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Watching Silent Films
by Watching Silent Films
Film podcast discussing the Silent era (1894 to 1929) and the importance these moving pictures still have in todays age. Every week, we watch silent films, then talk about it! Hosted by YiFeng, Lily, Bob, Diane, and Adam. For more details, visit us here: https://watchingsilentfilms.wordpress.com/
Episodes
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Metropolis (1927) - The End of an Era
A tantalizing futuristic wonder, Metropolis is a Silent lingering with choreography that makes your eyes wander throughout the tale as a spectacle like no other. Director Fritz Lang pulls out all the stops on what critics claim today as a creative masterpiece, Metropolis becoming an immediate...
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Safety Last! (1923)
One of the most well-known (dare we say famous!) silent films of all time due to a man dangling from the arm of a clock, Safety Last! anchored Harold Lloyd among the comedic greats of the moving pictures era. Lloyd plays a small-town "Boy" trying to make it in the big city, who finds employment…
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Sunrise (1927)
The fable-like, poignant story, subtitled A Song of Two Humans, Sunrise is an American silent melodramatic masterpiece by German director F.W. Murnau (In his American film debut) - a beautiful, atmospheric, lyrical and poetic work of art with roots in the German Expressionist movement (from 1914…
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The Wind (1928)
When Letty Mason (Lillian Gish), an impoverished young woman from Virginia, relocates to West Texas, she finds herself unsettled by the ever-present wind and sand. Arriving at her new home at the ranch of her cousin (Edward Earle) she receives a surprisingly cold welcome from his wife (Dorothy...
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The Haunted Castle (1921)
As a party of aristocrats gathers at the Vogelöd family manor house for a hunting weekend, the uninvited arrival of Count Oechst (Lothar Mehnert) interrupts their plans. While rumors persist that the urbane and disdainful Oechst may have murdered his own brother (Paul Hartmann), social discomfort...
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Journey into the Night (1921)
Post WW1, F.W. Murnau directs this German-Danish co-production, showcasing some of his best intentions toward future films. Der Gang in die Nacht (Journey into the Night) is derived from a screenplay by the Danish scenarist Harriet Bloch. It’s an example of the “nobility film,” a genre cultivated...
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The Knight of the Rose (Der Rosenkavalier, 1926)
In Robert Wiene's final film entry, Wiene proved that he not only had impeccable taste when it came to creating the rococo ambience of the original opera, but was also perceptively tuned into the ironic element which distinguishes Rosenkavalier as one of the major 20th century operas. The film is...
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I.N.R.I. (1923) With guest Diane!
By the director of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this is the Passion embedded in a contemporary story. An anarchist jailed for an attempted assassination is told the Passion story by the prison chaplain, who seeks to convince him that it is better to sacrifice one's own life than take the life of...
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The Gaucho (1927)
For the viewer who has grown accustomed to Douglas Fairbank's and his similar "themes," films dealing with swashbuckling or youth or joy, The Gaucho is a silent film classic that will strip away any misconceptions about what role Fairbanks will play or which type of character is best identified...
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Raskolnikow (1923)
"Crime and Punishment," the original story written in twelve monthly installments during 1866 by Dostoevsky, focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg who formulates a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her…
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City Lights (1931) Analysis (GUEST David from The Celluloid Historian) Part 2
The most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin, City Lights is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers…
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Genuine (1920)
Robert Wiene's Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire follows-up his massively successful 1919 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, using the same writer, production designer, and cinematographer who had worked on the previous film. Genuine (Fern Andra) is not actually a vampire in the film, but rather a vamp...
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City Lights (1931) (GUEST David from The Celluloid Historian) Part 1
The most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin, City Lights is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers…
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The Pleasure Garden (1925) with Guest host Diane!
Part of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock's "9," The Pleasure Garden marks his directorial debut with this British-German wonder. For the Master of Suspense, Hitchcock shows in this film many of the talents he would develop eventually, notably a great mastery of image composition and lighting,...
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Fear (1917)
With Autumn quickly approaching, WSF takes on another German expressionist silent horror written and directed by Caligari's Robert Wiene. FURCHT (FEAR) is the tale of Count Greven (Bruno Decarli)'s eventual descent into madness and hysteria with his obsession of collecting one too many of the...
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The Thief of Bagdad (1924) (GUEST Diane from The Silents Majority)
We rejoin Diane MacIntyre again this week as we talk about The Thief of Bagdad, starring Douglas Fairbanks. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, and directed by Raoul Walsh, this American silent swashbuckler film tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the...
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The Mark of Zorro (1920) (GUEST Diane from The Silents Majority)
When corrupt Governor Alvarado (George Periolat) crushes the poor people of Spanish California under his iron heel, wealthy fop Don Diego Vega (Douglas Fairbanks) sheds his silks, dons a mask and cape and becomes the legendary Zorro, defender of the people. Infuriated by Zorro's meddling…
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Intolerance - Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
In D.W. Griffith's "Masterpiece," Intolerance intercuts between four separate stories about man's inhumanity to man. In Babylon, pacifist Prince Belshazzar is brought down by warring religious factions. In Judea, the last days of Christ are depicted in the style of a Passion play. In France,...
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Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)
In Buster Keaton's last independent film for United Artists before moving on to MGM, this silent comedy is known for what might be considered Keaton's most famous film stunt: The facade of an entire house falling on top of him as he stands in the perfect spot to pass through the open attic window...
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Our Hospitality (1923) (GUEST Hay from All That Film!)
The Canfield and McKay families have been feuding for so long, no one remembers the reason the feud started in the first place. Twenty years later, Willie McKay (Keaton) receives a letter informing him that his late father's estate is now his. His aunt tells him of the feud, but he decides to...
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Three Ages (1923)
This clever parody of D. W. Griffith's INTOLERANCE follows Buster's hard-luck romantic adventures in his first independently produced feature film. Teeming with inventive flourishes, Buster tells of love and romance through three historical ages: from the dawn of man in the Stone Age, through the...
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Within Our Gates (1920)
Jilted by her fiance, Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer) returns down south to her roots, and takes a job teaching at the Piney Woods school for black children. With the school facing bankruptcy, Sylvia journeys north to Boston to try to raise funds. After much hardship, she secures the finances from a...
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Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Buster plays a movie projectionist who daydreams himself into the movies he is showing and merges with the figures and the backgrounds on the screen. While dreaming he is Conan Doyle's master detective, he snoops out brilliant discoveries. Buster plays a movie projectionist who daydreams himself...
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Buster Keaton Short Films Collection 1922-1923, Part III
As new generations discover the magic of silent cinema, Buster Keaton has emerged as one of the era’s most admired and respected artists. Behind the deadpan expression and trademark porkpie hat was a filmmaking genius who conceived and engineered some of the most breathtaking stunts and feats of...
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Buster Keaton Short Films Collection 1920-1923, Part II
As new generations discover the magic of silent cinema, Buster Keaton has emerged as one of the era's most admired and respected artists. Behind the deadpan expression and trademark porkpie hat was a filmmaking genius who conceived and engineered some of the most breathtaking stunts and feats of...
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Buster Keaton Short Films Collection 1920-1923, Part I
As new generations discover the magic of silent cinema, Buster Keaton has emerged as one of the era's most admired and respected artists. Behind the deadpan expression and trademark porkpie hat was a filmmaking genius who conceived and engineered some of the most breathtaking stunts and feats of...
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Strike (1925)
Russian auteur Sergei Eisenstein's first full-length feature, set just before the 1905 Bolshevik Revolution, depicts a workers' strike against their oppressive factory bosses. When a worker is accused of stealing a piece of machinery, he commits suicide, and his fellow employees revolt against…
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Every Woman's Problem (1917) / Mothers of Men (1921)
In an unnamed "western state" where women can vote, an all female political party fields a lady lawyer, Clara Madison, to run for superior court judge, which she wins after her husband declines to run against her. A fierce opposition newspaper editor is killed at the hands of bomb throwing…
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Gaumont Treasures AGB 1906-1907
Few individual artists have exerted as profound an influence upon the evolution of cinema as Alice Guy (later known as Guy-Blaché). With this collection of more than 60 films, culled from the world’s leading archives and carefully mastered, Guy may no longer be seen as a “woman filmmaker.” These...
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The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ (1906)
A 33-minute religious epic: The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ (1906) based on Tissot's The Life of Christ watercolors in 25 scenes. James Tissot The Life of Christ the complete set: https://amzn.to/3fPMBXj hosted by YiFeng, Lily, Bob Recorded on April 8, 2020
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Gaumont Treasures AGB 1897-1905
Few individual artists have exerted as profound an influence upon the evolution of cinema as Alice Guy (later known as Guy-Blaché). With this collection of more than 60 films, culled from the world’s leading archives and carefully mastered, Guy may no longer be seen as a “woman filmmaker.” These...
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The Cheat (1915)
Edith Hardy uses charity funds for Wall Street investments in hopes of buying some new gowns. She loses all the money and borrows from wealthy oriental Tori. When her husband gives her the amount she borrowed, Tori won't take it back, branding her shoulder with a Japanese sign of his ownership....
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A Man There Was (1917)
Terje Vigen lives happily with his wife and little girl on a small island in Norway. ... When he was finally freed in 1814 and can return home, he finds that his wife and daughter have died. He takes up a solitary life in his house overlooking the sea. One night he sees a British yacht in…
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Early Films 1910-1915
1908 to 1917 was a decade of major change in the film business. Here are a few highlights: American cinema saw an expansion out of New Jersey and New York, into Jacksonville, Florida, for warmer weather; it then took hold in Hollywood, California, between 1909 and 1915. “One-reeler” films (1000ft...
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L'Inferno (1911)
Dante is barred from entering the hill of salvation by three beasts that bar his path (Avarice, Pride and Lust). Beatrice descends from above and asks the poet Virgil to guide Dante through the Nine Circles of Hell. Virgil leads Dante to a cave where they find the river Acheron, over which Charon...
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Early Films 1908-1910
1908 to 1917 was a decade of major change in the film business. Here are a few highlights: American cinema saw an expansion out of New Jersey and New York, into Jacksonville, Florida, for warmer weather; it then took hold in Hollywood, California, between 1909 and 1915. “One-reeler” films (1000ft...
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Early Films 1888-1897
1888 is a somewhat arbitrary year to begin this series, but it evens out the decades to finish up 130 years later. Since there was no reliable way to project movies until 1896, most of this post is considered “pre-cinema.” 1896 was also the year that movies were shown outside of Europe and the...
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Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016)
The film centres around the 1978 discovery of 533 reels of film in Dawson City. These works had been sealed within a swimming pool. The unearthed reels tell the story of Dawson City, the dawn of 20th century America, and Hollywood in the silent era. hosted by YiFeng, Lily and Bob. referenced…
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Robin Hood (1922)
The Earl of Huntingdon (Douglas Fairbanks) learns from his beloved Lady Marian Fitzwalter (Enid Bennett) that the throne of King Richard the Lion-Hearted (Wallace Beery) has been usurped by his treacherous brother, Prince John (Sam De Grasse) while the king was off fighting the Crusades.…
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The General (1926)
One of the most revered comedies of the silent era, this film finds hapless Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) facing off against Union soldiers during the American Civil War. When Johnny's fiancée, Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), is accidentally taken away while on a train…
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Battleship Potemkin (1925)
When they are fed rancid meat, the sailors on the Potemkin revolt against their harsh conditions. Led by Vakulinchuk (Aleksandr Antonov), the sailors kill the officers of the ship to gain their freedom. Vakulinchuk is also killed, and the people of Odessa honor him as a symbol of revolution....
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Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922)
In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals…
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Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922)
A hybrid of documentary and fiction, this silent film explores the history of witchcraft, demonology and satanism. It shows representations of evil in a variety of ancient and medieval artworks, offers vignettes illustrating a number of superstitious practices and presents a narrative about the...
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The Hands of Orlac (1924)
YiFeng & Lily discuss In the Hands of Orlac (1924) directed by Robert Wiene Referenced: Maltin on Movies Ken Burns Hands of Orlac book The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells Island of Lost Souls The Man Who Laughs Seven Samurai Recorded October 12th, 2019
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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
YiFeng & Lily discuss The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) directed by Robert Wiene Referenced: The Catcher in the Rye Mise-en-scène Recorded October 5th, 2019
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Body And Soul (1925)
YiFeng & Lily talk about Oscar Micheaux's Body and Soul (1925). Here are the films referenced on this podcast: Kino Lorber box set Pioneers of African-American Cinema (2015) Body & Soul (1925) Criterion version with new musical score composed by trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. Ruggles of Red Gap…
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Where Are My Children? (1916)
YiFeng & Lily chat about this Lois Weber directorial feature; Recorded September 20th, 2019
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Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018)
YiFeng & Lily chats about Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018) by Pamela B. Green https://benaturalthemovie.com/;Recorded on September 13th, 2019
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The Birth of a Nation (1915)
YiFeng & Lily chats about G.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915); Recorded on September 6th, 2019
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The Dawn of Cinema, Part II of II
YiFeng & Lily wrap up the dawn of cinema by chatting about Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune) from 1902 and Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery from 1903. 00:00 What our podcast is about! ~2:00 Film preservation/restorations ~14:00 Context of Part II ~16:30 Lily's...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Film podcast discussing the Silent era (1894 to 1929) and the importance these moving pictures still have in todays age. Every week, we watch silent films, then talk about it! Hosted by YiFeng, Lily, Bob, Diane, and Adam. For more details, visit us here: https://watchingsilentfilms.wordpress.com/
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Watching Silent Films
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Watching Silent Films currently has 51 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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Film podcast discussing the Silent era (1894 to 1929) and the importance these moving pictures still have in todays age. Every week, we watch silent films, then talk about it! Hosted by YiFeng, Lily, Bob, Diane, and Adam. For more details, visit us here: https://watchingsilentfilms.wordpress.com/
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Watching Silent Films has 51 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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