David Cairns
@dcairns.bsky.social
Film maker, film critic, film teacher, film lover, fool for film
Shadowy goings-on and rampant nitrate decomposition in DAS UNHEIMLICHE HAUS (1916).
dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/t...
dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/t...
February 8, 2026 at 11:46 PM
Shadowy goings-on and rampant nitrate decomposition in DAS UNHEIMLICHE HAUS (1916).
dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/t...
dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/t...
Man continues to laugh at window. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/1...
Man Continues to Laugh at Window
Welcome back to Shadowplay, the film blog where we discuss a man laughing at a window. I suddenly got a huge spike in my visitors here yesterday, which I have to assume is due to the fact that, for…
dcairns.wordpress.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Man continues to laugh at window. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/1...
Man laughs at window.
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February 5, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Man laughs at window.
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Hippodrome Silent Film Festival is back and silenter than ever! dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/a... #HippFest
A Stately Hippodrome
Hippodrome Silent Film Festival in Bo’ness just announced their exciting programme (18th – 22nd March). You can attend some of it virtually if you can’t be there physically. Aside…
dcairns.wordpress.com
February 4, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Hippodrome Silent Film Festival is back and silenter than ever! dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/a... #HippFest
Hope we can meet up. Anyway, I'm sure you'll have a great time!
February 4, 2026 at 12:11 PM
Hope we can meet up. Anyway, I'm sure you'll have a great time!
I don't even know what part of that can be called an accusation at this point.
February 3, 2026 at 9:19 PM
I don't even know what part of that can be called an accusation at this point.
So, John Barrymore's son has raised a zombie army to attack Rome? What else have I missed? dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/03/b...
February 3, 2026 at 9:18 PM
So, John Barrymore's son has raised a zombie army to attack Rome? What else have I missed? dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/02/03/b...
To be exact, you walked right past me and the ladder, stopped in the (short) hall, and said "Where are you?" twice. I didn't answer the first time because I couldn't believe you hadn't seen me.
February 2, 2026 at 9:02 PM
To be exact, you walked right past me and the ladder, stopped in the (short) hall, and said "Where are you?" twice. I didn't answer the first time because I couldn't believe you hadn't seen me.
HELL'S KITCHEN may be the best juvenile detention ice hockey movie I've ever seen. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/1...
January 31, 2026 at 10:11 PM
HELL'S KITCHEN may be the best juvenile detention ice hockey movie I've ever seen. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/1...
Someone's lost his head on the witness stand...
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Shadowy reflection on duckpond — a bad omen. Films about child murder are rare, thankfully — though not as thankfully rare as actual child murder. Truffaut’s suggestion that for a…
dcairns.wordpress.com
January 30, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Someone's lost his head on the witness stand...
dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/m/
dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/m/
Disappointed to find Rod Serling doing a plagiarism. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/29/w...
Who’s on Faust?
My latest haul of second-hand stuff included THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA on DVD, DEATH OF A POET on Blu-ray, and two paperback collections of short stories by Henry Kuttner. One of the first stories I re…
dcairns.wordpress.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Disappointed to find Rod Serling doing a plagiarism. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/29/w...
Five desperate men! dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/28/s...
January 28, 2026 at 7:56 PM
Five desperate men! dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/28/s...
He has a better "out" than Mel Gibson ("Drink made me racist") but he needs to use it to get out of talking publicly about things other than music and mental health ever again.
January 27, 2026 at 6:27 PM
He has a better "out" than Mel Gibson ("Drink made me racist") but he needs to use it to get out of talking publicly about things other than music and mental health ever again.
Well, you could. but he obviously doesn't, because nobody stopped him. I think this malfunction is serious enough that, if he were truly in good faith he'd be saying "I'm not going to issue statements about politics again, and if I do it means I'm off my meds so ignore me.
January 27, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Well, you could. but he obviously doesn't, because nobody stopped him. I think this malfunction is serious enough that, if he were truly in good faith he'd be saying "I'm not going to issue statements about politics again, and if I do it means I'm off my meds so ignore me.
EA Dupont's KINDER DER FINSTERNIS reaches a dead stop. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/27/s...
January 27, 2026 at 6:22 PM
EA Dupont's KINDER DER FINSTERNIS reaches a dead stop. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/27/s...
Well, has he said he's now withdrawing from public life? Because he needs to. Not because we don't want to hear about mental illness, but if your mental illness causes you to act Nazi, you need to just stop.
January 27, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Well, has he said he's now withdrawing from public life? Because he needs to. Not because we don't want to hear about mental illness, but if your mental illness causes you to act Nazi, you need to just stop.
While it's not totally impossible that he went off the deep end because of a brain injury and resulting mental illness, I see a difference between blurting out an offensive remark and printing a line of swastika T-shirts.
January 27, 2026 at 12:01 PM
While it's not totally impossible that he went off the deep end because of a brain injury and resulting mental illness, I see a difference between blurting out an offensive remark and printing a line of swastika T-shirts.
Yes, and also this: eu.usatoday.com/story/life/h...
No, Ye's mental health does not excuse antisemitism, experts say
When talking about Ye, it's important to put his behavior into context. But mental health is not an excuse for racism, bigotry or hate, experts warn.
eu.usatoday.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:48 AM
Yes, and also this: eu.usatoday.com/story/life/h...
Kanye West has denied he's a Nazi, even though he said he was a Nazi. "I'm not a Nazi, but I *am* a liar," he's effectively saying. And are you lying now, Herr West?
January 26, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Kanye West has denied he's a Nazi, even though he said he was a Nazi. "I'm not a Nazi, but I *am* a liar," he's effectively saying. And are you lying now, Herr West?
The auteur theory, revisited.
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January 26, 2026 at 1:55 PM
The auteur theory, revisited.
dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/k...
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You can sing "Jabberwocky" to the tune of "Across the Universe." And as in uffish thought he stood / The Jabberwock with eyes of fire / Came whiffling through the tulgey wood / And burbled as it came. What you do with the "Jai guru deva omm" bit is your own affair.
January 26, 2026 at 1:52 PM
You can sing "Jabberwocky" to the tune of "Across the Universe." And as in uffish thought he stood / The Jabberwock with eyes of fire / Came whiffling through the tulgey wood / And burbled as it came. What you do with the "Jai guru deva omm" bit is your own affair.
The abode of Mr. Puffy. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/t...
The Sunday Intertitle: Puffy!
I guess this is the second leg of my see-everything-by-Dupont phase. In my first, I appreciated VARIETE, PICCADILLY, THE SCARF, LADIES MUST LOVE, and MOULIN ROUGE, good films, as well as THE NEANDE…
dcairns.wordpress.com
January 25, 2026 at 7:56 PM
The abode of Mr. Puffy. dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/t...
Footnote: just listened to it again and it's a very nice production, actually. RC's additions make McKenzie self-aware, but powerless. The original denies him even awareness.
January 23, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Footnote: just listened to it again and it's a very nice production, actually. RC's additions make McKenzie self-aware, but powerless. The original denies him even awareness.
[cont.] obviously Father McKenzie is just another sad person like the title character. Religion doesn't have any power in this song (in other McCartney/Beatles songs, it does).
January 23, 2026 at 9:39 PM
[cont.] obviously Father McKenzie is just another sad person like the title character. Religion doesn't have any power in this song (in other McCartney/Beatles songs, it does).