Category Archives: Silent Film

Greed

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Movieking

“Greed,” thought of as a significant silent film, stars Zasu Pitts, Gibson Gowland and Jean Hersholt in a story about what happens when Trina (Pitts) wins the lottery but refuses to spend any of her winnings.  She obsessively pinches pennies, … Continue reading →

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The Last Edition

Posted on August 22, 2013 by John Grant

Years ago, when I went to an interview to work for The Memphis Commercial Appeal, a large daily newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee, I walked through the room where a giant machine puts the newspapers together and shoots them out on … Continue reading →

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The Outlaw and His Wife

Posted on August 19, 2013 by John Grant

I love it when filmmakers during the silent era took their cameras into the wilderness, away from creeping civilization, to tell stories of hardship and survival against significant odds.  Victor Sjöström, an early pioneer of Swedish cinema, tells such a … Continue reading →

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The Joyless Street

Posted on August 16, 2013 by John Grant

Few films capture a time and a place like “The Joyless Street (Die Freudlose Gasse),” the 1925 silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and starring Greta Garbo and Asta Nielsen. The movie presents the human misery of poverty and … Continue reading →

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The House on Trubnaya Square

Posted on August 13, 2013 by John Grant

After seeing “The Girl With the Hatbox,” the 1927 silent Soviet film directed by Boris Barnet, I realized that laughs and funny situations can occur in any society and under any circumstances.  That film reminded the populace of the glories … Continue reading →

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Gribiche

Posted on August 10, 2013 by John Grant

I pulled out my trusty Harrap’s French dictionary to look up “gribiche,” but I could not find a definition.   A different source mentioned a French sauce called gribiche that consists of oil, egg yolks, mustard, capers and tarragon.  It’s … Continue reading →

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Legong: Dance of the Virgins

Posted on August 4, 2013 by John Grant

The great thing about the “Process 2” technical process is that it produces a dreamy quality to films.  The Process 2 Technicolor method uses 2 filters, one red and one green.  The filtered exposures are developed and then cemented together … Continue reading →

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The Half-Breed

Posted on August 1, 2013 by John Grant

The 2013 San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) went all the way back to 1916 to unveil Douglas Fairbanks playing an American Indian/white character named Lo Dorman, who lives as an outcast in the forests around Calaveras County, California.  The … Continue reading →

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The Golden Clown

Posted on July 28, 2013 by John Grant

I knew what to expect when the 2013 San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) ended Friday night with “The Golden Clown,” a 1926 Danish film directed by A. W. Sandberg.  The SFSFF often presents horror, science fiction and futuristic fantasies … Continue reading →

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Tokyo Chorus

Posted on July 25, 2013 by John Grant

“Tokyo Chorus,” another film that played at the 2013 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, tells the story of what happens when a family man loses his job. The 1931 film, directed by Yasuhirõ Ozu, begins at a school, where a teacher … Continue reading →

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