Reading Room

OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1934) (opens virtualvirago.blogspot.com in a new tab)

Essay on Bette Davis's groundbreaking performance and the film's dark portrayal of obsession.

Virtual Virago: Classic Films in Focus

On Of Human Bondage

The Lonedale Operator (1911) - National Film Preservation Foundation (opens filmpreservation.org in a new tab)

Archive essay on Griffith's innovative editing techniques and narrative cross-cutting.

National Film Preservation Foundation

On The Lonedale Operator

The Blue Angel (1930) | The Definitives (opens deepfocusreview.com in a new tab)

Critical analysis of Sternberg's direction and Dietrich's iconic performance as Lola Lola.

Deep Focus Review

On The Blue Angel

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

The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) Film Synopsis and Discussion (opens obscurehollywood.net in a new tab)

Historical examination of the film's creation of the gangster film genre.

Obscure Hollywood

On The Musketeers of Pig Alley

Quo vadis?, Cabiria and the 'Archaeologists': Early Italian Cinema's Appropriation of Art and Archaeology (opens 19thc-artworldwide.org in a new tab)

Academic article examining the film's use of art and archaeology in Italian epic cinema.

19th C Art Worldwide

On Quo Vadis?

Willing Seduction: The Blue Angel, Marlene Dietrich, and Mass Culture (opens berghahnbooks.com in a new tab)

Book-length study of the film's relationship to mass culture and Dietrich's star image.

Berghahn Books

On The Blue Angel

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

D.W. Griffith's Abraham Lincoln (1930) (opens parkridgeclassicfilm.com in a new tab)

Essay on Griffith's biographical film and its portrayal of Lincoln as a humanized figure.

Park Ridge Classic Film

On Abraham Lincoln

His Prehistoric Past (7 December 1914) (opens chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Detailed film-by-film examination of this Chaplin short including production context and critical reception.

Chaplin: Film by Film

On His Prehistoric Past

The Dawn Patrol (1930) - Movie Review (opens alternateending.com in a new tab)

Review of this important war film that interprets and stretches the boundaries of aviation cinema.

Alternate Ending

On The Dawn Patrol

Registering the Registry 2020: Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) (opens gargus-scp.medium.com in a new tab)

Analysis of Chaplin's screen debut of the Tramp character filmed at the 1914 Pushmobile Parade in Venice, California.

Medium

On Kid Auto Races at Venice

Shanghai Express (1932) (opens criterion.com in a new tab)

Criterion's analysis of this visually poetic Sternberg-Dietrich collaboration.

Criterion Collection

On Shanghai Express

Mabel's Strange Predicament (9 February 1914) (opens chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Detailed examination of the first Tramp film credited to Normand's direction and its significance in character development.

Chaplin: Film by Film

On Mabel's Strange Predicament

The Strong Man - San Francisco Silent Film Festival (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival documentation of Capra and Langdon's comedic masterpiece.

On The Strong Man

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

My Best Girl (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival guide to Pickford's department store romance.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

On My Best Girl

West of the Divide (opens publicdomainmovie.net in a new tab)

Essay on this early John Wayne western and its themes of child abuse within a morality play tradition.

Public Domain Movies

On West of the Divide

An Inn in Tokyo – 1935, Yasujiro Ozu (opens wondersinthedark.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Essay on Ozu's last silent film and its neo-realist approach to depicting urban poverty.

Wonders in the Dark

On An Inn in Tokyo

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

AN INN IN TOKYO (Yasujiro Ozu, 1935) (opens grunes.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Critical analysis of Ozu's transitional film blending silent melodrama with postwar formalism.

Dennis Grunes

On An Inn in Tokyo

The Rounders (7 September 1914) (opens chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Analysis of Chaplin and Arbuckle's drunken duo comedy examining visual gags and physical performance.

Chaplin: Film by Film

On The Rounders

Minding the Gaps: 'The Devil Is a Woman' (1935) (opens thereveal.substack.com in a new tab)

Essay on Sternberg's final Dietrich collaboration and its extreme aestheticism and pessimism.

The Reveal

On The Devil Is a Woman

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