Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Those who forget History are condemned to repeat it” is the famous quote and perhaps that explains the current movie climate where remakes predominate. As we continue to evolve into a culture of short term gratification and long term memory loss, it’s important to rediscover forgotten parts of our cinematic history especially when it’s presentedContinue reading “CHICAGO (1927): Magnificent Restoration Of The Original Version”

It may sound a bit odd to call a 1927 film a salute to early cinema but as silent film enthusiasts know, movies have been around since before the dawn of the 20th century. The earliest narrative films come from France in the movies of Alice Guy and Georges Melies ca. 1896 and it isContinue reading “THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT Is Rene Clair’s Salute To Early French Cinema”

While he made many earlier films, GARDEN OF EDEN is the earliest of director Lewis Milestone’s works to survive. I have been waiting for a properly restored version of this movie ever since I saw an abridged version of it on VHS as part of Paul Killiam’s SILENTS PLEASE series. Milestone, whose career spanned 40Continue reading “THE GARDEN OF EDEN (1928) Could Be Considered The Birth Of A ” Milestone””

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”