In 1920, Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss costarred in German Expressionism’s film clef, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Its stylized, distorted sets and sinister plot twists summed up for many the postwar dread after the German defeat in World War I. The Weimar Republic that administered a tenuous … [Read more...] about Opium
Now We’re in the Air
Screened with Get Your Man at SFSFF 2017 NOW WE'RE IN THE AIR TRAVELS THE WORLD Silent films have a funny way of traveling the world. In 2016, the festival’s own Robert Byrne mentioned to English film historian Kevin Brownlow about a trip he was taking to Prague to visit the Národní filmový … [Read more...] about Now We’re in the Air
Norrtullsligan
Four working girls sharing an apartment in the big city might sound more like the premise for a 2015 American cable series than a 1923 feature from Sweden. But not only is Norrtullsligan a silent-era film set in Stockholm, it was adapted from a serialized novel published fifteen years earlier. The … [Read more...] about Norrtullsligan
No Man’s Gold
Tom Mix, the first true cowboy star, was at the height of his popularity when No Man’s Gold was released in August 1926. Unlike his major western film predecessors—the genially lunkish “Broncho Billy” Anderson (who seldom rode a horse) or the unsmiling former stage actor William S. Hart (age fifty … [Read more...] about No Man’s Gold
A Night at the Cinema in 1914
Part of the appeal of silent-era movies is their ability to give today’s audiences a glimpse of lost worlds. With these newsreels, travelogues, animation, comedy, and adventure films, the British Film Institute provides a look at what average British moviegoers might have seen at their local picture … [Read more...] about A Night at the Cinema in 1914
The Navigator
While Buster Keaton was winding up production on his second feature film, Our Hospitality, in the summer of 1923, his technical director, Fred Gabourie, was loaned out to First National Pictures to look for suitable sailing ships for the studio’s upcoming production The Sea Hawk (1924). During his … [Read more...] about The Navigator
Napoleon
Presented March 24, 25, 31, April 1 2012 at the Paramount, Oakland with live music by Carl Davis conducting the Oakland East Bay Symphony "A MAJOR EVENT! Don't wait for it to come to a theater near you — getting Gance's magnum opus on the screen is a Herculean task!" — Martin Scorsese, Vanity … [Read more...] about Napoleon
Nanook of the North
In the language of the Inuit people, “nanook” or “nanuq” means “polar bear,” as in the greatest hunting animal of the north, a thousand pounds, aggressive but stealthy, and a spiritual ideal for the Inuit. Yet in the movie Nanook of the North there are no polar bears. One reason for that has to be … [Read more...] about Nanook of the North