Reading Room

Louis Feuillade: Master of Melodrama (opens filmcomment.com in a new tab)

Critical essay on Feuillade's crime serial examining narrative innovation and reappraisal by modern critics.

Film Comment

On The Vampires or, The Arch Criminals of Paris

Nana 1926, directed by Jean Renoir | Film review (opens timeout.com in a new tab)

Review of Renoir's most expensive production and artistic achievement.

TimeOut

On Nana

Universal's 1916 Film of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (opens medium.com in a new tab)

Essay on this pioneering underwater photography film and its technical innovations versus narrative weaknesses.

Medium

On 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Out of the Vaults: American Aristocracy (1916) (opens goldenglobes.com in a new tab)

Essay examining Fairbanks' early starring vehicle satirizing American nouveau riche and social pretension.

Golden Globes

On American Aristocracy

The return of Homunculus (opens davidbordwell.net in a new tab)

Analysis of this proto-Expressionist film examining its visual style and influence on German cinema aesthetics.

Observations on Film Art by David Bordwell

On Homunculus

Seven Chances (1925) (opens queercinemaarchive.com in a new tab)

Critical perspective on the film's gender and relationship dynamics.

Queer Cinema Archive

On Seven Chances

A Slapstick Master Class in Three Chaplin Films (1914) (opens classiccouple.com in a new tab)

Analysis of Chaplin's slapstick techniques and comedic timing in early films.

Classic Couple

On Caught in a Cabaret

The Secret Heart of Judex (opens criterion.com in a new tab)

Critical essay examining Feuillade's serial about a masked vigilante and its sophisticated treatment of justice themes.

The Criterion Collection

On Judex

One A.M. (7 August 1916) (opens chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Detailed examination of Chaplin's unique drunken solo performance and interaction with inanimate objects.

Chaplin: Film by Film

On One A.M.

THE TANGLED MESS OF LOIS WEBER'S WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN? (opens screenculturejournal.com in a new tab)

Essay examining the film's contradictory messaging about birth control and abortion in its social problem framework.

Screen Culture Journal

On Where Are My Children?

Chaplin's View on Authority (opens trettleman.medium.com in a new tab)

Essay examining how Chaplin portrays authority figures and his challenge to institutional control in Easy Street.

Medium

On Easy Street

The Cure (16 April 1917) (opens chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Analysis of Chaplin's alcohol-themed comedy examining satire of health resorts and pre-prohibition attitudes.

Chaplin: Film by Film

On The Cure

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

A Dog's Life Was Chaplin's Most Compassionate Film to Date (opens trettleman.medium.com in a new tab)

Essay examining Chaplin's integration of slapstick with emotional depth through the relationship between tramp and dog.

Medium

On A Dog's Life

Thoughts On: Shoulder Arms (1918) (opens silentology.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Critical analysis of Chaplin's most commercially successful film treating war through the dream narrative device.

Silent-ology

On Shoulder Arms

'Beauty in the lap of horror': the Gothic appeal of Erich von Stroheim in Blind Husbands (1919) — Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (opens nature.com in a new tab)

Academic essay examining Stroheim's Gothic aesthetics and complex seducer character in his directorial debut.

On Blind Husbands

Blind Husbands (1919) Film Synopsis and Discussion (opens obscurehollywood.net in a new tab)

Analysis of Stroheim's debut examining his multi-faceted role as writer, director, producer and actor.

Obscure Hollywood

On Blind Husbands

Broken Blossoms (opens rogerebert.com in a new tab)

Roger Ebert's Great Movie essay celebrating Griffith's intimate melodrama and counter-racist representation.

Roger Ebert

On Broken Blossoms

Sunnyside (15 June 1919) (opens chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Critical examination of Chaplin's experimental dreamlike comedy and its psychological interpretations.

Chaplin: Film by Film

On Sunnyside

film essay for 'One Week' — Library of Congress (opens loc.gov in a new tab)

Library of Congress preservation essay analyzing Keaton's innovative visual gags and kit house comedy.

On One Week

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) | The Definitives (opens deepfocusreview.com in a new tab)

Comprehensive critical analysis of Wiene's German Expressionist horror masterpiece and its cultural significance.

Deep Focus Review

On The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Golem's Step Away from Expressionism (opens trettleman.medium.com in a new tab)

Essay examining the Golem's relationship to German Expressionism and its cinematic techniques.

Medium

On The Golem: How He Came Into the World

The Mark of Zorro (1920): The fabrication of freedom and the cultural hero — UBC Latin American Cinema Blog (opens blogs.ubc.ca in a new tab)

Analysis of Fairbanks' pioneering swashbuckler and its role in defining the adventure film genre.

On The Mark of Zorro

The Parson's Widow (1920): Dreyer's humanism and humour (opens silentlondon.co.uk in a new tab)

Essay on Dreyer's Swedish comedy-drama and its exploration of human relationships and morality.

Silent London

On The Parson's Widow