# The Silent Movie Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790 "2011-10-25T23:32:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/21 "2011-10-26T12:49:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I want to know when the heck they’re going to release _Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Film_ on DVD. Apparently, it’s on an indefinite hold due to an irresolvable dispute over the legal rights to all the various clips. > > And I’ve never seen their follow-up series _Cinema Europe:The Other Hollywood_ which was a history of European silent movies. _Shhhh_–\*\*Hollywood \*\*is on YouTube . . . Don’t tell the copyright holders . . . **Cinema Europe** is _brilliant_, I rewatch it every year or so (I taped it from TCM). Learned so much about the silents and stars of England, France, Germany, etc. I want to read a bio of Asta Nielsen now, but there are none in English! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/22 "2011-10-26T12:53:58Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Eric Stonestreet, best known for playing Cam in _Modern Family_, [is going to play](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/eric-stonestreet-hbo-team-fatty-226040) Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle in a movie about the Virginia Rappe death and trial. It’s HBO so the potential for excellence is certainly there, but I really hope they have the right consultants and feel and get this one right. _Hmmmm_. I know a woman who is writing a bio of poor Virginia Rappe, the original “blame the victim” girl. She was actually a respected fashion model and designer and a talented actress, but in order to make Arbuckle seem “less guilty” somehow, his friends derided her as a clap-ridden whore who got what was coming to her. I do hope the new film doesn’t perpetuate that. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/23 "2011-10-26T12:55:13Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Joey P writes: > > \> I haven’t watched any silent movies in quite a while, but back when I was on a > \> silent movie kick I remember The Great Dictator being one of my favorites. > > _The Great Dictator_ isn’t silent. Maybe he had the sound turned off. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/24 "2011-10-26T13:04:25Z")
Thank you for starting this thread. I’m a major Ronald Colman fan and have seen about 10 of his silents; I saw _The White Sister_ and _Kiki_ when TCM played them a few months ago, and I have _Her Night of Romance_ and _Romola_ waiting for when I have time. I have _The Dark Angel_ (also love the Fredric March/Herbert Marshall version), _Lady Windemere’s Fan_, and _Beau Geste_. Some of the early films of Sessue Hayakawa are astonishing. _The Cheat_ was one I saw last year and it knocked me out. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/25 "2011-10-26T13:05:33Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Another subtopic: what sound-era picture about the silent era is worthwhile? I thought the one with John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe about the making of Nofuratu was gimmicky. Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin should not have been an epic since, as influential and famous as his subject was, he really didn’t influence world events at large; a straight biopic would have been better. And Dick Van Dyke’s The Comic was mean-spirited. The new movie “The Artist”: [The Artist (film) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artist_%28film%29) I saw it at the New Orleans film festival last week, and a lot of people enjoyed it. My favourites from the silent era are all of Murnau (especially “Faust”) and Eisenstein (especially “Strike!”), “Menilmontant” (directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff), and “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Jean Epstein. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/26 "2011-10-26T13:08:33Z")
I got the Fantomas DVD set last year, and finally got around to watching it this year… pretty solid stuff, though Safety Last is still my favorite silent. (Least favorite : The Passion of Joan of Arc.) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/27 "2011-10-26T13:12:25Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > I’m a major Ronald Colman fan and have seen about 10 of his silents. Oh, wasn’t he _gorgeous?_ He had the talkie career John Gilbert might have if Colman’s voice hadn’t been so extraordinary and Gilbert hadn’t made so many enemies (Colman was actually six years older than John Gilbert!). ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/28 "2011-10-26T13:14:01Z")
> [@infinitii](#): > > My favourites from the silent era are all of Murnau (especially “Faust”) and Eisenstein (especially “Strike!”), “Menilmontant” (directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff), and “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Jean Epstein. I forgot about Abel Gance, I like his movies too (even though I still can’t seem to get my hands on a complete version of “Napoleon”). ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/29 "2011-10-26T13:23:34Z")
I should be going to see [Frank Murnau’s Sunrise](http://www.list.co.uk/event/236428-graeme-stephen-quintet-sunrise/) with a live soundtrack in about a month… I saw it years ago with live music and thoroughly enjoyed it; hope it’s as good this time. UK comedian **Paul Merton** is a big fan of early movies and has [several](http://silentlondon.co.uk/2011/05/24/paul-mertons-birth-of-hollywood-on-bbc-2/) [documentaries](http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/silent-clowns.shtml), [etc](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rs132). worth watching if you can find them. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/30 "2011-10-26T14:23:13Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Oh, wasn’t he _gorgeous?_ He had the talkie career John Gilbert might have if Colman’s voice hadn’t been so extraordinary and Gilbert hadn’t made so many enemies (Colman was actually six years older than John Gilbert!). Colman might have started earlier if he hadn’t served in WWI. About 20 years ago I was in a discount store and they had a pile of used VHS tapes they were selling for about $1.99 or so. I scored the only copy of _Bulldog Drummond_ I’d ever seen. Can you just imagine being in the theatre at that moment when he opens his mouth for the first time? Hello, honey. Also: Richard Barthelmess. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/31 "2011-10-26T14:30:30Z")
Some of my favorite quotes from the silent movie era: [spoiler]"" " " “…” [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/32 "2011-10-26T14:32:01Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Also: Richard Barthelmess. Yum. Richard Barthelmess–like Ramon Novarro and William Haines–seemed to age overnight. They all went from clean-jawed young leading men to doughy and middle-aged in the blink of an eye. How about **Doug Fairbanks** , speaking of _yum_? I am still upset that he and Mary split up. I blame Angelina Jolie. I am sure she was involved somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/33 "2011-10-26T14:47:32Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Richard Barthelmess–like Ramon Novarro and William Haines–seemed to age overnight. They all went from clean-jawed young leading men to doughy and middle-aged in the blink of an eye. The Tyrone Power effect. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/34 "2011-10-26T15:02:34Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > _Hmmmm_. I know a woman who is writing a bio of poor Virginia Rappe, the original “blame the victim” girl. She was actually a respected fashion model and designer and a talented actress, but in order to make Arbuckle seem “less guilty” somehow, his friends derided her as a clap-ridden whore who got what was coming to her. I do hope the new film doesn’t perpetuate that. Really? I haven’t read that much about the case- I know the basics- but most versions seem to imply that the real villain was Maude Delmont and Arbuckle was innocent of rape. (The “died from complications of a botched abortion” story seems to have been disproven.) Does the writer you know believe he was a rapist? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/35 "2011-10-26T15:11:29Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Really? I haven’t read that much about the case- I know the basics- but most versions seem to imply that the real villain was Maude Delmont and Arbuckle was innocent of rape. (The “died from complications of a botched abortion” story seems to have been disproven.) Does the writer you know believe he was a rapist? She says the autopsy reports show Virginia died from a ruptured bladder due to blunt-force trauma–not disease or abortion. Now, it could well have been an accident or even self-inflicted, if she was in enough pain . . . Also, \*everyone \*at that party should have been held on manslaughter charges for letting her linger in agony for three days when emergency surgery could have saved her. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/36 "2011-10-26T15:26:34Z")
The defenders of Arbuckle did not actually blame Rappe; they claimed that no sex took place. Rappe never claimed rape, either. It was Maude Delmont who made that claim and there’s no evidence it’s true (The doctor who examined Rappe saw no evidence, and Delmont wasn’t present for any of the pertinent events). In addition, it’s also quite clear that Rappe was hardly an innocent – she had had several abortions, had a child at age 23, and also suffered from various health problems, and was well-known for over-imbibing (a dangerous habit under Prohibition – the more you drank, the more likely you were drinking poison). Arbuckle probably rubbed some ice on her thigh when she lost consciousness; others who knew him said it was his own home remedy for bringing someone around and that he had done it in the past. There’s also the possibility that he may have accidentally struck her while horsing around (in full view of everyone), which led to a flare up of some of her underlying medical conditions. But Rappe never claimed rape, and, despite her public image, was far from the demure victim that Hearst painted her as. Her story is just as tragic as Arbuckle’s, but her behavior patterns indicate that she would have died young anyway. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/37 "2011-10-26T15:26:51Z")
I recently watched a lineup of several films by French filmmaker George Melies (sorry, can’t do the French accents thing). _A Trip To The Moon_ is his most famous, and this was the first time I had seen the whole thing. The freaky sequence of the [snow giant](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Y32nBaee2kw/TF6z9Z5FDEI/AAAAAAAABD4/aCFTDZylxPg/s1600/2457286606_7161ee7758.jpg) would have given me nightmares as a kid. I liked all of his films I saw that night. They’re fascinating time capsules to how people thought in that age, what they wore, what culture was like. At least in France! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/38 "2011-10-26T15:44:15Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > In addition, it’s also quite clear that Rappe was hardly an innocent – she had had several abortions, had a child at age 23, and also suffered from various health problems, and was well-known for over-imbibing . . . was far from the demure victim that Hearst painted her as. Her story is just as tragic as Arbuckle’s, but her behavior patterns indicate that she would have died young anyway. I will leave this to the woman who is writing the book, but a lot of what is “known” about Virginia is from that bitter harpy Adela Rogers St. John and is not to be taken at face value. She’d had abortions (which back then made you a slut)? She had VD? She drank too much? What are the sources on that? I hope this book can clear all that up (it won’t be a white-wash, either, the writer says she will go where the evidence takes her). ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/39 "2011-10-26T18:01:37Z")
Lon Chaney. I am still in love with Lon Chaney. Dragged my poor husband to see the restored ‘Phantom of the Opera’ with a live organist at the concert hall in town last year- and my goodness, to see that film with a proper pipe organ backing is amazing. \* I love, love, love all the films of his that Ive been able to get my grubby little hands on. I spent weeks, weekends, watching films in my University’s basement. I haven’t been able to convince husband to see any more with me, just because he wasnt completely blown away. I remain true. - In the audience was a woman who has been taken to the original release as a young girl. She looked so excited, too. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790/40 "2011-10-26T18:07:29Z")
Wonderful thread! I got into silent movies a couple of years ago and I’m a complete addict now. I’ve seen some absolutely brilliant films which will stand up to any talkie out there. Sternberg. I knew him as a director of talkies but his silent work was a revelation to me. Three in particular: [Underworld](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018526/), 1929, starring an actor I knew before only as a villain in movies of the 30s and 40s, George Bancroft (he was the boss slapped about by Cagney in The Roaring Twenties). He is absolutely amazing as ‘Bull’ Weed, the ruthless crime lord in Underworld, as is Clive Brook as Rolls Royce Wensell, the hopeless drunk to whom Bull Weed gives life and purpose again and who falls in love with Weed’s girl/ Bancroft is marvelous too in another Sternberg classic, [The Docks of New York](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018839/), 1928. The third movie is [The Last Command](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019071/) with the great German actor Emil Jannings. A fantastic gangster movie I saw a couple of months ago, [The Racket](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019304/), 1928, directed by Lewis Milestone. It’s based on Al Capone at a time when Capone was still the big boss in Chicago (they banned it in that city). The Capone-figure (he’s called Nick Scarsi in the film) is played by the actor whose mug could sink a thousand ships, Louis Wolheim, and he knocks it out of the park, ably seconded by Thomas Meighan, who plays the incorruptible cop. They remade The Racket in 1951 with Mitchum and Robert Ryan but, much as I love those two actors, the remake is nowhere near as good as the original. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-silent-movie-thread/600790.md?page=3)