This Week In Film History, 09.02.12

September 5, 1901: William McKinley, the first U.S. president to be captured on film, is shown at the Pan-American Expo in Buffalo, one day before his assassination.

September 5, 1916: In response to the outcry over The Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith releases Intolerance, a cinematic plea for understanding and goodwill.

September 2, 1923: Under his most remarkable make-up to date, Lon Chaney brings Victor Hugo’s Quasimodo to life in the first filming of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

September 6, 1935: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance “cheek to cheek” in Top Hat, a smashing box office success for the financially-troubled RKO Pictures.

September 3, 1939: Alfred Hitchcock reshoots the ending of Foreign Correspondent to incorporate the anticipated bombing of London by the Luftwaffe.

September 2, 1949: James Cagney makes a memorable return to the gangster genre, playing psychopathic Cody Jarrett in White Heat.

September 8, 1949: The most famous cinema squint this side of Clint Eastwood debuts when the nearsighted Mr. Magoo makes his bow in the animated short Ragtime Bear.

September 8, 1979: The body of actress Jean Seberg, 40, is found in the back of a car in Paris. Her controversial death will be attributed to an overdose of barbiturates.

September 3, 1991: Screenwriter, director and celebrant of the common man Frank Capra passes away at the age of 94.

September 6, 1998: The king of Japanese cinema, Rashomon and The Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa, passes away from a stroke at 88.