Monthly Archives: June 2013

Pordenone Silent Film Festival 2013

The Pordenone Silent Film Festival, scheduled for October 5-12, 2013, announced its Advance Program News, which includes the sections for this year’s festival.  However, the complete schedule has not been released. PROGRAM SECTIONS SPECIAL EVENTS MEXICAN CINEMA / THE MEXICAN … Continue reading

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Last Train to Gun Hill

Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn and Carolyn Jones star in a terrific western called “Last Train to Gun Hill.”  The 1959 movie features Douglas as Matt Morgan, a Marshall who learns that a pair of cowhands from Gun Hill have raped … Continue reading

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The Story of Qiu Ju

There is no need to wonder about the motivation of the lead character in “The Story of Qiu Ju,” a 1992 Chinese language film directed by Yimou Zhang.  Li Gong plays the title character, a pregnant peasant woman seeking justice … Continue reading

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Love Crazy

Having Myrna Loy and William Powell in a movie works every time, especially when the script provides an interesting story and hilarious situations.  That’s the case with “Love Crazy,” the 1941 movie directed by Jack Conway and also starring Jack … Continue reading

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Heartbeat

The 1938 French film “Le Schpountz,” was released as “Heartbeat” in the USA; however, the English title hardly makes sense since the lead character is referred to as Le Schpountz throughout the film.  A Schpountz is a foolish fellow, perhaps … Continue reading

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The Pleasure Garden

Alfred Hitchcock’s directorial debut, “The Pleasure Garden,” a silent feature released in 1926, portrays the stories of two chorus women who work in a famous London nightclub called The Pleasure Garden Theater.  A recent restoration of the film by the … Continue reading

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Silent Film Resources

Since the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will present its “Hitchcock 9” special event starting tomorrow,  I thought I’d mention the excellent “Resources” page on the silentfilm.org website: http://www.silentfilm.org/about/resources Impotence is said to be a sexual issue where in a … Continue reading

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Kim

It’s always a pleasure to see Errol Flynn performing in a movie.  With Flynn, you can count on adventure, a big story and lots of confident humor.  Although “Kim,’ a 1950 color film, features a boy as the main character, … Continue reading

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Tom Dick and Harry

Even the lightest of films works better with a good cast, and that’s the case with “Tom Dick and Harry.”  The 1941 film directed by Henry Hathaway stars Ginger Rogers as Janie, a ditsy telephone operator who dreams of marriage … Continue reading

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Seven Thieves

A Monte Carlo caper movie with Edward G. Robinson, Rod Steiger and Joan Collins sounds like a winner, so I was happy to watch “Seven Thieves.”  Robinson plays a disgraced professor (Theo Wilkins) who wants to do something big before … Continue reading

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