CHICAGO — Last week at the Gene Siskel Film Center, before a near-capacity crowd, director Edward Sedgwick’s five-reel silent film “The First Degree” said hello again in first public appearance in 97 years. Cinephiles, it was a great night. After so much lockdown/laptop/living room viewing these past 19 months — and I’ve been getting out to see movies in theaters and at drive-ins, in varying degrees of confidence, more than most — this event delivered, and everybody was vaccinated and/or recently COVID-19-tested, and the pleasure belonged to everybody. As Film Center programming director Rebec…

Read More