The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (1928)
August 28th, 2007 at 00:36 (1920s)
To take advantage of the recently updated design of this blog I post quite a few images of what’s my favourite silent short, The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra by Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapich. And this time I break with the guess-the-movie-tradition since it’s rather difficult to post some pics of the main actor without letting you know about the 9413.
The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra is a lowbudget production reportedly shot for $96.00. Most shots were taken in Slavko Vorkapich’s kitchen using cut-out miniatures. The film is strongly influenced by German Expressionism and French avant-garde films of the Twenties.
Hints of plots of feature-length movies to come in the 1930s can be found en masse in this great 13 minute movie.
Simply said this is a story about a man (John Jones) who wants to become a movie star in Hollywood (Stuart Erwin showed us in 1932 in 86 minutes in Make Me A Star alongside Joan Blondell how difficult this can be). John Jones even has a commendatory letter he shows Mr. Almighty, the big Hollywood producer. Mr. Almighty degrades Mr. Jones by writing a number - 9413 - on his forehead. And like every docile extra 9413 jumps at every command. When Mr. Almighty pulls his thumb, 9413 moves his head. 9413 is not the only extra we get to see. There’s #13, a female extra and #15. An extra that soon will be a star (reminiscent of What Price Hollywood or A Star Is Born). While #15 is a success and sees his dreams fulfilled 9413 is a failure, who isn’t even invited to casting and eventually can’t pay his bills and finally dies. His life’s end is symbolized by a pair of scissors that cut a film strip. But he doesn’t regain his humanity, he lost in Hollywood. Not on planet earth. But as the camera shows different cut outs and a small toy figure ascending to heaven (note the moment when there are signs shown To Heaven and To Hollywood, which is in the opposite direction of heaven) you know there’s hope. By the way I guess this is one of the few movies who make good use of eggs as a background decoration while the toy figure on its way to heaven gets its wings. And it is finally in heaven that 9413 becomes human again and an angel wipes the number from his forehead.
Here are lots of screenshots to give you a good impression of this wonderful short movie. You can also watch The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra for free at stage6.divx.com. This version has a great, very aptly composed jazzy score by dp3.
