Double Feature: Pickford vs. Temple
Eleanor Gates began writing novels just after the turn of the century, then turned to writing plays before starting a film production company in 1915. This same trajectory was taken […]
Tag Archives: silent
Hamlet on Film: Letterboxd Reviews
I’ve gotten to know this play pretty well over the last couple weeks, having as of this writing seen sixteen of the twenty-seven renditions I’ve lined up for this retrospective. […]
Announcing My 2020 Movie Retrospective: Hamlet on Film
Shakespearean cinema, like many of the other subjects I’ve approached in my annual film retrospectives, is something in which I’ve long wanted to become more fluent. There are boundless avenues […]
My 25 Favorite Montages & Cross-cutting Sequences
What’s the opposite of a long take? The first four top 25 lists I put together for this blog were matching pairs: scariest scenes and funniest scenes, endings and beginnings. […]
Triple Feature Double Feature: Mabuse/Orpheus
There are two cases on the record of filmmakers producing trilogies that spanned their careers. Fritz Lang began directing films in 1919, but a landmark from his early output is […]
Double Feature: Persona and Daisies
It must be a frightening concept to men—this idea of women having a special bond, of women containing multitudes… Men, spellbound by the secrets shared between women, can’t help but […]
The Class of 2018: My Favorite Movies
I’ve watched movies every which way during these past twelve months, giving more time to them than I had in any previous year. There were the usual methods — discs […]
Double Feature: Trouble in Paradise and Hold That Blonde!
We have an extremely specific topic to explore for this month’s double feature: “romantic comedies about pickpockets.” The appeal of crooks, hustlers and artful dodgers is entirely familiar in American […]
Uh … 3 ½? — Destiny
The Introduction At the beginning of 2015, I took my first serious dive into the films of the 1920s. So it hasn’t been that long since I first encountered Destiny (Der […]
Double Feature: Modern Times and Play Time
Charles Chaplin and Jacques Tati, two of the most accomplished comedic filmmakers in the history of the medium, were both two decades into their careers when they made their defining […]
Geppetto's Clocks 