Rent Shooting Stars (1928)
3.7 of 5 from 57 ratings
1h 41min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Offering a fascinating insight into the workings of a 1920s London film studio, and boasting a boldly expressionist shooting style, dramatic lighting and great performances from its leads (Annette Benson, Brian Aherne and Donald Calthrop), 'Shooting Stars' is at once a sophisticated morality tale and an affectionate critique of the film industry, teasing its audience with revelations about how the fantastic world of the photoplay conceals irony and hidden truths.
- Actors:
- Annette Benson, Brian Aherne, Donald Calthrop, Wally Patch, David Brooks, Ella Daincourt, Chili Bouchier, Tubby Phillips, Ian Wilson, Judd Green, Jack Rawl
- Directors:
- Anthony Asquith, A.V. Bramble
- Producers:
- H. Bruce Woolfe
- Writers:
- Anthony Asquith, John Orton
- Studio:
- BFI Video
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Comedy, Drama
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 21/03/2016
- Run Time:
- 101 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM Stereo, Silent
- Subtitles:
- None
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Pathe's Screen Beauty Competition (1920, 2 mins)
- Around the Town: British Film Stars and Studios (1921, 2 mins)
- The Lovely Hundred (1922, 25 secs)
- Secrets of a World Industry - The Making of Cinematograph Film (1922, 8 mins)
- Meet Jackie Coogan (1924, 11 mins)
- Starlings of the Screen (1925, 15 mins)
- Opening of British Instructional Film Studio (1928, 4 mins)
- Stills and Special Collections Gallery (2016, 6 mins)
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Reviews (1) of Shooting Stars
British Silent. - Shooting Stars review by Steve
British cinema wasn't a golden age in the 1920s. And Shooting Stars isn't as lavish as the great Hollywood feature films of the silent era, but it compares extremely well on quality. AV Bramble was a journeyman of pre-sound cinema and Anthony Asquith a key director of British films, so it is tempting to regard this as Asquith's film.
This was his debut, and he co-wrote the story about a love triangle on a film shoot. Brian Aherne plays a handsome and likeable leading man who is in love with the tempestuous star of the British screen (Annette Benson)... who is his wife. But she falls for an affable sad/funny man (Donald Calthorp) who makes slapstick in a bowler hat.
The diva plans to kill her husband by swapping a live cartridge for the dummy in the studio rifle. Then leave for Hollywood. Shooting Stars is a brilliant satire on the film business which handles the drama very well too. There is wonderful mobile, expressionist photography. The trio of leads give intelligent and absorbing performances.
There is so much fascinating detail of British cinema and London society in the twenties, and visual insight into the characters and their motivations. Intuitive connections are made between the actors and their personas; and fiction and real life. It's an early film about film. And the final scene, with that last shot, is a triumph.
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