The idea of the filmmaker as a modern-day explorer is as old as cinema itself. As soon as the Lumière brothers introduced their lightweight motion picture cameras in 1895, operators began setting out around the globe to produce actuality films. Within 20 years, enterprising filmmakers like Herbert … [Read more...] about The Epic of Everest
Easy Virtue
In Picturegoer of July 1927 a photomontage advertises the coming attraction of Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of the recent stage play Easy Virtue with the caption; “Screening a Noel Coward play sounds rather difficult—Mr. Hitchcock has just done it!” In fact all of the trade reviews focused on the … [Read more...] about Easy Virtue
Earth
Oxford scholar Yuval Noah Harari popularized the idea that humans did not domesticate wheat, but rather, the grain tamed us. In his 2015 book Sapiens, he notes that wheat required backbreaking labor to plant and collect. Yet because it allowed for accumulation, evolutionary forces persuaded its … [Read more...] about Earth
The Dumb Girl of Portici
Even for those with little knowledge of ballet, the name of early twentieth century Russian dancer Anna Pavlova evokes gauzy images of the grace and elegance of that most romantic of arts. But posed photographs and brief filmed excerpts of Pavlova dancing, however lovely, give little evidence of the … [Read more...] about The Dumb Girl of Portici
The Dragon Painter
Sessue Hayakawa’s name is not uttered with the same nostalgic awe as are those of Gilbert and Valentino. Yet, in his day his cinematic presence made the ladies swoon as much as any other silent screen lover. The Japanese-born actor starred opposite many popular leading ladies, among them Florence … [Read more...] about The Dragon Painter
Dragnet Girl
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
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