Essays, interviews, archives, and video resources on early cinema \u2014 curated reading on films, directors, and movements across the silent and early sound eras.
Review by Kyle Westphal
Review by Kyle Westphal
Mabel Normand scored a smash hit with this feature-length comedy about a mining camp brat who goes to live in the big city. Chaos ensues but you knew that already.
Mabel Normand scored a smash hit with this feature-length comedy about a mining camp brat who goes to live in the big city. Chaos ensues but you knew that already.
Jack Miller argues that Dovzhenko’s Earth represents a radically non-narrative alternative to Eisenstein’s dialectical montage, treating its agrarian subjects and the natural world as monumental, painterly presences rather than characters in a story.
Cara Marisa Deleon explores the tension between the film’s progressive ideals and its deeply patriarchal treatment of its female characters
Cara Marisa Deleon explores the tension between the film’s progressive ideals and its deeply patriarchal treatment of its female characters
Essay analyzing Griffith's intimate drama and Lillian Gish's performance of elemental emotional truth.
Library of Congress essay on the first feature-length talkie.
Critical perspective on Soviet cinema's approach to revolutionary narrative.
Analysis of Mary Pickford's performance in this literary adaptation examining collaboration with director Marshall Neilan.
Analysis of this controversial film's poetic approach to collectivization and Soviet modernization.
Analysis of Méliès' pioneering horror film and its technical innovations in stop-motion effects.
Educational analysis of the film's historical importance as a foundational work of cinema history.
Critical examination of legends surrounding the film and analysis of its composition and reception.
Critical essay on Chaplin's early comic performance and character development.
Scholarly article examining the representation of working-class labor in early cinema and its historical significance.
Encyclopedia entry on Alice Guy-Blachê's pioneering narrative film, the first fiction film ever made.
Scholarly analysis of the film's significance as the first narrative film and its pioneering screenwriting.