Another talented chip off the German Expressionist block, F. W. Murnau had a penchant for horror. With "Nosferatu" (1922) he brought the first of countless Count Dracula stories to cinematic light. Murnau made his Dracula as hideous, doomed, and gloomy as later incarnations are suave, elegant, and ta

Classic hollywood, Dark, Death, Elegant, Erotic, German expressionist film, Grotesque, Primal

Recognized as a comic genius equal to Chaplin, Keaton had a style that assembled as much mechanical grace and Rube Goldberg gags as the Tramp's, but without the sentimentality or didacticism. His final visual pun in "The General" -- kissing his sweetheart while they use the horizontal wheel-joints of

Classic hollywood, Funny, Illusive, In-your-face, Kinetic, Trippy, Wise assy

The next time you watch a Howard Hawks film, look for the seams -- they won't be there. An unobtrusive, quietly gifted director, writer, and producer, Hawks constructed films that seem as effortless and artless as the films of his contemporaries seem idiosyncratic. With a background in mechanical eng

Classic hollywood, Contemplative, Film noir and neo-noir, Layered, Pathos, Subtle