Fame is a fickle thing. Many of the biggest stars of yesteryear are now mere footnotes in pop culture history and remain largely unknown even to us classic film fanatics. The Marathon Stars Blogathon is the perfect chance to dive into one such actor whose …
Continue ReadingThe Saphead—Buster Keaton’s First Starring Vehicle
I recently finished Buster Keaton’s silent filmography—or so I thought. Focused on watching all Keaton’s appearances in Arbuckle shorts, the 21 shorts he directed, and his silent feature comedies, I overlooked his starring role in Herbert Blanche’s 1920 The Saphead.
It was a natural …
Continue ReadingTop Ten and 2023 Year in Review
2023 was a great year for cinema. It’s the first time in several years it felt like there was always something worth checking out at my local theater each month. Even with such stiff modern competition, I had just as good luck with the classic …
Continue ReadingThe Animated Fantasies of Lotte Reiniger
Lotte Reiniger etched her name in cinematic history with her groundbreaking animated feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). Beyond creating the earliest surviving animated feature film, Lotte Reiniger and her entire body of work remain rather obscure today.
From her first film in …
Continue Reading100 Years of 16mm Film
Outside of film enthusiasts, film gauges aren’t thought about much. In a digital world where the majority of the public under forty have never touched a reel of film, people don’t even know what film gauges are. 35mm, 16mm, and 8mm are just arbitrary measurements …
Continue ReadingAlmost Human (1927): Rare Film Stuck in the Doghouse
Anyone even slightly familiar with the silent era knows of the staggering amount of films lost to time either through carelessness, accident, or cost-cutting measures. Less discussed are the dozens and dozens of surviving films extant but unavailable for public viewing hoarded by a private …
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