Selig Newsreel, 1917
“Despite other newsworthy happenings, including a war in Europe, it is fun and games on the Berkeley campus that seems to get the most generous allotment of footage in this fascinating newsreel.” --W.K.E.
• (1917, 10 mins, silent, Print from W.K.E.)

Officer 444
“Though a decidedly erratic and sub-standard serial, seemingly constructed as it went along, Officer 444 was made with the cooperation of the Berkeley Police Department. Police Chief August Vollmer appears in each episode, charitably referred to as ‘one of the world's greatest criminologists' though he does virtually nothing to substantiate that claim within the serial. The film's attempts to give itself stature via philosophical and documentarian titles are hilarious, and local residents will have great fun spotting streets and buildings, or cheering as the police cars race to the rescue down Shattuck Avenue. Local historians might also like to speculate on the giant sewers beneath this ‘important industrial city' which serve as ‘the lair of human rats' who comprise the film's villains. Chapter One will be shown on this occasion, and a subsequent chapter will be shown later in the series.” --W.K. Everson
• Directed by Francis Ford. With Ben Wilson, Neva Gerber, Francis Ford, Phil Ford. (1924, 20 mins, silent, Print from W.K.E.)

A Son Comes Home
E.A. Dupont is best known for his German UFA classic, Variety (1925), and the films he made in England in the late Twenties, Moulin Rouge and Piccadilly. Dupont's Hollywood phase includes this 1936 “mixture of soap opera and film noir using a UFA-ish Fisherman's Wharf as his basic locale.... With this film Paramount tried to turn character-comedienne Mary Boland into their own Marie Dressler; while the experiment wasn't followed up, it's an interesting idea.” --W.K. Everson
• Directed by E.A. Dupont. Produced by Paramount. With Mary Boland, Donald Woods, Julie Hayden, Wallace Ford. (1936, 75 mins, Print from W.K.E.)