It took a Mexican filmmaker at the Oscars to remind Americans that one of the most essential creators of its national cinema is an immigrant named Ernst Lubitsch. Parent to both the American movie musical and the rom-com, the brilliant twins that sustained the Hollywood film industry in its lean … [Read more...] about The Oyster Princess
The Overcoat
On December 5, 1921, at Petrograd’s Theater of Free Comedy, three young artists delivered their “Manifesto of the Eccentric Theater.” Among other upheavals, they called for the elevation of circuses and clowns, comic strips and boxing rings, gaming tables and carnivals, vaudeville and slapstick to a … [Read more...] about The Overcoat
Outside the Law
Outside the Law stars the legendary “Phantom of the Opera” and is written and directed by the creator of Dracula and Freaks—but don’t expect a horror film. This movie has more in common with the pioneering crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett, who became synonymous with stories set in the San … [Read more...] about Outside the Law
The Outlaw and His Wife
A master of 20th century cinema, the Swedish director and actor Victor Sjöström is best remembered for his moving performance as the elderly physician reflecting on his life in Wild Strawberries (1957). As a director, his highly acclaimed 1921 adaptation of Selma Lagerlöf’s novel The Phantom … [Read more...] about The Outlaw and His Wife
Our Mutual Friend: Three Chaplin Shorts, 1916-1917
THE VAGABOND (1916) Director Charles Chaplin Cast Charles Chaplin (Street musician), Edna Purviance (Gypsy drudge), Eric Campbell (Gypsy chief), Lloyd Bacon (Artist), Charlotte Mineau (Mother) Producer Henry P. Caulfield Scenario Charles Chaplin, Vincent Bryan, Maverick Terrell Photography William … [Read more...] about Our Mutual Friend: Three Chaplin Shorts, 1916-1917
Our Hospitality
You can read the program essay for our 2019 screening of Our Hospitality here In a 1949 Life magazine article, James Agee described Buster Keaton’s deadpan face to an audience about to rediscover his talent. “[His expression was] an awe-inspiring sort of patience and power to endure, proper to … [Read more...] about Our Hospitality
Our Hospitality
You can read the program essay for our 2009 screening of Our Hospitality here Although The General (1926) is Buster Keaton’s best-known and admired film, his 1923 feature Our Hospitality is one of his most perfectly constructed works. A period piece, Our Hospitality is set against the unmarred … [Read more...] about Our Hospitality
The Other Woman’s Story
Almost a century after her brief career and scandalous marriage, Helen Lee Worthing’s name means nothing. Yet in our own woke era, she deserves remembrance. Here was a woman persecuted, prosecuted, and pronounced insane because of who she chose to love. The Other Woman’s Story—her most substantial … [Read more...] about The Other Woman’s Story