Stagecoach (1939) Director: John Ford Stagecoach brought about a revival in the Western genre, which had largely fallen out of favor in the late '20s and '30s. The Western is a mythic depiction of the Western country and prairie, a largely historically untrue heroic story of courage and goodness in an amoral land of savages … Continue reading Stagecoach
classic
La Roue
La Roue (1923) Director: Abel Gance A Victor Hugo quote begins The Wheel - "Creation is a Great Wheel which does not move without crushing someone." This epic film opens with a dramatic and cataclysmic train crash. Sisif (played by Séverin-Mars who died of a heart attack before the release of the film) the ironically … Continue reading La Roue
Camille
Camille (1936) Director: George Cukor Camille is an elegant and beautiful MGM film starring Greta Garbo, and showcasing the heights of classic cinema in the 1930s. It is a story of a love-triangle, based on an 1842 story by Alexandre Dumas fils (the Younger), La Dame aux Camélias ("The Lady with the Camellias"). He wrote the story at … Continue reading Camille
The Fall of the House of Usher
La Chute de la maison Usher (1928) Director: Jean Epstein Apparently there were two highly stylized avant garde silent films focused on this Edgar Allan Poe short story, both released in 1928. In some ways I . prefer the loose structure and surrealist version by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber (a silent film lasting … Continue reading The Fall of the House of Usher
Charlie Chaplin’s First National Films
In 1917-1918, Charlie Chaplin was seeking more independence and greater creative license over his films, which he believed were becoming too stagnant and predictable. His relationship with Mutual ended amicably, and he signed an eight-film contract with First National. His years with First National would prove to be some of the most important in his … Continue reading Charlie Chaplin’s First National Films
Charlie Chaplin’s Essanay Shorts
In 1915, Charlie Chaplin struck up a deal with the Essanay Film Company, a small film company based out of Chicago, IL with another location in California. Through Essanay, Chaplin directed and starred in 14 films in 1915 (there was at least one later film patched together by the studio of Chaplin outtakes during his … Continue reading Charlie Chaplin’s Essanay Shorts
Cabiria
Cabiria (1914) Director: Giovanni Pastrone Martin Scorcese once said that the true seed of the epic film genre springs from Pastrone, rather than de Mille or Griffith. Pastrone freed the audience from the static single-shot scenes, thus allowing mobile cameras to take the audience along with the story. Cabiria is the great Italian epic, shot during the … Continue reading Cabiria
Fantasmagorie
Fantasmagorie (1908) Director: Émile Cohl Fantasmagorie is a stream-of-consciousness, early silent cartoon film. The film uses stop motion techniques pioneered in America. It was produced for the Gaumont Company in France. The title of the film points to the fantasmograph, a 19th century device that predated modern film. Cohl drew the objects on hundreds of … Continue reading Fantasmagorie
The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots (1895) Director: Alfred Clark The film is sometimes called "The Execution of Mary Stuart" (1895) and it is the earliest surviving film using special effects, notably the 'stop trick.' It lasts about 18 seconds and was produced by Thomas Edison. A male Shakespearean actor wound up playing Mary being led to … Continue reading The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
3 Bad Men
3 Bad Men (1926) Director: John Ford Early cinema was filled with the Western archetype and its accompanying tropes: trains, cowboys, stagecoaches, Indians, covered wagons, and so on. Audiences were enthralled by the American pioneering spirit. However, by the late 1920s and early 1930s, Western films had become a box office dud. John Ford, the … Continue reading 3 Bad Men
