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- 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: original research
Reflections on writing and research: Fluffy Ruffles, women in silent cinema, and gaps in film history
Earlier this year, I posted about a film/media history article I’d published in the journal Feminist Media Histories, entitled “From the New York Herald to the Italian screen: Fluffy Ruffles, la donna americana”. The article traced the history of 1907-9 … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Misc
Tagged cinema of Italy, Fernanda Negri Pouget, original research
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Announcing a publication!
Not long ago, a major project of mine came to fruition. A chance infatuation with the adverts for a particular film grew into a fruitful research project which involved early newspaper comic strips, international media coverage, and two Italian silent films. … Continue reading
Posted in Misc
Tagged announcements, cinema of Italy, Fernanda Negri Pouget, original research
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In search of Astrea, mysterious ‘strongwoman’ of the Italian silent cinema
The silent era was something of a golden age for athletic female stars. American serial queens were beloved by audiences around the world—it would be hard to overestimate how popular (and bankable) stars like Pearl White were at their peak. … Continue reading
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
1918: Fragments of Menichelli. On the trail of “Gemma di Sant’Eremo” and “La passeggiera”
Recently, I was reading Italo Calvino’s wonderful book If on a winter’s night a traveller (1979), and the following line stuck in my mind: The dimension of time has been shattered, we cannot love or think except in fragments of … Continue reading
Emilie Sannom, daredevil of the movies
In the history of film, the 1910s was the premier decade for female action stars. Long before Ellen Ripley became the prototype for the modern female badass, silent movie screens were filled with fearless women, female daredevils, adventurers and spies. … Continue reading
Emilio Ghione’s Za La Mort: a filmography
As an adjunct to my post on Anime Buie | Dark Souls, here is a brief filmography of Emilio Ghione’s Za La Mort series (1914-1924). The films are listed chronologically, with survival information/availability indicated.
Posted in Film
Tagged cinema of Italy, Emilio Ghione, Fern Andra, filmography, Francesca Bertini, Hesperia, Kally Sambucini, original research, serials
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To the stars and beyond: movies dream of outer space, 1898-1910
It was the end of the nineteenth century, a tumultuous time in Western society. Amidst the ongoing innovations in manufacturing and agriculture, there were new inventions such as the telegraph, the automobile, and lightbulbs; new forms of invisible energy such … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged blogathon, cinema of 1910, cinema of England, cinema of France, cinema of Italy, cinema of New Zealand, cinema of the 1890s, cinema of the 1900s, Ferdinand Zecca, frères Lumière, Gaston Velle, George Méliès, original research, R. W. Paul, science fiction, Segundo de Chomón, space is the place, Walter R. Booth
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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
Xirgu on film: Alma Torturada | Tortured Soul (ES 1916)
I first became interested in Margarita Xirgu a year or two ago, when I saw a performance of the opera Ainadamar (‘Fountain of Tears’, 2003). The opera centers on the relationship between the poet Federico García Lorca and the actress Xirgu, his close friend, muse, … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged cinema of 1916, cinema of Spain, EFG, excellent women, forgotten film stars, Magí Murià, Margarita Xirgu, original research
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Silents, Please! 