Celebrate Silent Film
I was catching up on my modern movie news and found that Disney is planning to “remake” their 1996 animated version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Part of the announcement was that the new film would be based on both the Victor Hugo novel and their cartoon version.
Continue reading “Silent (okay, Early Talkie) Movie Myth: “By William Shakespeare with Additional Dialogue by Sam Taylor””
I asked the readers of this site to answer a brief survey telling me how many silent films they have seen so far this year. Here are the results!
Continue reading “Readers Respond: How Many Silent Films They Have Seen So Far This Year”
I ran a similar survey a couple of years back but I wanted to come back again and see if anything has changed. See, every few months there is a clickbait article of some kind claiming that Millennials are killing old movies or something like that.
Continue reading “Survey: How Old Are Silent Movie Fans?”
I was digging around some old fan magazines, as I do, and I found this extremely enjoyable double interview with Cecil B. DeMille and Jeanie Macpherson in a 1920 issue of Screenland. What could filmmakers do to keep their audiences?
Continue reading “Cecil B. DeMille and Jeanie Macpherson Discuss Keeping an Audience’s Attention in 1920”
The Location: Old Dark House.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Cat and the Canary (1927)”
Abortion, birth control and eugenics. Just a few of the light topics covered in this 1916 film directed by Lois Weber. Innocent days of early film? I think not! And, yes, you did read that right. Eugenics.
Continue reading “Where Are My Children (1916) A Silent Film Review”
Nostalgia for old favorites was also a thing during the silent era. Take, for example, this 1925 Motion Picture Magazine article showcasing favorite stars who had left the motion picture industry at the height of their fame.
Continue reading “Where Are They Now? A 1925 Magazine Looks at Stars of the Past”
Let’s have a little celebration! Which silent actress is just the bee’s knees, in your opinion?
Continue reading “Who is Your Favorite Silent Film Actress?”
A while back, I asked my readers to recommend films that they considered “essential” viewing for silent movie fans. I tallied up the data and… kind of forgot about it. Whoopsy. Well, here I am to fix that with the top 15 titles.
Continue reading “Fifteen Essential Silents Chosen by Movies Silently Readers”
It’s time to test our knowledge of silent stardom circa 1914! This is an interesting time period because, while we love and recognize a decent number of stars from this colorful period, there are still a great many who are met with a “HUH?!” even by nerdy fans.
Continue reading “How Many of These 1914 Stars Do You Recognize?”
Pola Negri is a the Countess. She got dumped right after getting a tattoo of the guy’s family crest. Off she goes to the Midwest to forget. Scandal! Makeup? Tattoos? Smoking? Next thing you know, women will want jobs too!
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: A Woman of the World (1925)”
And then Mommy kissed Daddy, and the angel told the stork, and the stork flew down from heaven, and put the diamond in the cabbage patch, and the diamond turned into a baby!
Continue reading “The Cabbage Patch Fairy (1900) A Silent Film Review”
Well, the annual agony of tax prep is over and I am in a great mood due to this horrendous burden being completed for another year. So, here are some fun GIFs of silent stars feeling joy!
Continue reading “Silent Stars Leap for Joy”
This year, I decided to focus my attention on persuading people to watch their first silent movie or watch more if they have started viewing them already. This is your time to share! Which silents were you able to watch in January, February and March?
Continue reading “Silent Movie Report Card: Which Silent Films Were You Able to Watch in the First Quarter of 2019?”
There was a recent kerfuffle on Film Twitter that involved someone shaming modern critics for “thirsting after” movie stars. Well, as is always the case, the silent era did it first. I stumbled across this 1925 article in Photoplay and it’s too fun to keep to myself.
Continue reading “Thirsting for Celebrities: A 1925 Critic Shares Her Movie Star Crushes”
This month should be fun! We’re going to be taking a dive into some of the talented women directors of the silent era, both famous and obscure, and see what we can learn about their life and times.
Continue reading “Theme Month! April 2019: “But they’re WOMEN!!!””
Maharajah Conrad Veidt hires a German architect to design a beautiful tomb for his wife. She isn’t actually dead yet.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Indian Tomb (1921)”
Rin-Tin-Tin stars as the leader of a wolfpack (!) who helps a baby Charles Farrell stake out his borax claim. Location shooting and finecinematography elevate this doggy vehicle.
Continue reading “Clash of the Wolves (1925) A Silent Film Review”
Photoplay had a regular segment dedicated to readers discovering and sharing errors and cliches in popular films. We modern viewers have nothing on these sharp-eyed viewers from March of 1919!
Continue reading “Singed Bottoms, Curly Fonts and Tarzan on a Horse: These Are the Mistakes and Cliches That Annoyed Audiences 100 Years Ago”
Maybe it was the first one you ever saw. Maybe it took a few tries to win you over. Whatever order it might have been, I want you to share the silent movie that made you think “Ah ha! This is for me!”
Continue reading “Which Silent Film Made You Fall in Love With Silent Films?”
By 1916, it was clear movies were there to stay and so who can blame Motion Picture Magazine for taking a little victory lap and tweaking the noses of doubters?
Continue reading “The Motion Picture Industry Gloated via Cartoons in 1916”
Cecil B. DeMille directs a movie about the Russian Revolution. It’s everything you could possibly hope for. That could be my entire review.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Volga Boatman (1926)”
The Hal Roach team went serious with this western starring Rex the Wonder Horse and Charley Chase (as Charles Parrott) as the reluctant villain.
Continue reading “King of the Wild Horse (1924) A Silent Film Review”
I have my review for King of the Wild Horses almost ready to go but I am felled by the neverending cold.
Continue reading “So it turns out that working weekend overtime while recovering from a cold is not such a good idea”
Ooo, I have been waiting for this one! The Region A release of the 1929 version of The Informer! Let’s get this unboxing show on the road!
Continue reading “Unboxing the Silents: The Informer (1929)”
I asked my readers to vote on which decade of the silent era they would like to learn more about and the 1910s won by a landslide.
Continue reading “Poll Results: 1910s for the Win!”
Photoplay Magazine held a little star identification quiz in 1927 and so let’s take the test ourselves and see how many stars we can recognize.
Continue reading “Can You Identify 1927 Silent Movie Stars from Childhood Photos?”
With all the talk about whether or not women can open action movies (spoiler: they totally can), I thought it would be fun to tip my hat to the original action ladies of cinema. I mean, of course, the serial queens of the 1910s. What’s your serial queen name and what serial did you star in? Let’s find out!
Continue reading “The Serial Queen Name and Title Generator”
People still harbor the incorrect belief that there was a time when movies were “just movies” and didn’t contain political content. Yeah… about that…
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Inside of the White Slave Traffic (1913)”
An early animal-related tearjerker featuring a blind man and his faithful poodle. The French production was exported to the international market.
Continue reading “The Faithful Dog; or, True to the End (1907) A Silent Film Review”