Essays, interviews, archives, and video resources on early cinema — curated reading on films, directors, and movements across the silent and early sound eras.
Ebert's essay on Chaplin's masterpiece and its lyrical romanticism and defiance of sound cinema.
Essay on Sternberg's final Dietrich collaboration and its extreme aestheticism and pessimism.
Essay on Bette Davis's groundbreaking performance and the film's dark portrayal of obsession.
Festival resource on Valentino's final performance before his death.
Essay on Ptushko's pioneering stop-motion animated feature with its Communist allegory.
Essay on Barnet's joyful romance combining Soviet realism with musical theater elements.
Critical analysis of how the film navigated Hays Code restrictions while exploring human weakness.
Overview of this Three Stooges courtroom comedy short known for anarchic slapstick.
Historical entry on this landmark first feature-length comedy film directed by Mack Sennett.
Criterion essay on La Cava's screwball comedy and its Depression-era commentary on class.
Essay exploring Vidor's Depression-era collective farm drama and its social commentary.
Festival documentation of Capra and Langdon's comedic masterpiece.
Festival guide to Cooper and Schoedsack's jungle documentary-drama.
Festival guide to Pickford's department store romance.
Ebert's great movies essay on Sternberg's surrealist approach to historical drama.
Essay analyzing Ozu's blend of comedy and social critique in his exploration of class and family.
Encyclopedia entry on Alice Guy-Blachê's pioneering narrative film, the first fiction film ever made.
Guide to Hitchcock's adaptation of Sean O'Casey's play and his frustrations with theatrical material.
Review of Renoir's most expensive production and artistic achievement.
Essay on Pabst's intimate depiction of WWI trench warfare and its immediate Nazi ban.
Essay on this pioneering underwater photography film and its technical innovations versus narrative weaknesses.
Essay on Griffith's biographical film and its portrayal of Lincoln as a humanized figure.
Scholarly analysis of the film's significance as the first narrative film and its pioneering screenwriting.
Criterion's overview of Ozu's acclaimed silent film about childhood and social hierarchy.