Well, we have a little over two weeks left in 2019, so let’s share some positivity! Did you have any nice experiences related to silent films? Please share!
Continue reading “What Was Your Favorite Silent Film Experience This Year?”Fun Size Review: Why Change Your Wife? (1920)
Gloria Swanson has a problem. Her husband, Thomas Meighan, has purchased her a negligee! The degenerate! And he listens to fox trot music, if you please! Thomas is soon driven into the waiting arms of Bebe Daniels. Realizing her mistake, Gloria dons designer duds in a bid to win him back.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: Why Change Your Wife? (1920)”The Italian (1915) A Silent Film Review
George Beban plays Beppo, an ex-gondolier and current Italian immigrant who finds life in his new country to be harsh when his child falls ill. One of the most famous social issue films of the silent era.
Continue reading “The Italian (1915) A Silent Film Review”“You’re Doing it Wrong!” Moviegoer Complaints About Cliches, Mistakes and Inconsistencies from December of 1919
It’s no secret that silent era filmgoers were enthusiastic, smart consumers of their modern pop culture. And this meant that they detected patterns, ferreted out cliches and were generally literate and observant audiences.
Continue reading ““You’re Doing it Wrong!” Moviegoer Complaints About Cliches, Mistakes and Inconsistencies from December of 1919″Silent Movie Bookshelf: Motion Picture Directing by Peter Milne
So far the 1922 motion picture correspondence course has covered acting and screenwriting. But what about that man (or woman!) with the megaphone? Directing movies also has its own volume in the series and it by far my favorite. The writing is smart and wisecracking, just the sort of prose to make you feel very 1920-ish indeed.
Continue reading “Silent Movie Bookshelf: Motion Picture Directing by Peter Milne”Fun Size Review: The Garden of Eden (1928)
Would-be opera singer Corinne Griffith accidentally gets a job in a girly show. Rescued by seamstress Louise Dresser, the pair escape to Monte Carlo. Passing herself off as Louise’s aristocratic daughter, Corinne falls for rich boy Charles Ray. But how long can Louise and Corinne keep up the act?
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Garden of Eden (1928)”Mr. Silent Haskins (1915) A Silent Film Review
William S. Hart is trying to help a nice young woman from the east claim her inheritance: a gambling parlor and dance hall, nudge nudge, wink wink. Fights and poker tournaments ensue, of course.
Continue reading “Mr. Silent Haskins (1915) A Silent Film Review”Theme Month! December 2019: Inceville
Producer Thomas Ince was one of the powerhouses of the silent era. He’s considered to be one of the architects of the studio system and he deserves credit for helping to establish westerns as a serious genre. But what is he known for? His death.
Continue reading “Theme Month! December 2019: Inceville”Silent Movie Bookshelf: Photoplay Writing by William Lord Wright
Another day, another book from the New York Institute of Photography’s correspondence course for all would-be participants in the silent film industry. This 1922 book explains how to write for the movies.
Continue reading “Silent Movie Bookshelf: Photoplay Writing by William Lord Wright”Fun Size Review: Tol’able David (1921)
If you asked me to pick just one movie that perfectly captured the spirit of romanticized rural America, it would be this one. Richard Barthelmess gives the performance of a lifetime as a gentle lad who faces a coldly brutal world and is forced to grow up overnight.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: Tol’able David (1921)”Sodom and Gomorrah (1922) A Silent Film Review
Before coming to Hollywood, Michael Curtiz or (Mihaly Kertész) was a big name in Europe and this mammoth Austrian production was one of the biggest films ever made if you just go by the size of the sets and the number of extras. Okay, so the “orgies” are more mild spring frolics, don’t be picky.
Continue reading “Sodom and Gomorrah (1922) A Silent Film Review”Unboxing the Silents: Little Old New York (1923) from Undercrank
This Marion Davies vehicle has been available for years on home video but we now have a new edition derived from a 2K transfer of a 35mm print, which represents a step up in visual quality so let’s dive in.
Continue reading “Unboxing the Silents: Little Old New York (1923) from Undercrank”Fun Size Review: The Social Secretary (1916)
Norma Talmadge: single girl in the big city. Her bosses think that her duties include… well, let’s just say she has to slap a few of them. An idea! She disguises herself as a frump for her next job.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Social Secretary (1916)”The Gun Fighter (1917) A Silent Film Review
William S. Hart is a Good Bad Man again, this time fighting bandits in 1880s Arizona. A typical tale for him but stylish cinematography and a dark tone lift this picture considerably. It was lost for decades but has recently been reconstructed.
Continue reading “The Gun Fighter (1917) A Silent Film Review”The Best of the Decade: The 2010s? We’re Covering the 1910s!
As the 2010s come to an end, we are seeing all kinds of lists being published. The best music, the best books and, of course, the best films of the decade. Well, two can play that game, so let’s have some fun and celebrate the wildly innovative cinema of the 1910s!
Continue reading “The Best of the Decade: The 2010s? We’re Covering the 1910s!”Fun Size Review: Waxworks (1924)
An author takes a job writing tales for the figures in a wax museum. What could possibly go wrong? Other than being dragged into his own nightmare world, of course.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: Waxworks (1924)”The Love Charm (1928) A Silent Film Review
Well, it’s love and steel guitar music in this Technicolor short film designed to show off the latest and greatest in the world of natural color cinema.
Continue reading “The Love Charm (1928) A Silent Film Review”Unboxing the Silents: The Eagle (1925) on Bluray
Rudolph Valentino spent much of his time as a superstar fighting for higher quality vehicles and trying to make peace with his Great Lover screen persona. The Eagle is one of the films that came the closest to making all the pieces fit together.
Continue reading “Unboxing the Silents: The Eagle (1925) on Bluray”Silent Movie Bookshelf: “How to Make Your Own Motion Picture Plays” by Jack Bechdolt
Amateur movie making was quite the thing by the mid-twenties. Unlike other volumes of this sort published in the era, this book is less concerned with technique and more focused on story. It is a slim 130 pages in total.
Continue reading “Silent Movie Bookshelf: “How to Make Your Own Motion Picture Plays” by Jack Bechdolt”Fun Size Review: The Love Flower (1920)
D.W. Griffith offers adventure, romance, exotic climes, a leering camera and Carol Dempster to the viewing public. The viewing public says: “Thanks but no thanks.” Carol is a zany teen determined to save her father from a murder charge in this kitchen sink (as in everything but) caper.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Love Flower (1920)”The Red Spectre (1907) A Silent Film Review
A wicked skeleton is performing random and bizarre feats of illusion with several young ladies but his days are numbered! Strange and delightful film from Spanish director Segundo de Chomón.
Continue reading “The Red Spectre (1907) A Silent Film Review”Theme Month! November 2019: Lost and Found
Well, this has been an adventure! My power was out for over 30 hours and since I both blog and work remotely, that obviously took a big bite out of my productivity. Fingers crossed I will be able to keep the lights on but here are my plans for November:
Continue reading “Theme Month! November 2019: Lost and Found”Fun Size Review: That Certain Thing (1928)
Frank Capra is very Capra in this spunky rom-com with a social message. Viola Dana is a tenement beauty determined to marry money. Ralph Graves is a rich wastrel who meets Viola, falls for her and marries her the same night. Everything would be fine except that Ralph’s father disinherits him and Viola is back at square one.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: That Certain Thing (1928)”Luck (1923) A Silent Film Review
Johnny Hines plays a rich swell who takes up a bet that he can make $10,000 without using a dime of his personal fortune. Chaos ensues when he poses as a boxer and ends up building a suburb from scratch.
Continue reading “Luck (1923) A Silent Film Review”These Were the Mistakes, Cliches and Technical Mistakes that Annoyed Moviegoers in October of 1919
We all know that pointing out errors in films has kind of gone too far lately. (If I never hear the phrase “plot hole” again it will be too soon.) However, some good-natured ribbing at the expense of cinematic silliness has always been in style and Photoplay even had a regular feature on the topic.
Continue reading “These Were the Mistakes, Cliches and Technical Mistakes that Annoyed Moviegoers in October of 1919”Silent Movie Bookshelf: The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
And now for something completely different! When I review silent movie books, I generally focus on books about silent films themselves and the men and women who made them. For a change, I am going to cover some books that inspired silent films. Let’s start with the quintessential swashbuckler, The Prisoner of Zenda.
Continue reading “Silent Movie Bookshelf: The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope”Fun Size Review: The Charlatan (1929)
Murder is afoot and I dare say that this is one movie Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and Marjorie Allingham would all approve of as it is very much in the classic mystery style.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Charlatan (1929)”The Doll-House Mystery (1915) A Silent Film Review
A family’s life is thrown into chaos when the daughter of the house purloins a stack of valuable bonds to paper her playhouse. The very essence of “Well, that escalated quickly!” occurs when an ex-con neighbor is blamed for the theft and goes on the lam.
Continue reading “The Doll-House Mystery (1915) A Silent Film Review”Unboxing the Silents: Kino Lorber’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin Three Ways on Bluray (and win your own copy)
This is a very interesting collection and will surely inspire its share of historical research: three-and-a-half versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Two versions of the Universal super production (1927), the World Film feature (1914) and the Vitagraph two-reeler (1911).
Continue reading “Unboxing the Silents: Kino Lorber’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin Three Ways on Bluray (and win your own copy)”Silent Movie Bookshelf: Screen Acting by Inez and Helen Klumph
And now for something a little different. This book was published in 1922 as a textbook in a correspondence course from the New York Institute of Photography. The series promised to teach the reader everything they needed to know in order to join the film industry. This volume covers the art of acting.
Continue reading “Silent Movie Bookshelf: Screen Acting by Inez and Helen Klumph”