Some of my Favourite Silent Films

 Silent movies fascinate me. Here's a couple of my favourites!

The General (1926) Buster Keaton and his train

The picture above seems to epitomize for me, the nature of "The General". Everything he does, from the film's suspenseful action, to its romance, and to its understated comedy, is played with great intensity. In this exciting drama set during the Civil War and based on the true story of the Great Locomotive Chase, Buster Keaton directs and stars as Johnnie, a train engineer set out, as Buster often is in his films, to be a hero. I named the train as one of the principle players too :) His use of the trains is spectacular (I want to give you a spoiler but I'll refrain). “No shortcuts,” Keaton said. "It’s got to be so authentic it hurts." And it shows. This film is full of magnificent stunts and sequences, based on the real stories and on real photographs of the civil war. The comedy is quietly brilliant and quirky, set against a more serious story than you might be expecting from a silent comedian. According to Orson Welles, it's "the Civil War movie, nothing ever came near it, not only for beauty but for a curious feeling of authenticity .. it is imbued with real and curious dignity. No one has brought us that close". IMDB

Sherlock, Jr. (1924) with Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton

I have already reviewed this another post, go it here.

Safety Last (1923) Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis

If you've never seen Harold Lloyd, you need to! I discovered his films last year and now he's a favourite with my hubby and me. Lloyd is one of the most personable of the silent stars, always brimming with energy and optimism that always make you love his character. In Safety Last, Harold, "the boy", goes off to the city to make his fortune so he can marry his sweetheart. This is full of clever, unexpected tricks and incidents, from the simple storyline of the first half to when it switches to a "thrill picture", with hilarious yet gasp-worthy stunts near the end. Safety Last contains one of the most famous shots of Harold Lloyd hanging with the clock face. I don't know if Safety Last is my favourite; Speedy and some of Lloyd's short films are excellent (but I haven't seen them as recently so need to re-watch before I review :) But Safety Last is a great place to start!

Wings (1927) with Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen

Wings came almost at the end of the silent era, and it embodies the greatness that was achieved in film over the whole era. It is thrilling and it is real! No green screen or special effects here, the World War 1 air battles they were portraying were being fought and filmed with the actors doing alot of their own stunts and flying. (To fully appreciate the film, one should watch the featurette that usually accompanies the DVD version, or even just read up on it. It's fascinating to find out how groundbreaking this film was.) The photography of the air battles are absolutely breathtaking; the ground battle scenes are carried out with great detail and keep you on the edge of your seat. Two of the leads, Buddy Rogers and the top film actress of the time, Clara Bow, are full of boundless activity and feeling that keep your eyes glued to the screen. Also includes a brief appearance from a young Gary Cooper! See it on IMDB

Thief of Baghdad (1924) Douglas Fairbanks, Julianne Johnston, Snitz Edwards

The "Thief of Baghdad" is a swashbuckling tale adapted from "One Thousand and One Nights" or the "Arabian Nights". It stars Douglas Fairbanks, and I mean stars; he's the one of the original movie stars. If you want to watch silent films, you have to see a Fairbanks picture (Well, you should see America's Sweetheart Mary Pickford too, but I had a hard time deciding which of hers to discuss on here). This movie is memorable for its photography, lavish sets, and its early visual effects (the flying carpet is here!), but even more so for its acrobatic and utterly charming "Thief", played by Fairbanks. This film does have some slow parts, but overall it is a fascinating fantasy story audiences must have thrilled to in 1924, and that we can certainly appreciate today. See more at IMDB. 

The Kid (1921) Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan

To be honest, while I deeply respect Charlie Chaplin for his pioneering work in the film industry and his indisputable talent, I generally prefer other silent movies over his work. Chaplin has a very unique style to his Little Tramp character, and his comedy, while quietly funny or meaningful, is not in my top silent movie choices. The film of his which actually impressed me most is his later non-silent film, The Great Dictator, which was brilliantly executed and ahead of its time in challenging the ideals and goals of Hitler. But enough about that, I'm here to talk about "The Kid". I finally watched it in order to review it for this, and I actually really enjoyed it! It's all Chaplin here, even the score is composed by him. It's the story of the Tramp finding and raising an abandoned baby. There is a beautiful scene where he first finds and  reads the note from the baby's mother and decides to care for the child. Chaplin's interactions with "the Kid" are genuinely sweet and natural. Chaplin pulls off a dance-like style during a fight scene with a bully which I found hilariously effective. This film was influential about a whole new style of films, combining comedy with a more serious subject. Each scene is carefully crafted and beautiful. A must-see. Check out IMDB for more.


The Crowd

The Crowd feels like it was made today, and coming from me that might be an insult. So let me clarify, it isn't :) This movie looks and feels fresh, and draws you in from its early sequence, the camera flitting from the crowded city streets all the way up a skyscraper, through the window into a room full of desks (Opening Sequence of "The Crowd").  It's the story of an "Everyman" who works in an office, meets his wife, falls in love, and gets married. It's the rather sad story that follows his life and the events that happen to his family, and his struggle to survive. The director, Gore Vidal, strove for realism and this film is poignant and moving. See on IMDB.

I included a quote in the first post on this blog which I think sums up my love for silent film so well. These movies are valuable and important. In watching these, we get a glimpse into the past that we otherwise would not get. I hope you get a chance to see some of these gems!

"There was great excitement, and great fervour, and great sense of romance and adventure. They didn't know what they were working in. They didn't know what the future would be. They didn't know what they were doing. They knew that every picture broke boundaries. Some one new thing would be done. A new way of handling the camera. A new way of cutting. A new way of lighting. And they would be so excited by it! And I think some of that simplicity, and some of that fervour and excitement is in the films. And that's why they're valuable and lovely." (Agnes De Mille)