Posts filed under "Silent Movie Reviews"
Review: The Wind (1928)
Perhaps one of the best films ever made, The Wind from director Victor Sjöström is both a cinematically ripe work of art and a great story told in the simplest of ways. Lillian Gish plays the central role of Letty Mason, a hopeful young woman traveling from Sweet Water Virginia to live with her cousin Beverly, and his miserably [...]
TCM Classic Film Fest: The Big Parade (1925)
Kevin Brownlow was on hand to introduce the newly restored version of this astounding World War I film, one of the first to deal realistically with the horror and tragedy of war on a very personal level. Brownlow is probably the greatest living expert on The Big Parade, not only based on his vast knowledge [...]
Other Reviews: The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
I’ve had a somewhat tortured history with Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc. While being fully cognizant of the fact that the rest of the cinephile world loves and respects this film, I hated it. Basically, whenever it came up in conversation, I would smile and nod and keep my feelings to [...]
Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and “The New York Hat” (1912)
This post was originally published on May 11, 2011, but I’m reposting it today as part of the Mary Pickford Blogathon hosted by Classic Movies. Be sure to check out all of the other fantastic Pickford posts from a diverse and talent group of critics! I have the remarkable privilege of spending a great deal [...]
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
This review was originally published on June 23, 2011. TCM screened Victor Sjöström’s The Phantom Carriage (1921) as part of the regular “Silent Sunday Nights” feature last week. While the movie’s title seems to promise a Nosferatu-like, mid-silent period creep fest it instead delivers a melodramatic morality tale about specific social ills of the day [...]
Cinefest 33: My Boy (1921)
Let’s face it – every Jackie Coogan movie follows the same basic trajectory. Jackie is somehow orphaned and set adrift in the world. Then he teams up with some old codger, who falls in love with the boy despite himself. Hardships befall the pair, but Jackie greets them all with plucky can do, until the [...]
Review: Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (1925)
While poking around archive.org yesterday, I came across Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde, a silent spoof of the perennial Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I’ve long been a fan of Laurel & Hardy movies. While aware that the duo first appeared in silent comedies, I’ve yet to have the privilege of seeing a silent Laurel [...]
The Scarlet Letter (1926)
I’m repubbing this review of The Scarlet Letter, starring Lillian Gish, originally published in July of 2011. Am I being lazy? Yep, but I’m excusing it by saying there’s a lot of new faces here these days. Welcome everyone! After being a bit bamfoozled by The Phantom Carriage, I was excited when TCM aired another Victor Sjöström movie, The [...]
Review: Nanook of the North: A Story Of Life and Love In the Actual Arctic (1922)
It’s really difficult to categorize Robert J. Flaherty’s 1922 masterpiece Nanook of the North: A Story of Love and Life in the Actual Arctic (now more commonly known as Nanook of the North). It is routinely named and considered to be the first feature-length documentary, and genre of filmmaking which did not actually exist in [...]
The Patsy (1928)
Marion Davis is best known these days as the long time mistress of William Randolph Hearst and the inspiration for Susan Alexander Kane in Citizen Kane. While both of these facts are indeed facts, the portrait they paint is of Davies is not only unfair, it’s flat out erroneous. Davies was already building a nice [...]
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