Called his first “real film” by historian Tom Milne, Carl-Theodor Dreyer’s The Parson’s Widow announced the arrival of an artist. An uncompromising stickler for authenticity in settings and genuineness in performance, he spent weeks and months in libraries poring over research for his sets and … [Read more...] about The Parson’s Widow
Pandora’s Box
You can read the program essay for our 2006 screening of Pandora's Box here Pandora’s Box got off to a bad start. When the film premiered in Berlin in February of 1929, critics and the moviegoing public were largely dismissive of the much anticipated work. Reviews at the time were mixed, even … [Read more...] about Pandora’s Box
Pandora’s Box
You can read the program essay for our 2012 screening of Pandora's Box here By mid-October 1928, when production began on Pandora's Box in Berlin, the art of silent cinema was at its zenith. That year alone, U.S. audiences had already been treated to Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr., Frank … [Read more...] about Pandora’s Box
Pan
Norwegian feature film production in the 1920s was infrequent. It could hardly be considered a major industry at the time; there were very few full-length movies being made annually and very few trained and experienced filmmakers working in Norway. It was quite a sensation when someone suddenly had … [Read more...] about Pan
A Page of Madness
When’s the last time you were surprised by a silent film? Impressed, dazzled, yes, but genuinely surprised? You’d think by 2017, with all the silent-era history scholarship behind us, that authentic, mutant-DNA “Holy Crap” moments would be rare on the ground, and, of course, they are. But there’s no … [Read more...] about A Page of Madness
Ozu’s Costumed City
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of An Inn in Tokyo at SFSFF 2018 Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo is more than a setting. Like many actors in his films, it appears again and again, adopting different guises, enriching the story on screen. This is evident in his other earliest … [Read more...] about Ozu’s Costumed City
The Oyster Princess
It took a Mexican filmmaker at the Oscars to remind Americans that one of the most essential creators of its national cinema is an immigrant named Ernst Lubitsch. Parent to both the American movie musical and the rom-com, the brilliant twins that sustained the Hollywood film industry in its lean … [Read more...] about The Oyster Princess
The Overcoat
On December 5, 1921, at Petrograd’s Theater of Free Comedy, three young artists delivered their “Manifesto of the Eccentric Theater.” Among other upheavals, they called for the elevation of circuses and clowns, comic strips and boxing rings, gaming tables and carnivals, vaudeville and slapstick to a … [Read more...] about The Overcoat