Posted on

“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″
Posted on

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”
Posted on

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”
Posted on

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)”