MoMA’s Film Restoration Fest To Serve and Project Eyes Bad Behavior
MoMA’s film restoration fest To Serve and Project eyes bad behavior with a Casanova, Western gunmen, pre-Code showgirls and drug addiction.
Michael Barrett
Michael Barrett works in a public library. For more than 20 years, he wrote a monthly video column in the San Antonio Express News stressing classic and foreign films. His national publications include Video Watchdog, Nostalgia Digest and Retro Cinema. He's also written scripts that still await their destiny.
International Film Buffs Should Pounce on MoMA’s To Save and Project Festival
From silent classics to Thai melodrama, home movies to Brazilian sambas, MoMA’s To Save and Project festival is catnip for international film buffs.
Nazis and Racial and Sexual Subtexts in ‘Revenge of the Zombies’
Revenge of the Zombies stands at the axis of Nazis, race relations and feminism in a mishmash of wartime themes under an immigrant director.
When Sessue Hayakawa Took Hollywood by Smoldering Storm
Sessue Hayakawa was the first Asian male star in Hollywood, became a “foreign” silent film sex symbol, and ran his own company while the “natives” remained uptight.
Fascism Bares Its German Shepherd Teeth in Two Post-Franco Films
The Creature and A Dog Called Vengeance use German shepherds in allegories of fascist politics, revolution, violence and love.
Masahiro Shinoda’s ‘Demon Pond’ Ripples Through Japan’s New Wave
Fantastic colors, costumes, and effects ripple through Masahiro Shinoda’s New Wave-era Demon Pond, which is drenched in Kabuki romantic fantasy.
An Older Kind of Fear: Five Classic Halloween Horror Movies on Blu-Ray
From 1930 to 1980, these five horror movies offer masked maniacs, mad scientists, murder mysteries, mummies, and military cannibals for your Halloween freak-out.
Masculine Movie Icon Alan Ladd As the Wounded Outlaw Hero
Red Mountain and Botany Bay showcase masculine movie icon Alan Ladd in his glory, playing wounded heroes on the wrong side of the law.
Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’
What a difference a script makes. Johnny Cash and Cay Forrester goose up the histrionics of Door-to-Door Maniac.
Murder and Apocalypse in Pop Art 1960s Mash-up ‘Fata Morgana’
The Barcelona School made avant-garde films nobody could understand, such as the pop art 1960s mash-up, Fata Morgana. But it sure looks good.
Arch Oboler’s ‘Bwana Devil’ Mauls the First 3D Movie Audience
Arch Oboler’s Bwana Devil kicked off the 1950s 3D movies craze with a man-eating lion story, and 70s years later it’s trying to get its claws into audiences.
Silent Film Restorations ‘The Craving’ and ‘Annie Laurie’ Radiate the Medium
Francis Ford was an important silent film actor and director, and not just for being John Ford’s brother. Star Lillian Gish had the clout to get what she wanted.