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In Reply to: My top five favorite silent films posted by Rico on November 15, 2003 at 07:41:28:
I'm a big fan of silent movies- that the visual elements had to carry so much more communication is very powerful.It may be age ("If it's too loud you're too old") but I often feel rung out by the modern, layered, textured sounds that batter the audience- along with editing that cuts every 1/8 second. Turn the sound off of some Batman movie and the silliness and complete waste becomes apparent- the whole thing looks like a squirrel dropped into a blender.
Some silent ones I like especially:
*"Battleship Potemkin"- nearly a perfect film! And full of indelible images. Who can forget the Odessa steps and the pram? The nanny with the shattered glasses? The appatizing maggot scene?
*"Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"- those amazing German Expressionist sets which contrast strangley with the regular clothing of the characters. The suprise ending gives me the same shock every time- which wouldn't happen with "Titanic". But the whole atmosphere is so full of psychological violence conveyed through the shadows and the distorted perspective. It's interesting that the greatness of this movie was partly out of ad hoc necessity- there was very little lighting and materials for sets available.
*"Nosferatu" - the famous scene where "Dracula" (though the name 'Dracula' could not be used for this one) is raised from his coffin to the vertical, the wonderful shadowy quality is so much more mysterious and frightening than the modern style- witness Herzog's remake with Kinski which seemed a cute suburban romp by comparison.
Golly, I've listed two films featuring guys kept in boxes!
*Keaton, Lloyd, and Chaplin comedies- but Chaplin is sometimes too sentimental. Keaton almost never fails: "Steamboat Bill", The General" are fun as can be. I've gotten to appreciate Lloyd more recently- an interesting character.
* Street scenes. This is something that is rarely talked about as ther is no particular art in it, but I am always very interested in old, silent footage of normal street scenes in cities or country. The dress, cars, signage just seems a window to another world. I get a strange feeling when I see a film of a young child from that age, relaizing that this 3 year old is long passed away. One of the Lumiere Bros 1890's 50 second films was of a woman walking with a toddler who slightly trips on a little step. There is something very touching about it that I can't forget. If this were done in 70mm 5.1 surround it would be meaningless.
There are some movies that are so quietly powerful that I think of them sometimes as silent movies- "La Belle et la bête ("Beauty and the Beast") for example. "Quest for Fire" might fall into this category too. With these, I could happily see them without sound and have a satifying experience. Though there was the Anthony Burgess retro dialogue and sounds in "Quest", there is something still and graphic that reminds me of silent film.
Cheers,Bambi B
Follow Ups:
1. The Odessa steps scene in Potemkin is referenced in many films.
Two that come to mind are "The Untouchable" and also a Woody Allen comedy but I can't remember which one.2. I think of "2001" as a silent film.
rico,Thanks for the kind words- it's a good topic isn't it?
1. Yes, isn't that amazing about "Potemkin"- that the steps scene can be referenced 80 years later and be recognized? The train station shoot out in "The Untouchables" was very effective. I remember a parody even in "The Simpsons"- if a cartoon can use it, it must be pervasive.
Now you've got me thinking of the Woody Allen reference and I'll have to remember it or go bonkers! I can picture the pram bumping along too.
Because of the violence to children involved, I am reminded of the powerful- and silent- scene in "M" where Lorre takes the child behind some bushes and the ball rolls out by itself- all the violence sublimated into silence- chilling to remember. This was much more powerful without sound and without actually seeing the murder. Today, the blood would be spraying all over to shrieks and smarmy James Horner scoring.
2. Excellent point about "2001"- quite true. Thinking about that one, I realize how much of the movie is actualy with little or no sound- the spacecraft external shots, Kier in the Moon shuttle, walking around the monolith, the scenes outside Discovery when HAL lauches an astronaut off into space. "2001" would probably be as comrephensible to most people with no dialogue!
Cheers,
Bambi B
There is no dialog at all for the first 19 minutes. What dialog then ensues is very perfunctory and banal. And after Hal is terminated there is no dialog at all!Was the Woody film "Love and Death"? (One of his funniest).
Best regards, Rico
Rico,Yes, the apes' discovery of technology was very srong without dialog or voice over. I have often thought about "2001" that the people were made purposely grey and lifeless- kind of appendages to the technology. Remember the cold, perfunctory birthday phone call between Discovery and his parents? In some ways I though that aspect was brilliant- the sublimation of the people to the machines- all the focus on brand names and how the shuttle galley works, the 'gravity' shoes, and etc are more focussed on than the characters who have no real personality.
And many, many thanks for mentioning "Love and Death". You are the prize winner here today- I'm sure you're correct.
Cheers,
Bambi B
I totally agree with your observation about the dehumanized people in 2001. This has been my impressio0n since first seeing it in Cinerama in 1968, the first of hundreds of screenings. I love when, on the Moon bus, the host congratulates Floyd on "...a hellava spech. I'm sure it beefed up morale".2001 is my favorite film and I've owned it on every video incarnation and now have the splendid anamorphic 5.1 DVD where they finally got it right.
Of late, I've come to enjoy how the "feud" between Frank and Hal gets off to a subtle start from the gitgo when Poole refers to Hal as "just another person" (how insulting to a computer!).
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