Critic’s Corner – An Animated “Magnificent Life”

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The new feature film A Magnificent Life is an animated biography of the great French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol. His first successes on film were “The Marseille Trilogy” composed of Marius, Fanny, and César. He continued making movies, adapting some for stage and writing numerous books that have also been adapted to screen by others such as the popular Manon of the Springs, Jean de Florette, My Father’s Glory, and My Mother’s Castle.starring many of the best actors in French cinema.

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Cooking with the “IT!” Girl

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A Supper with Clara Bow curated by Jenny Hammerton.                                                             (March 17, 2026)

I’ve been collecting the favorite recipes of movie stars and trying them out, for over 25 years.  There are a surprising amount of weird and wonderful signature dishes on record in books, magazines and advertising ephemera and my culinary collection now numbers over 10,000.  My favourite celebrity chefs are Vincent Price, Sophia Loren and Yul Brynner, but I have an enduring love for recipes shared by stars of the silent era too.

To celebrate the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s showing of Clara Bow in “It” at the restored Castro Theatre on Sunday, March 22 accompanied by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra,  I offer you a menu of Clara favorite recipes.  Full screening info and to buy tickets here. 

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Clara Bow Runnin’ Wild- On Making “IT”

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By David Stenn

(Editor’s note:The San Francisco Silent Film Festival will return to the restored Castro Theatre on Sunday, March 22 at 7pm with Clara Bow in “IT” live accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Information and tickets here.  Best selling author David Stenn shares his chapter on the making of “IT” and we have added a gallery of stunning images at the end.)

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Be Our Valentine

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Curated by Gary Meyer.     (February 8, 2026)

Several years ago I curated a large selection of odd and ironic Valentine’s Day cards and nostalgia with movie stars and celebrities joining in. Plus a gallery about food and drink as the way to our hearts.

This year we thought a lot more vintage images and some contemporary selections could make your heart laugh and would brighten your week. But be warned, some of these cards are cringy. Others are surprising (women’s suffragettes featured on cards—to balance to the horny little boys that dominated these cards for decades). We have some fun videos, “My Funny Valentine” as performed by two of our favorite singers plus Bad Bunny’s Valentine’s videos. Continue reading →

Try This Ida Lupino Noir Bar Cocktail

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“Noir City-Face the Music” is in full swing at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland as the launch of its eight city tour.

Eddie Muller—host of TCM’s Noir Alley, one of the world’s leading authorities on film noir, and cocktail connoisseur—takes film buffs and drinks enthusiasts alike on a spirited tour through the “dark city” of film noir in this stylish book packed with equal parts great cocktail recipes and noir lore. Continue reading →

Noir City 23 to The Rescue!

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Anticipating This Year’s Music-Themed Fest With Delight

by Meredith Brody.  (January 13,2026)

I love Eddie Muller’s Noir City film festivals; I don’t think I’ve missed a one since his first edition in Los Angeles at the American Cinematheque in 1999, four years before SF’s first Noir City.

I start out perusing the list of 24 films (paired in a dozen double bills) in my usual somewhat-blinkered and mildly narcissistic fashion: which ones are new to me? Since I’ve been seeking out film noir since before I went to college, and my first post-college publication in book form was in Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward’s first “Encyclopedia of Film Noir” back in 1979, it’s not totally a surprise that there are only two that qualify: the British Face the Music aka The Deadly Glove (1954), and The Crimson Canary (1945), neither of which I’ve even heard of.

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Gerald Peary, A RELUCTANT FILM CRITIC

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A sharp, funny, and deeply engaging memoir, A Reluctant Film Critic traces Gerald Peary’s unlikely journey from a bookish, movie-obsessed boy in small-town America to one of the country’s most distinctive critical voices. Told in vivid, fast-moving vignettes, it’s a story of curiosity, rebellion, and discovery—of a life spent both inside and outside the darkened cinema.  EatDrinkFilms is proud to present an excerpt from the fascinating interview by Bill Marx that concludes the book. Continue reading →

Silents Please! and Listen

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The 2025 Iteration of SF’s Famed Silent Film Festival Unspools in an Art Deco Gem in Orinda

by Meredith Brody  (November 10, 2025)

I bow to no one in my appreciation, nay, adulation, of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (aka SFSFF).  It’s not only one of the jewels in the crown of local film festivals, but now has achieved international acclaim, drawing attendees not only from the US but the world. Continue reading →