For more than thirty years, Timothy Brock has made a name for himself as one of the few composer-conductors who specialize in music for silent film. Vogue magazine has called him “the silent-film music guru.” In large part, Brock’s musical life has focused on his own compositions as well as on … [Read more...] about Keeping Time with Timothy Brock
Jujiro
If one wanted to explore Japanese cinema history by studying the careers of its central figures, one could start with actor-turned-director Teinosuke Kinugasa. His biography is intertwined with each phase of his country’s cinema, from its roots in Japanese theatre traditions to the boundary-pushing … [Read more...] about Jujiro
The Joyless Street
Melchior Street is a microcosm of Vienna just after World War I. Inflation is rampant, poverty and vice are widespread, and the division between rich and poor is vast. Outside a butcher shop, the poor and hungry wait in line, ready to barter whatever it takes to buy a scrap of meat. Among them are … [Read more...] about The Joyless Street
John Canemaker: The Pied Piper of Animation
This feature was published in conjunction with a special presentation—Winsor McCay: His Life and Art—by John Canemaker at SFSFF 2013 Award-winning animator, historian, and educator John Canemaker was 12 years old when he first heard about Winsor McCay. Watching the Disneyland television program … [Read more...] about John Canemaker: The Pied Piper of Animation
Japanese Girls at the Harbor
When Hiroshi Shimizu released Japanese Girls at the Harbor in 1933, the veteran filmmaker had already made more than eighty-five films. When he died in 1966, he had at least 160 films to his credit in a thirty-five-year career, most of them made at Shochiku, also the home of his friend and colleague … [Read more...] about Japanese Girls at the Harbor
James Wong Howe: Painting With Light
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Spanish Dancer at SFSFF 2012 What do Mantrap (1926) and The Spanish Dancer (1923) have in common with The Thin Man (1934), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Hud (1963), and Funny Lady (1975)? All these … [Read more...] about James Wong Howe: Painting With Light
J’Accuse
Five months after the armistice was signed that ended World War I, Abel Gance premiered his epic J’Accuse in Paris. Called the Great War, WWI was also dubbed “the war to end all wars,” and Gance’s film was aimed at making that statement a reality. Many of his own friends had been killed in the … [Read more...] about J’Accuse
It’s Mutual: Charlie Chaplin Shorts, 1916–1917
THE ADVENTURER USA, 1917 Directed by Charles Chaplin Cast Charles Chaplin (The Convict), Edna Purviance (The Girl), Eric Campbell (The Suitor), Henry Bergman (The Father), Albert Austin (The Butler) Production Lone Star Corporation October 23, 1917 Story Charles Chaplin Photography Roland … [Read more...] about It’s Mutual: Charlie Chaplin Shorts, 1916–1917