The silent film topic

[Brick Gold]

I figured that this topic deserves its own thread as silent film is a small, limited genre that doesn't grow, so most anything of interest can be linked here concerning silent film to make for an easy reference point.

When did the silent film era end?

When did the Silent Film Era End?

Back in the day, like way back in the 1800s, the world’s first films were never synced to recorded sound. Silent films reigned for nearly four decades before sound was added to movies in the late 1920s. Technical challenges discouraged filmmakers from wanting to synchronize sound until...

kodakdigitizing.com

Rare silent films streaming online for free

RARE SILENT FILMS STREAMING ONLINE—FOR FREE

Imagine having a world-class film archive at your fingertips, free of charge. Back in 2000, The National Film Preservation Foundation marked a milestone by releasing a DVD set called Treasures from…

leonardmaltin.com

 

[Brick Gold]

I have now seen 8 silent films

A Trip to the Moon (1902) short
Haxan (1922)
Souls for Sale (1923)
The Lost World (1925)
Wings (1927)
The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Metropolis (1927)
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Anything made before 1920 is scarce to see online, youll need to purchase a physical copy if you want to see most of these surviving films.

 

[DudleySmith]

With pre-1920's silent film the problem is the good ones were worn out from re-use, and mostly the crappy ones survive. Some few were abvle to be copied to modern film, but not many, and lot of partial clips at that. I've read a lot of the silent era, but mostly on the economics of nickelodeons and theater businesses and film making. There is a good book on the beginnings of the industry in France, and covers the big companies then and the new genres developing, like detective movies and comedies, and includes prices of film stock, projecties, cameras, etc. as well.

The ciné goes to town : French cinema, 1896-1914 in SearchWorks catalog

It was a huge industry in France and Italy both, which provided over 2 thirds of the films run in the U.S. until WW I broke out and the U.S. moved into the production and marketing, becoming the 4th or 5th largest industry here in the 1920's. Pathe was a dominant company in both Europe and the U.S. The cash generated by nickolodeons in the early days as compared to the start up costs was awesome.

As for the movies themselves, pantomime doesn't do much for me personally, so I've only watched comedy shorts and some excerpts from D.W. Griffith's works, like Broken Blossoms and a couple of others, and the early westerns, like Ford's early directing efforts.

 

[Auld Phart]

Seen a number of Lon Chaney and Buster Keaton films.

 

[Brick Gold]

I already posted this link on my other long form movie topic. Good silent film resource:

Top 300 Silent Era Films

Silent Era, probably the most important silent film site on the internet, has a long-running poll to find the best silent era films. The list is obviously far from perfect and suffers from three problems all acknowledged by the creators of the poll. The first is that some silent films are lost...

letterboxd.com

 

[Stryder50]

Here's an interesting footnote;

How 20 Seconds of Film Changed Movie History​

This kiss is more than just a kiss.​

How 20 Seconds of Film Changed Movie History

This kiss is more than just a kiss.

www.atlasobscura.com