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The Arrival from the Darkness (1921)
Filmmaker(s): Jan S. Kolár

One of the first Czechoslovak films to be shown abroad--a fantasy horror, filmed on the fully furnished premises of the Berlin film studio Am Zoo. The central role is portrayed by the “arrivee from darkness”, Ješek, who is awakened from a deathly sleep. The film represents unusual sparks of creative efforts and the ambitions of creative community around the director Jan S. Kolár, who was inspired by international trends and techniques.

Parallel Realities this is yet another instance of a woman actress, made a star by her filmmaker lover. The story is a valentine to her charm and beauty, sufficient to bend reality. She indeed became a star until talkies made her accent unsellable. Here, she...


Published June 25, 2025
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Hamlet (1921)
Filmmaker(s): Svend Gade, Heinz Schall

A free adaptation of Shakespeare′s drama. The Danish queen masquerades her daughter as a boy, and thus, the girl lives her life as 'Prince' Hamlet. Her father poisoned by a venomous snake placed by the treacherous Claudius, Hamlet fakes madness to investigate without suspicion.

Citizen Asta has long been attractive to vain actors, despite its opposing energy. Mel Gibson! Olivier! So many… And such committed variety. There are four notable things. The first is that the play may be the richest long form narrative in history, essentially inventing poetic metaphor....


Published June 17, 2025
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Roswolsky’s Mistress (1921)
Filmmaker(s): Felix Basch

Mia Verhag loses her job as a chorus singer when she rejects the advances of the theatre director. While she is in the grips of despair, she encounters the millionaire Roswolsky, who takes her to his luxurious house and gives her a key to the garden gate, allowing her to visit the surrounding park whenever she pleases. This chance meeting sends rumours flying everywhere, and soon Mia appears on the front pages of all the newspapers as Roswolsky’s mistress. The city’s merchants and creditors compete to lend her money, and she lands the leading role in the theatre’s new production. There, she falls in love with Count Albich – but, believing the rumours, he avoids her. Mia follows him to Monte Carlo, while Roswolsky himself falls genuinely in love with her and plots to take Albich out of the running. A grand drama is set to unfold.

Industrial Revolution came to this as a warmup for what trusted folks say will be an important viewing in her ‘Hamlet’ made this same year. This is a woman who invented women in film, so popular she went by ‘The Asta’. She was so powerful that...


Published June 17, 2025
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Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Every inch of footage holds such a laugh!
Filmmaker(s): Buster Keaton

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.

Creating the Art of Folding am an enthusiast of what I call "folding" in film. That's the collection of techniques that map some awareness or identification of what the film is, to the story within the film. It isn't just a simple game, but a...


Published December 11, 2024
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Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
Filmmaker(s): G.W. Pabst

Thymian Henning, an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. She becomes pregnant, is rejected by her family, and must fend for herself in a harsh, cruel world.

The Diary are two things about this that make it essential viewing. The first is obvious. Louise Brooks fills the camera like no one else in my experience. And like no one else probably could now that movies have filled out all the sensory space...


Published December 11, 2024
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The Bishop Murder Case (1929)
ALL-TALKING!...ALL-THRILLS!
Filmmaker(s): Nick Grindé, David Burton

The murders start with the body of Robin. He is found with a arrow through the heart, but Vance deduces that the body was placed and not found where he was killed. The note found dealing with the murder was part of a nursery rhyme and signed by 'Bishop'. The only witness may have been Mrs. Drukker and Adolph, but they are not talking. As the murders progress, each one is accompanied by a nursery rhyme. It is up to Philo Vance to unravel the clues and unmask the identity of the murderer 'Bishop'.

Struggles With Science today are a large part of how we define ourselves. But many of the structural elements of today's films are a result of punctuated evolution, times where decisions were made. These were fast and permanent. I recommend this film not for its...


Published December 11, 2024
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Nosferatu (1922)
A symphony of horror.
Filmmaker(s): F. W. Murnau

In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok's servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home.

Bloodless, Sexless consider “Shadow of the Vampire” one of the most intelligent films ever made. Herzog’s remake of this is even interesting if terminally flawed (as Herzog himself gets bitten). And this has some intensity to it. One can readily imagine it set in its time...


Published January 22, 2024
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The Black Pirate (1926)
The Love Story of a Bold Buccaneer
Filmmaker(s): Albert Parker

A nobleman vows to avenge the death of his father by the hands of pirates. To this end, he infiltrates the pirate band; Acting in character, he single-handedly captures a merchant vessel, but things are complicated when he finds that there is a beautiful young woman of royal blood aboard.

Archetypical? folks believe in the archetype, the notion that deep in the structure of the universe — deeper than we can reach — are certain pure models. There are few of them; they are crisp if not fully definable. And we spend our lives moving...


Published January 18, 2024
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Bacon Grabbers (1929)
Filmmaker(s): Lewis R. Foster

Laurel and Hardy are debt collectors trying to repossess a console radio.

Destruction was the 25th short as a team. I’m only now dipping into Laurel and Hardy in a serious way, but the whole 20 year collaboration seems to be based on two things: the comedy of destruction, and a sort of flummoxed humiliation. We laugh at...


Published May 16, 2023
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Anemic Cinema (1926)
Filmmaker(s): Marcel Duchamp

A spiral design spins. It's replaced by a spinning disk. These two continue in perfect alternation until the end: a spiral design, a disk. Each disk is labelled and can be read as it rotates. The messages, in French, feature puns and whimsical rhymes and alliteration. The final message comments on the spiral motif itself.

Un Revolutionary because something happened, doesn’t mean that it matters. Just because some artist farts controllably doesn’t mean we should enter it. This was unimportant when it was new, and only slightly less so now. I say slightly because film as a whole has lost a...


Published April 4, 2023
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