Preceded by ONE WEEK (1920, d. Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 23 mins) with Buster Keaton, Sybil Seely, and Joe Roberts When Sherlock Jr. opened, in April 1924, it was only a modest success, and Buster Keaton regarded it as not one of his big pictures. It had no developed storyline and the … [Read more...] about Sherlock Jr.
The Style of the Export Film
Is there really a particular style that we can designate as the “style of the export film”? Novices and amateurs in film production receive kindhearted advice from all sides: “They won’t understand that in America!” “This could be embarrassing to a Scandinavian!” “That will not relate to the … [Read more...] about The Style of the Export Film
From Godzilla to Gish: Hisashi Okajima Embraces His Film Destiny
When film enthusiasts discuss their first encounter with Japanese cinema, they often name the big (really big) stars—Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, and other menacing creatures that were staples in movie theaters in the 1950s and ’60s. It is certainly true for this year’s recipient of the SFSFF Award for … [Read more...] about From Godzilla to Gish: Hisashi Okajima Embraces His Film Destiny
I Was Born, But…
There is, about two-thirds into Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But…, a cinematic mise-en-abyme: a triangulation of gazes between a father, his two sons, and his boss and coworkers, as they watch a home movie. In the film, a family of four moves to the suburbs as the father, Yoshii (Tatsuo Saito), takes … [Read more...] about I Was Born, But…
Hell’s Heroes
See how far yuh can throw it,” suggests the outlaw leader after mulling over what to do with an abandoned newborn. He and his two surviving accomplices from a bank holdup have stumbled across the infant with its dying mother in a lone covered wagon at a dry waterhole. Hell’s Heroes was far … [Read more...] about Hell’s Heroes
The Laurel and Hardy Show!
The year 1927 was a pivotal time for Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Both were seasoned comedy veterans, each with more than a decade’s experience in films and (in Laurel’s case) the vaudeville stage. Both were now ensconced at the celebrated Hal Roach studio. But 1927 was the year they were first … [Read more...] about The Laurel and Hardy Show!
Poker Faces
By 1926, the studio system with its assembly-line like production of celluloid products was firmly in place. Critics and historians love to celebrate visionary, passionate filmmakers, but the studio system thrived for a reason, as Poker Faces demonstrates. It’s a well-crafted, comic programmer with … [Read more...] about Poker Faces
Poil de Carotte
Precious few intertitles in the silent era, and just a handful of lines of dialogue across a near-century of “talkies,” are more portentous and heartrending than this: “François, the youngest son of the Lepic family, was born after the parents stopped loving each other.” And so we are introduced … [Read more...] about Poil de Carotte