Category Archives: Uncategorized

My introduction to silent films occured at a most unlikely place, a pizza parlor in Greenville SC. This was back in the early 1960’s when silent films were first being rediscovered. More often than not they were used to get laughs like on a TV show popular at the time called FRACTURED FLICKERS or atContinue reading “BEFORE HOLLYWOOD: A Fascinating Look At East Coast Filmmaking”

This film which was originally called 13 (it’s still listed as that in the end title credits). I’m sure the title was changed to make it sound more horrific. I assume it refers to a pagan amulet used in the film although no one ever calls it that. While watching this film I was struckContinue reading “EYE OF THE DEVIL: A Pre-WICKER MAN Thriller”

There have been 6 major film adaptations featuring Raymond Chandler’s “poor but honest” LA private detective Philip Marlowe. It starts in 1945 with Dick Powell in MURDER, MY SWEET (changed from FAREWELL MY LOVELY) which is closely followed by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s THE BIG SLEEP (shot in 1944 but released in 1946). FlashContinue reading “MARLOWE (1968): The Best Of The Modern Philip Marlowes”

It has been half a century since I first saw this movie. Watching it again for the first time in all those years made me realize what an impact it had on me way back when. Certain scenes just jumped right out at me as if I were still a child while I can nowContinue reading “MACABRE (1958): William Castle’s First Gimmick Horror Movie”

Now that Hollywood has finally gotten around to acknowledging the fact that women filmmakers are just as capable as men and are giving them the opportunities to direct that have long been denied them, more attention is being paid to Lois Weber. Weber was a true pioneer whose success as a filmmaker between 1915 andContinue reading “A CHAPTER IN HER LIFE / THE SENSATION SEEKERS: 2 Lois Weber Movies Made After She Lost Her Independence”

Having just seen and reviewed the new Blu-Ray for OUTSIDE THE LAW, I then turned my attention to Kino’s other Priscilla Dean Blu-Ray release DRIFTING/THE WHITE TIGER (both 1923) especially as I had never seen either one of them before. That leaves only THE WICKED DARLING (1919) as the last surviving Priscilla Dean/Tod Browning collaborationContinue reading “PRISCILLA DEAN: 3 Movies – One Good, One OK, One Missing”

It’s hard to think of a more important silent film or any major work of world cinema that has taken as long to be issued in a definitive version than BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN. It took many years and the combined efforts of several different film archives to put POTEMKIN back together again but it has beenContinue reading “BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN: The Definitive Edition”

DESTINY or to be more precise WEARY DEATH (Death is tired of man’s hatred for just doing his job) was the first big international success for Fritz Lang and his collaborator Thea von Harbou. She would marry him after this film and be responsible for his scenarios until Lang left her and Germany in 1933.Continue reading “DESTINY (1921): Kino Restoration Is First Rate”

As much as I love this movie, Kino’s Blu-Ray edition is a textbook example of how high end resolution does not always benefit older movies especially when they haven’t been restored. Of the many different versions of this title that I have seen from the 1999 Image edition to the 2001 Kino edition to thisContinue reading “DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE (1920): Not An Ideal Candidate for Blu-Ray”

THE EAGLE was something of a comeback picture for Valentino. His popularity sagged after the disastrous MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE in which he played a foppish aristocat who was a little too foppish for 1920’s audiences. This story of a Russian Robin Hood taken from Pushkin was just what he needed to regain his lost fan base.Continue reading “THE EAGLE: Valentino Action Movie Is Given A Slight Upgrade From DVD To Blu-Ray”