silver nitrate notes

a personal log of classic black and white cinema

est. 2008 · « home

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e. mathers · 14 apr 2026

The Toland post is good, but you let Carringer's Making of Citizen Kane do too much of the work in the bibliography. The Mulvey BFI monograph is also worth a look.

b. okafor · 03 apr 2026

Found this site through the webring last week and have been reading backwards from the most recent post. The piece on Falconetti is one of the best things I have read on her. Has the colourised Joan ever surfaced? I have heard rumours.

m. hollander · 22 mar 2026

You should write about Stray Dog (1949). Kurosawa, Asakazu Nakai on camera. The pickpocket sequence in the Ueno markets is doing things with depth of field that I would argue Toland would have admired.

hal vesper · 22 mar 2026 · reply

On the list. Stray Dog has been on the list since about 2014, in fairness. I will get to it.

j. larsen · 09 mar 2026

Your Krasker piece finally got me to sit down with The Third Man again. I had been resisting it for years for no good reason. You sold me. Watching it tonight.

anonymous · 28 feb 2026

Have you ever considered loosening the focus for The Wizard of Oz? The Kansas sequences are the better part of the film and they are black and white.

hal vesper · 28 feb 2026 · reply

Love the Kansas bookends. But Oz is a Technicolor film at heart, and the focus of the site is on films that are fully in monochrome. I have good Kansas notes in a drawer somewhere; maybe I will post them separately one day.

r. paley · 17 feb 2026

The webring is mostly dead now. There were maybe twenty active sites in 2010. There are perhaps four. We will keep the ring open as long as anyone keeps posting.

s. ito · 30 jan 2026

Your Tokyo Story piece moved me. Thank you.


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