Review by Therese Grisham

This is an under-appreciated, under-analyzed, but vital time in the life of Chicago, as well as in the early film industry. Most of the important players at this time started out in Chicago–such as Gilbert “Broncho Billy”Anderson–or worked in Chicago (Chaplin, Micheaux), so the omission of Chicago from histories of early film is egregious. Flickering Empire rectifies this omission.