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22 Nov 10 - 08:15 PM (#3038341) Subject: BS: Silent movies From: josepp Been watching them a lot on Turner Classic movies. These are great movies!! I like them better than most talkies. There's also quite a few on Youtube. D. W. Griffith was amazing. He catches flak today because of "Birth of a Nation" (1915-which would have been a great movie if he'd just cut out the last hour) but movies as "Intolerance" (1916) are superb! It cost him $2 million to make. That's like $40 million today (I'm just guessing so don't pitch a frigging fit over it). It was complex too: four story lines from different periods of history all told side-by-side and then drawn together. Nobody was doing anything like that besides Griffith. In fact, the movie didn't do well because the audience of that time simply didn't get it. But it is undoubtedly one of the greatest movies EVER. Griffith also did the first interracial love film in 1919 called "Broken Blossoms" about a Chinese Buddhist missionary, Cheng, who comes to London to spread Buddha's message but is swallowed up in the despair, racism and poverty of the slums. He takes in an abused girl (played by Lillian Gish) and nurses her back to health after a severe beating from her prize fighter father. The girl's heart starts to blossom under Cheng's tenderness and care. We might have expected Griffith to have made a safer movie with a white man and an "exotic" Chinese girl but Griffith was a true trailblazer. This movie came out when there was still a lot of Yellow Peril hysteria so it was pretty daring for its time. Seeing Hollywood's penchant for only teaming up white men with Far Eastern females as its default interracial love arrangement, we shouldn't be too surprised that "Broken Blossoms" has never been remade (I could be wrong but I doubt it). I watched Mary Pickford's "The Poor Little Rich Girl" (1917) and loved it. She was great in that! Way better than Shirley Temple. And Pickford ad-libbed her own comedic bits in the film. She also came up with a new way of lighting the actors onscreen that went on to become a staple of both film-making and still photography. But you really have to see a 1926 Pickford film called "The Sparrows" to see the height of silent film greatness. What a shame talkies ruined everything. Silent movies were just really finding themselves by the late 20s and suddenly it was all over. Another super movie is 1920's "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" starring Rudolph Valentino who is simply incomparable as a leading man. Gable and Flynn couldn't hold a candle to him. I never really watched Valentino before but now I realize what all the hullabaloo was about--the man was a superb actor besides being devilishly handsome (almost as much as me--yeah, I'm lying out my ass). Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last" from 1923 is a great classic comedy. That's the one where he scales a building and ends up hanging from the hands of the big clock. He was really up there too--no fake backdrops. There was a platform under him to catch him if he fell but the camera angles are so clever, you simply can't see anything but the ground WAAAAY down there. He really looks like he's hanging a hundred or more feet in the air with nothing under him. I loved Buster Keaton's "Steamboat Bill" which has the scene where a house facade falls on him but the open window comes down around him so he doesn't get crushed. That was real--no trick photography which they didn't have much of in 1928. Too bad he signed with MGM and lost his star status. I've seen a few Keaton movies from the 20s and his stunts were amazing. Then there's Charlie Chaplin's "The Immigrant" from 1917. He does some of his best bits here. He apparently went four days without sleep while editing the movie himself. What's odd is that his stuff was made for silent films. There would be no advantage to making them into talkies. You can see where Rowan Atkinson learned a thing or two. The Pink Panther cartoons also seem Chaplinish. Silent movies should not be considered obsolete. I think that was a huge mistake on the part of Hollywood and the public. They are a different genre. I'd love to see them come back. Actually, it's happening. I bought a DVD of Lovecraft's "Call of Cthulhu" that is a modern silent movie. They did it that way mainly because they had no budget to speak of but also because in Lovecraft's time, his story would have been a silent one. Considering how much nothing they had to work with, the film is really quite good. A million times better than the extravaganzas today that are overblown and overhyped and a huge disappointment. The guy at the store where I bought it said some bigtime director loved and wants to do a full budget version. I don't know if that's good or bad. Here's to the silent movie... |
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22 Nov 10 - 10:14 PM (#3038397) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker .. problem is, too many of the interesting 'Silents' I've seen tantalising stills from no longer exist. [at most, maybe perhaps fragments in private collections ?] Though thankfully, at least one on my list has been recently rediscovered and restored "The Moon of Israel" (German: Die Sklavenkönigin, or "The Queen of the Slaves") http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_of_Israel But as yet, as far as I can find, no DVD or accessable way to actually get the chance to ever see it.. |
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22 Nov 10 - 10:37 PM (#3038405) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: Beer Seen one many years ago with W.C. Fields trying to get through a barb wire fence. It lasted about 10 minutes if I recall. One of the funnest scenes I have ever seen. Have never seen it since nor can I find it on the net. Ad. |
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22 Nov 10 - 10:55 PM (#3038412) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: open mike i posted some info on silent films here... http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=119746#2599257 there is a link there and these are some on going silent film festivals san francisco---http://www.silentfilm.org/index.php kansas--http://www.kssilentfilmfest.org/ chicago - http://www.silentfilmchicago.com/Festival.htm and here is a site that encourages youth to make silent films http://www.makesilentfilm.com/ in Portland, OR some of the contest winning films are available on that site |
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22 Nov 10 - 11:00 PM (#3038416) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: Little Hawk I've seen the Harold Lloyd one you mentioned. It's wonderful. And so are Charlie Chaplin's films. |
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22 Nov 10 - 11:50 PM (#3038431) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp Yes, a lot silent movies are lost. But the good news is that there are shitloads of them still out there and most people alive today have never seen nor heard of them and that's a damn shame. I saw "Squaw Man" recently. That's the first full length movie to come out of Hollywood and directed by Cecil B. DeMille who was just coming up. Not the king of spectacles yet. In fact, D. W. Griffith was really the first spectacle-maker with "Intolerance" if that can be called a spectacle. A bit more cerebral but it still qualifies. Many of the film genres in existence today came out of Griffith. "The Birth of a Nation" was the first epic. "Intolerance" was the first spectacle. "Broken Blossoms" gave birth to film noir. He was a true 20th century visionary. What's also cool about silent movies is that I like to look at what company made them and look at the credits and you'll see the big dogs of early Hollywood--the guys who made it what it is. Guys like Joseph Schenk, Marcus Loew and Adolph Zukor. And companies these guys started that we only know after their mergers. Like in 1920 when "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" was made it was put out by Metro Pictures. Marcus Loew owned that. Three years later, he bought up Goldwyn Pictures (founded by Sam Goldfish and the Selwyn Bros. who combined their surnames together although many thought they should have called themselves "Sel-Fish") and formed Metro-Goldwyn in 1924. But Loew needed someone with managerial expertise to run it. He knew he couldn't. He wanted Nicholas Schenk (Joseph's brother) to do it but Schenk was involved in other vital business for Loew's company. Finally, Loew decided to make an overture to a small-time studio owner who was actually one of the founders of Metro when it was still in New York--Lazar Meir who went by the name Louis B. Mayer. He made the first "chick flicks" at his little studio is an LA ghetto. But Loew offered him Metro-Goldwyn and Mayer took it after ensuring that Loew hired his right hand man, Irving Thalberg. So that was how Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM was formed. Their first talkie filmed in 1928 was also the first musical and was directed by Thalberg who reshot scenes and had the actors mouth the words already recorded--the first instance of lip-syncing. "The Squaw Man" was put together by Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1914. Two years earlier, Adolph Zukor founded the Famous Players Company. Both were making films for the same film exchange and exhibition company which Zukor was quietly buying up all the stock in until he became its president. Then he merged Famous Players with Lasky's Feature Play Co. and became Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. Cecil B. DeMille and Sam Goldfish were also partners in the deal. In 1916, Famous Players-Lasky were made part of the Zukor's company and became Paramount Pictures--the first studio to combine production, distribution and exhibition in one company. Griffith's first company that he filmed for in Hollywood was Biograph. Biograph was founded because of the Mutascope--a 70 mm film projector invented by W. K. L. Dickson who had worked for Edison and built the 35 mm kinetoscope which was not a projector but a peepshow using film and a shutter. But the Mutascope enabled Dickson to found Biograph. Biograph's early artists were Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish who were both discovered by Griffith and who promptly made stars of them. Mary Pickford, known as "America's sweetheart," was a huge star--the first mega-star. Years later, in 1919, Mary Pickford and D. W. Griffith--along with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks--founded United Artists which was run by Joseph Schenk and Lewis Selnick. Selznick's son, David, directed "Gone With the Wind" for UA in 1939. Carl Laemmle bought the old Nestor studio in 1915. Nestor was the studio Griffith and Biograph shot their films for. Laemmle turned it into a huge complex and named it after the street it was located on--Universal. His first protoge was Irving Thalberg before Thalberg split to partner up with Mayer. Thalberg's secretary was a guy name Harry Cohn. He split from Universal in 1919 and formed a partnership with his brother, Jack, and Joe Brandt. They called it CBC in 1920. It was small-time and the other studio maguls mocked it by calling it "Corned Beef and Cabbage." So in 1924, CBC changed its name to Columbia Pictures. Warner Bros were Jack, Harry, Albert and Sam who founded their company in 1923 after buying Vitagraph--the major New York movie studio at the time. Warner Bros. gave us talkies. Western Electric came up with a sound-on-disc system that synced up with the movie. A guy named Nathan Levinson of Western Electric persuaded Sam Warner to buy it in 1926. Sam called the system Vitaphone. They made the first talking movie--"Don Juan." The following year, Warner Bros. made "The Jazz Singer" which they showcased at their theatre in New York with a Vitaphone system installed and the public response was so exceptional that theatres across the US started installing electric sound systems. The sound system that eventually won out was judged inferior to Vitaphone, which it was for some time, it was called Movietone and had been around since 1919. It was bought up by William Fried in 1926, whose company had fled New York in 1915 for Hollywood. Fried used his mother's maiden name Fuchs but anglicized it to Fox and named his company the Fox Film Corporation. Movietone recorded sound directly on the film but it was crude and needed work. As the Depression struck, Fox was in a bad car accident and was laid up in the hospital. An executive rose up to replace him, Sydney Kent. Fox tried to prevent it but, being bedridden, there wasn't much he could do and Fox was forced out. He went bankrupt being unable to tend to his fortune while laid up. In 1933, Daryl F. Zanuck founded 20th Century Films with the help of Joseph Schenk at UA. They decided to merge with Sydney Kent at financially-teetering Fox and formed 20th Century-Fox, which would cease to be hyphenated after 1985. And there, in a nutshell, is how your major Hollywood studios formed. |
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23 Nov 10 - 12:20 AM (#3038438) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: open mike There are some musicians today (notabley a piano player in the Redding calif. area--whose name i cannot find at the moment)who accompany silent films..and the music is planned to fit the mood of the film. We had an old family friend who used to play the piano at a theater during silent films. here is some info about a film fest in Redding, reported in the s.f. paper....it mistakenly says that redding is about an hour north of s.f. but it is more like 4-5 hours away... http://www.examiner.com/silent-movie-in-san-francisco/silent-film-celebrated-shasta-county |
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23 Nov 10 - 06:59 AM (#3038554) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,Patsy When I was younger I can remember UK comedian Bob Monkhouse was also a bit of a silent movie buff and he used to talk about the movies in depth. The Chaplin film that stands out in my mind I think it was called 'The Kid' where he teams up with a little orphan who later himself grew up to be Uncle Fester in The Adamms Family something Coogan? If a silent movie can make you cry then it is genius. |
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23 Nov 10 - 12:33 PM (#3038766) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp Jackie Coogan played Uncle Fester in "The Addams Family." Although best remembered for this role, he was more a dramatic actor and appeared various TV shows in the 60s and 70s. I remember seeing him in a serious role in Hawaii Five-Oh. What I would like to do is being back silent films, shoot them in black and white, hire someone to tint every single frame by hand ike in the old days and do the music or hire people to write music for them. I don't mean just old, dated things but modern treatments and subjects. I have no objections using pianos and organs but I'd like to get into electronic and synth scores as well. It would be expensive but fun. But it would be a matter of getting backers and a public to set up a demand. One movie I'd love to make in silent format would be a story about the Benders of Kansas. The possibilities would be endless. |
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23 Nov 10 - 01:04 PM (#3038792) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: Stu Nosferatu - with Max Schreck playing Dracula is classic of horror cinema and genuinely creepy The Phantom of The Opera - with Lon Chaney is still the best film version if the story The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - German expressionist classic with incredible sets Metropolis - a new version has just been released of this sci-fi masterpiece The Battleship Potemkin - Russian anti-Tsarist propaganda film |
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23 Nov 10 - 01:18 PM (#3038799) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,cs Sunrise - a song of two humans |
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23 Nov 10 - 01:24 PM (#3038806) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST I haven't got hold of a copy of Haxan yet, but I must do so: Haxan - witchcraft through the ages Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq2_jVmJ6wA |
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23 Nov 10 - 01:25 PM (#3038807) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST me above - cs |
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23 Nov 10 - 01:40 PM (#3038820) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: Bettynh To just call Battleship Potemkin a "Russian anti-tsarist propaganda film" doesn't do it justice. The maker, Sergei Eisenstein, invented much of early film editing. The Odessa Steps montage is as gripping as anything in film, new or old. |
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23 Nov 10 - 02:34 PM (#3038857) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: gnu For me, Buster Keaton, hands down. Severn sent me some VHS tapes of Keaton (did I ever mention Sev is one of the most generoua and finest gentlemen I've ever (cyber) met?) and I enjoyed them immensely as Keaton has always been my fav among the "genre". Chaplin is a distant second. |
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23 Nov 10 - 02:38 PM (#3038861) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: MarkS Mel Brooks "Silent Movie" |
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23 Nov 10 - 04:40 PM (#3038943) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: John on the Sunset Coast In 1936 Chaplin made his last silent film, "Modern Times". In 1952 Ray Milland starred in "The Thief," also a silent film. Actually 'silent' is not entirely accurate in either case. Neither had spoken dialogue, but MT has a beautiful sound track, including the theme song, "Smile," written by Chaplin; it may have had sound effects, but I'm not sure...I last saw it in the early 60s at a revival house. Milland's film definitely was filled with the sounds of the action. |
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23 Nov 10 - 04:54 PM (#3038954) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: Beer Just finished watching "The Kid" Thanks Patsy it was excellent. ad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GjgoYFw4Gw |
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23 Nov 10 - 05:27 PM (#3038978) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp The Birth of a Nation toured the country in 1915 with its own orchestra, music and sound fx team. So the later artists doing silent films were still following D. W. Griffith's lead. Another guy that was Chaplin-esque was Ernie Kovacs. |
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23 Nov 10 - 05:57 PM (#3038998) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp Then there's this: |
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23 Nov 10 - 06:23 PM (#3039021) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,cs Been a long time since I saw 'Le Sang d'un Poete' Josepp, but I don't think it's fully silent? |
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23 Nov 10 - 06:58 PM (#3039050) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp I thought it was called Un Chien Andalou. |
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23 Nov 10 - 07:41 PM (#3039069) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: beeliner Milland's film definitely was filled with the sounds of the action. Sound effects, music, and also, as I recall, some voice-over narration, but no dialogue. It was probably the closest-to-silent FEATURE film between "Modern Times" and "Silent Movie". Keaton, I believe, made some silent shorts in Canada in the 1950's and 60's. |
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23 Nov 10 - 09:19 PM (#3039134) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: catspaw49 Keaton did a thing for CP in Cnanda not too long before he died. It was called, "The Railrodder" and he rides a motorized handcar across the country. The first time I saw it I laughed most of the way through in both enjoyment and amazement that this old and ill yet still great comedic actor still had the ability to do such a wonderful bunch of routines. If you can find it somewhere, you'll never regret the time spent!!! Spaw |
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23 Nov 10 - 09:28 PM (#3039140) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: frogprince We have "The Kid" and a couple of other of Chaplin's, and a couple of Keaton's including "The General". Anyone remember the spot in "The General" where Keaton realizes that his girlfriend is throwing away some of the wood they need for the train, grabs her by the throat, but then kisses her? What person in a love relationship can't identify with that? |
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23 Nov 10 - 09:32 PM (#3039144) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp I've seen the Railroader. Another good short of his is "One Week". Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd were good friends of his and told him not to sign with MGM because he'd get lost in their movie factory and big corral of stars. Keaton thought it over but his last couple of movies hadn't done well, he was independent and taking it on the chin and MGM was dangling big money and lots of roles and he figured he'd better take it. But Chaplin and Lloyd were right. Keaton got lost in the MGM star factory and got smaller and smaller roles and further and further down in the credits. But he did still make a few silent shorts like the Railroader as in the good ol' days but his good ol' days were far behind him. By the time movies really became a part of the American landscape, Keaton was sort lost in the shuffle. I'm amazed at how few people have seen his Mack Sennett and independent stuff. He was in the form then and really top-notch. One of the greats who deserved better. |
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23 Nov 10 - 09:57 PM (#3039162) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: catspaw49 And btw......I too am enjoying the TCM series a lot! And for gnu and other Keaton fans, here's THE RAILRODDER on YouTube. Spaw |
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24 Nov 10 - 12:59 AM (#3039245) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity Shhhhh... |
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24 Nov 10 - 03:31 AM (#3039288) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,cs "Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp Date: 23 Nov 10 - 06:58 PM I thought it was called Un Chien Andalou." Yes indeed, my mistake - been a long time since I saw either! |
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24 Nov 10 - 03:41 AM (#3039292) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,Patsy Didn't Buster Keaton do all his own stunts? I think remember watching him going over a waterfall or rapids in a barrel something like that? Yes he was great too, my dad was a Buster Keaton fan. My grandmother loved Mary Pickford and used to say that some of Shirley Temple's curls were hers. I don't know if this is true or not? |
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24 Nov 10 - 03:48 AM (#3039294) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: MGM·Lion Modern Times, IIRC, does contain some spoken dialogue ~~ I remember Chaplin working on on his conveyor-belt being addressed in speech by a sort of boss-figure via a telescreen. But Chaplin himself remained silent throughout. Was that not the format? Someone please correct me if I have misremembered. ~Michael~ |
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24 Nov 10 - 10:32 AM (#3039521) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: Will Fly 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. |
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24 Nov 10 - 01:06 PM (#3039634) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: John on the Sunset Coast I've looked up Modern Times. There was a bit of dialogue in the film, but none directly between characters conversing. In a factory scene, recorded voices through speakers is heard. In another scene Chaplin is briefly heard singing as surrogate to a singing waiter. |
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24 Nov 10 - 01:07 PM (#3039635) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: John on the Sunset Coast are heard. |
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24 Nov 10 - 04:58 PM (#3039824) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: MGM·Lion Thank you, John. I had dimly remembered over long years something like that. ~M~ |
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24 Nov 10 - 07:45 PM (#3039952) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp Watching "Flesh and the Devil" right now. 1926 MGM film starring Greta Garbo, her first film for Hollywood. Stars John Gilbert as her leading man. I guess he was forgotten when talkies started. He died 1936 at 38 years. The credits say, "Controlled By Loew's Incorporated." The roaring lion in the trademark (which originaly belonged to Goldwyn Pictures) is silent. Clarence Brown is the director. Garbo is 21 in this film. |
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25 Nov 10 - 03:34 AM (#3040067) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,Patsy Greta Garbo is one of my favourite stars from then, for me she comes close to Audrey Hepburn for style. I tried to copy her aloofness and ended up being accused of being a moody teenager. Oh well! |
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25 Nov 10 - 12:25 PM (#3040313) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp According Robert Osborne, Garbo had just emigrated from Sweden when she made this movie and had a heavy Swedish accent. But she didn't have to worry about it being a silent film star but she was nevertheless rather withdrawn and taciturn. John Gilbert was the opposite and Clarence Brown found it hard to be around them off-camera but when the cameras came on, they changed completely and there was definite sexual chemistry between Gilbert and Garbo--so much so that they became lovers after this movie. |
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26 Nov 10 - 02:24 AM (#3040624) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: GUEST,Seth from Olympia I'm going back to the orginal "Thief of Baghdad" because, as I read on a completly different thread, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. got a role for his friend Jesse Fuller in the moviso now can you find Jesse in there |
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26 Nov 10 - 04:33 AM (#3040658) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: Lox I downloaded "the kid" for myself and my daughter about a month ago. She's been fed the usual diet of pixar and disney, but chaplins films have just as much a hold on her as they did on the rest of us. Great story well told! |
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26 Nov 10 - 11:02 PM (#3041216) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: josepp Check this one out! Wachsfigurenkabinett 1924 |
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04 Aug 11 - 12:37 AM (#3201424) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: beeliner Keaton did a thing for CP in Cnanda not too long before he died. It was called, "The Railrodder" and he rides a motorized handcar across the country. It didn't occur to me when this thread was fresh, but Keaton in his later years also had silent roles in some otherwise sound movies, and the two that come to mind are It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Does anyone know of others? |
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04 Aug 11 - 01:28 AM (#3201434) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: John on the Sunset Coast www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=84E1A04513EC8DAC The link above will permit you to watch the 10 part French serial from 1916, "Les Vampires", with English titles. While I don't know if each episode is complete (I suspect not, esp. Chapter 2), the quality of the print is quite good...at least Chap1 which is the only one I've watched. I'm saving the rest for during my recuperation from surgery in a few weeks. |
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04 Aug 11 - 05:15 AM (#3201498) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: BrooklynJay Regarding Buster Keaton, I know he appeared in a 1961 episode of the Twilight Zone television series ("Once Upon A Time") and I think his character was mute. It's been many years since I've seen it, and my memory might be a little hazy. Personally, I love silent films. Some favorites: The Doctor Mabuse films of Fritz Lang. J'Accuse (1918) by Abel Gance. Also, his Napoleon. The Lost World (1925) was restored recently, with a lot of missing footage found in Europe. It's now almost complete. (Unfortunately, one black character, who spoke in dialect in the original inter-titles, now speaks perfect English. The PC Police strike again. Sheeesh....!!) A Florida Enchantment (1914) is a comedy about gender reversal. Very funny, and should be better-known. I find early color films fascinating. Whether it's hand-stenciled color (like the excellent Cyrano de Bergerac from 1925), or the early two-color Technicolor films, I like 'em all. Some Technicolor films worth seeing: Toll of the Sea (1922) with Anna May Wong (though the final reel is missing), The Flag (a short film from 1927 starring Francis X. Bushman as George Washington. It's a piece of pure Hollywood fiction purporting to relate how the American flag came to be), and other films where color was used for brief sequences (like the 1926 Ben-Hur or the 1927 King of Kings). Anything with Lon Chaney, "The Man of a Thousand Faces." Always a particular favorite of mine. His characterizations could be quite overwrought at times, but, to me, that only adds to the fun. Some of his best roles required no makeup at all: the tough sergeant in Tell It To The Marines (1927), and the hard-boiled detective in While the City Sleeps (1928). Chaney played characters of many different races and ethnicities; ironically, if he were alive today, he would not be allowed to present such versatility onscreen. So many more films on my "list" - these are just a few off the top of my head. Jay |
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04 Aug 11 - 05:50 AM (#3201506) Subject: RE: BS: Silent movies From: Max Johnson Buster Keaton's 'The General' is on my top 10 film list. Another favourite is Abel Gance's two-part (nearly six hours long!)'Napoleon'. The film was restored in the 1980s. A masterpiece. |