On DVD/Blu-ray – Review: A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929)
by NIR SHALEV
Director Anthony Asquith had most notably directed classics such as Pygmalion (1938), The Winslow Boy (1948), The Browning Version (1951), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) but he got an early and tremendous start with the late silent A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929). He delivers a noirish-looking psychological/revenge drama that’s atmospheric at times and just plain mesmerizing throughout. Read more 
In the Blogosphere – July, 2012
by HELEN GEIB
A monthly round-up of some recent blog posts I enjoyed reading.
Films Worth Watching praises Lillian and Dorothy Gish in Orphans of the Storm
At Observations on film art, David Bordwell takes the publication of the new edition of Film Art, his textbook with Kristin Thompson, as an opportunity for reflection and a look ahead Read more
Festival Report – Cinesation 2011, Part 3
by HELEN GEIB
Cinesation 2011 Day 3 – Sunday, September 25
Lord Jim (1925)
Lord Jim is a good movie taken on its own terms and a creditable adaptation of the Joseph Conrad novel. Read more
Festival Report – Cinesation 2011, Part 1
by HELEN GEIB
Cinesation 2011 Day 1 – Friday, September 23
The Gun Woman (1918)
Friday started with two incomplete films. The Gun Woman was incomplete only due to personal circumstances: it was the first feature of the day and Indianapolis is a five hour drive from the Lincoln Theater in Massillon, Ohio. What I saw of it was of interest as an early work by director Frank Borzage and for its saloon owner heroine, played by Texas Guinan. She’s a curious mixture of wronged woman and “good badwoman,” a sort of female William S. Hart. The story plays out much like a Hart film would play out- which is not the ending one expects a heroine in a film of that era to meet. Read more
DVD of the Week – “3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg” Box Set
by HELEN GEIB
It’s a happy day for silent film lovers. Criterion has released director Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld (1927), The Last Command and The Docks of New York (both 1928) in a new three film DVD box set. This a terrifically exciting and long-overdue DVD release. Read more
Cinesation 2009 Festival Report, Part Two
by HELEN GEIB
Part two of my Cinesation 2009 festival report. The spotlight is on Sessue Hayakawa, star of the fest’s final two silents. Read more
Cinesation 2009 Festival Report, Part One
by HELEN GEIB
The silent film program for Cinesation 2009 offered a strong lineup of star vehicles featuring Mary Pickford, Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman, and Sessue Hayakawa. Colleen Moore appeared in an early supporting role while veteran character actor Edward Everett Horton was elevated to the starring part. There were also several of the obscure titles favored by the festival organizers, some of which were good. Read more
Silent Reflections – From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
by HELEN GEIB
From the Manger to the Cross is a chronological overview of significant events in the life of Jesus as recounted in the Gospels. A great popular success in its day, the film holds little dramatic or visual interest for today’s audiences, even among silent film enthusiasts. Its significance is in its place in film history. It is an important work of the transition period between the era of one and two reel pre-features, the years around 1910, and the feature era that had become established by the mid-1910s. Read more
DVD of the Week – Review and Disc Commentary Track for Sunrise (1927)
by NIR SHALEV
Director F. W. Murnau is mostly remembered today for Nosferatu (1922) and Faust (1926), but his first American film, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, is his best film and also one of the greatest films ever made. Read more
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