I think this might have been the first silent feature I ever watched, and I saw it on a cheap VHS tape with no score and loved it immediately. I actually started planning to record a score for it using existing music and a cassette recorder, though I never finished that project.
(But, yes, of course, a theatrical screening with a good live music score is the absolute peak way to see a silent film. Fortunately, I live in a major city where there are frequent chances to do that. I mean, when a pandemic isn't happening.)
Coming from an oldster who has seen more than a thousand silent movies, I have to praise you for "getting" it about how to watch them. This is all on-point advice. One that I would add, is -- if it is humanly possible to do so -- see these films in a real theater projected from a real film print. The quality of the viewing experience, the immersion in the darkness, the reinforcement of having an audience around you picking up on subtle expressions and cueing laughter and other reactions really helps you zone in on what's going on.
I disagree with his advice ab music, if u can find the right album/albums to go along with a movie it can still work for example, Kid A and OK Computer by Radiohead go along perfectly with Metropolis
I remember I got to see The General starring Buster Keaton at my little theater. The funniest part was I was ROTFL. It wasn't because of Buster's shenanigans. It was because halfway through the movie my friend's cell phone goes off and he picked up the phone and started talking! My other friend was mortified and shushed him! He did take his call out to the lobby. I found it funny because there were hardly any people in there. And you won't miss the dialog since it's a silent movie anyway! 😂
Silent movies have a "vibe" that really draws me in. It's like every time you're watching one, you're getting a vision of a vanished world -- a strange, straggling survivor of an era where a substantial portion of its brethren are now forever lost to time. And then for it to be an entertaining thing of beauty on top of all of that mystique... mwah! (chef's kiss)
I love films by F.W. Murnau. It is such a shame that he died so young. He was so incredibly talented, and nearly all of his films were silent classics.
We can only wonder how film history may have been different had Murnau lived. You mentioned correctly how the early sound era was incredibly awkward, but based on his innovations in movies like Sunrise, I imagine he'd have been able to adapt to the tech more quickly than his peers. Shame we'll never have those works.
Towards the dawn of "talkies" some silent films were so sophisticated and well-made they made the early talkies look ridiculous. It's no wonder that some people thought that talkies were "just a fad."
@@OuterGalaxyLounge I watched Fritz Lang's "M" yesterday, and I marveled at the cinematography of it. It's a sound/talkie film, but it retained all of the visual mastery of Lang's best silent ones. I think the best early "talkies" in America were the ones by Ernst Lubitsch. He made some early musicals with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald that are stunning.
It's instructive to compare the two versions of Hitchcock's "Blackmail," which was both his last silent and his first talkie. The more widely available sound version is a daring experiment, but often awkward and half-baked. The silent is remarkably powerful, visually and emotionally, and at once simple and graceful - one of my favorite silents. It was hard to see for generations, but fortunately, it's recently been released on a blu ray by Kino Lorber with both versions.
I found that the best way to watch Silent Cinema is on a big screen with a audience - even if that's in a classroom. It makes it so much more enjoyable as you hear and experience other people's reactions.
I was working as a teaching assistant for a first year film class right before the pandemic hit and the last screening before everything shutdown was Sherlock Jr. Was such a delight to hear a room of undergrad students laugh to silent cinema.
I just saw my first silent film tonight. I watched the 2015 Cohen Film Collection version of Sherlock Jr. I was a little scared about watching my first silent film but your video really helped me. I learned a lot. Thank you so much.
Glad to hear! I actually caught a screening of Sherlock Jr. that was mostly populated by first year film students, most of which hadn't seen a silent film, and the auditorium was full of laughter. Warmed my heart.
@@EyebrowCinema I had watched a few silents (Chaplin, Lloyd, Caligari, Nosferatu, Griffith, a few Keaton's, Bunuel) before I watched Sherlock Jr alone at night on youtube. I'd argue that it propably is one of the best entrypoints for Silents. It's so inventive, charming, thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking in such a brief runtime. It's the first movie I recommend people when it comes to silent film.
I've been watching silent and B&W movies since I could sit up and watch the TV. Anyone who cant sit through a movie bc its one or the other simply doesn't love film.
And the Pre-Codes---their saucy use of double entendre is much wittier, IMO, than almost any unrestricted film of later eras. And some of the really early musicals were so bizarre, in a good, but quite compelling way lol.
That whole thing you said about people fast-forwarding movies still fucks with me. People literally gain nothing but a faster run-time doing that. The film-makers want you to experience that time in full. Make enough time for it, or pause it.
I got a taste for silent film in my teens-before I ever had access to them (thank you TCM Silent Sundays!), I was devouring everything I could read about them-was obsessed with Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish (still am actually lol). Along with just loving them on their own merits, it is also fascinating to be able to watch-for the first time in history!-actual moving pictures of real live people from a time long before my birth, even at my advanced age. So many of the early silents were filmed on the cheap, with people and sets dressed pretty much as they really would have been at that time IRL. Even when it gets into the more sophisticated era, ie Greta Garbo, the Fairbanks extravaganzas, etc, the costume and set choices say so much about aesthetic taste of the day-I adore the Gloria Swanson/Cecil B DeMille over the top fashion statements, such as in "Why Change Your Wife". "The Adventures Of Prince Achmed" is the most charming animated film I've ever seen. Re binge watching-are you kidding lol, as soon as silent film became readily available on VHS and then DVD, and now streaming, I ate it up like popcorn, couldn't get enough! The ready access was a miracle to me, and I was ready, after years of devouring every book and documentary I could access, about silent film! God Bless Kevin Brownlow! Two excellent documentary series-both involving Kevin Brownlow and excellent musical scoring by the great Carl Davis-are first, Hollywood:A Celebration Of American Silent Film--perfectly narrated by James Mason---and second, Cinema Europe:The Other Hollywood. Anyway, to each his own of course, but I never had to acquire a taste for silent film-the taste was developed for years while awaiting access-and I've been devouring with gusto ever since:)
I was 10 when I was shown the original, silent, "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" in school. I loved it, not just because I was a fan of the Incredible Hulk (Tv show AND comic), but just of how they told a story with no dialog outside the few cards.
I'm sooo glad with the updated score for the Cameraman Blu Ray! The one on my DVD was horrendous, but I still loved owning this movie. So yeah now it's even better :D
Musical accompaniment for silents. Done right, is magical. Saw and heard maestro Wurlitzer silent organist Gaylord Carter performing in his '80s. It added and embellished the experience.
Great video, but I have to say I started with horror first. Love silent film and I totally agree with your comments re: The Gold Rush voice over and The Lodger soundtrack. You should have more subscribers. Another suggestion: if you get the opportunity to see a live musical accompaniment to silent movie, go for it!
I have seen live musical accompaniment for shorts, but I've yet to do so for a full feature. Loved the experience. My own entry point may have been comedy, but horror is probably the other great genre to start with, especially since the films lean so heavily on visuals and atmosphere.
Bro.. thanks for all these tips. You speak nothing but the truth. Love you personally and insight.. please keep doing more vids on 1920+ movies maybe a review of Frankenstein 1931.. keep them coming
Don’t watch with a drunk crowd The first silent film I saw was Nosteratu. It was part of a Halloween double feature - with Night of The Living Dead. Because of the sarcastic comments from the audience I was unable to appreciate the horror and terror of both films. When I saw them - properly - with a quiet appreciative audiences I realized what I had missed. Nosferatu scared the bejesus out of me
That goes with pretty much any film in my opinion. It may be fun to watch a classic you love with drunk friends or even strangers. But I don't think I have ever fallen in love with a movie in that setting.
@@jmalmsten Agreed, though it's a great way to see some "so bad it's good" cult movie. (For my money, watching "Plan 9 from Outer Space" at home by yourself is a bore.)
Interesting that you note the speed thing. While doing 1.5x as a rule is a sin, I think misunderstanding the "Speed" of silent is a key reason why a lot of people dislike them. Depending on the time of release (later films obviously were more polished), silents ran at variable speeds, often coming with instruction manuals for hand-cranked projectors, and watching them projected at a set speed can suck the impact out of them. Most releases tend to fix this and adjust the display for the desired pace, but every now and again you'll find a crappy DVD or stream of a silent film running at a flat 16 fps and it just bloviates the whole thing
I think the more common problem is that "cheap" releases run them at 24 or 25 fps like they show sound movies, either because they do not know better oder just dont care or they do/did not have the technical means to scan it at 16 fps or even variable speed. The latter being mostly the problem for re-releases or TV releases before the computer age, it was not easy or even impossible to speed down the movie. Only theatres with a specially equipped projector could run prints at 16 fps. Therefore many people think the "funny" way people move in silent movies was "normal"
Sometimes modern music ain't bad for silent films, sometimes is terrible, I remember a Metropolis version with some unknown techno "musician" in it. Terrible. Air have great gear and at least can play
My first silent film was City Lights starring Charlie Chaplin. I was probably 8 when I saw it. I didn't watch Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd until I was an adult. The silent comedies are my favorite.
It was still photos of the stars of silent cinema back in the 1980’s that got me interested in silent films, along with Kevin Brownlow’s documentary series Hollywood!
If you watch the Brownlow documentary series, Hollywood, from 1980, with interviews from those involved in the silent film era, you get a lot of background understanding of how the films were made. With that, the art of watching becomes easier or understandable because you have a background on the films that assist in viewing them. The documentary is on TH-cam.
I cannot and do not want to defend D.W. Griffith's racism, but "The Birth Of A Nation" should be seen by most people at least once. Today, a three-hour movie can be a chore to sit through. Griffith made a film as long as "Oppenheimer" or "Beau Is Afraid" back when EVERYTHING ELSE was short films. He proved that if you make a movie good enough, people will sit in the movie house for two hours, and for a film producer, you had the opportunity to make a LOT of money. Early in this video, they mention the lack of cutting in silent films. Griffith changed that. If you ever see an action movie where you start cross-cutting between our plucky heroine trying to escape a killer, and the heroes racing to save her-----that all started with "A Birth Of A Nation." But that being said, I can perfectly understand why a lot of people will refuse to watch this.
If you're as old as a redwood tree (well not quite) like me, you saw a restored print of BoaN in a real theater with a piano score being played, in the early 1980's. In a majorly liberal city where it would be picketed and probably banned outright now. The theatre was full, and the reaction was sort of "wow", stunned silence, but no booing from what was then a youthful audience. Ah, memories. Yes, it is awful propaganda, yes it is also important on the technical side as an example of film technique and cutting and direction. The saddest part is how a major actress of both silent and sound films is now trashed by the "woke'. P.C. crowd for acting in this film, because she never denounced D.W. Griffith for whom she did several films. Of course she acted in many ,many other films for different studios and directors but , she is marked by the activist crowd with an indelible scarlet letter. Lillian Gish.
I started with Metropolis as my introduction to silent cinema, which was a bad idea and only got through the first 30 minutes. Though a while later I saw The Gold Rush(not the 1942 version) which I absolutely loved. That film really got me into silent films. My favorites have to be City Lights and The Passion of Joan of Arc. I tried watching Metropolis a few years later and I loved it!
The most recent restoration of "Metropolis" does wonders for it. I feel like it's finally (again) the great film I always wanted it to be, but it never quite was before.
One thing that I would personally recommend is to watch those movies in cinemas, when there's the chance. They get a whole other feeling when played to an audience that consists of more than one person and with a live band.
The only time I ever watched a film in a faster speed than it was was that I watched parts of Revenge of the Fallen faster bc I just wanted that movie to end (I was doing a project where I watched all the Transformers movies)
Seen almost 400 silent movies and I hate shorts =) I would rather recommend starting with good quality well restored films that have digital Blu-ray versions, like the stuff you can find on Criterion. When you get used to it, you can freely watch and enjoy masterpieces like The Crowd, The Wind, other Sjostrom/Murnau films without good restoration. And never forget to maximize "cinema experience". Dark room, no pauses, just sit or lie still for two hours.
I’ve been watching Les Vampires and I have been taking my time to do one act a day. It’s split up already for me so it doesn’t bother me much but compared to modern movies, I can’t have distractions like people talking because you won’t understand what is going on despite it being a silent movie
Speaking of silent films, I remember reading about some well-respected silent film director who died unexpectedly. I don't think his movies won any Oscars (the first Oscars were awarded as the silent film era was rapidly ending), but contemporary film critics called him "the first of the immortals". They genuinely thought that a hundred years hence, film fans would be talking about this guy the way people did about Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. They were wrong. It's not that his film dated badly, it's that they didn't survive. NONE of the reportedly great films this guy made survived. And were it not for Google, I would not even know the name of this man----George Loane Tucker.
The comedy reccomenations are great. For dramas: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) Greed (1924) The Big Parade (1925) Wings (1927) The Crowd (1928)
I love silent films. I feel like the less limitations film makers had over the years have made them lazy. CGI is far worse than practical effects and Jaws was fantastic because the Shark sunk early on in production forcing a suspense narrative. Just think how far movies with a limited budget have gone with ingenuity while multi-million dollar films like the last few Star Wars movies were crap when they had unlimited funds in their production.
The actress in Joan of Arc is quite mesmerizing. What a face. Also, I agree that the narrated version of The Gold Rush is terrible. Chaplin ruins his own movie so only watch the original version.
Just discovered your channel. Good job man. Only a matter of time before it blows up. What Harold Loyd movie was that at 4:59 ? With all the colt single actions?
Yes!! I'm not an expert on film by any means, but I am a HUGE history nerd, and I've loved silent films from the first one I saw (Chaplin's Dough And Dynamite). The comedies are definitely some of the best places to start, in my opinion, since they are so engaging, but ultimately I think silent films are underappreciated these days. Also, I think it would be interesting to see a modern director try to make a new version of a silent film (no dialogue except in title cards, but with a score built in instead of played by musicians at the theatre. I think it'd provide a fun opportunity for filmmakers to play with pure cinema).
to ignore valentino is to ignore the silent era. he changed how film saw women, men, and non whites. valentino changed culture. and no one in the silent era had as much charisma or beauty than valentino. he was the classic non verbal image
Sunrise, Metropolis, the artistic achievement (though not the man himself; do some reading from non-fanboy authors) of Chaplin, and the work of Lon Chaney. "Wind" with Lilian Gish, and for some incoherent spectacle "Intolerance" by D.W. Griffith. For comedy and in the case of Lloyd daring stunts there are Keaton and Harold Lloyd. For swashbuckling diversion and stunts (he did his own) there are the 1920's films of Douglas Fairbanks Senior. That's just a sampling and I've left out many more excellent films. Then there are unforgettable scenes from what was propaganda: the famous Odessa steps sequence where civilians are massacred fleeing from Czarist infantry. (Battleship Potemkin).
Great video! I have to confess, I turned on ×2 for Intolerance on TH-cam and accompanied Man with a Movie Camera with my own soundtrack. Please forgive me. Anyway, some of my fav silents films include: - Modern Times - The Kid - Safety Last - One Week - Battleship Potempkin - Metropolis - A Trip to the Moon
No judgement! I certainly understand why those choices are made. Especially for something like Intolerance, which is a behemoth. Those are some excellent picks btw. I see your into Chaplin and Lloyd, have you given Keaton a look yet?
I strongly disagree with the watching in 1.5× speed debate. I personally find normal speed too slow. He'll, I'm watching this very video on 2x speed, like every other video. Watching films in 1.5x or 2x speed is fun and a lot more entertaining. If it doesn't work for you, that's all good, but leave the ones who enjoy it better that way. We don't "miss" anything. We just can process things faster. I watched "There will be blood" in 1.5x speed and still loved the film. The visuals, the acting, the soundtrack all felt gripping. Same goes for comedies. The timing isnt off by much, its even funnier at times. The only exception is musicals. Aside from that most movies, especially dramas and thrillers are gret to watch in X speed. Don't listen to anyone who judges your way of watching a film, or listening to an audiobook, just because their filmsnob ass can't handle it. Theyre no incharge of how your brain processes information.
I feel like #4 only really applies to 'The Gold Rush' hahah... are there other silent films with sound versions? I know 'Modern Times' is kind of a hybrid.
It was actually fairly common in the early talkie era to take silents and re-fit them as part-talkies and re-release them. "The Phantom of the Opera" comes to mind - I think the sound discs for that are all lost, but the most commonly available versions now are actually partly from the sound version, which makes for some weird moments. Hitchcock's "Blackmail" started as a silent and they decided to make it England's first talkie partway through production. Both silent and sound versions exist - the silent is much better.
I have a question: where can these films be found? DVDs are not available for many of them Is there a way too see them leagally online? With the right soundtrack and restored? Where do film students watch them? Thank you very much, brilliant video by the way
Great question. Streaming services like Criterion Channel tend to be the best for classic cinema (they're even running a spotlight on German Expressionism right now) and Netflix can sometimes surprise you with what they have. If there's ever a specific movie you're looking for, you can always try TH-cam. Yeah, it's a roll of the dice in terms of quality, but sometimes you can find proper restorations with the right score. Services like Kanopy or Hoopla (which are accessed through local libraries) are also worth a look. Thanks for a great question and for your kind words.
Also, if you have an actual disc player, Netflix's mail delivery service still exists and has a vastly wider and deeper catalog than their streaming service, including quite a lot of silents.
What it really boils down to this----do you have trouble reading subtitles? I don't, and reading titles in silent movies is easier. (I honestly wonder why nobody has made a silent movie with subtitles as opposed to titles, but that's another story.) But if you don't like ANY movie that requires you to read, you're going to have a problem with silent films.
I tried to watch nosferatu on a horror film collection DVD and they put fucking ROCK WITH WORDS IN THE ENTIRE THING ruined it I wasn't able to pay attention
Disagree with the music part, 95% of scores on silent films you find already are worse choices than just giving it your own soundtrack, of course intrusive songs aren't a good idea, but there's plenty of music out there that will generally assist the experience
Glad to hear! If you liked Nosferatu, maybe consider watching some other silent horror. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is really awesome and so is the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera. Both are extraordinary rich visually and put forth some very compelling cinematic monsters.
Eyebrow Cinema Nosferatu and Caligari are two of my favorites. It’s amazing that they are 100 years old. Even to this day, there’s never been another film quite like Caligari.
We seriously need to make an extended argument now for staying off your phone while watching a movie? EDIT: And not fast-forwarding through a movie? It's time to burn it all down and start from scratch.
I sort of get the phone thing. They've become such a ubiquitos part of our lives and can foster a habit of constantly checking. Fast-fowarding a movie though, that shit's just weird. I remember the guy telling me beaming with pride too.
@@EyebrowCinema Sure, I understand where the phone thing comes from. It's just a sad commentary on where we are culturally. I put off getting a smartphone for years because I knew what would happen to my attention span, etc., once I had one. And I was right. Though I still put it on "do not disturb" when I watch a movie.
13:13 My content is pretty much only Buster Keaton movies with songs from B Fachada. I have used all of his recorded content, and there are still movies left. Check it: Start with "Brilliant Sherlock Jr.", "The Love Best" or "The General Beauty"...
Les grands comiques qui ont le mieux passés le temps et ou leurs films n ont pas pris une rides sont les rois du rires Stan et Ollie sont les maitres absoluts puis Buster Keaton .
As someone who's destroyed her own attention span with TH-cam's speed options, the thought of speeding up an older film is simultaneously tempting and incredulous to me. I can like, sympathize? with the people who watch things at 1.5 speed, but I don't actually understand when it comes to "real" media (suck it, TH-camrs (this is a joke (or is it))). Watching a film or episode of television faster than intended is insulting to the people working on the film at every level- actors putting in emotional beats, editors picking exactly how long or short any particular shot takes of the total viewing time, the musical complexities, etc, etc, etc. If you need to get through something fast, why are you watching a movie? Why can't you watch it in more than one sitting? And while I have watched episodes of television sped up slightly, they're ONLY the ones I've seen so many times I could recite them back-to-front, and I just need a hit of serotonin from watching Community's Remedial Chaos Theory one more time. Anyway **watches this video at 1.5 speed**
This comment is a work of art. I think you hit on something really important regarding how TH-cam in particular has altered attention spans, not only by offering speed options, but also by flooding the internet with so much media that individual pieces don't hold much value in and of themselves. Even as a TH-camr (god, what cringey term), I share your distinction between youtube videos and "real" media. I don't alter the speed of videos, but I will watch stuff fairly casually while I'm cooking, getting ready, or doing basic housework in a way that I never would with a movie. I'd also say there's a difference when it comes to modifying the viewing experience for something you're readily familiar with. In fact, I think that can be a potentially illuminating experience. I've recently been thinking about doing a viewing of 2001: A Space Odyssey without sound given how expressive the visual storytelling is. That'd obviously be a horrid way to watch the film for the first time (especially given how amazing the film's sound design is), but after seeing the film a half dozen or so times I think it'd be an interesting experience. Anyway, I hope my silly jokes still land at 1.5 times speed.
It seems like a generational thing that people need to be tutored on how to watch silent movies. Weird. And of course also the obligatory f word because nowadays the only adjective so many people have access to is f******.
I was lucky enough to see 'Nosferatu' with a live organist performing the music. If any of you have the chance to see a silent that way, go for it.
I think this might have been the first silent feature I ever watched, and I saw it on a cheap VHS tape with no score and loved it immediately. I actually started planning to record a score for it using existing music and a cassette recorder, though I never finished that project.
(But, yes, of course, a theatrical screening with a good live music score is the absolute peak way to see a silent film. Fortunately, I live in a major city where there are frequent chances to do that. I mean, when a pandemic isn't happening.)
yohei72 it’s never too late!
@@blackswan4486 This is one of the biggest lies people keep telling us.
yohei72 how is it a lie?
I actually saw Nosferatu at a silent movie theatre last weekend. The experience was legitimately magical
Coming from an oldster who has seen more than a thousand silent movies, I have to praise you for "getting" it about how to watch them. This is all on-point advice. One that I would add, is -- if it is humanly possible to do so -- see these films in a real theater projected from a real film print. The quality of the viewing experience, the immersion in the darkness, the reinforcement of having an audience around you picking up on subtle expressions and cueing laughter and other reactions really helps you zone in on what's going on.
Next time my small art-house cinema is having its monthly Silentfilm with small orchestration, I'll be there!
I remember Nosfuratu being played at a local theature with live music. I still regret not seeing it.
I disagree with his advice ab music, if u can find the right album/albums to go along with a movie it can still work for example, Kid A and OK Computer by Radiohead go along perfectly with Metropolis
I remember I got to see The General starring Buster Keaton at my little theater. The funniest part was I was ROTFL. It wasn't because of Buster's shenanigans. It was because halfway through the movie my friend's cell phone goes off and he picked up the phone and started talking! My other friend was mortified and shushed him! He did take his call out to the lobby. I found it funny because there were hardly any people in there. And you won't miss the dialog since it's a silent movie anyway! 😂
Silent movies have a "vibe" that really draws me in. It's like every time you're watching one, you're getting a vision of a vanished world -- a strange, straggling survivor of an era where a substantial portion of its brethren are now forever lost to time. And then for it to be an entertaining thing of beauty on top of all of that mystique... mwah! (chef's kiss)
I think that's also what makes silent horror still so creepy. It feels all the more alien.
Perfect description
@@EyebrowCinemaagreed. Silent horror is often the scariest!
I love films by F.W. Murnau. It is such a shame that he died so young. He was so incredibly talented, and nearly all of his films were silent classics.
We can only wonder how film history may have been different had Murnau lived. You mentioned correctly how the early sound era was incredibly awkward, but based on his innovations in movies like Sunrise, I imagine he'd have been able to adapt to the tech more quickly than his peers. Shame we'll never have those works.
@@EyebrowCinema Ernst Lubitsch made some of the best "talkie" motion pictures for Paramount, so you know that he adapted very well.
Towards the dawn of "talkies" some silent films were so sophisticated and well-made they made the early talkies look ridiculous. It's no wonder that some people thought that talkies were "just a fad."
This is on-point. The cinema's visual sophistication in 1927-1929 reached a peak of artistry that still can be argued to be the best ever.
@@OuterGalaxyLounge I watched Fritz Lang's "M" yesterday, and I marveled at the cinematography of it. It's a sound/talkie film, but it retained all of the visual mastery of Lang's best silent ones. I think the best early "talkies" in America were the ones by Ernst Lubitsch. He made some early musicals with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald that are stunning.
Yes, the earliest talkies often seem older than the late silents, because they're so stiff and clunky, and the silents are so fluid and graceful.
It's instructive to compare the two versions of Hitchcock's "Blackmail," which was both his last silent and his first talkie. The more widely available sound version is a daring experiment, but often awkward and half-baked. The silent is remarkably powerful, visually and emotionally, and at once simple and graceful - one of my favorite silents. It was hard to see for generations, but fortunately, it's recently been released on a blu ray by Kino Lorber with both versions.
@@yohei72 I haven't seen the silent version of Blackmail so I'll have to look for it.
Funny, I started watching silent films in my early teens, and I never found them the slightest bit difficult. I loved them from the first shot.
I found that the best way to watch Silent Cinema is on a big screen with a audience - even if that's in a classroom. It makes it so much more enjoyable as you hear and experience other people's reactions.
I was working as a teaching assistant for a first year film class right before the pandemic hit and the last screening before everything shutdown was Sherlock Jr. Was such a delight to hear a room of undergrad students laugh to silent cinema.
I just saw my first silent film tonight. I watched the 2015 Cohen Film Collection version of Sherlock Jr. I was a little scared about watching my first silent film but your video really helped me. I learned a lot. Thank you so much.
Glad to hear! I actually caught a screening of Sherlock Jr. that was mostly populated by first year film students, most of which hadn't seen a silent film, and the auditorium was full of laughter. Warmed my heart.
@@EyebrowCinema I had watched a few silents (Chaplin, Lloyd, Caligari, Nosferatu, Griffith, a few Keaton's, Bunuel) before I watched Sherlock Jr alone at night on youtube. I'd argue that it propably is one of the best entrypoints for Silents. It's so inventive, charming, thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking in such a brief runtime. It's the first movie I recommend people when it comes to silent film.
@@nilsgloistein5706 Bunuel was, in fact, a huge fan of Sherlock Jr. and wrote about it.
Interestingly, the first time I watched silent films I really loved them. Same goes for drinking Hard Liquor.
I suppose if you start with the right film (or booze), that helps. Do you remember what you started with?
@@EyebrowCinema Rum? Jack Daniels?
And I've been watching silent movies since I was a kid.
@@SoleMan117 Toby, age 3, alcoholic
@@estebanacostaolivera3232 Now, now.
I've been watching silent and B&W movies since I could sit up and watch the TV. Anyone who cant sit through a movie bc its one or the other simply doesn't love film.
And the Pre-Codes---their saucy use of double entendre is much wittier, IMO, than almost any unrestricted film of later eras. And some of the really early musicals were so bizarre, in a good, but quite compelling way lol.
That whole thing you said about people fast-forwarding movies still fucks with me. People literally gain nothing but a faster run-time doing that. The film-makers want you to experience that time in full. Make enough time for it, or pause it.
Needless to say I was stunned when homeboy told me he did that with most everything he watched.
I got a taste for silent film in my teens-before I ever had access to them (thank you TCM Silent Sundays!), I was devouring everything I could read about them-was obsessed with Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish (still am actually lol). Along with just loving them on their own merits, it is also fascinating to be able to watch-for the first time in history!-actual moving pictures of real live people from a time long before my birth, even at my advanced age. So many of the early silents were filmed on the cheap, with people and sets dressed pretty much as they really would have been at that time IRL. Even when it gets into the more sophisticated era, ie Greta Garbo, the Fairbanks extravaganzas, etc, the costume and set choices say so much about aesthetic taste of the day-I adore the Gloria Swanson/Cecil B DeMille over the top fashion statements, such as in "Why Change Your Wife". "The Adventures Of Prince Achmed" is the most charming animated film I've ever seen.
Re binge watching-are you kidding lol, as soon as silent film became readily available on VHS and then DVD, and now streaming, I ate it up like popcorn, couldn't get enough! The ready access was a miracle to me, and I was ready, after years of devouring every book and documentary I could access, about silent film! God Bless Kevin Brownlow!
Two excellent documentary series-both involving Kevin Brownlow and excellent musical scoring by the great Carl Davis-are first, Hollywood:A Celebration Of American Silent Film--perfectly narrated by James Mason---and second, Cinema Europe:The Other Hollywood.
Anyway, to each his own of course, but I never had to acquire a taste for silent film-the taste was developed for years while awaiting access-and I've been devouring with gusto ever since:)
I'd recommend King Vidor's THE CROWD for drama lovers out there. THE BIG PARADE, about the Great War, is also excellent.
I was 10 when I was shown the original, silent, "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" in school. I loved it, not just because I was a fan of the Incredible Hulk (Tv show AND comic), but just of how they told a story with no dialog outside the few cards.
I'm sooo glad with the updated score for the Cameraman Blu Ray! The one on my DVD was horrendous, but I still loved owning this movie. So yeah now it's even better :D
Musical accompaniment for silents. Done right, is magical. Saw and heard maestro Wurlitzer silent organist Gaylord Carter performing in his '80s. It added and embellished the experience.
That sounds wonderful.
Great video, but I have to say I started with horror first. Love silent film and I totally agree with your comments re: The Gold Rush voice over and The Lodger soundtrack. You should have more subscribers. Another suggestion: if you get the opportunity to see a live musical accompaniment to silent movie, go for it!
I have seen live musical accompaniment for shorts, but I've yet to do so for a full feature. Loved the experience. My own entry point may have been comedy, but horror is probably the other great genre to start with, especially since the films lean so heavily on visuals and atmosphere.
Bro.. thanks for all these tips. You speak nothing but the truth. Love you personally and insight.. please keep doing more vids on 1920+ movies maybe a review of Frankenstein 1931.. keep them coming
10:04 - this Harold Lloyd routine was recreated by the Three Stooges in "Three Smart Saps" (1942)...
Don’t watch with a drunk crowd
The first silent film I saw was Nosteratu. It was part of a Halloween double feature - with Night of The Living Dead. Because of the sarcastic comments from the audience I was unable to appreciate the horror and terror of both films. When I saw them - properly - with a quiet appreciative audiences I realized what I had missed. Nosferatu scared the bejesus out of me
That goes with pretty much any film in my opinion. It may be fun to watch a classic you love with drunk friends or even strangers. But I don't think I have ever fallen in love with a movie in that setting.
@@jmalmsten Agreed, though it's a great way to see some "so bad it's good" cult movie. (For my money, watching "Plan 9 from Outer Space" at home by yourself is a bore.)
Interesting that you note the speed thing. While doing 1.5x as a rule is a sin, I think misunderstanding the "Speed" of silent is a key reason why a lot of people dislike them. Depending on the time of release (later films obviously were more polished), silents ran at variable speeds, often coming with instruction manuals for hand-cranked projectors, and watching them projected at a set speed can suck the impact out of them. Most releases tend to fix this and adjust the display for the desired pace, but every now and again you'll find a crappy DVD or stream of a silent film running at a flat 16 fps and it just bloviates the whole thing
I think the more common problem is that "cheap" releases run them at 24 or 25 fps like they show sound movies, either because they do not know better oder just dont care or they do/did not have the technical means to scan it at 16 fps or even variable speed. The latter being mostly the problem for re-releases or TV releases before the computer age, it was not easy or even impossible to speed down the movie. Only theatres with a specially equipped projector could run prints at 16 fps. Therefore many people think the "funny" way people move in silent movies was "normal"
sometimes modern sounding music helps, like Air's soundtrack for a trip to the moon, but it's also instrumental
Sometimes modern music ain't bad for silent films, sometimes is terrible, I remember a Metropolis version with some unknown techno "musician" in it. Terrible. Air have great gear and at least can play
My first silent film was City Lights starring Charlie Chaplin. I was probably 8 when I saw it. I didn't watch Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd until I was an adult. The silent comedies are my favorite.
I'd add Mabel Normand and Rosco Arbuckle to the list of recomendable silent comedy stars.
Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle made several shorts together. I'd prefer to them as "The Mabel and Fatty Series".
@@melissacooper8724 Oh yes, those are good! Everyone watch those.
I love "The Crowd" (1928) by King Vidor 👍
It was still photos of the stars of silent cinema back in the 1980’s that got me interested in silent films, along with Kevin Brownlow’s documentary series Hollywood!
1:18 - I would also add the earliest films of Laurel & Hardy (1927-29) to that list...
I love silent films. I always recommend Broken Blossoms and Shen Nu…such beautiful acting!
this is a pretty good video, why does this only has 7570 views?
Agreed.
Sunrise is one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen. I was the 3rd silent movie I had ever seen an it lead me to falling in love with them
If you watch the Brownlow documentary series, Hollywood, from 1980, with interviews from those involved in the silent film era, you get a lot of background understanding of how the films were made. With that, the art of watching becomes easier or understandable because you have a background on the films that assist in viewing them. The documentary is on TH-cam.
I cannot and do not want to defend D.W. Griffith's racism, but "The Birth Of A Nation" should be seen by most people at least once. Today, a three-hour movie can be a chore to sit through. Griffith made a film as long as "Oppenheimer" or "Beau Is Afraid" back when EVERYTHING ELSE was short films. He proved that if you make a movie good enough, people will sit in the movie house for two hours, and for a film producer, you had the opportunity to make a LOT of money. Early in this video, they mention the lack of cutting in silent films. Griffith changed that. If you ever see an action movie where you start cross-cutting between our plucky heroine trying to escape a killer, and the heroes racing to save her-----that all started with "A Birth Of A Nation." But that being said, I can perfectly understand why a lot of people will refuse to watch this.
If you're as old as a redwood tree (well not quite) like me, you saw a restored print of BoaN in a real theater with a piano score being played, in the early 1980's. In a majorly liberal city where it would be picketed and probably banned outright now. The theatre was full, and the reaction was sort of "wow", stunned silence, but no booing from what was then a youthful audience. Ah, memories. Yes, it is awful propaganda, yes it is also important on the technical side as an example of film technique and cutting and direction. The saddest part is how a major actress of both silent and sound films is now trashed by the "woke'. P.C. crowd for acting in this film, because she never denounced D.W. Griffith for whom she did several films. Of course she acted in many ,many other films for different studios and directors but , she is marked by the activist crowd with an indelible scarlet letter. Lillian Gish.
I started with Metropolis as my introduction to silent cinema, which was a bad idea and only got through the first 30 minutes. Though a while later I saw The Gold Rush(not the 1942 version) which I absolutely loved. That film really got me into silent films. My favorites have to be City Lights and The Passion of Joan of Arc. I tried watching Metropolis a few years later and I loved it!
The most recent restoration of "Metropolis" does wonders for it. I feel like it's finally (again) the great film I always wanted it to be, but it never quite was before.
I understand that...Metropolis is a tough one to start with.
I’m watching metropolis rn and needed a break after 30 mins And now watching this video
One thing that I would personally recommend is to watch those movies in cinemas, when there's the chance. They get a whole other feeling when played to an audience that consists of more than one person and with a live band.
The only time I ever watched a film in a faster speed than it was was that I watched parts of Revenge of the Fallen faster bc I just wanted that movie to end (I was doing a project where I watched all the Transformers movies)
Seen almost 400 silent movies and I hate shorts =)
I would rather recommend starting with good quality well restored films that have digital Blu-ray versions, like the stuff you can find on Criterion. When you get used to it, you can freely watch and enjoy masterpieces like The Crowd, The Wind, other Sjostrom/Murnau films without good restoration.
And never forget to maximize "cinema experience". Dark room, no pauses, just sit or lie still for two hours.
I'm told that the classic 1931 version of DRACULA starring Bela Lugosi was released as a silent movie in addition to being released as a "talkie."
I’ve been watching Les Vampires and I have been taking my time to do one act a day. It’s split up already for me so it doesn’t bother me much but compared to modern movies, I can’t have distractions like people talking because you won’t understand what is going on despite it being a silent movie
Speaking of silent films, I remember reading about some well-respected silent film director who died unexpectedly. I don't think his movies won any Oscars (the first Oscars were awarded as the silent film era was rapidly ending), but contemporary film critics called him "the first of the immortals". They genuinely thought that a hundred years hence, film fans would be talking about this guy the way people did about Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
They were wrong. It's not that his film dated badly, it's that they didn't survive. NONE of the reportedly great films this guy made survived. And were it not for Google, I would not even know the name of this man----George Loane Tucker.
The comedy reccomenations are great.
For dramas:
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Greed (1924)
The Big Parade (1925)
Wings (1927)
The Crowd (1928)
I love silent films. I feel like the less limitations film makers had over the years have made them lazy. CGI is far worse than practical effects and Jaws was fantastic because the Shark sunk early on in production forcing a suspense narrative. Just think how far movies with a limited budget have gone with ingenuity while multi-million dollar films like the last few Star Wars movies were crap when they had unlimited funds in their production.
The actress in Joan of Arc is quite mesmerizing. What a face. Also, I agree that the narrated version of The Gold Rush is terrible. Chaplin ruins his own movie so only watch the original version.
Just discovered your channel. Good job man. Only a matter of time before it blows up. What Harold Loyd movie was that at 4:59 ? With all the colt single actions?
"Only a matter of time before it blows up"
Here's hoping! That shot is from Lloyd's 1920 short An Eastern Westerner. It's pretty awesome.
Eyebrow Cinema thanks
I'm totally "At Home" with a good beverage popcorn And a really Good silent Film.☺️
I have only been able to watch Buster Keaton films
Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters or William Haines in Brown of Harvard were good ones or Marion Davies in The Patsy.
“3 hour hate crime” is the most accurate description of that film I’ve ever heard
Credit where it's due, I believe that line was inspired by Kyle Kallgren and his video on The Birth of a Nation.
@@EyebrowCinemaI’ll give it a watch
For anyone that likes FX driven specticals, check out Fritz Lang's Destiny. You won't want to blink for fear of missing a single frame.
Yes!! I'm not an expert on film by any means, but I am a HUGE history nerd, and I've loved silent films from the first one I saw (Chaplin's Dough And Dynamite). The comedies are definitely some of the best places to start, in my opinion, since they are so engaging, but ultimately I think silent films are underappreciated these days. Also, I think it would be interesting to see a modern director try to make a new version of a silent film (no dialogue except in title cards, but with a score built in instead of played by musicians at the theatre. I think it'd provide a fun opportunity for filmmakers to play with pure cinema).
Wouldn't you need to have the speed at 2x in order to watch movies in half the time?
to ignore valentino is to ignore the silent era. he changed how film saw women, men, and non whites. valentino changed culture. and no one in the silent era had as much charisma or beauty than valentino. he was the classic non verbal image
Sunrise, Metropolis, the artistic achievement (though not the man himself; do some reading from non-fanboy authors) of Chaplin, and the work of Lon Chaney. "Wind" with Lilian Gish, and for some incoherent spectacle "Intolerance" by D.W. Griffith. For comedy and in the case of Lloyd daring stunts there are Keaton and Harold Lloyd. For swashbuckling diversion and stunts (he did his own) there are the 1920's films of Douglas Fairbanks Senior. That's just a sampling and I've left out many more excellent films. Then there are unforgettable scenes from what was propaganda: the famous Odessa steps sequence where civilians are massacred fleeing from Czarist infantry. (Battleship Potemkin).
Omg had to watch “Metropolis” to some looping piano jazz. It was horrific lmao
Great video! I have to confess, I turned on ×2 for Intolerance on TH-cam and accompanied Man with a Movie Camera with my own soundtrack. Please forgive me.
Anyway, some of my fav silents films include:
- Modern Times
- The Kid
- Safety Last
- One Week
- Battleship Potempkin
- Metropolis
- A Trip to the Moon
No judgement! I certainly understand why those choices are made. Especially for something like Intolerance, which is a behemoth. Those are some excellent picks btw. I see your into Chaplin and Lloyd, have you given Keaton a look yet?
@@EyebrowCinema One Week is one of Keaton's shorts. I have watched some of his other work too (The General, Sherlock Jr, The Cameraman).
For some reason I missed One Week when I read through your list. You definitely seem like you have a pretty solid backdrop in silent movies.
I strongly disagree with the watching in 1.5× speed debate. I personally find normal speed too slow. He'll, I'm watching this very video on 2x speed, like every other video. Watching films in 1.5x or 2x speed is fun and a lot more entertaining. If it doesn't work for you, that's all good, but leave the ones who enjoy it better that way. We don't "miss" anything. We just can process things faster. I watched "There will be blood" in 1.5x speed and still loved the film. The visuals, the acting, the soundtrack all felt gripping. Same goes for comedies. The timing isnt off by much, its even funnier at times. The only exception is musicals. Aside from that most movies, especially dramas and thrillers are gret to watch in X speed.
Don't listen to anyone who judges your way of watching a film, or listening to an audiobook, just because their filmsnob ass can't handle it. Theyre no incharge of how your brain processes information.
This is good fucking video! Thanks for making it!
My pleasure. Thanks for watching.
The song in the beginning, which chaplin movie was that from?
I'd say to anyone to try The Artist (2011) first. If you have a palate for that I say then delve in the stuff that inspired that
This video is epic
Thank you, Lauren :D
I feel like #4 only really applies to 'The Gold Rush' hahah... are there other silent films with sound versions? I know 'Modern Times' is kind of a hybrid.
It was actually fairly common in the early talkie era to take silents and re-fit them as part-talkies and re-release them. "The Phantom of the Opera" comes to mind - I think the sound discs for that are all lost, but the most commonly available versions now are actually partly from the sound version, which makes for some weird moments. Hitchcock's "Blackmail" started as a silent and they decided to make it England's first talkie partway through production. Both silent and sound versions exist - the silent is much better.
Watching silent films high is a great experience!
I have a question: where can these films be found? DVDs are not available for many of them
Is there a way too see them leagally online? With the right soundtrack and restored?
Where do film students watch them? Thank you very much, brilliant video by the way
Great question. Streaming services like Criterion Channel tend to be the best for classic cinema (they're even running a spotlight on German Expressionism right now) and Netflix can sometimes surprise you with what they have. If there's ever a specific movie you're looking for, you can always try TH-cam. Yeah, it's a roll of the dice in terms of quality, but sometimes you can find proper restorations with the right score. Services like Kanopy or Hoopla (which are accessed through local libraries) are also worth a look.
Thanks for a great question and for your kind words.
Also, if you have an actual disc player, Netflix's mail delivery service still exists and has a vastly wider and deeper catalog than their streaming service, including quite a lot of silents.
I agree...
I'm 19 and I've never had a problem watching a silent film.
I used to enjoy charlie chaplin when i was a kid.
What it really boils down to this----do you have trouble reading subtitles? I don't, and reading titles in silent movies is easier. (I honestly wonder why nobody has made a silent movie with subtitles as opposed to titles, but that's another story.) But if you don't like ANY movie that requires you to read, you're going to have a problem with silent films.
I tried to watch nosferatu on a horror film collection DVD and they put fucking ROCK WITH WORDS IN THE ENTIRE THING ruined it I wasn't able to pay attention
Are you going to analyze any Luis Bunuel movies?
No plans at the moment. My experience with Bunuel is all over the place. Fascinating person though.
Disagree with the music part, 95% of scores on silent films you find already are worse choices than just giving it your own soundtrack, of course intrusive songs aren't a good idea, but there's plenty of music out there that will generally assist the experience
The more I watch silent films the more I realize it was the only time cinema was pure art.
Scott Moore amen to that!!
Elithist very much sir?
@@madmau indeed
6:37 what if I’m watching them ON my phone!?
I only watched Nosferatu , and I think it was good experience
Glad to hear! If you liked Nosferatu, maybe consider watching some other silent horror. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is really awesome and so is the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera. Both are extraordinary rich visually and put forth some very compelling cinematic monsters.
Eyebrow Cinema Nosferatu and Caligari are two of my favorites. It’s amazing that they are 100 years old. Even to this day, there’s never been another film quite like Caligari.
I actually watched a version of Buster Keaton's The Cameraman that had baffling techno music blasting throughout.
We seriously need to make an extended argument now for staying off your phone while watching a movie? EDIT: And not fast-forwarding through a movie?
It's time to burn it all down and start from scratch.
I sort of get the phone thing. They've become such a ubiquitos part of our lives and can foster a habit of constantly checking. Fast-fowarding a movie though, that shit's just weird. I remember the guy telling me beaming with pride too.
@@EyebrowCinema Sure, I understand where the phone thing comes from. It's just a sad commentary on where we are culturally. I put off getting a smartphone for years because I knew what would happen to my attention span, etc., once I had one. And I was right. Though I still put it on "do not disturb" when I watch a movie.
15:24 that was goddamn funny
Loved the video as always... But ironically ended up watching it at 2x speed. :P
i watched this video with the volume off
Underrated
10:42 damn Leo hasn't aged a bit
13:13
My content is pretty much only Buster Keaton movies with songs from B Fachada.
I have used all of his recorded content, and there are still movies left. Check it:
Start with "Brilliant Sherlock Jr.", "The Love Best" or "The General Beauty"...
What is the name of the film at 0:58?
Battleship Potemkin
@@EyebrowCinema Thank you.
I would not have been able to hide my disgust if someone told me they watched films at 1.5 speed.
Apparently Buster Keaton is as a big influence on jar jar Binks
Hey what about Mel Brooks' Silent Movie
Valid point.
It had its moments, but I felt as though Brooks may have been trying too hard. Parts of it feel way too overworked.
15:15 and 6:23 what movies are those?
I don't know what 15:15 is, but 6:23 is "Un Chien Andalou"
15:15 is Metropolis.
whats the movie at 6:26. I dont know how to spell the words he said.
Un Chien Andalou
7:45 Who is the badass skeleton dude?
8:16 I guess Chaplin was the George Lucas of his day
Without sound!!!!... I watch my dvd of silent films in complete silence only the image of the movie
"charlie chaplin tried to entertain and he ended up creating art. some try to make art and they don't even entertain."
Les grands comiques qui ont le mieux passés le temps et ou leurs films n ont pas pris une rides sont les rois du rires Stan et Ollie sont les maitres absoluts puis Buster Keaton .
My view speeds:
Movies, shows, lore videos: 1.0x
Research: 1.25x
Product reviews: 1.5x
DIY help videos: 2.0x
Fair enough? 😅
What’s the movie at 10:59 ?
D.W. Griffith's Intolerance.
As someone who's destroyed her own attention span with TH-cam's speed options, the thought of speeding up an older film is simultaneously tempting and incredulous to me. I can like, sympathize? with the people who watch things at 1.5 speed, but I don't actually understand when it comes to "real" media (suck it, TH-camrs (this is a joke (or is it))). Watching a film or episode of television faster than intended is insulting to the people working on the film at every level- actors putting in emotional beats, editors picking exactly how long or short any particular shot takes of the total viewing time, the musical complexities, etc, etc, etc. If you need to get through something fast, why are you watching a movie? Why can't you watch it in more than one sitting?
And while I have watched episodes of television sped up slightly, they're ONLY the ones I've seen so many times I could recite them back-to-front, and I just need a hit of serotonin from watching Community's Remedial Chaos Theory one more time.
Anyway **watches this video at 1.5 speed**
This comment is a work of art.
I think you hit on something really important regarding how TH-cam in particular has altered attention spans, not only by offering speed options, but also by flooding the internet with so much media that individual pieces don't hold much value in and of themselves. Even as a TH-camr (god, what cringey term), I share your distinction between youtube videos and "real" media. I don't alter the speed of videos, but I will watch stuff fairly casually while I'm cooking, getting ready, or doing basic housework in a way that I never would with a movie.
I'd also say there's a difference when it comes to modifying the viewing experience for something you're readily familiar with. In fact, I think that can be a potentially illuminating experience. I've recently been thinking about doing a viewing of 2001: A Space Odyssey without sound given how expressive the visual storytelling is. That'd obviously be a horrid way to watch the film for the first time (especially given how amazing the film's sound design is), but after seeing the film a half dozen or so times I think it'd be an interesting experience.
Anyway, I hope my silly jokes still land at 1.5 times speed.
With eyes, I suppose.
It seems like a generational thing that people need to be tutored on how to watch silent movies. Weird. And of course also the obligatory f word because nowadays the only adjective so many people have access to is f******.
love em all keystone cops ???
Laurel and Hardy
With your eyes. The end
9:10 I'm actually watching this on 1.5x speed🤭🤭