Category Archives: Silent Film

The First Talking Pictures Regain their Voice

Posted on November 21, 2016 by willmckinley

“What was the first movie?” my 9-year-old niece asked after a recent trip to the multiplex. I hate questions like that. Because I’m a “movie guy,” I feel like I should have an easy reply, but I never do. The first … Continue reading →

Posted in Museum of Modern Art, Silent Film | 8 Comments

Girl, Reconstructed: Clara Bow in GET YOUR MAN (1927)

Posted on November 16, 2015 by willmckinley

“Everything you’re going to see today has never been screened before,” film historian David Stenn said on Sunday at the Museum of Modern Art. These are words most film fans only dream of hearing. But when they’re spoken by the biographer of Silent … Continue reading →

Posted in Screening Report, Silent Film | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Classic Horror Movies Haunt NYC Theaters for Halloween 2015

Posted on October 27, 2015 by willmckinley

Halloween is the best time of the year to be a classic film fan. And it’s even better if you live (or are un-dead) in New York City, where more than sixty screenings of horror and suspense films released before 2001 … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Film Society of Lincoln Society, IFC Center, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of the Moving Image, Nitehawk Cinema, Screening Report, Silent Film | 2 Comments

Rare Ernst Lubitsch Film Screens at New York Jewish Film Fest

Posted on January 20, 2015 by willmckinley

“What would Lubitsch do?” a sign in Billy Wilder’s office famously read. It was both a testament to Wilder’s respect for the German-born director (for whom he co-wrote two films) and a tribute to Ernst Lubitsch’s ability to balance light … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Society of Lincoln Society, Screening Report, Silent Film | Leave a comment

UPDATE: Rare Buster Keaton Footage Resurfaces – And You Can Help Bring It To Audiences

Posted on December 1, 2013 by willmckinley

UPDATE 12/19/13 10 PM (ET) at end of post In 1964, 68-year-old Buster Keaton began production on FILM, a two-reel (mostly) silent short written by Samuel Beckett, the Irish playwright and author of Waiting for Godot. Things did not go … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Silent Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Screening Report: THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927) at Nitehawk Cinema

Posted on October 28, 2013 by willmckinley

There were no electric guitars or digital loop stations in the 1920s. But that didn’t stop musicians Clifton Hyde and Zach Eichenhorn from using them to accompany a 1927 horror film at Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn yesterday. “I have no … Continue reading →

Posted in Nitehawk Cinema, Silent Film | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Screening Report: Clara Bow in IT (1927) at Nitehawk Cinema

Posted on August 25, 2013 by willmckinley

Talking is never okay at the movies. But what about singing? Vocalist Mary Alouette and the djangOrchestra accompanied Clarence G. Badger’s IT (1927) today during a brunch screening at the Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn, and the result was surprisingly effective. … Continue reading →

Posted in Screening Report, Silent Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Silent Film Evangelist Kickstarts Restorations of Classics

Posted on July 23, 2013 by willmckinley

Spike Lee, Zach Braff, and Ben Model? Like some elite entertainment industry players whose names may be better known, Model, the Manhattan-based musician and composer, is using the crowd-funding website Kickstarter to finance a film release. But there are a … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, DVD Blu-Ray Review, Silent Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Screening Report: The Hitchcock 9 at BAM

Posted on July 5, 2013 by willmckinley

What director’s trademarks include nail-biting setpieces on historic precipices, the “wrong man” accused of a crime, the dangerous (usually icy blonde) female, murder with an outsized carving knife, and creative cameo appearances in his owns films? Even the greenest film … Continue reading →

Posted in Brooklyn Academy of Music, Screening Report, Silent Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Make Friends with Baby Peggy – Tonight on TCM

Posted on December 3, 2012 by willmckinley

1924 was a busy year for Peggy-Jean Montgomery: she starred in four feature films; headlined seven comedy short subjects; served as on-stage mascot for the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden; and became one of the first merchandized celebrities, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Silent Film, TCM | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments