Reading Room

In the very first scene of The Thief of Bagdad — Library of Congress (opens loc.gov in a new tab)

NFPB essay examining the film's visual grandeur and imaginative special effects.

On The Thief of Bagdad

260: Paul Leni's Waxworks (opens archivalspaces.com in a new tab)

Analysis of Waxworks as the swan song of German Expressionist cinema.

Archival Spaces

On Waxworks

Battleship Potemkin: Utilising Montage to Elicit Emotion (opens duck-eyes.com in a new tab)

Analysis of Eisenstein's dialectical editing approach to create emotional impact.

Duck Eyes

On Battleship Potemkin

Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life - The Criterion Channel — The Criterion Collection (opens criterionchannel.com in a new tab)

Critical essay on Cooper and Schoedsack's documentary capturing an epic tribal journey.

On Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life

Film essay for Grass (1925) — Library of Congress (opens loc.gov in a new tab)

NFPB essay on the pioneering ethnographic documentary of the Bakhtiari tribe's migration.

On Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life

He Who Gets Slapped (1924): Life is a cruel joke (opens silentlondon.co.uk in a new tab)

Analysis of Lon Chaney's restrained performance as a scientist turned circus clown.

Silent London

On He Who Gets Slapped

Lazybones (Frank Borzage, 1925) (opens allenjohn.over-blog.com in a new tab)

Essay on Borzage's direction and the film's emotional resonance.

Allen John's attic

On Lazybones

King Vidor's The Big Parade (opens moma.org in a new tab)

Museum analysis of the film's artistic achievement and influence on subsequent war cinema.

MoMA

On The Big Parade

The Freshman - The Criterion Collection (opens criterion.com in a new tab)

Criterion essay on Harold Lloyd's most successful silent comedy.

The Criterion Collection

On The Freshman

The Freshman: Speedy Saves the Day! - The Criterion Collection (opens criterion.com in a new tab)

Critical analysis of Lloyd's iconic performance and the film's enduring charm.

The Criterion Collection

On The Freshman

The Phantom of the Opera: A Cinematography Essay — American Society of Cinematographers (opens theasc.com in a new tab)

Technical analysis of the film's visual design and Chaney's transformative makeup artistry.

On The Phantom of the Opera

The Gold Rush - As Good as Gold (opens criterion.com in a new tab)

Essay analyzing Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece and its status as one of cinema's greatest films.

The Criterion Collection

On The Gold Rush

Film essay for The Gold Rush — Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board (opens loc.gov in a new tab)

Scholarly essay on the production and cultural significance of Chaplin's comedy epic.

On The Gold Rush

Film essay for The Iron Horse — Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board (opens loc.gov in a new tab)

Scholarly essay on Ford's epic western and its historical significance.

On The Iron Horse

The Lost World (1925) (opens thehorseshead.blog in a new tab)

Critical examination of Willis O'Brien's groundbreaking animation technique.

The Horse's Head

On The Lost World

The Lost World (1925) - Toronto Film Society (opens torontofilmsociety.com in a new tab)

Film notes on the technical innovation and cultural impact of dinosaur cinema.

Toronto Film Society

On The Lost World

The Phantom of the Opera - Great Movie (opens rogerebert.com in a new tab)

Critical appreciation of Lon Chaney's legendary performance and the film's horror innovations.

Roger Ebert

On The Phantom of the Opera

Beginner's Guide to Alfred Hitchcock: The Pleasure Garden (1925) (opens talkfilmsociety.com in a new tab)

Critical introduction to Hitchcock's emerging visual style and narrative approach.

Talk Film Society

On The Pleasure Garden

The Pleasure Garden (1925, Alfred Hitchcock) (opens ianfarrington.wordpress.com in a new tab)

Analysis of voyeurism and sexuality in Hitchcock's debut feature.

Ian Farrington

On The Pleasure Garden

The Unholy Three (opens britannica.com in a new tab)

Encyclopedia entry on Browning and Chaney's crime melodrama.

Britannica

On The Unholy Three

Modern Matinees: A Tale of Two Stellas (opens moma.org in a new tab)

Comparison of the 1925 and 1937 versions examining evolution of the maternal melodrama.

MoMA

On Stella Dallas

Master of the House - San Francisco Silent Film Festival (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)

Festival documentation of Dreyer's complex narrative innovation.

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

Festival resource on Eisenstein's experimental approach to narrative and montage editing.

On Strike