Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1927


Easy Pickings

Buy Easy Pickings now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Easy Pickings' is a 1927 silent film mystery or 'old dark house' story directed by George Archainbaud and starring Anna Q. Nilsson and Kenneth Harlan. It is based on a play written by Paul A. Cruger and William A. Burton.[http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=8816 The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:'Easy Pickings] Zack Williams plays the stereotypical Negro servant who mugs his way through the film in an exaggeratedly nervous manner. Comedic actor Billy Bevan plays the detective in the film in a more-serious-than-usual manner, and later went on to appear in 'Dracula's Daughter' (1936) and 'The Invisible Man Returns' (1940).

Lead actress Nilsson emigrated from Sweden to Hollywood to appear in a number of silent films, but her career could not survive the coming of sound films. Cameraman Van Enger had photographed the 1925 Lon Chaney classic 'The Phantom of the Opera', and years later would handle the camerawork on 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein' (1948). Director Archainbaud wound up directing TV shows in the 1950s such as 'The Gene Autry Show' and 'Lassie'.

Plot



Mary Ryan and Peter Van Horne get stranded in a haunted house inhabited by some very odd characters. The house is supposed to be haunted by ghosts. A detective (Billy Bevan) shows up to investigate the strange goings-on.

Cast



*Anna Q. Nilsson - Mary Ryan

*Kenneth Harlan - Peter Van Horne

*Philo McCullough - Stewart

*Billy Bevan - The Detective

*Jerry Miley - Tony

*Charles Sellon - Dr. Naylor

*Zack Williams - Remus, the black servant

*Gertrude Howard - Mandy

Preservation



*A copy resides in Italy at Cineteca Nazionale, Rome.[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.924/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog:'Easy Pickings']

At one time the film was considered lost.[http://www.silentsaregolden.com/arnefirstnational.html 'Easy Pickings' at Arne Anderson's Lost Film Files:'lost First National films - 1927]

References




Buy Easy Pickings now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1927



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1110005277.