The Royal Tenenbaums”, “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, and “Moonrise Kingdom”, all of which received critical acclaim and financial success, if not major mainstream or awards attention. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” was a long gestating collaboration between Anderson and Hugo Guinness that finally came together once Anderson started reading the writings of Stefan Zweig, who longtime readers may recall as the author of “Letter from an Unknown Woman”.
  • The press release for the NFR Class of 2025 puts a lot of emphasis on Wes Anderson’s use of the Library of Congress’ Photochrom Print collection. For the curious, photochroms are black and white photos hand-painted on the negative, and you can definitely see the influence on “Grand Budapest”. Check out the Library’s collection here.
  • I think the alternate title for “Grand Budapest” was “Fun with Aspect Ratios”. The bulk of the film set in 1932 is filmed in the classic square Academy ratio of 1.37:1, the 1968 scenes are filmed in 2.40:1 widescreen, and the film’s first framing device is in the traditional 1.85:1 ratio. It definitely helps keep things straight, and its a much quicker transition than a dissolve. 
  • While we’re on the subject of framing devices, I’m gonna say this film has two bookends too many. We start with a young woman at the Author’s memorial in a cemetery. She starts reading the Author’s novel The Grand Budapest Hotel, and we segue to the Author (Tom Wilkinson) reciting the book’s opening passage. This takes us to Jude Law as the young Author at the hotel in 1968, and then we flashback to 1932 and the actual story. As much as I love seeing Tom Wilkinson on the NFR, and as funny as I found his intrusive grandson, we could have trimmed his scenes and the cemetery stuff and not lose anything.
  • When we think of Wes Anderson’s films, we think almost entirely of his stylized aesthetic, which tends to sideline the great performances. The reason I think “Grand Budapest” stands out among Anderson’s latter filmography is Ralph Fiennes’ performance. Fiennes is clearly having a field day playing Gustave, peppering in a bit of humanity that holds the film together.
  • Of the ensemble, Tilda Swinton was the only actor who wasn’t Wes Anderson’s first choice. He had originally courted Angela Lansbury to play Madame D., but Lansbury had to back out due to her commitment touring with “Driving Miss Daisy” in Australia. Swinton’s good, and that’s a very impressive makeup job, but why not go for another elderly British actress? Were Rosemary Harris and Vanessa Redgrave unavailable?
  • Zero’s encounter with the Nazi-adjacent immigration officers is unfortunately timely these days, though it does set up one of the best lines in the movie: Gustave’s “Take your hands off my lobby boy!”
  • Between this and “Birdman”, 2014 was a good year for Edward Norton. This is Norton’s second Wes Anderson film following “Moonrise Kingdom”, and the beginning of his return to mainstream Hollywood following his “difficult” reputation and showbiz exile. We also get Adrien Brody between Oscar wins, seen here as…Salvador Dalí’s evil brother?
  • As Zero’s beloved Agatha, Irish actor Saoirse Ronan plays something she has never gotten to play before: Irish. After trying out various accents for Agatha (including American and German), Ronan and Anderson agreed that her natural Irish lilt worked best for the character. And while we’re here, Ms. Ronan’s first name is pronounced “sir-sha”, like it rhymes with inertia. Stop asking her.
  • Willem Dafoe stroking Jeff Goldblum’s Persian cat and then throwing it out a window: great movie moment or the greatest movie moment?
  • Shoutout to Tony Revolori as Zero, successfully navigating a character who spends most of his screentime observing in the background, but can still step up and influence the story when he needs to. I was curious what Revolori has been up to in the last 12 years: turns out he’s in those new Spider-Man movies that I’ve never gotten around to watching. Glad he’s getting that Marvel money. Bonus shoutout to F. Murray Abraham as older Zero, making this the second NFR movie that Abraham narrates in flashback (with no old age makeup required this time).
  • I liked the “Society of Crossed Keys” sequence, particularly Bill Murray’s extensive mustache and the amusing “take over” runner. Also, one of the society’s members is played by Wally Wolodarsky, Wes Anderson go-to and longtime “Simpsons” writer who co-wrote, among other episodes, the one where Homer falls down the Springfield Gorge. 
  • At a time when CG effects were under fire for being too prevalent in Hollywood movies, Anderson comes to the rescue with practical effects and a stop-motion ski chase sequence. That being said, there’s a handful of green screen shots throughout the movie, though they’re minimal and nonintrusive.
  • Oh wow, Owen Wilson’s in this. This is Wilson’s first NFR appearance as an actor; he was previously represented as the co-writer of “Rushmore”.
  • The credits give special billing to pretty much the entire production team before the traditional roll-up credits. Also keep watching for a Special Thanks to the Library of Congress, and animation of a dancing Russian man!

Legacy 

  • “The Grand Budapest Hotel” was released in March 2014, and to this day is still the highest-grossing Wes Anderson film. “Grand Budapest” was also a critical darling and major Oscar player, and in the ensuing years routinely ranks among the best films of the 21st century (so far).
  • Wes Anderson’s subsequent filmography includes “Isle of Dogs”, “The French Dispatch”, and “Asteroid City”. His most recent was 2025’s “The Phoenician Scheme” which…I did not care for. It seems like Wes Anderson’s recent movies just check off a list of actors and aesthetics, but it had its moments. Not enough for me to recommend it, but still.

Bonus Clip: Way back in the day I co-hosted a radio show with stand-up comic Clay Newman where we talked about TV and movies and stuff. For our 2015 Bullshit Oscar Special we did an opening sketch where we pulled a Billy Crystal and inserted ourselves into all eight of that year’s Best Picture nominees, including “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. Clay ad-libbed most of his lines, and his “Grand Budapest” tag still makes me laugh. Now if only I had sprung for an actual microphone.

Look Ma, No Hand!

Hello dear readers,

This is a post to tell you that there is no post this week. I’ve been traveling for the last few days so I’m taking a quick break from the blog for some rest and relaxation. I’ll be back next week with the first in my Class of 2025 series. I also recently finished writing the post for movie #800 (!), which I’ll publish in a few weeks. No spoilers about which movie it will be, but I promise it will be a super post, man.

One quick story of my travels before I go: I have spent the last few days in New Orleans’ French Quarter for the first time. We visited lots of great places, including a tour of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, which has an interesting NFR connection. I took this pic of the Charity statue at the Italian Mutual Benevolent Society tomb. You may notice that its right hand is missing, and it turns out it’s Peter Fonda’s fault. During the filming of “Easy Rider” in the cemetery, Fonda climbed up onto the statue’s lap (as seen in the film). After the take, Fonda grabbed Charity’s hand for leverage, only for it to break. This has led to less productions being allowed to film within the cemetery, so thanks a lot you stoned hippies.

Charity’s right hand (last known photo).

I’m back in California this week meeting up with old friends, but we’ll return with your regularly scheduled Horse’s Head next week.

Happy Viewing and watch your hands,

Tony

The NFR Class of 2005: We Belong Together

December 20th, 2005: Cutting things a little too close to the holidays, the National Film Preservation Board selects 25 more films for the National Film Registry, bringing our total to 425 films. I have just completed watching and writing about all 25, so you know what that means. Here again is the Class of 2005:

Other notes

  • Similar to a typical NFR list in the late ‘90s, the Class of 2005 is a good balance between big-ticket movies (“Giant”-ticket movies, if you will) and more obscure entries that represent a specific time period or genre. Not as many “what’s not on the list yet” entries, though we do get our first Roger Corman movie (even if it’s not one of his more iconic, cheaper movies). We also get “Toy Story”, the first Pixar feature on the list, and only the fourth film to make the NFR at the 10-year minimum mark.
  • Interestingly enough, a least six movies in the Class of 2005 deal with race relations, primarily regarding African-Americans. I wonder what prompted that? I don’t recall 2005 being a big year for Civil Rights (we had just started George W. Bush’s second term), but it was the year that Barack Obama became the only Black member of the U.S. Senate, and Rosa Parks died that October. I guess something was in the air, or possibly the water.
  • There’s mention in the NFR press release of the National Film Preservation Board being reauthorized this year as part of the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005. The big part of this reauthorization is the direction for the Library of Congress to make NFR titles more publicly accessible, as well as the expansion of the number of members on the National Film Preservation Board (though as best I can tell they only added two more At Large representatives). This is all good stuff, so thanks to…who sponsored this measure? Senator Orrin Hatch!? [Shudders] Never mind.
  • The Class of 2005 includes two films with no information on who actually filmed them. I wonder if anyone can claim they were in both San Francisco in 1906 post-earthquake and Reno in 1910 for the Johnson-Jeffries fight.
  • Another interesting (at least to me) bit of trivia: three of these films have connections to “The Exorcist”: “The French Connection” was also directed by Friedkin, “The Sting” was the major Oscar rival to “Exorcist”, and “Toy Story” makes a quick head-spinning homage. And yet it would be another five years before “The Exorcist” finally made the NFR.
  • When the Class of 2005 was announced, Peter Jackson’s remake of “King Kong” was number one at the box office. Also playing was “Brokeback Mountain”, which as of this writing is the sole 2005 film on the NFR, plus another remake of an NFR title: “The Producers”. Other notable titles include “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, “Walk the Line”, “The Family Stone”, and “The Chroni-WHAT-cles of Narnia”.
  • Only a handful of Double Dippers this time; by my count all actors. Among them, Paul Newman, Dennis Hopper, Ray Walston, Theresa Harris, and Jane Withers.
  • Thematic double dippers: Early film of news events, the struggles of working class Black people in Chicago, final scenes set on Christmas Day, big spooky houses, sexual promiscuity, euphemistic pregnancy talk, con artists, Dennis Hopper in thankless supporting roles, smart-ass New Yorkers, stage musicals turned movies (plus one movie turned stage musical), and epilogue text explaining what happened to everyone. There’s also at least three movies in the Class of 2005 on my Die Hard Not-Christmas list (not counting “Miracle on 34th Street”, which is actually a Christmas movie).
  • Favorite of my own subtitles: The Mark of Zora, Corn on Macabre, The Grift of Song/The Wrath of Con (TIE), I Am a Christ Allegory from a Chain Gang, Take the “H” Train, My SoCal-ed Life (original “Ridgemont High” post only), Rebound for Glory, and Pixar Upper.
  • Speaking of “Ridgemont High”: Disco sucks. Never forget that.
  • And finally, I leave you with two notes regarding “Cool Hand Luke”. First, if you’ll permit me to toot my own horn for a second: I am really proud of the Newman’s Own joke in my “Cool Hand Luke” post. That came out fully formed while I was watching the movie. And second: Here’s Lalo Schifrin’s main theme to “Cool Hand Luke”, which is still one of my favorite pieces of music.

See you in 2006,

Tony