the unknown is a 1927 american silent horror film directed by tod browning and featuring lon chaney as carnival knife thrower alonzo the armless and joan crawford as the scantily clad carnival girl he hopes to marry .

film historian ken hanke considers the film to be in many respects the best of browning 's films with lon chaney .

burt lancaster said that chaney 's portrayal in the unknown featured “ one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes i have ever seen an actor do . ” chaney did remarkable and convincing collaborative scenes with real-life armless double paul desmuke ( sometimes credited as peter dismuki ) , whose legs and feet were used to manipulate objects such as knives and cigarettes in frame with chaney 's upper body and face .

as with browning 's later sound film freaks ( 1932 ) , contemporary reviewers were sometimes less appreciative .

" a visit to the dissecting room in a hospital would be quite as pleasant , " opined the new york evening post , " and at the same time more instructive . "

modern viewers can discern the same macabre style of this film ( and other browning-chaney collaborations ) in later productions ranging from the 1930s universal studios horror films to the 1960s twilight zone and alfred hitchcock presents programs .

the unknown ( 1927 film )

the unknown ( 1927 film ) <EOT> the unknown ( 1927 ) : lon chaney , tod browning , and . . .

the unknown ( 1927 ) , black & white , 63 minutes , not rated .

the lodger ( 1927 ) : hitchcock ' s take on belloc lown . . .

edit pf pollock ' s original us version . released at end of 1927 .

browning and chaney’s collaborations are : the wicked darling 1919 , outside the law 1921 , the unholy three 1925 , the blackbird 1926 , the road to mandalay 1926 , the unknown 1927 , london after midnight 1927 , the big city 1928 , west of zanzibar 1928 , where east is east 1929 .

the film was first presented , partially restored , at the bfi london film festival in 1980 .

“don’t step on it , it might be lon chaney . ” a 1927 quip .

channing pollock edition prepared for american release through paramount . premiered march 1927 . running time given by variety at 107 minutes . varying lengths given in contemporary reviews throughout 1927 .

no matter how you describe this silent film from 1927 ( directed by tod browning ) you end up with something strange and demented .

" daniel eagan is a film writer and author of america ' s film legacy : the authoritative guide to the landmark movies in the national film registry . "

a trailer i created to promote the screening of the film at niles film museum on feb 4 , 2017 .

a lost film that was never really lost , the last surviving print of the unknown was found in the early 1970s at la cinemathéque française in a few film cans marked “unknown . ” some minor lengths of footage did not survive in the print , but the film is largely intact , with no discernable gaps in the storyline . the film has probably survived only in a european release print that was originally shot from a b - camera position , but we are lucky to have the film — any print of the film — to enjoy today .

lon chaney collection ( 1921 - 2000 ) , black & white and color , 329 minutes total , not rated , including the unknown ( 1927 ) , black & white , 49 minutes , not rated .

in their very own archives , where it had become lost among all of the hundreds of reels of unidentified film similarly marked “unknown . ” ( well , technically marked

modern restoration using all known extant film . prepared by a team at the munich film museum , under the guidance of enno patalas .

many reviewers of 1927 didn’t like the film , thinking it too morbid for the general public . but chaney / browning fans of today think that it stands as one of the best of the duo’s collaborations . — carl bennett

while west of zanzibar is undeniably sleazier and the lost london after midnight contained more traditional horror elements , the unknown is the craziest film from an actor - director team that excelled at climbing on the crazy train .

modern restoration using all known extant film . prepared by a team of german film archivists , lead by martin koerber .

is quite possibly the most unusual , and the most deserving of “cult film” status .

we highly recommended this edition of the unknown for its visual quality , its unusual music score , and its new audio commentary .

chaney and browning were kindred spirits with a taste for the macabre and the unknown is probably their most popular collaboration . while audiences of 1927 were not entirely sure what to make of the picture , modern audiences can’t seem to get enough of alonzo and his twisted idea of romance .

a superb mystery thriller , unusual and startling even for a chaney film . lon as " the unknown " eats , drinks , shoots a rifle and dresses with his feet . don ' t miss this startling spectacle . ( print ad - the cobbleskill index , ( ( cobbleskill , ny ) ) 13 october 1927 ) see more »

the unknown is available on dvd via amazon , and streams in various spots around the internet ( it’s in the public domain , though soundtrack quality varies ) .

in 1927 , star lon chaney and director tod browning were among the biggest names in hollywood . joan crawford was a starlet on the rise , striving for recognition .

film historian anthony balducci has traced pie throwing on film back to at least 1905 , but the keystone studios , remembered today for its eponymous cops , ran the bit into the ground in the 1910s . when buster keaton started making his own features in 1923 , he explained in his autobiography , he forbade pie jokes entirely . but four years later , in september 1927 , a virtual unknown named stan laurel proposed to revive the gag—by making it bigger than it had ever been before .

and if that’s not enough for you ? well , this film is going to get a lot weirder . and then it’s going to get weird some more . and i’m not talking about weird for 1927—this is weird

many sources list joan crawford ' s character as " estrellita , " but the cutting continuity and extant prints of the film use nanon as her character name . prints of the unknown existed for many years only in a murky 9 . 5mm blowup . henri langois at the cinematheque francais in paris had a nitrate print in his collection , but when mgm asked to borrow the print , it took him months to find it among all the cans of unidentified film marked " unknown . " eventually uncovered , mgm restored the original english titles and the film is now available in a lovely 35mm print .

the unknown is a truly horrifying film that takes us into the darkest recesses of the human psyche . all of the characters are simple beings who are driven by their emotions : the circus owner bullies , the hunky strongman loves , the attractive nanon lives in fear , and alonso oscillates between obsession and hatred .

it should be noted that there are numerous variants of metropolis available on video release , though it is often difficult to relate these to the versions of the film listed in the table above . this is due to variations in copy transfer speeds from film to video , and the unknown or uncited origin of the film from which the video was produced . the jef films video of 1986 , and its subsequent variants , is a good example of this .

if you have never seen the unknown but all of this sounds like a kick to you , go ahead and check it out . the chaney and browning collaborations are definitely not for the easily offended but if you put aside squeamishness , you will find a truly unique picture . there has never been another film like the unknown . whether or not that is a good thing depends on your point of view .

founded in 1999 , senses of cinema is one of the first online film journals of its kind and has set the standard for professional , high quality film - related content on the internet .

over the weekend , it was quietly announced at the library of congress’ festival of “unidentified , underidentified , or misidentified films ” that one of the most deeply mourned lost treasures in film history has reappeared . as reported by pamela hutchinson at silent london , silent film historian jon mirsalis unexpectedly rediscovered the second reel of laurel and hardy’s 1927 film the battle of the century , lost for 60 years . the battle of the century is not only a crucial film in the careers of laurel and hardy , but it contains the biggest , best , funniest execution of the pie - in - the - face gag in cinematic history . for fans of early film comedy , this discovery is roughly the equivalent of moby dick swimming ashore carrying the holy grail .

the film will also be available on bfi dvd / blu - ray and bfi player .

survival status : prints exist in the metro - goldwyn - mayer film library [ 35mm restoration negative and positive ] ; and in the george eastman museum film archive [ 35mm positive ] .

running at some five and a half hours on screen , the 1927 film demands a huge investment of resources - from projectionists , musicians , conductor and audiences , and in a live performance with intervals the experience adds up to more than eight hours from start to finish .

sounds like a lot of weird stuff going on in this film . and it’s about the circus ! count me in for a ticket to the big show . i’m down for this film !

waxworks ( 1924 ) : paul leni ' s anthology film brings . . .

joan crawford always considered the unknown ( 1927 ) a big turning point for her . she said it wasn ' t until working with lon chaney in this film that she learned the difference between standing in front of a camera and acting in front of a camera . she said that was all due to chaney and his intense concentration , and after that experience she said she worked much harder to become a better actress . see more »

also included below ( table 2 ) is an attempt to correlate film projection speeds against film lengths and film screening times for the various known versions of metropolis listed in table 1 . this is followed by a listing of cast and crew . finally , a tabulation ( table 3 ) of information relating to the gross takings of metropolis during its initial american release during 1927 is given for interest , based on figures compiled and published by variety magazine at the time .

this is the most complete version of napoleon since it opened at the paris opéra in 1927 , and the first u . s . screenings of the film with an orchestra in over 30 years . due to the technical and financial demands , there are no further screenings scheduled in this country , and no plans for a digital release of any kind .

rpm orchestra plays a live film score during the screening of silent movie classic " the unknown " ( 1927 ) @ filmbar theater . audience participation is written into the score , with theatergoers divided into three orchestra ' toy instrument ' sections : flutes & horns ( heard @ 2m38s ) , whirlygig whistles ( @ 15m53s ) , and rattles ( 28m24s ) . the live performance ( as recorded during the oct 14 screening ) is heard here . [ the live " movie soundtrack " ( audio - only ) recording is avail @ urltoken

mr brownlow said : " this is a tremendous step forward for film history . "

the following information was extracted from the film daily yearbook for 1927 ( new york , 1928 ) . it lists a selection of box - office figures for metropolis , and is based on information gleaned from variety magazine . metropolis took in close to $ 140 , 000 during its initial six week run at new york ' s rialto theatre . the rialto was a medium - sized theatre , able to accommodate 1 , 960 patrons . during the screening of metropolis between 10 march and 16 april , tickets were available at 30c , 50c , 75c and 90c , and it is known that some 6 , 400 people attended the theatre on easter monday , 1927 . it was also noted in variety that the first week taking for metropolis were affected by the opening that week of the 6 , 200 seat roxy theatre . despite its rather average takings for the time , and often critical reviews , a panel of 286 critics and the film daily yearbook for 1927 voted metropolis number 12 amongst the best pictures of that year . that journal also identified the length of the film upon original release in the united states as 10 , 400 feet , though the motion picture news booking guide and theatre directory for 1927 gives a figure of 8 , 039 feet .

for fans of early film comedy , this discovery is roughly the equivalent of moby dick swimming ashore carrying the holy grail .

the most amazing thing i was struck by was the direction by tod browning . it was very well crafted , and so now i ' m beginning to wonder about those stories by david manners saying that browning actually did not direct most of 1931 ' s " dracula " after all . because with the unknown here is earlier proof that the director could do very interesting work . considering that the unknown , freaks and even mark of the vampire…

a growing source of silent era film information . this listing is from the progressive silent film list by carl bennett . copyright © 1999 - 2018 by carl bennett and the silent era company . all rights reserved .

from autumn 2016 , audiences will be able to experience this cinematic masterpiece with carl davis ' s score - the longest ever composed for a silent film - when the film goes on theatrical release in uk cinemas .

175 + intertitles . original director ' s cut as presented to the berlin film censor ' s office .

the unknown is an early tod browning film , featuring lon chaney in the role of alonzo the armless , a criminal who hides his distinctive double - thumb deformity by working in a traveling circus as an armless knife thrower . throughout the film , the illusion that chaney is using his legs to open doors , smoke cigarettes , and throw knifes is accomplished by having paul desmuke , armless in real - life , play the role of chaney ' s legs .

the musical accompaniment is another nonstandard take by the alloy orchestra , with its emphasis on digital keyboards and percussion , more melodic than the band’s comedy scores and far more expressive . it was recorded in 1997 for tcm showings and was the soundtrack used on the laserdisc release . we were privileged to see the band peform the score live during a theater screening of the unknown , and because of the laserdisc edition and the live show , we inextricably associate the score with the chaney film .

( because this film is so popular , the review will be relatively spoilery , though i will not reveal the ending . )

2018 © san francisco silent film festival . true art transcends time . all rights reserved .

notes : the unknown is arguably chaney ' s best film with browning , and one of the best performances of his career . though contemporary critics found the film " gruesome " and " shocking , " it holds up extremely well today . a body double was obviously used for some of the more elaborate scenes with chaney performing maneuvers with his feet , but for several of the scenes chaney did have to perfect picking up wine glasses and other impressive acts of dexterity with his feet . the unknown was a modest production , costing only $ 217 , 000 for its 35 - day shooting schedule . it earned respectable profits of $ 362 , 000 .

. ) this is the only instance i know of in which a film’s title caused it to be lost .

. fearing that “lesueur” would be difficult for the public to pronounce , mgm staged a contest in a fan magazine to rename her . “joan crawford” was the winning entry . between 1926 and 1927 she appeared in 14 films , among them

the film is full of characteristic tod browning macabre touches and twists of storyline that surprise audiences who see it for the first time .

menilmontant may be more often billed as a thriller , but the double axe murder that opens the film is as intense as the shower stabbing . . .

it wasn’t until 1961 that john mccabe published stan laurel’s account of the film , finally restoring at least a brief account of the film’s first reel . mccabe believed at the time that the film was “leading a lonely life in the vaults of the hal roach studios . ” but he was wrong—four years earlier , the negative had been exhumed for the last time by filmmaker robert youngson , probably the first and last person to see it complete since its theatrical run .

" i don ' t like hands . they ' re coarse and rough and irritating and they go everywhere . not like here . here everything is soft and armless . " nanokin , attack of the armless , 1927

the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .

being a nice , normal to the point of boring sort of person , i always thought that one viewing of “the unknown” would be all i could handle . you have made me want to brave those waters again and shout “bravo” at the screen .

the film features full - scale historical recreations of episodes from the personal and political life of napoleon , from the french revolution to the arrival of french troops in italy marking the beginning of the first italian campaign of 1796 .

metro - goldwyn - mayer pictures corporation production ; distributed by metro - goldwyn - mayer distributing corporation . / scenario by waldemar young , from a screen story by tod browning . production design by cedric gibbons and richard day . costume design by lucia coulter . cinematography by merritt b . gerstad . intertitles by joseph w . farnham . edited by harry reynolds and errol taggart . presented by louis b . mayer . / © 27 june 1927 ( at seven reels ) by metro - goldwyn - mayer pictures corporation [ lp24123 ] . released 4 june 1927 . / standard 35mm spherical 1 . 33 : 1 format . / working title : alonzo , the armless . principal photography was taken from 7 february through 19 march 1927 . polly moran’s appearance as a lady’s lady and bobbie mack’s appearance as a gypsy were cut from the film before release . / silent film .

if you love freaks , in theory you should love this one . i happen to love freaks , but have be in the mood to watch the unknown . it’s a truly disturbing film - perhaps why it has survived , to preserve its uniquely disturbing aspects . what must contemporary u . s . audiences have made of it , i wonder .

central park - 1932 - joan blondell has trouble on her hands when she gets suckered into helping a gangster to rob a charity event . though this film stars joan and wallace ford , it also features the american great depression which is the background for the hunger and desperation that flavors the film .

wolf blood is arguably the second werewolf film ever made , yet it’s often inaccurately listed as the first . countless books and articles c . . .

for additional information , readers are referred to the feb / march , 1992 issue of filmfax for an excellent article on the film by author bret wood .

the following section deals with the various physical and technical aspects of metropolis . it begins ( table 1 ) by listing known releases and variants of the film which have occurred since november 1926 , when fritz lang presented his initial director ' s cut to the berlin film censor ' s office . table 1 is a summary of the numerous editions known to the author . additional detailed information is available martin koerber ' s article published in jaconsen and sudendorf ( 2000 ) . data on release dates , film length ( in feet and metres ) , and screening duration ( in minutes according to varying film speeds ) is given , though this is somewhat tentative and subject to variation , dependent upon the specific reference used . furthermore , it should be noted that the print as originally released to distributors and theatre managers by ufa during 1927 - 8 may have been subject to servere cutting by local authorities and operators ; or the film run at inordinately fast speeds - up to 26 frames per second - to fit the time constraints of local programs ( a 90 minute feature was often the ' ideal ' ) . as a result , it is difficult to ascertain exactly what version of metropolis individual audiences saw during the initial run in 1927 - 8 , and what was the precise screening time . for example , a reviewer might indicate that the length of the film was ' 12 reels ' or that it ran for ' 107 minutes ' . unfortunately this information is not detailed enough to indicate the exact length of the film ( in feet / metres ) , whether it had been cut or censored , or the speed at which it was screened on the night .

( 1925 ) . the film was a hit , reviving a creative partnership that would last through seven more films . of these ,

lon chaney as an armless knife thrower in tod browning ' s the unknown . some of the stunts were performed by real - life armless foot double paul desmuke , who went on to perform for years billing himself as " lon chaney ' s feet . "

literally everyone that walked into the living room and gave the unknown a few seconds of their attention , ended up sitting through to the end . and literally everyone that did , giggled , and gasped , and " yooooo ' d " , and laughed ( my wife even came in for a high five during a pivotal scene ) . i ' m probably the worst person you could ask regarding the consitution of a quality silent film - - this being only my second one - - but i know quality entertainment when i see it , and the unknown was one hell of a circus act . as a fan of the kind of horror and macabre making up the majority of 1950s ec horror comic books , this landed so well for me .

as in any art form , the history of cinema contains many works that are , for whatever reason , overlooked and underrated . tod browning’s the unknown ( 1927 ) is definitely one of these works , and it is , without hesitation , a modern masterpiece for the current century . browning is best remembered for the milestone dracula ( 1931 ) , the first of the universal horror films ( for which lon chaney was originally offered the lead role but he deferred and then died ) and freaks ( 1932 ) , the director’s confronting rebuke for the representation of malformation by hollywood , filmmaking , and the other arts . yet prior to both he made a remarkable series of films with the extraordinary , ‘man of a thousand faces’ , lon chaney ( 1 ) , of which the unknown is the pinnacle . this delirious , outrageous l’amour fou – a chilling , genuinely disturbing and haunting melodrama – is what cinema should be all about : a suspension of belief in the face of a story that defies all logic yet rings true to the deeper human emotions .

, he created not one , but five voices . shortly after completing the film chaney died of throat cancer , on august 26 , 1930 .

( 1970 ) . crawford died on may 10 , 1977 , as legendary a film icon as her early influence , the remarkable lon chaney .

reviews of silent film releases on home video . copyright © 1999 - 2018 by carl bennett and the silent era company . all rights reserved .

film # 10 for 31 days of silent horror films is maciste in hell , featuring one of the longest - running characters in cinema . the beefy mac . . .

an 89 - year - old film , which could take cinema - goers a marathon seven hours to watch , is returning to the big screen .

although it has strength and undoubtedly sustains the interest , " the unknown , " the latest screen contribution from tod browning and lon chaney , is anything but a pleasant story . it is gruesome and at times shocking , and the principal character deteriorates from a more or less sympathetic individual to an arch - fiend . view full article in timesmachine »

lon chaney is a circus performer known as alonzo the armless , and the film’s first scene shows us alonzo in action , throwing knives , with his feet , at joan crawford . now , silent film fans know better , but there are a lot of people in the world who only know crawford from her later work—in other words , as the scary hag of

in our digital age , it’s easy to lose sight of how revolutionary napoleon was . and the many different versions of the film—as late as the 1970 , gance was reshooting material for a new cut he called bonaparte and the revolution —have made it difficult to pin down napoleon ‘s place in film history . in my lifetime , brownlow and other historians have managed to tease out much of the majesty and scope of the movie .

in less than two weeks , the magnificent film festival il cinema ritrovato ( ‘cinema rediscovered’ ) kicks off in bologna , italy . and yes , i’m going to be the . . .

it is the most complete version of the film available , compiled by academy award - winning film - maker , archivist and historian kevin brownlow , who spent more than 50 years tracking down surviving prints from archives around the world since he first saw a 9 . 5mm version as a schoolboy in 1954 . he worked with the bfi national archive on a series of restorations .

the audio commentary by chaney biographer michael f . blake is packed with little tidbits of production information about the unknown , chaney and tod browning . the information is related by a chaney fan for the benefit of cinema fans , and does not have the sterile feeling of an academic reading . it is a commentary that is worth listening to more than once , unlike the over - intellectulized commentary of other silent era discs .

browning came to hollywood after working in the circus for fifteen years . his knowledge of this milieu enriched many of his films , including freaks , the unholy three ( 1925 ) , the show ( 1928 ) , and the unknown . while the circus background is relatively cursory in the unknown , many small details , such as the play of shadows on the carnival canvas when the strongman first attempts to embrace nanon , bring an additional texture to the image . further details , such as the gypsy funeral ritual , add depth to the portrayal of circus life . browning’s non - judgemental view of the gypsy lifestyle runs counter to the stereotypical depiction of ethnic minorities by hollywood , especially a group as misunderstood as the gypsies . browning’s interest in outsiders and the rejected was no doubt nurtured by his time in the circus , and he well understands the audience’s attraction to this image of the dark underbelly of carnival life , hidden by the masquerade of gaiety . his heroes were not the attractive and glamorous found in most movies , but those misbegotten beings normally hidden from our sight and treated in a condescending manner .

just six of the 3 , 000 pies thrown in the battle of the century .

shortly after the golden age of comedy was released , the battle negatives decomposed so completely that they were junked . only youngson’s version remained—and he hadn’t printed the first reel at all . it wasn’t until the 1970s , when financier earl glick purchased the rights to the hal roach library before discovering roach didn’t actually have copies of most of the films he’d just bought , that anyone even realized how much had been lost . to make good on his reckless investment , glick funded a global search for prints of the lost film library , but there was no sign of the film’s second reel . in 1979 , the first reel did show up : now modern audiences could finally see the part of the film that contemporary audiences didn’t care about , but not the great pie fight of legend .

super spooky and atmospheric silent film from tod browning and the man of 1 , 000 faces himself , lon chaney ! i really like the atypical horror plot of the unknown focusing on circus performers and their infighting and strange habits and unrequited love . lon gets a lot of mileage out of his craggy world weary face . he ' s a knife thrower that ' s seen some hardship ! the black and white silent treatment really adds to the otherworldy quality of the movie as well . those caravan interiors look positively gloomy , and the stark paleness of a very young gypsy joan crawford pops off the screen like a beautiful phantom ! and for a movie almost a century old , the unknown creeps into some surprisingly dark places : deadly foot knife throwing , body horror surgery , a drawn and quartering set piece , those sharp hats . all in a tight 50 minutes ? why did i sleep on this macabre gem for so long !

" although it has strength and undoubtedly sustains the interest , the unknown . . . is anything but a pleasant story . it is gruesome and at times shocking , and the principal character deteriorates from a more or less sympathetic individual to an arch - fiend . . . mr . chaney really gives a marvelous idea of the armless wonder , for to act in this film he has learned to use his feet as hands when eating , drinking and smoking . he even scratches his head with his toe when meditating . " - - - the new york times

while very short at just 50 minutes , this film packs an emotional punch and is macabre in a way that is unique to the genre of horror movies . i won ' t spoil the big moments , but the tone is set from the beginning as we find ourselves at the circus performance with an armless man ( lon chaney ) hurling knives and firing a rifle at his partner ( a young joan crawford ) . as we later see chaney ( and a real - life armless double ) manipulate objects and do things like smoke with this feet , we ' re reminded of the film director tod browning would make five years later , ' freaks ' . chaney ' s performance throughout the film is brilliant , and he dramatically captures angst , jealousy , and pain . john george turns in a strong performance as the little person in the circus who is chaney ' s friend , and the two of them create a striking pair . while the overall tone of the movie is deliciously creepy , the romance joan crawford warms up to with a circus strong - man ( norman kerry ) is sweet , and browning uses a piece of gauze over the camera lens to create an idyllic , dreamy feel to some of their scenes . the uncredited score that was used on the tcm showing was also fantastic . great film , especially for 1927 .

today , we are going to be looking at one of the most famous and popular of the chaney - browning collaborations . the duo spread their creepy pall over sunny spain and indulged themselves shamelessly in the bizarre , grotesque and macabre . let’s see if the film lives up to its reputation .

founded by fritzi kramer , movies silently’s mission is to make silent film fun and accessible with reviews , articles , animated gifs and daily updates .

a re - watch of one of my favorite films with one of my favorite silent film actors : the hands of orlac with conrad veidt . a concert piani . . .

another typically morbid chaney film has him working as a circus freak and trying to win the heart of his assistant . alas , she does not want him so he must kill the object of her intentions .

it may not be browning ' s best silent film , but it is certainly his most fascinatingly perverse - - and that ' s saying something in the world of tod browning .

it was the last of the great silent films , as just 4 months later the first talkie opened : the jazz singer .

the historian was backed by the fiaf ( the international federation of film archives ) , which appealed to archives around the world to send materials to london . “these prints came pouring in , ” brownlow said , “every one of them with different elements . it was unbelievably exciting . ”

browning’s great strengths as a director lay in his ability to draw memorable performances from his cast and to create a believable world despite the mounting absurdities of the plot and the world in which his characters lived . he has the audience believe in the fantastic possibilities of the cinema . bela lugosi gave his definitive and arguably only real performance in browning’s dracula . when the simultaneously filmed spanish language version of dracula was rediscovered ten years ago , a number of viewers , in their excitement , considered this latino version , directed by george melford the better film , for its libidinous content . however , a comparison between the two is instructive since it reveals browning’s skills as a director . his film has lugosi’s memorable performance while the spanish version features uniformly inept performances by its cast , lead by the excruciating carlos villarias as count dracula . browning has a sympathy for his material , and the film , although encumbered by a static expressionism , is replete with remarkable cinematic vignettes that make it unforgettable . consider lugosi’s “creatures of the night” speech , missing from the spanish version , or the striking imagery of the ‘one hundred and twenty five step’ staircase where the climax of the film occurs . this was further refined in the minimalist decor of universal’s frankenstein films .

it is these skills that also make the unknown great . the film relies on a finely balanced performance from chaney to succeed . chaney had been mesmerised by clowns from an early age , fascinated by the potential duality of their personae . it is this that he brought to the fore in his acting , especially in the unknown . alonso is a hate - filled , fear - inspiring creature who has an all - consuming , obsessive passion for his assistant . chaney is required to display a credible balance of psychosis towards the world and believable emotion for nanon . frequently he is required to do this within the same scene without detracting from either aspect of his performance . for the amputation scene to work , one needs to feel compassion for alonso , to understand his motivation , and once the scene is over , the horror of what alonso has done only has its full impact if one sympathises with the character , even if paradoxically , he is a loathsome thug , unworthy of our compassion . the scene when nanon asks alonzo if he is thinner , before her disclosure of her love for the strongman , is tinged with perversity , dread , misunderstanding and ultimately extreme pain .

edison didn ' t have anything to do personally with frankenstein ' s first film adaptation , which was thought lost for years , but hi . . .

chaney’s collaboration with director tod browning was a successful one for both artists . working together at universal studios in 1919 , the duo hit their stride while both were under contract to mgm studios . browning , a former sideshow performer and vaudevillian , crafted stories that were a combination of the macabre and tragic romance . with chaney , browning often came up with an idea of a character and then used that character to fashion a story , as he did for what is considered to be one of the best films the two artists ever made , “the unknown” ( 1927 ) . chaney plays alonzo , an armless knife thrower , who hides out from the police in a local circus . actor burt lancaster once commented on chaney’s performance that in one particular scene , chaney gave “one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes i have ever seen an actor do . ”

the oakland dates will be the most complete and lavish screenings of napoleon ever shown in this country , with an orchestra of 46 playing “the finest score i’ve ever heard for a picture , ” brownlow enthused . “carl davis made the decision to use composers who were alive at the time of napoleon , and that gives the film an incredible sense of authenticity . ”

until this weekend . all these years , a copy of the second reel was apparently sitting unnoticed in the personal collection of gordon berkow , a film collector and an amateur preservationist . at the time of his death in 2004 his collection included more than 1 , 400 prints , which eventually made their way into the hands of jon mirsalis in the summer of 2014 . mirsalis began slowly working through the canisters , cataloging and logging the state of each print and deciding which to keep and which to sell . almost certainly destined for the sell pile : a canister labeled “battle of the century r2 . ” prints of youngson’s edit were common—in fact , mirsalis already owned one—and the complete second reel , as everyone knew , had crumbled to dust in the ’60s . mirsalis only recently got around to inspecting the film , an experience he described over email . when he opened the canister , he found twice as much film as he’d expected wound around the reel :

youngson , who won several academy awards for his short films , specialized in compilations made with old stock and newsreel footage— daredevils , firemen , failed airplane designs , and the like . for his first feature , the golden age of comedy , he was stitching together scenes from the silent film comedies and wanted the battle of the century’s legendary pie fight . he had footage transferred from volatile nitrate to safety stock—but , according to every report , only printed the specific footage he wanted , not the entire second reel . once he was done re - editing it for his film , he threw out what he didn’t use . so when audiences were finally reintroduced to the film , it was with new cuts and wipes , and a hokey 1950s documentary voiceover .

yes , i have to agree that it’s a very refreshing change . west of zanzibar is still my favorite but i definitely see the appeal of this film . i hadn’t seen it in ages .

the most famous of napoleon ‘s special effects is polyvision , a three - camera widescreen process gance used to close the film . like cinerama , polyvision required three projectors running in synchronization . they expanded the screen image dramatically . gance used the process sometimes to show broad landscapes , but also to break the screen into complementary or discordant images .

the battle of the century opened in december of 1927 and for a few happy months could be seen in theaters , randomly paired with anything from lillian gish’s “throbbing drama of love and sacrifice” the enemy at the hippodrome in murphysboro , illinois , to henri fescourt’s 1925 adaptation of les misérables —original running time 359 minutes—at the bentley theatre in monongahela , pennsylvania . in those days , when films left theaters , they were done : no revival screenings , no television , just a pile of prints melted down to recover the base metals . the last theatrical screenings happened in the summer of 1928 , at the kinds of second - rate theaters that pointedly didn’t advertise air conditioning . audiences who braved the heat were , with a vanishing few exceptions , the last to see the battle of the century in its entirety .

chaney and browning would ultimately collaborate on ten films , and while it’s often remarked upon that each of their greatest works were outside of that collaboration , this is undoubtedly the best film they made together .

it took some political infighting , but laurel eventually sold hal roach on the idea . the studio bought an entire day’s output of the los angeles pie co . and , that october director bruckman staged the greatest pie fight in history : 3 , 000 pies soaring gloriously through the air . and yet the secret of the film’s success , as laurel told scheuer , turned out to be not volume , but pacing :

the love triangle is handled so well in this one . one issue with many of the chaney films is that the other two ends of the romantic triangles he finds himself in aren’t as interesting as he . but here , everything is so perfect . such a twisted little film , definitely my favorite chaney picture .

a version of napoleon sponsored by francis ford coppola , and with a score by his father , composer carmine coppola , toured the united states in 1981 . i was lucky enough to see the film at new york city’s radio city music hall . the polyvision finale drew gasps and applause from the sold - out audience .

despite the south american discovery of 2008 , fritz lang ' s metropolis no longer exists in the form as originally created by the german director , due not only to the contemporary cutting , re - editing , and censoring of the film , but also as a result of the vagaries of time and history which have , until recently , placed little value on preserving copies of films such as metropolis . since the late 1960s efforts have been made both within germany and without , to restore and revive the film , and produce a copy which is as close as possible to lang ' s original conception . these efforts continue to this day .

nanon and malabar’s relationship is handled with more care than many romances of the silent and classic film era . often , older films would reward the male suitor who least respected the heroine’s boundaries , described as the “caveman” approach in the silent era . ( however , this was nothing compared to the oh - so charming 1950s . that decade wins the icky - patooey “romance” prize but that’s okay , apparently , because poodle skirts ! )

heather stewart , creative director at the bfi , said : " several generations of staff at the bfi have worked on this project . napoleon is a landmark in the history of cinema and we are grateful to all of the great talents who have helped us along the way but especially , of course , kevin brownlow for his indefatigable championing of the film and carl davis for his amazing score . "

the critical consensus seems to be that the film was acted extremely well but its sordid subject matter was a bit much for some . of course , critics and audiences do not always align so take that with a grain of salt . i really love the penalty , another absolutely crazy story .

mirsalis is handing the film over to restorationist serge bromberg at paris - based lobster films for preservation and an eventual theatrical or home video release . after nearly a century , the battle of the century may finally be seen again . but these occasional victories against entropy don’t just happen ; without preservationists and collectors , the battle of the century would have disappeared forever . and for every film saved , more are well and truly gone . mirsalis has his own list of lost films he’s still searching for : lon chaney in a blind bargain and the chimney’s secret , ernst lubitsch’s the patriot , josef von sternberg’s the case of lena smith , f . w . murnau’s 4 devils . when a film like the battle of the century miraculously re - emerges , it gives a sense that the teacup , despite what hawking and hannibal say , will occasionally reassemble itself . that’s sometimes true , but as every version of the battle of the century , no matter how mangled or incomplete , makes hilariously clear , the process is usually one - way : you can’t unthrow a pie .

this table has been arranged from shortest down to longest , with details relating to the longest known version of the film - i . e . fritz lang ' s director ' s cut at 4189 metres - given on the bottom row . the times under the frames per seconds headings ( 16 , 18 . . . 26 ) are in minutes . it is telling that the many extant versions of the film - including the 9608 feet long 1995 german restoration - are still less than the channing pollack edition of 10 , 400 feet , and substantially below the original german and australian editions . this suggests that not only are whole reels missing , but that editing within extant reels has also occurred on a widespread basis . such practises are mentioned in the literature , indicating that individual theatre managers and projectionists had no qualms in cutting such films in order to accomodate time and other constraints of local programs . they would even go so far as to locally censor the film according to personal taste and beliefs .

the movie also works well when the three points of the triangle share the stage . one of the best scenes in the film is nanon’s engagement announcement when she announces that her phobia is cured and she loves hands now . malabar paws at nanon’s body and she giggles as alonzo laughs , his mind quite gone . the happy couple assumes that their friend is laughing with delight and so they laugh along with him . it’s glorious , sick dramatic irony .

a criminal on the run hides in a circus and seeks to possess the daughter of the ringmaster at any cost .

i cannot emphasize how much i respect kevin brownlow and his work . he received a governors award from the motion picture academy of arts and sciences in 2010 for making , writing about and restoring movies . he is the author of landmark books like the parade’s gone by… and the war , the west , and the wilderness , works that helped draw attention to the artistry of a generation of silent filmmakers . alone or with partners , brownlow also directed groundbreaking documentaries on charlie chaplin ( the unknown chaplin ) , harold lloyd ( the third genius ) , and buster keaton ( a hard act to follow ) . his photoplay restorations of films like raymond bernard’s the chess player are among the most complete and beautiful works of their kind . he is also a generous friend to anyone seeking to learn more about the history of movies .

both stan laurel and oliver hardy had been appearing in films throughout the 1920s , occasionally together , but had only been officially paired together since that june . although they’d shot the first three laurel and hardy films , none had yet been released . nobody at the hal roach studios knew it at the time , but they were at the center of a unique confluence of cinematic talent : not just laurel and hardy , but directorial legends leo mccarey , george stevens , and clyde bruckman . mccarey and stevens had their greatest successes ahead of them ; bruckman , the most successful of the group in 1927 , hadn’t yet begun his spectacular implosion . the first reel of the new feature seemed like a surefire hit : a parody of the jack dempsey and gene tunney “ long count fight , ” which had just happened in september of 1927 . no one had any particular reason to believe laurel could pull off the tired pie throws he planned for the second reel . but he had an improvement in mind , as philip k . scheuer explained in a los angeles times profile two years later : “his method would consist , simply and directly , of throwing more pies . not one , not two , not ten or twenty , but hundreds , even thousands . ”


fire birds ( originally titled wings of the apache and released internationally under that name ) is a 1990 action-thriller film directed by david green and produced by william badalato , keith barish and arnold kopelson .

the storyline was conceived by retired lt. colonels step tyner and john k. swensson and retired marine capt. dale dye and developed into a screenplay written by paul f. edwards , nick thiel and uncredited david taylor .

the film stars nicolas cage , tommy lee jones and sean young .

cage is cast as a helicopter pilot attempting to help dismantle a drug cartel in south america .

jones plays his pilot instructor and senior ranked military officer during his flight training , while young portrays his love interest .

production of the film was a co-production between the walt disney studios and nova international films .

it was commercially released under disney 's touchstone pictures label .

the movie featured elaborate aerial stunt sequences , involving combat helicopters .

fire birds premiered in theaters nationwide in the united states on may 25 , 1990 grossing a modest $ 14,760,451 in domestic ticket receipts .

the film was met with negative critical reviews before its initial screening in cinemas ; generally due to its melancholy dialogue and striking plot similarities to the more popular 1986 action film top gun , starring tom cruise and kelly mcgillis .

fire birds

fire birds <EOT> so yeah , don’t watch fire birds unless you too want to kiss the helicopters .

it may not be as glossy as top gun , but fire birds is still an above average b movie .

" the book is worthy of birds , and i know no higher praise . " charles foster on as kingfishers catch fire

department of conservation spokesman nick hirst said staff on the island reported that no native trees or birds were burnt in the fire .

mt roskill fire station officer phil thorogood said the ungrazed grass increased the likelihood of fire on the island .

leavesley aj , cary gj , edwards gp , gill am ( 2010 ) the effect of fire on birds of mulga woodland in arid central australia . int j wildl fire 19 : 949–960

just before midday on friday , auckland council said the fire was " being well managed " following the overnight efforts of auckland rural fire crews and the fire service .

mt roskill fire station officer phil thorogood , who helped to battle the blaze , said the ungrazed paddocks upped the likelihood of a fire on the island and contributed to the fire ' s spread .

many types of fires could be prescribed for a property , including a head fire , a backing fire , or a flanking fire . the least intense type of prescribed fire is called a backing fire ( figure 14 ) . in a backing fire , the fire typically is ignited with a drip torch and set along the downwind side of the area to be burned . the fire then slowly creeps into the wind , burning leaves and other small matter on the forest floor . a head fire has the wind at its back , and a flanking fire is ignited in a line perpendicular to the direction of the wind . the intensity of a fire can be increased in a controlled manner by igniting parallel strips of fire about 5 to 10 yards apart ( figure 15 ) . in this strip head fire , the downwind line of fire will briefly intensify as the new upwind ignition strip quickly moves toward it before the two meet . remember to never completely ring an area with fire because the fire could become too intense and not leave escape pathways for wildlife ( figure 16 ) .

smucker km , hutto rl , steele bm ( 2005 ) changes in birds abundance after wildfire : importance of severity and time since fire . ecol appl 15 : 1535–1549

if you think of movies as big - screen video games , see fire birds . if not , you may want to skip this top gun with copters and cartels .

“the birds which were in the aviary were removed and so we don’t believe any were injured . ”

fire engines from dereham , earlham , fakenham and watton attended the scene and firefighters used hose reels and wore breathing apparatus to extinguish the fire .

lean , mean , clean and empty - hearted , fire birds is a video - game recruiting poster with a bomb ticking inside - - a bomb that never goes off .

uhl c , kauffman jb ( 1990 ) deforestation , fire susceptibility , and potential tree responses to fire in the eastern amazon . ecology 71 : 437–449

how bad is it ? call this one " top gun " with choppers , not an inaccurate description , except that " fire birds " makes " top gun " seem original .

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a silver sedan is engulfed in flames at birds hill park on sunday . ( pat kaniuga / cbc )

" once the rural fire authority has declared that the fire is completely extinguished , doc staff will be doing a full assessment of the impact of the fire on native wildlife and native plants on the island , " he said .

" one of the most harmful things modern man has done to birds has been his attempt to exclude fire from fire - type pine forests . within a few years most forests choke up with brush , lose their prairie - like vegetation , and can no longer support birds dependent on periodic burning for their food supply and proper cover . " ( herbert stoddard , 1963 )

adeney jm , ginsberg jr , russell gj , kinnaird mf ( 2006 ) effect of an enso - related fire on birds of a lowland tropical forest in sumatra . anim conserv 9 : 292–301

figure 6 . pitcher plants require frequent fire to reduce competition from other plants .

for more information and resources for prescribed burners , check with your state prescribed fire council . in north carolina , visit the north carolina prescribed fire council’s website .

or those of us wondering - - in light of the radical changes in the global body politic - - who our enemies are now , " fire birds " steps in with a few answers .

lean , mean , clean and empty - hearted , " fire birds " ( citywide ) is a video - game recruiting poster with a bomb ticking inside - - a bomb that never goes off .

you should police a recently burned stand for smoldering stumps , downed logs , or places where the fire might have crossed the fireline until no danger of fire escape or smoke damage remains . diligence is needed to prevent fire escape . a postburn evaluation of the area should help assess whether the fire achieved the goals in your burn plan .

figure 9 . longleaf seedlings in the grass stage are adapted to survive a fire .

tortoises died in a fire at hoe , near dereham . picture : matthew usher .

a number of tortoises have died after being caught in an outbuilding fire near dereham .

a down - on - his - luck israeli detective must unlock the secrets of a circle of spry holocaust survivors to solve a vexing crime in fire birds , a murder mystery that enticingly entwines past and present .

ukmar e , battisti c , luiselli l , bologna ma ( 2007 ) the effect of fire on communities , guilds and species of breeding birds in burnt and control pinewoods in central italy . biodivers conserv 16 : 3287–3300

the film even managed to have 2 different , but both awful , titles — originally known as wings of apache , for the us release ( but not the international one ) it was given the even more terrible title of fire birds ( i guess because helicopters fly and… sometimes go on fire ? ) .

the " active flame front " was spread over 200 metres , the fire service said .

but predictability isn ' t the worst of " fire birds ' " problems . the dialogue is so hokey you ' ll have a hard time not laughing out loud . did i say dialogue ? make that pontificating soundbites .

woinarski jcz , brock c , fisher a , milne d , oliver b ( 1999 ) response of birds and reptiles to fire regimes on pastoral land in the victoria river district , northern territory . rangel j 21 : 24–38

the fire spread on thursday night and extra crews were called in to help fight the flames .

figure 4 . white - tailed deer browse the nutritious sprouts that grow after a prescribed fire .

figure 10 . fast - growing saplings less than 8 feet tall are sometimes killed by fire .

figure 18 . standing dead trees , called snags , provide habitat for birds like this red - headed woodpecker and many other wildlife species .

more than 13 hectares of browns island in auckland ' s hauraki gulf has been blackened by fire .

" they have done an excellent job to contain this fire in what can be difficult conditions . "

three additional fire crews , from birkenhead , mt roskill and parnell , arrived at 7 . 30am .

however , herbicides used in combination with prescribed fire can yield desirable vegetation conditions , such as open , park - like forest stands dominated by a lush herbaceous layer , more quickly and easily than fire alone .

dwyer jk , block vw ( 2000 ) effects of wildfire on densities of secondary cavity nesting birds in ponderosa pine forests of northern arizona . in : kieth m , moser cf ( eds ) fire and forest ecology : innovative silviculture and vegetation managements . tall timbers fire ecology conference proceedings , no . 21 . tall timbers research station , tallahassee , pp 151–156

the fire , in auckland ' s hauraki gulf , spread overnight as windy conditions caused problems for firefighters .

a man injured in a house fire in gore remains in a serious condition in icu at christchurch hospital .

figure 2 . northern bobwhite feed on the seeds and fruits that herbaceous plants produce following a prescribed fire .

i don ' t know anyone who watched the opening to fire birds and didn ' t get chills . this movie almost cost me my canadian citizenship when an army recruiter in massena , ny made a very convincing argument for me join up and fly helicopters .

dardanelli s , nores ml , nores m ( 2006a ) minimum area requirements of breeding birds in fragmented woodland of central argentina . divers distrib 12 : 687–693

jake preston ( nicolas cage ) is a helicopter pilot training for war against a famous nemesis . jake is the most skilled flyer of everybody , but he has a team of other helicopter flyers behind him including brad little ( tommy lee jones ) , who helps jake train to be an even better pilot . i thought " fire birds " was a good action movie . it might not be the best of its kind , but it ' s certainly not a bad movie . the training sequences and the final showdown between the fire birds and their major enemy is exciting . if you like action movies and especially if you like flying movies , i recommend getting " fire birds . " note : that was my amazon review from the year 2000 . underrated action / flying flick to me .

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a person has been taken to hospital in a critical condition after their papakura , south auckland flat caught fire .

a spokesman for the fire services said : “no humans were injured but sadly a number of tortoises did die .

in a certain way , with the help of insomnia and perhaps the closure of one eye , fire birds actually works in a minor key . let ' s just say it ' s the best 77 - minute apache helicopter actioner starring nicolas cage i ' ve ever seen .

fire birds was released in the year 1990 , some songs of the official soundtrack are find a way to my heart by phil collins , do you remember by phil collins , chain of fools by judson spence , the good life by billy trudel . listen the soundtrack online !

beautifully illustrated and illuminated by the celebrated graphic artist neil gower , as kingfishers catch fire is a book to love and to hold , to return to again and again , to marvel at the way that authors across the centuries have captured the endless grace and variety of birds .

manitoba conservation officers first attempted to put that fire out with handheld extinguishers but weren ' t successful , hudson said .

" these have since been stood down and now ground crews are targeting hotspots and securing the perimeter of the fire .

" this can make extinguishing a fire more challenging but the crews working today and overnight have done a sterling job .

cochrane ma ( 2001 ) synergistic interactions between habitat fragmentation and fire in evergreen tropical forest . conserv biol 15 : 1515–1521

the fire appears to have started in the engine of a silver sedan in the east beach parking lot around 4 p . m . , according to jeff hudson , chief of the rural municipality of springfield ' s fire and rescue service .

this is contribution number 81 of the sagebrush steppe treatment evaluation project ( sagestep ) , funded by the us joint fire sciences program , the bureau of land management , the national interagency fire center , and the great northern landscape conservation cooperative .

burning vehicles in birds hill park sent plumes of thick black smoke into the air sunday afternoon as more than 100 people stood by and watched from a short distance away .

" this will include conducting a scene examination , in conjunction with the rural fire service , to establish the circumstances . "

earlier on friday morning , fire service northern communications centre shift manager scott osmond said about 30 firefighters were on the island .

norfolk fire and rescue services were called to gorgate road in hoe , near dereham , at around 7 . 30am today .

fire adapted organisms benefit in some way from the occurrence of bush or forest fires . birds of prey might catch insects fleeing from the flames and temminck ' s coursers lay their eggs on scorched ground to take advantage of the open space and to feed on the insects that perished in the fire . certain plants have gone one step further and become totally dependent on heat and flames to open their seed capsules or trigger germination .

what makes birds truly riveting entertainment is not the conflict between good and bad guys , but the clash between the film ' s apparent intent and the loony subversiveness of its performances .

blake jg ( 2005 ) effects of prescribed burning on distribution and abundance of birds in a closed - canopy oak - dominated forest , missouri , usa . biol conserv 121 : 519–531

perhaps the most obnoxious aspect of " fire birds , " however , is how everybody tells cage ' s character how wonderful he is at every opportunity  including cage himself , who has a big scene in a chopper simulator where he screams " i am the greatest ! " after every target he hits .

fire birds ( also known as wings of the apache ) is a 1990 action film starring nicolas cage and tommy lee jones as us army apache helicopter pilots who battle drug cartels . with support from the department of defense , the film was one of the first to feature the actual ah - 64 apache .

" the fire , which started around 7 . 30pm yesterday evening , has covered 13 . 2 hectares of the island . "

six department of conservation staff helped combat the fire on friday and their boats have been ferrying firefighters to and from the island .

wildlife biologists such as herbert stoddard recognized the value of fire as a tool to conserve habitat for many wildlife species as early as the 1920s ( figure 2 ) . many of north carolina ' s plants and animals adapt well to fire because much of the state ' s lands burned frequently for thousands of years . here are some specific examples of fire ' s value to wildlife :

however , mature hardwood trees , especially species with thin bark , such as tulip - poplar , water oak , willow oak , red maple , and american beech , may be damaged or killed if a fire becomes too hot . the other oaks and most hickories are more fire resistant . you should weigh the risk of losing valuable trees against the habitat improvements associated with fire in hardwood stands .

that was shortly after a fire was reported on the island - which blazed out of control on thursday night and into friday morning .

because of its many benefits to wildlife and its relative cost efficiency , fire is a land manager’s best tool to improve wildlife habitat .

fire birds is a movie starring gila almagor , rami heuberger , and dvora kedar . an eighty - year - old man ' s body is found with three stab wounds to the chest and a number tattooed along his forearm . amnon , a police detective and second generation holocaust survivor , is . . . see full summary »

not usually ! animals may be temporarily displaced following a prescribed burn , but most can avoid direct harm from fire . deer , foxes , and bobcats run ; birds and bats fly ; and mice , lizards , snakes , and salamanders go underground into burrows or under rocks and fallen logs as a fire approaches ( figure 7 ) . some animals , such as slow - moving turtles and snakes , can be killed during a wildfire or prescribed burn . however , many turtles survive fires by burrowing underground or using their shells to protect themselves . nestlings or young birds are most vulnerable to fires . however , the overall benefit wildlife receive from habitat diversity by burning far outweighs any wildlife loss . ironically , the absence of fire may cause greater harm to wildlife . habitat changes resulting from fire exclusion can result in low reproduction and eventual displacement of some wildlife . today , many wildlife species are imperiled by habitat changes resulting from too little burning .

officer cartelle confirmed the fire had been " contained " by 5 : 45pm on friday and that officers were standing down for the evening .

pausas jg , keeley je ( 2009 ) a burning story : the role of fire in the history of life . bioscience 59 : 593–601

saab v , powell dw ( 2005 ) fire and avian ecology in north america : process influencing pattern . stud avian biol 30 : 1–13

although no one was injured in the blaze at the residential property , the fire took hold of outbuildings containing aviaries and a tortoise house .

in central argentina , serrano forest has a long history of fire disturbance ; however , the impact of fire on avifauna remains unknown . we compared the avian–habitat relationships in forest patches with low , moderate , and high fire regimes using a community - level ( species richness , abundance , ordination and guilds ) and species - level ( indicator species analysis ) approach . in patches under each fire condition , we recorded bird community composition , richness and abundance , and different vegetation structure variables . the site under high - severity fire regime was structurally poor and had been converted from original forest to dense grassland . there , diversity of bird community was low , retaining approximately 30 % of the species present in the least impacted site . avian assemblage was dominated by generalist and open area birds . guilds were underrepresented , showing an important reduction of foliage granivorous , nectarivorous , omnivores , and foliage and bark insectivorous , and absence of fly - catchers . moreover , low abundance of forest understory , midstory , and canopy species and of birds belonging to open and closed nesting guilds was detected . by contrast , under low and moderate - severity fire regimes highest bird diversity as well as highest representativeness of most guilds was observed . forest bird species were strongly associated with low fire disturbance , whereas moderate fire disturbance was characterized by the presence of forest and generalist species . given the critical conservation status of serrano forest in córdoba , argentina , habitat restoration and protection of forest relicts could be suitable measures to promote avifauna preservation .

songs we love : the stray birds , ' shining in the distance ' maya de vitry ' s powerhouse of a voice shines in this gospel - inspired ode to dreaming of what seems unattainable .

" fire birds " is rated pg - 13 for violence and profanity , along with the aforementioned sex scene , which , by the way , is edited just as choppily as the flying scenes . you can ' t tell which chopper is which in the air and you can ' t tell what body part is what on the ground .

a woman who caused a massive blaze on an uninhabited island said she had lit the fire to attract help after being stranded for three days .

in his impressive debut feature , writer - director amir wolf keeps audiences guessing with a smart mix of humor , charm and melancholy . nominated for 10 israeli academy awards , with a best supporting actress win for dvora kedar , fire birds also features ophir - winners miriam zohar and mali levi , and the queen of israeli cinema and theatre gila almagor .

barlow j , peres ca , henriques lmp , stouffer pc , wunderle jm ( 2006 ) the responses of understorey birds to forest fragmentation , logging and wildfires : an amazonian synthesis . biol conserv 128 : 182–192

swathes of blackened grass are visible on browns island following a raging fire , which was still smouldering more than 16 hours after the alarm was raised .

helicopters with monsoon buckets provided good " knock - down " support to help control the fire ' s spread , the council said in a statement .

in moments like this , director david green , whose last film was the fairly sly heist comedy " buster , " seems to have turned into a total " top gun " bunny : a dire fate even in a gonzo , rock ' n ' roll recruiting poster movie like " fire birds " ( rated pg - 13 for violence and sexual innuendo ) .

dardanelli s ( 2003 ) the role of pine plantations as habitat for birds and the impact on natural environments of cordoba , argentina . master thesis . universidad nacional of cordoba , cordoba , argentina ( in spanish )

fire protection policies implemented in the 1920s led to the transformation of forest and prairie landscapes . southern fire - dependent plant communities , like longleaf pine forests , oak savannas , and piedmont prairies , almost disappeared following the decline of fire , thereby causing declines in the number of animals that depended on these habitat types . although prescribed fire is recognized as a necessary habitat management tool for forest and wildlife management , fire is used on only a small fraction of private forestlands . because many of our native wildlife species are best adapted to habitats that experience frequent fires , burning only once in the life of a forest stand or burning less frequently than every 5 years does not maintain quality wildlife habitat . today , prescribed burning on private lands is hampered by :

beissinger sr , steadman ec , wohlgenant t , blake jg , zack s ( 1996 ) null models for assessing ecosystem conservation priorities : threatened birds as titers of threatened ecosystems in south america . conserv biol 10 : 1343–1352

" we haven ' t seen much rain in a while , then with a combination of water , dust build up and electricity , that saw the birds nest go up in flames , " a jemena spokesman said .

marone l ( 1990 ) modifications of local and regional bird diversity after a fire in the monte desert , argentina . rev chil hist nat 63 : 187–195

many shrubs produce more fleshy fruit 2 to 5 years after a fire than they would if they had been in an area that had not been burned .

the spokesman said power would be restored to those homes by 10 . 30am . he said the bird survived the fire and " was doing ok " .

many of the plant and animal species of greatest conservation concern in the south are dependent upon or assisted by fire ( table 1 ) . longleaf pine forests , once occupying 90 million acres in the south , now cover only about 5 percent of their original range . birds such as bachman ' s sparrows and brown - headed nuthatches favor open pine stands with a dense grass ground cover found only in frequently burned areas . many of the south ' s increasingly rare reptiles and amphibians , like the gopher tortoise , pine snake , and pine barrens treefrog , prefer forests frequently burned by fire . the long - term survival of these animals is in question if the use of prescribed fire does not persist .

principal rural fire officer bryan cartelle said the kikuyu grass on the island held a lot of dry matter , which can burn under the green layer of grass .

sometimes , you just have to go for it — that dream , that hope , that wish . and , in 2015 , that ' s exactly what maya de vitry , one - quarter of the stray birds , did .

when alex preston was 15 , he stopped being a birdwatcher . adolescence and the scorn of his peers made him put away his binoculars , leave behind the hides and the nature reserves and the quiet companionship of his fellow birders . his love of birds didn’t disappear though . rather , it went underground , and he began birdwatching in the books that he read , creating his own personal anthology of nature writing that brought the birds of his childhood back to brilliant life .

" they haven ' t been able to achieve a lot overnight because it ' s been quite windy and the fire ' s been spreading , " osmond said .

pons p , wendenburg c ( 2005 ) the impact of fire and forest into savanna on the bird communities of west madagascan dry forests . anim conserv 8 : 183–193

here is pretty much the entire plot of fire birds : nicolas cage has to learn to fly a helicopter using only one of his eyes so he can go and shoot at bad drug helicopters . this is padded out to film length with just loads and loads of footage of helicopters because aren’t helicopters just the greatest ? don’t you wish you could be a helicopter ? or maybe even kiss a helicopter ?

politi n ( 2003 ) degradation and fire in the arid chaco : implications for bird assemblage . master thesis . universidad nacional of cordoba , cordoba , argentina ( in spanish )

van mantgem pj , schwartz m , keifer m ( 2001 ) monitoring fire effects for managed burns and wildfires : coming to terms with pseudoreplication . nat area j 21 : 266–273

" fire birds " is a primitive dogfight movie , with nicolas cage and sean young as its stars , that serves as a kind of extended commercial for the u . s . army and its ah - 64 gunship helicopter , also known as the apache . the point , the film ' s press notes inform us , was to make a picture that does for the army what " top gun " did for the navy .

milesi fa , marone l , lópez de casenave j , cueto vr , mezquida et ( 2002 ) management guilds as indicators of environmental conditions : a case study with birds and habitat disturbances in the central monte desert , argentina . ecol aust 12 : 149–161

isaach jp , holz sl , ricci l , martínez mm ( 2004 ) post - fire vegetation change and bird use of a salt marsh in coastal argentina . wetlands 24 : 235–243

fire burns away much of the leaf litter on the forest floor and exposes insects and seeds . many wildlife species move into recently burned areas to feed on these newly available foods .

there were no injuries . in all , five vehicles were burned and others damaged by smoke hudson said . manitoba public insurance will investigate the cause of the fire further , he said .

young hardwoods that sprout back after a fire have more available protein and phosphorus and are more palatable to white - tailed deer and eastern cottontails than their unburned counterparts ( figure 4 ) .

public attitudes about fire have been greatly influenced by decades of smokey bear ' s effective fire prevention messages that emphasize the destructiveness of wildfire . although the anti - wildfire message did not extend to prescribed burning , many people are unable to distinguish between " good " and " bad " fire . television and newspaper coverage has worsened the problem by dwelling on the sensational aspects of wildfire and doing little to educate the public on the benefits of prescribed burning . recent efforts , such as the “one message , many voices” campaign , have attempted to promote the “good fire” concept to the public by using the # goodfire hashtag in social media and other outlets . new characters , such as burnin ' " bob " white and drip torchin ' " tom " turkey , are needed to promote the benefits of prescribed fire ( figure 8 ) . these characters could be used in public education campaigns as a complement to smokey ' s anti - wildfire message .

battisti c , ukmar e , luiselli l , bologna ma ( 2008 ) diversity / dominance diagrams show that fire disrupts the evenness in mediterranean pinewood forest bird assemblages . community ecol 9 : 107–113

as kingfishers catch fire was inspired , in part , by a “bird memoir” written in the late 1920s by edward grey , who in addition to being preston’s great - great - uncle was britain’s longest serving foreign secretary in the years leading up to , and into , the first world war . “ the charm of birds was a record of his life , smuggled into a bird book , ” writes preston . in this respect , as kingfishers catch fire shares a familial relationship with dan richards’s energetic climbing days and james macdonald lockhart’s elegant raptor in revisiting the work [ and in the cases of richards and macdonald lockhart , the footsteps ] of illustrious and impressive forebears .

" she had lit , and then later extinguished , small fires to attract attention for help from passing boats but yesterday evening ' s fire had got out of her control due to winds . "

rush s , klaus n , keyes t , petrick j , cooper r ( 2012 ) fire severity has mixed benefits to breeding bird species in the southern appalachians . for ecol manag 263 : 94–100

standing dead trees , called snags , provide critical nesting , feeding , and resting cover for over 100 wildlife species in north carolina , including about 40 birds ( figure 18 ) . the manner in which fire affects snags is complex . during a prescribed burn , fire often burns into the heartwood , causing snags to fall . although these newly downed logs are beneficial to other wildlife , they no longer are usable by cavity - nesting birds and bats . high - intensity prescribed fires may kill live trees , thereby increasing the number of snags in a forest . additionally , less intense prescribed fires may scar the base of trees , especially hardwoods , creating an entry point for insects and disease and leading to eventual death of the tree . it is generally desirable to have at least two large snags more than 10 inches in diameter per acre , but the more snags the better . to protect snags , stumps , and large fallen logs from fire damage , rake leaves and other material away from them before a burn . snags near the edge of the burn area can fall over firebreaks during or after a burn , so consider removing them before beginning a prescribed burn .

dormant season and growing season burns affect wildlife habitat differently . which type of fire you use depends upon which species of wildlife you favor ( table 2 ) . forests burned every 1 to 3 years and forests burned during the growing season tend to have a more open canopy with more grasses and forbs growing on the forest floor ( figure 12 ) . less frequently burned forests , especially those burned only in the winter , generally develop a dense understory several years following a fire ( figure 13 ) . within about 5 to 8 years after a prescribed burn , hardwood sprouts or saplings may become too tall to practically control with fire ; in such cases , special measures ( e . g . , rollerchopping or herbicides ) may be used along with fire to improve the quality of the forest for various wildlife .

looking for moments ‘when heart and bird are one’ , preston weaves the very best writing about birds into a personal and eccentric narrative that is as much about the joy of reading and writing as it is about the thrill of wildlife . moving from the ‘high requiem’ of keats’s nightingale to the crow - strewn sky at the end of alan garner’s the weirdstone of brisingamen , from ted hughes’s brooding ‘hawk in the rain’ to the giddy anthropomorphism of jonathan livingstone seagull , this is a book that will make you look at birds , at the world , in a newer , richer light .

the cars in the packed parking lot were parked very close together and the fire soon spread to three other vehicles , kaniuga said , adding he heard " lots of pops " from the engulfed silver sedan .

fire , along with saturated soils or prolonged flooding , aids in the control of vegetation in many coastal plain wetlands . historically , fire that started in the surrounding uplands crept down into wetlands , especially during dry periods ( figure 20 ) . these periodic fires once maintained vast areas of switchcane , called canebrakes , in wetland areas throughout the south . these canebrakes provided habitat for a diversity of wildlife , and remnant patches of switchcane still are used by many animal species ( figure 21 ) . more recently , however , firebreaks typically are plowed around the edges of southern wetlands , thereby destroying the unique plant community along this boundary and preventing fire from entering the wetland . without fire , trees and shrubs in bays and other isolated wetlands become dense and eventually the canopy closes . herbaceous cover , which is favored by many species of amphibians and reptiles , is shaded out , and permanent drying of the wetlands may occur . it is thought that herb bogs historically burned every 2 to 8 years , whereas shrub bogs or pocosins likely were maintained by more intense and less frequent fires every 8 to 20 years . animals like the pine barrens treefrog and the bog turtle ( figure 22 ) depend on the herb bog habitats maintained by fire and may become increasingly rare as the use of fire declines .

" fire birds ' " raison d ' etre seems to be to show off state - of - the - art military hardware - - notably the army ' s ah - 64a attack helicopter , the apache , armed , according to the press book , with " 19 laser - guided hellfire missiles , rockets and a 30 - millimeter chaingun . " there ' s a certain elemental excitement to the movie , mostly in the last 20 minutes , but it ' s so slick and vacuous that watching it is like dropping down an aluminum slide .

it took fire crews about 20 - 30 minutes to arrive , kaniuga said . in the interim , scores of people stood looking on from a distance of 40 - 60 feet away as park security kept them at a distance .

typically , prescribed burning is conducted in pine - dominated forests . many types of pines , including longleaf , table mountain , and pond pine , are adapted to fire and can survive relatively intense flames . however , conducting a prescribed burn in hardwood forests is not out of the question . just as is the case in pine stands , fire has a long history in north carolina ' s hardwood forests . south - facing slopes and other dry sites in the southern appalachians likely burned at least every 10 years and often were characterized by open stands of oak with well - developed herbaceous ground cover . the fact that bison and elk , which needed the fire - maintained grass layer for grazing , once lived in western north carolina is further evidence of frequent fire . many of the same benefits achieved by burning pine forests may be gained by burning hardwood stands every 3 to 10 years ( figure 19 ) . they include :

herbicides increasingly are used as a substitute for prescribed burning because of concern for property damage from fire . although they help control dense brush and undesirable hardwood saplings , herbicides alone cannot provide many of the wildlife benefits that result from prescribed burning .

grasses , legumes , and other herbaceous plants germinate and flower following a fire and harbor insects and produce seeds beneficial to quail , turkeys , and songbirds . this lush growth provides cover for small mammals and young turkeys and quail ( figure 3 ) .

fontaine jb , donato dc , robinson wd , lae be , kauffman jb ( 2009 ) bird communities following high - severity fire : response to single and repeat fires in a mixed - evergreen forest , oregon , usa . for ecol manag 257 : 496–1504

academy® award winning actors nicolas cage ( leaving las vegas ) and tommy lee jones ( the fugitive ) pair up to deliver one of the most exciting , nonstop action - adventure hits since top gun ! when an international enemy turns to high - tech weaponry , the u . s . army enlists the aid of the apaches america s elite airborne task force specially trained for aerial assault ! cage and jones star as hot - shot fire birds hovering , ping and dodging death on dangerous secret missions inside hostile territory ! audiences will be blown away by this explosive action epic , full of aerial gunfights and thrilling combat acrobatics !

it would be hard to reduce filmmaking to its basics more than " fire birds " does . it ' s more video game than motion picture - - the first coin - operated movie . director david green and his writers , nick thiel and paul f . edwards , have created a story line that intrudes only slightly on the action sequences . whenever it ' s not in the air , the movie is totally dead , but even then there are only so many ways to blow up a helicopter . plus the midair fights are shot so much like the ones in " top gun " that you feel as if you ' ve already seen them .

in addition to the nose armament , preston ' s cobra is also armed with eight bgm - 71 tow missiles mounted in groups of four on the outboard pylons . these missiles are not fired though , as preston has no chance to return fire during stoller ' s ambush .

the challenge that preston and gower have set themselves is to distil the literary essences of the birds that are their subject . each chapter stands alone , drawing on the words of poets , novelists and naturalists and blended in the glass of preston’s gaze . quoting jonathan franzen , he writes : “they had short lives and long summers . we should all be so lucky as to leave behind such heirs . ”

frankly , i don ' t really understand why people complain so much about this movie . top gun ripoff ? maybe - so what ? as something of a " military otaku " , i ' ve seen both , and i ' d say i know enough about the matters portrayed , as well . is it realistic ? not really , but it does provide simple , enjoyable entertainment and great viewing experience for the aviation fan in you . the footage is indeed great . people keep bringing " top gun " up over and over . just as unrealistic , if not worse . i ' d say , tg is far more far - fetched than fire birds . why does everyone hold tg in higher regard ? it came first , but . . . that ' s about it . i hear complaints about bad acting . . . i can ' t really tell , as the polish edition has , just like everything else , that annoying lector instead of subtitles , efficiently making all the original dialogs inaudible . the dialogs , however , seemed quite okay in translation . honestly , i really like this movie . it ' s been in my collection for a dozen years now , and i ' ve gotten myself a dvd recently . what ' s important to understand , is that it ' s one of those movies that are not supposed to have a deep storyline . the plot is nice and simple , just enough to keep a story going and show off the apaches . i love top gun , for its beautiful f - 14 footage and a simple story that doesn ' t get in the way of the viewing experience . and i don ' t really mind the corny lines and obvious lack of any realism . it ' s not a documentary , it ' s an action movie , one of the few of its kind ( aerial action movie ? ) as for fire birds . . . i love fire birds for the same reasons - beautiful ah - 64 footage and a simple story that keeps the thing going and doesn ' t get in the way of what i want to see there in the first place - the apaches in action . i don ' t mind the corny lines nor flaws in realism . just like tg , it ' s not supposed to be a documentary . it ' s an action movie of the same , rare genre as top gun . i wish there was more of those . . .

piñon ( pinus spp . ) and juniper ( juniperus spp . ) removal is a common management approach to restore sagebrush ( artemisia spp . ) vegetation in areas experiencing woodland expansion . because many management treatments are conducted to benefit sagebrush - obligate birds , we surveyed bird communities to assess treatment effectiveness in establishing sagebrush bird communities at study sites in utah , nevada , idaho , and oregon . our analyses included data from 1 or 2 yr prior to prescribed fire or mechanical treatment and 3 to 5 yr posttreatment . we used detrended correspondence analysis to 1 ) identify primary patterns of bird communities surveyed from 2006 to 2011 at point transects , 2 ) estimate ecological scale of change needed to achieve treatment objectives from the relative dissimilarity of survey points to the ordination region delineating sagebrush bird communities , and 3 ) measure changes in pre - and posttreatment bird communities . birds associated with sagebrush , woodlands , and ecotones were detected on our surveys ; increased dissimilarity of survey points to the sagebrush bird community was characterized by a gradient of increased juniper and decreased sagebrush cover . prescribed fires burned between 30 % and 97 % of our bird survey points . however , from 6 % to 24 % cover of piñon - juniper still remained posttreatment on the four treatment plots . we measured only slight changes in bird communities , which responded primarily to current vegetation rather than relative amount of change from pretreatment vegetation structure . bird communities at survey points located at greater ecological scales from the sagebrush bird community changed least and will require more significant impact to achieve changes . sagebrush bird communities were established at only two survey points , which were adjacent to a larger sagebrush landscape and following almost complete juniper removal by mechanical treatment . our results indicate that management treatments that leave residual woodland cover and are not adjacent to extensive sagebrush stands are unlikely to establish sagebrush birds .

the intense fires that burn pocosins often consume the organic soil to varying depths , resulting in a variety of micro - habitats following the fire . this habitat diversity yields protective shrub cover important to black bears , while maintaining some open areas for other wildlife species . caution should be used when burning pocosin vegetation because it can be the most explosive of all southern fuels . always consult a professional before burning these areas .

burning of pine stands generally is not begun until the dominant trees are 15 to 20 feet tall . however , longleaf pine stands can be burned anytime after establishment except when the young trees ( saplings ) are between approximately one to six feet tall , when they are most vulnerable to fire ( figure 9 and figure 10 ) . beneficial wildlife plants like partridge pea , beggarlice , and warm season native grasses cannot grow unless sufficient sunlight reaches the forest floor . therefore , prescribed burning provides the greatest benefit to wildlife when conducted in open stands of timber or grasslands . conducting a prescribed burn after a thinning operation ( see thinning pine stands , woodland owner note - 13 ) increases the chance that the fire will stimulate ground cover development . burning in a forest crowded with overstory and midstory trees generally does not improve wildlife habitat because sunlight is not allowed to reach the forest floor where beneficial plants grow ( figure 11 ) .

stumps and dead wood —dead wood on the ground , also known as coarse woody debris , as well as rooted and partially - rooted stumps , provide an important source of food and shelter for mice , shrews , lizards , small snakes , salamanders , and many invertebrates . small - diameter woody debris often is consumed during a prescribed fire , but the stumps and large fallen logs , which are most important as wildlife habitat , generally remain intact following a burn .

a favourite aunt introduces preston to the poetry of swallows through the words of kathleen jamie . ted hughes’s black crow spars with max porter’s “thing with feathers” . the choice of birds is both eclectic and personal . will fiennes’s near mythical snow goose is included , despite preston never having seen one in the wild . raymond carver , flannery o’connor and dh lawrence all strive , with varying degrees of success , to describe the cry of the peacock . ja baker is credited as “one of the guiding lights” of the book , although it is robert macfarlane ’s name that appears more than any other , possibly at the expense of a richer diversity of contemporary voices ( including those macfarlane has encouraged ) .

in north carolina , you must first obtain a burn permit from the north carolina forest service ( ncfs ) . then notify the ncfs , the local fire department , and neighbors to let them know that you will conduct a prescribed burn on your property . before burning , you must create firebreaks around the proposed burn area . firebreaks can be created by pulling a plow , disk , or rake behind a tractor or atv . firebreaks for small areas can be raked by hand or cleared of debris with leaf blowers . roads and streams also can serve as firebreaks .

there is also something of bruce chatwin’s songlines about preston’s writing – the second part of chatwin’s book being more common - place book than travelogue – since as kingfishers catch fire has been sifted from notebooks kept over many , many years in which preston has collected the words of dozens of writers . each chapter is arranged around a bird , each bird illustrated by gower in a mixture of gouache and watercolour that brings to mind both william morris and eric ravilious in the confluence of an almost arts and crafts awareness of design with the chalky pastel palette of the south downs .

as the opening track to the band ' s new album , magic fire , produced by the enormously talented larry campbell , " shining in the distance " packs a punch that ' ll keep you listening . bandmates charles muench ( banjo , bass and vocals ) and oliver craven ( fiddle , guitar , mandolin and vocals ) add their warm harmonies and technically pristine playing to de vitry ' s powerful songwriting . with the recent addition of shane leonard on drums , this is a band that seems poised to take off in a new — and very exciting — musical direction .

memoir , or rather memory , gilds the narrative . the most moving chapter describes preston’s father , bedbound with lymphoma , as he watches a family of collared doves on the rooftop opposite his window . he is woken by a fledgling dove on the windowsill inside the bedroom and tries to rescue the bird . describing himself in the third person , preston’s father writes : “placid and accepting , she allows his right hand to embrace her body… while he emanates all he can in telepathic sedation . it , or something like it , must be working , for her wings remain static and spread , her breast neither heaving nor fluttering … how warm to the touch . he wants to stretch the moment to eternity . ” this , perhaps , is the essence of the book , this longing for communion , for connection with things other than ourselves . no single image is as potent as that of the trapped , pensive , passive dove being liberated by one who remains in the room . preston allows the folklore associated with both the dove ( a blessing ) and a bird entering a house ( a presage of death ) to speak for itself . the reader is invited to work out if there is a subtext , and to interpret it how they may . consequently , as kingfishers catch fire is both a joyful and a wondrous book , one that successfully captures the otherness of birds , while celebrating our yearning to transcend our lot , our yearning to touch the unknowable .