silent films

I am in a film class now and we just got done talking about silent films. My favorites are Modern Times with Charlie Chaplin. Also I really enjoyed A Trip To The Moon... it was great. Fabulous ideas. We talked about The Great Train Robbery also, though I didn't enjoy it as much.

 

did you like the feeding machine scene?i think i read that chaplin worked that table with his feet.trip to the moon and the great train robbery were really pioneers of film story telling.and always available on youy tube and other sites.

 

"greed"from about 1925 was based on the frank norris story"mcteauge"from about 1900.a phrase they used throughout the book is "outta sight".it's a phrase that's never gone out of style.

 

Ya that scene was really funny, I love everything he has done. He actually worked it with his hands, if you look closely enough you can see him turning his hands. Maybe his feet too I am not quite sure about that one.

 

i see what you mean.i was thinking he would have to use his hands to eat.but the machine was supposed to do that for him. so his hands would be free to operate the table.tcm has all day showings of his long career.there's a bittersweetness to his comedy that always made me want to be better to others.i think that's what made his films so popular and important.

 

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wow, this is a good old thread!
Keep it up on the silent flicks - I can always use a good recommendation for a movie.

 

a few titles i haven't seen listed yet........."the crowd" directed by king vidor....."the show off" starring ford sterling and louise brooks....."tell it to the marines" with lon chaney....last night i was thinking about a film i rented a few years back"napoleon"written,produced and directed by abel gance.i had heard about it and looked forward to it.it was one of the few films that i wasn't really entertained by.maybe it would have been better on the big screen.it was 5-6 hours long.i watched the whole movie but i didn't think it was too great.i'd say it was worth a look though.some of the camera work was interesting the telling of napoleons life just seemed to fall flat in my opinion.

 

it's also interesting to watch the first moving pictures.many are available on the internet at the library of congress web site....in the american memory collection.

 

Well this is not a silent film but an older one, Some Like it Hot. its a good recommendation for a movie its a comedy

 

Now, this is the kind of thread thats gonna save the hip forums...i LOVE silent films, and i havent seen many of them-but if you can, find the book "The Parades Gone By' by British film historian Kevin Brownlow(their Leonard Maltin) from the 'late 60's-a collection of interviews from the early '60's with silent film workers (actors, directors, crew...) he was only in his teens and early '20s when he held the interviews but they're impecable in their questioning and expertise, and the subjects, many of whom hadn't been talked to in decades are very forthcoming and the information they provide is invaluable...for instance, why do so many silent films look ridiculously fast? the modern cameras and video set ups arent set for the speed they were filmed in (for more info, look up imdb info on Martin Scorcese's 'The Avaiator')...a true modern lost art...

 

what a great book that must be.it is nice to read about the pioneer days of film.a greater appreciation for their craft by learning about what it took in those days to put a story down on film....and i think "some like it hot" is a gem.lemmon and curtis as two band members find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and do what they have to do to survive.along the way romance and comedy happens.great cast.chicago,the train and the old hotel make for some very wonderful settings............here are some talking movies where some of the characters are invoved in silent movies................singin' in the rain,ragtime,the comic,nickelodeon,sunset boulavard,keystone

 

i love silent films too.
watch, sunset boulevard, its half and half

 

Keaton Chaplin LLoyd Laurel and Hardy true genius of a bygone age

 

I def. recommend "Metropolis". That movie blew my mind.

 

I agree with Noseferatu, one of my favorite movies of all time.

 

i recently rented the artist from lovefilm. didnt have many expectations being black and white and silent but i really enjoyed it. i'm looling to rent some more.
any decent ones apart from the usual chaplin, keaton, marx bro which i have on my list already?

 

I love silent films.

My favorite is the Phantom of the Opera.

It is the only one I own. A lot of them are hard to find, unfortunately.

 

Sometimes I feel like a bad film fan, because I haven't really been able to watch any silent films. It's the one genre that I can't seem to get into. I did enjoy the two Chaplin films I saw. "The Great Dictator" and there was another one that I can't seem to remember.

 

I love silent films! I am always ordering silent DVDs from eBay. All you silent film fans may want to check out Grapevine Video. They have lots of obscure old films on DVD.