By Ping, For Ping
Release Date:March 2, 1914 Studio:Keystone Director:George Nichols Also Starring:Virginia KirtleyPeggy PearceRoscoe ArbuckleMabel NormandFord Sterling Tramp:Yes Worth Watching?Maybe! My character was different and unfamiliar to the American, and even unfamiliar to myself. But with the clothes on I felt he was a reality, a living person. In fact he ignited all sorts of crazy ideas that […]
The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards will be announced tomorrow morning. Rather than try to predict the actual lists of nominees for each category, I thought I’d try something I’ve seen from other blogs and make some assorted predictions along with my sense of their likelihood. So I did that, and then realized that […]
Release Date:February 28, 1914 Studio:Keystone Director:Henry Lehrmann Also Starring:Ford SterlingChester ConklinEmma CliftonEdward Nolan Tramp:Yes Worth Watching?Eh… The films are successful agitations, successful explorations of elaborate visual possibilities; if laughter once accompanied them, it has to have been the laughter of breathlessness. Walter Kerr, The SIlent Clowns
Release Date:February 19, 1914 Studio:Keystone Director:Ford Sterling Also Starring:Ford SterlingMack SwainEdgar Kennedy Tramp:No Worth Watching?No I went from set to set watching the companies at work. They all seemed to be imitating Ford Sterling. This worried me, because his style did not suit me. Chaplin, My Autobiography
Release Date:February 9, 1914 Studio:Keystone Director:Mabel Normand Also Starring:Mabel NormandFrank D. WilliamsChester ConklinAlice Davenport Tramp:YES! Worth Watching?Sure I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage […]
Release Date:February 7, 1914 Studio:Keystone Director:Henry Lehrman Also Starring:Henry LehrmanFrank D. Williams Tramp:YES! Worth Watching?As a historical novelty He is elbowing his way into immortality. … And he is doing it by calling attention to the camera as camera. He would do this throughout his career, using the instrument as a means of establishing a […]
Release Date:February 12, 1914 Studio:Keystone Director:Henry Lehrman Also Starring:Henry LehrmanChester ConklinMinta DurfeeVirginia Kirtley Tramp:No Worth Watching?As a historical novelty Had I seen a Keystone comedy? asked Mr Kessel. Of course, I had seen several, but I did not tell him that I thought they were a crude mélange of rough and rumble. Chaplin, My Autobiography
Anyone who followed me on Twitter in 2021 probably noticed more posts about Mickey Mouse cartoons than a normal adult should make. I’m not sure I ever fully explained what I was doing. On January 1 of that year, I watched the first Mickey short, Steamboat Willy. On December 31 I watched the most recent, […]
The word of the year is “maximalism.” As we begin to refer to the pandemic in the past tense and crowds return to theaters (a rebuke of 2021’s conventional wisdom that the industry is a relic, as much as the distributors seem intent on ignoring that), the shows on display appear determined to remind audiences […]
This started as a top X video games post, like I used to do when I played video games regularly. I like to do these write-ups regardless of how much I have to say about new releases. It’s tradition at this point, sure, but mainly I find it valuable to organize my thoughts about video […]