Silent Films Were Not Silent and Are Not Boring
Annotation:Tells the tale of a lonely boy, Hugo, living in the catacombs of a Paris train station. The story revolves around a real life person named Georges Melies, a legendary French filmmaker who was influential in the early 1900s. Melies is best known for his 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. After leaving the motion picture industry he spent the final years of his life running a toy shop in the Montparnasse train station in Paris
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Annotation:Arranged in chronological order, this comprehensive thirteen hour collection gathers nearly all surviving films of George Melies from his first (the Card Party, 1896) to his last (The Voyage of the Bouririchon Family, 1913). Beautiful new music has been prepared by ten leading practitioners of silent film accompaniment.
Annotation:An idiosyncratic list of films, each of which is described in a few paragraphs, and arranged alphabetically by title to avoid the appearance of a “top 100”. A good listing of silent films, many of which are held as DVD copies by the Vancouver Public Library.
Annotation:Metropolis is a German science fiction film directed by Fritz Lang in 1927. The futuristic city of Metropolis is depicted in this film In this city the classes are divided. The “mangers” live in luxury apartment buildings while the lower classes live and work underground.
Annotation:An anthology of films from 18 American film archives. Films include documentaries, newsreels, the earliest American movies, avant-garde and independent works, pioneering special effects, amateur and home movies, animated and industrial films, and silent movies from the earliest years of motion pictures
Annotation:A collection of introductory essays on the history of early cinema in Britain. Essential for all students of the subject.
Annotation:City Lights is a romantic comedy written by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. It is regarded by many as one of his greatest films. Chaplin created this silent film in 1931, four years after the release of the Jazz Singer in 1927. The Jazz singer, starring Al Jolson, is considered by many the first “major” talking film.
Annotation:Drawing on the Library of Congress’s massive collection of silent films and film memorabilia, Silent Movies explores the fascinating world of silent film, from its birth in the 1890s with the earliest narrative shorts, to the brilliant full-length features of the 1920s.
Annotation:It is often thought that silent films disappeared with the introduction of talking films in 1927. Though talkies overtook them in the years to come, silent cinema continued to be presented on a regular basis in the 1930s in diverse venues such as tent shows, art houses, ethnic theatres, etc.
Annotation:It is often perceived that silent cinema was exactly that, silent. Altman, in his enlightening book, describes how silent film presentation was anything but silent. The films were on the most part accompanied by music and or sound effects.
Annotation:One of the Internet's top sources of information on silent era films, people and theatres. Includes news, top 100 list, home video reviews, book reviews, and more. The site is updated daily.
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Description
Silent films were rarely silent. The dialogue in the films was communicated through title cards, pantomime and gestures. When originally presented, the films were usually accompanied by music and sound effects. After the release of the "Jazz Singer" in 1927, 'talkies' began to supplant silent films. In 2011, the silent film "the Artist" was released to popular acclaim. "Hugo", directed by Martin Scorsese and based on a children’s book partially about silent film director Georges Melies, was also released in 2011. Are silent films regaining their popularity?
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