Fernando, this is absolutely BRILLIANT research! Thank you! This is exactly the kind of material I was hoping for.
It appears that if this company, Western Costume Company, which is I believe located in Burbank near the Universal studios attraction and former back lots, was founded in 1912, it was naturally supplying both stage and film venues.
The film noted in this amazing authenticating document was Errol Flynn and Anthony Quinn in "Against All Flags" (1952). I could not find stills of this film with Flynn with anything but wielding a pistol, though I saw one of him holding what is again, a fencing saber. His co star Maureen O'Hara noted that he practiced his fencing meticulously every day.
I watched a segment of the film with him in sword duel with Quinn, and I am certain he was using this sword.
In my original query I was hoping to discover what 'authentic' antique weaponry was used in these 'early' films. In research it is noted that Rudolph Valentino traveled abroad purportedly to acquire props for one of his upcoming films. With his clearly established interest in vintage arms, he most certainly acquired numbers of them in these trips.
In these early days in Los Angeles and of course most major cities, there was an abundance of antiquities available, and heavily appointed interiors with antiques was of course popular at large. One of most enjoyable things in watching 'old' classic films is the fascinating array of antiques always generously adorning the sets.
I am thinking that even with costume and prop suppliers such as this firm, in the early days, the studios and then private film companies augmented their holdings of props etc. with many genuine antiques. These were held in various stores and likely moved together as smaller studios joined larger, and the back lot warehouses were combined. As mentioned earlier, a classic example of literal 'prop warehouse raiding' were the horribly anachronistic "Flash Gordon" series of the 30s.
In these, supposed to be in the 'future' actors were wearing Greek and Roman costumes, using contrived 'ray guns' and swords etc.in a comical combination.
By the 40s and into 50s, it seems there were more light 'stage' weapons being produced (as seen here), while the background may have had extras using these old weapons. The degree and verification remains unclear, but as I have mentioned, it was in the 70s that I was aware of genuine antique arms being obtained from 'movie studio warehouses'.
It will take more research to find evidence of these early instances of actual vintage weapons used in films. In 1935, "Captain Blood" with Flynn, the muskets in use to represent the 'fusil boucanier' (of the buccaneers) appear to be authentic French M1777 Charleville's. As always, it is far more likely to attend to the firearms than any edged weapons at hand.
|