The last time I saw Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder on the big screen, or in 3D, was the first time any paying audience had seen it in decades. That was in 1980, at San Francisco's York Theater. I finally experienced the film properly again Thursday night at the Rafael, and it's a much … Continue reading Rethinking Dial M for Murder
Category: First-person Report
Silent Film Festival Report: Sunday
Kings of (Silent) Comedy Of course it was funny. There was really no question about it. This was my first chance seeing "Mighty Like a Moose" and "The Immigrant" on the big screen, and both were wonderful that way. The cartoon, "Felix Goes West," wasn't of the same quality, but it delivered enough laugh to … Continue reading Silent Film Festival Report: Sunday
SF Silent Film Festival Report: Saturday
This was an exceptionally exhausting day at the festival. I saw five programs, and lacked the stamina for a sixth. Windsor McCay, His Life and Art Animation historian John Canemaker narrated this entertaining lecture/film presentation on the work of the brilliant cartoonist, vaudeville performer, and animation pioneer Windsor McCay. The presentation covered his ground-breaking comic … Continue reading SF Silent Film Festival Report: Saturday
SF Silent Film Festival, Saturday Report
Amazing Tales from the Archive First, Robert Byrne of the Festival discussed the restoration of The Half Breed, the 1916 Douglas Fairbanks feature that will have its restoration premiere Saturday. He and his team had to work with three different, incomplete prints, most from questionable sources. Byrne divided his talk into three categories: Continuity: Trying … Continue reading SF Silent Film Festival, Saturday Report
Prix de Beaute: Silent Film Festival Opening Night
This year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival opened at the Castro Thursday night with Louise Brooks' last starring role, Prix de Beaute (The Price of Beauty). I wouldn't put this French feature quite in the same category as Pandora's Box, but I liked it very much. Brooks plays a working girl who enters and wins … Continue reading Prix de Beaute: Silent Film Festival Opening Night
The Big Trail: A Big Western Shot on Big Film
Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail is not by any stretch of the imagination a great film. But it's fascinating, historically unique, and beautiful to look at. I caught it Sunday night at the Pacific Film Archive. I'd seen it before--on Turner Classic Movies--but this was my first Big Trail big screen experience. It deserves the … Continue reading The Big Trail: A Big Western Shot on Big Film
Hitchcock 9, Part 3: Sunday
B The Pleasure Garden For a new director's first film, The Pleasure Garden is surprisingly assured--creatively using all the cinema's tools to tell a good story. Based on a popular novel of the time, it follows two young women, both dancers, as their professional and love lives go in different and contrasting directions. One goes … Continue reading Hitchcock 9, Part 3: Sunday
Hitchcock 9, Part 2: Saturday
I spent most of yesterday at the Castro, watching the Hitchcock 9 festival of early, silent Alfred Hitchcock movies, all newly restored. Here's what I saw: B Champagne With it's ditzy heiress ingénue, romantic plot, broad humor, and class consciousness, this Hitchcock silent has all the ingredients of a screwball comedy except sparkling dialog. I … Continue reading Hitchcock 9, Part 2: Saturday
Hitchcock 9 Report, Part 1: Blackmail
Friday night Blackmail A beautiful young woman ditches her boyfriend (a Scotland Yard detective), flirts with another man, then kills him in self-defense. The next morning she's at the mercy of a blackmailer. Alfred Hitchcock's tenth feature and second thriller already shows touches of the master. Her night wanderings after the incident, her reaction to … Continue reading Hitchcock 9 Report, Part 1: Blackmail
The Clock at SFMOMA
You've probably heard about The Clock, a current exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art that is, effectively speaking, a 24-hour-long movie. I caught a tiny slice of it on Thursday. (And no, you don't have to see it from beginning to end.) Created by Christian Marclay, The Clock is a masterpiece of … Continue reading The Clock at SFMOMA
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