Feature

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Good References at SFSFF 2018 Back in the silent era a woman didn’t have to be an actress to get the glamour treatment from the studio’s PR department. Witness the press on Dorothy Farnum who wrote the Constance Talmadge vehicle Good … [Read more...] about Dorothy Farnum: Advice from a Scenario Writer

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Mothers of Men at SFSFF 2016 Actress Dorothy Davenport traveled west with the Nestor film company just as the movie industry and the feature-length film was taking form in Hollywood. A prominent player when Nestor was absorbed by … [Read more...] about Dorothy Davenport’s Message Movies

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Varieté at SFSFF 2016 Photos of actress Lya de Putti from the 1920s show a smoldering beauty with heavy-lidded eyes, bee-stung Clara Bow lips, and a severe black Louise Brooks bob. She rarely smiles. In one full-length portrait, … [Read more...] about The Divine Decadence of Lya de Putti

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Lost World at SFSFF 2017 In the annals of film history, Willis O’Brien is considered a visionary in the field of stop-motion animation, most famous for his state-of-the-art monsters in 1933’s King Kong. His experimentation with … [Read more...] about The Dinosaur Wars: Willis O’Brien, Herbert M. Dawley, and the Articulated Effigy

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of L'Inferno at SFSFF 2019 From rollicking adventures to cinematic sermons, silent film portrayals of Hell and Satan sizzle with innovation, dark spectacle, and insight into the shadowy side of human nature. MERRY FROLICS OF … [Read more...] about Demonic Visions: When Silents Go to the Devil

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans at SFSFF 2011 Behind the film’s artistry, technical innovations, and outsize budget, Sunrise is ultimately the story of two people. A woman from the city takes her summer holiday in a quaint lakeside … [Read more...] about The Curator and the Composer: Creating a New Song for Two Humans

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Get Your Man at SFSFF 2017 A misplaced scrap of the “A Little from Lots” column in a 1927 edition of Film Daily obscures a review with, among other sundries, a correction in bold type: “A newspaper report to the effect that Dorothy … [Read more...] about Covering Dorothy Arzner