We're having the final exams of the term, and I'm also working a lot at a student organization I'm a member of, so I have almost no time for myself right now. I've been re-watching some Griffith Biograph films, like The New York Hat, The Mothering Heart and The Painted Lady. I can't find the energy ...

Brenda, I think both Emma and Annabel are really lovely names. They are old-fashioned, in a good way.

Re. Brenda's origin, I don't think this has anything to do with anything but in modern Swedish, brand means fire. It would be interesting to look up the evolution of that word.

I love vintage scores. I wonder which score they will use if The Patsy ever makes it to DVD?

I would love to see a DVD set with Marion Davies's King Vidor comedies, but I don't suppose that's top priority.

I saw Dodsworth two days ago, thanks to Fernando! :) It surprised me, because it was different. That's not a very original comment, I know. I agree with what was said before though, this is an excellent movie. I liked the performances all around. Mary Astor's in particular, since I had never warmed ...

I prefer William Haines in Show People really, he does a similar thing towards the end where he angers the heroine by acting obnoxious, but it's much easier to sympathize with why he does that since, well, the heroine is even more obnoxious. Still, in movies like Tell it to the Marines and West Poin...

I could never envy a first lady. It must be tough to have to give up your own political ambitions and adopt a safe cause when your husband suddenly decides to run for president. I wonder how Michelle Obama will do, she doesn't seem like someone who would stand in the background. Anne wrote: See, it ...

I disagree that the film has aged. Audiences have simply become more jaded, more cynical, more unwilling to participate in the film spectacle. Every generation wants to show up the previous - that of their parents, to be honest - by professing their bravery in the face of horror. Whereas once Boris...

Melvyn Stokes's book is really good, very thorough. I can also recommend D. W. Griffith: an American Life by Richard Schickel. There is a short autobiography available too, written by Griffith himself. He doesn't really go into the controversy surrounding BoaN, but talks a lot about his early life, ...

Anne wrote: One final thing, everybody is so hung up on Obama being black that everyone forgets he is only half black, and the other half is white, and that he was raised in America, not Kenya, by a Christian mother, went to a normal school, and grew up as thousands of single mom kids do. He may hav...

I saw The Shining last weekend. When it comes to horror I tend to favour F. W. Murnau, old Universal films and Tim Burton, films that have a pleasingly spooky style but aren't really that frightening to me. The Shining wasn't shocking and it wasn't that gory either, except for in a few brief shots. ...

They might not have been fully aware of what they were going to choose, and of course they couldn't predict the future, but the knowledge of his views on things like anti-semitism were available. If they didn't take it in, then they made the choice to be voluntarily ignorant, just as the people who ...

I saw The Blackbird recently. I agree with Fernando and others. I can only add that I really enjoy Lon Chaney's eccentric portrayals. He brought a great deal of colour to his characters, and to films in general. My feeling is that a lot of things became rather conventional once the studio system was...

I would hate to think our credibility has been damaged because some pollsters (or the press) were wrong. It wouldn't just be that the polls were wrong. I think people here are so confident that Obama will win because they can't imagine that a Republican president would get elected again, after what...

Thank you for the insights, ChiO and Movieman! A landslide... According to the polls, Obama is leading, but it's not by that much, is it? Besides, there is a margin of error in the polls. Judging from what I've read, McCain still has a chance. The media in Britain, Sweden and probably a lot of other...

I've been visiting the film house in Stockholm again. I saw four rare silents. Two were short films about a constantly drunken sailor named Captain Grogg. The first one, from 1916, tells the tale of the captain and his mate's voyage to Africa. They meet a mermaid, survive a storm, and finally get wa...