Hindsight is a two-edged sword. On one hand, it can give us a useful perspective on historical events; on the other, it can saddle us with preconceptions that make those events difficult to understand or appreciate. To the first-time viewer, the 1916 Famous Players version of Snow White can be a … [Read more...] about Snow White
The Smiling Madame Beudet
The time has come, I believe, to listen in silence to our own song, to try to express our own personal vision, to define our own sensibility, to make our own way. Let us learn to look, let us learn to see, let us learn to feel. —Germaine Dulac, Let Us Have Faith (1919) Germaine Dulac didn’t … [Read more...] about The Smiling Madame Beudet
Sir Arne’s Treasure
Snow is inherently cinematic. It forms a white screen, like a Chinese scroll, on which dark forms have the spare eloquence of calligraphy. And while it may suggest peace, it also evokes the burn and sting of cold, giving bite to scenes of extremity and struggle: Lillian Gish, a frail wisp battered … [Read more...] about Sir Arne’s Treasure
Silly Symphonies, 1929–1935
The Skeleton Dance (directed by Walt Disney, 1929), Hell’s Bells (directed by Ub Iwerks, 1929), Night (directed by Walt Disney, 1930), The China Plate (directed by Wilfred Jackson, 1931), Egyptian Melodies (directed by Wilfred Jackson, 1931), The Ugly Duckling (directed by Wilfred Jackson, … [Read more...] about Silly Symphonies, 1929–1935
Silent Scream: Going Mad Without Sound
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of A Page of Madness at SFSFF 2017 SECRETS OF A SOUL (G.W. Pabst, 1926) Like Teinosuke Kinugasa’s A Page of Madness, Secrets of a Soul probes the anguish of a man fearful for his family’s future. Fortunately, Martin Fellman can afford … [Read more...] about Silent Scream: Going Mad Without Sound
Silent Film, Orphan Film: Saving, Studying, and Screening Neglected Cinema
A fragment of Wallace Reid’s otherwise lost western The Tribal Outlaw (Bison 101, 1912). The charming eight-minute narrative that tries to explain the inspiration for Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (1909). William and Irene Finley’s playful wildlife film, Chumming with Chipmunks (1921). These are some … [Read more...] about Silent Film, Orphan Film: Saving, Studying, and Screening Neglected Cinema
The Silent Enemy
Like most so-called ethnographic films, The Silent Enemy owed as much to museum exhibits as to Hollywood studios. Early ethnographic films were shown as companions to natural history lectures concerned with exotic corners of the world, but quickly grew into self-contained film exhibits shot on … [Read more...] about The Silent Enemy
Silent Divas of the Italian Cinema
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Il Fuoco at SFSFF 2011 When on a shopping spree for anguish, rapture, martyrdom, comas, counts, rapes, bastards, orphans, dogaressas, philtres, sirens, suicides, mistaken identities, flower festivals, and sudden fatal loves—even a … [Read more...] about Silent Divas of the Italian Cinema