Silent Movies - For Discussion of Pre-Talkies

[Derrick]

Setting this thread up for Silent Film Discussion, anyone have any favorites? Fortunately they're so old that nearly all Hollywood Produced ones are now in the public domain so can be posted without fear of copyright violation, assuming they still survive to this day (which is rare)

To get the conversation going I'm a pretty big fan personally of silent comedies, specifically Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. I think it takes a great deal of acting prowess to pull off being funny without even being able to speak, having to rely solely on physical gags. While I'd give the edge to Lloyd I have a great respect for Keaton, knowing how he pulled off all his stunts by himself, often at great peril to himself (he nearly died filming 1926's "The General").

Despite this however my two favorite silent movies aren't a comedy but rather dramas, the first being 1920's Outside the Law. The film tells a riveting tale of a crime bosses daughter who is caught between her boyfriend's desire for the couple to "go straight" and her lack of trust in a system that had failed her numerous times as well as her own disbelief in her abilities to be a law abiding citizen. Starring Priscilla Dean the film has some great acting, a riveting story, and even some neat early special effects. And at the risk of sounding like an SJW it was actually pretty neat to see muh strong female protagonist in an era where there were few. I feel like most filmmakers of the era would have made the boyfriend the criminal and had the girlfriend be the one who wants to leave their life of crime behind.

My Second favorite is 1925's The Lost World. Based on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle book of the same name (Doyle himself makes a brief appearance at the start of the movie) the film is much more a lighthearted than Outside the Law and tells the story of a group of adventurers (mostly scientists) who travel deep into the heart of the unexplored part of the Amazon to investigates rumors of Dinosaurs. Maybe it's because it was based on an early twentieth century adventure novel but the movie was a real joy that gave me the feeling of being a kid again reading children's adventure novels and being on the quest alongside our heroes. The protagonist, Edward Malone (played by Lloyd Hughes) is a reporter who only went on the trip in an attempt to impress a woman back home who wanted to be with a man who did something "dangerous". In this regard he's a great protagonist whose easy to identify with because he's not a scientist but rather a reporter who is finds himself a fish out of water in this new "Lost World" (just like the audience). And while the Dinosaur effects certainly pail in comparison to Jurassic Park, for the era they certainly were something to behold.

I've linked to both films, due to age they are in the public domain and can be viewed for free on Wikipedia. Would love to hear about other silent films or actors/actresses you enjoy

 

[Gog & Magog]

I like Nanook of the North. I loved the scene at 47:18 of the father helping his little son shoot arrows at tiny snowbears made of snow.

 

[The Cunting Death]

I love Passion of Joan of Arc. Absolutely beautiful movie.

 

[Derrick]

I like Nanook of the North. I loved the scene at 47:18 of the father helping his little son shoot arrows at tiny snowbears made of snow.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lkW14Lu1IBo

If you like that you might be interested in checking out a parody short film Buster Keaton put out the same year called, The Frozen North. It's a parody of both westerns and arctic films from the era, and at only 18 minutes it ain't that long and can be taken in on a quick viewing.

 

[millais]

Some random ones I have enjoyed watching:

Metropolis - Fritz Lang's classic science fiction film with iconic sets and visual design, but the plot is really about class conflict. Although even the most complete restoration from Criterion is still missing a few minutes of lost footage, it's damn near complete now.

The Last Command - tragic drama in which Emil Jannings plays a disillusioned White Russian officer living in exile as a movie extra in Hollywood, where he crosses paths with the Bolshevik actor/director who wronged him in Russia

The Voortrekkers - a South African silent film from 1916. You can think of it as their equivalent of "Birth of a Nation", as it is a historical epic about an important era in the founding of the Boer-Afrikaner nation. Directed by an American, it does take some liberties with the timeline and people involved in the historical events, to embellish them for dramatic effect and to avoid provoking any anti-British sentiment (for example, the evil white intriguers in the Zulu court are Portuguese traders instead of British), since Anglo-Afrikaner relations in the early 1900s were still very tense. The bilingual intertitle cards have English and Dutch text side-by-side, which is kind of interesting, as they are not exact translations of one another. The English dialogue and text is more generic and markedly less nationalist and patriotic than the Dutch. Also interesting that the text is in Dutch instead of Afrikaans, which was still in the process of being codified as a literary language at the time.

The Big Parade - drama film about young American men going "over there" to fight on the Western Front of WWI. Competently made, but the battle scenes were pretty lackluster and not too believable, especially when they have the American soldiers marching shoulder-to-shoulder at a walking pace into deadly machine gun fire.

Battleship Potemkin - everyone's seen it: iconic Soviet propaganda drama. I wish there was a good restoration of it. Doesn't seem to have been preserved in great quality, or maybe the original film stock wasn't that great quality to begin with.

Cabinet of Dr. Caligeri - another classic everyone has seen. The German Expressionist style set and visuals are very iconic.

If you like Buster Keaton's short and feature films, I would also recommend the Fatty Arbuckle slapstick comedies, many of which have Buster in major roles.

Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton are really good.

And I've heard good things about Abel Gance's Napoleon epic, but I will have to set aside a big chunk of time to watch it in one sitting.

 

[Procopius]

I've never been a great fan of Lloyd. The stunts are good, but the man himself adds little if anything.

Anyway, have a couple of good adventure flicks. 1920s James Bond stuff. Both German but with subs on the titles. First Der Bettler vom Kölner Dom (1927), about criminal gangs around Cologne.

And then a Fritz Lang film that I reckon is better than Metropolis, Spione (1928), where Willy Fritsch tries to track down a super villain in his hidden headquarters. Never did a man have so many disguises.

Willy Fritsch went on to become the heartthrob of 1930s German cinema, and it's easy to see why here. He is just so charming. If you understand German (or can find subtitled versions) I also recommend the musicals he made with Lilian Harvey.

 

[Derrick]

This is a really interesting film. It's called, "The Extra Girl" from 1923. It tells the story of a girl (played by Mabel Normand) who moves from a small town to Hollywood hoping to make it in the movie business. What's interesting about it is that it gives us a cool look inside an early Hollywood studio, where a large portion of the film is set. We get to see what went on behind the curtain at that time. Get a look at an early prop room and see stage hands in action.

Both German but with subs on the titles

I've heard good things about the German Silent Film Industry, though admittedly I haven't checked out much yet, Metropolis seems to be making it into everyone's top 10 Sci-Fi list.