Yasujiro Ozu has a reputation as one of the greatest filmmakers in history. His legacy was forged almost exclusively from a series of films he made in the years between Japan’s defeat in World War II and the director’s death in 1963, at age 60. Fifteen films in as many years, virtually all … [Read more...] about Dragnet Girl
Downhill
After the critical and commercial success of The Lodger (1926), Gainsborough Pictures were keen to reunite director Alfred Hitchcock and star Ivor Novello. A convenient vehicle suggested itself in the stage play Down Hill, written by Novello with Constance Collier, under the combined alias David … [Read more...] about Downhill
Down to the Sea in Films
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of L'Homme du Large at SFSFF 2019 The sea has exerted a tidal pull on filmmakers ever since cinema’s beginnings, offering a recognizable—if ever-shifting—thematic shorthand, suggesting, in turn, nature at its most savage and … [Read more...] about Down to the Sea in Films
Dorothy Farnum: Advice from a Scenario Writer
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Good References at SFSFF 2018 Back in the silent era a woman didn’t have to be an actress to get the glamour treatment from the studio’s PR department. Witness the press on Dorothy Farnum who wrote the Constance Talmadge vehicle Good … [Read more...] about Dorothy Farnum: Advice from a Scenario Writer
Dorothy Davenport’s Message Movies
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Mothers of Men at SFSFF 2016 Actress Dorothy Davenport traveled west with the Nestor film company just as the movie industry and the feature-length film was taking form in Hollywood. A prominent player when Nestor was absorbed by … [Read more...] about Dorothy Davenport’s Message Movies
The Donovan Affair
A Movie and Live Theater Event produced by Bruce Goldstein and performed by the Gower Gulch Players Frank Capra’s 1929 comedy whodunit The Donovan Affair was his very first all-talking picture. (His previous film, The Younger Generation, was a “part-talkie,” with alternating reels of silence and … [Read more...] about The Donovan Affair
The Doll
Deliciously weird for 1919 or any other year, Ernst Lubitsch’s Die Puppe (The Doll) declares its intent to please from the first shot. An appealing twenty-seven-year-old Lubitsch himself is the first person to appear, as he refuses to look his own camera in the eye. Instead, from a toy box he busily … [Read more...] about The Doll
Doctor Jack
Generally considered to be one of the greatest comedians of the silent era and certainly one of its biggest box-office draws, Harold Lloyd was also one of the most prolific. He appeared in more than 165 shorts between 1915 and 1921, and, from 1921 to 1928, he produced and starred in eleven … [Read more...] about Doctor Jack