Topic on the "Silent Movie Era"

Quote from Hondo Duke Lane

My buddy Dooley and I were sort of discussing "The Artist" a movie that won so many awards and was the first movie since the silent movie era to win an Oscar. And realized that we have never really discussed silent movies as a topic of discussion. So, I'd like to devote a thread to that.

I will start that I knew not much about silent movies except that they were not talkies and seem boring. I tried to watch some Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton flicks but became bored with the lack of no dialog. So while in college I took a film class and was introduced to the silent movies from my professor who explained the concept to us ignorate kids.

I was introduced to such greats like, Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. So, I'd like to start a discussion on this topic and get feedback from you on the movies pre-John Wayne set.

Cheers Hondo

Display More

Here, here Hondo!
I'm a big fan of all cinema, including silent films, so happy to bore the other guys on here.
Silent cinema was obviously big in Europe, mostly Germany and France, so theres a wealth of films to discover. I'll let someone else get stuck into specific films etc. so I don't go off one one in the first post!

Just recently we included many silent movies in the new John Ford Forum,
there were a few we reviewed but many are lost,
and that is a shame for many of this era.

Quote from ethanedwards

Just recently we included many silent movies in the new John Ford Forum,
there were a few we reviewed but many are lost,
and that is a shame for many of this era.

That truly is a shame, even more so the sound movies lost. Makes you wonder who first discovered the films were going south, and what efforts were made early on to stop the loss.

Chester

Hi

I must admit i'm a bit of a Philistine when it comes to silent films Charlie Chaplin leaves me cold as does Harold Lloyd. The Keystone Cops are just watchable and Buster Keaton's 'The General' I would actually buy but thats about all.

As far as Chaplin is concerned I think he was a vicious little git with not a redeeming feature.

Regards

Arthur

Quote from arthurarnell

Hi

I must admit i'm a bit of a Philistine when it comes to silent films Charlie Chaplin leaves me cold as does Harold Lloyd. The Keystone Cops are just watchable and Buster Keaton's 'The General' I would actually buy but thats about all.

As far as Chaplin is concerned I think he was a vicious little git with not a redeeming feature.

Regards

Arthur

Display More

It does take a bit of getting used to for sure. What's Interesting is all the people you mentioned did comedies, no mention of any other genres!
If you can muster up the will I'd try The Iron Horse by John Ford. It's a western, it's John Ford so at least they're 2 elements you already have an affinity with.

Quote from Dooley

If you can muster up the will I'd try The Iron Horse by John Ford. It's a western, it's John Ford so at least they're 2 elements you already have an affinity with.

Here is our thread
John Ford- The Iron Horse
If you look at his filmography upto then,
they were all silent, many starring Harry Carey and likes,
and unfortunately as you will see from the notes,
all completely lost.

Up to Black Watch (1929) (Ford's first sound film)
they were all silent, but not all lost.

I *love* silent film -- including Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. Chaplin was actually my door into silents -- I was so entranced when I discovered him that I saw as many films of his I could at the time (it was the VHS era). And then I went straight on to the other comedians and then branched out into areas of silent film. Silents can acutally be quite addictive. I have attended quite a few screenings of Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton films and the gales of laughter that filled the auditoriums just about blew me out the doors and onto the street.

Or then there was the screening of Metropolis (the other end of the spectrum from comedy) at the TCM festival that was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in a movie theater. Or the time I saw The Passion of Joan of Arc with four soloists, a choir and an orchestra... or the time... well, you get the drift.

I defy anyone here to watch a movie like The Big Parade or Wings (two World War I dramas) and not be dabbing away at your eyes with your hankies. Yes, that includes you great big manly men cowboy types. (I saw Wings at the TCM festival this year and everyone, including the vets in the audience -- and that includes the guy who came dressed in his old Army uniform) -- were completely overwhelmed.

Westerns were big business in the silent era, too. William S. Hart (my favorite silent cowboy), Tom Mix, Tom Tyler...

The trick to enjoying silent films is to think of them as a genre apart from talking films. If you can open yourself up to the different world of silent movies, to the experience of pure cinema without sound (except for the music), then you will find a special magic and enchantment that is unlike anything else.

I would be happy to recommend some silent films for anyone interested in exploring them.

I think John Wayne, with his distinct physicality and his open, expressive, vulnerable face, would have made a wonderful silent actor.

P.S. George O'Brien is terrific in The Iron Horse. For another O'Brien silent, there's Sunrise, often cited as the greatest silent film ever made. I remember reading an account of his attending a screening of Sunrise in his later years, and at the end when the audience gave him a standing ovation, he began to cry in appreciation.

P.P.S.S. Re the comment that Chaplin was a vicious little git without a redeeming feature -- his personal life was not what I would call spotless -- but eventually he settled down into a very happy marriage. I can think of dozens of actors we love whose personal lives were a mess. Chaplin's movies were a font of comedic and melodramatic invention for nearly 20 years and are still influencing people today. (He's a huge influence on one of my favorite current comic actors, the Hong Kong actor/director Steven Chow). He revolutionized silent comedy, and he is one of the most graceful human beings ever to appear in front of a camera. He is the most balletic or dance-like of the three great silent comedians.

Sometimes it is a little hard to judge the silent comedians watching them at home. Those comedies were written, shot, directed and edited all with the expectation that they would be watched as a communal experience in a theater, with live music. I have watched some silent comedies at home and been fairly amused, then seen the same films in a theater with a few hundred people and nearly had to be carried home on a stretcher from laughing so much.

Paula,

Why am I not surprised at all you are a big silent film fan based on your other posts!
F.W.Murnau's films are truly amazing. Sunrise is fantastic but I equally enjoyed city girl.
If someone had told me I'd be discussing German silent cinema on a John Wayne forum!!

Dooley, actually discussion of silent film -- especially the films of F.W. Murnau -- belong on the John Wayne forum! John Ford and many of the directors Wayne worked with began in silents, as did Duke himself.

The arrival of F.W. Murnau and the screenings of his films at Fox was a complete shake-up to the artistic vision of Fox directors like Ford, Frank Borzage (another of my favorites). You can literally see the "before" and "after" in the look of Ford's films once he had seen Murnau's work. Murnau's use of light and shadow and expressionist sensibility played a very important role in the formation of Ford's own style.

Danny Borzage, who provided accordion music on the set of John Ford's films, was the brother of the great director Frank Borzage, who also made many silents and then went on to success in the talkie era. (Borzage started out as an actor -- he was a handsome fellow in his younger years -- but soon realized he preferred working behind the camera.)

I absolutely adore City Girl, though I think I am a little prejudiced towards it since it stars one of my favorite silent era actors, Charles Farrell. Farrell co-founded and managed for many years the Palm Springs Racquet Club and he knew EVERYBODY in Hollywood -- I bet he knew John Wayne well. He went on to play Margie's father in the 50s sitcom My Little Margie.

I know what you mean Paula re the before and after scenario, you only have to watch F.W. Murnau's the last laugh to see that!
Another great is obviously Fritz Lang, in particular The Spiders which is definitley the blueprint for Indiana Jones. I am so glad all these incredible Los silent films are being restored as its been a revelation for me discovering them.

Hi

In my first post I was perhaps too brief, although my initial views have not changed, but yes i have seen the Iron Horse and found it reasonable, Birth of a nation the Civil War scenes were good the film however was regarded as doing more for the resurgence of the Klu Klux Clan than anything else, the treatment of the Negro slaves was propoganda at its extreme worthy of the communists and put me off watching Griffths other film Intolerance.

I can remember as a young boy watching Cecil B DeMilles King of Kings in a church hall it was Easter and at that time the cinemas were closed. Again it was entertaining.

I suppose the fact that I can remember these individual pictures only highlights my views on the silent genre as a whole.

Many of the actors went on to greater things with the advent of sound many including stars like John Gilbert found their careers finished overnight.

Regards

Arthur

First let me say that Talkies will never catch on.
When I was a kid, silent movies were still run on TV late at night, kind of like TCM runs them now on Sunday at midnight.
Lon Chaney, Sr. in "Phantom of the Opera" was my favorite, even though it was probably the start of my high blood pressure problems. Waiting for that mask to be ripped off set my heart pounding even after several viewings. Also loved Lon in Hunchback.
My second favorite was Douglas Fairbanks when I saw "Mark of Zorro" with his amazing acrobatics. "Thief of Bagdad" was also great.
I own "Birth of a Nation" and "Ben Hur" which was pretty nasty being pre-code. It also has topless dancers and color scenes and the chariot race has a real life pile up.
As I got older I began to appreciate Buster Keaton better. His "The General" is brilliant and you should compare it to Disney's "The Great Locomotive Chase".
I'm waiting for the restored version of "Metropolis" to drop in price before I buy it, but I'm really excited to see the footage found in South America.
Like others, I find Chaplin's characters a bit treacly and I have never been able to warm up to him. I don't care a thing about his private life.
So silent movies continue to be a source of enjoyment to this day. In fact I prefer them to almost any film featuring Sean Penn or Nicholas Cage.

We deal in lead, friend.

Gorch, what can I say! I couldn't agree more.
I'm amazed, obviously unfairly, that people on here are such cinephiles. You will be astounded by Metropolis when you watch it. The new version is the most complete version released to date and it has never looked better, in fact it's the film that rekindled my interest in silent cinema.