The Doll with Ossi Oswalda and Hermann Thimig. Early Ernst Lubitsch satirical fantasy starring “the German Mary Pickford” has similar premise to that of the 1925 Buster Keaton comedy Seven…
“Amazing Tales from the Archives”: Pioneering female documentarian Aloha Wanderwell Baker remembered at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival – along with the largely forgotten sound-on-cylinder technology and the Jean…
Women’s suffrage movie Mothers of Men: Dorothy Davenport becomes a judge and later State Governor in socially conscious thriller about U.S. women’s voting rights. Are females too emotional to be…
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried: Paul Richter as the tragic dragon-slaying hero of medieval Germanic mythology – with a bit from Homer’s Iliad thrown in. ‘Die Nibelungen’: Enthralling silent classic despite complex…
Sight and Sound: Directed by Marcel L’Herbier, L’Inhumaine features Jaque Catelain and Georgette Leblanc in a great-looking (Fernand Léger sets) mix of science-fiction and sex melodrama. Marcel L’Herbier silent ‘L’Inhumaine’: Sight and sound…
African-American film ‘Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day’ with Williams (in blackface) and Odessa Warren Grey: Early 20th century rarity.* Rare, early 20th-century African-American film among San Francisco Silent…
Autumn Crocus movie adaptation with Ivor Novello and Fay Compton: Summertime precursor. Ivor Novello last movie: ‘Autumn Crocus’ Can a naive, plain-looking, spinster school teacher ever find real love in…
Charles Chaplin in ‘A Film Johnnie’ (1914). ‘A Night at the Cinema in 1914’: From The Great War to Charles Chaplin and Pearl White Imagine, if you will, that you…
Midnight Madness movie with Clive Brook and Jacqueline Logan. ‘Midnight Madness’ movie lacks both ‘midnight’ & ‘madness’ Screened at the 2014 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Midnight Madness has a…
The Canadian with Thomas Meighan. ‘The Canadian’: Thomas Meighan faces adversities in The Land of Promise Thomas Meighan is The Star of William Beaudine’s The Canadian (1926), which screened at…
Antarctic exploration with Sir Ernest Shackleton. Antarctic exploration ‘epic’: ‘South’ It was surprising to see the large crowd waiting to get into the 2012 San Francisco Silent Film Festival screening…
Swampland race relations in Chloe, Love Is Calling You: Desired by two handsome white men, is Olive Borden black or white? Swampland race relations: Bizarre ‘Chloe Love Is Calling You’…
The Goose Woman with Louise Dresser and Jack Pickford. At the 2011 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the Clarence Brown-directed 1925 Universal release The Goose Woman was introduced by author…
Huckleberry Finn movie: Lewis Sargent toplines sentimental William Desmond Taylor effort. Huckleberry Finn Movie: Sentimental Fare Directed by Eventual Murder Victim Directed by William Desmond Taylor, Huckleberry Finn stars a…
The Sadist with Arch Hall Jr. Say what you will about Arch Hall Jr. (and I know many people have), but he gives an outstanding performance in James Landis’ The Sadist…