Film Friday | Weekly Roundup

So seriously, I made a little online tour of the rep cinema’s last night to see what’s on offer this weekend, and felt very disappointed that I can’t go out to a silent film screening this week. The Toronto Silent Film Festival spoiled me! It might just be me and the dvds this weekend, folks. Despite my many silent film screenings this week, I still made time to scour the interwebs for you, dear readers. First, I want to say that over the week I collected a ton of links from The Cinementals and then I thought I should just tell you to follow The Cinementals. They’re doing an awesome job! Now, let’s get down to it. Here’s the best and the brightest the interwebs had to offer this week. Happy reading and happy viewing!

TSFF Review: Our Dancing Daughters (1928)

For me, there are two alternating pleasures in watching silent movies. The first is the opportunity to watch a fledgling medium, one that is still so much with us today, being born. Silent movies showcase the intuitive genius of a lot of early filmmakers who seemed to just know what to do with these moving images. This is the pleasure of watching Chaplin, Keaton, Murnau, Griffith. But even when a silent movie is not so innovative or culturally fresh or technically groundbreaking, it can still offer up a window into a moment in time. Movies are, after all, a reflection of both what we actually are (sometimes, unintentionally so) and a projection of what we wish to be. Our Dancing Daughters (1928) falls firmly within the second category.

Film Friday | Weekly Roundup

Wowee – is my feets sore from doing the Charleston with Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters! Last night was the opening night of the Toronto Silent Film Festival and fabulous it was. But despite sipping bathtub gin til the wee hours of the morn, this jazz baby is hard at work this morning to bring you the best of the interwebs. That’s dedication my friends! Stay tuned for my review of Our Dancing Daughters and in the meantime you can amuse yourself with these links. And of course, leave some time to get yourself tickets to tonight’s screening of F.W. Murnau’s Tabu! Happy reading and happy viewing!

TSFF Preview: Our Dancing Daughters (1928)

The Toronto Silent Film Festival kicks off on March 29, 2012 with Our Dancing Daughters. Or maybe I should say it Charlestons off. This 1928 silent classic directed by Harry Beaumont is a jazzy look at the flappers and fops of 1920′s America and stars a very young Joan Crawford. And I mean very young, like she doesn’t have those harsh hard-core eyebrows yet young. Everyone always has really awesome things to say about Our Dancing Daughters, and the problem is I have to just take their word for it, because I have yet to have the pleasure of seeing this one.

I CANNOT WAIT to see it, and thanks be that TSFF is screening it this year! In the meantime, let’s hear from some people who have actually seen the movie:

• Review at Silents are Golden
• Review at Not Coming to a Theater Near You
• Review at Silent Volume

Done reading? Sold? Perfect, now get thee over to Toronto Silent Film Festival and get your tix!

Screening Details:

Our Dancing Daughters

Musical Interpretation: Andrei Streliaev

Thursday March 29, 2012
8pm (doors open at 7:30pm)
Innis Town Hall 2 Sussex Ave Toronto
Tickets $15.00

Plus: “Animation from the Lawless Days” Cinderella 1922 Lotte Reiniger
& The Best Animated Films of Toronto Urban Film Festival 2011

The Toronto Silent Film Festival Program

March 30 – Tabu: A Tale of the South Seas

March 31: Blood and Sand

April 1: 1000 LAFFS: Playmates

April 2: The Italian Straw Hat

April 3: Variety

Film Friday | Weekly Roundup

Wowee! It’s been quite the Buster Keaton -centric week! Buster is near and dear to my heart, so to see such an outpouring of affection and appreciation for him gives me the warm and fuzzies (I think that’s the correct technical term). Pretty Clever Films will be Bustering it up all month, so watch out for more Keaton related posts and updates, be sure to keep an eye on the amazing Project Keaton sponsored by The Kitty Packard Pictorial, and check the Happy Buster Keaton Month post right here at PCF, updated as I collect links and mentions. Now, you may find this hard to believe, but there was a lot of non-Buster Keaton things going down this week too. The interweb wires are sizzling with classic film reviews and celebrations of classic horror movies. OOOh, spooky! So let’s get down to the latest and the greatest non-Buster from this week. Happy reading and happy viewing!