This feature was published in conjunction with the Amazing Tales from the Archives presentation by Thierry Lecointe and Robert Byrne at SFSFF 2019 LOST FILMS OF GEORGES MÉLIÈS DISCOVERED IN FIN DE SIÈCLE FLIPBOOKS From peep shows to gifs, moving images have proliferated as novelties inside … [Read more...] about Léon Beaulieu’s Pocket Cinematograph
Legong: Dance of the Virgins
Legong: Dance of the Virgins was shot on location in the village of Ubud in Bali, Indonesia, between May and August 1933, and featured an all-Balinese cast. Directed by Henry de la Falaise, whose full name was Henri Marquis Le Bailly de la Falaise de la Coudraye, Legong was one of two films produced … [Read more...] about Legong: Dance of the Virgins
Laurel and Hardy – Three Shorts
THE FINISHING TOUCH Cast Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy (Policeman), Dorothy Coburn (Nurse), Sam Lufkin (House owner) Production Hal Roach Studios, 1928 Director Clyde A. Bruckman Producer Hal Roach Titles H. M. Walker Photography George Stevens Supervisor Leo McCarey Editor Richard … [Read more...] about Laurel and Hardy – Three Shorts
The Last Warning
Something like a postmodern riff on the entire idea of German Expressionism, Paul Leni’s The Last Warning (1929) was the final film for the illustrious Leni who died eight months after its release of blood poisoning at the age of forty-four. Today he’s a neglected figure, even among silent-film … [Read more...] about The Last Warning
The Last Man on Earth
When looking back on the silent films released by Fox Film Corporation, we tend to gravitate toward the early efforts of directors who went on to long and prominent careers: John Ford (The Iron Horse, Four Sons), Frank Borzage (7th Heaven, Street Angel), Howard Hawks (Fazil, A Girl in Every Port), … [Read more...] about The Last Man on Earth
The Last Laugh
The now-forgotten expression “clothes maketh the man” dates to the Middle Ages, but it seems to echo loudest from the early twentieth century when office jobs multiplied in new skyscrapers and country folk migrated to the cities by the tens of thousands. It could have been coined to describe the … [Read more...] about The Last Laugh
The Last Edition
Emory Johnson entered the film business strictly by chance exactly 100 years ago. While a sophomore studying architecture at the University of California in Berkeley, he took a drive through Niles Canyon and came upon a curious sight: a gang of cowboys on horseback firing their guns at a stagecoach. … [Read more...] about The Last Edition
The Last Command
Russia’s frozen inaccessibility, its mink-clad aristocrats, impeccable ballerinas, and candy-colored turrets further piqued American fascination when the Russian Revolution toppled the Romanov dynasty in the second decade of the twentieth century. Hollywood, housing a small community of the former … [Read more...] about The Last Command