the silent film thread

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I think Sunrise has the raw power of, oh, plays by Sophocles, that sort of thing.

Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life, made by the same folks who, eight years later, would make King Kong is also pretty damned incredible -- it involves nomadic tribes in Iran carrying their livestock up mountains. It's absolutely exhausting to watch them, in a good way.

The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra. It's like something Joel Hodgson might put together if he was a young turk in the 20's: delirious experimentation, short, art deco, lights and shadow, puppets. Shares the look and feel with more than a few eighties videos.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 27 April 2003 19:17 (twenty-three years ago)

And is nobody gonna give it up for the Lumière Brothers?

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 27 April 2003 19:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I like Sunrise an awful lot--my DVD should arrive any day now--but its misogyny has always kept me from holding it close to my heart. I prefer the other Janet Gaynor film of 1927, Seventh Heaven.

― amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 27 April 2003 20:58 (twenty-three years ago)

The misogyny is what it makes it so wrenching, though to say why would wreck the ending.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 27 April 2003 21:34 (twenty-three years ago)

six months pass...

we can talk about with spoiler warnings!

anyway i'm off to see this film for the umpteenth time at the action ecoles. sadly i couldn't round up anyway to go with me because this is like the greatest date movie ever, except that it's so beautiful you'll probably completely forget about your date which depending on your date might be a good thing!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

also s1utsky i think he who gets slapped is on video somewhere. of sjostrom's other stuff it's hard to find...the outlaw and his wife is on video and laserdisc but i don't know what else is available (aside from the wind).

though...

(swedish and bay area ILXors take notes)

a COMPLETE RETROSPECTIVE OF THE SILENT FILMS OF VICTOR SJOSTROM is coming first to sweden, some time in january i think, and then eventually to the pacific film archive in berkeley, in february. GO GO GO GO GO

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Criterion is releasing two Tati films in January.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Saturday, 1 November 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

it's the same two tati films they had released before, only they got permission to reprint them from the tati estate. "playtime" is still out of print, pending (presumably) a dvd release of the "restored" version with english subtitles.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, so anyway, sunrise, whoa.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

also michael i saw grass the other week...was a bit underwhelmed. well, not by the images themselves surely, but overall effect of the film.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

so anyway

http://cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/comunicati_stampa/COMUNICATI_LIVE_03/COMUNICATI_STAMPA_imgs/Mosjoukine.jpg

rowr

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 21:32 (twenty-two years ago)

who is that?

― eriik, Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

ivan mosjoukine

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:11 (twenty-two years ago)

The other week , I saw Guy Madden's 2002 silent film "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary". I highly recommend this. A lot of it is ballet by Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet with Mahler as a soundtrack. And it is filmed in a impressionist style.

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

i wish it liked it more, but i liked it.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

i wish i could find a better picture of mosjoukine.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

online, i mean.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Playtime is set to be reissued by Criterion - pending a 65mm telecine (which wasn't originally done for the first edition, as they are very rarely done). That delay is probably why it hasn't been announced yet, but they did say it's en route. Oh, and they're getting Jour de fete, too.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 2 November 2003 04:57 (twenty-two years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6305470286.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 2 November 2003 05:01 (twenty-two years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000056N7T.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 2 November 2003 05:03 (twenty-two years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6305131104.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― nickn (nickn), Sunday, 2 November 2003 06:03 (twenty-two years ago)

shhhhhhhh

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 2 November 2003 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)

??? what do you mean lara ???

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 November 2003 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

i finally saw Sunrise last summer, and it was literally breathtaking. very few silent films really surprise me like that

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:00 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah of many splendid moments my favorite is when the husband and the wife are sitting at the table in the restaurant after scrambling through the traffic and sit staring at a plate of bread. he pushes the bread in the direction and gestures symapthetically for her to eat. after exchanging several discrete glances worth 10,000 words she takes a piece but before she can take a bite she collapses in tears. in one shot.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:02 (twenty-two years ago)

tag gallagher calls "sunrise" "*the* aesthetic event of its time" and indeed john ford in particular was astonished by it and completely rethought his approach to filmmaking afterward.

sad about the remainder of murnau's career: one film now lost, another cut to ribbons by the producers, the final film a flawed bit of brilliance which only premiered after his death in a car accident.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:03 (twenty-two years ago)

last time I watched I was almost in tears

(admittedly I had just smoked a joint but STILL)

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

i was in tears but i cry at every movie, well, a good percentage of them."

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:12 (twenty-two years ago)

whoa where did that quote mark come from?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:13 (twenty-two years ago)

the couple next to me were crying too. but they started talking over the ending, that was uncool.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I never cry at movies for some reason!

(they were crying and talking? what were they saying?!)

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:38 (twenty-two years ago)

i think they had stopped crying. they were just saying how touching it was.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:40 (twenty-two years ago)

that makes me laugh, the image of people shouting "how touching!" at the screen, and sniffling

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, the shouting especially.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 2 November 2003 22:30 (twenty-two years ago)

OK, it's been a long time since I saw Sunrise, but I remember being bored by it. I dunno, maybe I should watch it again.

On the one hand, I hate the tinny ragtime music they have on a lot of silent movie videos; on the other hand, I feel very uncomfortable in the silence of a silent movie. Seeing Keaton film at Film Forum many years ago with a live (and very talented) pianist was king-kameha-meha classique.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 3 November 2003 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

but sunrise has a soundtrack and it's lovely! you probably saw a bum version.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 3 November 2003 10:19 (twenty-two years ago)

my friend says he has this (sunrise) on video and will let me watch it after I watch yi yi.

amateurist keep posting! yours' are the only posts i check in fr nowadays!

― David. (Cozen), Monday, 3 November 2003 11:50 (twenty-two years ago)

david, artificial eye is putting out sunrise on dvd soon in the uk

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 3 November 2003 12:02 (twenty-two years ago)

oh i don't mind. (i'm not going to pay the £20 artificial eye are going to ask of me for it on dvd.)

i ws quite surprised that he had this though; doesn't normally go in for silent films. me either.

they once showed nosferatu (murnau, right?) at the GFT with live piano accompinament. pretty cool.

― David. (Cozen), Monday, 3 November 2003 12:04 (twenty-two years ago)

so the sjostrom retro (or part of it) is coming to moma in december. everyone in new york should see "ingeborg holm" and "the sons of ingmar" and "the phantom chariot" (which apparently has been picked up for distribution by cowboy, or maybe it was inherited with other parts of the janus collection) without question. they are among the greatest silent films, not to mention the greatest films period.

http://www.moma.org/visit_moma/momafilm/sjostrom_2003.html

oh and s1utsky i think it's coming to montreal too in 2004.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 8 November 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

are you serious!? that's great! thanks am!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 8 November 2003 20:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I so need to see L'Herbier's L'Argent and also Stiller's Gunnar Hedes saga! I know I flog the dead corpses of Brakhage's Autopsy a lot, but it's a silent too, so I mention it here.

And, yeah obviously, Sunrise is the tops. Ivan Mosjoukine is plenty hot, but Murnau was a fox. Forget Malkovich, he should've been played by Dermot Mulroney or Guy Pearce or... but I get off on the tangent.

Amateurist, recommend to me a really good, reasonably priced (say... $70) multi-region DVD player.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 8 November 2003 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

booshit

― brutal (Cozen), Sunday, 9 November 2003 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Les Vampires
Fantomas
The Man Who Laughs
Nosferatu
Un Chien Andalou

...just some of my favorites. And Fairbanks swashbucklers, just about anything with Lon Chaney are also wonderful.

I've also always wanted to see the silent Wizard Of Oz serials. Have these ever been rereleased?

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Sunday, 9 November 2003 06:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Amateurist, recommend to me a really good, reasonably priced (say... $70) multi-region DVD player.

where are you, in the us? best buy was selling some cyberhome 500 models for $60 about nine months ago, and then they disappeared. but they might be back. they're not top of the line players but they can be switched to all-region very easily and are quite cheap.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 9 November 2003 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

seriously though if my new york ilx buddies only take one piece of advice from me ever, i hope it will be to see some of the films in the sjostrom retro.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 9 November 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Yep, USA. I'm pretty sure that Best Buy has suspended sales of Cyberhome players, ostensibly due to the high rate of defective machines being returned to the store (also prolly got a bit of heat for being all-region).

I'm ashamed that I've yet to see Sjostrom, but I'm also excited that I haven't yet seen Sjostrom. Both he and Mizoguchi are just waiting for me at this point and I'm so looking forward to visiting.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 9 November 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

three weeks pass...

"Sunrise" should be released ASAP on DVD in Britain... sublime, moving, mobile, astonishing camerawork and images.

"Greed" and "He Who Gets Slapped" I would rate nearly as highly; as Amateurist says above, HWGS is a truly macabre and impressionistic melodrama. Lon Chaney... magnifique. Such an eerie and sympathetic physical and facial performance.

I'd like to see more of Sjostrom's work...

Wish I could see the 4hr reconstruction of "Greed"; how do people feel that plays...?

How do people rate "The Crowd" and "Flesh and the Devil", out of interest? Those two show up on TCM quite a lot, and I always tend to say I'll get round to watching them.
How would people rate FWM's "Faust"? This looks a very tempting bargain in Fopp @ £7 on DVD.

― Tom May (Tom May), Saturday, 6 December 2003 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

sunrise will be released in britain very soon.

i've seen like 20 silent films this past month or so, one today in fact, ozu's "i was born but."

i was supposed to go to some hipster silent film expo at the palais de tokyo tonight but it was sold out.

the crowd is beyond excellent, i haven't seen flesh and the devil.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 6 December 2003 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

sjostrom retro is coming to america soon as i noted above, and will hit london next year.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 6 December 2003 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

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