Not-so-silent Films of the 1920s

[altivo]

I never make polls, but answering a meme about films over on Facebook inspired me to ask these questions of LJ readers.

[Poll #1445665]

Comments

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

I've been to a silent movie theatre in Los Angeles, and to a silent film festival in San Francisco.

They're great fun!

[kint.livejournal.com]

I've only seen bits and pieces at times, never a full film -- I did just get Metropolis on Netflix, though, and am looking forward to that.

[tinbender.livejournal.com]

They have the Buster Keaton festival in a town here in Kansas every spring, I believe. One of these years I'm going to make that. He's one of my favorite actors.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

The closest I've gotten to truly silent film was the night Wisconsin Public TV was showing Harold Lloyd films and I had been too close to a too-loud sound (carbide cannon) and had temporary hearing impairment. This was before the time of closed captioning or its being common at least, so the "silent" films were welcome. That Harold Lloyd is good certainly didn't hurt either.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

It's been ages since I've seen any of those, I think they showed Metropolis when I was back in school, about 20 years back or so.

[ben-who.livejournal.com]

Every year, the Merrill Auditorium pairs the pipes of the Kotzschmar Organ with an old horror movie. The theater should have seatbelts.

The Nickelodeon, back when it was under different management, would spend New Year's Eve running silent two-reelers for free. However, my silent film education is full of holes. I've seen "Metropolis," but not "The Sheik." I saw the original "Wizard of Oz" (good lord) but haven't seen "Nosferatu." I only recently learned that there even was a real difference between German and American filmmaking at the time. If you're a Batman fan, eventually you have to watch "The Man Who Laughs." However, I couldn't sit through more than 20 minutes of "Birth of a Nation."

Love, Who?

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

I've forgotten all the details about the most recent silent film I've seen, other than (1) I was with Dave and (2) it was on cable's Turner Classic Movies on a late Sunday night last year. And Dave doesn't remember either. Gah.

[equusmaximus.livejournal.com]

As I mentioned a few posts ago, when I lived in Calgary one of the independent theatres used to do "Silent Movie Mondays" in February, and they'd bring in this incredible organist to play a massive theatre organ they'd borrow from Mount Royal College. There were a number of Charlie Chaplin films, some Buster Keaton films, and several feature-films. The one's I remember were Metropolis and The Phantom of the Opera, but I know there were more.

The theatre in Shaunavon also hosts the town's live-theatre troupe, and I wonder if they could be convinced to do some Silent-Movie nights? Might be an idea to suggest to them, and see where it goes. :)

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I'd LIKE to see Metropolis. I've seen the anime version, and would like to see the original.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

I think the only silent film I've watched in full was Laurel and Hardy's "Big Business", which was absolutely hilarious - I laughed so hard I cried, I think, and I loved the fact it was silent and in black and white, too.

That being said, it's not a full-length feature film, of course. I'm not sure anymore what the accompanying music was, either (if any, but I'm pretty sure there was *something*, at least); also, I'm rating it as a 10 simply because I loved it so much and because I think the fact it was silent etc. was an integral part of why I loved it. ^^

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

I'm on the fence when it comes to silent films. TCM shows them fairly regularly late at night and I'd watch them now and then. I guess I just have to be in the right mood for them, since I find that either I really enjoy them or get bored after 10 minutes and stop watching.

Sadly, as of Monday, my cable company moved TCM to one of the digital tier things, so I no longer get it with my basic cable. It was one of my favorite channels.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Couldn't really complete this because I've never seen a silent film all the way through.

The entirety of my silent film knowledge: We saw clips of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Battleship Potemkin at uni and were told that the Steps at Odessa is a very famous scene. I know Charlie Chaplin was a notable silent star. And I was aware that they originally had an organ playing in the cinemas rather than actual silence. (That last fact partly courtesy of Terry Pratchett's nice novel about early films, and partly from general knowledge osmosis.)

[thedeere.livejournal.com]

As a kid I was blessed with a yardsale-bought standard 8 projector. The thing's gigantic, probably the peak of 8mm tech, heh! Anyhow the library at the time had a whole shelf of 8mm B&W silent, so I'd check out as many as I could at a time, and we'd play 'em at the house on one of those unrollable screens.

So rather than any music, there was just the clicker-clack of my old projector cruising away. Imagine my horror when I went to the library one day to find out they'd gotten rid of the entire collection! I hope they went to somebody who cares enough to save 'em.

Journey to the Moon, Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, other more obscure titles... Most of it's either "killer good" or at least unintentionally hilarous. Many fond childhood memories there. :) I've been hunting down modern copies of 'em. I don't mind the music, it usually adds to the experience, but on some of 'em it's really no better than watching it in silence. It's all about the skill of the musicians.

The lack of any regard for safety is refreshing, as is the lack of political correctness. Those old shows are just plain fun to watch!

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Nosferatu scared the bejebus out of me.