I attended both San Francisco Silent Film Festival opening night screenings last night at the Castro. I didn’t attend the party, which conflicted with the second show. That was an easy choice. Upstream The festival opened with a newly discovered John Ford film. Thought lost for decades, a tinted print of Upstlream turned up recently [...]
Filed under: Festivals, First-person Report, Silent Films | 1 Comment »
Full disclosure: I’m reviewing a Blu-ray set that I don’t even have. Kino accidentally sent me the DVD set rather than the Blu-ray. In fairness, this may be my fault. When I emailed a request for a review copy, I neglected to specify what format. Luckily, the content of the two sets are identical, so [...]
Filed under: Blu-ray Review, Comedy, Silent Films | Leave a Comment »
You’ve probably read about 3D movies doing disappointing business lately. Some say that today’s 3D craze is bottoming out. Others argue that, like a killer in a bad horror movie (probably shot in 3D), the stereoscopic format will rise again. But I say: Look to Hollywood’s past for perspective on 3D’s future. Will it swiftly [...]
Filed under: Silent Films, Technical | 1 Comment »
It’s June, and that means two weekends (and a few weekdays) of intense silent film activity. For those of us who love to read a movie’s dialog while listening to live musical accompaniment, summer brings added pleasures to the Bay Area. The Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival runs Friday through Sunday, the weekend of June [...]
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I’m sure this is an April Fool’s bit, and I suspect it will go away very soon. So check it out now. Go to Youtube and click on any video. In the lower-right corner, where you would usually see an HD button, there’s a sepia label reading 1911. Press it for a return to older [...]
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My wife and I caught Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin last night at the Castro. This was my fourth time viewing of what many consider amongst the greatest films ever made. It was my second time seeing it theatrically, and my first since Kino’s new restoration. In fact, it was my first viewing in this century. [...]
Filed under: Restorations, Silent Films | 1 Comment »
Kino has another Buster Keaton Blu-ray title on the way, and it’s a winner. Three years before he made The General, Keaton mined the antebellum South for comic gold in this almost gentle comedy inspired by the Hatfield/McCoy feud. Still adjusting to the long form of the feature film (this was only his second), Keaton [...]
Filed under: Blu-ray Review, Comedy, Silent Films | 1 Comment »
I devoted yesterday at the Silent Film Festival Winter Event. Great way to spend a Saturday. Here are the details: It’s Mutual: Charlie Chaplin Shorts Before the movie started, I visited the retail section on the Castro‘s mezzanine. At the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum table, I bought a bumper sticker – "Films have a [...]
Filed under: First-person Report, Music, Silent Films | Leave a Comment »
I didn’t see enough new movies last year to do a top ten list. And I didn’t cover enough festivals to do a Festival Top 10, either. So instead, here are my top 10 movie-going experiences of 2010. Half of these were silent film screenings. This was a great year for silents–dominated by Metropolis and [...]
Filed under: First-person Report, SFIFF, Silent Films, Top Ten | Leave a Comment »
Last night, I enjoyed the greatest film/live music experience of my 40+ years as a silent film aficionado. The film was Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc. The music was Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light, “An Oratorio with Silent Film.” Mark Sumner conducted the 22-piece orchestra and approximately 180 singers from multiple [...]
Filed under: First-person Report, Silent Films, Special Events | 2 Comments »
