Xixax Film Forum

What's everyone's favourite silent movie here?

I'd have to go with Keaton's The General.. but its very hard to pick just one..

not sure. probably nosferatu

I wasn't a big fan of "Silent Movie". I agree with mogwai.

Man...i  am gonna go film school 101 and say -the cabinet of dr. caligari......-


its the only one i have ever seen all the way through and its ..............wierd?? 8)

Metropolis!

Quote from: NEON MERCURYMan...i  am gonna go film school 101 and say -the cabinet of dr. caligari......-


its the only one i have ever seen all the way through and its ..............wierd?? 8)

i havent even seen that yet. i am ashamed

wow i just realized what a retarded post that was...

F.W. Murnau's Sunrise... my favorite movie of all time too.

i was gonna say sunrise, it's just the greatest thing that ever happened to silent film.

and the crowd.

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&

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Comedy:  The General, The Gold Rush

Drama:  Hard to pick, but I'd say Sunrise and Napoleon



(I wish I had the money to get that Keaton box set)

mainly this one:


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I'm a big fan of AK's choice, as evidenced by my longstanding avatar. But my favorite silent film would be tough to choose. Probably Steamboat Bill Jr. or The General, or Modern Times. M. Hulot's Holiday is silent for the most part, so I'd pick that too.

favorite is definitely The General.

runners up:
Metropolis
Sunrise
Birth of a Nation
Man with a Movie Camera

if we're listing runners up as well, then:

The Passion of Joan of Arc
Battleship Potemkin
The Last Laugh
The Birth of a Nation
Broken Blossoms
all of Keaton's film (especiall The General)

Yeah if we were listing runners up, I'd definitely have those 6 on my list, but also The Gold Rush, Greed, Metropolis, and Nosferatu, rounding it to 10... there's so many great silents, I wish somebody like PTA would try one.
For the record, I would include "un chien andalou" on my personal top 10 favs since I love Bunuel but I'm thinking silent feature films.. I know I didn't clarify that but I don't care anyway. 'andalou' will always be the greatest silent short film.

oh, how could i forget Metropolis... and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

i've yet to see Greed, The Crowd, Nosferatu, and as depressing and sad as this is, any Chaplin films

i'd have to say greed and intolerance -- meshes of the afternoon is pretty imporessive as well.

Quote from: samsongi've yet to see......any Chaplin films

Get on that. See four or five shorts first, then move on to The Kid and Modern Times.  That's a decent start.

^

Quote from: dufresne
Man with a Movie Camera

ooh, excellent choice.

sorry... have one more to add:

D.W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms

Quote from: samsongsorry... have one more to add:

D.W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms

u already listed that up top, dude.

i suggest u look up all the remaining silent films on imdb and then come back and name them.

I like the one with the horse....from some french guys...yeah.

i'll avoid making a favourite. aside from keaton, i haven't seen many other silent pictures. saw metropolis when i was like 15, so i don't remember much. i've got it on tape, but the girlfriend has it on dvd. she hasn't seen it, so i might watch it with her real soon. really wanna see battleship potemkin. fell alseep during birth of a nation.  :oops:

hey, this does look pretty cool.

what i read about it, i mean. not just the cover art.

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I tried to watch Birth of a Nation once, but I got bored and stopped it.  I probably wasn't in the mood for a long Civil War epic at the time.  I'll try it again someday.  I did see Griffith's Way Down East, which was a good movie.  The climax was all the more suspenseful because it didn't use any special effects.

Ben-hur:  A Tale of Christ is a terrific production.  Very lavish, but the story is quite touching.  I haven't seen the Wyler version in a few years so I can't compare the two.  It features a few 2-strip Technicolor sequences.

Anyone seen any of Melies' films?  Even at the birth of film he was experimenting and performing various special effects.  I'm sure you've at least seen a few stills from A Trip to the Moon.  The Smashing Pumpkins video Tonight, Tonight is a tribute to this film.  There is a great French DVD (it's all region NTSC) with several of Melies' films and a two-hour documentary on his life.

Quote from: RaviI tried to watch Birth of a Nation once, but I got bored and stopped it.  I probably wasn't in the mood for a long Civil War epic at the time.  I'll try it again someday.

I wouldn't bother if I were you.  It's horrible pretty much all the way through, and it's only revered (or reviled) for two reasons: the racist content, and the advancements in editing technique, which really, are nothing to be proud of, because someone else would've done it eventually.

hey mesh, what movie is that first picture of yours from?

Quote from: Lancehey mesh, what movie is that first picture of yours from?

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It's brilliant.  Hilarious, inventive, as death-defying as any of his films, technically innovative as hell.  Plus it's totally a movie about movies, the dreamlike quality of movies, the whole viewer-identification-with-onscreen-characters angle so prominent in film theory.

So thrilling, at several moments, it's chill-inducing.  For real.  Keaton was a genius.

i'll have to check that out

Quote from: Onomatopoeia

Quote from: RaviI tried to watch Birth of a Nation once, but I got bored and stopped it.  I probably wasn't in the mood for a long Civil War epic at the time.  I'll try it again someday.

I wouldn't bother if I were you.  It's horrible pretty much all the way through, and it's only revered (or reviled) for two reasons: the racist content, and the advancements in editing technique, which really, are nothing to be proud of, because someone else would've done it eventually.

I feel obligated to watch at least some of the important scenes, since I'm a film fan and the film is so revered.  I understand that the racism was a relic of its time, as horrible as it was, and that the casting of white actors in blackface somewhat accurately represents the mindset of people at the time.

However, as far as dramatic silent films are concerned, I am a little more interested in the films made in the few years before the advent of sound, when the technical aspects were highly refined.

... Did anyone see that Clone High episode where Abraham Lincoln is wondering why he's having second thoughts about running for president for his council (or whatever it was) and right behind him is this photo of the real former Pres being shot in the head?

Great stuff.

The Passion of Joan of Arc is totally amazing

A movie like that is creepier than a lot of the stuff thats intended to be nowadays. You don't ever see movies where the blood is just GUSHING out like it did in that when they cut her open. A very powerful movie.. one of my all time favourites.

i love the one by luis bunuel and salvidor dali.....can't remember the name...un chein...something....i know you guys can help me out with this....

Quote from: luctruffi love the one by luis bunuel and salvidor dali.....can't remember the name...un chein...something....i know you guys can help me out with this....

un chien andaulou(sp?)
It's quite good, yes.

"Faust" is also great:

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Quote from: GhostboyI'm a big fan of AK's choice, as evidenced by my longstanding avatar.

What movie is that? I think I might have seen it. Is it German?

Quote from: NEON MERCURYMan...i  am gonna go film school 101 and say -the cabinet of dr. caligari......

I thought that movie was pretty stupid, actually. But probably influential.

I just finished watching the passion of joan of arc.  it's absolutely amazing.  im really gonna start watching more silent films now....and i havent seen the man with the movie camera yet.

Didn't you find Falconetti's face haunting?

Has anyone seen The Golem?  As I was watching it I noticed that it was similar to Frankenstein, and sure enough, the back cover of the DVD mentions that the original story is widely recognized to be the inspiration behind Frankenstein.

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they just showed a lon chaney documentary on TCM, it was pretty interesting.

..i just wanted to say (again) that this film is pretty good.....
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Quote from: NEON MERCURY..i just wanted to say (again) that this film is pretty good.....
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I totally agree. I saw this in my film class in college and it totally creeped me out. They had a slot for it at Planet Music, but were all sold out. Only $5 too.

Tie between City Lights and The General

Quote from: Slick ShoesThe General

just got it from netflix...is it really that good?  i was gonna put off watchin it cuz i have an assignment, but fuck the assignment, i'm not in the mood.....man, i cant wait.....

Quote from: eward

Quote from: Slick ShoesThe General

just got it from netflix...is it really that good?  i was gonna put off watchin it cuz i have an assignment, but fuck the assignment, i'm not in the mood.....man, i cant wait.....

I don't want to get your hopes up, but this is the best damn movie ever made.

Well, it's not quite that good, but I liked it a lot.  I saw it with no expectations.

if you like silent film, you'll love the General. Simple as that. When I name the best silent films, I want to mention a Keaton film, but usually I want to break convention and just go with one of his more 'obscure' titles if you can call them that.. but I just can't. The General is his most superior film. It's an epic silent film and very funny. Can't go wrong with the General.

The Last Laugh is good.

'Lost' Valentino film discovered
Source: BBC News

A 1922 Rudolph Valentino silent movie classic has been found after being considered lost for almost 75 years.

The Dutch national film archive discovered the copy of melodrama Beyond the Rocks in a private collection left to the Filmmuseum.

The movie, also starring Gloria Swanson, is in good condition apart from about two damaged minutes.

Historian Jan van den Brink said:"We are feeling rather excited because it is a wonderful rediscovery."

Beyond the Rocks is the only film in which Valentino and Swanson starred together, added Mr van den Brink.

The museum was given the collection of more than 2,000 film canisters in 2000 after the death of a collector in the town of Haarlem.

Archivists had taken such a long time to find the Valentino movie because the deceased collector had organised the films in an unusual way.

Festival unveiling

Beyond the Rocks is an 81-minute romantic melodrama about a woman pushed into a marriage with an older man but who then falls for Valentino's nobleman character on her honeymoon.

"It is a complete feature film in six acts with a beautiful story in which Valentino plays a rather decent character," said Mr van den Brink.

The Filmmuseum will restore the film, repairing scratches and other minor damage.

It has also asked Dutch composers to write a new score to be performed live when it shows the silent movie at its festival in Amsterdam next year.

Mr Van den Brink said the Filmmuseum expected interest in the film from archives around the world as well as the film's producers, Paramount, and planned to produce a copy for international distribution.

Rudolph Valentino was born in 1895 to a middle-class Italian family.

He moved to New York in 1913 and became a huge star in the early 1920s for his steamy romantic performances. He died in 1926 following complications from a perforated ulcer.

Gloria Swanson, best known for her portrayal of Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder's 1950 Sunset Boulevard, was one of the most popular and influential female stars of the 1920s.

i choose The General.

favorite silent character: Edward Scissorhands

Quote from: El Duderinofavorite silent character: Edward Scissorhands

He's not entirely silent. He does speak; "I'm not finished."

Sunrise is still and forever will be my favorite silent film.

and to go off of what El "spoiler" Duderino started...

favorite silent character -- off the top of my head, anyway -- is Hattie (Samantha Morton) from Sweet and Lowdown.

Quote from: MacGuffin

Quote from: El Duderinofavorite silent character: Edward Scissorhands

He's not entirely silent. He does speak; "I'm not finished."

oooohhh.....right. forgot about that.

1) The Gold Rush
2) Metropolis
3) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligary

I haven´t seen so many, but if i was to chosse, then i would pick UN CHIEN ANDALOU/AN ANDALUSIAN DOG.

You can really feel Salvador Deli's art in it, it's like one of his picture, except it's not him who painted/directed it.

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Everything of Charlie Chaplin. Can't pick one, i havent seen any silent movie for ages, but Charlie Chaplin was genius. It's like silent movie was invented for him.

AND Mr Bean with Rowan Atkinson is MOSTLY silent. Watch Rowan Atkinson, that guy has a rubber body.

Quote from: mollyAND Mr Bean with Rowan Atkinson is MOSTLY silent. Watch Rowan Atkinson, that guy has a rubber body.

Yes, Atkinson deserves credit for being able to do the character well, but everything he did was greatly influenced by Jacques Tati and his Mr. Hulot character. Without him, there would never have been a Mr. Bean..

Mr Cinephile, you are a true cinephile.
Mr Hulot, is that "Uncle"?

Oncle molly, oncle .   :wink:

Hey, has this been mentioned yet?:

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It's this totally creepy "document" about witches and demons and shit.  Criterion's DVD helps you through it a lot.  Keep an eye out for those masturbating demon/cherub things.  Disturbing old film, especially considering its age.

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Quote from: cronopio l'inrockuptibleOncle molly, oncle .   :wink:

i remember watching thoswe movies long ago, and i remember that the character of that uncle was kinda spooky to me, autistic. Didn't like it for some reason.

sorry to enter this discussion late--but if we include mon oncle and mr. bean does that mean we're gonna we'll include slapstick movies in general?  'Cause there are quite a few scenes in mon oncle where the gags are audio-based, in fact, some of the biggest laughs in the film comes from the diagetic sounds.
does triplets of belleville count, then?

since most of all classics have been brought up, I'll toss in them brakhage films.

The General and The Crowd are probably my fave silent films.

I looked up The General on imdb and saw that someone different than Keaton directed it (?). So why is it always referred to as a "Keaton film"?

Anyway, I know dick about silent films, having only seen three: Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu, Metropolis. I didn't like any of them, but of the three I'd pick Nosferatu.

My friends just bought me City Lights for my birthday, so hopefully I'll dig it...

well, he wrote, produced, starred in, stunt-coordinated, and edited it.

which I guess leads me to ask, why didn't he direct it?

City Lights.

I found it hard to restrain myself from applauding Chaplin's genius in setting up the mistaken identity in the relationship between the flower girl and the tramp. If Modern Lights weren't so funny, I'm sure City Lights would be my favourite Chaplin movie. Hope you enjoy it, SoNowThen.

Im pretty eager to get into Buster Keaton and I see that Region 1 has an impressive looking boxset.

Quote from: SoNowThenwhich I guess leads me to ask, why didn't he direct it?

I dunno, maybe because it's hard?

Quote from: pete

Quote from: SoNowThenwhich I guess leads me to ask, why didn't he direct it?

I dunno, maybe because it's hard?

Have you guys seen the General?

Quote from: 50 CentiphileHave you guys seen the General?

SNT never talks about movies he's seen.

Quote from: ®edlumIm pretty eager to get into Buster Keaton and I see that Region 1 has an impressive looking boxset.

If you like Chaplin, you should go for the Keaton box set. I own it and it's probably the best box set I own. Warner Bros is planning to release some Keaton films but I'm confident that they won't be able to surpass what Kino has produced.

Quote from: 50 Centiphile

Quote from: pete

Quote from: SoNowThenwhich I guess leads me to ask, why didn't he direct it?

I dunno, maybe because it's hard?

Have you guys seen the General?

Look a few posts above. I say I've only seen 3 silent films and then I list them.

I was JUST WONDERING and hoping those with the silent film love could help a Xixax brother out with some info.

No need for flaming...

I was being sarcastic.

Quote from: SoNowThen
Look a few posts above. I say I've only seen 3 silent films and then I list them.

I was JUST WONDERING and hoping those with the silent film love could help a Xixax brother out with some info.

I'm guessing Keaton didn't direct it because it was a large epic in the veins of one of Griffith's works. Since Keaton masterminded just about everything else, it only made sense for one of his friends to direct the rest of the picture.

Quote from: peteI was being sarcastic.

Thanks. Now we're back up to 94%.

Quote from: MacGuffin

Quote from: peteI was being sarcastic.

Thanks. Now we're back up to 94%.

94.001% with that post.

silent movies are good SNT.  they're just like regular movies (only without the talking).  i just got my two chaplin boxsets in the mail finally today as volume 2 was on backorder.  soon i'm going to see The General and Sherlock Jr.

if anyone brought up triplets of belleville alraedy, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna bring it up again.

Eisenstein Classic Gets a New Score

Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent classic Battleship Potemkin was screened in London's Trafalgar Square Sunday night with a new score composed by the British band, the Pet Shop Boys, performed by the band and the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra. Although band member Neil Tennant recently wrote on his website that while he was attracted to the assignment of writing a 73-minute piece of music, he was even more excited about the "unsullied purity about the whole thing, as we don't get paid and the audience doesn't pay to see it. It feels refreshingly idealistic at a time when Madonna's concert tickets can cost as much as £150 [$270] each." However, the BBC's reviewer on Monday called the new soundtrack "ho-hum and noodly."

triplets of belleville was sort of a silent movie, in the sense that people of any nationality could understand it. but there were sound effects and mutterings(sorry couldn't come up with a better word) that would constitute it not being silent.

i did love the film though.


i would have to say the general is my fav. keaton was the master of stunts

my favorite film is silent: window water baby moving by stan brakhage

Quote from: themodernage02soon i'm going to see The General and Sherlock Jr.

five months later i've told the truth.  i watched my first two Buster Keaton films tonight along with Sunrise (also for the first time).  sunrise was good, but my least favorite of the 3 i watched.  it was a little disappointing in that way when you watch citizen kane for the first time and although its good, you always just hoped that there could be more based on its reputation.   keatons films were quite different from the handful of chaplins i've seen.  whereas chaplin used his body in every scene as an instrument of comedy, keatons films show him doing that in some scenes and constructing absolutely brilliant sequences of comedy.  while watching the general i kept thinking that it was like a looney tunes cartoon BEFORE there were looney tunes cartoons, just absolutely brilliantly conceived sequences.  my favorite, i think, was sherlock jr. though at 44 minutes i wish it was longer.  i could've used another 30 minutes of that character easily.  well, i think i still personally prefer chaplin but, i've only seen a little bit, so who knows.  also, the score on sherlock jr. was very odd and seems like it was definitely written post 1950, but i sort of liked it anyways.

I watched The Fall of the House of Usher today.  I was pretty tired and it was a 9:30 class, so I was a little out of it, but the cinematography is gorgeous.  I'm going to watch it again when I'm more alert.

What I would give to have been able to watch a movie in class while I was in college...

Although I haven't seen many silent films, my fav so far is Metropolis.




Get this- A theatre like 45 minutes away from me is showing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with live musical accompliment for one show only the 22nd of this month. Now isn't that cool!

where upstate do you live?  because it is feesible that this theater could be around my area too, in which case i could attend!!!

I live in Elmira, NY. It's going to be playing at a theatre in Ithaca, NY on October 22.

ooooh very nice

Tie for favorite silent film:

"The Crowd" (King Vidor, 1928) and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (Robert Weine, 1919)

We watched F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu on Thursday but I was extremely disappointed that they showed a VHS made from a Blackhawk Films 16mm print instead of the DVD.  I wondered what the hell was the big deal about this film and it turns out that the hour-long version I saw had about 30 minutes chopped from it.  Why our media library doesn't have the DVD, I don't know, but it pissed me off that in a film history class we watched an incomplete version of one of a classic.

I just watched The Passion Of Joan Of Arc this afternoon. What a stunning achievement, and the supplementary material on the Criterion disc is fascinating. The thought that this film was almost completely destroyed/suppressed is frightening -- that it was recovered almost seems like proof of the divine.

ghostboy's avatar is one of my favorite silent films, as well.

Quote from: 03ghostboy's avatar is one of my favorite silent films, as well.

And what is that from? I'm sure I've ran across the name at least once, but, alas, I forgot!

I just finished watching Potemkin. I thought it was great, but it wasn't until Part 3 that I really got into it. After that, I was hooked. I'd really like to check out October next. Anyone seen this? Or rather, what's the next Eisenstein I should see?
I also checked out Modern Times and Kino's Metropolis from the local library, both of which I'll be saving for tomorrow. I was reading the insert for Metropolis about all the trouble it's had getting to this point. Even though I haven't watched it yet, I find it extremely sad that I, or anyone else for that matter, may never get to see the film in its entirety. And it's horrible what Paramount and Channing Pollock did to it.
I also recently saw Dreyer's Master of the House on TCM and Chaplin's City Lights. Ah, City Lights, what a great movie that was!

I haven't seen too many silent films, but so far The Passion of Joan of Arc stands head and shoulders above the others.

Quote from: ranemaka13

Quote from: 03ghostboy's avatar is one of my favorite silent films, as well.

And what is that from? I'm sure I've ran across the name at least once, but, alas, I forgot!

Un Chien Andalou by Luis Bunuel

i once saw Payback on tv really late with the sound off and it was so awesome i rented it. but it's actually just okay with the sound.

Quote from: 03Un Chien Andalou by Luis Bunuel

Ah, thanks. I've only seen clips from that in class, possibly the most disgusting and disturbing piece of film I've ever seen.

It's beautiful if you actually watch the whole thing, as beautiful as something can be that isn't intended to make any sort of sense at all.

Quote from: ranemaka13I just finished watching Potemkin. I thought it was great, but it wasn't until Part 3 that I really got into it. After that, I was hooked. I'd really like to check out October next. Anyone seen this? Or rather, what's the next Eisenstein I should see?
I also checked out Modern Times and Kino's Metropolis from the local library, both of which I'll be saving for tomorrow. I was reading the insert for Metropolis about all the trouble it's had getting to this point. Even though I haven't watched it yet, I find it extremely sad that I, or anyone else for that matter, may never get to see the film in its entirety. And it's horrible what Paramount and Channing Pollock did to it.
I also recently saw Dreyer's Master of the House on TCM and Chaplin's City Lights. Ah, City Lights, what a great movie that was!

I haven't seen too many silent films, but so far The Passion of Joan of Arc stands head and shoulders above the others.

Battleship Potemkin seen projected onto a big screen was one of the most powerful cinematic experiences of my life, and I love that you love The Passion of Joan of Arc; I adore Dreyer.  Wrong thread to be asking in but have you seen Ordet?

You need to see Sunrise and Broken Blossoms, especially the former (my favorite movie).  And Keaton!  Buster Keaton is an absolute must.

Quote from: ranemaka13Ah, thanks. I've only seen clips from that in class, possibly the most disgusting and disturbing piece of film I've ever seen.

Un Chien Andalou... I'm sure you already know you need to see it.  Here's a link to it.  The print quality is subpar but if this is the only way you can see it then by all means, do so... it'll be the most blissful 16 minutes of cinema you'll see until you get around to watching Sunrise.

http://www.muchosucko.com/video-unchienandalou.html

Quote from: samsongand I love that you love The Passion of Joan of Arc; I adore Dreyer.  Wrong thread to be asking in but have you seen Ordet?

Not yet. I saw the docu on Dreyer on TCM, My Metier, that showed clips from it and it looks absolutely incredible. It's included in Criterion's box, right? 'Cause that's going to be my next purchase.

QuoteYou need to see Sunrise and Broken Blossoms, especially the former (my favorite movie).  And Keaton!  Buster Keaton is an absolute must.

I heard about Sunrise before and I've really been meaning to check it out. If I can't find it at the library, then I'll probably just order it since not even B&N has it in stock here.
And I've only seen one Keaton, and that was the short Seven Chances. It had it's moments, but nothing I was too impressed with. I've seen bits and pieces of some his other stuff on TCM (is anyone noticing a pattern here?) which look a lot better than Chances. Some of the gags (I can say that, right?)did impress me! They were things that I had never thought about and, for some reason, never imagined people in the 20's would've come up with.

QuoteUn Chien Andalou... I'm sure you already know you need to see it.  Here's a link to it.  The print quality is subpar but if this is the only way you can see it then by all means, do so... it'll be the most blissful 16 minutes of cinema you'll see until you get around to watching Sunrise.

http://www.muchosucko.com/video-unchienandalou.html

Thanks. After 03 told me what GB's avatar was I looked it up and I've been d/ling since then. Dial up.... this could/will take all night! :(

And thanks for all the suggestions! I'll check them out as soon as I can!

Quote from: ranemaka13
I heard about Sunrise before and I've really been meaning to check it out. If I can't find it at the library, then I'll probably just order it since not even B&N has it in stock here.

Sunrise was only available if you bought 2 (or was it 3) other Fox Studio Classics DVDs and sent in the coupon.  This offer ended in January 2004 or December 2003, but it is still available in this box set (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AINLS/qid=1097423179/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-0074575-0415116?v=glance&s=dvd), and at a damn good price too.  It was $30, but on Oct 12 it goes to $20.99 for 4 films.

Sony to Re-Release Classic Harold Lloyd Films

More than 30 years after he died and a half a century since his last film, silent screen star Harold Lloyd, whose career rivaled Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, is returning to U.S. movie theaters.

Sony Pictures Releasing on Wednesday said it had acquired rights to release films of the legendary comedian, and it will distribute freshly printed Lloyd classics like "Safety Last!" and "The Freshman" in theaters starting early next year.

Lloyd became a major star of the silent film era with streams of comedic short films in the 1910s. Like his contemporaries, Chaplin and Keaton, he turned to feature-length movies in the 1920s and, later, embraced "talkies."

His Lonesome Luke character in the 1910s made him popular, but his Glass Character with large round spectacles and straw boater hat made him famous around the world. The image of him dangling from the hand of a clock atop a skyscraper in 1923's "Safety Last!" has become a symbol of the silent film era.

Sony said its collection also includes Lloyd's "Welcome, Danger," which was originally shot as a silent but released as a talkie. The silent version had never been seen until it was restored earlier this year.

Sony, a unit of Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp , said the deal includes virtually the entire library: shorts and features, silents and talkies. Lloyd's career spanned 35 years and included more than 200 comedies. He died in March 1971 at age 77.

great, hopefully this will mean dvd releases shortly after.  as i mentioned eariler i saw The Freshman and For Heavens Sake on TCM when they ran them last year but missed Safety Last which i really wanted to see.

Quote from: themodernage02great, hopefully this will mean dvd releases shortly after.

That's exactly what it means. New Line owns the DVD rights.  :yabbse-thumbup:

Quote from: themodernage02

Quote from: themodernage02soon i'm going to see The General and Sherlock Jr.

five months later i've told the truth.  i watched my first two Buster Keaton films tonight along with Sunrise (also for the first time).  sunrise was good, but my least favorite of the 3 i watched.  it was a little disappointing in that way when you watch citizen kane for the first time and although its good, you always just hoped that there could be more based on its reputation.   keatons films were quite different from the handful of chaplins i've seen.  whereas chaplin used his body in every scene as an instrument of comedy, keatons films show him doing that in some scenes and constructing absolutely brilliant sequences of comedy.  while watching the general i kept thinking that it was like a looney tunes cartoon BEFORE there were looney tunes cartoons, just absolutely brilliantly conceived sequences.  my favorite, i think, was sherlock jr. though at 44 minutes i wish it was longer.  i could've used another 30 minutes of that character easily.  well, i think i still personally prefer chaplin but, i've only seen a little bit, so who knows.  also, the score on sherlock jr. was very odd and seems like it was definitely written post 1950, but i sort of liked it anyways.

I'm trying to catch up on my thoughts here I wasn't able to post before, but:

1.) Sherlock Jr. is the perfect length for me. At the time, the one thing I feel for sure that Keaton held above Chaplin is his ability to keep his stories well constructed. Chaplin could pull off well comedies, but overall, most of his early works feel way too lose and patchy. Years after making Gold Rush, he actually added narration and to my shock, actually made it a much better film. Too many times you just have no clue what is going on in the movie with the story. When Chaplin did Modern Times, he was on fire with confidence and really made one of the greatest silents, but I believe Keaton was better controlled in storytelling. A movie like Steamboat Bill, Jr., though, shows that much too much of a good thing isn't so great. While I love the film, its a rare moment when Keaton loses his perciseness of comedy and extends the jokes way too long and is a little too repetitive that by the time of the finale, you are more restless than excited.

2.) Interesting you find the score to Sherlock Jr. odd when its the score to be the main influence for the classic theme music to all the James Bond movies. Not the score, overall, but when Keaton is on the run and his car goes into the water and floats, thats it.

Lloyd's 'Safety Last!' Gets Update

The image of actor Harold Lloyd hanging off a clock in the 1923 silent movie "Safety Last!" is getting a contemporary makeover.

Columbia Pictures has picked up a pitch for a romantic comedy that will be loosely based on the Lloyd classic. The action centers on a store clerk who organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building but is forced to make the perilous climb himself. It will be written by Keith Bunin.

The new version, dubbed "Safety Last," is also expected to feature elaborate, choreographed physical comedy that was the trademark of the silent pictures.

Columbia's Sony Pictures parent acquired domestic theatrical rights this year to Lloyd's films through the Harold Lloyd Trust and will release the restored films next year. Suzanne Lloyd, granddaughter of the silent-film legend, will serve as an executive producer of the new film.

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet2.) Interesting you find the score to Sherlock Jr. odd when its the score to be the main influence for the classic theme music to all the James Bond movies. Not the score, overall, but when Keaton is on the run and his car goes into the water and floats, thats it.

Was the score you heard written when Sherlock, Jr. was released or was it a contemporary score?

BTW, I so want this:

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.amazon.com%2Fimages%2FP%2FB00049QQ78.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg&hash=3ef3aa026ef3dd0c733b3708940131efca24d033)

im gonna work some overtime to save up and buy that and the kino keaton box set.

After having seen a couple of silent movies, i must agree with most of the people who has written in this topic, The Genral is one outstanding silent movie, but an other choise could be as suggested Joan Of Arc and maybe even Vampyr.

I've seen Chaplin's The Gold Rush for the first time, yesterday. While it was the narrated version, I really enjoyed it. Some great scenes (chicken, 'dance' part, the building heeling over the edge) made this film into a small masterpiece for its time (1925).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4134305.stm

Uncensored premiere for Potemkin


A newly reconstructed version of the 1925 Soviet film Battleship Potemkin will premiere at Berlin Film Festival.

The film, by Sergei Eisenstein, dramatised a mutiny on the Russian ship showing how it inspired a failed 1905 uprising against the country's czars.

It now includes Russian graphics and words from revolutionary Leon Trotsky, which were censored in the 1920s.

The festival, which is showing the film next year, said no complete print of the original movie survived.

It will be shown at the festival on 12 and 13 February and will be accompanied by live music from the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg.

One of its best-known scenes is the Odessa steps sequence, in which a child in a pram rolls down a staircase as fighting rages around it.

But the film, which was shot for the 20th anniversary of the failed uprising, was victim of "one of the most spectacular cases of censorship in the 1920s" after being cut by the Soviets, a festival statement said.

As well as the inclusion of the graphics and Trotsky's words, changes and cuts carried out on the famous staircase sequence as a result of the film's censorship have been corrected.

The reconstruction has been supported by the British Film Institute and Germany's federal film archive.

Edmund Meisel's original musical score has been revised for the screening.

The 55th Berlin Film Festival will run from 10 to 20 February 2005.

My fave is definetely spice world.

It's a tossup between Greed and Napoleon... Or even The Big Parade