C’mon. It’s not THAT hard to find silent movies.
http://kino.com/
And just call 'em up by name on Amazon.com. I’ve bought plenty there.
Uke
What? No mention of Wings??? A truly great movie!
The General, Potemkin, etc. are great. I have Nosferatu but it’s a really cheap copy with no score.
What was that one Chaplin? City Lights? Something like that? That was a good one too.
Thank you for the recommendation Uke. On the plus side, the site you refer to (kino.com) has Buster Keaton on DVD! Maybe it’s time for me to join the DVD crowd.
But to be fair, it’s hard to find silent movies to rent at your local Blockbuster or Hollywood video, which is the place where most people go.
Wow! Someone else who’s seen this! My mom and I saw it at a Joan Crawford film festival in Ann Arbor. I have not been able to find it in the video stores. Gotta start shopping online.
Two thumbs up on Flesh and the Devil, also. Excellent film.
My favorite silent actresses are Clara Bow & Louise Brooks. I loooooove Louise Brooks.
I haven’t seen any mention of Roscoe Arbuckle here! C’mon, folks! Now there was a comic genius. Gave Keaton his start, in The Butcher Boy, IIRC.
Damn. Now I’m jonesing for silents, and my VCR is broken.
Changing my sig, because Wally said to, and I really like Wally, and I’ll do anything he says, anytime he says to.
Eve – good recommendation!
Watched “Sunrise” a few weeks ago on AMC or TCM (or something) when I was home with the flu – couldn’t believe it.
It must have been filmed before Hays. ? (Your segment of Culture Shock isn’t on DirectTV til this weekend, or else maybe I’d know the answer.)
The movie was just mesmerizing.
I’ve seen a small number of silent movies: Keaton’s The General and College; Chaplin’s Modern Times and Gold Rush; D. W. Griffith’s Intolerance and Birth of a Nation; and a few silent made-in-France short sex flims (wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) I’ve seen all of these on home video.
If you’re ever in L.A., or if you live here, you may want to visit the one and only theater left in America that still shows silent movies on a regular basis. It’s called, of course:
The Silent Movie Theater
611 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 655-2520
The Fairfax District is just west of Hollywood. There are a lot of good restaurants in the area; Canter’s is a well-known 24-hour-a-day Deli just two blocks away.
The Silent Movie Theater does show sound films, but only those made before 1940, I think. Their weekend schedule:
Fri.: 8PM Grandma’s Boy, (1922), starring Harold Lloyd
Sat: 1PM The Adventures of Robin Hood, (1938), starring Errol Flynn
Sun: 1PM & 8PM: Grandma’s Boy
CLOSED MONDAYS
Tues: 8PM Animal Crackers, (1930), The Four Marx Brothers
Weds-Thurs: 8PM Way Down East (1920). starring Lilian Gish, directed by D. W. Griffith
They do not have a website. I got this schedule from the print copy of the L. A. Weekly. They have a website, www.laweekly.com , but they do not list The Silent Movie Theater schedule there. Sorry.
>< DARWIN >
__L___L
“Metropolis” seems to be on the local second PBS station* about every month or so, and I see it every time.
Funny silent movie story: in high school senior-year Honors History, the teacher was going to be out one day, so he had the AV people start “Battleship Potemkin” on the video machine that day, and he would be in class for the second half the next day. The AV people turned the sound knob on the television monitor all the way down, as they had been told it was a silent movie. When the teacher came in the next day, one of his questions before starting the tape was “what did you think of the music?” The universal response was, of course, “What music?” Why, the full-orchestra soundtrack, of course. He was NOT HAPPY with the audiovisual department that day! However, he rejected the class’ suggestion to replay the first half with the sound turned on. :^)
*Second PBS station? Chicago has a regular PBS station, WTTW-11, that plays lots of PBS national programming, and indeed produces some of the national shows. The City Colleges of Chicago also have a broadcast station, WYCC-20, that is PBS affiliated, but it tends to show lots of college-course programming during the off-prime hours (and even during some prime times).
. . . cherish it forever as a sign of your appreciation for my helping you to look your best? Thanks, I will. grin
No hard feelings? I know correcting people all the time is an insufferable habit and I’m trying to stop, I really am.
Live a Lush Life
Da Chef
I’ve seen a few of the classics, and really enjoyed them. I do have to admit, though, that I don’t generally go out of my way to catch them.
I think Chaplin was a genious, and Harold Lloyd was probably the most underrated silent screen star. I’ve also seen (and have a copy of) Metropolis. Wonderful stuff, that.
A discussion of great silent pictures and no one has mentioned Gertie the Dinosaur? It was animated by the great Winsor McCay (who apparently also drew some obscure comic strip).
The AMC Channel shows Buster Keaton movies once in a while, and “Wings” several times. TNT used to show silent movies on Christmas Eve, I remember “The Wind”… made for a different and memorable evening. I hope to see Rudolph Valentino some day before I die.
Keaton, Chaplin and I think it’s called The Perils of Pauline, if that was still in the silent era. I watch just about anything on AMC, or I did back when I still had cable.
When are you going to realize being normal isn’t necessarily a good thing?
Jab,
The Silent Movie Theater is NOT the only theater in America to show silent movies on a regular basis. It’s not even the only one in LA!
Check out The Old Town Music Hall (OTMH) in El Segundo (near LAX). Not only do they run all the classic comedies and dramas but they are accompanied by the “Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Organ”. I took my 75 year-old father-in-law there for a Laurel and Hardy festival. It was like a time machine for him.
Granted, they are only open on weekends. Give them a call and get on their mailing list.
Old Time Music Hall, 140 Richmond St., El Segundo, CA, (310) 322-2592.
Of course.
Oh my. A thread on silent films and the only mention of Gloria Swanson is as Norma Desmond? No mention of the early Felix the Cat cartoons? And sacrilege of sacrileges, no mention of Louise Brooks?
Some must-see silents: Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl, The Show-off (all with Louise Brooks), Sigfried and the sequel, Kreimheld’s Revenge (unsure of the spelling of either title), Les Vampires (a French serial from 1915), Sadie Thompson (the original Gloria Swanson version), oh and so many others.
Ike, my friend who’s more of a freak on all things '20s than I could ever hope to be was quite pleased by your nom du screen. Me, I’m more a Ruth Etting fan.
Mmmmmmmmmm…Ruth Etting!
Hey, it’s time someone mentioned King Vidor’s THE CROWD. Great, if somewhat depressing, slice 'o life film, of especial interest to New Yawkuhs, as a lot of it was filmed right here on the streets.
The scene of the young hero taking his best gal to Coney Island is a TRIP…to be able to really see what Dreamland and Luna Park were all about in 1928!
Add my applause for Murnau’s SUNRISE. A wondrous movie, like a poem. Everyone reading this thread should see it today! Yes, today.
Uke
Hey Otto! I mentioned Louise Brooks! I loooooooove Louise Brooks.
Changing my sig, because Wally said to, and I really like Wally, and I’ll do anything he says, anytime he says to.
i esp. like silent horror flicks; i think the lack of sound gives the same suspense as walking down a blind alley while wearing earplugs and blinders-- spooky… i was lucky enough to visit the henri langlois film museum at trocadero in paris: the memorabilia was incredible-- even had a reconstruction of the original set for “cabinet…,” which had been destroyed by fire (dur. WWII?)
the hog squeal of the universe is coming from my modem!
Cristi—Isn’t Our Dancing Daughters fun? I’m friends with the only surviving cast member, Anita Page (who, in my opinion, stole the film from Joannie).
Auntie—Sunrise was indeed before the Production Code; great film, yes? The cinematography was pure Berlin! The city, that is, not Irving.
Yes, Gloria Swanson was great, and Roscoe Arbuckle—also, of course, both Gishes (TCM is showing them in Orphans of the Storm later this month, don’t miss it!). And try to catch any of the Talmadge sisters if you can.
And yes, the 1926 Ben Hur—Ramon Novarro was SUCH a hunk. I’d take him over Valentino any day.
Why choose? Did someone say “sandwich”?