Reading Room

'Within Our Gates' (1920) By Daniel Eagan — Library of Congress (opens loc.gov in a new tab)

Library of Congress essay analyzing Micheaux's foundational race film addressing racism and black uplift.

On Within Our Gates

My Man Godfrey: The Right Kind of People (opens criterion.com in a new tab)

Criterion essay on La Cava's screwball comedy and its Depression-era commentary on class.

Criterion Collection

On My Man Godfrey

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

The man who came to buttle (opens rogerebert.com in a new tab)

Ebert's great movies essay celebrating this quintessential 1930s screwball comedy.

Roger Ebert

On My Man Godfrey

The Aquatic Allure of The Kingdom of Fairies (opens trettleman.medium.com in a new tab)

Scholarly essay examining the film's visual composition and theatrical influences on cinema.

Medium

On The Kingdom of the Fairies

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

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

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

Blood and Sand (1922): Rudolph Valentino — Alt Film Guide (opens altfg.com in a new tab)

Essay on Niblo's matador melodrama featuring Valentino's performance and Arzner's innovative editing.

On Blood and Sand

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

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

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?

His Prehistoric Past: Film Analysis (opens apocalypselaterfilm.com in a new tab)

Critical analysis of Chaplin's final Keystone production examining its dream-fantasy device and comic execution.

Apocalypse Later Film Reviews

On His Prehistoric Past

Notre-Dame de Paris/The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1911) (opens markdavidwelsh.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Critical review of Capellani's film d'art adaptation and its faithfulness to the source.

Mark David Welsh

On The Hunchback of Notre Dame

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

Festival analysis of Dupont's revolutionary mobile camera techniques.

On Variety

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

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

A Page of Madness - San Francisco Silent Film Festival (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival documentation of Kinugasa's pioneering avant-garde masterpiece.

On A Page of Madness

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

Battling Butler - San Francisco Silent Film Festival (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival documentation of Keaton's personal favorite and commercially successful comedy.

On Battling Butler

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

La Bohème - San Francisco Silent Film Festival (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival resource on Vidor's romantic tragedy and Gish's acclaimed performance.

On La Bohème

City Lights movie review & film summary (opens rogerebert.com in a new tab)

Ebert's essay on Chaplin's masterpiece and its lyrical romanticism and defiance of sound cinema.

Roger Ebert Great Movies

On City Lights

Flesh and the Devil - San Francisco Silent Film Festival (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival resource on Garbo and Gilbert's chemistry and film legacy.

On Flesh and the Devil