The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #133788 Message #3039521
Posted By: Will Fly
24-Nov-10 - 10:32 AM
Thread Name: BS: Silent movies
Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies
There was a season, many years ago, at the National Film Theatre in London, called "The Golden silents". It lasted for several weeks, with a major silent film or films screened three or four evenings each week. The introductory host for each film was the comedian Michael Bentine. The season contained a host of films by Lloyd, Keaton and Chaplin, plus major films by Lon Chaney and shorts by Georges Melies. I bought a ticket for the whole season - and it was truly wonderful.
On several of the films they had piano accompaniment by the great silent cinema accompanist Florence De Jongh.
What is often forgotten is that the quality of the b&w film stock was often superb - and those films with a good available print were technically as good as anything made later.