Essay

When Frank S. Nugent and Laurence Stallings were working on the screenplay for the 1948 western 3 Godfathers, director John Ford, who felt they relied too heavily on exposition, told them, “Has it ever occurred to either of you that the first motion pictures were Leland Stanford’s studies of a … [Read more...] about Kentucky Pride

No Publicity Directed by Nicholas T. Barrows, USA, 1928. With Ruth Dwyer, Josephine Crowell, and Aileen Manning Horse Shy Directed by Jay A. Howe, USA, 1928. With Nita Cavalier, Bruce Covington, and William Gillespie Vacation Waves Directed by Nicholas T. Barrows, USA, 1928. With Duane … [Read more...] about The Edward Everett Horton Show!

Yasujiro Ozu will always be best known for his mid-century dramas, like Tokyo Story, Late Spring, and Floating Weeds. They have a towering reputation in world cinema: their distinctive visual style defining what an Ozu film ‘is’ for most people. But doesn’t this make his earlier work intriguing? His … [Read more...] about Walk Cheerfully

“At the theater Crainquebille made me weep,” remembered Marcel Proust in 1916.  Of course it did. Anatole France’s parable of an aging vegetable peddler whose minor run-in with a policeman has a devastating effect on his life was written to provoke not just tears, but indignation. France’s … [Read more...] about Crainquebille

The Soviet film corpus of the silent era—the mass of films that survived that tumultuous era, at least—is famous for formal innovation, social realism, and headlong propaganda. But not for farce. Comedy was the commercial lifeblood of silent film; without it, a national industry could scarcely hope … [Read more...] about Pigs Will Be Pigs

There is no greater physical symbol of the Czech people than the Gothic cathedral of St. Vitus in Prague. Construction began in the tenth century, during the reign of the legendary Wenceslaus, with additions continuing for several hundred years. It was only finally completed the year that this film … [Read more...] about The Organist at St. Vitus Cathedral

All losses are restored” wrote Shakespeare in Sonnet 30, and while we can only wish that were true in terms of film survival, it remains remarkable how often titles long considered lost suddenly turn up out of the blue. Ein Sommernachtstraum, shot in 1924 and released in 1925, is one such film … [Read more...] about A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The sound shorts of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are iconic, well-known from decades of availability on television, and although numerous incomplete and damaged original elements survive on each title, the rights-holders have not invested in their long-term survival. These films have been part of … [Read more...] about Stan & Ollie