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 Very First Film Adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a Thomas Edison Production (1910) (opens openculture.com in a new tab)

Historical essay on the first cinema adaptation of Frankenstein and its departure from the source material.

Open Culture

On Frankenstein

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

Early Silents: The Great Train Robbery and The Lonedale Operator (opens ptsnob.com in a new tab)

Comparative analysis of narrative editing innovation in early American cinema.

PT Snob

On The Lonedale Operator

The Cameraman's Revenge (1912): The Truly Weird Origin of Modern Stop-Motion Animation (opens openculture.com in a new tab)

Essay on Starewicz's revolutionary use of articulated insects in stop-motion animation.

Open Culture

On The Cameraman's Revenge

Thoughts On: 'The Musketeers of Pig Alley' (1912) (opens silentology.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Critical analysis of Griffith's pioneering gangster film and its innovative cinematography.

Silent-ology

On The Musketeers of Pig Alley

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

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

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

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

Party Girl: Nana (1926) (opens r-emmetsweeney.com in a new tab)

Critical analysis of Renoir's ambitious adaptation of Zola's novel.

R. Emmet Sweeney

On Nana

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

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

The height of visual extravagance (opens rogerebert.com in a new tab)

Ebert's great movies essay on Sternberg's surrealist approach to historical drama.

Roger Ebert

On The Scarlet Empress

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

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 FILM PATROL: The NFR Project #35: William S. Hart, cowboy hero (opens filmpatrol.com in a new tab)

Essay on Hart's contribution to Western authenticity and National Film Registry preservation significance.

The Film Patrol

On The Bargain

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

The Immigrant Is Chaplin's Most Famous Short for a Reason (opens trettleman.medium.com in a new tab)

Essay analyzing the film's social criticism of immigration and American Dream mythology through Chaplin's persona.

Medium

On The Immigrant