the silent film thread

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I just found Sjoman's The Phantom Chariot. I'm going to probably watch it on Monday.

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 6 March 2005 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd really like to see 1923's Trilby, i'm not even sure if there are any prints of it left but I've been fascinated since I bought a production still of ebay of it.

http://photos3.flickr.com/5930783_db2693c8c6.jpg

It starred Audree LaFayette and Philo McCoullough

― kate/baby loves headrub (papa november), Sunday, 6 March 2005 04:34 (twenty-one years ago)

sjostrom--i hope you like it! i hope you found a good copy. a good-looking print of the film will be positively gorgeous. it's a very moody and subtle film (though not as subtle as some of his other films).

i can check to see if that one exists. somehow i think it does, but i may be wrong.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 6 March 2005 08:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Silent drama can be avery dangerous thing. If it's not made by a great visual stylist (Murnau, Lang, Vidor etc), the going can be tough.

I was gifted with the Keaton box last Christmas. Still, his films are best seen first on the big screen, cuz it's vital to see his face.

Orson Welles said, purely on aesthetics, silents should have continued alongside talkies as a distinctly different art form.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 7 March 2005 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

Edison box set! Anders als die Andern FINALLY available on home video!

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 29 May 2005 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

And then there's this enticing forthcoming little number.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

wow! that looks amazing.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

By the way, my favorite Edison (based on the dozen or so I've seen) is this:

http://www.railwaybridge.co.uk/images/topsyelectrornd.jpg

Seemingly establishing the format as being capable of great cruelty, et al.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The only Keaton I've been underwhelmed with so far is The Navigator. But the scene where Keaton and his love interest chase each other around the ship's deck, trying to catch up with each other's phantom presence for what seems like five minutes is teh roffle.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

The somewhat grim stories of ">Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and Topsy the Elephant.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Which is to say Electrocuting an Elephant also helps establish the format as excellent for Toxic Sludge is Good for You-style manipulation.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Topsy the Elephant had killed three people, and even if one of them had fed her a lit cigarette...

Also establishing the notion that most inmates executed under death penalties are either innocent or committed justifiable crimes.

Electrocuting an Elephant is the birth of the 20th century in nearly every conceivable way.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Annabelle Serpentine Dance: BIG DANCING VAGINA.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

that edison boxset is insane!

― cozen (Cozen), Sunday, 29 May 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

It's really good, Cozen! I bought it a while back, and I still get a kick out of showing some of the stuff to friends.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Sunday, 29 May 2005 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i think my entire april paycheck went to box sets of silent films

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 29 May 2005 19:21 (twenty-one years ago)

you should list what was on the receipt.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 29 May 2005 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://www.cadrage.net/dossier/aelita.gif

Oh, now I remember where I saw this. On Chris Marker's Immemory. (It's on Netflix!)

― Eric H: not a troll, with one exception (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:08 (twenty years ago)

it's funny that protazanov (sp???) is primarily known in the west for that film, when he made really intense, sometimes beautiful and very moving, very slow, and verrrrrry russian dramas before and after the revolution. "father sergius" etc. SPOILERS: (that's the one where the monk chops off his finger so as to resist the temptation of a flirtatious crazy woman)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

(inspiring a collective "aieeeeeeeeee!!!!" from the audience, always.)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

http://www.silentfilm.org/

We're going to see

http://www.silentfilm.org/thebigparade.jpg

and

http://www.silentfilm.org/2005festival/thescarletletter/images/thescarletletter.jpg

'The Scarlet Letter'

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 18:35 (twenty years ago)

both are extraordinary. the latter especially.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

has anyone seen this buster keaton film? (not strictly silent.)

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 08:25 (twenty years ago)

I have, and as the comments there would suggest, for completists only. From the bottom of Buster's derailed-career bottle. (I think there are clips in that 'A Hard Act to Follow' PBS biography they use just cuz you can see he has the shakes.)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 13:57 (twenty years ago)

hmmm, it's funny cos it's directed by what was basically a member of the uk avant-garde, who made little pastiche movies through the '20s. on the wants for now.

― N_RQ, Wednesday, 19 October 2005 07:38 (twenty years ago)

Well, that would make a strange precursor to that Beckett film Buster did the year before he died.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Tonight I saw Sunrise for the first time in twelve years and the second time ever, and I'm still comfortable calling it my all-time favorite movie, if I have to have one.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 6 February 2006 03:22 (twenty years ago)

but what about janet gaynor's wig?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 6 February 2006 04:24 (twenty years ago)

Is it a wig, though? Towards the end, there's a scene where her hair is long and damp and yet still blonde. Ish.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 6 February 2006 04:28 (twenty years ago)

Er OK, I'm seeing a website that says it was a wig used in Murnau's Faust:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00005ASOS.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 6 February 2006 04:36 (twenty years ago)

(And holy shit take a look at this AMAZING film poster for Faust.)

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 6 February 2006 04:37 (twenty years ago)

there was an amazing exhibit of Ufa posters here a few years ago... i got the book and it's full of totally wicked stuff, some collage-y, some still showing art nouveau influence, just lots of really beautiful and creative stuff (including that faust poster). if people want i could maybe scan some in...

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 6 February 2006 15:11 (twenty years ago)

One of the exhibit's strengths is that it features different posters advertising the same film, usually intended for separate markets (generally German or Austrian). In some cases the studio would hold a public competition to determine who would design a film's poster. The two winners for Murnau's Faust are markedly different, one a brightly coloured variation on a Medieval woodcut, the other a straightforward painting of Faust and Mephistopheles.

(that's from an article i wrote about the show)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 6 February 2006 15:12 (twenty years ago)

i saw a good silent, anthony asquith's 'a cottage on dartmoor' (1929). the orig. had a brief scene of sound -- when the characters go to see a talkie, but that version is lost.

kind of pudovkin does brit melodrama.

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 6 February 2006 15:14 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

I do have a multi-region player. It only cost me $70 though.
I know precious fuck-all about prewar Soviet cinema outside of the usual suspects--Eisenstein, Kushelov, Vertov, Pudovkin. I've long wanted to see stuff by Kozintsev and Trauberg, Room, Boris Barnet. A lot of good people insist that Barnet's By the Bluest of Seas (actually from 1936) is one of the greatest films ever made. I've always wanted to see Chapayev too. I mean we all know the line about Tarkovsky and Parazhanov rebelling against Socialist Realism or Momumentalism but where are the examples of those genres?
This October the major silent film festival at Pordenone in Italy is featuring a tribute to as Ivan Mosjoukine, the Russian actor and director who left for France during the Revolution and there made Le Brasier ardent (1923) which supposedly anticipates both Soviet montage and French impressionist cinema! He also starred in L'Herbier's Feu Matthia Pascal and Volkoff's Casanova.
Pordenone

-- Amateurist (amateuris...), April 16th, 2003.

london has a kozintsev and trauberg season on. thus far i've seen 'the devil's wheel' and 'the cloak'. 'the cloak' is based on gogol and possibly debunks (it was attacked for doing so) a classic of russian literature. the problem is that without that cultural background, this doesn;t really go over. it's very reminiscent of 'der letze mann', though trauberg in later life staunchly denied this. it was scripted by one of the formalist critics (tynyanov, sp.) and so has a kind of privileged position in film studies (maybe).

'the devil's wheel', their earliest surviving film (1926, i think) is much better, very 'strike', kind of an 'underground' story. neither of them are really 'montage' films, in terms of editing but they are i suppose about montage in that they are consciously plays of symbols, signs not signifieds and all that.

re. socialist realism -- i think 'Chapayev' was part of this, but also k & t's very popular 'maxim' trilogy (not to be confused w. gorky's own maxim films...).

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Friday, 3 March 2006 12:28 (twenty years ago)

I saw this great Japanese silent film a couple of years back called A Page Of Madness (1926, Teinosuke Kinugasa). Was particularly impressed by the special effects which seemed way, way ahead of its time.

Is anyone familiar with the director / availability of his films?

― Mil (Mil), Saturday, 4 March 2006 01:06 (twenty years ago)

kinugasa made another silent "expressionist" film, "crossroads," which played in europe in the 1920s and got some raves. i believe the only extant prints are from its european run.

kinugasa kept directing films through the 1950s. one of his 1950s films--"gate of hell"--made a major international splash though it's not as highly regarded now. this film should be easy to find on vhs. the others--there's an american vhs bootleg of "page of madness" that's mediocre (although in fairness all the prints in europe and america are mediocre as well). i wouldn't know where you'd find his other films.

before moving into film directing, kinugasa was a female-impersonating kabuki actor.

***

"chapayev" was the model socialist-realism (ahem Stalinist realism) film, in fact. it's actually not a bad film at all. apparenly it was broadcast incessantly on soviet tv until the soviet union went kaput. so, many generations are intimately familiar with this film. which i should add, is not silent. most major socialist realist films are available on video in russia, but not anywhere else. understandly most russians have little interest in seeing these films and probably guess that nobody else would be interested either.

kozintsev and trauberg...i've seen only "new babylon" which is amazing. would like to see others.

― amateurist0, Saturday, 4 March 2006 02:38 (twenty years ago)

I watched Stalker in slow motion (1/2 speed) last week, so it was silent.

― shieldforyoureyes, Saturday, 4 March 2006 03:27 (twenty years ago)

sounds like you have a broken vcr, my friend.

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 6 March 2006 10:32 (twenty years ago)

The Lost World (1925)
Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
The Unholy Three (tod browning, 1925)
Last of the Mohicans (1920)
Electrocuting an Elephant (1903) (warning: disturbing images)
Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920)
Joan The Woman (1917)
Lot in Sodom (1933)
Blacksmith (1893)
Ballet mécanique (192?)
Hotel Electrico (1905)
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)

― hellsarse (hellsarse), Monday, 13 March 2006 03:53 (twenty years ago)

I have to admit that I rarely find silent movie streams on youtube.com or downloads from archive.org very unsatisfying from a variety of perspectives: dubious sources, compressed files, teeny-weeny images.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 13 March 2006 04:18 (twenty years ago)

On the other hand...it is kinda useful to be able to point to an ready-to-go online source for The Mystery Of The Leaping Fish as it's a good talking-point for certain kinds of silent-movie doubters (even if it's hardly any good -- it's like a middling Channel 101 flick circa 1916).

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 13 March 2006 04:26 (twenty years ago)

Quality wise, Lot in Sodom is the pick of the bunch there. (27 minutes at 350 meg, looks fine in full-screen.) The others are hit and miss, but are still of interest if they are difficult to find elsewhere.

― hellsarse (hellsarse), Monday, 13 March 2006 04:46 (twenty years ago)

daddino did you get the charley chase dvds?

― amateurist0, Monday, 13 March 2006 06:14 (twenty years ago)

The Insects' Christmas (Wladyslaw Starewicz, 1913). Clever stop-motion. 6 mins

― hellsarse (hellsarse), Monday, 13 March 2006 06:45 (twenty years ago)

Nah, but they're on my NetFlix queue.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 13 March 2006 12:40 (twenty years ago)

i like the silent movie.

― jeffrey (johnson), Monday, 13 March 2006 18:20 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

You asked for it, New York; MoMA presents

Rediscovering Roscoe: The Careers of "Fatty" Arbuckle