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Tag Archives: silent films
“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
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged drama, Greta Garbo, H.D., historical drama, silent films, Sweden
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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
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Ann-Margret, art, baseball, Belgium, crime movies, documentary, drama, Elvis Presley, France, friends, Italy, Japan, Little Richard, musical, reviews, silent films, South Korea, The Netherlands, women directors
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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
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Charlie Chaplin, Hart Crane, silent films
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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
“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
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Movies, writers
Tagged Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, interviews, silent films
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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
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Billy Wilder, Bong Joon-Ho, comedy, dance movies, documentary, drama, France, Fred MacMurray, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Jack Lemmon, Japan, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, Juliette Binoche, Marilyn Monroe, Mervyn LeRoy, Miriam Hopkins, Pre-Code, Shirley MacLaine, silent films, thrillers
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The Female Gaze (literally)
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.
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
Posted in Movies
Tagged biopic, China, Hong Kong, Maggie Cheung, reviews, silent films
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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
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged David Lynch, documentary, drama, Germany, Robert Aldrich, sci-fi, Shirley Jackson, silent films, Twin Peaks, women directors
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Ebertfest Day 3: A Page of Madness (1926), with the Alloy Orchestra
Every year a silent film is screened at Ebertfest, with music performed (and composed) by the three-man Alloy Orchestra. It’s always a highlight of the festival. They have such interesting careers. They are film historians, but also artists, who choose … Continue reading
