Max Linder (director/lead/writer)
Alta Allen (lead)
F.B. Crayne (lead)
Max Linder Productions (production)
Max breaks a mirror, then tries to avoid bad luck, but makes things worse. First of Linder's three full-length feature films made in USA.
Carmine Gallone (director)
Domenico Grimaldi (cinematographer)
Nino Oxilia (writer)
Lyda Borelli (lead)
Cecyl Tryan (lead)
Fulvia Perini (lead)
Augusto Poggioli (lead)
Pina Menichelli (lead)
Società Italiana Cines (production)
The frequent visual jumps and disconnects make it obvious that parts are missing from this fragmented restoration. As further evidence, one of the three character names listed in the opening credits (“Richard Ruggero”) - presumably a main character - doesn't appear in any subsequent title card. Yet, unlike Malombra [1917], there is no source material to refer to for clarification of the story. In fact, it's possible that even if all fragments existed and were correctly assembled, the result would still be confusing as the story lacks depth and solid construction. It feels less like a coherent story, more like a string of cliche hacks quickly thrown together merely to capitalize on a star's appeal (by crew who didn't even spare the time to name the characters!).
But who cares about story? We're here to see the diva flammin' in high fashion, twisted into sultry poses (even dancing!), with that dreamy gaze that wails her tragic fate of being too hip for this world that doesn't deserve her. Lyda in motion is all the story we need...
Luigi Romano Borgnetto (director)
Vincenzo Denizot (director)
Agnes L. Bain (writer)
Giovanni Pastrone (writer)
Bartolomeo Pagano (lead)
Leone Papa (lead)
Amelia Chellini (lead)
Itala (production)
Maciste smoothly steps out of his loincloth and dark skin into spats and double-breasted suit to hit the streets of 20th century Turin, where he is lured by a girl with a sob story straight out of your spam mail folder. A truly straight-up righteous dude, he bails on the dame, kicking a stray dog on the way. Things get worse for the hound when the studio nixed plans for his own spinoff series. Who needs a dog when you've got Maciste?
Charles Swickard (director)
Joseph H. August (cinematographer)
C. Gardner Sullivan (writer)
William S. Hart (lead)
Clara Williams (lead)
Jack Standing (lead)
Alfred Hollingsworth (lead)
Louise Glaum (lead)
Even though this again features Hart as an outlaw gone soft-headed for a dame, it immediately reveals itself as unique because it does not open with Hart's cowboy, and more than ten minutes go by before he finally appears. Instead, the film begins with detailed depiction of the story's primary movers, that the cowboy will find himself forced to deal with. A finely crafted Wild West Sodom and Gomorrah tale - despite its annoying pompous titles and their spoilers.
Ernst Lubitsch (director/lead/writer)
Kurt Richter (art-director/costume-designer)
Theodor Sparkuhl (cinematographer)
Hanns Kräly (writer)
E.T.A. Hoffmann (author)
A.E. Willner (author)
Ossi Oswalda (lead)
Hermann Thimig (lead)
Victor Janson (lead)
Gerhard Ritterband (lead)
Jakob Tiedtke (lead)
Max Kronert (lead)
PAGU (production)
This is how a fairy tale should be told: lots of laughs, spiced with a few caustic truths, encompassing no moral at all, if you wish. Or, perhaps, a simple moral that is as easy to discard as it is to swallow (Another tale of gender role rejection: is this the sequel to I Dont Want To Be A Man? ). Multiple viewings are rewarding, as nothing is truly background - the gags are everywhere. It's a musical without sound that's an ensemble showcase, where everyone puts in a first-rate comic performance no matter how small the part - even the horses.
Maurice Tourneur (director)
O. Henry (author)
Robert Warwick (lead)
Ruth Shepley (lead)
Johnny Hines (lead)
Peerless (production)
Despite the staunchly corny story of redemption, this is redeemed by its inventive proto-noir visuals (and a "haunted by the past" plot that would become a noir theme), colorful characters, and a story full of nuances yet told with very few title cards. Also includes Sing Sing prison yard scenes that appear authentic, as several prisoners can clearly be seen to be hiding their faces from the camera.
Phillips Smalley (director/writer)
Lois Weber (director/writer)
Allen G. Siegler (cinematographer)
Lucy Payton (author)
Franklyn Hall (author)
Tyrone Power Sr. (lead)
Helen Riaume (lead)
Alva D. Blake (lead)
Juan de la Cruz (lead)
Mary MacLaren (lead)
“All intelligent people know that birth control is a subject of serious public interest. Newspapers, magazines and books have treated different phases of this question. Can a subject thus dealt with on the printed page be denied careful dramatization on the motion picture screen?...In producing this picture the intention is to place a serious drama before adult audiences...”
This somber introduction is immediately followed by:
“Behind the great portals of Eternity, the souls of little children waited to be born.”
And on it goes like this, shifting between pretense of weighty social drama and wallowing in cabbage-patch airy-fairy fantasy, linked by hackneyed melodrama and annoying overuse of cross-cutting, while hammering its messages - abortion is murder, humanity's salvation is birth control (for the poor), becoming a submissive baby factory is the duty of every woman (if she's wealthy) - only approaching realism in its wonderfully dark and depressing ending. Movie in a nutshell: Living with a pompous, self-righteous, hypocritical Dickless Attorney leaves wife with no desire to breed more of his kind. There - 65 minutes saved.
George Irving (director)
Harry B. Harris (cinematographer)
Anthony Paul Kelly (writer)
Eugene Wiley Presbrey (writer)
E.W. Hornung (author)
John Barrymore (lead)
Frank Morgan (lead)
For any hardcore fan of suavecito-smooth, the first few minutes of Barrymore profiling is a fun ride. But it quickly gets old and repetitive. And any hope for mystery is dashed when it becomes apparent that every kid on the block knows that Raffles is "secretly" the Amateur Cracksman. And those who don't know, he reveals it to them. With a villain with no real commitment to skulking or skullduggery, and a story with none of the twists and turns of Fantomas flicks, there's nothing much to see here but the stereotypical American imitation of upper-class British.
Edouard-Emile Violet/Édouard-Émile Violet (director)
Max Linder (director/lead/writer)
Vilma Bánky (lead)
Gyula Szöreghy (lead)
Eugen Burg (lead)
Ernst Günther (lead)
Vita-Film (production)
In her 1983 documentary on Max Linder, The Man in the Silk Hat, Maud Linder says of Max Linder's rarely-found final feature film (made in Austria): “Nothing remains of this great film but a few stills and scraps of footage, unscreenable today”. Fortunately, more of the film was later found. Although most profiles of Linder's career sketch a portrait of post-war decline until the end, his final feature film rebuts those claims. The film was so successful that it was remade in 1937 and 1957.
Max suffers from brattiness and drunkenness, but gets serious after he falls for the daughter of a circus director - who forbids her romance with an outsider. Max then attempts to learn circus performance but when he is forced to admit his failure, the director then invites Max to join his circus anyway - as a lion tamer!
Nino Oxilia (director)
Giorgio Ricci (cinematographer)
Guglielmo Zorzi (writer)
Alberto Fassini (author)
Francesca Bertini (lead)
Angelo Gallina (lead)
André Habay (lead)
Fulvia Perini (lead)
Celio (production)
Essentially an aristocratic elaboration of Custody Of The Child (1909), aided by lush visuals, plus the emotional breadth and depth of the star's performance - and the diva dances!
Yang Xiao-Zhong/Dumas Young/楊小仲 (director)
C. C. Chen Zhi-Jing/陳趾青 (writer)
T. K. Lee/李文光 (cinematographer)
Liu Ji-Qun/劉繼群 (lead)
Zhang Zhe-De/張哲德 (lead)
Xu Jing-Zhen/許靜珍 (lead)
William Gao Wei-Lian/高威廉 (lead)
Great Wall Film/上海長城畫片 (production)
Although opening segment is slow and barely visible because of bad print, hang on because the print improves and so does the pace. Despite being lightweight, its comedy, child hero, cliff-hanging, and wonderfully hiss-able villain make this pleasantly watchable. The alternate titles reflect an interesting aspect of the film: its focus shifts between the son's view of his father ('Poor Daddy'), the father's view of his son ('My Son Was a Hero'/'兒子英雄'), and the father's view of himself ('怕老婆', which translates to 'Henpecked'). Interesting to compare this woman's agressive way of dealing with a weak husband whom she found repulsive, versus that of the title character in 'An Orphan' (1929), who wallows in self-pity.
Francesco Bertolini (director)
Adolfo Padovan (director)
Giuseppe de Liguoro (director/lead)
Emilio Roncarolo (cinematographer)
Dante Alighieri (author)
Salvatore Papa (lead)
Milano (production)
Dante journeys into the afterlife, where obsessive completists who wasted their lives watching every silent movie available, then posting faux-witticisms, now are condemned to spend all eternity watching "L'Inferno".
Albert Capellani (director/writer)
Emile Zola (author)
Henry Krauss (lead)
Sylvie (lead)
Jean Jacquinet (lead)
Dharsay (lead)
Cécile Guyon (lead)
Pathé (production)
The original film is 2.5 hours, so this version is missing more than half the film - most notably, the intertitles. Also, the two main male leads share similar costumes, physique, mustaches, and hair styles, and are both seen with the same woman. So this version is tricky to follow, but is worth the effort: a more natural acting style, location filming, unforgettable scenes of crowd uprising, and a story that subtly surveys the intersection between emotional and social landscapes - at a time when US film was still honing its huckster skills of grabbing the attention of the audience, then ramming views and values (aka, propaganda) down its throat.
D.W. Griffith (director/writer)
G.W. Bitzer (cinematographer)
Grace Pierce (writer)
Frank E. Woods (writer)
Blanche Sweet (lead)
Henry B. Walthall (lead)
Mae Marsh (lead)
Robert Harron (lead)
Lillian Gish (lead)
Dorothy Gish (lead)
Kate Bruce (lead)
Harry Carey (lead)
Biograph (production)
Thanks to a surplus of static scenes posing as high art enactments of a story told via intertitles instead of action, this one's a top-shelf go-to for acute insomnia. But to preserve sanity, don't try to make sense of the muddled story.
Francesca Bertini (director/lead/writer)
Gustavo Serena (director/lead/writer)
Salvatore Di Giacomo (author)
Luciano Albertini (lead)
Carlo Benetti (lead)
Caesar (production)
Assunta has guy problems. Her ex can't accept that he's been dumped, so he still skulks around flashing sexy poses (that sometimes hit the mark with Assunta). Her fiance works out of town and is tormented by suspicions, jealousy, and violent impulses - yet she remains attached to him. Clearly trouble lurks, yet Assunta's responses to her troubles are not melodramatic but enigmatic - as if helplessly driven to a cursed destiny. In short, this one's for noir fans.
Giuseppe Giusti (director)
Giacomo Angelini (cinematographer)
Fabienne Fabrèges (lead/writer)
Valeria Creti (lead)
Attilio De Virgiliis (lead)
Bonaventura Ibáñez (lead)
Didaco Chellini (lead)
Corona (production)
No, this work is neither insightful nor masterful: the plot has big holes, the star's efforts at seductiveness are tepid at best (go learn from a diva's virtuoso performance), and the finale drags on too long. But there's enough sadistic pleasure and pussy-whipped masochism, phony protests of “I'm-not-that-kind-of-girl”, self-pity and despair, duplicity, double-crossing, debauchery, winks to the audience, and stylish visuals to satisfy the primal urge for sleazy fun.
Febo Mari (director/lead/writer)
Nietta Mordeglia (lead)
Helena Makowska (lead)
Vasco Creti (lead)
Oreste Bilancia (lead)
Società Anonima Ambrosio (production)
Good news:
Victor Sjöström (director)
Henrik Jaenzon (cinematographer)
Nils Krok (author)
Hilda Borgström (lead)
Patiently bear the first 10 minutes that establishes initial familial bliss and the reward is a stark drama of a mother split from her children by the state's response to her poverty and illness. Remarkably, the dramatic excesses of the era are avoided, and no race-to-the-rescue, instead relying on a quasi-documentary exposition paired with artful scene construction. Can't help but wonder if this was what Judith Of Bethulia was so unsuccessfully trying to achieve.
Raoul Walsh (director/writer)
Carl Harbaugh (lead/writer)
Owen Frawley Kildare (author)
Rockliffe Fellowes (lead)
Anna Q. Nilsson (lead)
Fox (production)
Long introduction of no relevance, gangs but no crime, DA with no case, ship fire of no consequence, romance but no joy. Still, any flick where all cops are creeps can't be all bad. The filmcraft is impressive, despite the sappy story - as a one-reeler, minus the filler, could've been a killer. Plus, it's rare to see a murderer go unpunished. And this particular restoration is worth watching just for its beautifully sick music.
Wu Yong-Gang/吳永剛 (director/writer)
Hong Wei-Lie/洪偉烈 (cinematographer)
Ruan Ling-Yu/阮玲玉 (lead)
Zhang Zhi-Zhi/章志直 (lead)
Li Keng/黎鏗 (lead)
Lianhua (production)
Noir formula: a flawed hero, trapped in shadowy troubled nights, unable to escape. But here the hero(ine) is a prostitute, the setting is not America's night streets but Shanghai's, and the story is told as a silent melodrama, with few titles (until the social commentary kicks in). With a small cast and minimal sets, this work is proof that sometimes less is more.
Enrico Guazzoni (director)
Alessandro Bona (cinematographer)
William Shakespeare (author)
Amleto Novelli (lead)
Società Italiana Cines (production)
Initially lacks the striking imagery of other epics of this period, so doesn't seem to be worth the effort required to view this badly damaged print. But patience is somewhat rewarded when the glitz kicks in later on.
Reginald Barker (director)
Joseph August (cinematographer)
Thomas H. Ince (writer)
C. Gardner Sullivan (writer)
George Beban (lead)
Clara Williams (lead)
Leo Willis (lead)
When a film opens with someone reading a book titled the same as the film, slowly reading while puffing pipe...you know this film is in no big hurry. But if time is valued, skip to 17:26, where the story actually begins, and nothing will be missed. But it still doesn't move any faster, because this is D..R..A..M..A, where ultra-slow movements are the hallmark of reknown stage professionals. So if time is valued, skip this film entirely and nothing will be missed.
Carmine Gallone (director)
Giovanni Grimaldi (cinematographer)
Antonio Fogazzaro (author)
Lyda Borelli (lead)
Amleto Novelli (lead)
Augusto Mastripietri (lead)
Società Italiana Cines (production)
Marina di Malombra is the beautiful and sophisticated young niece of a count. She could be described in the terms used in a 1967 work : "dominant, secure, self-confident, nasty, violent, selfish, independent, proud, thrill-seeking, free-wheeling, arrogant females, who consider themselves fit to rule the universe". Marina becomes convinced she is the reincarnation of a madwoman out for fatal revenge. Corrado Silla is a sensitive young man born into nobility, but now on the verge of poverty. He longs for fame in the world of arts and letters, but has failed. Marina taunts, scorns, then publicly humiliates him. Thus, Silla is ready to sign up as Marina's love slave, but his pride gets in the way. This is the love story of Marina and Silla. Lyda Borelli's spellbinding performance of Marina's metamorphosis, and Amleto Novelli's subtle portrayal of a man torn between his pride and his passion for (and fear of) a dominant woman, both captured with the right direction and photography, make this a classic.
Alfred Hitchcock (director)
Curt Courant (cinematographer)
Edwin Greenwood (writer)
A.R. Rawlinson (writer)
Charles Bennett (author)
D.B. Wyndham-Lewis (author)
Peter Lorre (lead)
Leslie Banks (lead)
Edna Best (lead)
Gaumont (production)
More accrurately titled, "The Man Who Knew Too Much And Told His Wife - Who Then Also Knew Too Much - And Also A Family Friend, Who Nonetheless Didn't Seem To Know Too Much Because No One Took Him Seriously". Even with the abbreviated title, it's still a rather silly movie, like a self-parody: kidnapping and repeated threats of child murder played for laughs. Each possibility for tension or suspense is lost to wisecracks or quips. Of course Peter Lorre's performance rises above the trite banter: his smile sends shivers down the spine, hinting at sadistic delight - and even madness.
Mario Roncoroni (director)
Giovanni Bertinetti (writer)
Luigi Fiorio (cinematographer)
Valeria Creti (lead)
Giovanni Spano (lead)
Cristina Ruspoli (lead)
Corona (production)
Before Mabuse, there was Fantomas - an earlier take on the criminal mastermind outwitting the detective through deception and disguise. Following the success of Fantomas, came the master criminal Filibus in this story (which also seems to have gotten some inspiration from Jules Verne's "Master of the World"). But while Fantomas and Mabuse are murderous psychos, Filibus seems to be just having fun bouncing between genders, flirting first with the brother then the sister. Is Filibus really a baroness - or a woman at all - or is that just another disguise?
Cheung Wai-Man/Whitman Chant/張惠民 (director/lead)
Wu Su-Xin/White Rose Woo/吳素馨 (director/lead)
Tong Kim-Ding/湯劍廷 (cinematographer)
John Chow/周鵑紅 (writer)
Sun Ven-Chin/俊文沈 (lead/writer)
Han Lan-Gen/韓蘭根 (lead)
Lee Hong Hong/李紅紅 (lead)
Uniquely crafted tale, told largely in title cards rather than imagery, suggesting that the protagonist was a Cinderella-like victim of human cruelty, while at the same time making it clear that her negative psychological responses were at the root of her problems. Wonderful acting by the three most villainous characters, along with a surprisingly modern look of both the cinematography, and the lead couple (who co-directed!).
Mario Caserini (director)
Angelo Scalenghe (cinematographer)
Emiliano Bonetti (writer)
G. Monleone (writer)
Lyda Borelli (lead)
Mario Bonnard (lead)
Vittorio Rossi Pianelli (lead)
Gianpaolo Rosmino (lead)
Camillo De Riso (lead)
Maria Caserini (lead)
Film Artistica Gloria (production)
A military officer's daughter, banished from her Central European homeland, heads to France and takes on a new identity. There she meets a young man who, unbeknown to her, is the prince of her Central European homeland - who also happens to be there under a new identity. Why she doesn't recognize her homeland's prince is not explained. Equally odd, neither of the two expats recognize from speech styles that they are from the same homeland. Even by the standard of unrealism that's norm for romance tales, this one's quite a stretch. Yet it's hardly the ultimate romance tale suggested by the title. In fact, it's hardly any tale at all - more a showcase for impressive wardrobe changes, and equally impressive displays of the acting style that has inspired endless parodies.
August Blom (director)
Louis Larsen (cinematographer)
Otto Rung (writer)
Ebba Thomsen (lead)
Olaf Fønss (lead)
Johanne Fritz-Petersen (lead)
Nordisk (production)
Denmark punked out of The Great War, and so missed out on the Great Debut of two of modern technology's Great Weapons of Mass Death and Misery from the air: bombing of cities, and clouds of poison gas. Sniffing out the profit potential from Denmark's movie fans who'd pay to get a taste of that action in their own hoods (safely), Nordisk's exploitation film division went into overdrive and came up with a winner and released it on April Fool's Day. Grounded in an engaging story of class and family struggle with a healthy dose of hiss-worthy villainy, executed with strong performances (aided by authenticity of masses of nonprofessionals), and crowned with credible special effects and stunning cinematography revealed in this excellent restoration, this deserves greater recognition.
Giovanni Pastrone (director)
Segundo de Chomón (cinematographer)
Giovanni Tomatis (cinematographer)
Giovanni Verga (author)
Pina Menichelli (lead)
Alberto Nepoti (lead)
Febo Mari (lead)
Gabriel Moreau (lead)
Itala (production)
Never again utter the phrase “Drama Queen” until you've watched this diva single-handedly transform a threadbare story into a symphony of sensual expression.
Ernst Lubitsch (director)
Alfred Hansen (cinematographer)
Hanns Kräly (writer)
Prosper Mérimée (author)
Pola Negri (lead)
Harry Liedtke (lead)
PAGU (production)
The power of a Carmen production derives from a hot Carmen and a tortured Don José. This version is only semi-powered: we see a tortured José, but this Carmen has nothing that could make a good man fall. So, a heavy dose of suspension of belief is required to get through this, yet in the end it wasn't worth the effort.
Holger-Madsen (director)
Ole Olsen [1863-1943] (producer/writer)
Sophus Michaëlis (author/writer)
Nicolai Neiiendam (lead)
Gunnar Tolnæs (lead)
Zanny Petersen (lead)
Alf Blütecher (lead)
Svend Kornbeck (lead)
Nine adventurous thrill-seeking young men in tight leather suits share a cramped spaceship for months. Right - love the kinky Warholish story idea, and its social commentary. Shame the commentary is never developed, and ruined by 19th-century grand stage-style cornball acting.
Mack Sennett (director)
Frank D. Williams (cinematographer)
Marie Dressler (lead)
Charles Chaplin (lead)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Mack Swain (lead)
Charles Bennett (lead)
Chester Conklin (lead)
Keystone Cops (lead)
Echo Park (location)
Keystone 6-step Porch (location)
Keystone (production)
Aside from the claims of historical significance and Mabel's masterful mugging, there's not much here other than an unusually long version of the usual Keystone formula of slapstick gags strung together to loosely coincide with a threadbare story. Nice ending though.
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