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The city of Chicago, Illinois has been featured in hundreds of theatrical films. There's no other big city that looks (or feels) like Chicago. You can't fake Chicago--although that hasn't stopped a number of producers and directors from trying in recent years. WORLD FILM LOCATIONS--CHICAGO, edited read more

The city of Chicago, Illinois has been featured in hundreds of theatrical films. There's no other big city that looks (or feels) like Chicago. You can't fake Chicago--although that hasn't stopped a number of producers and directors from trying in recent years. WORLD FILM LOCATIONS--CHICAGO, edited read more

1967 in Film Blogathon: Bonnie and Clyde Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty star in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Let me begin this blogathon post by stating the obvious: Bonnie and Clyde is the sort of film that, once seen, makes yourself want to shout out: what the fuck just happened?? But, if yo read more

By Fritzi Kramer on June 15, 2014 in Blog, Feature, Silent Movie Review Moscow is in the grips of highly contagious disease: Chess Fever! An ongoing chess tournament has turned Russia’s addiction to the game into a frenzy. One young man in particular has a dire case. In fact, it’s so ba read more

Last week I discussed the lack of focus after the fact on the Oscar-nominated shorts. Because the animated shorts tend to run shorter they usually include several “Highly Commended” selections. This past year this was one of the standouts. Its revolutionary France with chickens and it read more

  Flying High With Flying A in the Windy City: The American Film Manufacturing Company Formed by Samuel Hutchinson and Charles Hite, the American Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1910 and held the distinction of being the only independent film company in Chicago. Hite had years of read more

By Fritzi Kramer on June 9, 2014 in Blog, Feature, Silent Movie Review Concerning the lives and loves of a small Russian village, this little gem has been all but forgotten. Gorgeous scenery, heartfelt performances and an intriguing look at a time and place that were about to disappear forever, thi read more

A recent business trip took me to New York City for Book Expo America, the largest and most well-known book industry convention. Although my work schedule was packed, I was lucky enough to have some time to meet two very wonderful ladies. On the first day of the show, I headed over to The Ove read more

Far too often the Best Short Film nominees at the Oscars are all-too-quickly forgotten. Even here, when I see the films I write of them but rarely bring them back up on Saturdays. Here I wanted to rectify that. I loved Helium best in the Live Action block and it ended up winning. Here were my initia read more

Back by popular demand--on June 21st, I'm launching the second round of my series on the HISTORY OF FASHION IN FILM 1920s-1970s! If you love style in the movies, join me for a live 6-part webinar series to learn all about THE STYLE ESSENTIALS: HISTORY OF FASHION IN FILM.  The Style Essentials& read more

Though most people today may remember Ricardo Montalbán for his work on television—Star Trek and Fantasy Island, to name a few—he first came to fame under contract at MGM in the 1940s and ’50s in roles that touted him as a handsome “exotic” type, a kind of Ramon Novarro or read more

One of my latest purchases from Edward R. Hamilton Booksellers is a volume titled WHY WE FOUGHT: AMERICA'S WARS IN FILM AND HISTORY. I bought it for $5...when I looked up the book on Amazon to see if there were any reviews on it, I found out that the on-line giant was selling it for $45! WHY WE FOU read more

One of my latest purchases from Edward R. Hamilton Booksellers is a volume titled WHY WE FOUGHT: AMERICA'S WARS IN FILM AND HISTORY. I bought it for $5...when I looked up the book on Amazon to see if there were any reviews on it, I found out that the on-line giant was selling it for $45! WHY WE FOU read more

Seven Years Bad Luck (1921) Yet another reason to love the SFSFF: getting to see a differently, possibly funnier version of the famous "mirror scene" the Marx Brothers made popular in Duck Soup, this time with Max Linder and the uncredited guy who played his cook in S read more

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival came to a close yesterday, and what a day it was. This was perhaps the strongest day of the festival, with some wonderful comedic fare to lighten the rather serious tone of the festival overall this year. First up was Max Linder’s comedy Seven Years Bad read more

By Fritzi Kramer on June 1, 2014 in Blog, Feature, Silent Movie Review, Silents vs Talkies Pola Negri plays a hotel chambermaid who finds herself the accomplice of an Austrian officer trapped behind enemy lines. There are spies, an assassination and much skulking about the corridors of the titular read more

Owing to a long day of movies yesterday plus a 2 AM blog post, followed by a 4 AM wake up call by my yowling cat and my actual alarm at 7, suffice it to say that I went into today’s movies feeling massively sleep-deprived. Fueled only by my enthusiasm (and several cups of coffee from the pre read more

If you follow this blog closely, you’ll know that I love ESPN’s 30 for 30 films. One aspect of these films I have not gotten into are the shorts, until now. I saved the most emotionally wrenching of these shorts I saw until last. This is the story of John Tuggle. The last player drafted read more

Today’s lineup featured an eclectic mix of American and foreign films, 20s films and 30s films, dramas, comedies, and science fiction fantasies. Today’s lineup truly embodies what I mean when I say that the festival takes a holistic approach to silent cinema–at the San Francisco read more

The Epic of Everest (1924) Another BFI restoration masterpiece, The Epic of Everest is a tribute to both documentary film-making and human endeavor. Made at a time when the world sorely needed an example of heroism that didn't involve the protracted, wholesale slaughter of 20-y read more