Reviews of films and books.
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 Reading
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 …
Continue Reading
Horror has always been a genre tremendously suited for exploring the inner machinations of human desire and morality. Two cinematic adaptations of Maurice Renard’s 1920 novel, Robert Wiene’s 1924 The Hands of Orlac and Karl Freund’s Mad Love, explore this in a tale of …
Continue Reading
When plucked by Daryl F. Zanuck from Paramount to helm the production of 1940’s Brigham Young, director Henry Hathaway initially told Zanuck that “the two dullest things are wagon trains and religion”. Despite Hathaway’s and others’ correct assertion that the project didn’t scream box …
Continue Reading
In the midst of putting together my list of six books to read and review for this summer’s classic film reading challenge, lady luck smiled upon me when I won a giveaway on Twitter from the wonderful women behind the Ticklish Business podcast. One …
Continue Reading
For each of the past two classic film reading challenges, I read a Zane Grey Western that had been adapted into multiple classic Hollywood films: Riders of the Purple Sage and Heritage of the Desert. Earlier this year when I saw a book covering …
Continue Reading