Author Archives: chipkaufmann

As a theater major in college, I had heard of William Gillette (1853-1937) and his stage performances of Sherlock Holmes. Between 1899 when the play, adapted from a few of the stories by Gillette himself, first opened and the making of this film in 1916, Gillette had portrayed Holmes over 1300 times! Arthur Conan DoyleContinue reading “SHERLOCK HOLMES (1916) Is Full Of Delights”

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES remains the most popular of the Sherlock Holmes stories and has been the most frequently filmed. There are at least 12 versions out there with the best known being the famous 1939 Basil Rathbone vehicle and the 1959 Peter Cushing/Hammer Films version. There’s also a Peter Cook & Dudley MooreContinue reading “DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE (1914 & 1929) ist Wunderbar!”

German director Paul Leni’s WAXWORKS has taken a long time in coming before the public in presentable form. Now that it is finally here on Blu-Ray, there is cause for much rejoicing. As is often the case with most anthology films, the parts are greater than the whole. There are three episodes involving figures inContinue reading “WAXWORKS (1924): German Horror Classic Debuts On Blu-Ray In A Quality Edition From Flicker Alley”

For many years the name of E.A. Dupont was associated with one film made during the Weimar Republic years (1919-1933) and that was VARIETY (1925) with Emil Jannings and Lya De Puti. The renewed interest in silent movies around the turn of the century due to improved restoration techniques led to the rediscovery of theContinue reading “THE ANCIENT LAW (1923): This German Silent Could Be Considered A Forerunner To THE JAZZ SINGER”

Of the many remarkable stories concerning the recovery and restoration of lost films, none is more remarkable than the story of THE CITY WITHOUT JEWS. In fact it’s downright incredible. This 1924 Austrian silent movie about the expulsion of the Jewish population from a major European city and the disastrous circumstances that follow, was aContinue reading “CITY WITHOUT JEWS (1924): The Incredible Story Of A Remarkable Film”

For anyone looking beyond the big three of Soviet Cinema (Dovzhenko, Pudovkin, Eisenstein), this set is a gold mine of cinematic creativity. You get the opportunity to view documentaries (THE FALL OF THE ROMANOV DYNASTY, TURKSIB, SALT FOR SVANETIA), comedies (THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF MR WEST IN THE LAND OF THE BOLSHEVIKS, THE HOUSE ONContinue reading “SOVIET SILENT CINEMA: The Flicker Alley Collection”

The top three directors of Soviet Era during the Silent Era were Sergei Eisenstein, Alexander Dovzhenko, and Vesevolod Pudovkin. While Eisenstein is still readily available in quality home video offerings, the same could not be said of the other two until this Blu-Ray release of 3 classic Pudovkin titles. All three were previously issued onContinue reading “PUDOVKIN TRIPLE FEATURE: Essential For Soviet Silent Film Fans”

When you think of Soviet silent cinema, 3 names immediately come to mind. There’s Sergei Eisenstein (BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN), Vsevolod Pudovkin (MOTHER), and Alexander Dovzhenko (EARTH). These directors and their movies are celebrated for their use of montage editing. The man who pushed that idea farther than anyone else at the time was Dziga Vertov (“spinningContinue reading “THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA (1929): New Restoration Dazzles”

Of all the products issued by Flicker Alley, MISS MEND is certainly the most unusual so far. Intended by the Soviets as a satire of Western style entertainment, this movie has a little something for every silent film fan from the French serials of Feuillade to the American cliffhangers of Pearl White and Helen Holmes.Continue reading “MISS MEND: 1926 Soviet Serial Can’t Make Up Its Mind”

Although I have been a silent movie fan since 1962 (when I was 10), it has only been since the turn of the 21st century and in particular the last 10 years that I have been able to witness the rediscovery and the restoration of many silent films once categorized as lost. Not only thatContinue reading “FRAGMENT OF AN EMPIRE (1929): Remarkable Russian Rediscovery”