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Characters in the 1934 film "The Thin Man."

Fools in Love

Screwball comedies are beloved films, but for decades historians and critics have disagreed over what the genre is and which movies belong to it.
by Andrew Katzenstein via New York Review of Books on August 29, 2024
A freeze-frame of Eddie Murphy smiling at the camera in Beverly Hills Cop.

Bring Back the Freeze-Frame Ending!

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F spends its final moments on a thrilling cinematic trope of the ’80s, one that I would argue is due for a comeback.
by Chris Stanton via Vulture on July 15, 2024
Still from 'Chinatown' showing Jack Nicholson taking photo.

“Chinatown” at 50, or Seeing Oil Through Cinema

On the 50th anniversary of “Chinatown” and the beginning of the end of petromodernity.
by Michael Rubenstein via Los Angeles Review of Books on July 8, 2024
John Wayne plays Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror" (1956)

The John Wayne Flop Linked to High Cancer Rates

"The Conqueror" was filmed downwind of a nuclear test site. A new documentary tells the story of the fatal film set, and the community affected.
by Zach Budryk via The Hill on June 30, 2024
Exhibit

Moving Pictures

Tracing the history of Americans' relationships with the silver screen, from film's earliest days to the cinematic creations of our own times.
A poster for "The Gay Deceivers" of a naked man holding a pillow, with the tagline "Is he? Or isn't he? Only his draftboard and his girlfriend know for sure."

The Gay Deceivers Was an Early Landmark for Queer Cinema

This 1969 film offers a compelling context for queer cinema and culture prior to the 1970s.
by Ben Railton via The Saturday Evening Post on June 11, 2024
Still from Pretty Poison (1968).

The All-American Crack-Up in 1960s Hollywood Cinema

Starting in the 1960s, more and more Hollywood films depicted an increasingly violent and alienated American society quickly losing its mind.
by Eileen Jones via Jacobin on May 24, 2024
Anna May Wong in the Toll of the Sea.

Chromatic Aberrations: The Toll of the Sea (1922)

Hollywood's first natural-color feature film and the breakout role for Anna May Wong, considered the first Chinese American movie star.
by Hunter Dukes via The Public Domain Review on May 21, 2024
Three men fight on a rooftop, above a large city on a river.

The Golden Age of the Paranoid Political Thriller

On the grand tradition of movies reflecting a deep distrust of those in charge.
by Keith Roysdon via CrimeReads on March 25, 2024
Robert Stroud in his prison cell, surrouded by books and bird cages.
partner

Freeing Birdman of Alcatraz

Neither the Bureau of Prisons nor the Production Code Administration could stop the production of a movie about murderer and ornithologist Robert Stroud.
by Matthew Wills, David Eldridge via JSTOR Daily on March 3, 2024
Lily Gladstone and Martin Scorsese on the set of "Killers of the Flower Moon."

How Publicity of Killers of the Flower Moon Recalls Rosebud Yellow Robe’s 1950 Hollywood Tour

On the performance of authenticity and the native stories left to tell.
by Paul Morton via Literary Hub on November 20, 2023
Collage of American Indian film characters.

Native Americans on the Silver Screen, From Wild West Shows to 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

How American Indians in Hollywood have gone from stereotypes to starring roles.
by Sandra Hale Schulman via Smithsonian on October 12, 2023
NY skyline including 33 Thomas Street, a skyscraper in the Tribeca neighborhood of Southern Manhattan, New York City.

Apocalypse-Proof

A windowless telecommunications hub, 33 Thomas Street in New York City embodies an architecture of surveillance and paranoia, an ideal set for conspiracy thrillers.
by Zach Mortice via Places Journal on September 12, 2023
Chicago police pursue fleeing workers in this screenshot from the suppressed Paramount newsreel footage. An officer's gun can be seen in the foreground.

The Bloody Labor Crackdown Paramount Didn’t Want America to See

Executives feared their newsreel footage would “cause riots and mass hysteria.”
by Greg Mitchell via Mother Jones on September 4, 2023
An uncredited performer with a member of the Delta Rhythm Boys in Give Me Some Skin (1946).

Jammin’ in the Panoram

During World War II, proto–music videos called “soundies” blared pop patriotism from visual jukeboxes across American bars.
by J. Hoberman via New York Review of Books on September 2, 2023

Who Owns History? How Remarkable Historical Footage is Hidden and Monetised

From civil rights marches to moonwalks, historical imagery that belongs to everyone is locked away behind paywalls. Why?
by Richard Misek via Aeon on April 10, 2023
Eight frames (in two rows of four) from "How It Feels To Be Run Over." The top four show a carriage full of people traveling along the road approaching the camera, while the bottom four read "Mother will be pleased."

“Mother Will Be Pleased”: "How It Feels to Be Run Over" (1900)

One of the earliest uses of intertitles, in this fin-de-siècle accident picture we can observe cinema discovering new forms of communication.
by Hunter Dukes via The Public Domain Review on October 6, 2022
Actor Eugenio Derbez at his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Spanish 'Dracula' Finds New Blood, More Than 90 Years After Its Release

In 1931, an entire new cast and crew reshot Dracula in Spanish on the Universal Studios lot.
by Mandalit del Barco via NPR on September 19, 2022
Mardi Gras float surrounded by a crowd.

The Oldest Footage of New Orleans Has Been Found

Previously only rumored to exist, the two-minute film depicts a Mardi Gras parade from 1898.
by Jane Recker via Smithsonian on July 5, 2022
A chipping mural depicting Fred Hampton, subject of the film Judas and the Black Messiah.

History Lessons on Film: Reconsidering Judas and the Black Messiah

Historians should watch films like Judas and the Black Messiah as much for their filmmaking as their history making.
by Nathalie Barton via Perspectives on History on June 3, 2021
Andra Day as Billie Holiday in her dressing room

The Trials of Billie Holiday

Two new movies emphasize the singer’s spirit of defiance and political courage.
by Lidija Haas via The New Republic on February 26, 2021
A screenshot from the movie "You've Got Mail."

The Romance of American Clintonism

The politically complacent ’90s produced a surprisingly large number of mainstream American rom-coms about fighting the Man.
by Meagan Day via Jacobin on October 21, 2020
partner

The First Movie Kiss

The public fascination was so intense that fans soon started demanding live reenactments.
by Linda Williams, Kristin Hunt via JSTOR Daily on May 7, 2020
Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck in Meet John Doe.
partner

"Meet John Doe" Shows the Darkness of American Democracy

Frank Capra’s 1941 drama carries forward the populist themes of his other movies, only with a much darker premise.
by Kristin Hunt, Glenn Alan Phelps via JSTOR Daily on October 24, 2019
Dr. Strange Love, from the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name

Watching the End of the World

The Doomsday Clock is set to two minutes to midnight. So why don't we make movies about nuclear war anymore?
by Stephen Phelan via Boston Review on June 11, 2019
Winona Ryder as Veronica in The Heathers.

“Heathers” Blew Up the High-School Comedy

The 1989 cult classic ushered in a darker, weirder, more experimental era for teen movies.
by Naomi Fry via The New Yorker on March 27, 2019

How Does a Film Become Lost?

What happens when “lost” films and television shows become found once again—and what that does to the work’s cultural legacy.
by Andrew Egan via Tedium on October 11, 2018

In the Trump Era, America Desperately Needs a Great Movie About Nuclear Apocalypse

If we want to avoid nuclear war, we'd better start imagining it again.
by Jon Schwarz via The Intercept on July 1, 2018

All 89 Best Picture Oscar Winners Ranked

From the meh (A Beautiful Mind) to the stunningly beautiful (Moonlight), and the classic (All About Eve) to the god-awful (Birdman).
by Kate Aurthur via BuzzFeed News on February 13, 2018
Charlie Chaplin and other actors in a silent film.

Curing (Silent) Movies of Deafness?

In many ways, silent film was an art form entirely different from the "talkies" we enjoy today.
by Russell L. Johnson via OUPblog on July 31, 2017
A scene from Birth of a Nation.

Births of a Nation

Cedric Robinson has a great deal to teach us about Trumpism and the significance of resistance in determining the future.
by Robin D. G. Kelley via Boston Review on March 6, 2017
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