Silent

  • Alice Guy – Making an American Citizen (1912)

    1911-1920Alice GuyDramaShort FilmUSA

    Ivan Orloff and his wife decide to emigrate to America with a group of several others.
    Ivan is used to treating his wife roughly, and on arrival in America, he forces her to carry their baggage, while he repeatedly prods her with his cane.
    A passer-by rebukes Ivan, and forces him to carry the load. But this is only the first of several lessons that Ivan will learn in his new country.Read More »

  • Aleksandr Dovzhenko – Zemlya – versions of 1930 & 1971 (The Cultural Heritage [Disc 3]) (1930)

    1921-1930Aleksandr DovzhenkoArthouseDramaUSSR

    Earh (1930) 59 min.
    Poetic cinema story about events related to collectivization in Ukraine at the end of 20th years of the last century, about creation of the first of a collective farm communes, about class enmity on a village.
    The best film Dovzhenko and one of the best films in history world to the cinema.
    A film “Earth” on the World exhibition in Brussels of 1958 was adopted among the twelve best films of all times and people as a result of questioning, conducted Belgian cinematic among 117 film critics andconnoisseurs of the films from 26 countries of the world. During many subsequent years “Earth” was multiple included in the various lists of the best films of the world of XX century.Read More »

  • Michael Snow – La Région Centrale (1971)

    1971-1980Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtCanadaExperimentalMichael Snow

    Quote:
    «La Région Centrale» was made during five days of shooting on a deserted mountain top in North Quebec. During the shooting, the vertical and horizontal alignment as well as the tracking speed were all determined by the camera’s settings. Anchored to a tripod, the camera turned a complete 360 degrees, craned itself skyward, and circled in all directions. Because of the unconventional camera movement, the result was more than merely a film that documented the film location’s landscape. Surpassing that, this became a film expressing as its themes the cosmic relationships of space and time. Cataloged here were the raw images of a mountain existence, plunged (at that time) in its distance from civilization, embedded in cosmic cycles of light and darkness, warmth and cold.Read More »

  • Derek Jarman – A Journey to Avebury (1971)

    1951-1960Derek JarmanExperimentalQueer Cinema(s)Short FilmUnited Kingdom

    Journey to Avebury beautifully reflects Derek Jarman’s fascination with ancient history, paganism, and Celtic traditions.

    An IMDB review:
    Derek Jarman is often said to be a painter rather than a movie director. Indeed, with his films he makes pictures that seem to be more important than the plot (which is usually unclear or missing at all). But those pieces of art he creates using camera are beautiful and astounding.Read More »

  • Georges Méliès – Le monstre aka The Monster (1903)

    1901-1910FranceGeorges MélièsShort FilmSilentThe Birth of Cinema

    Plot Synopsis:
    An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx. The prince promises him a vast fortune if the dervish will only give him the opportunity of gazing once more upon the features of his wife. The dervish accepts the offer. He brings in from a neighboring tomb the receptacle containing the remains of the princess. He opens it and removes the skeleton, which he places upon the ground close beside him. Then, turning to the moon and raising his arms outstretched toward it, he invokes the moon to give back life to her who is no more. The skeleton begins to move about, becomes animated, and arises. The dervish puts it upon a bench and covers it with a white linen; a masque conceals its ghostly face.Read More »

  • Sergei M. Eisenstein – La Destrucción de Oaxaca (1931)

    1931-1940DocumentaryMexicoSergei M. EisensteinSilentUSSR

    Description: Footage of the aftermath of the January 14 1931 Earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico.Read More »

  • Raoul Walsh – Regeneration (1915)

    1911-1920CrimeRaoul WalshSilentUSA

    Raoul Walsh had just come off The Birth of a Nation both as one of Griffith’s assistant directors and as an actor (most prominently as John Wilkes Booth), when he made this film. In his autobiography, Walsh credits Griffith with “teaching” him not only about much of the art of fiction filmmaking, but also about production management technics that aided him in taking full advantage of many of New York City’s most pictorial exterior locations. The locations play an important role in adding to the naturalism of an otherwise highly melodramatic plot with the high society young woman turned heroine social worker (much overplayed by a major star of the 1910s, Anna Q Nilsson) and the regeneration of the one-time Lower Manhatan gang leader. The wonder of this film is the performance of the male “star”, Rockliffe Fellowes, who played in over a dozen nearly unremembered films until he died in 1950. His performance is so subtly varied and electrically alive that one is reminded of Brando in his early 1950s films.Read More »

  • Alfred Hitchcock – Downhill (1927)

    1921-1930Alfred HitchcockDramaSilentUSA


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    Quote:
    Roddy, first son of the rich Berwick family, is expelled from school when he takes the blame for his friend Tim’s theft. His family sends him away and all of his friends leave him alone. Roddy decides to go to Paris where he spends what little money he has and starts working as a dancer. He soon becames a victim of alcoholism. Roddy manages to move to England’s colonies but some sailors send him back to his rich family hoping for a reward.Read More »

  • Jean Renoir – Le bled (1929)

    1921-1930AdventureFranceJean RenoirSilent


    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis
    On a streamer bound for Algeria, Pierre Hofer meets and is enchanted by the beautiful Claudie Duvernet, who is travelling to Algeria to collect her vast inheritance. Claudie is being pursued by some unscrupulous relatives, including the cruel Manuel, who intend to rob her of her new-found fortune. Fortunately, Pierre is on hand to thwart their schemes…Read More »

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