Silent London

This one should be right up your street, especially if that is a Victorian terrace in London… Go right back to the beginnings of British film history with this short course devised by the V&A Museum and the BFI and led by Mike Berlin and Bryony Dixon.

I have been wanting to share this news for a long time.

This is a place to share silent film news.

Hello!

Even the most beautiful tram ride eventually comes to a halt.

Let’s begin in the logical place, at the very end of the day.

I have spent a lot of words on Le Giornate del Cinema Muto so maybe I need some new ones.

Even here at Pordenone, not every film you watch can be a masterpiece.

“There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Pordenone is basically a very long tram ride, and although the views at every stop are very diverting, I have no intention of disembarking any time soon.

If you are anything like me, then you may well consider the two-hour flight to Italy for the Pordenone Silent Film Festival at least partially justified by the chance to see four minutes of a lost FW Murnau film.

The long hot summer of 2026 continues here at Pordenone.

Bonn | Queen Kelly | Rudolph Valentino | Metropolis | Pordenone | Faust | & more… It’s a long hot summer of silent cinema, my friends.

What is Il Cinema Ritrovato?

Royals like to take international tours, don’t they?

“Tonight I want to welcome you to a showing of a naughty little number I made with my own money – $800,000 of it.” – Gloria Swanson introducing Queen Kelly in 1967 Silent cinema icon Gloria Swanson was born on this day in 1899.

Name: Queen Kelly Age: Somewhere from 92 to 96 years old.

A short note from friend of Silent London, Maria Wyke, professor of Latin at University College London.

People, I have been busy.

Would love to say that any delay in posting these results was merely a tactic to increase anticipation… but that would be a fib.

Great news from the north, as Hippfest today launches the lineup for its 16th festival, taking place next month: five days of silent film, live music, workshops, talks and a chance to do the Charleston.

A belated Happy New Year to all Silent Londoners!

Just a little note to wish all the readers of Silent London happy holidays and great things for 2026.

Happy holiday Silent Londoners!

Call me Hedda Hopper*, because I have been keeping this one under my hat for quite some time.

I awoke with good intentions but encountered even better conversations.

I have been a little slow to start up some mornings.

Feature films?

It may seem that the Giornate is in its own bubble, a hundred years or more removed from the real world, wrapped up in the fashions and the fads of the past.

Last night I dreamt I went to East Lynne again… Ellen Wood is directing my subconscious now.

Monday finished with a zinger.

Is it still a pathetic fallacy even if the weather is true but the drama is not?

The Giornate dawned with grey skies but good times, a respite from Storm Amy and all the rest of the week’s turbulence, a day of pretty views and outbreaks of mild escapism.

Where would we be without Iris Barry?

Is it a little hot in here… or is it just me?

Let Me Dream Again: Essays on the Moving Image, by Luke McKernan Sticking Place Books, September 2025, In case there could be anyone reading this site who doesn’t know, Luke McKernan is a media historian, formerly Lead Curator, News and Moving Image at the

As so often, I am going to have to ask a certain purist contingent to do their breathing exercises and locate the nearest fainting couch.

You may or may not know this, but when I started Silent London I was working at the Guardian newspaper.

On Sunday I had the very great pleasure of introducing a double-bill of Anna May Wong silents: the UK premieres of new restorations of Song (Richard Eichberg, 1928, restored by Filmmuseum Düsseldorf) and Pavement Butterfly (Richard Eichberg, 1929, restored

“Is this really what you want to learn from the past?”

This is a long overdue post, but perhaps I was simply enjoying the research too much.

Bonjour mes amis.

I may live in the 21st century on the south coast of England, but here on my desk it often looks like I am somewhere else entirely.

Last night, the fantasy adventure Flow (Gints Zilbalodis, 2024) won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Thank you for bearing wth me during a few several technical glitches related to this year’s poll.

Wishing all the readers of Silent London happy holidays and great things for 2025!

Robert Eggers has remade Nosferatu.

Season’s greetings Silent Londoners.

This is a guest blog for Silent London by Maria Wyke, professor of Latin at University College London.