Hello all. I'm currently the only active moderator on this community. Due to LiveJournal's newest Terms of Service, I will be leaving LiveJournal soon.

I have moved the community over to Dreamwidth, and it can be found here at silent_films (As of 3:00PM Central time on 7 April 2017, it's in the process of being transferred over to DW; please allow ( Read more... )

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone on this board might be able to make suggestions of silent films/particular scenes that might illustrate these concepts:

Creating suspense
Shocking the viewer
Teasing the viewer
Showing not telling

Many thanks in advance!

Has anyone seen this great Anna May Wong film? It's a British silent (which must explain the bizarre billed Charles Laughton cameo...can someone explain to me why having Laugton play a grumpy customer would attract audiences? He's there for five minutes! At least he distracts us form Gilda Gray's horrible dancing) made at the end of the era. There' ( Read more... )

Originally posted by irigaraysw at Please check out my friend, Matías Bombal's Facebook and Youtube page for his program, Hollywood
"Matías Bombal’s Hollywood" presents movie reviews of new films currently playing or coming soon at a theatre near you. This page takes you behind the scenes and allows you to interact with the show's host, Matías Bombal ( Read more... )

Dear silent film community,

Also see my page about these early technologies and media for recording and film if you are interested.

Thank you!

irigaraysw

http://until-talkies.livejournal.com/468.html

I'm currently working on a dissertation that involves the development of mechanical, electric, and eventually digital technologies in the United States and STRONG FEMALE LEADS. So far, it's been a wild ride and an amazing endeavor to start on my own. TO START, I'd love to communicate with a community of people who share my interests of silent film ( Read more... )

"The Butler" is a 1916 short film that Warner Brothers' currently owns. It stars Davy Don and Florence Williams. I'm assuming it's still around (I haven't seen it yet) because I doubt WB would cause such a fuss over a lost film. WB has sued TWC for using the title of "The Butler" for their new film starring Forrest Whitaker and Oprah. A judge ( Read more... )

EW released what they consider the top 100 films. Of course, not a lot of silents were on the list. "Sunrise", "The Gold Rush" and "Intolerance" might have been it (I'll have to check it out again. I'd post a link, but I'm crunched for time here. I'm sure someone can find it online ( Read more... )

I started watching silent films a couple years ago and have since seen all of Mary Pickford's films that are available on DVD or VHS, as well as Ben-Hur and Wings. I'd like to watch other silent films, too, but aren't sure where to start. Could someone please recommend some to me? I prefer drama to comedy, or a film with a mix of the two. Many ( Read more... )

I've heard through the grapevine that the only silent star represented this year is Ramon Novarro and it's on August 8th (my birthday!). Guess that means we'll see "Ben-Hur" at least. Wallace Beery (aug 17th) also started in some shorts, so maybe we'll see some of his - though doubtful ( Read more... )