Steve Jarrett
Steve Jarrett
@steve-jarrett.bsky.social
I teach film history courses at Wake Forest University.
Today is the first Silent Movie Day since the entire silent film period entered the public domain (except for a couple of Chaplin outliers). Watch a silent movie today!

silentmovieday.org
Silent Movie Day
silentmovieday.org
September 29, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The most recent installment of my "Cinema Century" blog, in which a prominent writer is hired by a Hollywood studio, then is let go, then returns as an actor, and ends up as a screenwriter again, this time with great success.

steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu/the-cinema-c...
The Cinema Century – July 26, 1925 – Steve Jarrett
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu
July 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM
The most recent installment of my "Cinema Century" blog, in which a company that helped lay the foundation for the movie industry in this country folds its tent, marking the end of an era.

steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu/uncategorize...
The Cinema Century – May 2, 1925 – Steve Jarrett
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu
May 2, 2025 at 11:57 PM
The most recent installment of my "Cinema Century" blog, in which a major star of the silent cinema makes the decision to go independent, and learns that being one's own boss in Hollywood has its downsides as well as its benefits.

steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu/uncategorize...
The Cinema Century – February 27, 1925 – Steve Jarrett
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu
February 23, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Another silent film discovery. The existence of 16mm reduction prints on safety film stock continues to be our best bet for the continued discovery of silent pictures that were thought to be lost.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUin...
Long-lost silent film uncovered on Long Island
YouTube video by NBC New York
www.youtube.com
February 7, 2025 at 3:17 AM
CASABLANCA updated:
RICK: Sam, I told you never to play that tune!
SAM: Why not, boss?
RICK: Because we can't clear the rights!

www.npr.org/2012/01/03/1...
The Big Bad Swap: The Problem With Replaced Music
When is a movie not a movie? When it's a movie with an entirely different soundtrack.
www.npr.org
February 5, 2025 at 7:44 PM
This excellent site deserves the support of every cinephile.
We failed. “However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.” We have decided to extend our fundraiser until January 31st, 2025, and hope for a better outcome. Hope is all we have left now.

⬇️⬇️⬇️

cinephiliabeyond.org/donate2024/
January 19, 2025 at 5:13 AM
One of my favorite David Lynch projects was not a film. It was a comic strip -- "The Angriest Dog in the World."

www.lynchnet.com/angrydog/
David Lynch - Angriest Dog in the World
www.lynchnet.com
January 17, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Every semester, on the first day of class, I show this clip to my film history students. I know they won't listen when I beg them not to watch the assigned films on their phones, so I have to hope that they will pay heed to a higher authority.

RIP David Lynch

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKiI...
David Lynch on iPhone
YouTube video by Brittney Gilbert
www.youtube.com
January 17, 2025 at 2:14 AM
"Orlock can’t die from a stake or holy water and can only be burned to a crispy death by exposure to sunlight. His reach and his accessibility are the results of his ability to project shadows of himself across space. Orlok is cinema. Nosferatu is cinema."

lithub.com/what-does-it...
What Does It Mean to Remake Nosferatu Instead of Simply Dracula?
Dracula is back. Dracula hasn’t been away for very long (last year saw two reinterpretations: the corny comic misfire Renfield and genuinely innovative horror film The Last Voyage of the Demeter), …
lithub.com
January 5, 2025 at 9:37 PM
The only remaining artifact from Gertrude Stein's extremely brief career as an office manager.
December 23, 2024 at 8:40 PM
I love this story of Mark Evanier's yuletide encounter with Mel Torme. Revisiting it has become as much a part of my Christmas traditions as Dickens and Jean Shepherd. www.newsfromme.com/2024/12/19/m...
My Xmas Story – News From ME
www.newsfromme.com
December 22, 2024 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Steve Jarrett
“The film is 106 years old. It was stored in conditions we don’t know about. I think there are films that decide to live,” said Cordova. www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture...
Lost John Ford film found in Chile after 100 years | The National
The Scarlet Drop, a western starring actor Harry Carey, was found in a Santiago warehouse a day before it was set to be demolished
www.thenationalnews.com
November 25, 2024 at 8:19 PM
Schroedinger's weather forecast.
November 15, 2024 at 3:50 PM
Guilty. Sue me.
November 12, 2024 at 8:56 PM
The most recent installment of my “Cinema Century” blog, in which Warner Brothers makes an aggressive move in the theater-buying “arms race” that is transforming the structure of the movie industry. steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu/uncategorize...
The Cinema Century – September 20, 1924 – Steve Jarrett
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu
September 21, 2024 at 12:09 AM
September 3, 2024 at 7:28 PM
The most recent installment of my "Cinema Century" blog, in which one of the most successful and celebrated directors in Hollywood abruptly announces that he is packing it in and will abandon filmmaking for good.
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu/uncategorize...
The Cinema Century – July 12, 1924 – Steve Jarrett
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu
July 15, 2024 at 1:52 AM
Not my image -- original source unknown.
July 7, 2024 at 6:12 PM
The most recent installment of my "Cinema Century" blog, in which movie directors band together to preserve their mutual creative autonomy but then learn the hard way that there is a price to be paid for independence.
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu/uncategorize...
The Cinema Century – June 7, 1924 – Steve Jarrett
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu
June 7, 2024 at 2:01 PM
RIP Roger Corman, who hired Scorsese, Bogdanovich, Coppola, and many others when nobody else would, and trained them in the logistics of filmmaking so that when major studio opportunities happened for them, they were ready. His cinema legacy is incalculable. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
Roger Corman, Giant of Independent Filmmaking, Dies at 98
The fabled "King of the B’s" producer and director influenced the careers of Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme and many others.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
May 12, 2024 at 5:21 PM
If you haven't seen HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS, what are you waiting for? If Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali had continued to work together, and if they had recruited Chuck Jones as a third collaborator, this might have been the result. Inspired silliness. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h4P...
Hundreds of Beavers | Official Trailer | Coming to Fandor April 19
In this 19th century, supernatural comedy, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper when he los...
www.youtube.com
April 22, 2024 at 7:10 PM
The most recent installment of my "Cinema Century" blog, in which movie industry entrepreneurs experiment with adding a third dimension to the screen.
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu/uncategorize...
The Cinema Century — March 22, 1924 – Steve Jarrett
steve-jarrett.sites.wfu.edu
March 19, 2024 at 12:23 PM