Why Silents Are Golden: This Year’s San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Lincoln Spector

As regular readers know, I’m passionate about silent movies. Without the crutch of spoken words, a motion picture becomes pure cinema–reality on an entirely different plane. The actors can be fully unique, complex individuals (not that they always are) while remaining archetypes. Take Louise Brooks. In silent films, she’s magical, mysterious, and the very embodiment [...]

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SFIFF Report: Buster Keaton and Merrill Garbus

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Lincoln Spector

Last night I attended the San Francisco International Film Festival silent movie event at the Castro–four Buster Keaton shorts (two of them actually Fatty Arbuckle shorts with Keaton in supporting roles), accompanied by Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs along with guitarist Ava Mendoza. This is something of a tradition at the Festival–screening silent films with accompaniment [...]

Filed under: Comedy, Festivals, First-person Report, SFIFF, Silent Films | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Great Napoleon Photo

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Lincoln Spector

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival included this photo in a recent email. I thought I should share it: Click it to see the full-sized image. I’ve also added this image to my report on Saturday’s screening.

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Napoleon at the Paramount: An Incredible Day at the Movies

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Lincoln Spector

Abel Gance’s Napoleon so overwhelmed me that I hardly know where to start. Despite a few slow sequences, the experience was as innovating, exciting, and entertaining as anything I’ve experienced as part of an audience. I doubt I have ever seen such a perfect melding of cinema and showmanship; the movie requires this special presentation, [...]

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Buster Keaton Shorts Coming to San Fran Intl. Film Fest

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Lincoln Spector

It’s always good to laugh, and an evening of Buster Keaton, with live accompaniment, should supply the entertainment. I just got my first press release concerning this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival, which will run from April 19 through May 3. As is the festival’s custom, they leak several major events to the press [...]

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Blu-ray Review: Seven Chances

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Lincoln Spector

Since I first discovered Buster Keaton almost 40 years ago, I’ve considered Seven Chances one of his best features. That was an unusual opinion in the 1970s, when even Keaton fans barely knew this picture existed. But its status has been rising in recent years, and I’m hoping that Kino’s new Blu-ray release will help [...]

Filed under: Blu-ray Review, Comedy, Silent Films | 1 Comment »

Silent Influences: Mostly Silent Movies From the Talkie Era to the Present

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Lincoln Spector

With The Artist finally playing locally, I thought it would be fun to look at other post-silent movies with little or no dialog. Cinema, in its purest form, is a visual art. What it can do without words has always been more powerful than what it can do with them. If I ran my own [...]

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The Artist

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Lincoln Spector

A Dramatic Comedy Written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius The question with which I opened my Hugo post applies even more to Michel Hazanavicius’ new silent film: Did I–and other cinephiles–love The Artist because it is a very good motion picture, or because the story, setting, and style are so close to any cinephile’s heart? [...]

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Thoughts on Hugo

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Lincoln Spector

I sometimes wonder whether Singin’ in the Rain really is the greatest movie musical ever made. I think it is, but I may be prejudiced because Singin’ is, after all, a movie about film history–something I care very much about. Other critics and historians may have a similar prejudice. And so we come to Hugo, [...]

Filed under: Restorations, Reviews, Silent Films | 1 Comment »

Latino Cinema, a Kevin Smith Thriller, and Silent Films Before Live Theatre

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Lincoln Spector

Here’s a trio of current and upcoming events: San Francisco Latino Film Festival This film festival opened Friday, and I didn’t even know about it. My apologies. It runs in the City, Berkeley, Marin, and San Jose through the 25th. Check the web site to see what’s playing. Kevin Smith’s Red State Kevin Smith—the writer [...]

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