Desert Nights with John Gilbert and Mary Nolan: Enjoyable Sahara-set adventure – which happened to be Gilbert's last silent film – dares to ask the age-old philosophical question, “Is there honor among thieves?” John Gilbert late silent adventure 'Desert Nights' asks a question for the ages: Is there honor among […]

Virginia Bruce: MGM actress ca. 1935. Virginia Bruce movies on TCM: Actress was the cherry on 'The Great Ziegfeld' wedding cake Unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies has chosen not to feature any non-Hollywood stars – or any out-and-out silent film stars – in its 2015 “Summer Under the Stars” series.* On […]

Greta Garbo in 'Queen Christina.' Greta Garbo Queen Christina movie masterpiece. (Image: Greta Garbo as Queen Christina.) One of the most ambitious productions of the early '30s, the Greta Garbo star vehicle Queen Christina remains surprisingly modern in its execution thanks in large part to director Rouben Mamoulian's classy, assured […]

Marion Davies in King Vidor's Show People Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which decades ago was the most financially stable of the Hollywood studios, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday. MGM – initially Metro-Goldwyn – was formed through the amalgamation of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Productions in 1924. Goldwyn, […]

John Gilbert, Greta Garbo in Rouben Mamoulian's Queen Christina Just a few days ago I was wondering if Turner Classic Movies would devote a day to the likes of John Gilbert, one of the biggest movie stars of the silent era – or any era, really. Though mostly forgotten today, […]

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Prisoner of Zenda 1937. The son of silent screen superstar Douglas Fairbanks and a middle-league – and generally lackluster – leading man in the first half of the 1930s, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was at his very best as the villainous Rupert of Hentzau in John […]

AFI FEST 2009 presented by Audi has announced that Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner and Oscar contender The White Ribbon will replace Jacques Audiard's Cannes Grand Prix winner A Prophet in the festival's line-up. Reason for the AFI FEST swap: “a recent change in the release date for A Prophet.” […]

The Fall of the House of Usher (top); John Gilbert, Eleanor Boardman in Bardelys the Magnificent (middle); Douglas Fairbanks, Lupe Velez in The Gaucho (bottom)   Douglas Fairbanks, John Gilbert, and Lillian Gish are only a few of the superstars to be found at the 14th San Francisco Silent Film […]

The 13th annual Kansas Silent Film Festival (KSFF) will be held on Feb. 27 and 28, 2009, at the White Concert Hall on the Washburn University campus in Topeka, Kansas. Sponsored by Washburn, admission is free. This year's KSFF highlight is the American premiere of the restored 1926 swashbuckler Bardelys […]

  Monta Bell's seldom-seen drama Downstairs proves not only what a great actor John Gilbert was, but, quite contrary to legend, how competent his voice sounded. All seems joyful in the house of the Baron and Baroness von Burgen (Reginald Owen and Freaks' Olga Baclanova). A symbiotic relationship exists between […]

The Big Parade: silent era blockbuster restored and tinted at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival Next weekend, the 10th San Francisco Silent Film Festival opens with Harold Lloyd's 1926 comedy For Heaven's Sake. The highlight of the festival, however, is a screening of a restored, tinted print of MGM […]