Visages d'enfants (1923) Director: Jacques Feyder "The Faces of Children" is a simple and beautiful film. It is a French-Swiss pastoral movie that takes place amidst the incredible landscape of the village of Saint-Luc in the mountainous Haut-Valais region of Switzerland. It is a psychological exploration, remarkably complex for the time, and it tells the … Continue reading Visages d’enfants
silent
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) Director: Wallace Worsley It took Universal nearly a year to build the massive sets for The Hunchback of Notre Dame to mirror medieval Paris, most notably the Cathedral at Notre Dame built to scale. It was a far more lavish affair than was typical for Universal at the time (apparent … Continue reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Foolish Wives
I recently attempted to finish watching Foolish Wives (1922), and it is a monumental task, even for a silent film. It lasts nearly 2.5 hours long, and the plot is vague, slow, and wandering. It tells the story of a man who dubs himself a Count in order to seduce a wealthy women and take their … Continue reading Foolish Wives
Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam
Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (The Golem: How He Came Into The World) (1920) Director: Paul Wegener, Carl Boese The Golem is an impressive early silent German Expressionist horror film. The film is an adaptation of a 1915 novel of the same name by Gustav Meyrink, an Austrian writer best known for The … Continue reading Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam
The Mark of Zorro
The Mark of Zorro (1920) Director: Fred Niblo The Mark of Zorro is a surprisingly impressive film. It stars the great silent-era hero, Douglas Fairbanks, and it was the first in a long series of Zorro films extending to the present day. It was the first film released by United Artists (Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks, and Griffith). … Continue reading The Mark of Zorro
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 Mutual Shorts
In 1916, Charlie Chaplin again changed film studios to produce 12 films over a one year period at a salary valued at ten times his Essanay salary - $670,000 (approximately $15.4M in today's dollars). He was 26 years old and he began building his future cinematic team while at Mutual. At first he produced a … Continue reading Charlie Chaplin’s Mutual Shorts
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
Charlie Chaplin’s Keystone Shorts
In 1913, while on tour in the United States with a British comedy group (Fred Karno's comedy group), Charlie Chaplin accepted a contract to perform in a series of short silent films for Mark Sennett's Keystone film company in Los Angeles, California. Though the film company is now gone, the large warehouse remains standing and … Continue reading Charlie Chaplin’s Keystone Shorts
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
