Reading Room

Mother (1926) - Writers Without Money (opens writerswithoutmoney.com in a new tab)

Critical perspective on Soviet cinema's approach to revolutionary narrative.

Writers Without Money

On Mother

Out of the Vaults: Abraham Lincoln, 1930 (opens film-foundation.org in a new tab)

Analysis of this early sound biography and its historical inaccuracies alongside its artistic merits.

Film Foundation

On Abraham Lincoln

La fée aux choux | film by Guy-Blachê (opens britannica.com in a new tab)

Encyclopedia entry on Alice Guy-Blachê's pioneering narrative film, the first fiction film ever made.

Britannica

On The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

A History of Screenwriting – The Cabbage Fairy (La Fée aux Choux) (opens rosannewelch.com in a new tab)

Scholarly analysis of the film's significance as the first narrative film and its pioneering screenwriting.

On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

On The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

The Disappearance of the Working Class from the Cinematic Screen — Widok. Theories and Practices of Visual Culture (opens pismowidok.org in a new tab)

Scholarly article examining the representation of working-class labor in early cinema and its historical significance.

On Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

Watch the Film That Invented Cinema: Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon (1895) (opens openculture.com in a new tab)

Educational analysis of the film's historical importance as a foundational work of cinema history.

Open Culture

On Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

I Cover the Waterfront (1933) with Claudette Colbert and Ben Lyon (opens pre-code.com in a new tab)

Analysis of this pre-Code drama about smuggling and forbidden romance.

Pre-Code.Com

On I Cover the Waterfront

Caught in a Cabaret (27 April 1914) (opens chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Critical essay on Chaplin's early comic performance and character development.

Chaplin: Film by Film

On Caught in a Cabaret

MoMA | Howard Hawks's The Dawn Patrol — Museum of Modern Art (opens moma.org in a new tab)

Analysis of Hawks' direction of World War I aviation drama and Academy Award-winning story.

On The Dawn Patrol

Westfront 1918 (opens criterion.com in a new tab)

Criterion release with essay on Pabst's pacifist war film and its innovative sound design.

Criterion Collection

On Westfront 1918

Westfront 1918: War Is Hell (opens criterion.com in a new tab)

Essay on Pabst's intimate depiction of WWI trench warfare and its immediate Nazi ban.

Criterion Collection Current

On Westfront 1918

MoMA | G. W. Pabst's Westfront 1918 — Museum of Modern Art (opens moma.org in a new tab)

Analysis of Pabst's effective realism and brilliant use of sound in this anti-war film.

On Westfront 1918

City Lights (1931) | The Definitives (opens deepfocusreview.com in a new tab)

Critical essay on Chaplin's final silent film and its combination of comedy and profound emotion.

Deep Focus Review

On City Lights

Ozu's Space Adventures: Editing in PASSING FANCY (opens criterionchannel.com in a new tab)

Essay examining Ozu's distinctive editing and compositional techniques in this family comedy.

The Criterion Channel

On Passing Fancy

Radical Object: The Blue Angel (1930) (opens historyworkshop.org.uk in a new tab)

Essay examining the film's transgressive elements and cultural significance during Nazi era.

History Workshop

On The Blue Angel

The First Horror Film, Georges Méliès' The Haunted Castle (1896) (opens openculture.com in a new tab)

Analysis of Méliès' pioneering horror film and its technical innovations in stop-motion effects.

Open Culture

On Le manoir du diable

Vampyr at 90: how Carl Dreyer conjured a waking nightmare — BFI (opens bfi.org.uk in a new tab)

Retrospective essay celebrating Dreyer's creation of atmosphere through visual innovation and technique.

On Vampyr

Beginner's Guide to Alfred Hitchcock: Murder! (1930) (opens talkfilmsociety.com in a new tab)

Guide to Hitchcock's exploration of theatrical spaces and wrongful accusation themes.

Talk Film Society

On Murder!

Sublime Tragicomedy: I Was Born, But… (1932) — Establishing Shot (opens blogs.iu.edu in a new tab)

Essay analyzing Ozu's blend of comedy and social critique in his exploration of class and family.

On I Was Born, But...

BFI Screenonline: As Seen Through A Telescope (1900) (opens screenonline.org.uk in a new tab)

Critical analysis of George Albert Smith's innovative use of point-of-view cinematography and film grammar.

BFI Screenonline

On As Seen Through a Telescope

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival guide to Cooper and Schoedsack's jungle documentary-drama.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

On Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness

The Son of the Sheik - San Francisco Silent Film Festival (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival resource on Valentino's final performance before his death.

On The Son of the Sheik

Neglected film: OUR DAILY BREAD (1934) (opens oforinvolvingmotionpictures.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Essay exploring Vidor's Depression-era collective farm drama and its social commentary.

Of or Involving Motion Pictures

On Our Daily Bread

M (1931) | The Definitives (opens deepfocusreview.com in a new tab)

Critical analysis of Lang's masterpiece and its prescient warnings about mass justice.

Deep Focus Review

On M