Silent Movies

[Royd 0]

I just purchased a set of 20, Alfred Hitchcock movies, at Walmart, and there are several, two hour long, silient movies, on the set.
What a discovery. The actors had to actually act, to get the story across. They actually quote lines, and if you were a lip reader, you could follow along. Subtitles are generally, only used at the change of scene.
One thing's for sure. You can't watch the movie and be participating in some other activity.

[quade 4]

Movies, good ones, are fundamentally different than any other story form. They rely mostly on the visual and their juxtapositions. The really great directors know this. Hitchcock did specifically from his work in silent film.

I find it interesting that both Woody Allen and George Lucus have both stated how UNimportant dialog is, yet in Allen's case he clearly goes to a great deal of trouble to work on that and in Lucas' case he uses dialog almost like music with repeating themes. Understand, I'm not saying Lucas' dialog IS music, just that's his stated goal and if you listen to it you can hear the themes repeated. But above all story comes first, because if you get that right, you don't even need dialog.

Look at the first ten minutes of either "Wall-E" or "UP". Hardly a word is spoken, yet even if you removed what few words are spoken, you'd still get the gist of it.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[d_squared431 0]

I love those movies!

TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1
I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH
You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly

[ltdiver 3]

Quote

Look at the first ten minutes of either "Wall-E" or "UP". Hardly a word is spoken, yet even if you removed what few words are spoken, you'd still get the gist of it.

Agreed.

One of my favorite scenes in a movie, that paints the poetic picture of trust and growth occurring at the same time, is the island scene of Alec and The Black in "The Black Stallion". You don't even realize there is absolutely no verbal dialogue for more than 20 minutes until the next word is spoken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDuKpAseP6k&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ihzkEFwqE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG_di8VNcrY&NR=1

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[ryoder 1,590]

When I frist subscribed to NetFlix, I watched dozens of old classic movies including a lot of Hitchcock's work.

Since then I have found it very interesting how many scenes you run across in newer moves and TV shows that reference the old classics. e.g. There is an episode of "Scrubs" that did a parody of a famous scene from an old Hitchcock film, but if you hadn't seen the movie, you would never have realized what they were doing.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[tbrown 26]

The three that come to my mind are Charlie Chaplin movies, Harold Lloyd films, and a seventies remake of "Nosferatu", with Klaus Kinski.

The other morning, as I was eating breakfast before leaving for work, there were a series of Harold Lloyd films on a cable station. He and Charlie Chaplin are both so astonishingly brilliant it's almost impossible to explain - you just have to watch them.

Then a while back, I rented the seventies re-make of "Nosferatu", a 1920's classic Dracula film. Something about the pacing got to me and caused me to mute the soundtrack completely - only to discover that no sound track was needed at all ! The entire film had been shot and paced exactly as though it were a silent film to begin with. It was even better without any soundtrack at all, though at least in the olden days, music had been added.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[marcandalysse 0]

how about movies with no dialog, only sounds? are they 'silent movies'?

chaplin's last 'silent movie' Modern Times, had music and sound effects. The only words came from a type of tv set. The Tramp sings a nonsense song at the end, the only sounds ever heard from him in all the Tramp flims.

The Triplets of Belleville is a recent animated movie with no dialog yet it is easy to understand what is happening....highly recommended!

"The reason angels can fly is that they take themselves so lightly." --GK Chesterton

[ElJosh 0]

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When I frist subscribed to NetFlix, I watched dozens of old classic movies including a lot of Hitchcock's work.

Since then I have found it very interesting how many scenes you run across in newer moves and TV shows that reference the old classics. e.g. There is an episode of "Scrubs" that did a parody of a famous scene from an old Hitchcock film, but if you hadn't seen the movie, you would never have realized what they were doing.

Some shows rely completely on this principle, Family Guy comes to mind.

DS #149
Yes I only have 3 jumps...it's the magic number dude.

[davjohns 1]

Downtown Birmingham has the Alabama Theater, built in the 20's. It has oak and stained glass and all the splendor of that era. It has a pipe organ to accompany silent movies. At Halloween, they play the Lon Chaney version of Phantom of the Opera accompanied by the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. The ushers are dressed as the grim reaper. What a great way to spend an evening. Silent movies can be great.

I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

[Royd 0]

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how about movies with no dialog, only sounds? are they 'silent movies'?

I guess you have a point, but how many of us, would voluntarily sit and listen to a two hour musical score, no matter how well presented.
In the movies which I have watched, I never heard a repeat of the music.
Today's movies, seem to have a theme song, and it underlies the whole movie.

[ifell 0]

To quote Mr. Hitchcock himself: If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on.

Another funny one: The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder

I did enjoy his talkies more then his silent films but everything he made was wonderful!