Tod Browning is simultaneously one of the most compelling and neglected figures of Hollywood’s silent film era. Such a statement may seem paradoxical considering that much has been written on the director known as the “Edgar Allen Poe of the Cinema”. He has been the subject of a careful biography by horror aficionado David J. [...]
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Brian Darr
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Brian Darr is, among other things, a member of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival writers group, to whom he has contributed essays on The Gaucho, Jujiro, Miss Lulu Bett, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and West of Zanzibar, which can be read at: http://www.silentfilm.org/archive.html.
Articles by Brian Darr:
Wild Night in El Reno (1977 USA 6 mins) Filmmaker: George Kuchar Storms have been a motif found throughout filmmaker George Kuchar’s work. Whether manifested in the cumulonimbus and nimbostratus clouds that hang over his characters in films such as Eclipse of the Sun Virgin (1967) and Forever and Always (1978), the whirlwinds of emotions [...]
April 21–May 5, 2005 Film societies must remain at least one step ahead of their audiences and must not permit themselves to be pulled down to the level of the lowest common denominator in the audience, a very easy, common and dangerous occurrence in the mass media. It is a catastrophic fallacy to assume that [...]
The Great McGinty (1940 USA 81 mins) Source: NFVLS Prod Co: Paramount Dir, Scr: Preston Sturges Phot: William Mellor Ed: Hugh Bennett Art Dir: Hans Dreier Mus: Frederick Hollander Cast: Brian Donlevy, Muriel Angelus, Akim Tamiroff, Allyn Joslyn, William Demarest, Louis Jean Heydt On February 27, 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave an introductory address during [...]
An international film festival can be likened to an airplane trip around the world, only instead of stopping to get out of the cabin and sightsee, passengers stay in their seats watching the in-flight entertainment, and instead of announcements from the captain of the aircraft they are treated to question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers. However, [...]
Five Star Final (1931 USA 86 mins) Source: NLA/ACMI Prod Co: First National/Vitaphone (Warner Bros.) Prod: Hal B. Wallis [uncredited] Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Scr: Byron Morgan, Robert Lord, based on Louis Weitzenkorn’s play Phot: Sol Polito Ed: Frank Ware Art Dir: Jack Okey Mus: Leo F. Forbstein Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Marian Marsh, H. B. [...]
The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950 USA 7 mins) Source: NLA/ACMI Prod Co: Warner Bros. Prod: Leon Schlesinger Dir: Charles M. Jones Scr: Michael Maltese Anim: Ben Washam, Lloyd Vaughan, Ken Harris, Phil Monroe Layouts: Robert Gribbroek Backgrounds: Peter Alvarado Voice Characterisation: Mel Blanc Mus: Carl W. Stalling Steal Wool (1957 USA 7 mins) Source: NLA/ACMI Prod [...]
