Today is an annual day dedicated to celebrating, preserving and creating access to silent movies!
Let's all share our favorite silent film?
Mine is Charlie Chaplin's "The Rink" - I've always loved the Tramp!
Filmmaking / Directing : September 29th - Celebrate National Silent Movie Day!! by Shellie Schmals
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Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box. The murder scene at the end is so wonderfully acted. It’s difficult to find a good trailer of it though.
https://youtu.be/dbcfFowcL4s
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Some silent films have a third dimension or an esoteric quality no matter the subject matter as though we read characters innermost sanctum albeit hear no speech. Chaplin films for one but also a lot not famous. EG. The Docks of New York 1928 director Josef Von Sternberg. A live pianist played the “emotional” sounds in theatre as film was running. I got so sucked into the acting that the subtitles disappeared and I remembered the whole film as listening to spoken dialogue. Got some stick in the pub after when I said “Didn’t they say it great?”
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I missed this! Lots of favourites: Buster Keaton's The Electric House (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdhWfsqp114), Nosferatu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCT1YUtNOA8), John Barrymore's Jekyll & Hyde ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjQaAK5Vof4) and more recent: Guy Maddin's The Heart of the World : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4JmeXXRmZg
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@Julia - thanks for these suggestions. I'm going to dig into them later! :) We're screening Nosferatu at my theatre on Friday. 100th anniversary event with live musical accompaniment - I can't wait!!
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Shellie Schmals ah, Nosferatu. One of my favourite films. We showed it a while back at our Secret Cinema. Loved Max Shreck. It will be magnificent to see this 'symphony of horror' with a live orchestra.
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Shellie Schmals That sounds thrilling - have fun! Reminds of going to a screening of a restored silent film with music specially composed for the event. The original film had used filters, so 'act 1' was in orange, act 2 in blue and so on. I remember one of the audience was put off by the colours !
Then there's the Cabinet of Dr Caligari, the Surrealists....
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Julia - the changing colors for acts sound awesome! I would love to see that!
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Julia Warren not unlike Dr Caligari, where they used various chemicals in the developing process, to get the colours they wanted.
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Great choice, Shellie Schmals, you can never go wrong with Chaplin! I grew up watching and really falling in love with silent cinema, as it was completely foreign to a kid born in the early 80s. My first experience was the Lon Chaney The Phantom of the Opera, a film while not perfect, left an indelible and lasting impression on me.
I've studied many films of the era (including Griffith, with whom I have a gestating idea for a biopic brewing), but if I had to choose a favorite, it would be F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. Beautiful from beginning to end, a true masterpiece.
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Charlie Chaplin movies. And a postcard of/for that era.
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That's a really cool image. Especially as we don't generally tie silver screen heyday and gender fluidity.
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James Welday I think Murnau’s ‘Sunrise’ actually won an Oscar for its Unique and Artistic Quality. I think the only time that had been used as a category. I’ve seen many Murnau films, but sadly not Sunrise…yet.
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Jay do you think this was a pre-code image/production?
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Geoff Hall I read that it was a winner at the first Oscars. A completely recommended film, through and through. Hope you enjoy it!
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I will search out a good transfer and watch it. Thanks James
Jay Arron Donaldson Do you mean gender ambiguity?
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Favorite silent movie: "SILENT MOVIE", 1976 Runner up: "THE ARTIST" 2011
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Nosferatu 1922 - love some German expressionism
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Robert me too. Have you read Lotte Eisner’s book called The Haunted Screen’. It gives great insight into the German Expressionist filmmakers. I have quite a collection of GE works.
A number of years ago my son and I went to the Berlin Film Festival and dropped into the Film and TV museum, where we saw a replica of the Brigitte Helm’s costume. There was also the model for the set of Doctor Caligari. We were entranced. It took us nearly 3 hours to go around it.