My father, who worked as an usher in a Detroit movie theater in the 1930s, loved Laurel and Hardy. And, perhaps, so did your father or grandfather, or even your brother, who may have had their poster hanging in his college dorm. Famous or not, mostly male but some female, Laurel and Hardy fans are … [Read more...] about The Real Stan & Ollie
The Patsy
You can read the program essay for our 2008 screening of The Patsy here A channel through which a motion picture reaches the screen. With The Patsy, Vidor was tuned just right. It is a perfect film. There is not a scene, gesture, joke, intertitle, gag, bit of detail, or character out of place. … [Read more...] about The Patsy
Now We’re in the Air
Screened with Get Your Man at SFSFF 2017 NOW WE'RE IN THE AIR TRAVELS THE WORLD Silent films have a funny way of traveling the world. In 2016, the festival’s own Robert Byrne mentioned to English film historian Kevin Brownlow about a trip he was taking to Prague to visit the Národní filmový … [Read more...] about Now We’re in the Air
The Musical Mind of Guenter Buchwald
In 2018, Guenter Buchwald celebrates his fortieth anniversary as a film accompanist. Since 1978, this acclaimed composer, conductor, musical director, and multi-instrumentalist has played for some three thousand films, making him both a pioneer and a veteran. He has performed as a solo artist, as … [Read more...] about The Musical Mind of Guenter Buchwald
Keeping Time with Timothy Brock
For more than thirty years, Timothy Brock has made a name for himself as one of the few composer-conductors who specialize in music for silent film. Vogue magazine has called him “the silent-film music guru.” In large part, Brock’s musical life has focused on his own compositions as well as on … [Read more...] about Keeping Time with Timothy Brock
He Who Gets Slapped
Seeking a change of pace from his already successful career as a Swedish director and actor, Victor Sjöström arrived in New York in January 1923 at the invitation of Goldwyn Pictures. Sjöström’s intention was to study American production methods and to involve himself in a film or two. The Swede … [Read more...] about He Who Gets Slapped
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
