By Gary D. Rhodes. I’ve solved this mystery. You’re at the bottom of it.” – Hibbs (Conrad Nagel), London after Midnight, 1927 Tod Browning’s London after Midnight, released by MGM in 1927, represents America’s first supernatural vampire feature film. Except that it isn’t. It does not depict a supernatural vampire, […]
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 […]
Tom Mix Rides Again: Sky High (1922) and The Big Diamond Robbery (1929)
By Jeremy Carr. Although many Mix pictures are lost, these illustrative entries showcase his customary assurance, his virtue, and his penchant for showmanship.” If Hollywood’s classic Western heroes are generally given little positive thought these days, the cowboy celebrities of the silent era in particular are even less familiar. In […]
Universal’s First Horror Films
By Gary D. Rhodes. Here is an amazing history, one far more enduring than, say, Paramount’s connection to the comedy genre or Warner Bros. to the gangster. The question of precisely when Universal horror movies began is equally as fascinating as it is complicated.” In the 21st century, Universal Pictures […]
Looking Back at “The Movies 100 Years from Now” by D.W. Griffith (1924)
By Bibi Berki. Griffith’s singular essay about the future of the cinema is a far more complex and layered piece than might seem immediately obvious.” It’s a risky business playing the soothsayer. Nonetheless, the director DW Griffith had a crack at it in 1924 with a magazine article called The […]
“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 […]
Borzage in the Beginning: 1922’s Back Pay and The Valley of Silent Men
By Jeremy Carr. Two 1922 Borzage features are now available on Blu-ray/DVD, thanks to the laudable efforts of Undercrank Productions and the Library of Congress.” The arrival of any Frank Borzage film on DVD or Blu-ray is a noteworthy occasion. But when there are two packaged together and they are […]
A Dramatic Tribute to a Lost Reality: The Silent Enemy (1930)
By Jeremy Carr. Apparently supporting the film’s well-intentioned attempt at accuracy, Chief Chauncey Yellow Robe, in a sound prologue to this otherwise silent 1930 film, thus urges viewers to not see those performing in the film as actors, but to consider that what is shown ‘is as it always has […]
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 […]