A documentary about some of the comedians of the silent era featuring clips from their films and biographical information.
Social & External
The people behind it
Charlie Chaplin
(archive footage)
Buster Keaton
Charley Chase
Lupino Lane
Tom Destry, son of a legendary frontier peacekeeper, doesn’t believe in gunplay. Thus he becomes the object of widespread ridicule when he rides into the wide-open town of Bottleneck, the personal fiefdom of the crooked Kent.
The city chap arrives in a flivver and makes love to the daughter of the proprietor. The rival plays a strong hand but is not quite strong enough to regain the girl. Little brother plays his part with tact and gets the regulation quarter for allowing the spooners to be alone. An elopement in moonlight provides a good finish.
Babs Comet is employed by the classified ad department of the daily paper and uses her looks and position to get a husband.
Jimmy Clark, sightseeing in France with his friend Algy Baker, falls in love, at first sight, with Betty Perry at the railroad station. The destination for all: Switzerland. There, Jimmy is mistaken for an expert mountain climber, J.K. Roberts. Betty is introduced to Jimmy and believes him to be the champion.
A seasick sea captain commands an amusement pier despite local opposition. Released in the U.S. as 'All at Sea'
A silent film exploring the life and times of Groover Walz, and the ultimate tragedy of the very thing that brings him joy — dance.
Walking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner "who can take a beating." After watching others lose, Charlie puts the horseshoe in his glove and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion. A gambler wants Charlie to throw the fight. He and the trainer's daughter fall in love.
It's 1938, but Stan doesn't know the war is over; he's still patrolling the trenches in France, and shoots down a French aviator. Oliver sees his old chum's picture in the paper and goes to visit Stan who has now been returned to the States and invites him back to his home.
A young man in love with a cabaret dancer is refused money by his father. He joins the dancer and her accomplices to rob his father's bank. The robbers are discovered and killed, except for one. The situation resolves, with the characters' lives sorting out.
This comedy revolves around Wahid, a happily married composer who has a one-off dream about kissing Boussa, his gorgeous neighbor and his wife Latifah’s best friend. He feels guilty, and foolishly confesses this to Latifah, who naturally becomes suspicious and concludes he and Boussa are having an affair. The misunderstandings worsen tenfold when Latifah lets her parents in on the situation.
Bumbershoot is a silent comedy about a hapless man desperate to find an umbrella strong enough to make his life whole.
The background of this picture represents a scene along the beautiful river Seine in Paris. A gentleman enters, and taking a blackboard from the side of the picture, he draws on it a sketch of a novelist. Then, standing in the centre, he causes the living features of his sketch to appear in the place of his own, which is utterly devoid of whiskers. The change is made so mysteriously that the eye cannot notice it until one sees quite another person in the place of the first. Again another sketch is shown on the board, this one being that of a miser; then an English cockney; a comic character; a French policeman, and last of all, the grinning visage of Mephistopheles. It is almost impossible to give this film a more definite description; suffice it to say that it is something entirely new in motion pictures and is sure to please. (Méliès Catalog)
An outdoor gathering.
A weekly magazine called Crime News announces a story competition. A group of young men submits a well-crafted story, but Ahmed, the magazine's editor, rejects it. The young men decide to take revenge on him. Ahmed takes his fiancée to the train station, and while he is returning, a girl named Hoda falls in front of his car and steals his car, and events escalate.
Andy Warhol directs a single 35-minute shot of a man's face to capture his facial expressions as he receives the sexual act depicted in the title.
Joe and Eve are engaged, but Joe cannot help contrasting the drabness of her attire with the dressy clothes of their friends. Eve overhears him talking of this and breaks with him. Then, with the help of her friend, Mazie, she metamorphoses into a ravishing beauty. Joe is remorseful, but the situation is made more complex when he suspects Eve of questionable relations with her boss.
“Tai Chi II,” similarly to Elam’s “Tai Chi Bowling” and “Tai Chi,” focuses on movement. Through a sequence of close-ups, Elam coyly records portions of several individuals practicing tai chi, primarily focusing on the practitioners’ extremities as they float about. Distinct from its affiliates, “Tai Chi II” finds the action taking place outside.
Two pumpkins.
While at an amusement park, trying vainly to forget the girl he has lost, a young man sees the girl with her new boyfriend. When her dog gets loose in the park, both suitors have to help her catch it. Then, the girl's uncle, a balloonist, gives her a pass for two in his balloon, provided that her mother approves. She then offers to take along the first of her admirers who is able to get her mother's consent.
Documentary about the making of American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003).
Kevin Smith interacts in Q&A sessions throughout various college stops in the USA.
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
The definitive 3½-hour documentary about the troubled creation and enduring legacy of the science fiction classic 'Blade Runner', culled from 80 interviews and hours of never-before-seen outtakes and lost footage.
An intense portrait of the iconic filmmaker, writer, actor, comedian and musician Woody Allen: his life, family and friends; his writing and directing habits, and his relationship with performers.
Live Aid was held on 13 July 1985, simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, United States. It was one of the largest scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: watched live by an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations. "It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid...!"
In this second Q&A with Kevin Smith he now enters the homes of some of his fans in Toronto and London.
From its distinctive neighborhoods to its architectural homes, Los Angeles has been the backdrop to countless movies. In this dazzling work, Andersen takes viewers on a whirlwind tour through the metropolis' real and cinematic history, investigating the myriad stories and legends that have come to define it, and meticulously, judiciously revealing the real city that lives beneath.
A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.
Taking inspiration from Peter M. Bracke's definitive book of the same name, this seven-hour documentary dives into the making of all twelve Friday the 13th films, with all-new interviews from the cast and the crew.
Michael Kamen conducts the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in support of metal rockers Metallica in this 1999 concert performance.
A hilarious introduction, using as examples some of the best films ever made, to some of Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek's most exciting ideas on personal subjectivity, fantasy and reality, desire and sexuality.
Bruce Springsteen shares personal stories from his life and acoustic versions of some of his best-known songs in an intimate one-man show.
A portrait of the day-to-day operations of the National Gallery of London, that reveals the role of the employees and the experiences of the Gallery's visitors. The film portrays the role of the curators and conservators; the education, scientific, and conservation departments; and the audience of all kinds of people who come to experience it.
Documentarian Ross McElwee originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War. Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration.
A live concert in tribute to Freddie Mercury, former lead singer of Queen. Mercury died of AIDS and so some of the proceeds of this concert went to AIDS research. Features performers such as Metallica, Def Leppard, Elton John, Axl Rose, Extreme, George Michael, and many others. Performers alternate between doing their own hits, covering Queen songs, or jamming with the surviving members of Queen.
A chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to "voice of a generation" to rock star.
For decades, Freddy Krueger has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters, scaring up over half a billion dollars at the box office across eight terrifying, spectacular films.
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Oliver Stone charts the history of the United States from the Second World War to the present.