If you're really interested, you should check out this first installment in this series: The Story of Film: An Odyssey - Season 1 - IMDb
Sunrise (a contender for title of Best Film Ever Made. Certainly, I’d say, the best film ever made in Hollywood) The Man Who Laughs Cabinet of Doctor Caligari Nosferatu The Last Laugh
Not a silent movie, but it is my favorite early talkie. I love how he uses the new language track ways he just couldn’t do in his silent films. I watch it once a year.
Not even just the dialogue track, but all of the sound design in M. M's sound design was pretty revolutionary in 1931. It laid the groundwork for sound design in film. We so take for granted all of the techniques pioneered in "M", that we forget just how much Lang exploded the sound medium of film.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse The Red Lily A Woman of Affairs A Woman of Paris The Scarlet Letter (Lars Hanson is a riot as Dimmesdale but Gish (Lillian) is exquisite) Pandora’s Box Nosferatu The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari City Lights The Kid The Navigator – I first saw this in a theater and the audience was rocking with laughter. Great cameo appearance by co-director Donald Crisp Intolerance Birth of a Nation - I know, I know. But like it or not, Griffith is where the movies begin. An Italian Straw Hat October Arsenal The Thief of Bagdad Rosita - Mary Pickford trying to break out of type with Lubitsch directing
Yes. There is pure genius in making a film in which the only spoken word in the entire movie is uttered by Marcel Marceau.
Great lists. Chaplin- everything, but some favorites are: The Tramp A Dog's Life Shoulder Arms The Immigrant Pay Day Sunnyside The Kid Gold Rush City Lights The Circus Modern Times Sunrise Last Laugh Cabinet of Dr. Caligari The General The Navigator The Unknown London After Midnight Un Chien Andalou Battleship Potemkin Underworld
"It" (1927) Children of Divorce (1927) Mantrap (1926) Wings (1927) I'm sort of a big Clara Bow fan I often thought the 1930's/40's was the golden age of cinema but silent movies are pure magic and real cinema; the (dramatic) characterisation, classy women, orchestra playing, intertitles, old Paramount logo etc... my heart feels like popping out.
This is an audio interview with Kevin Brownlow, done for BBC Radio 4 in 2002. Notable for including clips from taped interviews Brownlow did in the mid '60s with various silent-era figures, which would provide the basis for The Parade's Gone By.
Making A Living ( 1914) America 105 years ago. Chaplin’s debut. Women seemed still to be in Victorian dress mode.
The Passion of Joan Of Arc is exquisite. It’s stars Renee Falconetti. I believe it is her only movie role. It’s the type of movie you can not stop watching.
Nor was Modern Times, technically. Was Chaplin the only one who made hybrid silent/not silent movies? Or did people continue to make “silent” pictures with recorded soundtrack music for a while? Thanks.
My two favorites are Modern Times and The General. Others include: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Metropolis The Thief of Baghdad The Phantom of the Opera Nosferatu I realized that all of my faves are comedy/horror/science fiction or fantasy of some sort. I don’t think I’ve had much exposure to silent dramas. I did see The Birth of a Nation, but I found it to be quite a slog.
Network announced an R2 DVD set in the UK some years ago, which was greeted with joy by everyone who'd waited forever for a DVD release. They took preorders for a while, and there was similarly a preorder listing with box art on Amazon UK. I think a release date was even announced, but ultimately the release was cancelled with no explanation. Rights issues and licensing fees were blamed by most, which is probably true as it's no secret that the asking price to clear the hundreds of clips used has been the main obstacle to further releases since the VHS and LD sets. Network is a reputable firm and it's hard to believe that they didn't have everything all buttoned up before announcing the release, but stranger things have happened in the home video world before.
Hollywood is absolutely essential. IIRC the YT rips were from VHS, which is better than nothing. There have been torrents floating around in the past that were sourced from laserdisc rips, but I don't think any of those torrents have been seeded in many years. I have the LD set, but haven't watched it in quite some time - I should probably spin it again soon to check the discs, as some copies have been known to succumb to laser rot.
