Category Archives: Silent Film

Robinson Crusoe

Posted on October 6, 2012 by John Grant

Pordenone, Italy — A special event at this year’s 31st Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate Del Cinema Muto) featured, on October 6, a wonderful restoration (by the Cinémathèque Française and Laboratoires Éclaire) of a George Méliès 1902 film called … Continue reading →

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The Patsy

Posted on October 6, 2012 by John Grant

Pordenone, Italy — The silent film festival festival here screened the comedy “The Patsy,” which stars Marion Davies and Marie Dressler.  The King Vidor directed comedy features Davies as a woman (Patricia) who falls in love with her sister’s boyfriend … Continue reading →

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Our Modern Maidens

Posted on October 2, 2012 by John Grant

MGM pays tribute to the revved-up late 1920s in “Our Modern Maidens,” a 1929 film starring Joan Crawford, Anita Page and Douglas Fairbanks, Junior.  MGM added sound effects, but the mostly silent picture follows the story of Billie, the most … Continue reading →

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The Red Mill

Posted on September 26, 2012 by John Grant

“The Red Mill,” a 1927 silent picture starring Marion Davies, features Davies as Tina, a drudge and servant girl in Holland who falls in love with foreign visitor Dennis, played by Owen Moore.  Tina and Dennis skate together along the … Continue reading →

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The Merry Widow

Posted on September 17, 2012 by John Grant

Last night, TCM exposed countless millions to Erich von Stroheim’s 1925 classic, “The Merry Widow,” starring John Gilbert, Mae Murray and Roy D’Arcy.  Gilbert plays Prince Danilo in a strange European country called Monteblanco, where his cousin, Crown Prince Mirko … Continue reading →

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Artistic Pictures

Posted on September 14, 2012 by John Grant

The 31st Pordenone Silent Film Festival, scheduled for October 6 to October 13, 2012, will show a program called “The Stories of W. W. Jacobs.”  Jacobs, an English fiction writer, wrote humorous stories, but is best known for a 1902 … Continue reading →

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Anna Sten

Posted on September 8, 2012 by John Grant

At the 31st Pordenone Silent Film Festival, we’ll get a feeling for why Samuel Goldwyn brought Anna Sten to America.  He saw a major star in her after seeing her Soviet and German films.  But although a great beauty,  Sten … Continue reading →

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Sparrows

Posted on September 5, 2012 by John Grant

A local gardener, Charlie, told me that, at the age of 5, he met Mary Pickford in 1927 in Anaheim, California.  He still remembers that day well; any five-year old who met Pickford at that time must have thought of … Continue reading →

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The Sheik

Posted on August 30, 2012 by John Grant

Rudolph Valentino first appeared on the silver screen in an uncredited role in a lost D. W. Griffith film called “The Battle of the Sexes” in 1914.  Several other films followed in which he played exotic and villainous roles.  But after he … Continue reading →

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Harry Langdon

Posted on August 27, 2012 by John Grant

Just before he made Frank Capra’s “The Strong Man” in 1926, Harry Langdon starred in “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,” an engaging and very funny story about a little man who enters a cross-country walking race for a $50,000 purse that will … Continue reading →

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