Essay

Between 1909 and 1914, the Italian film industry produced an average of 500 films per year. In contrast to the self-made moguls of American studios, Italian production companies were headed by cultivated members of the aristocracy, who made films based on historical, biblical, or mythological … [Read more...] about Maciste all’inferno

The phenomenon known as Maciste was first introduced in the film Cabiria (1914), the most famous of all the early Italian epics. This immensely popular blockbuster was nearly upstaged by one character, Maciste the Nubian slave, portrayed by Bartolomeo Pagano. Maciste proved so popular and … [Read more...] about Maciste

Male and Female, based on Sir James M. Barrie’s comedy of manners The Admirable Crichton, is notable as one of the biggest hits for two Hollywood film legends—the first superstar, Gloria Swanson, and director Cecil B. DeMille. Swanson entered films in 1914 at the age of 15 after a chance visit to … [Read more...] about Male and Female

Made at the end of the silent era, Lucky Star was released in both silent and part-talking versions, although only the silent version survives today. Advertisements for the film touted "Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell together again in their first talking picture." Known as "America’s Favorite … [Read more...] about Lucky Star

German director Ernst Lubitsch is best remembered for his sleek, insinuating American comedies of the 1920s and ’30s. In those films, he demonstrates his “Lubitsch Touch,” that lighter-than-a-soufflé comedy style that remains fresh even 80 years later. But the Lubitsch who made his fame in Germany … [Read more...] about The Loves of Pharaoh

Some pleasures of silent film are less cerebral than others. And I must admit, I love a good movie orgy. Give me women tabletop-dancing in short skirts, give me lurid shots of slavering men, have them pass around enough prop liquor to give all the extras cirrhosis. G.W. Pabst’s The Love of Jeanne … [Read more...] about The Love of Jeanne Ney

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

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