Blessed with directors like John Ford, Frank Borzage, and Raoul Walsh, not to mention F.W. Murnau, it is surprising that William Fox should assign such an ambitious and sure-fire subject to Irving Cummings. When Alex Gordon was rescuing nitrate prints from the Fox vaults in 1970, I was able to see a … [Read more...] about The Johnstown Flood
Man and Wife
Hail the humble programmer. Although sometimes denigrated as “the Bs” for their minimal production values, B- and C-list casts, and often far-fetched plots, programmers were a vital and ubiquitous feature of the American motion picture business from its early days through the 1950s. Programmers, … [Read more...] about Man and Wife
Amazing Tales from the Archives 2023
Presenters: Mindy Johnson, Kyle Westphal, and Nicholas White A GREAT NOISE The live Foley artists of their time, percussionists deployed whistles, blocks, bells, ratchets, anvils, and all manner of delightfully specific noisemakers known as “traps” to perform sound effects for silent movies. … [Read more...] about Amazing Tales from the Archives 2023
The Iron Mask
The motion picture industry was changing rapidly in 1928, and one of its biggest stars, forty-five-year-old Douglas Fairbanks, was seriously contemplating his place within it. It would be hard to overstate his importance to Hollywood as a movie star, a creative producer, and an industry leader. … [Read more...] about The Iron Mask
Buster’s Mechanized Mayhem
What a magical place Buster Keaton’s mind must have been. Most people might be tempted to regard a chair as merely a chair, or an automobile as simply an automobile. Keaton looked at them and beheld endless comic possibilities. And not only possibilities for the objects themselves, but also for the … [Read more...] about Buster’s Mechanized Mayhem
Pour Don Carlos
In 1920, when Musidora, beloved worldwide as the villainous Irma Vep, announced her plans to adapt the popular novel Pour Don Carlos and play its heroine Allegria, she took pains to assure her fans that she would deliver the thrills they’d come to expect. “I promise you that Allegria will kill at … [Read more...] about Pour Don Carlos
The Cheat
On December 13, 1915, The Cheat, produced at the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, directed by acclaimed theater director Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Fannie Ward, renowned actress from the London and New York stages, made its debut in the United States. Depicting an interracial relationship … [Read more...] about The Cheat
Show People
1928 was a frightening year for the film industry. The first feature with synchronized dialogue, The Jazz Singer, had premiered the previous October, casting doubt on the ability of silent films to endure as an art form. Stars feared for their careers while studio bosses worried about their bottom … [Read more...] about Show People