This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Pandora's box at SFSFF 2012 Back in the mid-’90s, Martin Koerber began a project to put Pandora’s Box back together again. Researching the films of G.W. Pabst in preparation for a retrospective at the Berlin Film Festival, the film … [Read more...] about The Preservationist and the Playboy: Restoring Pandora’s Box
Prem Sanyas
“Prince Siddhartha styled on earth — Lord Buddha — In Earth and Heavens and Hells Incomparable, All-honored, Wisest, Best, most Pitiful; The Teacher of Nirvana and the Law. Thus came he to be born again for men” — Preface, The Light of Asia by Sir Edwin Arnold Prem Sanyas (The Light of Asia) … [Read more...] about Prem Sanyas
The Poor Little Rich Girl
Born Gladys Mary Smith in 1892 in Canada, Mary Pickford began her career when she was only five years old. By the time she was eight, she was already an experienced actress and financially supporting her mother, brother, and sister. It was David Belasco who gave her the stage name Mary Pickford when … [Read more...] about The Poor Little Rich Girl
Policeman
During the course of more than twenty-five years exploring the history and influence of film noir, I’ve encountered two wonderful and related surprises: First is the realization that the seeds of noir often were sown in places far afield from what’s been circumscribed in academic orthodoxy. Which … [Read more...] about Policeman
Po Zakonu
Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov was born in Tambov, Russia, in 1899 and came of age in a turbulent world. Civil war gripped the country. Cinema, like the dream of socialism, was in its infancy. As a set designer under the Tsarist filmmaker Yevgeni Bauer, the young Kuleshov was already writing about the … [Read more...] about Po Zakonu
The Pleasure Garden
The 25-year-old Alfred Hitchcock had done nearly every job on the studio floor by the time he was given his first directing job by the Gainsborough studio boss Michael Balcon—he had designed titles, written scripts, art directed and had been assistant director to the studio’s most successful … [Read more...] about The Pleasure Garden
Pickfair: Inventing Celebrity
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Thief of Bagdad at Silent Winter 2013 “Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were a living proof of America’s belief in happy endings.” When Mary Pickford met Douglas Fairbanks in 1915, she was already “America’s Sweetheart,” … [Read more...] about Pickfair: Inventing Celebrity
Piccadilly
Like Josephine Baker and Louise Brooks, Anna May Wong was an American woman who had to cross the Atlantic to find her greatest roles. In Piccadilly, Wong seems to be sporting Brooks’s bangs and Baker’s sinuous hips, but her knowing look—wary, sultry, and intense—is all her own. Her entrance is a … [Read more...] about Piccadilly