A Film/Book Review by Tony Williams. While we eagerly await the Criterion release of The Sound of Music with audio-commentary by Quentin Tarantino, joking aside, it is pleasurable to see Kino-Lorber’s latest contribution to a prestigious film repertoire needing release to a wider audience rather than already seen “usual suspects.” […]
The Making of a Silent Legacy: Early Buster Keaton
April 13, 2026
Thomas Gladysz
0
A Book Review by Thomas Gladysz. A detailed, well-wrought look into the comedian’s early career(s)….” Like Charlie Chaplin, there are more than a handful of books about Buster Keaton – the stone-faced comedian who sported a pork-pie hat. And like Chaplin, Keaton remains one of the truly great performers of […]
Two Early Genre Gems: The Bat (1926) and The Canary Murder Case (1929)
By Thomas Gladysz. Released by Undercrank Productions, The Bat stands as a high point in the ‘old dark house’ genre / sub-genre.” In the first decades of the 20th century, film was finding its way. Then, the various genres were being defined — and redefined, with the release of just […]
Florid in a Good Way: Herbert Brenon’s The Spanish Dancer (1923)
By Thomas Gladysz. With a range of pictures to his credit – fantasies, adventure films, melodramas, historical epics – there are those who feel Brenon was a director without a defined, or at least a dynamic, style. There is truth to that assertion…. Adaptability, however, shouldn’t detract from an appreciation […]
The Unexpected Raymond Griffith
By Thomas Gladysz. The two films included in Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian serve as an excellent introduction to the comedian’s considerable talents.” Many rediscoveries aren’t. All-too-often, the thing in question – a movie or book or album, an actor, artist or musician, hasn’t been undeservedly forgotten so much […]
The Street of Forgotten Men (1925): From Story to Screen and Beyond
By Thomas Gladysz. An act of cinematic and cultural archeology. I just kept on digging to find out what I could find out.” Film International contributor Thomas Gladysz has published a fifth book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond (PandorasBox Press). He describes it as […]
“Sin Lust Evil” in America: Louise Brooks and the Exhibition History of Pandora’s Box (1929)
By Thomas Gladysz. Though celebrated today, Pandora’s Box experienced one of the more troubled exhibition histories of just about any film of its time.” Today, Pandora’s Box is considered one of the great films of the silent era, as well as a masterpiece of Weimar cinema. It is still regularly […]
Marion Davies’ Slow-Burn Revival: Zander the Great (1925) and Beverly of Graustark (1926)
By Thomas Gladysz. Davies was at her delightful best in comedies with a contemporary setting…. Nevertheless, her earlier costumes dramas and period pieces, like Zander the Great and Beverly of Graustark as well as the 2019 Undercrank release, Little Old New York, still have considerable charm.” The inherent contradiction in […]
Ukrainian Film and Restorations at Silent Film Festival
By Thomas Gladysz. Arrest Warrant (1926), an Ukrainian film directed by Heorhii Tasin, is a briskly paced gem. It tells the story of Nadia (played by Vira Vareckaja), who’s revolutionary husband flees the city in the midst of civil war, leaving her behind with a cache of secret documents. Expressionist […]
Lulu Forever: The 2020 Louise Brooks FilmPodium Retrospective (Zurich)
Fritz Kortner and Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box (G.W. Pabst, 1929) By Thomas Gladysz. Louise Brooks has been described as a “cult actress”…. But as both the Melbourne and Zurich retrospectives show, there is a good deal more to this singular performer.” Last October, the Melbourne Cinémathèque in Melbourne, Australia […]