This probably could go on another of the recent DVD threads, but I feel silents need their own, gosh darnit!
I have finally broken down and bought a DVD player. And may I say I am addicted. I have already bought several important titles for my collection. Plan 9 From Outer Space
Killer Clowns From Outer Space
Haxan aka Witchcraft Though the Ages
MST3k (all that are so far available)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail/Life of Brian
Nude on the Moon
and others.
Now I need to start getting some silent movies.
First on my list is the great documentary Cinema Europe: the Other Hollywood. Next I plan on getting: Cabinet of Dr. Calagari
Golem
Nosferatu
Metropolis
Wizard of Oz (series of three or four movies I believe)
Our Gang comedies
Siegfried (sp?)
And others I cannot think of (or know about yet).
Also, some others I would like but have not found any are some of the Actuaries (shots of street life) that were filmed early on. These were breifly seen and discussed on the fairly recent PBS documentary New York narrated by David Ogden Stiers.
The main thing I want are movies with good music accompanyment. This is what makes silent movies IMO. If it has poor music, it can be dull.
Is anyone aware of good companies that have put out silents, or if there are any particularly good transfers already on the market?
Darn you, Anamorphic! Don’t you realize that I’ve already exceeded my DVD budget for the summer? Oh well, who needs food when you have quality entertainment. Perhaps somebody will want to trade me a crust of bread for my extra copy of The General?
A suggestion of my own would be to pick up some Chaplin titles, too. This box set contains some essentials. As with the Keaton set, these titles are also available individually. I keep hoping some of Harold Lloyd’s movies (that guy hanging from the clock on the building) will be released on DVD but there’s nothing, as of yet.
No silent movie collection would be complete without a D.W. Griffith movie. Intolerance would be my recommendation, although you might also consider Birth of a Nation, if only for its benchmark status. I don’t think its nearly as entertaining as Intolerance, however, and it also has unsettling racist overtones.
Another recent favourite of mine is Carl Theodor Dryer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc. Not only are the camera work and direction wonderful, Maria Falconetti’s performance as Joan is absolutely devastating. The story goes that this role was so emotionally draining for her that she never acted again. BTW, the Criterion DVD contains some gorgeous choral music inspired by the film.
Also, because you have a taste of SF and fantasy, you might want to check out one of the Georges “Trip to the Moon” Melies DVD collections that are available. Unfortunately, I haven’t had an opportunity to check any of these out yet.
I bought a cheapo ($6) version of Metropolis the other day. It’s nice to have, but the image is very blurry, and the music seems to just be a bland recycling of Night On Bald Mountain playing on a loop. I’d prefer a cleaned up version, with better music, but not that Georgio Moroder crap from the 80s.
Does anyone have the DVD of the German serial The Spiders? Is it any good? From what I’ve read, I’m so tempted to get this, but I’m unsure about it.
Cabinet of Dr. Calagari, Golem, and Nosferatu are all available in a two disc box set called The Masterworks of German Horror Cinema. Unfortunately, I think the collection may be out of print. I found it at a Best Buy.
You should definately look for a copy of Landmarks of Early Film which contains several dozen short silent movies from the dawn of filmmaking, including “street life” scenes such as you mentioned. There was a second volume to the series, but I haven’t seen that one.
I *strongly * recommend the restored version of the silent The Lost World. I bought this several months ago, and it blew me away. Most versions you see are only 60-70% complete. This new version, cobbled together from copies in six collections, is 95% complete. And it features a commentary track by the editor of The Annotated Lost World (a book which makes a really good companion to the film).
This DVD is not the George Eastman House version, which derives only from the Eastman House copy. (Curiously, the Eastman House VHS contains “reconstructions” of the missing scenes, using still photos. But the Eastman House DVD does not.) The Eastman House copy uses the original movie poster showing a single T. Rex storming through London. The restored copy therefore couldn’t use it, and their cover combines the original T. Rex poster with a “cartoony” versionm of the T. Rex from another poster.
The restored version is excellent – the story makes a hell of a lot more sense with the cuts restored.
The version of Mertropolis available on DVD is the usual butchered version, with almost half of the original removed and with horribly washed-out negative. (There’s a reason it only costs $6. When a good version comes out it will be much more expensive). I own a copy of Giogiou Moroder’s “restoration” (Which adds a lot of recently found footage and reconstructs some scenes, but which takes away a few scenes from the usual version). Moroder’s version is also struck from a much, much better print than the standard version, and is worth it to see the original animated titles alone. I understand the Kino VHS is also struck from this good print. But neither, AFAIK, is available on DVD. Yet.
There have been at least 4 versions of Metropolis released on DVD (that I know of) and each has its own problems. There is a German restoration that made the rounds of the rep cinemas last year that apparently is slated for release this fall. This has been touted as the most complete and best looking cut of the film yet, so keep your fingers crossed. Check out the reconstruction website here. For a huge amount of information about the movie and its various incarnations, check out this web site.
