Best Films – 1922

Ok, so Max Schreck (literally, Max Fright) was not romantic leading man material, but he did quite well for himself as the creepiest vampire of them all, Nosferatu. Those who think of director F. W. Murnau as the creator of film poetry in pictures such as Sunrise and Tabu should realize that Murnau was equally adept at creating sheer horror. No other vampire movie I’ve seen is as eerie as Nosferatu the Vampire. Max Schreck’s ratman-like presence, of course, is an enormous help.
 
FILM
Monte Cristo
d: Emmett J. Flynn; scr: Bernard McConville
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens / Nosferatu the Vampire
d: F. W. Murnau; scr: Henrik Galeen
The Prisoner of Zenda
d: Rex Ingram; scr: Mary O’Hara
 
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Back Pay
d: Frank Borzage; scr: Frances [...]

Buster Keaton, SUNRISE, THE CAT AND THE CANARY: San Francisco Silent Film Festival Screenings

Martha Mattox, Laura La Plante in The Cat and the Canary (top); Buster Keaton in Our Hospitality (bottom)

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival will present a special series of screenings on Valentine’s Day, Saturday, February 14, at the Castro Theatre. The screening films are the Buster Keaton vehicle Our Hospitality (1923), the Russian comedy A Kiss from Mary Pickford (1927), F. W. Murnau’s Academy Award winner (for "Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production") Sunrise (1927), and the haunted-house caper The Cat and the Canary (1927).
I haven’t seen either Our Hospitality or A Kiss from Mary Pickford. I’m not a silent-comedy fan, so Keaton films are usually a low priority (though I’ve stone-facedly sat through quite a few [...]