Silent : What was the last silent movie that you watched?

What was the last silent movie that you watched?

My answer is, well. . . check out my signature.

Latest:
Häxan->http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013257/

Afgrunden 1910 (Spoilers)

Had a spare hour yesterday (something of a miracle in itself!) & therefore settled down to watch the fabulous Asta Nielsen in Afgrunden/The Abyss whereby Ms Nielsen jilts her fiancé & runs off with a hunky circus performer (played by Poul Reumert) but this being highly moralistic 1910 film-making she isn't seen to be enjoying her "sinning ways" for long though!
The print was decent enough quality (purchased from the Danish Film Institute) but at least it was not one of the darker,almost unwatchable prints that I have seen mentioned before on that film's comments page.
Looking forward to seeing the other three Ms Nielsen films featured on the disc too-The Ballet Dancer-The Black Dream & Towards the Light.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Saw the very rare Mack Sennett 1913 short "The Gusher" yesterday which is included as a bonus feature in the recently released Kino DVD "The Extra Girl" starring Mabel Normand.
In "The Gusher" Ford Sterling plays a good guy (for once!)-He is a country yokel with Mabel Normand as his fiancée who are sold a fake oil field by thieves which then turns out to be a real gusher & so in retaliation the thieves set the damned thing alight..........

1922's The Glorious Adventure………

I had wanted to see this historical little film for years (it was the UK's very first feature film in colour with the process called "Prizmacolor" which unfortunately resulted in lurid green & red tints on screen!)
It is also the only film that I can recall about the 1666 Great Fire of London too (are there any others out there?)
Brief synopsis: Dashing Hugh Argyle returning from the New World with his newly acquired fortune is thrown overboard ship by the dastardly Walter Roderick who then assumes the dead man's identity & tries to woo his betrothed Lady Beatrice who is riddled with debts-Then the supposedly "dead" hero turns up unexpectedly........ (presumably this hackneyed plot was original back then of course!)
It was quite a good swashbuckling (not a word you use everyday admittedly!) adventure (an 8 out of 10) that not many people must know about because it is still awaiting 5 votes unfortunately.................

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

The Kid (1921) 9.6/10
Just watched the film again, and great as always. By my opinion Chaplin's best.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Don't get me wrong, I really do love the The Kid, but, in my opinion, City Lights is Chaplin's greatest film.

Latest:
Häxan->http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013257/

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

I don't mind at all that u think that City Lights (great film BTW) as Chaplin's best. Everyone has his own opinion. :)

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

F W Murnau's 'Tabu'. It actually has a very similiar story to Nosferatu but a completely different setting. Thought it was a really beautifully made film.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Probably the last one I watched (off air) was William Haines' THE SMART SET or maybe my video of SEVENTH HEAVEN. I also watched a number of shorts off the Edison DVD set I borrowed from the library.

BTW, CITY LIGHTS is also my favorite Chaplin. I find THE KID a tad overrated although the chemistry between Chaplin and Jackie Coogan is wonderful (and Jackie is one of the best child actors ever). I would rank it in my top five Chaplins but not ahead of THE GOLD RUSH, THE CIRCUS, and MODERN TIMES.

Remembering JANE WYMAN (1917-2007), BETTY HUTTON (1921-2007), YVONNE DE CARLO (1922-2007)

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Been going through the Treasures 2 disc set which I finally broke down and bought. I had put it off because I had recorded a lot of the films that were shown on TCM when that 2nd boxed set came out. But I loved Treasures 3 so much, and I already had the first Treasures set, so I wanted to complete my collection. So the last two evenings I've watched all the silents on discs one and two. Of all of them I like Griffith's Biograph The Country Doctor (1909) the best. A great chance to see Florence Lawrence in a great print too.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Anna May Wong in The Toll of the Sea. It's the earliest surviving feature film made with the two-strip Technicolor process, so it's interesting on a technical/historic level, but the real reason to watch is the leading lady's great performance. The story is simplistic and predictable (screenwriter Frances Marion openly admitted it was a direct steal from Madame Butterfly) but Anna May Wong transcends the material. She's a revelation: delicate, nuanced, and heartbreaking. She's terrific, and it's a shame she wasn't given more roles like this one later on.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

I watched Just Pals (1920) from the new John Ford's silent collection the other day and loved it. Kind of hokey but I like 'em that way! :) Excellent print condition too for a 1920 film, and a very nice soundtrack.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Recently, I've been researching, watching and commenting on the earliest films. Now, I'm working on the films of Robert W. Paul and his studio. For those who aren't familiar, he was an important and interesting fimmaker and producer from about 1895 to not long after 1908. This was back when England was the centre of film innovation.

Of his films, so far I've commented on Rough Sea at Dover (1895), Come Along Do! (1898), The Countryman and the Cinematograph (1901) and Undressing Extraordinary (also 1901). I'm going through the rest of his remaining films (unfortunately, Paul burned his negatives, which is part of the reason many of his films no longer survive), which are on the British Film Institute DVD "RW Paul: The Collected Film 1895-1908". (For those who are interested, this DVD is currently I believe only availeble from the UK (which means Region 2).) Some of his best films are also available on Kino's "Movie's Begin" series as well as on previous releases from the BFI and David Shepard. Probably just about anyone would like The '?' Motorist (1906), but my favourite Paul film would have to be the very short and incomplete The Countryman and the Cinematograph.



"The cinéma is an invention without a future," said Louis Lumière.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Why did he burn his negatives, Cine?

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

That's a good question and the short answer is I'm not sure. It seems rather odd, too, when I consider this from the DVD booklet: "[Paul called] for archival preservation, improving safety standards in response to the frequent fires that threatened audiences, and introducing training for projectionists."

Apparently (and as you can read here: http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/paul_bio.html), he did this as a matter of course in closing down his film business.

He doesn't seem to have come to a frustrated end in the business, though, as was the case with other filmmakers who destroyed their films (like Georges Méliès, for example), as most biographies describe him as a successful business man who merely ended one of his businesses because it no longer seemed profitable or worth further investment.



"The cinéma is an invention without a future," said Louis Lumière.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Interesting.

Have you seen the documentary on the Bamforth family, early UK silent film pioneers? They started with a postcard business and then graduated into film work. Then during WW One they abandoned film and went back to postcards!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0823627

My friend on my board from the UK sent me the documentary Holmfirth Hollywood which aired on the BBC and it was fascinating, with some unbelievable clips, and also well written and very, very funny.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?


Have you seen the documentary on the Bamforth family, early UK silent film pioneers?

No, but it sounds interesting. I've also wanted to see Christopher Rawlence's Channel Four film on Louis Le Prince, who is arguably the first inventor of motion pictures. I read his book "The Missing Reel" (same title as the TV movie), and I think it could work well as a movie.



"The cinéma is an invention without a future," said Louis Lumière.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

The Iron Horse.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

....I came across a copy I had made from a video store rental, von Sternberg's "The Last Command". Great film.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Our Hospitality. Watched it with my grandson last night.

"You can't send a kid like this up in a crate like that on a night like tonight!"

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

"King of Kings"....1927

Urania to Terpsichore: "You're so quiet. Musing????"

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

"London After Midnight", followed by "The Miracle Man".

Show People

Just watched it yesterday - it helped to fill in a gap in my King Vidor list. I also saw his The Crowd and Wild Oranges within the past year.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: Show People

Wow clore, that really is kinda weird, I'm about to watch it again myself. I know this just came on TCM yesterday, so many people probably just watched it, whether for the first time or not. I was about to sign off and watch it myself (for the second time) and I decided to stop by the Silent board. Your post was 50 seconds old! And by the way, I've also watched both The Crowd and Wild Oranges within the past year. Well actually, I think Wild Oranges was in November of 2006, when it came on TCM. Either way, all three of these are awesome movies. I love me some King Vidor, when are we gonna get some DVD's?

Latest:
Häxan->http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013257/

By the way…

I watched Häxan just a couple of weeks ago and loved it immensely. I had previously seen it in the version known as Witchcraft Through The Ages which had the added (and unnecessary) narration by William S. Burroughs - it was much better in its original form.

Funny - I was going to mention that Vidor deserves his own box set, I have not seen The Big Parade in some 30 years and Street Scene (albeit OT here being a talkie) is another that I've only managed to see once.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: Show People


Show People is a great one-- winning comedy that makes one forget it's a silent film (i.e., one doesn't have to filter the experience through historical interest).

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Chaplin´s The Vagabond.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

The Man Who Laughs (Paul Leni, 1928). Fascinating, gripping, over the top - a high class "meller" as Variety would put it, from the author who gave you Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables.

Featuring a great performance by Conrad Veidt.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

does Roundhay Garden Scene count?

I'm not the totally helpless daddy's girl these bitches make me out to be.-Dana Mathis

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ (1925) with Ramon Navarro. Much prefer him over Charlton Heston. And the two-strip Technicolor was gorgeous.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

meshes of the afternoon >.<

Ashanti must Die!!!








Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

I just picked up a cheap boxed set of Chaplin films--51 titles, 'Over 14 Hours!' encompassing the Chaplin lexicon from Keystone through First National--distributed by a company called St. Clair Entertainment.

This boxed set, which I bought for six bucks at a Dollar General outlet, features a pristine print--really a beauty--of 1921's 'The Kid.' But this version of 'The Kid' is the general release version, with a generic piano score. This version seems to predate Chaplin's own early 1970s re-editing of the 1921 film for re-release and eventual video sale.

Anyway, to answer your question, I've been working my way, film-by-film, through that Chaplin boxed set, looking for other differences, trying to see what's been edited. References to narcotics in 1917's 'Easy Street' have been removed, for example, although otherwise it's another pristine-quality print.

With the exception of 'Kid Auto Races,' however, the conditions of the Keystones are as a rule abominable, and almost unwatchable. The Mutuals seem to be versions clipped from the 1930s feature re-issues of those films under the titles 'Charlie Chaplin Carnival,' 'Charlie Chaplin Festival,' and 'Charlie Chaplin Cavalcade.'

I've also spent some time in the past couple of weeks checking out the 1927 DeMille version of 'The King of Kings,' however, specifically the 115 minute general release 1928 reissue version, with synchronized sound effects and a sound-on-film musical score, copyrighted by the Pathe' Film Exchange. The Resurrection sequence--in two-strip Technicolor--are lovely to see, although worn and scratched at the beginning and end of the reel.

Re: Chaplin's Keystones

You may have heard about this already, but BFI and company have been working for some years on a restauration of all the Keystones for DVD release, and the great news is they're nearing completion.

But the box set you mention may be worth it just for The Kid, especially at such a low price. (Why couldn't they have released the original as a bonus on the official DVD, like they did with The Gold Rush?)

The refreshed Mutuals with their new Carl Davis scores (released by BFI in R2 and Image in R1) are a joy. Hope he gets to score the Keystones too.

Re: Chaplin's Keystones

I don't know, but my suspicion is that St. Clair Entertainment is just in the business of releasing anything they can find in the public domain that might turn a quick buck for themselves, and don't have much interest in what it is they're releasing. They have some interesting stuff available, and I'm gonna keep and eye out for other releases from them. Here's a link to their web page. I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding the Chaplin set.

http://www.stclairent.com

Chaplin wrote a beautiful score for 'The Kid' when he reedited it during the early 1970s, and that's the only feature on the movie I really missed.

No, I hadn't heard about the Keystones, but I'll look forward to seeing it. The Keystones on this boxed set from St. Clair are a tremendous disappointment. I was very much looking forward to seeing 'A Film Johnnie' again, for a behind-the-scenes glance at the Keystone comedy factory and seeing the familiar Keystone stars 'as themselves.' I also wanted to see Chapin and Roscoe Arbuckle again as partners in 'The Rounders.' But as I said, the quality's just awful. Just awful.

Any idea when the Keystone/Chapin collection's due? Is the Chaplin family involved?

Re: Chaplin's Keystones

Thanks for the info.

Here's a link to bfi's several pages with information about the restoration process:
http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/restoring/bfi/

According to this press release from 2007, the DVD is slated for release sometime this year:
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=203804&Sn=WORL&am p;IssueID=30280

Can't remember where I saw it, but somebody involved with the restoration said they had finished 29 of the 33 films - they were looking for better prints of the remaining four. The Chaplin family or "Roy Export Company" doesn't seem to be involved.


Re: Chaplin's Keystones

Is Roy Export still in business? That was the corporation Chaplin set up during the 1960s with Sydney Jr.'s friend Jerome Epstein, to regulate the licensing and presentation of the Chaplin film library. They were going great guns for a while. When 'The Circus' was re-released during the late 1960s it was an international event.

That's probably what ultimately led to Chaplin's return to the US. His return was tied to a Lincoln Center screening of some of his re-edited films. I've read from various accounts that Chaplin had already been scheduled to return to New York for the Lincoln Center honor and the awarding of the Handel Medallion when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came a'calling.

That's why so much of this stuff just doesn't add up: I can't imagine any of the Chaplin film lexicon falling into the public domain. Chaplin never had a problem with people making money off his name or his image...just as long as he got ninety-nine cents out of every dollar made on his name or image.

Being able to buy a 52-title boxed set of Chaplin films from St. Clair Entertainment for six bucks just doesn't make any sense to me. I'm glad I got it, but I'm confused about it. Did the family stop caring about money when Oona died? Isn't Geraldine Chaplin involved with the film industry anymore?

Re: Chaplin's Keystones

Roy Export is still in business, I believe, owned by Chaplin's surviving family, and you see the company name on the present batch of official releases from Warner. These are the ones they own, from the First Nationals to A King in New York. A Countess From Hong Kong was always owned by Universal.

According to The Chaplin Encyclopedia by Glenn Mitchell (a book I can recommend), the Keystones were never even properly copyrighted, which is why so many bootleg copies started appearing right away - which is why you see his hand signing his name in the titles of the First Nationals, to mark them as official Chaplin releases.

Apparently he never had ownership rights of the Essanays or Mutuals either. I think the Encyclopedia also mentions (or speculates about) his reasons for not bothering about acquiring the rights for those later on - or not being able to.

Maybe with the present copyright laws and artists' rights, the family could claim copyright on all Chaplin product, I'm not sure about the legal intricacies. But if that is the case, it's strange, as you say, if they don't take any steps to do so.

Re: Chaplin's Keystones

Thank you for all the great information, by the way.

I grew up watching Chaplin two-reelers at a time during the 1960s when Chaplin was still a very controversial figure in the US because of his political reputation. It's hard to imagine now, I know, but people in the US still viewed Charlie Chaplin with great suspicion almost until the day he died.

Chaplin himself fully expected to be vilified and jeered at when he was awarded his lifetime achievement award at the Oscar ceremony in 1972, much like Elia Kazan was thirty-five years or so later. To hear some people talking during those days, Charlie Chaplin could've been one of the Chicago Seven, right after Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. What a great comedy that would've been!

Chaplin himself gave a couple of interviews at around that time, in which he promised that he was going to resurrect the Tramp character in a color feature set during the atomic age. It's probably best that he didn't, but can't help but wonder if something like that--the Tramp as political agitator during the age of hysteria; the age of Nixon's political resurrection--could've been what he was thinking about?

Back in those days, a kid like me wanting to see a Charlie Chaplin movie had to buy an 8mm copy from Blackhawk Films, of Davenport, Iowa. A two-reeler, as I remember, cost about sixteen bucks...which was important money for a thirteen-year-old. I was able to afford maybe two two-reelers per year, plus another one as a gift from my folks at Christmastime.

What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Just watched the 'Student of Prague' (1926).
It's a good horror with a great ending. Similiar in style to the 'Cabinet of Dr Caligari'. It's slightly overlong though and didn't feature as many expressionism elements as I thought it would. Still enjoyed it a lot and got the earlier version, made in 1913, to watch next as a comparison.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

I watched all three Russian silents on the Mad Love Evgenii Bauer disc my friend loaned me. Of the three films I liked The Dying Swan (1917) the best. The main actress in it was also a dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, Vera Karalli. The IMDb has a neat history for this lady, turns out she was the sexual decoy the murderers of Rasputin used to lure him to the place where they killed him. She was in on the plot!

Then another friend sent me her PAL disc for Victor Seastrom's Terje Vigen (1917). Great film, based on a poem by Ibsen. I was a bit disappointed in Matti Bye's score for this one, it wasn't much more than sound effects and a repetitive score (main theme 4 notes played over and over again) and so I put the volume down really low. He's done better with other scores.

I am looking forward to seeing The Sea Hawk (1924) this Silent Sunday night on TCM!

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Latest:
The Last Command->http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019071/

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Wings (1927)

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

I finally found this one. . . my Garbo list is officially complete.

Latest:
Torrent->http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017480/

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

I love Torrent. I feel sorry for Ricardo Cortez' character, but he really was a schmuck. ;)

Last night I watched the disc of The Sky Hawk (1924) I had recorded off TCM Silent Sunday night. I didn't think I would like it much but about 1/2 through it became really exciting and I ended up loving it. I think it would have been slightly better if the actors, particularly Milton Sills, didn't ham it up as much, but were more subtle, but I guess that was what the director wanted to see in the films of those days and particularly for a swashbuckler. Enid Bennett was pretty, Lloyd Hughes plays another weakling, and Wallace Beery made me laugh. A good show.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Torrent was a great movie, but I've never seen a Garbo film that I didn't love. . . especially her silents.

I watched The Sea Hawk as well. Pretty good, not my favorite, but pretty good. Wallace Beery did have an excellent supporting role.

Latest:
Torrent->http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017480/

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Nosferatu and it scared the hell out of me this movie proves that you do not need blood and gore to be scared *beep*

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Love those "beeps"!

I watched two silents today, 1923's White Tiger, with Raymond Griffith, Priscilla Dean, and Wallace Beery, directed by Tod Browning. The story of a brother and sister separated by gangsters when their gangster father is killed by hit men, and each child is told their sibling was killed in the hit. Both are raised by criminal elements and the rest of the movie proceeds with Roy, the boy all grown up, played by Raymond Griffith, trying to get even for his father's murder. The sister is raised by Wallace Beery (can you imagine? lol!) and it takes most of the picture for the siblings to find out their true identity. The weirdest thing in the film is this mechanical chess player and you get more macabre Tod Browning scenes in a bizarre wax museum that seems to be devoted to death. Eeeh.... Anyway, not much survives for Raymond Griffith so I was glad to see it. He keeps the film interesting.

Second one I watched was 1919's The Tong Man with Sessue Hayakawa and Helen Jerome Eddy playing an oriental girl whom Sessue's character falls in love with. This was a pretty suspenseful silent and I enjoyed it, despite the Grapevine type print. It was great to see Helen play a lead instead of a minor character for a change. She could be quite pretty when they made her up nicely, as they did here, with nice clothes and flowers in her hair. The plot is about opium dealers in a Chinatown and their hatchet men. An old opium dealer crony desires a merchant's daughter and kills her father when he refuses to let the crony marry her. Sessue, a targeted man, loves the young maiden too and ends up rescuing her from the crony and his criminal elements. Once again I noticed there was no kissing between Sessue and the white actress, Helen Jerome Eddy. Seeing this came out the same year as Broken Blossoms, 1919, and Richard Barthelmess and Lillian Gish were not allowed to kiss in that film either, I guess the prejudices against Orientals back then were very entrenched in society.

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

3 Bad Men (1926)
I loved it! Well, I expected to being a Ford and Western fan, but I didn't expect the wonderful performance of Tom Santschi as "Bull" Stanley, the bad man with a heart of gold. It's a dandy!





"It's as red as The Daily Worker and just as sore."

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Salomé (1923)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013571/

Man, what a disappointing silent. Watched it last night. And, to be honest, this has got to be the first silent that I didn't like. Nazimova playing a 14 year old girl!? Please. It may look like it from far away, but in her close-ups, the vision is shattered. The whole cast is gay because of the author Oscar Wilde!? No wonder it failed in it's time. Heck, Camille (1921) was a better Nazimova film than this. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. If you're still interested to watch, then watch it for the sake of the historic value. In short - a weird, unsuccessful movie that could have been so much more, without the over exaggerated acting.

P.S. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my opinion, who like this film. Something is missing in this movie. I don't know what it is; the movie just wasn't good, as I have expected it to be.

Last seen:
Salomé (1923) 6.5/10 (If it were made today, I would have given it a 5)

Re: What was the last silent movie that you've watched?

Broken Blossoms (1919)
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