Rex Ingram

[Clinton Morgan]

I've never seen any Rex Ingram films. Have you seen any Rex Ingram films? If you have what are they like? Reason I mention him is that he was a British director who made fantasies and was Michael Powell's mentor. I would love to see his films released on the Eureka label or failing that on BFI DVD. British silent cinema seems to be uncharted territory. Recieved opinion would have it that our cinema only began in the 1930s.

[Steve Crook]

</div><div class='quotemain'>Clinton Morgan: I've never seen any Rex Ingram films. Have you seen any Rex Ingram films? If you have what are they like? Reason I mention him is that he was a British director who made fantasies and was Michael Powell's mentor. I would love to see his films released on the Eureka label or failing that on BFI DVD. British silent cinema seems to be uncharted territory. Recieved opinion would have it that our cinema only began in the 1930s. [/b]

Rex was born in Dublin but lived and worked in Hollywood from about 1914. He left there in 1926 & went to Nice after an argument with Louis B. Mayer. After that he just put "Metro-Goldwyn presents ..." on his pictures with no mention of Mayer.

I would count him as an American director though. That's one reason the young Michael Powell liked working for him. It was a chance to learn Hollywood techniques without having to go there.

Some Ingram films are still to be found occasionally. The ones I see offered for sale most often (usually on eBay) are The Magician & Mare Nostrum.

As for British cinema only beginning in the 1930s, the IMDb lists 4,857 British films made before 1930, 482 before 1900. But it is hard to find those early titles. Not many survive. There are some specialist groups like the Silents Majority that will have more information about silent films.

Steve

[Hugo]

Rex Ingram's real name was Reg Hitchcock. The studio suggested that he change it, because they felt that Hitchcock was not a suitable name for a film director.