Tag: silent film

What’s Screening: December 30–January 5

~ Lincoln Spector

West Side Story, Douglas Fairbanks’ last silent, and The Wizard of Oz. No festivals this week. And the Pacific Film Archive and Stanford are closed, as well. B Sing-a-Long West Side Story, Castro, Friday through Monday. I’m commenting on the movie, not the sing-a-long experience. West Side Story swings erratically from glorious brilliance to astonishing … Continue reading What’s Screening: December 30–January 5

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

~ Lincoln Spector ~ 1 Comment

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 … Continue reading Silent Influences: Mostly Silent Movies From the Talkie Era to the Present

The Artist

~ 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? … Continue reading The Artist