"the Strong Man" 1926

While Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd are the silent film era's most famous clowns, this trilogy of short features showcases their lesser-known but equally talented contemporary, Harry Langdon. The Strong Man – considered by some as Langdon's best film – marked the debut of legendary director Frank Capra, who also helmed 1927's Long Pants. In Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, Langdon courts none other than Joan Crawford.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed is based on tales from The Arabian Nights and still stands as one of the great classics of animation — witty, lively, delicate, inventive, stirring and romantic.

Val Lewton produced a handful of low-budget horror movies in the 1940s that had a revolutionary impact on the genre. From 1942-1946, he ran RKO’s horror department, employing a method that has now become a staple of contemporary horror films. Lewton preferred psychological terror over monsters and gore. His films were a mix of mood and atmosphere, fueled by shadowy camera work, moral anxiety, tight pacing, and the suggestion of fear over shock value.

Owning The Origins of Film three disc box set from Image is like having your own private museum of film history. Boasting hours of quality programming from the silent era as compiled and preserved by the Library of Congress Video Collection, this set celebrates some of the art form’s earliest and most significant movies, from the earliest films by both African American and female directors to a treasure trove of animation’s earliest days. Author Kevin Brownlow has called the silent era the richest period of cinema history, and one need look no further than The Origins of Film to confirm the validity of that statement. Before there was Spike Lee, there was Oscar Micheaux. Before there were Jane Campion or even Ida Lupino, there were Alice Guy-Blache and Lois Weber. And before there were Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, there were Krazy Kat and the Katzenjammer Kids.

“He is a Spaniard by birth, educated in Paris and with a German mindset; he has an intelligence which is both very quick and very clear in grasping and ordinating the ideas. He has been a help for me; he made the reduction for voice and piano of my two operas and he will teach them to the singers; in fact, following my suggestion, he has been appointed at the Zurich City Theatre. Moreover, he likes ‘theory’ very much, and frequently he explains my own works to myself. He speaks a perfect French, and German as a cultivated person. Voilà Philippe! (He is also an excellent pianist”.