“The Movie Man/The Movie Man can…”

Back in October 2016, I reviewed a Grapevine Video collection of Lupino Lane shorts that brought a great deal of pleasure into my occasionally dismal existence.  Lane was an acrobatic film comedian (whose antics could rival those of Buster Keaton) who made a most entertaining series of two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures beginning in 1924; he…

Money in the Bank(s)

You may recall in April of this past year that Thrilling Days of Yesteryear beat the drums for a Kickstarter project instigated by the good people at Grapevine Video.  The mom-and-pop label responsible for bringing so many outstanding silent and sound features—with some serials and classic TV thrown into the mix for variety—to Blu-ray/DVD passed around a…

“So tell me, why should it be true/That I get a kick(start) out of you…”

Hi, buckaroos! Scamp Shreve time again. Yeah, I’m trying to slide one by ya once more.  Okay, now that I’ve achieved my lifelong ambition of referencing both Cole Porter and Jerry Jeff Walker in a single post...let me get to the “meat” of the matter.  There are two Kickstarter campaigns underway highlighting two of silent…

Silly rabbit—Brix are for kids!

It’s a tale right out of The Beverly Hillbillies—wildcatter Tim Henessey (Samuel Adams—not the beer guy, by the way) has had a gusher come in, and now the entire Henessey clan is filthy with money!  (Though in all honesty…they were filthy without money before this picture started.)  The family puts up the “Out of Bidness”…

Buried Treasures: Feel My Pulse (1928)

Pampered heiress Barbara Manning (Bebe Daniels) has spent her entire life cooped up indoors due to the dictates of her father’s will—Babs’ old man appears to have been a germophobe, and insisted his only daughter be brought up in the same fashion by her Uncle Edgar (George Irving) until she’s twenty-one.  With the arrival of…

On the Grapevine: The Perfect Clown (1925)

Because I had developed little to no interest in athletics (football, baseball, etc.) in my formative years, my adolescence was occupied by my mania for movies—with a minor in silent film comedy.  As such, my initial education on Larry Semon—who, during his prime, was second only to Chaplin in terms of moviegoer popularity—was fueled by…

On the Grapevine: Open All Night (1924)

In this space in January, I did a review of the Grapevine Video release of Paths to Paradise (1925)—an unsung silent comedy gem starring Raymond Griffith and Betty Compson.  Since this week’s movie in TDOY’s silent spotlight, Open All Night (1924), also features the dapper Mr. G, I thought I'd preface my remarks by letting those interested know that Grapevine has…

On the Grapevine: Paths to Paradise (1925)

In The Silent Clowns, his seminal tome on those wonderful practitioners of silver screen mirth, Walter Kerr had this to say about Raymond Griffith: “Griffith seems to me to occupy a handsome fifth place—after Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, and Langdon—in the silent comedy pantheon, a place that is his by right of his refusal to ape his…

Thoroughly MODern Alley: Isn’t Life Wonderful (1924)

The time is 1923, a few years after the Armistice…and the location is Köpenick, a suburb of Berlin.  In Köpenick, Polish refugees struggle to keep body and soul together—not an easy task, since food is scarce (and expensive) and jobs even more so.  A family consisting of The Professor (Erville Alderson), The Grandmother (Helen Lowell), The Aunt…

Adventures in Blu-ray: The Phantom Honeymoon (1919)

Professor Juno P. Tidewater (Leon Dadmun), is a respected member of the Psychological Research Society—and part of his job title with that outfit is debunking ghosts.  He’ll get the opportunity to engage in this pastime while touring Ireland with nieces Vera (Harriet Cox) and Caroline (Katherine Perkins); while the three of them are sightseeing, they happen…