Charlie Chaplin in “The Gold Rush,” (1925) distributed by The Criterion Collection.
Lately I’ve discovered that if you are a “film nut,” one of the most fascinating windows into the world of film is through its Facebook pages. The Criterion Collection, for instance, which distributes classic movies, promotes whatever is their latest film release on their Facebook page. They also includes posts with fascinating film snippets from long-gone films, along with movie memorabilia. They occasionally post links to entire movies!
From: flikr.com/photos/nicogenin
The Criterion Collection page led me to the Facebook page of Janus Films, which distributes foreign films to American audiences. Their Facebook page has post after post of what can only be called interesting film stuff. One of Janus Films’ page “likes” is Francois Truffaut. That’s when I discovered that even though Truffaut died in 1984, he has his own “tribute” Facebook page with 99,000 followers! The Facebook page of Warner Brothers Archive is also a treasure trove of film clips and stills from their archive of more than 1,000 vintage movies. The Hollywood Archive page gives links to its “Picture Vaults,” which contain an endless assortment of film celebrity pix and film memorabilia, so if you are looking for a picture of an old poster of “Casablanca,” or thirty pages of photos of Johnny Depp, stop here. The Turner Classic Movies Facebook page has lots of fan discussion of great stars and classic movies, as well as background information about movies they broadcast on TCM, their cable network. You can even download a free app for a self-guided Hollywood tour.
Of course, you can go to the websites of these groups, but the fan input and rapidly-changing content of the Facebook pages are especially fun. Also, if you check out the “Likes” on any particular page, you will find links to an amazing assortment of other film-related Facebook pages, and you may find yourself hopping from link to link. So if you are a film nut (or, if you prefer, a “film aficionado”) check out these Facebook pages for some interesting reading.
