Essays, interviews, archives, and video resources on early cinema — curated reading on films, directors, and movements across the silent and early sound eras.
Essay analyzing Ozu's blend of comedy and social critique in his exploration of class and family.
Critical analysis of how the film navigated Hays Code restrictions while exploring human weakness.
Essay exploring Vidor's Depression-era collective farm drama and its social commentary.
Criterion's overview of Sternberg and Dietrich's melodrama about a chanteuse's moral decline.
Essay on Griffith's biographical film and its portrayal of Lincoln as a humanized figure.
Analysis of this early sound biography and its historical inaccuracies alongside its artistic merits.
Criterion release featuring essay on Hughes' epic war film and revolutionary aviation sequences.
Critical essay on Chaplin's early comic performance and character development.
Analysis of Mary Pickford's performance in this literary adaptation examining collaboration with director Marshall Neilan.
Scholarly article examining the representation of working-class labor in early cinema and its historical significance.
Scholarly analysis of the film's significance as the first narrative film and its pioneering screenwriting.
Comprehensive entry on Méliès' film examining dream sequences and proto-surrealist visual techniques.
Festival guide to Pickford's department store romance.
Essay on how this film undermined big studios through minimal means and non-professional casting.
Criterion release with essay on this Weimar-era film by young filmmakers including Siodmak and Ulmer.
Essay on this early Wayne western musical and its influence on the singing cowboy genre.
Criterion's analysis of Lang's political thriller banned by the Nazi regime.
Critical analysis of Vidor's exploration of forbidden desires around race and sexuality in pre-Code Hawaii.
Essay on Seiter's pre-Code examination of small-town morality and rumors about women's sexuality.
Book-length study of the film's relationship to mass culture and Dietrich's star image.
Review of this important war film that interprets and stretches the boundaries of aviation cinema.
Analysis of Hawks' direction of World War I aviation drama and Academy Award-winning story.
Criterion release with essay on Pabst's pacifist war film and its innovative sound design.
Essay on Bette Davis's groundbreaking performance and the film's dark portrayal of obsession.