Tag Archives: silent films

December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary

The Golden Bachelor Watched – in great hilarity – with Karen and Allison during a raucous sleepover, and Carol pulled up on FaceTime. So we could watch together. The whole thing is so ridiculous. Maestro (2023; d. Bradley Cooper) I … Continue reading

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“I learned to act while watching Martha Graham dance and I learned to move in film from watching Chaplin.” — Louise Brooks

“One of the most mysterious and potent figures in the history of the cinema … she was one of the first performers to penetrate to the heart of screen acting.” — David Thomson Louise Brooks is one of the most … Continue reading

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“I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be left alone.’ There is all the difference.” — Greta Garbo

It’s her birthday today. She is a difficult subject, not just because she was a private woman, but because her onscreen persona was so fluid, mercurial, hard to grasp. Her gestures could be operatic and swanlike (watch Grand Hotel), but … Continue reading

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April/May 2023 Viewing Diary

River of Grass (1994; d. Kelly Reichardt) Reichardt’s first film. Wendy and Lucy (2008; d. Kelly Reichardt) The start of Reichardt’s collaboration with Michelle Williams. Showing Up (2023; d. Kelly Reichardt) Reichardt’s latest. I reviewed for Ebert. It’s fine. Her … Continue reading

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“All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin

“The secret of Mack Sennett’s success was his enthusiasm. He was a great audience and laughed genuinely at what he thought funny. He stood and giggled until his body began to shake. This encouraged me and I began to explain … Continue reading

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“The camera is always where it needs to be with him.” — Interview with Dana Stevens, author of Camera Man

I interviewed Dana Stevens about her wonderful book Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century, after a screening of Keaton’s The General last week at the Jane Pickens Theater in Newport, Rhode … Continue reading

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July 2021 Viewing Diary

Sally, Mary and Irene (1925; d. Edmund Goulding) For some reason, I forgot to include this gem in my June viewing diary. Considered lost forever, it is one of Joan Crawford’s earliest films – and one where she is actually … Continue reading

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Mirrors #7

Joan Crawford in one of her earliest successes, Sally, Irene and Mary (1925). What do you want to bet her character is headed for a rocky road? You know I love mirror shots. Adding it to the collection.

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For Ebert: On Stanley Kwan’s 1991 masterpiece Center Stage

It’s Women Writers Week over on Ebert (Table of Contents), and I wrote about the biopic with which I measure all other biopics: Stanley Kwan’s Center Stage about the brief intense life of “the Chinese Greta Garbo,” silent film star … Continue reading

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May 2020 Viewing Diary

Homeland, Season 1-6 I finally caught up with Homeland, binge-watching it as I endured my lonely quarantine. Binge-watching has been a comfort. I’m having a hard time absorbing new things. I’ve been re-reading books. Re-watching things. Or, succumbing to the … Continue reading

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