The following is a previously unpublished piece on one of my favorite ’50s screen monsters… Revenge of the Creature (1955) is a fun favorite from childhood, but occasionally I see misinformation printed about the film, specifically in regards to stuntman…
“As a piece of comic architecture, it’s impeccable.” ~ Orson Welles Safety Last! (1923) contains one of the most famous shots in motion picture history: the sight of Harold Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock. Even those who…
Jay Warren is one of the foremost silent film accompanists in the country. He is the face of the Silent Film Society of Chicago and hosts the “Silent Summer” film festivals which, prior to COVID, had been held at the…
“There was a German scientist by the name of Mobius whose concept was the elliptical band. You take a ribbon and you attach it together and you twist it. And if you traveled on one side of it and kept…
When Alec Baldwin’s Lamont Cranston walks down the alley after kissing Margo Lane (Penelope Ann Miller) and disappears around the corner, there were high hopes from this viewer that he would return. But we never saw him again. We never…
It’s been over a year now since our last show at the Pickwick Theatre Classic Film Series. We miss seeing our patrons before and after each movie. We miss hearing Jay Warren on the Mighty Wurlitzer. And we miss our…
“Critical judgments of the very early sound period were often very curious. Films that were shunted aside then seem quite marvelous today, and films which rated raves then, often don’t live up to them now. Abraham Lincoln really needs patience…
“There seemed to be some indefinable quality, some unique combination of appearance, voice, quiet humor, or personal projection that made us pay, by the millions, to spend some time with him; not to be preached at or instructed by, but…
I found this item while I was going through some of the old blogs I had created for film programs at the Park Ridge Public Library. The following is a letter I had received from Buster Keaton’s granddaughter, Melissa Cox.…
City Lights had its gala premiere ninety years ago today– January 30, 1931–and after all this time, its brilliance has not dimmed. Its images have remained with us ever since. City Lights is something more than a comedy. It’s a…