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I have quite a few silent fillms in my collection. My wife has a lot of Charlie Chaplin
films and shorts, City Lights which is good, Modern Times and The Circus. I have
Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, Greed by Erich von Stonheim which
is really good, Metropolis, and best of all The Crowd which was directed by King Vidor
at the end of the silent era - oh plus The Jazz Singer and one called Sunrise. There was
a great series on tv in the 70s called Hollywood about the silent era. I videoed it at the
time, but sadly don't have it anymore.
Some of my favorite films are silent: Chaplin's films with Keystone and Essanay, Buster Keaton's One Week and The General, The Freshman, Poor Little Rich Girl, The Crowd, Wings, Orphans of the Storm, Intolerance, Blood and Sand. Metropolis is simply stunning.
I watched The Scarlet Letter the other night. Not bad.
You're right, Metropolis is stunning. My son got me a restored blue-ray
quality copy from somewere. It is a fantastic film. Also you mrntion The
Crowd which was directed by King Vidor in 1928, right at the end of the
silent period. He used a guy he saw on the street in the lead role, a man
called James Murray. He picked him for his everyday guy looks which the
director wanted. Sadly Murray became an alcoholic and died at a young age.
But his performance is great, a tribute to Vidor getting such a performance
out of basically an amateur.
Also, "Birth of a Nation" was an awesome movie, and what I mean by awesome is that it is a highly disturbing movie about blacks in earlier American history, the KKK and Civil War. Technical filming is surprisingly good (especially for its time). Crude realism.
Keystone Cops were among the best. Buster Keaton was one of the few silent movie actors that made the transition to talkies successfully.
I want to rent a Clara Bow movie sometime.
I like to watch silent movies because you can sometimes catch yourself realizing that good acting does not always HAVE to have vocals.
Yes, I'm a big silent picture fan too! I'm so glad I can tape them from Turner Classic Movies. Here are some favorites in my own collection:
Show People with Marion Davies---a great comedy that spoofs Hollywood
Wings with Clara Bow---yes, the girl who had "It" with so much charisma
The Scarlet Letter---Lillian Gish truly captures the heartbreak moments here
The Films of Georges Melies---the magician style and fantasy effects amazing
The Crowd---this story of the trials of a married couple are so compelling
Beatrix Fairfax serials---spunky woman reporter gets her stories
Captain January---Baby Peggy is adorable as the child silent star
Thief of Bagdad---Douglas Fairbanks at his swashbuckling best
Metropolis---the special effects with shadow and light so amazing here
So many more stars I enjoy: Lon Chaney, Constance Talmadge, George Arliss, Corinne Griffith, the list goes on and on!
Yes, I'm a big silent picture fan too! I'm so glad I can tape them from Turner Classic Movies. Here are some favorites in my own collection:
Show People with Marion Davies---a great comedy that spoofs Hollywood
Wings with Clara Bow---yes, the girl who had "It" with so much charisma
The Scarlet Letter---Lillian Gish truly captures the heartbreak moments here
The Films of Georges Melies---the magician style and fantasy effects amazing
The Crowd---this story of the trials of a married couple are so compelling
Beatrix Fairfax serials---spunky woman reporter gets her stories
Captain January---Baby Peggy is adorable as the child silent star
Thief of Bagdad---Douglas Fairbanks at his swashbuckling best
Metropolis---the special effects with shadow and light so amazing here
So many more stars I enjoy: Lon Chaney, Constance Talmadge, George Arliss, Corinne Griffith, the list goes on and on!
Yes, Lon Chaney, Sr. - The Father of the modern day Horror Genre.
Phantom of the Opera-Movie lore says that audiences were running out of the theaters screaming in fear after they saw his mask being removed, since noone had ever produced such realism in make-up.
Hunchback of Notre Dame-The weight of the hump and the straps he used to truncate his body caused severe pain and strain to his physical well being throughout the entire making of the movie.
The Unholy Three-Multiple roles and make-up changes.
I thought Keaton was funnier than Chaplin. Actresses were genuinely beautiful in those days, in the sense that you could believe they were real people, but actors often just the opposite..
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a wonderful classic.
My alltime fav silent was Miss Mend, originally produced as a 1926 Russian serial. Turner showed it one night, it's very long, and I had to force myself to stay awake until 3 AM for it because I knew I'd never see it again. It was mesmerizing. Even though it's been on free US cable, it still has only 101 user ratings on IMDB.
Sorry folks, this machine wants throwing out! I was going to say has anyone
seen the film Pandora's box with Louise Brooks made in germany about 1927.
I've not seen this film for years but remember how good it was, and how
beautiful she was in it. She returned to America after this hoping to become a
star. It did'nt work out for her and I believe she became a bit of a recluse later
in life. She did write a book about her film experiences.
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