Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1877) was re-titled Love when it reached the screen in November of 1927, but it’s possible that any story starring John Gilbert and Greta Garbo would have been given this title by studio executives. What better way to capitalize on the movie magazines, which were … [Read more...] about Love
The Lost World
Sherlock Holmes made his first print appearance in 1887 and quickly became a widespread sensation. Unlike the public, British writer Arthur Conan Doyle grew quickly sick of him and tried to abandon him for other literary endeavors, creating another character with an enduring impact, though he’s … [Read more...] about The Lost World
Lost Films, 1907–1928
AMERICAN VENUS (1926) Coming Attraction Preview (Library of Congress) Louise Brooks plays a supporting role in this comedy about the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, which also stars Fay Lanphier, Miss America 1925. Two-strip Technicolor was used in some sequences. SHORE … [Read more...] about Lost Films, 1907–1928
The Lodger
“The Lodger was the first true ‘Hitchcock’ movie.” —Alfred Hitchcock The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog was Hitchcock’s first thriller, and his first critical and commercial success. Made shortly after Hitchcock’s return from Germany, the film betrays the influence of the German expressionist … [Read more...] about The Lodger
The Little Tramp at 100
On Saturday, January 11, 2014 the beautiful Castro Theatre was the site of our celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp Character. No human being is more responsible for cinema’s ascendance as the dominant form of art and entertainment in the 20th century than … [Read more...] about The Little Tramp at 100
Little Toys
In a small village in the early 1920s, Ye, a mother of two, makes intricate, hand-carved toys, which are sold at the market by her husband. Ye and her family’s rural idyll is destroyed by a series of tragedies brought about by the Japanese invasion and the simultaneous development of a capitalist … [Read more...] about Little Toys
L’Inferno
With its horned demons, headless specters, and winged harpies, 1911’s L’Inferno revels in the grotesque, the feudal, and the macabre. Like a fairy tale gone wrong, or a Hieronymus Bosch painting set in motion, the canonical work of Italy’s early silent era infused biblical subject matter with … [Read more...] about L’Inferno
Lights of Old Broadway
By 1924, Metro Pictures was ailing. Founded in 1915 it had major successes with child star Jackie Coogan, “Great Stone Face” Buster Keaton, and sensational Rudolph Valentino in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). But Metro lost Valentino to Paramount and was also in need of more theaters to … [Read more...] about Lights of Old Broadway