Silent Beauties: 03/19/12

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.

Monday, March 19, 2012

People and Land of Catalonia - 1926

Country: Spain

Director: Josep Gaspar

Synopsis: A selection of catalan culture, art and personalities from 1926.

Brought to you by 'filmarchives online', the web gateway to European film archives

Exotic Europe: "Cheddar" - 1920

Country: United Kingdom
"Cheddar" is a short silent film from 1920, produced in colour (through a process of tinting) by Ideal Films of Borehamwood, near Elstree. It is in the collection of the Cinema Museum, London, and has been restored as part of a collaborative project with other European film archives, funded by the Raphael programme of the European Commission. While in its day it would have appealed to a sense of nostalgia for a simpler, rural life felt by the growing number of city dwellers, the footage also shows the development of both the division and the mechanisation of labour in the process of cheese-making.

Kreis-Tierschaufest Wetzlar - 1914

Country: Germany

Director: Oskar Barnack

English title: District cattle-show (oxen festival) in Wetzlar

Synopsis: A documentary on a festival in Wetzlar. Carriages representing the seasons of a farmers life drive by. Footage of the Domplatz and Kornmarkt in Wetzlar. Further carriages: traditional dresses from Wittenberg and the carriage of the Union Club, a society that was famous for its choir, which still exists today. Animals are lined-up for the award ceremony on Finsterloh festival square, near Büblinghausen. They are judged by a jury visible in the background. On the stand: the contemporary haute volée of Wetzlar.

For the Wounded - 1915

Country: United Kingdom

Our Day' badges and flags being sold in aid of wounded WWI soldiers are shown in this Topical Budget film.

For more information about Topical Budget newsreels, visit: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/583128/

You can watch over 1000 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge in the Mediatheque at BFI Southbank, London and from October 2008 at the new QUAD centre for art and film in Derby -- http://www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque

For information about the BBC Learning campaign 1918-2008: Ninety Years of Remembrance, marking the 90th anniversary of Armistice, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/remembrance

Liefdesintriges - 1920

Country: Netherlands

Commercial for Oranje Bootz in a student tries to seduce a girl at the tennis court.

Advertising Film for Orange Bootz (total duration 15 min) in which two students an early love experience. The student tries Rene van Straalen student Ella Steffens on the tennis court to seduce, but it is hindered.