Happy Birthday, Edgar Allan Poe!

And to celebrate, I've written a piece on two silent shorts from 1928, both based on Poe short stories: Charles Klein's THE TELL TALE HEART, and James Sibley Watson's and Melville Webber's THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER.

My post can be read on the Fandor blog, Keyframe, HERE.

And sign up for a free one-month trial of Fandor to watch both films. If you're only familiar with the Roger Corman Poe adaptations from the '50s and '60s, these two silent shorts should be a (spooky and weird) treat.

Fandor: Siam Sunset

My latest piece is up at Keyframe, the Fandor blog. It's about the top four moments from an Australian indie movie called SIAM SUNSET (John Polson, 1999). The movie stars Linus Roache as a man that designs paint colors for a living who goes off to Australia to find inspiration for a new color he calls "Siam Sunset." It's part romantic comedy, part black comedy and I found it darkly funny and ultimately a sweet love story. There's also a falling refrigerator that plays a somewhat significant part. Read the article to know more...

My article can be found HERE.

SIAM SUNSET can be watched at Fandor HERE.

And please, don't hesitate to leave a comment, either for my article or for any of the blog posts at Fandor. Self-Styled Siren has written a wonderful piece on Simone Signoret and Vadim Rizov's got a nifty article on the five things to know about South Korean cinema. These are just a couple that caught my eye, but there are tons more.

Also, check back here because I will be embedding more movies from Fandor in the days to come!

Watch THE CAT AND THE CANARY right here on Dereliction Row!

I've signed up to be part of Fandor's syndication program, which means I can embed Fandor movies right here on my blog. You can rent the film and watch it on my blog or sign up for a Fandor membership and have access to not only the films I embed on my blog but any film on the Fandor website!

THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927) is a silent horror film from director Paul Leni -- one of the many German Expressionist directors who moved over to Hollywood and brought his original visual style to the States. CANARY is one of Leni's American movies, an "old dark house" film that's part comedy, part horror. It stars Laura La Plante and Forrest Stanley.

Fandor!

Did you know that a few months ago the Internet got a heckuva whole lot more amazing?

It's all thanks to FANDOR: The place for international and independent films on demand, on your computer.

Subscribe to Fandor and you get unlimited access to their fabulous (and growing) film library, an online movie channel that's always on, and lots of cool and interesting film essays that'll blow your mind and inform your viewing experience. And if you join now, you get a one-month FREE trial. Try it out for a month, see if you like it, at NO COST. How cool is that?!

Seriously, this is an amazing resource for film lovers and I'm just happy to be along for the ride. Yeah, I kinda think they're crazy to let a reprobate like me in the door, but the folks at Fandor have asked me to contribute articles. I've got two articles posted to the site already.

Fandor is also on Facebook, so go fan it! My first article (about Tarkovsky's THE MIRROR) can be found HERE.

My second article, a piece on Josef Von Sternberg's THE BLUE ANGEL starring Marlene Dietrich, has just been posted to Fandor's new blog, Keyframe. You can access Keyframe even if you don't have a subscription to Fandor, so check that out too!

VIVA FANDOR!