Film homage Eclair The Renunciation 1914 San Xavier del Bac Tucson Arizona c.1890-2008
by David Lee Guss
Title
Film homage Eclair The Renunciation 1914 San Xavier del Bac Tucson Arizona c.1890-2008
Artist
David Lee Guss
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The first known film to be shot at Tucson, Arizona's magnificent San Xavier is "The Renunciation," a 1914 production made by the home based Eclair.
The French company opened its American branch in Ft. Lee, New Jersey as a sales office in late 1909. By 1911 it had grown into a fully functional production facility with studios and a lab; grinding out dozens of short films.
But a March 1914 fire destroyed everything. That and the start of WW1 began Eclair's six year sllde into bankruptcy. 383 films in all were made in the US spanning 1911-1916.
"Renunciation" was released in July 1914, four months after the fire. No known print of it exists. Hopefully one will surface; most likely in a non US based archive.
(A 1912 Vitagraph Western shot in Tucson "The Better Man," was discovered in 2010 in the New Zealand Film Archive. Also found was the long lost 1927 John Ford directed feature "Up Stream," complete with color tints. 75 features and shorts were unearthed, all to be preserved. Only some 15 percent of Ford's silent films survive.)
{NOTE: "Renunciation's" star is Robert Frazier (1891-1944), who has the distinction of being the first film actor to play Robin Hood. Frazer later appeared in Bela Lugosi's extremely low budget 1932 classic "White Zombie." John Wayne scholars will remember him as Major Booth in the 12 chapter 1933 Mascot serial, "The Three Musketeers."}
The original 35mm negative of "White Zombie" has not survived. This public domain film is considered a horror classic and one of Lugosi's finest motion pictures.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQV7wOg3hYQ&feature=related}
At one time Eclair operated several facilities in Tucson, Arizona.
Their March 1914 released "The Cabellero's Way" is the first motion picture depicting O. Henry's Cisco Kid. William R. Dunn (1888-1946) has the title role. In a 1940's interview he remarked how the three reel film was shot right behind the Santa Rita Hotel (1904-2009) in downtown Tucson. The location still looked like the "Wild West."
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May 11th, 2013
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