This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Inhuman Woman (L'Inhumaine) at A Day of Silents 2015 The moment in 1939 when Dorothy Gale steps out of her monochromatic, tornado-tossed house into Oz’s richly saturated Technicolor world, her jumper transformed from checkered … [Read more...] about The Color of Silents
The Cave of the Spiderwomen
Surviving films from the silent era in China are rare. Destruction from wars, government censorship, neglect, and deterioration have taken a sizable toll, so the recent discovery of The Cave of the Spider Women (Pan si dong) from 1927 is a cause for celebration. Even missing its opening scene and a … [Read more...] about The Cave of the Spiderwomen
California Welcomes the World: The Centennial of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a golden age for world fairs, and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco in 1915, is among the most celebrated. Officially, the exposition commemorated the completion of the Panama Canal and all that this new trade … [Read more...] about California Welcomes the World: The Centennial of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
The Black Pirate
The Black Pirate is the epitome of motion picture art and science in the Hollywood of the 1920s. Whereas previous Douglas Fairbanks productions such as Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924) employed size and scope to push the limits of cinema production, The Black … [Read more...] about The Black Pirate
Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day
Presentation by Ron Magliozzi of MoMA—100 YEARS IN POST-PRODUCTION: RESURRECTING A LOST LANDMARK OF FILM HISTORY The rarest of films, Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day is one of a handful of surviving silent films with an all-black cast. Produced in 1913, it features legendary entertainer … [Read more...] about Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
You can read the program essay for our 1996 screening of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ here Moviemaking might makes right in Fred Niblo’s Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It marries a rip-roaring saga of vengeance in ancient Antioch and Jerusalem to a reverent vision of Christianity bringing faith, … [Read more...] about Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Back to School: Sheldon Mirowitz
This interview was published in conjunction with the screening of The Last Laugh at SFSFF 2015 Professor Sheldon Mirowitz “conducts” the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra Whose palms wouldn’t begin sweating at the thought of a final exam performed in front of a packed house at the Castro Theatre? But … [Read more...] about Back to School: Sheldon Mirowitz
Avant-Garde Paris
EMAK-BAKIA Directed by Man Ray, France, 1926 | Print Source Cohen Film Collection Live Musical Accompaniment by Earplay from an Original Score by Nicolas Tzortzis MÉNILMONTANT Directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff, France, 1926 | Print Source Cinémathèque française Live Musical Accompaniment by … [Read more...] about Avant-Garde Paris