The Headless Horseman

US 1922. PC: Legend of Sleepy Hollow Corp. D+SC: Edward Venturini - based on the story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) by Washington Irving. DP: Ned Van Buren. CAST: Will Rogers (Ichabod Crane). Print: LoC, 5765 ft /20 fps/ 77 min, original in English, with e-subtitles in Italian, grand piano: Donald Sosin, viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 4 October 2008. - I caught but a short sample, but that included Will Rogers' comic love scene and an encounter with the Headless Horseman. - Richard Koszarski: "generally regarded as the first feature film shot entirely on Eastman’s newly perfected panchromatic negative stock (previous versions had very little shelf life). It was photographed by Ned Van Buren, a past-president of the A.S.C., who soon left studio production to work directly for Kodak’s Hollywood office (...). Van Buren took full advantage of the new negative, especially in a number of effective day-for-night exteriors. Although Eastman began marketing this panchromatic film (#1203) the following year, it was not widely used until prices were lowered to the same level as ordinary negative stock in 1926. (...) shot in the summer of 1922 on many of the same “Sleep Hollow” locations described in the original Washington Irving story. (...) Although Will Rogers appeared in a significant number of shorts and features between 1918 and 1924, he was better known at the time as a syndicated humorist and featured attraction in the Ziegfeld Follies. Within a few years, however, his appearances on radio and in talking pictures would make him one of the most important figures in the American entertainment business." – Richard Koszarski