Author Archives: chipkaufmann

After a number of DVD releases in the first years of this century, the number of Mary Pickford films now being released has come to a virtual standstill while those early offerings are now either out-of-print or outrageously priced. As a result of that, this Blu-Ray release is most welcome not only for being Mary’sContinue reading “RAGS TO RICHES: 3 Different Stages Of “Little Mary””

I have been a big fan of Mary Pickford for years and always relish the opportunity to see one of her films in a restored condition. It is even more enjoyable when the movie happens to be one of those that she made before 1920 as they feature a younger more vibrant Mary before herContinue reading “FANCHON THE CRICKET (1915): Well Done Restoration But An Inappropriate Score”

HEART O’THE HILLS was Mary Pickford’s final film project before the formation of United Artists in 1919 and was her fourth film of that year. She had recently left Adolph Zukor and Paramount and was stretching her wings as an independent producer (they predicted she would fall flat on her face). It is one ofContinue reading “HEART O’ THE HILLS (1919): One Of Mary’s Best With A Great New Score”

LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY is one of the best known and most frequently seen of Mary Pickford’s movies. This is because for years the title has been in the public domain and there are numerous poor quality editions that have been issued over the years. Now thanks to The Mary Pickford Foundation and Flicker Alley, weContinue reading “LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY (1925): Finally A High Quality Edition”

..not THE WOMAN EATER as Columbia’s poster art at the time proclaimed. That’s a very important distinction as the film is about much more than just a woman eating tree. The movie is actually a misogynistic fable about the male attitude toward women in general and George Coulouris’ attitude in particular. The story involves aContinue reading “WOMANEATER (1957)…”

Eugene Lourie (pronounced Lure-YAY) was a Russian born French art director and production designer who worked with such directors as Jean Renoir, Charlie Chaplin, and Clint Eastwood. Out of the nearly 50 feature films he was associated with, he directed only 4 of them and they all had a science-fiction background. 3 of the 4Continue reading “THE GIANT BEHEMOTH: My Favorite Of The Eugene Lourie Dino Trilogy”

THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY is something of a Hammer anamoly for when it was made (1959). Instead of being exotic and colorful, it’s grim and monochromatic which is more suitable as it deals with the Thugee cult in India in the 19th century. This is certainly director Terence Fisher’s most brutal film as it containsContinue reading “THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY: Hammer Historical Drama Filmed In “Strangloscope”!”

Of the three original films that make up the FLY trilogy, 1965’s CURSE OF THE FLY is clearly my favorite. I even prefer it to the David Cronenberg/Jeff Goldblum FLY from 1986 and its unfortunate sequel. There are a number of reasons for this. I always found the first two FLY films to be onContinue reading “CURSE OF THE FLY Is My Favorite FLY Movie”

Although they are renowned today for the series of horror films made between 1954 and 1976, Hammer Films actually got their start back in the 1930s. They only made a few films before going on hiatus until after World War II when they reemerged with a series of low budget film noirs before embarking onContinue reading “THE PHANTOM SHIP (1935): Bela Lugosi Meets Hammer Films”

Charley Chase began his career as Charles Parrott (his real name) at Keystone in 1914 where he worked with Arbuckle, Normand, and Chaplin in small unbilled parts. He turned to direction at roughly the same time and eventually went to work for Hal Roach in the early 1920s where he met a young fellow namedContinue reading “CHARLEY CHASE: This Long Awaited Set Is Almost Perfect”