I’m going to start by setting a scene. The head of the Moving Image Section at the Library of Congress, Mike Mashon, takes the stage at the Castro Theater to introduce a screening of Erich Von Stroheim’s ambitious debut Blind Husbands (1919) at the 25th San Francisco Silent Film Festival. It’s a full house and that’s certainly not unusual for this event. “Recently, I was watching a conversation on the Criterion Channel,” Mashon tells the crowd. “Critic/curator Dave Kehr and historian Farran Smith Nehme were discussing Raoul Walsh and one of them said that Walsh was one of the least intellectual directors. He didn’t have a pretentious bone in his body; he was just a straight-ahead guy.” Mashon pauses, timing the silence for comic impact. “So… Erich Von Stroheim.” He need say nothing more. The entire audience erupts in laughter. Mashon smiles, saying, “You know,...
- 5/18/2022
- by Daniel Kremer
- Trailers from Hell
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombNEWSPablo Ferro, the renowned title designer of Dr. Strangelove, Beetlejuice, Stop Making Sense, and many more, has died at the age of 83. Harrison Smith of the Washington Post has written an expansive obituary and informative summation of Ferro's signature style. Following the closing of FilmStruck, the Criterion Collection has announced that it will be launching the Criterion Channel as "a freestanding service," wholly owned and operated by Criterion, in spring of 2019. Read the full press statement, including details on how to sign up, here. Recommended VIEWINGPeter Jackson attempts to resurrect history, via colorizing and dubbing, in the trailer for his forthcoming Wwi documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old.An official trailer for Aleksei German's Khrustalyov, My Car! highlights its morbid humor and stunning style.
- 11/21/2018
- MUBI
In the 200 years since it was published, we've seen numerous adaptations (and countless movies influenced by) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Directed by J. Searle Dawley and produced by Thomas Edison, the first screen adaptation of the classic story came almost one century after Shelley's book was first published, and it's now been newly restored and released online by the Library of Congress.
As detailed in a fascinating post by Mike Mashon on the Library of Congress' website (via Bloody Disgusting), the Frankenstein (1910) nitrate print was acquired by the Library of Congress in 2014, nearly one decade after the death of its previous owner, Alois F. “Al” Dettlaff.
After residing in Wisconsin for decades, the print was brought to the Library of Congress' film preservation lab, where it was given a "2K scan in advance of photochemical preservation," followed by a digital restoration that was made complete with help from the Edison...
As detailed in a fascinating post by Mike Mashon on the Library of Congress' website (via Bloody Disgusting), the Frankenstein (1910) nitrate print was acquired by the Library of Congress in 2014, nearly one decade after the death of its previous owner, Alois F. “Al” Dettlaff.
After residing in Wisconsin for decades, the print was brought to the Library of Congress' film preservation lab, where it was given a "2K scan in advance of photochemical preservation," followed by a digital restoration that was made complete with help from the Edison...
- 11/2/2018
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
The film-loving Library of Congress has unveiled its latest movie-centric initiative: the National Screening Room, a free collection of over a century of video assets that capture “a broad range of American life.” The New York Times reports that the new online screening room includes “digitized historical films, commercials, newsreels and other clips. … Most of the movies are in the public domain and are available for downloading; others are only available to stream.”
The available videos cover over a century of time, spanning 1890 through 1999, with new content set to be added every month. The current, quite wide-ranging selection includes almost 300 videos, with such highlights as “home movies by the songwriters George and Ira Gershwin; issues of the ‘“All-American News,’ a newsreel intended for black audiences in the mid-20th century; and a selection of instructional films about mental health from the 1950s.”
Other highlights include footage of Theodore Roosevelt visiting the Jamestown Exposition,...
The available videos cover over a century of time, spanning 1890 through 1999, with new content set to be added every month. The current, quite wide-ranging selection includes almost 300 videos, with such highlights as “home movies by the songwriters George and Ira Gershwin; issues of the ‘“All-American News,’ a newsreel intended for black audiences in the mid-20th century; and a selection of instructional films about mental health from the 1950s.”
Other highlights include footage of Theodore Roosevelt visiting the Jamestown Exposition,...
- 10/24/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Prepare to lose an afternoon or three: The Library of Congress announced today that it has digitized hundreds of hours of film and is making them available for viewing, free of charge, on its new “National Screening Room” website.
Care to check out home movies of Liza Minnelli’s second birthday party, hosted by Ira Gershwin? Thomas Edison footage of Coney Island at night, circa 1905? Lbj’s “Daisy” political spot with the little girl and the nuke (pictured above)? Have at them.
“The National Screening Room is designed to open up the Library’s collections,” said curator Mike Mashon, head of the Library’s Moving Image Section, “making otherwise unavailable movies freely accessible to viewers nationwide and around the world.”
With more than 1.6 million items in its collection, the Library of Congress calls itself “the largest and most comprehensive archive of moving images in the world.” Today’s announcement initiates...
Care to check out home movies of Liza Minnelli’s second birthday party, hosted by Ira Gershwin? Thomas Edison footage of Coney Island at night, circa 1905? Lbj’s “Daisy” political spot with the little girl and the nuke (pictured above)? Have at them.
“The National Screening Room is designed to open up the Library’s collections,” said curator Mike Mashon, head of the Library’s Moving Image Section, “making otherwise unavailable movies freely accessible to viewers nationwide and around the world.”
With more than 1.6 million items in its collection, the Library of Congress calls itself “the largest and most comprehensive archive of moving images in the world.” Today’s announcement initiates...
- 9/26/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The best movie culture writing from around the internet-o-sphere. There will be a quiz later. Just leave a tab open for us, will ya? “Pre-Code: Hollywood before the censors” — Mike Mashon and James Bell at Sight and Sound go longform to celebrate the sexy, gangster-y glory of a storytelling system before the ethical handcuffs were slapped on. “Even when prostitution isn’t obviously suggested, the pursuit of other vices could bring women characters low. Among the rawest of all the pre-Code pictures, Mervyn LeRoy’s Three on a Match (1932), about the varying fortunes of three women (Ann Dvorak, Joan Blondell and Bette Davis), crams a roll-call of forbidden themes into little more than an hour: infidelity, alcoholism, child abuse, gangsterism, undressing, drug use… The magnificent Dvorak steals the show as the lawyer’s tragic wife who sinks into a life of vice and crime.” “Adam Sandler’s Bad New Movie Made Me Cry Like Nothing Else Before...
- 5/29/2014
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
MOUNT PONY, Va. -- The blast doors that were to be closed in case of a nuclear attack are gone. The transformation from Cold War holdout to cold storage is nearly complete as the building that was to house members of the Federal Reserve board in case of nuclear holocaust is now occupied by Library of Congress archivists caring for the world's biggest collection of movies, TV shows and sound recordings.
If a civilization is truly to be judged by its libraries and museums, then the 415,000-square-foot archive about 75 miles from the Capitol makes a pretty decent statement for the nation and the uniquely American impact on recorded media.
"Movies, television and sound recordings are the people's art forms," said Mike Mashon, head of the library's moving image section. "They tell us who we were, who we are and perhaps where we're going."
Not having the dedication to preserve the past consigns our heritage to an unsure fate, Mashon added.
"We have embraced the history, glamour and storytelling splendor of moviemaking while ignoring the reality that films are physical artifacts that can shrink, fade and disintegrate into dust in less than a lifetime," he said.
From the outside, the building -- most of which is buried in the side of the mountain -- has a Hanging Gardens of Babylon effect. Gone are the early 1960s furnishings and post-doomsday decor designed to see the central bank through a nuclear winter. In its place are the archivists workstations, film restoration machinery and state-of-the art vaults that will protect the library's inventory that include its priceless collection of nitrate films.
The archive brings together in one place for the first time the library's 6 million items that have been scattered in facilities in four states and the District of Columbia, sets up state-of-the-art preservation labs and is designed to give researchers and the public access to the vast collection.
Embracing history isn't cheap. The Packard Humanities Institute, largely at the behest of early film enthusiast David W. Packard, provided $155 million for land acquisition and design and construction costs. This year, the foundation donated the facility in late July to the government. It was the largest-ever private gift to the U.S. legislative branch and one of the largest ever to the federal government.
If a civilization is truly to be judged by its libraries and museums, then the 415,000-square-foot archive about 75 miles from the Capitol makes a pretty decent statement for the nation and the uniquely American impact on recorded media.
"Movies, television and sound recordings are the people's art forms," said Mike Mashon, head of the library's moving image section. "They tell us who we were, who we are and perhaps where we're going."
Not having the dedication to preserve the past consigns our heritage to an unsure fate, Mashon added.
"We have embraced the history, glamour and storytelling splendor of moviemaking while ignoring the reality that films are physical artifacts that can shrink, fade and disintegrate into dust in less than a lifetime," he said.
From the outside, the building -- most of which is buried in the side of the mountain -- has a Hanging Gardens of Babylon effect. Gone are the early 1960s furnishings and post-doomsday decor designed to see the central bank through a nuclear winter. In its place are the archivists workstations, film restoration machinery and state-of-the art vaults that will protect the library's inventory that include its priceless collection of nitrate films.
The archive brings together in one place for the first time the library's 6 million items that have been scattered in facilities in four states and the District of Columbia, sets up state-of-the-art preservation labs and is designed to give researchers and the public access to the vast collection.
Embracing history isn't cheap. The Packard Humanities Institute, largely at the behest of early film enthusiast David W. Packard, provided $155 million for land acquisition and design and construction costs. This year, the foundation donated the facility in late July to the government. It was the largest-ever private gift to the U.S. legislative branch and one of the largest ever to the federal government.
WASHINGTON -- When Mike Mashon, head of the Library of Congress' moving image section, sent for a print of the 1933 Barbara Stanwyck movie Baby Face for an exhibition abroad, he was expecting the original release, kept at the library's Dayton, Ohio, facility. The film has become famous in the past few years, with historians hailing it as a superior example of a studio movie made before the imposition of the Hays Code. It showed, it was argued, that before the code was established, Hollywood was making adult-themed movies with an edge. When the code was instituted in 1934 after a public outcry about the frank nature of many films, the studios turned to tamer fare. Baby Face is about a woman who climbs to the top of the heap using her "womanly wiles."...
- 12/28/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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