Your favorite silent movies.

[LizzieMaine]

Another first-rate Vidor silent is "The Big Parade" -- the plot is cliched World War 1 love-triangle stuff, but the execution of that plot and particularly the rhythm of the filmmaking itself is really compelling.

And yeah, sappy as the plot is, I cried at the end. I *always* cry at the end.

 

[Kent Allard]

"The Man Who Laughs" (1928) - A real heartbreaker with Conrad Veidt. Ever wonder where Bob Kane got the idea for the Joker?

 

[Twitch]

The only thing worth watching for me are the comedies- Keaton, Keystone cops etc. Never cared much for the "genius" of Chaplin.

 

[Paul Maurice]

Silent Movie ? Lights, Camera, Action !!!

Napoleon (abel Gance) 1927 :eusa_clap
Greed (Erich Von Stroheim) 1924 :eusa_clap
All of Georges Melies masterpieces (1861-1938), my favorite "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

And of course a warm hand for Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie" 1976 lol lol lol
(we said silent, didn't we?)

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Silent Movie 1976! That is cheating!
I would have to add College with Buster Keaton to my list. It was so Keatonish:eusa_clap

 

[Zemke Fan]

City Lights...

Had the pleasure of seeing this outdoors -- at Wolf Trap -- just after it was restored. National Symphony Orchestra did the score. Magical.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I like the old time westerns with William S. Hart, Harry Carey, Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, etc. Liked The Mark of Zorro, Wings (I like any silent film that has the divine Gary Cooper in it). I would love to find The Winning of Barbara Worth, but haven't found it yet. Fighting Caravans I have and am looking forward to seeing it.

Then there is John Barrymore in Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and, of course, anything with Lon Chaney in it: Phantom of the Opera, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and hope they someday find a copy of London After Midnight where he plays a vampire.

Speaking of scary -- Nosferatu,much creepier than Dracula. And talk about an ugly vampire -- Max Shreck nails it.

Try The Passion of Joan of Arc, called the best of films about the French heroine and saint, even after all these years.

Creepy scary film and classic German structuralism -- try The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

For sheer soap opera, devoted love, and the most dramatic scene in silent films, Way Down East, with Lillian Gish as the hapless heroine and Richard Barthelmess, who jumps from ice floe to ice floe on a river (and, of course, there is a waterfall up ahead) to rescue his beloved.

I have seen Chaplain, Keaton, Lloyd, Keystone Cops, etc., and enjoyed them, but am not a great fan of old comedy. I don't much care for slapstick for one thing.

There are probably silent films I am missing, but those stand out.

karol

 

[The Wolf]

I'm taking another turn

As a huge (virtually six feet) William Powell fan I wish I could find his silent films on DVD. At least his Philo Vances.
Interestingly, whereas many actors lost work when talkies came, Powell's career changed, instead of playing so many villains, his wonderful voice was more suitable to charming men.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Wowie! -- I just scored The Winning of Barbara Worth on ebay!

One of the best things about the silent westerns is that the directors used people in their films who recalled what it was like to cross the prairies in covered wagons and/or fight battles. They were used as extras and/or consultants,sometimes as feature players.

When you see the wagons head west, as you do in "Barbara Worth," when you see the activities around the campfires, you are looking back in time. Many of the folks in those scenes actually lived the life and did cross the plains and mountains to Oregon or California. Some of the early cowboy heroes had been in battles or had witnessed them.

Oh,yes, and the wagons were real, too. Lots of them still around in those days.

karol

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I like the old time westerns with William S. Hart, Harry Carey, Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, etc. Liked The Mark of Zorro, Wings (I like any silent film that has the divine Gary Cooper in it). I would love to find The Winning of Barbara Worth, but haven't found it yet. Fighting Caravans I have and am looking forward to seeing it.

I would have to agree with you 100% about Gary Cooper.
I have read the book The Winning of Barbara Worth, and it's great. I never thought there was a movie of it! Maybe I can find it on Ebay like you did.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Yes, I am glad to get it, there were others on ebay, but I grabbed a "buy it now." Couldn't wait.

The film stars Ronald Coleman and Vilma Banky, and Gary Cooper has a lead in it, too. I guess, for its time, the floods scene was quite good and the film was praised for its realism, compared with The Covered Wagon and The Iron Horse.

Glad it is finally out on DVD.

http://www.sptddog.com/sotp/cooper.jpeg

karol

 

[78_Maestro]

Favorite silents.

I really like "What Price Glory" (1926) with

Edmund Lowe
Victor McLaglen
Dolores del Rio

Fun beginning, great filmography, and use of tints.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

You've got another big Buster Keaton fan. We watched The General last night on TCM. It took me awhile to teach Paul that good movies don't have to be in color or with dazzling special effects or involve Klingons or Antareans or start off in a galaxy far, far away. The only complaint about the movie last night was the music - it wasn't the original score from 1927, and besides being recently scored, it was done on the cheap - electronically sampled instruments instead of real, and not good sampled instruments at that. But I still remember seeing it in college up on a big screen in the auditorium with the original score. We saw sevearl Keaton classics like that. My film teacher was a Keaton afficianado who worked summers with his old college buddy George Lucas on movies that did involve dazzling special effects and start off in a galaxy far, far away...

 

[Avalon]

I haven't seen enough to have favorites yet! lol But I'll list the ones I've seen thus far:

Nosferatu
It
A Fool There Was
Diary of a Lost Girl
The Unknown

I desperately want to get the new copy of Pandora's Box.

 

[Tommy Fedora]

Yes, Buster Keaton in The General.
I haven't seen many silent movies but I was really impressed with Buster Keaton.

 

[LadyStardust]

Sunrise, Sunrise, Sunrise, Sunrise! I can't recommend this movie enough. The full title is Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and it is beautiful, romantic, tragic, thought-provoking..not to mention visually stunning, 110%! Murnau always turned out gems, but this one crowns all.

Other favorites of my own include Flesh & The Devil, The Big Parade, The Freshman, The Kid, City Lights, Nosferatu, Seven Years Bad Luck, and anything Charley Chase. Actually my very favorite types of silents are early short subjects, ex. works by the Lumiere Brothers, Edison film company, Georges Melies, etc. Most were so simplistic, but so creative and endearing!! I find myself completely mesmerized by them!!

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Another vote for The Kid!

 

[Lady Day]

Thief of Bagdad

1924 150 min BW (SILENT)
Starring: DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, SNITZ EDWARDS, JULANNE JOHNSTON

Synopsis: A thief falls in love with the Caliph of Bagdads' daughter. He has a chance to win her hand if he can obtain the rarest treasure to be found before the 7th moon. Competing against other suitors some playing fair, some not, as he encounters magical devices such as a magic carpet and a magic crystal.

It was so cool, I never realized it was nearly 3 hours! I went to see it in college. Our local playhouse showed old movies durning a festival every summer. A friend and I bought season tickets. The kick was there was a real organ player there playing on the theader's 100+ year old pipe organ with the movie. What a treat!

That and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. LOVE the visuals, and score of that one.


LD

 

[Fletch]

Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (The Symphony of a Great City)
A 1927 documentary (more like a visual tone-poem, really) by Walther Ruttmann that plunges you into now-mostly-vanished sights and rhythms of urban life. Next best thing to a time machine.

 

[K by the bay]

Mr. Robinson Crusoe. There were two versions. One silent and one with sound.