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The first idea for “The Gold Rush” came to Charlie Chaplin when he was viewing some stereoscope pictures of the 1896 Klondike gold rush, and was struck by the image of an endless line of prospectors snaking up the Chilkoot Pass, the gateway to the gold fields.

At the same time he happened to read a book about the Donner Party Disaster of 1846, when a party of immigrants, snowbound in the Sierra Nevada, were reduced to eating their own moccasins and the corpses of their dead comrades.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” was based on a short story written by Philip Van Doren Stern titled, “The Greatest Gift” which he wrote in the late 1930’s. He was unable to find a publisher and sent the 200 copies that he had printed to his friends and family members in 1943 as Christmas cards. 

One of the cards caught the attention of RKO Pictures producer David Hempstead and he purchased the motion picture rights to the short story for $10,000. Several screenwriters worked on adapting the short story and although 3 scripts were yielded, none were produced and Frank Capra bought the rights to the story in 1945 for the same $10,000 that RKO had purchased it for. Capra took the best parts from the 3 scripts, changed the name and created “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Jean-Pierre Jeunet got the idea for a cannibal butcher when living in an apartment above a butcher’s shop. Each morning at 7am he would hear the metallic clash of knives and a voice shout, “Chop chop!” His girlfriend said he was carving up the neighbors, and it would be their turn next week.

When I was in elementary school, I remember asking a friend of mine, Pete Niccolini what his favorite sport was. I didn’t care about sports at all but I was always interested in what people liked and what they didn’t. He told me that his favorite sport was football when it’s in season, baseball when it’s in season, basketball when it’s in season, etc.  His list kept going on and on and with each new season he had a new favorite sport. He could never choose just one. 

I’m the same with film directors. I enjoy so many directors but can’t say that just one is my favorite. I have a special place in my cellulose heart for each director that I admire. They do all however have one thing in common. They’re unique. I’m going to do my best to start watching a new film everyday. There’s so much out there to learn. So much to absorb. I’m a cinematic sponge and I want to take in as much as I can.

I’m going to use this blog as my personal journal that will document the films that I watch and I’ll also try to post any interesting facts about the films that I learn.