Laurel and hardy were absolutely brilliant, Battleship potempkin is consistently on most filmmakers top ten of all time, and it's a silent. Lon Chaney is one of the best actors ever, IMO. Too bad he died so young. Keep 'em coming, folks!!
What is your favorite silent film, and why?
by avishai 38 Replies latest social entertainment
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Insomniac
You'd think my fave would be A Fool There Was (lordy, I just love that Theda Bara!), but..
Metropolis is my favorite drama, and City Lights my favorite romantic comedy. For plain old laugh-yer-ass-off slapstick, definitely Modern Times (esp. the scene where Charlie is strapped into the machine that feeds him lunch and smacks him about.)
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El Kabong
Anything by Harold LLoyd. One of the great actors and stunt men of the silent era.
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Snowcrash
Metropolis, of course! And Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde is great... But who could ever possibly forget Nosferatu?! Tied with Metropolis for my favorite silent movie.
Has anyone seen the anime version of Metropolis? It's really good. Even if you aren't into anime, this is one of the anime movies you can appreciate, like Akira and Princess Mononoke.
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hillbilly
couldnt tell ya........ all I could hear was that damned piano in the background......
~Hill (Birth of a Nation was Ok)
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CaptainSchmideo
"Sherlock, Jr." - Without a doubt, the best sustained series of gags and stunts in a 30 minute film sequence done by anybody, let alone Buster Keaton. It looks like a "greatest hits" of stunts, but it's actually all part of one story, (okay, a story within a story). This is available through Kino Video, so check it out!
Turner Movie Classics is showing Keaton's later work this month, but it's like watching a beloved Uncle getting tripped and shoved into mud puddles by bullies (in this case, MGM, who could take any great, independently created property like Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, and Keaton, and suck the funny right out of it. But they had great production values, so you could be unfunny on a great soundstage, as opposed to being hilarious in the back yard of Hal Roach's house. That's called improvement of a product in Hollywood!)
PBS's American Masters series had a several documentaries years ago about the silent era. A three hour bio on Keaton, and another one on D W Griffith. Lots of footage, interviews, etc. I wish I could find them now, they are not available for sale.
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franklin J
Metropolis gets my vote; I saw it years ago in NYC when I was in college and would love to see it again. the futuristic sets were incredible for that time period.
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CaptainSchmideo
Oops, I did find the Keaton one on Amazon, used, VHS, for $125.00
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Badger
Far from my favorite, but I showed Birth of a Nation to my class to help them understand why the South kept fighting against equal rights for so long.
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avishai
So, badger, what is your favorite?