Presenters: Bryony Dixon, Dan Streible, Ben Burtt and Craig Barron We continue our behind-the-curtain look at the international preservation scene with another edition of our popular Amazing Tales from the Archives program. A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD SNEEZE Fred Ott’s Sneeze was shot in Edison’s … [Read more...] about Amazing Tales from the Archives 2014
The Amazing Charley Bowers
A WILD ROOMER, USA, 1926 Charley, a brilliant inventor, has forty-eight hours to make a convincing demonstration of his newest machine in order to collect an inheritance from his father. NOW YOU TELL ONE, USA, 1926 The liars’ club meets to vote on who can tell the most unbelievable story. Along … [Read more...] about The Amazing Charley Bowers
Alma Rubens: A Marked Woman
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Half-Breed at SFSFF 2013 Today, Alma Rubens is remembered not for her films or versatility as an actress, but for the demons that plagued her and ultimately ended her life. Born in San Francisco in 1897, Rubens appeared in nearly … [Read more...] about Alma Rubens: A Marked Woman
Alma in Wonderland
This historical reprint was published in conjunction with the screening of The First Born at SFSFF 2013 An interesting article, proving that a woman’s place is not always in the home A man glancing at a passing girl observes that she is pretty, attractive, or ugly as the case may be, but a … [Read more...] about Alma in Wonderland
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Paul Remark was born a German Catholic in Osnabruck in 1898 and conscripted into the army when he was eighteen. In 1917, he saw a month’s action on the Western Front before being so wounded by shrapnel he was invalided out. Thereafter, he studied to be a teacher and started writing. His first … [Read more...] about All Quiet on the Western Front
Alice in Disneyland
The myth, promoted by Walt Disney himself, was that the Disney empire “all began with a mouse.” In fact, according to Walt in Wonderland, Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman’s book on the silent films of Walt Disney, it all began with a little girl. The Alice series of silent films starring a … [Read more...] about Alice in Disneyland
Aelita Queen of Mars
Aelita abides. Rarely seen, it’s known mostly from photos featuring oddly-garbed women posing amid disorienting geometric shapes. Foreign distributors saddled it with the embarrassing subtitles “Queen of Mars” or “Revolt of the Robots.” In 1929, Aelita was described by the New York Times as “far … [Read more...] about Aelita Queen of Mars
Amazing Tales from the Archives 2019
Presenters: Robert Byrne, Stefan Drössler, Bruce Goldstein, Thierry Lecointe, and Hisashi Okajima FLIPPING OVER EARLY CINEMA A virtually unknown Parisian entrepreneur inadvertently saved a piece of early cinema with his small business making flipbooks from the films of the Gaumont company, … [Read more...] about Amazing Tales from the Archives 2019