Author Archives: chipkaufmann

Kino Lorber continues their ongoing series devoted to marginalized early filmmakers with CINEMA’S FIRST NASTY WOMEN. Earlier titles in this series were PIONEERS: AFRICAN AMERICAN CINEMA (2016) and PIONEERS: FIRST WOMEN FILMMAKERS (2018). The title for this December 2022 release is a direct reference to Donald Trump’s calling Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” during theContinue reading “CINEMA’S FIRST NASTY WOMEN (2022): Early 20th Century Silent Films As Seen From A 21st Century Perspective”

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Michael Winner’s Cold War spy thriller SCORPIO and it’s just as engaging now as it was when it was first released back in 1973. Director Winner (1935-2013) earned more than his share of critical brickbats during his career thanks primarily to having directed the controversial DEATH WISH (and 2Continue reading “SCORPIO (1973) Is Still Engaging After 50 Years”

As a long time lover of silent movies, especially those made before the advent of the Hollywood Studio System in 1924, I found this book absolutely indispensible. Vitagraph (the name means “living pictures”) was founded by two British born Americans, J. Stuart Blackton & Albert Smith, in 1897 and lasted until 1925 when they soldContinue reading “VITAGRAPH: The Greatest Movie Studio You Never Heard Of”

This review concerns a movie that I consider to be one of the finest family films of all time, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM from 1962. I first saw this when I was on a German ocean liner on my only trip to Europe in what must have been a high quality 70mmContinue reading “THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (1962): One Of The Finest Family Films Of All Time”

As a circus picture, Joan Crawford’s penultimate film BERSERK is really good. There’s lots of great footage of Billy Smart’s Circus mixed in with shots of Crawford as ringmaster. The poodle act, the elephants and horses, even a scene with a lion tamer are all classic old school circus routines that recall an earlier timeContinue reading “BERSERK (1967): Late Joan Crawford Flick Is More Circus Than Horror”

I have to hand it to Flicker Alley. They keep coming up with quality movies that I have never heard of. A few months ago it was the French silent epic CASANOVA. Shortly before that it was Robert Siodmak’s labor drama THE WHISTLE AT EATON FALLS. Now it’s EL VAMPRO NEGRO (The Black Vampire) whichContinue reading “EL VAMPIRO NEGRO: This 1953 Argentinian Re-Thinking of Fritz Lang’s M Takes a Woman’s P.O.V.”

I have seen NOSFERATU a number of times from truly bad public domain copies in the 1980s to several authorised video editions from the turn of the century. However it wasn’t until I recently saw a showing of this Kino Deluxe Remastered Edition which has been speed corrected, broken down into five acts as ifContinue reading “NOSFERATU Is Not A Horror Film But A Tale Of German Dark Romanticism”

CASANOVA is yet another one of those European silent films I had heard and read about but never had had the opportunity to watch until now. Until 21st century digital techniques came along, it would have been impossible to see the movie outside of La Cinematique Francaise and even then it wouldn’t have looked asContinue reading “CASANOVA (1927) Is Beautifully Made But A Little Too Long”

I was looking forward to this collection from the time it was first announced by The Film Detective. I’m not a Tarzan fan but I am a silent movie enthusiast so I was very interested in the Elmo Lincoln silent Tarzans. I had tried to watch them before back in the VHS days but theContinue reading “For TARZAN Afficianados Only”

If you’re a film buff and hear the name Val Lewton, a Western is the last thing that might come to mind. Nevertheless Lewton ended his career with a Western, and APACHE DRUMS shows that under the right circumstances Lewton could transform this genre just as he did the horror film with his 1940s moviesContinue reading “APACHE DRUMS (1951), Val Lewton’s Last Movie, Deserves A Quality Region 1 Release”