Browsing Tag

movies

Happy International Women’s Day 2016!

For International Women’s Day, let’s take a moment to remember a woman of words, Anita Loos. She started screenwriting in the silent era, and she’s credited for elevating the intertitle beyond the functional into an art form. A wordsmith, wit, and satirist, her intertitles had zing. Yes, they had “It.” It’s likely her exposure to the family tabloid…

Cinefest 35 Storifyed!

In advance of my write-up of Cinefest 35, I’ve curated an account of the Syracuse Cinephile Society‘s final film festival from my and other attendees’ social media postings. You can read our shared excitement as the festival unfolded and all the great tidbits we shared about the films and our experiences. It was over much too…

The Silent Film Fanatic TCM Film Festival Preview!

Classic film circles are abuzz about March’s Turner Classic Movies Film Festival. This year’s theme is History According to Hollywood, and many movie buffs are guessing what film favorites fitting that theme will screen. While the festival is only about a month away, its full schedule has not been announced yet. I’ve gone over what titles…

More San Francisco Silent Film Festival Fun!

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has gotten a little longer for its 20th anniversary. A day has been added to the festival! The event now runs Thursday, May 28, 2015 through Monday, June 1, 2015. Past years, programming ended on the Sunday evening. This is great news for attendees. An extra day of films…

CMBA Forgotten Stars Blogathon: The Time Bebe Daniels Couldn’t Get Out of a Speeding Ticket

It reads like a publicity stunt out of the movie Bombshell. Silent film sweetheart Bebe Daniels was ticketed for speeding, tried, convicted, sentenced to jail, and forced to serve time. Rather than being planned like the stunts in that movie, Bebe did like to speed, and she had gotten caught. Her press agent helped her spin a potentially…

World War One in Classic Film Blogathon: Dark Journey (1937)

Vivien Leigh viewed Dark Journey as a “personal failure.” It was her sixth film, but “her first true leading role,” and her lack of confidence during the production made her overly critical of her performance. She might not have counted it among her best, but she plays the part of Madeleine Goddard better than she thought. A double agent during World…

That’s Not Musidora! A Case of Mistaken Identity Compounded by Tumblr

Perhaps it’s not unexpected that an actress who’s best remembered for playing a disguised thief suffers from a case of mistaken identity on the internet. In the silent film Les Vampires, Musidora plays Irma Vep, who dons a catsuit for convenience in movement as she commits her crimes. This may be the first cinematic catsuit, and it…

SF Silent Film Festival Press Accreditation

Spellbound by Movies has received official press accreditation by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival! I am excited to be given this opportunity to bring you fuller coverage of its offerings. Check this blog starting next week for updates on the festival and reviews of its films. When I can, I will live-tweet in-between films…