You can read the program essay for our 2008 screening of Les Deux Timides here René Clair’s final film of the silent era was not the film he’d planned to make. When Films Albatros renewed Clair’s contract in 1927 after the success of The Italian Straw Hat, the director began work on a realist … [Read more...] about Les Deux Timides
The Last Warning
Something like a postmodern riff on the entire idea of German Expressionism, Paul Leni’s The Last Warning (1929) was the final film for the illustrious Leni who died eight months after its release of blood poisoning at the age of forty-four. Today he’s a neglected figure, even among silent-film … [Read more...] about The Last Warning
The Last Command
Russia’s frozen inaccessibility, its mink-clad aristocrats, impeccable ballerinas, and candy-colored turrets further piqued American fascination when the Russian Revolution toppled the Romanov dynasty in the second decade of the twentieth century. Hollywood, housing a small community of the former … [Read more...] about The Last Command
The Italian Straw Hat
From the Lumières’ point-and-shoot street scenes to Méliès’s fantastical trick films, from the thrilling serials of Feuillade to the foible-filled folly of Max Linder, French filmmakers enthralled global audiences with the worlds they created on-screen. But then the war came and German and American … [Read more...] about The Italian Straw Hat
Irvin Willat’s Bungalow
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Behind the Door at SFSFF 2016 When I worked for the American Film Institute in the late 1960s, my wife and I, renting an apartment in West Hollywood, discovered that director Irvin Willat lived right behind us. I had only seen a … [Read more...] about Irvin Willat’s Bungalow
How I Filmed Nanook of the North
This historical reprint was published in conjunction with the screening of Nanook of the North at SFSFF 2016 The Walrus Hunt As luck would have it the first film to be made was the walrus hunt. From Nanook, I first heard of the “Walrus Island” which is a small island far out at sea and … [Read more...] about How I Filmed Nanook of the North
Here’s to You, Mr. Robinson
A Personal Tribute to the 2016 Silent Film Festival Award Winner David Robinson Back in the 1950s and ’60s, Liam O’Leary was one of the most significant figures in silent film preservation. Not only was he deputy curator at the British Film Institute’s National Film Archive, he was also mentor … [Read more...] about Here’s to You, Mr. Robinson
Girls Will Be Boys
This program contains the following two films: I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAN Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Germany, 1918 Cast Ossi Oswalda, Kurt Götz, Ferry Sikla, Margarete Kupfer, and Victor Janson Production Produktions-AG Union Print Source George Eastman Museum WHAT'S THE WORLD COMING … [Read more...] about Girls Will Be Boys