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- The fallibility of film history: Valeria Creti unmasked as Filibus
- Il cinema ritrovato 2018 in review
- Bologna-bound: Il cinema ritrovato 2018
- Buster on the big screen: a visit to the delightful Time Cinema
- The perilous camera-eye: El sexto sentido | The Sixth Sense (ES 1929)
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- Power couples of Italian silent film
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Tag Archives: cinema of 1915
The fallibility of film history: Valeria Creti unmasked as Filibus
I wrote about the delightful 1915 action caper Filibus a few years ago: a wonderful gender-bending tale of intrigue and adventure, one of my favourite silents. In particular, I praised the performance of Cristina Ruspoli as the title character Filibus, … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Misc
Tagged adventure, cinema of 1915, cinema of Italy, Cristina Ruspoli, excellent women, film history, Valeria Creti
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A rainbow of silent film
Regular readers will have noticed that things have been pretty quiet around Silents, Please! for the last year or so. Partly, this was because I channelled a lot of energy into researching, writing and drawing my Feminist Media Histories article: a very … Continue reading
Lina Cavalieri in Sposa nella morte! | The Shadow of Her Past (IT 1915)
Known as “the most beautiful woman in the world”, opera singer Lina Cavalieri starred opposite Caruso, was fêted by D’Annunzio, and was painted by Boldini. She began her career singing in the café-chantants of Rome, Naples, and Paris; rising to … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged cinema of 1915, cinema of Italy, diva films, Emilio Ghione, floral symbolism, Lina Cavalieri, nitrate damage
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Stacia Napierkowska on film
As dancer Marfa Koutiloff in Les Vampires (FR 1915-16), Stacia Napierkowska gave the silent cinema one of its most iconic images: a woman in a black bodystocking and great black bat wings, stretching and swirling as if to take flight. Later, she … Continue reading
100 years ago: Ruth Stonehouse in The Gilded Cage (US 1915)
“The heart-rending story of a girl who weds for wealth, and finds that a palace of love is a gilded cage” is how Essanay advertized their 1915 release The Gilded Cage. This film, preserved by the National Film Preservation Foundation (US), … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged cinema of 1915, cinema of the US, female director, NFPF, Ruth Stonehouse
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Cinema Ritrovato from afar: Bertini’s Assunta Spina (IT 1915)
Are you at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna right now? The festival features the new restoration of one of my true loves, Rapsodia Satanica; the Keaton project; several other diva films; Gaumont at 120; the Technicolor section; and so much more … Sadly, I am … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged cinema of 1915, cinema of Italy, Cineteca di Bologna, diva films, EFG, female director, Francesca Bertini, Gustavo Serena, Il Cinema Ritrovato
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Oxilia, Menichelli, 1915: two short films
Via the excellent Sempre in Penombra blog; via FilmoTeca de Catalunya’s digitized collections Until his career was cut short by World War I, Nino Oxilia was one of the most promising Italian directors of the teens. Formerly a playwright, he entered … Continue reading
Mistress of disguise, pirate of the skies: Filibus (IT 1915)
Have you ever wanted to watch a film about a masked female criminal mastermind who flies around in a zeppelin, perpetrating audacious schemes for the thrill of it as much as for the spoils of victory? Well, not only does this … Continue reading
Retracing the history of an action blockbuster at 100: Il jockey della morte | The Jockey of Death (IT 1915) and its sequel, Il circo della morte (1916)
A stolen child, a skeleton mascot, a circus act, and a stunt-filled chase as a man in a skeleton suit and a female acrobat go on the run: continuing this month’s theme of ‘Adventure 1915’ is Il jockey della morte, an Italian … Continue reading
Diana, l’affascinatrice | Diana the Seductress (IT 1915)
This month I’m blogging on the theme ‘Adventure 1915’ – adventurous films at their 100th birthday. To Francesca Bertini for the first entry! It’s a treasured spy cliché – the agent who falls in love with their mark. In Diana l’affascinatrice, … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged adventure, cinema of 1915, cinema of Italy, Cinematek BE, dangerous female sexuality, diva films, EFG, Francesca Bertini, Gustavo Serena
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Silents, Please! 