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ShelleBink

11-30-2005, 06:10 PM

I really enjoy silent movies from the 1920s and 1930s... one of my all
time favorites being Nosferatu.  Its low budget and stuff, but to
me its a lot better than most of the shit that is in theatres today.

Death Metal Moe

11-30-2005, 06:12 PM

OK, I hate Hollywood these days too, but I'm not gonna go that far and go back to pre-talkies.

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ShelleBink

11-30-2005, 06:19 PM

Well, that and I have a crappy cable deal at school... No Comedy
Central, no MTV, no VH1, no FSNY, no History Channel, no Bravo. 
I'm stuck with TCM, AMC, TBS, TNT and the news channels, and other crap
I ust dont watch.

ChrisTheCop

11-30-2005, 06:21 PM

They talked, Moe. You just couldnt hear 'em. Although theyre not my favorite genre, silent films are worth a look if you havent tried them yet. I recommend the comedies, although as Shelle mentioned, Nasferatu is fun to watch with the lights out (and ok....smoke a joint if ya got em).Here's a non bullet pointed (Not to make missy angry)list of good silent films to see for the beginner:Current Top 10 Silent Era Films 1. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/G/General1926.html">The General</a> (1926) 2. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/S/SunriseASongofTwoHuman1927.html">Sunrise</a> (1927) 3. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/M/Metropolis1927.html">Metropolis</a> (1927) 4. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/C/CityLights1931.html">City Lights</a> (1931) 5. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/N/NosferatueineSymphonie1922.html">Nosferatu</a> (1922) 6. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/G/GoldRush1925.html">The Gold Rush</a> (1925) 7. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/P/PassionetlaMortdeJeann1928.html">La Passion et la Mort de Jeanne d’Arc</a> (1928) 8. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/G/Greed1924.html">Greed</a> (1924) 9. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/C/CabinetdesDoctorCaliga1920.html">Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari</a> (1920) 10. <a href="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/replytotopic.cfm/Forum/75/Topic/47719/currentpage/PSFL/data/B/BuchsederPandora1929.html">Die Büchse der Pandora</a> (1929)   

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suggums

11-30-2005, 06:25 PM

Hopefully those channels are airing some old silent comedies, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton are absolutely hilarious to this day. Un Chien Andalou is fun if you like Dali or Bunuel (I love both). A lot of the earliest stuff is really interesting; Lumiere Brothers, Melies, and if you liked Nosferatu then you'd probably like the Cabinet of Dr Caligari for its similar style. I've actually watched a feature-length silent movie with live piano accompaniment on one occasion, very fun experience.  edit: From Chris' list I'd say I like the Passion of Jean of Arc (that's a real Passion movie) and City Lights the most, but several of them I haven't seen. 

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This message was edited by suggums on 11-30-05 @ 10:28 PM

ShelleBink

11-30-2005, 06:35 PM

Lumiere Brothers... wow... I'm impressed.  Then again, I'm a lowly
college student but I added film studies as my minor ((watch movies and
get a degree, whats not to like)).  Right now The Phantom of the
Opera is on TCM... gotta love the make up job.

curtoid

11-30-2005, 07:05 PM

There are surprisingly good, solid movies from the silent era that hold up, even almost 100 years later. "Faust," "Cabinat of Dr. Caligari," "Hunchback of Notre Dame," and "The Phantom of the Opera" are all brilliant silent films. One that would be shocking, even by today's standards, is "Witchcraft Through The Ages," which includes nudity, satan, witches and kissing of asses, all together. Freaky, freaky shit. <img src="http://www.churchofsatan.com/Graphics/AltarEgos/WitchcraftTA.jpg" border="0" /> You can't go wrong with most of the major films of Chaplin or Harold Lloyd, and a lot of the slapstick comedy still is appealing. Many of the silent Our Gang/Little Rascals were remade with sound years later. That happened a lot - one of my favorites is a very creepy Lon Chaney Sr. flick about scam artists called "The Unholy Three," which was remade with sound just years after the silent one. Both films are shown on TCM. The silent one holds up as a better one, and kind of forshadows Tod Browning's work on "Freaks" some time later. <img src="http://home.austin.rr.com/cinemaofpain/film/unholy3.jpg" border="0" /> (Yes, the midget is attacking a child) The dramas don't hold up as well as the comedies and the scary ones, but if you want some fascinating history lessons, watch the films of Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim, and read a biography on either of them and that insane era. (And then, as a way to round it off, rent the 1950s film "Sunset Boulevard"). Some amazing stories about the hard living, and spending on these films - "The Wedding March," for example, had it's production cut when the cost got too high, so they wrapped the film up by filming a real life 3 day orgy on a whore house set, that only ended when someone died. <img border="0" src="http://www.silentfilm.org/pastprograms/2000festival/theweddingmarch/images/1.jpg" alt="Erich von Stroheim & Fay Wray THE WEDDING MARCH (1928)" width="326" height="243" /> If you ever, ever get a chance to see a classic silent film on a big screen, you should. In Washington D.C., silent films are sometimes shown at The American Film Institute Theatres at the Kennedy Center or in Silver Spring. The Library of Congress also shows things. I'm sure Film Forum in NYC is one of many places that trot out silent films. Some places, like San Francisco, actually have whole film festivals for those old films, and in Los Angeles there's an entire film theatre devoted to these films - called, oddly enough, "The Silent Movie." I'd rather have hope in my soul than soap in my hole...







This message was edited by curtoid on 11-30-05 @ 11:10 PM

FUNKMAN

11-30-2005, 08:34 PM

i watch almost all my sports with the sound off...  don't need to hear the pornos either!   regular films i need the sound the first time around, after that i can watch with no sound 

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furie

12-01-2005, 01:59 PM

I always liked the 1902 "The Voyage to the Moon". 

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zentraed

12-01-2005, 03:14 PM

I left the DC area right before they showed "Metropolis" at the then
new AFI theater; i's one of the few silent films I've seen. I loved
Almodovar's silent short in "Hable con Ella" though. 
I'm not a big fan of AMC 'cuz they don't letterbox and they show
commercials, but TCM and FMC are great. They've saved me quite a bit of
money in rentals 

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Mike Teacher

12-01-2005, 04:32 PM

Lang's 'Metropolis' has been wonderfully restored, at least what's left of it, they know more of it existed, and it just blows me away, the special effects, the vision of the future, and the dystopian underground has become iconic, what video has the Metropolis footage? Under Pressure by Queen/Bowie? I think thats it. I fucking ove this film.The Voyage to the Moon and the other very early edison/lumirer/melies all blows me away, just in that it was all so new and experimental and like a time machine; you could see it evolve from novelty to art form.Birth of a Nation and Eisenstiens 'Battleship Potempkin' are pretty amazing. Nosferatu scares the crap outta me.Oh yeah and the GolemFilmfax and Outre are two magazines that cover a lot of very early cinema, amazing how many films are out there from the early days.

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bobrobot

12-01-2005, 05:52 PM

Oh Yeah, my fave...<img title="golem" height="475" alt="golem" src="http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000D8UWN.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" width="346" border="0" />

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Sangreal

12-07-2005, 01:41 AM

Charlie Chaplin is cool, have you seen Monsieur Verdoux? It's got sound but still. I love to watch silent movies. Nosferatu is one of the best and the Frankenstein stuff. I've got most of the better silent and black & white movie's on dvd. Like Laurel and Hardy and so on. The old movie are mostly based on acting and music. That's why they're so good and rather difficult to make. These day's you can change anything you don't like with a computer and so on, and you can zoom.

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Dirtybird12

12-07-2005, 07:38 AM

quote: I always liked the 1902 "The Voyage to the Moon". That movie is a fucking classic

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