“Not only is a woman as well-fitted to stage a photo-drama as a man, but in many ways she has a distinct advantage over him because of her very nature and because much of the knowledge called for in the telling of the story and the creation of the stage setting is absolutely within her…
The good folks at Flicker Alley have put together some of our favorite compilations in recent years, including indispensable restored Blu-ray editions of Charlie Chaplin’s Mutual Comedies and Mack Sennett’s delightful early comedies. Now, Flicker Alley and a group of amazing sites for fans of silent and classic film are proud to bring you this…
My fourth and final contribution to Wonders in the Dark’s romantic film countdown was posted earlier today. At #3, it’s Charlie Chaplin’s seminal masterwork City Lights (1931): There are ostensibly two romances at work in City Lights–both of which admittedly play backseat to the comedic elements that dominate the majority of the film (the movie is not…
My third post for the ongoing romantic films countdown at Wonders in the Dark is live. At number five, it’s F.W. Murnau’s lovely and deceptively simple silent allegory Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927): Out of context, the idea of ranking a film in which a man is seduced into plotting to kill his wife as one…
Modern American movie production is generally associated with southern California, where the warm climate makes an ideal setting for year-round filming. But in the earliest days of film, when small film studios began sprouting up in the hopes of making big bucks in the fledgling industry, production was centered on the east coast. New York…
Still: American Silent Motion Picture Photography David S. Shields Release Date: June 19, 2013 The University of Chicago Press Hardcover, 401 pages In the opening pages of his recent book on American silent film photography, Still, David S. Shields estimates that over eighty percent of the silent features produced within the first three decades of filmmaking…
Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 Italian opera La bohème has seen many forms in the century since its first performance in Turin. The story–itself borrowed from Henri Murger’s 1851 collection Scènes de la vie de bohème–has been retold in many forms, with and without the music. It’s been made into films, produced in countless venues featuring storied performers like…
My fourth contribution to the ongoing Comedy Countdown at Wonders in the Dark is now posted: at number 37, it’s Buster Keaton’s silent comedy masterpiece Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)! Check out my thoughts on this truly hilarious film over at WitD today, and please feel free to contribute your views on the movie in the comments! The…
True Classics 