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'The Doll' with Ossi Oswalda and Hermann Thimig: Early Ernst Lubitsch satirical fantasy starring 'the German Mary Pickford' has similar premise to that of the 1925 Buster Keaton comedy 'Seven Chances.' 'The Doll': San Francisco Silent Film Festival presented fast-paced Ernst Lubitsch comedy starring the German Mary Pickford – Ossi Oswalda Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (So This Is Paris, The Wedding March), the 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival presentation The Doll / Die Puppe (1919) has one of the most amusing mise-en-scènes ever recorded. The set is created by cut-out figures that gradually come to life; then even more cleverly, they commence the fast-paced action. It all begins when a shy, confirmed bachelor, Lancelot (Hermann Thimig), is ordered by his rich uncle (Max Kronert), the Baron von Chanterelle, to marry for a large sum of money. As to be expected, mayhem ensues. Lancelot is forced to flee from the hordes of eligible maidens, eventually...

Manchester By The Sea is one of the festival's headline galas The programme for the 60th BFI London Film Festival, which will run from October 5 to 16, has been announced.

Sundance hits Birth Of A Nation - which sold for a record sum at the festival - and Manchester By The Sea, will screen alongside titles from Venice, including Snowden and La La Land.

Other anticpated titles include Ja Bayona's A Monster Calls - hot from Toronto and San Sebastian - Lone Scherfig's Their Finest, Mira Nair's Queen Of Katwe and Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals. As previously announced, the festival will open with Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom and close with Ben Wheatley's Free Fire. The archive gala will be Arthur Robison's The Informer (1929).

Nate Parker's Birth Of A Nation is likely to arrive on the winds of controversy since Parker has recently faced a...

The hit sound film The Jazz Singer (1927), starring Al Jolson and directed by Alan Crosland, fueled the mainstream appetite for newfangled "talkies"... and brought on the death throes of the ol' fashioned silent film. Over the next few years, silent motion picture production around the world slowed, withered, and died. Before this era came to a close, however, the horror genre took root, clawed its way into mainstream popularity, and spawned a wealth of atmospheric and unsettling thrillers. These films built the foundation upon which a century of horror movies would be constructed. The art of film was still in its infancy, and this silent era of experimentation gave rise to some of the most striking and fascinating horror movies ever made. While Germany would soon rise to dominate horror of the silent era, Italy helped get the ball rolling with their first feature length film, Dante's Inferno (1911), directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro.

Liam O'Flaherty's novel The Informer, in which an Ira man rats on a comrade for the reward money and endures a night of agonizing guilt, punishment and redemption, has been filmed thrice, and all three versions are of interest. Jules Dassin's proto-blaxploitation version, Uptight! (1968), is the least impressive, but does boast fine performances by screenwriters Jason Bernard and Ruby Dee, who take lead roles, and the always imposing Raymond St. Jacques and Roscoe Lee Browne. The climax, scored to Booker T. and the M.G.'s "Time is Tight" (a.k.a. The Blues Brothers' theme) is pretty exciting, once you get over the shock.

John Ford's 1935 The Informer is the most faithful and famed, though its reputation is not as high as it once was. At times the Rko production, with its Max Steiner score and hulking performance from Victor McLaglan, recalls King Kong (McLaglan...

• Here are Ioncinema.com's suggested movie viewing & film events for the next seven: ------------------------------------------ Thursday / Feb 14th------------------------------------------Cupid is shooting arrows and pointing to the BAMcinématek. Valentine's Day means dinner and a movie. They are sold out of the combo that included three course dinner plus His Girl Friday - but you can still grab tickets for the film. ------------------------------------------ Friday / Feb 15th ------------------------------------------Sharpen your French speaking skills. Double header @ the Walter Reade theater. Film Comment Selects presents IFC presents Jacques Rivette's The Duchess of Langeais and Olivier Assayas' Boarding Gate. ------------------------------------------Saturday / Feb 16th ------------------------------------------Prep for the Oscars categories that not many give any thought to and if you win you Oscar pool by one point it may be because you picked right in the Short film category. Magnolia Pictures recommends a ten short film buffet with The 2007 Academy Award-Nominated Short Films in limited release. See IFC  Centre listings here.

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