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The Earliest Films in the History of Cinema

admin — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The earliest history of cinematic film spans from its origins in North America and Europe in the 1880s until a decade later when the Lumiere Brothers made their fortune on the first working movie projector. By 1900, Charles Pathe was successful in establishing a highly reputable film studio in Britain. Small picture machines called nickelodeons were introduce in Pittsburgh in 1905. The nickelodeon was merely a novelty that would fade, but cinematic films would last far into the twentieth century.

In 1908, the Motion Picture Patents Company along with Eastman/Kodak became the leader in cinematic film released and distributed throughout the United States. At the same time in France, film entrepreneur Leon Gaumont created a successful film studio that still operates in France today.

By the Armistice of 1918, the epicenter of filmmaking in the United States shifted from Chicago to Los Angeles. Filmmaking in Europe was almost non-existent after the devastation of the First World War. The 1920′s was an exciting time for silent filmmaking in Hollywood with like Rudolph Valentino and Charlie Chaplin making cinematic history.

In conclusion, the history of silent film is a window into the beginning of media powerhouse that has a lasting legacy today.

The Top Ten Silent Films Ever Made

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

An era of films long forgotten, silent films have been criminally overlooked by today’s blockbuster, slam-bang, 3-D-everything, big budget movies. Does today’s generation even know who Charlie Chaplin is? Arguably the best triple-threat director/actor/writer of silent films, his productions beautifully brought soundless cinema to life.

Other notables and pioneers of the silent film era include D.W. Griffith, Buster Keaton and Sergei Eisenstein, who also told their stories visually and paved the way for directors like Kubrick and Hitchcock. The list of notable silent films is lengthy, but there are 10 that have stood the test of time and should not be missed.

10. A Trip to the Moon (1902) – directed by Georges Melies
9. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) – the Edgar Allan Poe story directed James Sibley Watson
8. The General (1927) – considered Buster Keaton’s greatest film
7. Metropolis (1927) – A masterpiece by Fritz Lang
6. October (1927) – also known as Ten Days that Shook the World and is the last silent film of director Sergei Eisenstein
5. Battleship Potemkin (1925) – directed by Sergei Eisenstein
4. Birth of a Nation (1915) – D.W. Griffith, and hailed as the first true blockbuster
3. City Lights (1931) – Charlie Chaplin
2. Modern Times (1936) – Charlie Chaplin
1. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) – Maria Falconetti

The Best Silent Films in the Vault

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Silent films didn’t need sound to deliver some of the best comedy, drama, horror and spectacle to ever grace the silver-screen. When it comes to the best of silent cinema, these are the movies that are most often mentioned

City Lights; This Charlie Chaplin film is considered his best and most heartwarming. In it, the lovable tramp comes to the city, falls in love with a blind flower girl, and pretends to be a millionaire in order to woo her.

Nosferatu; Even though it was an unauthorized adaption of “Dracula”, Nosferatu has become a legend in it’s own right.

The Phantom of the Opera; This was the first of the Universal Monster movies, and one of the most lavish films ever made at the time.

The General; A classic Buster Keaton action-comedy about a young railroad engineer who must rescue his beloved train when it is hijacked by Union soldiers.

Metropolis; The first complete science fiction film, and the most expensive movie ever made once adjusted for inflation. It’s special effects are still considered remarkable.

Intolerance; Considered director D.W. Griffiths magnum opus, Intolerance is a sprawling epic which features what is still one of the largest movie sets ever created.

The Silent films You Should See

admin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The silent film era remains one of the most interesting of all the eras of film history. Sadly, many silent films are lost and gone forever due to the destruction of thousands of prints to procure their silver nitrate component when WWII arrived. Other prints were simply lost or destroyed. Of the archives that do remain, there are some truly stunning silent films of from the early part of the 2oth century. The following is a short list of the top ones:

The Birth of a Nation: Highly controversial, D.W. Griffith’s epic of the Reconstruction Era was the highest grossing film of the silent period: 10 million at the box office.

The Phantom of the Opera: Lon Chaney Sr.’s Hunchback of Notre Dame was a bigger hit but the tale of the Phantom was the more impactful and remembered horror film from the 1920′s.

The Ten Commandments: Another sweeping historical epic that was a huge hit at the time. Sadly, this silent version of Moses’ life is overshadowed by the 1950′s remake with Charlton Heston.

Metropolis: No, Metropolis was not the first sci-fi film of the silent era but it has become the most historically influential. The themes in this strange world of the future still resonate in modern times.Want to know more? Go ahead: maudit: “This shot is the most expensive shot in silent film…