This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Affairs of Anatol at SFSFF 2025 DeMille’s film transposes the original Viennese setting of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1893 play to contemporary New York, with nods to some design trends of the early 1920s. The framing episode starts … [Read more...] about The Affairs of Anatol: Footnotes on Design
Africa, North by Northeast
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Beau Geste at SFSFF 2025 UNDERCOVER LOVERS The allure of blood, sun, sand, and war drew Hollywood to North and Northeast Africa like flappers to Rudolph Valentino. One popular subject was the Rif War (1921–1926), an attempt by the … [Read more...] about Africa, North by Northeast
Modern Times, Modern Problems
This feature was published in conjunction with Chicago at ADoS 2025 NEW FAMILY VALUES The silent era was a time of the New Woman, suffragettes, flappers, and vampires. Alice Guy-Blaché envisions a world of sexually aggressive ladies-about-town openly harassing timid house-husbands in the … [Read more...] about Modern Times, Modern Problems
American Venus: Esther Ralston
This feature was published in conjunction with Children of Divorce at ADoS 2025 Today, “American Venus” is connected with Louise Brooks, a supporting player in the 1926 comedy of the same name. But in its day the term was associated with the film’s top-billed star: Esther Ralston. A graceful, … [Read more...] about American Venus: Esther Ralston
Found in Translation: What the Subtitles Leave Out
This feature was published in conjunction with A Story of Floating Weeds at ADoS 2025 KEIAN TAIHEIKI A sign on the stage announces Keian Taiheiki, or The Keian Uprising, as Kihachi appears in the role of a ronin in revolt against the shogunate in the mid-1600s, but any Japanese audience in the … [Read more...] about Found in Translation: What the Subtitles Leave Out
Palace of Fine Arts: An Origin Story
This feature was published to celebrate the site of SFSFF’s 27th festival The Palace of Fine Arts lay just west of the central block of eight primary exhibition palaces built for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), which was held in 1915—about six months into the Great War in Europe … [Read more...] about Palace of Fine Arts: An Origin Story
James Cruze: The Signature Above the Title
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Red Mark at SFSFF 2024 Frank Capra famously defined his aspiration as a Hollywood director to be just not another name in the opening credits but “the name above the title.” An even more rarified position was the director who … [Read more...] about James Cruze: The Signature Above the Title
The Guy in the Gorilla Suit
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Gorilla at SFSFF 2024 From acting to stunt work to selling hot dogs outside a studio gate, there was more than one way to make a living in Hollywood. So Charles Gemora reasoned: why not carve out his own super-specialized niche? … [Read more...] about The Guy in the Gorilla Suit