Questions

1.) Why are silent films most enjoyable when watched alone in an empty house at 3am? Is that just me?

2.) Why do we obsess over dead celebrities? Is this the ultimate form of unrequited love? Is it the most satisfying kind of love?

3.) Why does Lon Chaney's face break my heart? Is that an overstatement? No?

4.) Will I ever watch Birth of a Nation all the way through?

5.) Did Greta Garbo embody the feminist ideal?

My Best Girl, Starring Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers

"Rich men don't chase after shopgirls for the exercise."

Buddy Rogers and Mary Pickford. The two go together like sunshine and rainbows. Buddy pretty much plays the same character as he did in Wings--a well meaning sweetheart who can be kinda dumb, really dumb. Its not very nice to lie to the girl you love about your identity, your relationship status, and just about everything else. Of course it works out in the end. I've seen this story played out in several other movies, but I think this one may be my favorite. If only because none of the other movies have Mary Pickford dancing the Charleston . Once she started her fake-flapper speech, I knew it was only a matter of minutes before the dancing would begin.

From Lubitsch to Pabst

My Top Ten List (Like the Ten Commandments)

1. Student Prince in Old Heidelberg
2. Diary of a Lost Girl
3. Broken Blossoms
4. Goldrush
5. Pandora's Box
6. City Lights
7. Laugh, Clown, Laugh
8. Phantom of the Opera
9. La passion et la mort de Jeanne d’Arc
   
10. Flesh and the Devil