Inspired by this thread, I am wondering about the state of science fiction movies prior to 1930.
A couple come to mind right away, Metropolis and A Trip to the Moon.
I’m sure there’s got to be more.
Anybody got a list? a source?
Here are a few more for starters (almost all unseen by me):
Aelita (1924)
The Astronomer’s Dream (1898, Méliès)
Conquest of the Pole (1912, Méliès)
Frau im Mond (1929, Fritz Lang)
The Impossible Voyage (1904, Méliès)
The Lost World (1925)
The Mysterious Island (1929)
Paris qui Dort (1925, Rene Clair)
The “?” Mororist (1906)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
I was going to say Just Imagine, but I see that actually came out in 1930. So ignore this post. Thank you.
Edison’s version of Frankenstein?
Willis O’Brien made quite a few short “prehistoric” films, like RFD 10,000 BC, not to mention The Ghost of Slumber Mountain.
There was th 1910 Edison Company version of Frankenstein
Archive Guy actiually mentions a lot of the ones I would have. I own several of these. Restored versions of Metropolis and The LOst World are available on DVD, and well worth the cost (the restoration of TLW makes it about 95% complete!) The silent versions of 20,000 Leagues is pretty good (and includes a lot of The Mysterious Island), while **The Mysterious Island[/B isn’t at all faithful, and is mostly a curiousity. Die Frau im Mond has ruly impressive scenes of a rocket launch – it looks as if pre-War Germany already had Peenemunde in place, and Lang just filmed the result.
Some of Winsor McCay’s early cartoons are pretty much SF. Even though they are part f the “Dream of the Rarebit Fiend” series, revealed as nightmares at the end, they hit on SF ideas and images, often for the frst time in cinema. The Giant Pet is the very first instance of the Giant Whatsit stalking through the City, long before King Kong or Godzilla did so. The Flying House gives us interplanetary travel and a moving starfield.
Thanks for the info so far.
I have the restored Metropolis (as well as one the really crappy washed copies).
How hard is it to find the silent films?
Pretty hard f you look for them in just the video stores (although tht’s what I mostly do). You can order them online through Amazon or through specialty houses.
Blackhawk films specialized in silent flicks. They used to sell them on celluloid, then on videotape (my copy of 20,000 Leagues is from them), and I would think they had a DVD market by now.
Not really SciFi but there was a 1925 version of Wizard of Oz, starring Dorothy Dwan.
How about Nosferatu? Again, not really SciFi though. I just threw it in because of the ref to Frankenstein.
I think Eve only responds to pages if you first sacrifice a Keanu Reeves DVD and then leave an offering (e.g. an ashtray from Fatty Arbuckles’ guest room, Blanche Sweet’s handbag, etc.). Even then you may only ask one question, she will only answer in rhyme and you cannot make eye contact.
Everyone already answered so much better than I could have . . . Though I would like Blanche Sweet’s handbag . . .
Do any of these movie include footage of 1920’s style dea… erk… no… must… not… continue… sentence.
Actually, this is a context where that line could actually be used seriously.
Actually, Paris qui Dort is alternately known as The Crazy Ray or The Invisible Ray. I’ve never seen it, but Rene Clair’s The Italian Straw Hat from a few years later is among the greatest of silent films, so it might be worth checking out (sounds like fun, too).
There’s also High Treason from 1928. The NFT programmed it a few months ago as part of their big season on British films of the 1920s and it proved a popular screening. I suspect this has less to do with its critical reputation - which has always been poor - and more to do with the occasional reproduction of a still from it showing a futuristic version of London, so that people were interested to see what the rest of the film looks like. All fairly watchable, but that’s about it.
It was based on a play by Noel Pemberton Billing, whose earlier political career is central to Philip Hoare’s entertaining Wilde’s Last Stand (Duckworth, 1997). The man thought WWI England was being overrun by a secret German conspiracy of lesbians.
Most of these movies should be public domain, no? Are any of them available anywhere for downloading?