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.
silent film
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.
Silent Film Jewels About Mothers, Horses and Gorillas
A female Tarzan and her gorilla, a horse that revenges his murdered master, mothers, and comical aviators make the scene in these silent film jewels.
‘Robot Dreams’ Quietly Encourages You Not to Be Afraid
Pablo Berger’s animated Robot Dreams is a near-perfect marvel of silent cinema nearly a century after talkies ended the silent era.
The Troubled History of Silent Film ‘Pandora’s Box’
Its lesbian love interest was once modified and a saccharine ending tacked on, but a new controversy arises with G.W. Pabst’s silent film classic Pandora’s Box.
‘Laurel & Hardy: Year One’ Shows Why 1927 Was a Vintage Year for Comedy
Most of the comedies in Laurel & Hardy: Year One starred others, so this set shows the evolution of the dual film by film, getting better as they go along.
The Dance and the Duel in Silent Epic ‘The Spanish Dancer’
Somewhere amid the swigging and carousing in restored silent film The Spanish Dancer it’s love at first eyeball for Don Cesar and Maritana
Erich von Stroheim Outraged Those Who Lined Up To Be Outraged with ‘Foolish Wives’
In monocle and leather boots, waving a whip, and fetishizing his character into a camp masterpiece, Erich von Stroheim never winks in Foolish Wives, but you see the glint in his eye.
San Francisco Silent Film Festival: Bizarre Twists, Frantic Disasters, and Dangerous Women
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival features iron-masked swashbuckling, flabbergasting twists, sexy farce, visual beauty, and strong women who stare into the camera, unnerving viewers.
Silent Film’s Raymond Griffith Pulled Tricksters Out of Top Hats
In Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian, the two clever silent films Paths to Paradise and You’d Be Surprised, make a working-class hero out of a toff in a top hat.
The Awe-Inspiring ‘Film: The Living Record of Our Memory’
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory provides an awe-inspiring, expedited survey of film preservation and the urgency of capturing humankind’s visual memories lest we let these precious histories disintegrate.
Suffering in Silents: Two 1922 Melodramas from Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage, king of silent film melodrama, shows how it’s done with Back Pay‘s tale of redemption and the James Oliver Curwood-inspired The Valley of Silent Men.