Today at work I came across a collection of Hollywood production stills, many from unidentified films of the Golden Age of cinema. When you think of a production still, you probably think of one that highlights film stars, but these are the opposite. This collection doesn’t show any posed people at all, only posed rooms and furniture.
Like model homes or furniture showroom floors, these images are familiar and yet false.
Places waiting for their people.
Out of focus, behind-the-scenes workers, accidentally captured by the camera.
Lonely placards in empty rooms.
The airport waiting room never looks quite this empty in the movies.
Charlie Chan visits Egypt, only to find it as quiet as a tomb.
How unnatural the thatched roof looks next to the kleig light. From 1948’s KIDNAPPED!
A faceless man.
Allan Dwan’s team has made ready the set for the lawn party; where is Shirley Temple? The cherub is already drunk.
A great view of the top.
Another one
Are any of these folks actors?
I’d like to visit the floating museum, created by John Ford’s team for Steamboat Round the Bend (1935)
Perhaps from Charlie Chan in Rio (1941). Director Harry Lachman had an interesting career, from successful post-impressionist painter to B-movie director.
Double exposure, exposing a structure made to muffle the sound of the camera, plus some equipment someone has left to be tripped over.
