Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was John Barrymore’s breakthrough vehicle and is one of the most acclaimed American silent horror films. However, purchasing the film on home video has been a bit of a daunting task. There are dozens of versions available in varying lengths and image quality. Today, we are going to be taking … Continue reading
She could open her own dating service… An early romantic comedy from D.W. Griffith that centers around a spinster, a bachelor, an orphan and how the trio forms an unlikely family. As sweet as can be. The kid’s got it! D.W. Griffith’s modern reputation rests on his epics but I don’t think that is the … Continue reading
Through a glass, darkly. Mary Pickford tackles two roles in this Dickensian soaper. She is Stella Maris: beautiful, rich, innocent and paralyzed. She is also Unity Blake: plain, penniless, ignored and abused. Both girls love the same man but he is trapped in an abusive marriage. Will true love win? And whose true love? This … Continue reading
Hi-yo, Dinosaur! Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may be famous for Sherlock but what he really loved writing were rousing adventure tales. The most famous of these concerned Professor Challenger and his intrepid band of explorers who discover dinosaurs in a lost world atop a plateau. Cutting edge stop-motion made the film adaptation one of the … Continue reading
Farewell to childhood… Mary Pickford dusts off her pigtails one last time in her final child role. One of her darkest films, Sparrows tells the tale of a band of orphans who escape from an orphan farm and cross a dangerous gator-infested swamp. A surprisingly moody slice of Southern Gothic from America’s Sweetheart. Mary vs. … Continue reading
Who says the silents are dead? By 1931, the silent film had gone the way of the dodo. And yet one of the most popular comedians in the world managed to avoid the talkies and produce an acclaimed and beautiful silent movie. City Lights is the story of a blind girl and a little tramp. … Continue reading
A nose by any other name… The famous tale of Cyrano de Bergerac is lavishly adapted for the silent screen, complete with stencil color. The story has been lifted so many times for romantic comedies that it almost needs no introduction: Cyrano, brilliant but marred by an outlandishly large nose, loves the beautiful Roxane. She, … Continue reading
To be or not to be… This long-lost John Ford film centers on a boarding house that is home to assorted stage actors, comedians and stuntmen. When one of their own gets asked to perform Hamlet in London, the boarding house gang is thrilled and sends him off joyously. But how will they react when … Continue reading
Lon Chaney… as the leading man? A real rarity for Chaney fans: Our beloved monster plays a straightforward leading man. Lon Chaney and Betty Blythe are a pair of Canadian lovebirds who must flee when he is framed for murder. Lewis Stone plays the Mountie charged with bringing Chaney to justice. And he won’t give … Continue reading
I’m back with another installment of Unboxing the Silents. I usually reserve this feature for box sets of silent films but I decided that this single-disc release has enough content to warrant coverage here. As usual, I am reviewing the collection itself, not the individual films. Ready? Let’s go! What is it? The official DVD … Continue reading
Movies Silently 
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