The Mystery of Those Terrible Twins (1925) - Before the classic silent film The Kid Stakes (1927) came this oddity, an 'orphan' film, the surprising circumstances of whose production were lost to time - until now.
Yvonne Banvard: The Mack Sennett Girl Who Wasn't - Obituaries listed veteran Australian actress Yvonne 'Fifi' Banvard as a 'former Mack Sennett bathing beauty'. Was she? No. But her real story is even more interesting.
Seeking The Sentimental Bloke: A Location Search - Widely acclaimed as Australia's best silent film, The Sentimental Bloke (1919) was filmed in an urban Sydney of which traces can still be found if you look hard enough.
Sydney's Forgotten Film Studio - An unregarded back street at Bondi Junction hosts the most historic site in Australian film production history - the former Union Master Pictures/ Cinesound film studio at which Errol Flynn, Peter Finch, Bud Tingwell and other first found fame.
Cherie Rich, The Australian Bathing Beauty- How did Sydney-born teenager Bessie MacIntosh end up in Hollywood in the middle of a World War and (probably) one of Mack Sennett's famous Bathing Beauties? Find out here!
Australians At The Movies
Essays and research on Australian film attendance, showmanship and exhibition:
The 1916 Film Diary- The filmgoing habits of 24 year old Margaret Higgins, as recorded in her diary, amidst the tumult of World War I. A major research project undertaken for the anniversary of the Great War.
Valentino, whose international fame was cut short by his tragic early death in 1926, aged 31, has always had a special significance to Australian fans. It was Australia who rewarded the handsome Italian-American with the world's longest seasons of The Sheik (1921) and Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), as well as more fan mail than he received from any non-American nation. Read more about Australia's love affair with Valentino, along with some little-known details of his life.
Who Taught Valentino to Tango?: This major essay encompasses film and dance history to argue that Rudolph Valentino may have learned his signature dance from one of Argentina's greatest tangueros, the legendary Casimiro 'El Vasco' Aín.