I am doing a history of Film paper at the moemnt - we are up to German Expressionism and just watched the Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu. I did like Nosferatu (even though the soundtrack was terrible) but I was not a huge fan of the TOTAL silence of caligari....meh. other silent movies that we have watched were Mother, which is a silent Russian movie, Chaplin's the Goldrush and D.W. Griffith's Way Down East (which i really quite enjoyed -it's a good one to start with) and there are others to come.
I've seen Buster Keaton's "The General" 3 different ways. The first was on TV (late night movie). The second was a sort of revival with its own soundtrack. The Theater was almost empty. The third, which was the best, was in a movie house - along with the original Organ built in 1928. The way it was meant to be seen. The Theater was packed and the Organist was good. Was about the funniest film I've ever seen. Since then, the Theater closed and sold to nightclub operators. The Organ dismantled. Currently, the nightclub has been closed due to various legal problems - including illegal gambling. It was the same Theater and setting I seen Gloria Swanson live, talking about her career and watching "Queen Kelly".
My favourite movie is Metropolis. I like Nosferatu.. and Un chien andalou. Other than those, I've only seen a bunch of random silents.
A good bio by Rudi Blesh called "Keaton". Discusses not only his early start in Vaudville with Buster's parents but after he became a character actor for MGM in the mid to late 30s through the 1940s. Also good was the PBS 3 part American Masters program about Keaton.
Your banner about Keaton Breaking his Neck and didn't know it, Keaton discusses it in the PBS American Masters Documentary. Without going into too many details, Buster was hit was a torrent of water coming out of a Steam Train water tower. The back of his neck hit the train track rail. He was unconscience for about 2 hours, and had a bad headache for several days. The incident was captured on film and used in the movie they were making. Several years later, he was given a Medical checkup, including an X-Ray by the MGM doctors for insurance purposes. The doctor, looking at the X-Ray asked Buster when he broke his neck. Buster replied that he never did. The Doctor informed Buster that he not only it had been broken but showed him the break on the X-Ray.
