This site is dedicated to the preservation of memory of silent films. Although they were quite important in the evolution of cinema, they remain virtually forgotten nowadays. Since the best way to understand the present is taking an attentive look at the past, here you have some movies, pictures, interviews, etc. on silent cinema. Some occasional material on sound films will also be presented. I hope you enjoy getting to know a bit more about the beauty and sheer fun of these golden oldies.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The Acrobatic Fly - 1910
Propped upon the tail-end of a match, a housefly performs astonishing feats, alternately juggling a series of objects - a blade of grass, a cork, a miniature dumbbell... Most extraordinary of all is the sequence in which the fly spins a ball twice its own size, while a second fly perches on top. In the final sequence, the fly repeats some of its earlier tricks while apparently seated on a tiny chair.
This truly delightful (or singularly repellent) film is the work of Percy Smith, pioneer of a particularly engaging early form of natural filmmaking. 'The Acrobatic Fly' is one of a series of Smith films on similar subjects around this time, and near identical to, though briefer than, a sequence in his 1911 release 'The Strength and Agility of Insects', which also features similarly impressive accomplishments by a scorpion, a flea, a grasshopper and a praying mantis. Viewers might worry about the techniques used to secure such performances, but Smith always insisted that his stars were none the worse for their moment in the spotlight. (Mark Duguid)
For more information about filmmaker Percy Smith see http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/594315/index.html
La nouvelle bonne (1908, France)
This is a video transfer I made from a Pathé Baby film. The only clue to the origin was the name beneath the end title : mr.Z.Rollini.
Z. Louis Rollini was a filmwriter who wrote many films in different genres between 1908 and 1918. His brother was the famous french pioneer director Ferdinand Zecca. Rollini worked amongst others together with star comedian Max Linder.
La signora delle camelie (1915, Italy)
Director: Gustavo Serena, Baldassarre Negroni
Writers: Renzo Chiosso (adaptation), Alexandre Dumas fils (novel)
Stars: Carlo Benetti, Olga Benetti and Francesca Bertini
Oborona Sevastopolya (1911, Russia)
Oborona Sevastopolya (1911) Василий Гончаров, Александр Ханжонков, Петр Чардынин - Оборона Севастополя
First film ever that was shot by two cameras. Set in 1854-1855, in Sevastopol and Yalta during the Crimean War. Admirals Kornilov (Mozzhukhin) and Nakhimov (Gromov) organize the defense during the siege of Sevastopol. Both admirals are killed during the battle, and the city of Sevastopol is taken by the alliance of British, French, Sardinian, and Turkish troops. The legendary feat of Sailor Koshka (Semenov) was staged at original location. The 100 minute-long film was premiered in 1911 at the Livadia, Yalta, palace for the Tsar Nicholas II.
Directors: Vasili Goncharov, Aleksandr Khanzhonkov
Writers: Vasili Goncharov, Aleksandr Khanzhonkov
Stars: Andrej Gromov, Ivan Mozzhukhin and V. Arentsvari
Joan The Woman - 1916
American movie. Joan the Woman // Jeanne D'Arc (1916) is a silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. A British officer in World War I has a dream of the life of Joan of Arc. This film was the first to use the Handschiegl Color Process (billed as the "Wyckoff-DeMille Process") for certain scenes. A print of the film still exists.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Writers: Jeanie Macpherson (scenario), William C. de Mille
Stars: Geraldine Farrar, Raymond Hatton and Hobart Bosworth
Hamlet (1921, Germany)
Danish silent movie-star Asta Nielsen formed her own production company to make this film, in which new elements are combined with features (and a few lines) familiar from Shakespeare's version of the legend. The most important of these changes sees Hamlet made into a female character - a princess forced to masquerade as a man by her scheming mother; from this follows Hamlet's secret passion for Horatio and rivalry with Ophelia for his love. Queen Gertrude is here presented as conspiring in her first husband's murder, and the old king's ghost does not appear - young Hamlet merely hears a voice from the tomb and (apparently) dreams of him. In addition, Hamlet now kills Claudius (in a fire) immediately upon returning from Norway with an army led by old school- friend Fortinbras, and it falls to Gertrude to engineer Hamlet's death in the fencing match as well as kill herself by accidentally drinking the poisoned wine.
Directors: Svend Gade, Heinz Schall
Writers: Erwin Gepard (manuscript), Prof. E. Vining (book)
Stars: Asta Nielsen, Paul Conradi and Mathilde Brandt
Anna Boleyn (1920, Germany)
The story of the ill-fated second wife of the English king Henry VIII, whose marriage to the Henry led to momentous political and religious turmoil in England.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writers: Norbert Falk, Hanns Kräly
Stars: Henny Porten, Emil Jannings and Paul Hartmann
Kohlhiesels Töchter (1920, Germany)
Kohlhiesels Töchter // Kohlhiesel's Daughters // Les filles de Kohlhiesel
Somewhere in Southern Bavaria Xaver wants to marry Gretel, but her father Kohlhiesel wants his elder daughter Liesel to marry first. The problem is, nobody wants to marry her, because she's too brutal. Seppel suggests, that he should marry Liesel first, get rid of her and then he can marry Gretel...
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writers: Hanns Kräly, Ernst Lubitsch
Stars: Henny Porten, Emil Jannings and Jakob Tiedtke
Phantom (1922, Germany)
Lorenz Lubota is a city clerk with no direction in life. One day on his way to work he is run over by a woman driving a chariot and he is immediately infatuated with her. His life begins to spiral out of control as he searches for this girl and tries to win her heart.
Director: F.W. Murnau
Writers: Gerhart Hauptmann (novel), Thea von Harbou (adaptation)
Stars: Alfred Abel, Grete Berger and Lil Dagover
Fantômas IV: Fantômas contre Fantômas (1914, France)
Fantômas IV: Fantômas contre Fantômas (Fantômas vs. Fantômas)(1914)
1. Fantômas et l'opinion publique (Fantômas and Public Opinion)
2. Le Mur qui saigne (The Wall that Bleeds)
3. Fantômas contre Fantômas (Fantômas vs. Fantômas)
4. Règlement de comptes (Getting Even)
Fantômas is a silent crime film serial directed by Louis Feuillade, based on the series of novels of the same name. The five episodes were released in 1913-1914
The series consists of five episodes, each an hour to an hour and a half in length, which end in cliffhangers, i.e., episodes one and three end with Fantomas making a last minute escape, the end of the second movie has Fantômas blowing up Lady Beltham's manor house with Juve and Fandor, the two heroes, still inside. The subsequent episodes begin with a recap of the story that has gone before. Each film is further divided into three or more chapters that do not end in cliffhangers.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Writers: Marcel Allain (novel), Louis Feuillade
Stars: René Navarre, Georges Melchior and Renée Carl
Fantômas III: Le Mort Qui Tue (1913, France)
Fantômas III: Le Mort Qui Tue (The Murderous Corpse) (1913)
1. Le Drame rue Novins (The Tragedy in Rue Novins)
2. L'Enquête de Fandor (Fandor's Investigation)
3. Le Collier de la princesse (The Princess's Necklace)
4. Le Banquier Nanteul (The Banker Nanteul)
5. Elizabeth Dollon
6. Les Gants de peau humaine (The Human Skin Gloves)
Fantômas is a silent crime film serial directed by Louis Feuillade, based on the series of novels of the same name. The five episodes were released in 1913-1914
The series consists of five episodes, each an hour to an hour and a half in length, which end in cliffhangers, i.e., episodes one and three end with Fantomas making a last minute escape, the end of the second movie has Fantômas blowing up Lady Beltham's manor house with Juve and Fandor, the two heroes, still inside. The subsequent episodes begin with a recap of the story that has gone before. Each film is further divided into three or more chapters that do not end in cliffhangers.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Writers: Marcel Allain (novel), Louis Feuillade
Stars: René Navarre, Georges Melchior and Renée Carl
Fantômas II: Juve contre Fantômas (1913, France)
Fantômas II: Juve contre Fantômas (Juve vs. Fantômas) (1913)
1. La Catastrophe du Simplar-Express (Disaster on the Simplar Express)
2. Au "Crocodile" (At the Crocodile)
3. La Villa hantée (The Haunted Villa)
4. L'Homme noir (The Man in Black)
Fantômas is a silent crime film serial directed by Louis Feuillade, based on the series of novels of the same name. The five episodes were released in 1913-1914
The series consists of five episodes, each an hour to an hour and a half in length, which end in cliffhangers, i.e., episodes one and three end with Fantomas making a last minute escape, the end of the second movie has Fantômas blowing up Lady Beltham's manor house with Juve and Fandor, the two heroes, still inside. The subsequent episodes begin with a recap of the story that has gone before. Each film is further divided into three or more chapters that do not end in cliffhangers.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Writers: Marcel Allain (novel), Louis Feuillade
Stars: René Navarre, Georges Melchior and Renée Carl
Fantômas I: À l'ombre de la guillotine (1913, France)
Fantômas I: À l'ombre de la guillotine (Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine) (1913)
1. Le Vol du Royal Palace Hotel (The Theft at the Royal Palace Hotel)
2. La Disparition de Lord Beltham (The Disappearance of Lord Beltham)
3. Autour de l'échafaud (By the Guillotine)
Fantômas is a silent crime film serial directed by Louis Feuillade, based on the series of novels of the same name. The five episodes were released in 1913-1914
The series consists of five episodes, each an hour to an hour and a half in length, which end in cliffhangers, i.e., episodes one and three end with Fantomas making a last minute escape, the end of the second movie has Fantômas blowing up Lady Beltham's manor house with Juve and Fandor, the two heroes, still inside. The subsequent episodes begin with a recap of the story that has gone before. Each film is further divided into three or more chapters that do not end in cliffhangers.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Writers: Marcel Allain (novel), Louis Feuillade
Stars: René Navarre, Georges Melchior and Renée Carl
Fantômas V: Le Faux Magistrat (1914, France)
Fantômas V: Le Faux Magistrat (The False Magistrate) (1914)
1. Prologue (The Theft at the Château des Loges)
2. Le Prisonnier de Louvain (The Prisoner of Louvain)
3. Monsieur Charles Pradier, juge d'instruction (Charles Pradier, Examining Magistrate)
4. Le Magistrat cambrioleur ( The Burglar Judge)
5. L'Extradé de Louvain (The Extradited Man)
Fantômas is a silent crime film serial directed by Louis Feuillade, based on the series of novels of the same name. The five episodes were released in 1913-1914
The series consists of five episodes, each an hour to an hour and a half in length, which end in cliffhangers, i.e., episodes one and three end with Fantomas making a last minute escape, the end of the second movie has Fantômas blowing up Lady Beltham's manor house with Juve and Fandor, the two heroes, still inside. The subsequent episodes begin with a recap of the story that has gone before. Each film is further divided into three or more chapters that do not end in cliffhangers.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Writers: Marcel Allain (novel), Louis Feuillade
Stars: René Navarre, Georges Melchior and Renée Carl
Der Student von Prag - 1913
The Student of Prague (German: Der Student von Prag, also known as A Bargain with Satan) is a 1913 German silent horror film. The film was remade in 1926, 1935, and 2004 under the same title The Student of Prague.
A poor student rescues a beautiful countess and soon becomes obsessed with her. A sorcerer makes a deal with the young man to give him fabulous wealth and anything he wants, if he will sign his name to a contract. The student hurriedly signs the contract, but doesn't know what he's in for. A long plot summary is given by psychologist Otto Rank in The Double (1971; originally "Der Doppelgänger" in Imago III.2, 1914, 97-164).
Directors: Stellan Rye, Paul Wegener
Writers: Hanns Heinz Ewers, Edgar Allan Poe (story)
Stars: Paul Wegener, John Gottowt and Grete Berger
Scherben (1921, Germany)
Director: Lupu Pick
Writers: Carl Mayer, Lupu Pick
Stars: Werner Krauss, Edith Posca and Hermine Straßmann-Witt
Tagebuch Einer Verlorenen (1929, Germany)
Diary of a Lost Girl (German: Tagebuch einer Verlorenen) is a 1929 silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. It is shot in black and white, and various versions of the film range from 79 minutes to 116 minutes in length. This was Brooks's second and last film with Pabst, and like their prior collaboration (1928's Pandora's Box), it is considered a classic film. The film was based on the controversial and bestselling novel of the same name, Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (1905) by Margarete Böhme. A previous version of the novel, directed in 1918 by Richard Oswald, is now considered a lost film.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Writers: Margarete Böhme (novel), Rudolf Leonhardt
Stars: Louise Brooks, Josef Rovenský and Fritz Rasp
Bed and Sofa - 1927
"Bed and Sofa" by Abram Room, starring Ludmilla Semyonova, Alexei Bartalov and Vladimir Fogel (Moscow, March 15, 1927)
Devushka s korobkoy - 1927
The Girl with the Hat Box // Девушка с коробкой // Devushka s korobkoy
Natasha and her grandfather live in a cottage near Moscow, making hats for Madame Irène. Madame and her husband have told the housing committee that Natasha rents a room from them; this fiddle gives Madame's lazy husband a room for lounging. The local railroad clerk, Fogelev, loves Natasha but she takes a shine to Ilya, a clumsy student who sleeps in the train station. To help Ilya, Natasha marries him and takes him to Madame's to live in the room the house committee thinks is hers. Meanwhile, Madame's husband pays Natasha with a lottery ticket he thinks is a loser, and when it comes up big, just as Ilya and Natasha are falling in love, everything gets complicated.
Boris Vasilyevich Barnet (Russian: Борис Васильевич Барнет; 18 June 1902 -- 8 January 1965) was a Soviet film director, actor and screenwriter. He directed 27 films between 1927 and 1963.
Director: Boris Barnet
Writers: Vadim Shershenevich, Valentin Turkin
Stars: Anna Sten, Vladimir Mikhajlov and Vladimir Fogel
Värmlänningarna (1921, Erik A. Petschler, Sweden)
Director: Erik A. Petschler
Writers: Fredrik August Dahlgren (play), Einar Smith
Stars: Carl Sjögren, Gustav Ranft and Anna Diedrich
L'Atlantide - 1921
Lost Atlantis // L'Atlantide // Missing Husbands
L'Atlantide (1921) is a French-Belgian silent film directed by Jacques Feyder, and the first of several adaptations of the best-selling novel L'Atlantide by Pierre Benoit. Two men, lost in the desert, meet Queen Antinea, ruler of Atlantis.
Director: Jacques Feyder
Writers: Pierre Benoît (novel), Jacques Feyder
Stars: Jean Angelo, Stacia Napierkowska and Georges Melchior
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