I've wanted for decades to revisit Carl Reiner's dramatic comedy, The Comic. When I first saw it in 1969, I knew almost nothing about silent films. More than 50 years later, they're a life-long hobby. I first saw The Comic when I was in my sophomore year in high school. Around that time, Harold Lloyd … Continue reading Silent movies thru a ’60s filter: The Comic
Category: Silent Films
Early John Ford on Blu-ray with Hell Bent
You've probably never heard of Hell Bent - a very early John Ford western, made in only his second year as a director. He's credited as Jack Ford (his birth name was Sean Feeney). And yet, sometimes you can see the greatness to come. At this point in his career, Ford was cranking out B … Continue reading Early John Ford on Blu-ray with Hell Bent
1928: The peak and the fall
I don't believe in golden ages and "great film years." Every year since the beginning of cinema has had good and bad films. But there's something special about 1928. At least in America, it was the artistic pinnacle of silent film. And yet it was also the year where silence began to die. Movies kept … Continue reading 1928: The peak and the fall
The Last Charlie Chaplin Days of 2020
It's kind of weird to wake up, eat breakfast, and go into my home office for a film festival. Here's what I watched on the last day of this year's Charlie Chaplin Days. The Whiz Bang Talent Show, Trivia Quiz, Lookalike Contest and Goodtime Hour! As with Saturday, I started with a 10:00am Zoom event. … Continue reading The Last Charlie Chaplin Days of 2020
Saturday “at” Charlie Chaplin Days
There are problems with virtual film festivals. You don't run into old friends or meet new ones. And when you get up and walk out of the theater, you just might enter a kitchen needing to be cleaned. Nevertheless, here it goes. Meet David Robinson I started my viewing at 10:00am on Zoom with a … Continue reading Saturday “at” Charlie Chaplin Days
Friday at Charlie Chaplin Days
I experienced my first virtual film festival Friday. While it's nowhere as fun as the real thing, it has its advantages. No commuting. The festival I'm following from home is Charlie Chaplin Days, run by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. I'm writing this quickly, so if I let through some spelling or grammatical errors, … Continue reading Friday at Charlie Chaplin Days
Jewish Horror: The Golem on Blu-ray
To understand this hundred-year-old German/Jewish horror movie, you need to know a bit about the German Expressionist movement. The Golem: How He Came into the World was never intended to look realistic. Neither the acting, the makeup, nor the costumes were intended to recreate the medieval period of the setting. This expressionism allowed set designer Hans … Continue reading Jewish Horror: The Golem on Blu-ray
My Report on the Day of Silents
I spent Saturday at the Castro Theater for the Day of Silents, a one-day event produced by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. I saw four features and eight shorts, all with live musical accompaniment. It was a wonderful day. Fatty + Buster: The Comique World of Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton One hundred years … Continue reading My Report on the Day of Silents
Three silent classics by Josef von Sternberg, now together on Criterion Blu-ray
When cinephiles consider Josef von Sternberg, they usually think about beautiful, erotic images of Marlene Dietrich, set in exotic, far-off places but shot entirely on the Paramount lot. Yet before he met Dietrich or made a talkie, he created three stunning silent dramas that are among his best work. These three films, Underworld, The Last … Continue reading Three silent classics by Josef von Sternberg, now together on Criterion Blu-ray
Keaton’s Our Hospitality on a new Blu-ray
Three years before he made The General, Buster Keaton mined the antebellum South for comic gold in this almost gentle comedy inspired by the Hatfield/McCoy feud. Our Hospitality places Buster in the home of a family sworn to kill him. What keeps him alive? The cordial Southern manners that forbid murdering a guest in your own home. … Continue reading Keaton’s Our Hospitality on a new Blu-ray
