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The cinema was silent from 1895 to 1927... ¡32 years!
And of course, there's a lot of silent films to choose, so... which are your favorites? Any admirer of Chaplin, Murnau, Keaton, Griffith, Sjostrom, Pastrone, Lang, Stiller, Dreyer, Eisenstein, Vidor, Pabst, Melies, Vertov, Stroheim, Porter, etc? Posted by Luis
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Apr 13, 2008 5:15 AM |
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well, I love many films from the silent era;and a huge fan of German Expressionism in films.
from F.W. Murnau:Nosferatu-by far the best and creepiest vampire ever put on screen, and the cinematography was incredible for 1922; Sunrise-a beautiful film that has become a favorite of film of mine, Phantom,and The Last Laugh Charlie Chaplin: who doesn't know this pioneer of cinema;there are so many films by him that I like, but I love The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights,Modern Times, The Great Dictator(I know it's not silent, but this was such a great Chaplin film), The Kid(this movie almost made me cry when I saw it the first time),Limelight... Fritz Lang:another incredible expressionist director, and I love movies form him as well:Metropolis(simply incredible cinemaography), M(no film noir without this film and I do realize it's a talkie, but I can't speak of Lang without this film)Dr. Mabuse films(The Gambler, Testament,Thousand Eyes),Woman in the Moon,Destiny... King Vidor:this man made so many films it's almost impossible to get to see them all; form the ones I've seen and love are: The Big Parade, The Crowd(I really love this film),La Boheme,The Champ and Show People...I also like other films that he made such as Stella Dallas(with the one and only Barbara Stanwyck),The Citadel,H.M. Pulham, Esq.,War and Peace, Comrade X(not a favorite,but enjoyable),Dual in the Sun(I recently saw this film,and though it's not close to a favorite or even great, it was fun to watch) Buster Keaton:The General, The Navigator, Sherlock Jr., are favorites...and I've yet to see more films with him D. W. Griffith:The Birth of A Nation is a great film because of what it did for the cinema, though if you've seen it, then you know the controversy over the subject matter, Intolerance is on the other hand a great film, and Broken Blossoms... Victor Sjöström:The Scarlet Letter,The Wind(Lillian Gish was incredible),He Who Gets Slapped..these are the only films I hav ebeen able to get ahold of so far, and I remember him in Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries(a great favorite of mine)... Sergei Eisenstein: I have seen Strike,October,and Ivan the Terrible. Georg Wilhelm Pabst:The Joyless Street(the incomparable Greta Garbo),Pandora's Box(I love this film),Diary of a Lost Girl(Louise Brooks again)... Erich von Stroheim:I have not seen many films with this actor/director, but I can never forget him as Max in Sunset Boulevard, or his movies Greed and The Merry Widow. Mauritz Stiller:I think I have seen Hotel Imperial, Gösta Berlings saga and Gunnar Hedes Saga... Georges Méliès:A trip ot the Moon(short, yet innovative), Le Manoir du diable(the birth of horor movies)..he made so many short films in the very early days of cinema that it would be near impossible for me to name them... Carl Theodor Dreyer:Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey is by far my favorite film by him and a favorite early film with such beauty that I became hypnotized to this film when I first saw it, The Passion of Joan of Arc-a classic,and Day of Wrath... I don't believe I have seen anything by Pastrone, Vertov, or Porter... to add some other silent films I have liked: Cecil B. De Mille's The Ten Commandments (1923),Tod Browning(The Unholy Three, The Unknown-a personal favorite,West of Zanzibar,talkies such as Freaks, Dracula, The Devil-Doll), The Phantom of the Opera(1925),Robert Wiene' masterpiece The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari(1920),The Golem: How He Came Into the World(1920) by Paul Wegener,The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923),Un Chien Andalou (1928),The Man Who Laughs (1928),Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925)-absolutely incredible and breathtaking... Posted by Christine
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Apr 14, 2008 1:14 PM |
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I STRONLGY reccomend Buster Keaton to you, I've seen many of his films recently and he is amazing as a director and actor.
The editing in his films is completely modern, even today, as you can tell for the last 15 minutes of "Sherlock Jr." or the long pursuit - to the north and back to the south - in "The General". "Our Hospitality", "Steamboat Bill Jr.", "Seven Chances" and "The Cameraman" are masterpieces, you must see them :D F.W. Murnau is another giant... "Nosferatu" is a classic... but I think that "Sunrise" is his masterpiece, is one of the most touching films I've ever seen, and the technique is amazing, the photography, the editing, the camera movement, the acting, etc. “Faust”, “Tabu” and “The Last Laugh” are great too, specially the last one, with Emil Jannings. D.W. Griffith is essential, and of course I can see that “The Birth Of A Nation” is not the favorite movie of Jesse Jackson… is maybe the most racist movie EVER :$ But Griffith is a master of storytelling, even at the most subtle nevel, just remember the scene when Ben returns home after the war and finds his sister – already a young woman – , or the close-up in the face of Mae Marsh in “Intolerance”. “Intolerance” is – for me – THE GREAT film of Griffith, and again… the editing is amazing… “Broken Blossoms” is a most humble film, but is at the same nevel of the other 2. Fritz Lang have many silent masterpieces, I’ve seen “Metropolis”… ¡In the big screen!, totally restored and was a great experience, this movie HAS to be seen in the cinema. “Destiny” – Der Mude Tod – was one of the favorite films of Luis Buñuel, and I can see why, a story that blends love and death in a perfect way, and of course… “Dr. Mabuse” and “Die Nibelungen” are two epics of the thriller and fantasy films. I’ll continue later ;) Posted by Luis
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Apr 16, 2008 1:14 PM |
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(SPOILERS: For anyone wishing to see silent films like the ones we are talking about, I will be mentioning scenes...)
so, I can add another Buster Keaton movie to my list: Our Hospitality!...I just saw it yesterday, and it was really good(I like the scene where he dresses in woman's clothes to get away from the men who want to kill him and the backside is pulled up!....then he ditches the dress by putting it on a horses's backside!!!)too funny for words... I know all about the train scene in The General...it was incredible, the camera angesl, the incredible view, the athleticism of Keaton, the dangerous stunts, the change of music to add to the suspense, the greatly timed fun gags...I really love the scene where he gets the girl back and when she's helping him put wood into the fire, she drops a thin stick of wood, and in a sarcastic move, he picks up a toothpick sized piece of wood and gives it to her...she puts it in the fire, and he acts like he wants to strangle her, but then kisses her...there was no need for dialogue....the scene spoke volumes!!...and there were so many like that in the whole movie!!!! I do think Sunrise is a beautiful film as well, and I know what you mean by the photography...there are two scenes that I really admire: the one where the husband is contemplating killing his wife...he stares at her, while she sleeps peacefully, and then the image of his lover appears next to him, coaxing him to do it...what's incredible to me is the way in which her movements match perfectly with his...stunning work; another scene is when he's taken his wife to the river and the actor's face is so guilt-ridden and tormented for what he's about to do, that I could almost feel every emotion, without a word being said!!! I have not had the pleasure of seeing Metropolis in cinema, but I love the film nontheless...every scene is like a piece of art, with movements and art sets designed just so...just remember the scene when the place is flooding, the children gather around Maria, and the upper camera angle catches this scene just so...powerful scene; though a favorite has to be when the crazy scientist is chasing Maria through the dark tunnels with a flashlight...the contrast of light and dark migled with the frenzy of the scientists and the terror of Maria is simply exhilarating to watch. to add something here: Grass is a great movie that I got to see just last month and it is simply a beautiful film. I believe this was the beginning of a documentary. this excerpt is taken from Wikipedia to give you an idea of what the movie is about: " is a 1925 silent documentary film which follows a branch of the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia (today Iran) as they and their herds make their seasonal journey to better pastures. It is considered one of the earliest ethnographic documentary films. It was written by Richard Carver and Terry Ramsaye. The film is Merian C. Cooper, Ernest Schoedsack, and Marguerite Harrison's documentation of their journey from Angora (modern-day Ankara, Turkey) to the Bakhtiari lands of western Iran, in what is now the western part of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province and the eastern part of Khuzestan. They then follow Haidar Khan as he leads 50,000 of his people and countless animals on a harrowing trek across the Karun River and over Zard Kuh, the highest peak in the Zagros Mountains. In filming the journey, Cooper, Schoedsack, and Harrison became the first Westerners to make the migration with the Bakhtiari." that is the info, but watching the film is more than words can describe...the camera captured a time that is long gone and the landscape shots were simply stunning...the editing and the title cards were kept to a minimum, and that is good...but it is the ingenuity, courage, and determination of these people that makes this film worth watching...Cooper captured this as it was hapenning, and the Iranian musical score that accompanies this film really draws you in...you truly must see this film because I can't do it proper justice... Posted by Christine
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Apr 17, 2008 10:48 AM |
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In the documentary about Cooper & Shoedsack in the special edition of “King Kong” there’re some scenes of “Grass”... it looks VERY interesting, these guys were like Robert Flaherty, two real adventurers… but many people only remember the big ape at the top of the Empire State Building.
I’ll try to find that film, by the way… have you ever seen “Nanook Of The North”? “The Crowd” is another of my favorite films, I think it’s even better than “Greed”, and again, we’re talking about a TRULY modern film, just remember the scenes where the main character arrives to New York and the editing that show us many aspects of the city, concluding with the camera “climbing” the building, trespassing the window and revealing that great office full of people. The film is full of visual imaginery, and is very human and touching… and realistic. Talking again about Keaton… he is VERY realistic too, in fact many people says – Orson Welles included - that “The General” is the best movie ever made about the Civil War, the reconstruction of that period is remarkable… Keaton loves the south, many of his films takes place there, like “Our Hospitality”… where we can see a scene with a train that seems a premonition about “The General” :D “Sunrise” is another film with a great visual quality, one of my favorite scenes – with a very complex photography – is when the man goes to the forest to meet the woman of the city – his lover - , the atmosphere is very oppressive and fantastic at the same time, it seems like an horror movie. The movie works so well that in fact you CAN believe that the woman can forgive his husband, you actually believe that they love each other… even if the man tried to kill her hours ago :$ Posted by Luis
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Apr 21, 2008 8:40 AM |
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I do recommend you watch Grass, you will not regret it. I have seen Nanook of the North, but as far as I know, many scenes were staged and therefore much of the authenticity of the film is lost...but it is still a wonderful film.
I do remember the climbing scene in The Crowd,l it was fantastic and yes, I love the realism of the movie and the camera angles.I remember in particular the scene when the kid finds out his father has died, and he is climbing up the stairs...very emotional scene, yet the camera angle was fantastic in capturing the loneliness and pain the kid must have felt on going up those stairs.there were many sad things that happened in this film, and the display of emotions from the actors was incredible. I particularly loved the depth of the film for such a time. yes, I loved the train scene in Our Hospitality...remember when they have to pass through the tunnel...on coming out, all the people's faces were full of soot, and Keaton looked like a sad clown!...very funny, and it does seem like a taste of what was to come in The General. yes,I know that scene!, and it was wonderful to watch...very dark and opressive, and the woman looked as if she was no good. I mean, she has the dark hair, the makeup, the attitude...compared the the wife, who has light hair, natural beauty, and is gentle and sweet....so many things in this movie make it amazing.yes, their love feels real and his guilt almost hits you when you watch, very heartbreaking...do you remember the scene in the salon when he's going to get a shave and haircut?...so very funny and endearing...and the photography scene as well...trying to pose so stiff and then getting an intimate moment caught on camera...plus the statue they thought they broke!!...I love those scenes. Posted by Christine
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Apr 21, 2008 11:00 AM |
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I'll try to get "Grass" soon.
Yes, some scenes of "Nanook Of The North were staged, but it's a great document anyway, Flaherty spent almost 3 years with the inuits to try to understand their culture. You must see it :D Maybe "Sunrise" is my favorite silent film ever, and yes, the humor is very special here, and don't forget the drunken pig :D Have you ever seen "Faust"? Talking about "Faust"... have you ever seen "Haxan"? Posted by Luis
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Apr 23, 2008 1:00 PM |
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I have seen Faust, another Murnau classic with specacular cinematography and simply fantastci. what did you like from it?
yes I have!!have you? I have yet to meet anyone who has seen it and I'm eager to know what you think of it... Posted by Christine
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Apr 23, 2008 1:06 PM |
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wow, u 2... i just can say wow wow wow!!!!
Posted by oDeTte
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May 4, 2008 6:37 AM |
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it bcoz, u 2 already seen a lot of great film in film history, which i never seen b4.. but some of thm i've already saw... its like georges Melies, trip to the moon... the cabinet of Dr. caligari, Un Chien Andalou, the 400 blows, etc... and of course i will see films tht u said or u mention... ^_^ ...
Posted by oDeTte
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May 4, 2008 6:47 AM |
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