Silent Era Challenge (Official, September 2023)

[sol]

Welcome to the:

Silent Era Challenge


Pictured: A selection of eligible films recommended by your host.
Goal
Watch films from the Silent Era. Discuss them.

Challenge runs from September 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023 in your local time zone.

Rules
- Each feature film (over 40 minutes) counts as one entry.
- 80 minutes of short films counts as one entry.
- Films must be watched one at a time and at single speed (not sped up).
- Rewatches are allowed and are good for the soul.
- Please include year of release when listing your viewings.

Eligibility
- Films made during the Silent Era in their respective country are eligible
- To be consistent with other Silent Era Challenges hosted, contemporary silent films are ineligible

Deadline
Final results will be posted at or after 1:30pm GMT on October 2 - at which point it will have been October everywhere in the world for more than a whole day.

Official Lists
- The Top 300 Silent Era Films
- Silent but not Forgotten
- iCM's Pre-1910s Top 100
- iCM's 1910s Top 100
- iCM's 1920s Top 100 - silent films only
- IMDb's Top 50 of the 1920s - silent films only
- IMDb's Top 50 of the 1910s

Unofficial Lists
- iCM Forum's Favourite Silent Films
- iCM Forum's Favourite Silent Movies, 2nd edition

- Cinemacom's 200 Important Silent Films
- BFI Screen Guide: 100 Silent Films
- St. Gloede's complementary silent selection

Challenge History
This challenge has been run many times in an Official capacity:
- 2022 Challenge - hosted by peeptoad and led by gunnar with 116 points

I'll add links to the other challenges later when I have more time

Bonus Challenge: Diversity
Silent Cinema is a more diverse film subset than it is often given credit for - and there is a lot to silent comedy beyond Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. I have handpicked five very different Silent Era films with under 400 checks for your consideration during this challenge, some (or all) of which you have may have missed since they are on less than two official lists. For every Sol Rec that you watch, you get a bonus challenge point. To win this challenge, watch all five recommendations, or at least one more than your fellow challenge participants.

Sol Recommendations:
a. Hamlet (1921)
b. Be My Wife (1921)
c. The Nut (1921)
d. Dr. Jack (1922)
e. Peau de pêche (1929)

@PUNQ51

Participants

Rank	Participant	Count	Sol Recommendations Seen
1	gunnar	56
2	PUNQ	51
3	RogerTheMovieManiac88	32
4	frwnk	25
5	klaus78	21	A
6	jal90	18
7	jdidaco	14
8	sol	12
9	frbrown	9
10	peeptoad	7
11	OldAle1	6
12	magnusbernhardsen	4
13	msainy	3	B
14	blocho	2	D
14	DudeLanez	2
14	vortexsurfer	2
17	ororama	1

[blocho]

How do we feel about a part-silent movie like Lonesome? Would it be eligible?

[msainy]

• 1. Finis terrae (1929)

J. Epstein on an island (sorry). Beautifully shot like every other Epstein film I've seen, with a bit of creativity in titlecards and sound design (similar but not as good as Sunrise). I thought the story was too basic but I found out later that it's a docudrama (?) of sort and all the cast are real people living there so it makes more sense.

[msainy]

• 2. Shoes (1916)

I think a dividing factor between good and bad silent films is their use of titlecards, not just aesthetically but how much information and text they put (or more importantly, omit) on screen. Lois Weber uses poetry to describe the feeling of the scene instead of stating the obvious and I loved that. It's a simple "faust-like" story of a working young woman who needs new shoes but can't afford them because she has a big family with a lazy father. The film opens with "She sold herself for a pair of shoes."

Spoiler

1. Finis terrae (1929)
2. Shoes (1916)

[msainy]

• 3. Be My Wife (1921)

Relevant

Charming, witty, and energetic. Never heard of Max Linder before but I'll sure check more of his films for this challenge. Thanks sol.

Log

1. Finis terrae (1929)
2. Shoes (1916)
3. Be My Wife (1921)

[sol]

• 3. Be My Wife (1921)

Charming, witty, and energetic. Never heard of Max Linder before but I'll sure check more of his films for this challenge. Thanks sol.

No problem; glad you enjoyed it. The common consensus with Max Linder seems to be that he would have been as big as Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd and Langdon, had he not committed suicide so early into his career. All of the features and shorts that I have seen from Linder are well worth checking out.

P.S.: Welcome back to the forum.

[sol]

How do we feel about a part-silent movie like Lonesome? Would it be eligible?

Has there been a ruling on these in the past? My gut feeling is that anything that is over 50% silent should qualify, but I'm happy to bow to past precedents.

[sol]

1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)



Lon Chaney is excellent here and the film milks of the irony of him being a clown who is too sad to laugh for all that it is worth. The idea of him meeting a sad man who cannot stop laughing is quite promising too as they try to help each other out. The film eventually becomes very bogged down though in Chaney's pining for his adoptive daughter as a romantic interest despite precious few scenes dedicated to him gradually falling in love. The middle stretch is solid though with Chaney ruing his inability to laugh and trying to carry on amidst haunting montages of smiling audience members. Great ending too.

[peeptoad]

How do we feel about a part-silent movie like Lonesome? Would it be eligible?

Has there been a ruling on these in the past? My gut feeling is that anything that is over 50% silent should qualify, but I'm happy to bow to past precedents.

I can't recall this coming up in the last couple of years, but it may have. In any case I'd agree with your ruling of it being more than 50% silent, then it's okay. It also falls fully within the silent era of film, so that's another nugget in its favor. If you were looking for nuggets, that is...

[frwnk]

01. The Pilgrim (1923) - 6 official lists
02. Hot Water (1924) - 1 official list
03. The Great K & A Train Robbery (1926) - 2 official lists
04. The Toll of the Sea (1922) - 1 official list
05. Riders of the Purple Sage (1925) - 1 official list

[sol]

Silent Running

1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)

2. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) REVISION



Harry Langdon's first feature film, this silent comedy casts him as a hapless cobbler's son who inadvertently enters a cross-country hiking contest. Revisited after half a decade, the film is slightly more impressive. The basic story is pretty average and highly episodic with numerous adventures during the days-long hike. The stunts though are great, including Langdon hanging onto a fence by his belt buckle, and sliding dangerously down a mountain on the fence. The cyclone effects towards the end are magnificent too, evoking the likes of Buster Keaton's One Week as a barbershop building rocks and sways.

[gunnar]

1,2
Mary and Gretel (1916) (7 minutes)
Max's Tragedy (1911) (13 minutes)
The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912) (14 minutes)
Max Takes Tonics (1911) (17 minutes)
Love (1919) (23 minutes)
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) (26 minutes)
The Tramp (1915) (26 minutes)
Daydreams (1915) (37 minutes)

3 - Sjæletyven (1916) - 7/10 - There have been a rash of jewel thefts recently so a wealthy lady hires a detective to protect her jewels. Nothing fancy, but a decent enough film for the time.

4 - Engelein (1914) - 6/10 - A couple had a child 5 years before they got married. They use a ruse to convince the child's uncle that their child is only a baby ad was born after their marriage so that the child can inherit his fortune. Years later, the girl, now 17, has to visit the uncle and convince him that she is only 12 years old. This is an odd film with the niece and uncle falling in love. It was okay, though not really really funny. Asta Nielsen was in her 30s at the time and while she may have been able to pass for 17, sh sure didn't look 12.

5 - Victory (1919) - 7.5/10 - Heyst likes to keep to himself for the most part. He lives on an otherwise deserted island in the South Seas. He visits a neighboring island and on impulse, helps a young woman escape and takes her back to his island. The woman's employer sends three thugs after them with talk of treasure.

6 - Behind the Door (1919) - 7.5/10 - Oskar Krug runs a taxidermist shop in a small town. After the U.S. declares war on Germany in 1917, he becomes the subject of harassment from his neighbors due to his German name, even though he was born in the U.S. and served in the navy. He re-enlists to satisfy their suspicions of him, but it isn't an end to his problems. Most of the story is told in flashback from the year 1925 when Krug returns to his old shop. It's a pretty good film, though Hobart Bosworth was too old for the role, even if his acting was fine.

7 - Filibus (1915) - 8/10 - Filibus is a female thief who flies around with her crew in a zeppelin, lowering herself down to the scenes of her crimes and then escaping back up to the ship. A detective starts his pursuit of her, but she often appears to be several steps ahead of him, even going so far as to disguise herself as a man in order to woo the detective's sister. It's a pretty entertaining film.

[blocho]

How do we feel about a part-silent movie like Lonesome? Would it be eligible?

Has there been a ruling on these in the past? My gut feeling is that anything that is over 50% silent should qualify, but I'm happy to bow to past precedents.

I can't recall this coming up in the last couple of years, but it may have. In any case I'd agree with your ruling of it being more than 50% silent, then it's okay. It also falls fully within the silent era of film, so that's another nugget in its favor. If you were looking for nuggets, that is...

Well, does anyone know if Lonesome is more or less than 50% silent?

[gunnar]

Well, does anyone know if Lonesome is more or less than 50% silent?

It's been a couple of years since I watched the film, but I think that the film is about 90% silent. They only added in three dialogue sequences to make it into a partial talkie.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Has there been a ruling on these in the past? My gut feeling is that anything that is over 50% silent should qualify, but I'm happy to bow to past precedents.

I can't recall this coming up in the last couple of years, but it may have. In any case I'd agree with your ruling of it being more than 50% silent, then it's okay. It also falls fully within the silent era of film, so that's another nugget in its favor. If you were looking for nuggets, that is...

Well, does anyone know if Lonesome is more or less than 50% silent?

It had three talkie sequences - that weren't directed by Fejős, as far as I recall - and was released as a silent in some parts. A beautiful late-silent film IMO. The Coney Island escapades dance with frivolity and playfulness.

[sol]

Silent Running

1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
2. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) REVISION

3. True Heart Susie (1919)



Lillian Gish has her strong moments as the title character here who is too shy to tell her neighbour that she loves him. Her disappointment is especially well conveyed whenever her co-star misses the opportunity to kiss her, most notably before departing to college. It is hard to feel for her character though who could have avoided all her jealousy by just being upfront in the first place. The film is technically well accomplished for a pre-20s pic with slick continuity editing between shot distance and location changes, solid reaction shots and some well-melded flashbacks, but as a narrative it seldom hits hard.

[klaus78]

1. Pollyanna (1920) 4/10
2. Maciste alpino (1916) 6/10

Shorts

Pickpock ne craint pas les entraves (1909) 6/10
Le locataire diabolique (1909) 6/10
The Disintegrated Convict (1907) 5/10
Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)
The Little Match Seller (1902) 6/10
Nouvelles luttes extravagantes (1901) 6/10
Le cochon danseur (1907) 3/10
Les résultats du féminisme (1906) 6/10
Le déshabillage impossible (1900) 6/10
Les Kiriki, acrobates japonais (1907) 6/10

[gunnar]

8 - The End of the World (1916) - 7.5/10 - A mine owner elopes with the daughter of one of the families in the town where his mine is situated. Years later, a comet is sighted approaching Earth and predictions are that it will cause a lot of destruction in that part of Europe. The mine owner uses this to try and make a fortune while also having a plan to ride out the devastation underground in his mine. The effects are pretty good here and while some of the acting is definitely old fashioned, the story remains interesting and human nature seems to have remained mostly unchanged in the century since the film was released.

9 - The Whispering Chorus (1918) - 7/10 - A man who works at a bank is tired of not having any money for himself and his family so on impulse, he embezzles money from a bank client. When his crime is about to be discovered, he fakes his own death and goes on the run, only to be caught years later and charged with murdering himself. It's a ridiculous idea and the film can be fairly melodramatic at times, but it is still a fairly entertaining film.

10 - South (1919) - 7.5/10 - A contemporary documentary about the Shackleton Antarctica expedition in 1914 that got stuck in the ice, stranding the explorers and sinking the ship. It uses actual footage from the expedition and is pretty interesting in that regard.

11 - The Warrior / Maciste alpino (1916) - 7/10 - A strongman is recruited to fight for the Italian army during WWI. It had some interesting scenery and action.

12 - A Trip to Mars (1918) - 6.5/10 - A navy captain / pilot decides that his oal is going to be building a spaceship and taking it to Mars. He spends a couple of years building it and then assembles a crew for the journey. The journey takes quite some time and people back on Earth fear that he is lost. The movie has some interest as an early science fiction film and there are some decent parts, but there are a number of implausibilities that took away a bit for me plus it got a little preachy once they reached Mars.

13 - Eerie Tales (1919) - 6/10 - This is an anthology with 5 short horror tales. It wasn't great, but it was mostly watchable.

14 - Atlantis (1913) - 7.5/10 - A Danish doctor has had a paper rejected and his wife is mentally ill and has to be committed to an institution. His parents convince him to do some traveling to get away from his problems for a while. He eventually travels to the United States on a ship that runs into some problems and meets a couple of different women during his journeys. I was expecting something a bit different based on the title, but it is still a good film with some nice scenes.

Silent, but deadly

1,2
Mary and Gretel (1916) (7 minutes)
Max's Tragedy (1911) (13 minutes)
The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912) (14 minutes)
Max Takes Tonics (1911) (17 minutes)
Love (1919) (23 minutes)
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) (26 minutes)
The Tramp (1915) (26 minutes)
Daydreams (1915) (37 minutes)

3 - Sjæletyven (1916) - 7/10
4 - Engelein (1914) - 6/10
5 - Victory (1919) - 7.5/10
6 - Behind the Door (1919) - 7.5/10
7 - Filibus (1915) - 8/10

[sol]

Silent Running

1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
2. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) REVISION
3. True Heart Susie (1919)

4a. Figures de cire (1914) 11min
4b. Easy Street (1917) 27min
4c. The Cure (1917) 20min
4d. Love (1919) 22min



Figures de cire starts of simply enough with a man taking a wager that he can spend a night alone in a wax museum without going insane. There are not that many scares and the film relies a little too heavily on lengthy title cards and letters to move the plot along, but damn, the ending hits hard, and all the moreso since the film very abruptly ends without any traditional resolution or conventional denouement in sight.

In Easy Street, Chaplin plays a sinner convinced to reform in church, which leads to him deciding to become a police officer. Naturally, he is accepted straight away. If one suspends disbelief, we certainly get some very innovative comedic moments - most notably a part where Chaplin wrestles a criminal's head into a streetlamp, the gas from which knocks him out. Most of the film though is just comedic scurrying around.

While I had it unchecked on iCM, The Cure instantly seemed familiar, especially the early revolving door routine. I then I recalled that it featured very prominently in the Unknown Chaplin miniseries that I watched last year. Viewing the entire short, I also liked Chaplin's slipping and sliding around to avoid a rough masseuse, and the way kept stepping on an injured foot, but the revolving door is the really the best gag.

Love was surprisingly excellent. Fatty Arbuckle is not usually a silent clown who is associated with great stunts, and the stunts here are amazing. Admittedly, it is mostly the supporting performers doing the stunts, but with people flying through the air, repeatedly falling down deep wells and getting their heads stuck in open windows, there are several amazing bits and pieces. Arbuckle's "Fordette" is incredibly funny too.

Note: There are a number of other Chaplin shorts that I have never seen beyond the two that I watched in this batch, and in fact far more than I thought. I guess I have just always been more of a Keaton and Lloyd guy. After all, I completed Keaton's available shorts years ago, and I have seen all of Lloyd's official shorts (and many unofficial shorts), but with Chaplin I have a comparative gaping hole. I might try to squeeze in some more this month; we'll see.

[frwnk]

06. Fantômas contre Fantômas (1914)
07. Erotikon (1929)
08. Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (1926)
09. My Best Girl (1927)
10.1. Vormittagsspuk (1928) - 6 min
10.2. Filmstudie (1926) - 7 min
10.3. Jeux des reflets et de la vitesse (1925) - 8 min
10.4. La marche des machines (1927) - 9 min
10.5. Lichtspiel Opus 1. (1921) - 13 min
10.6. Brumes d'automne (1929) - 15 min
10.7. Frankenstein (1910) - 16 min
10.8. Montparnasse (1929) - 17 min
11.1. The Girl and Her Trust (1912) - 17 min
11.2. Emak-Bakia (1927) - 18 min
11.3. Polizeibericht Überfall (1928) - 21 min
11.4. Les mystères du château de Dé (1929) - 27 min

all films from "Paul Rotha's Silent but Not Forgotten" official list

[sol]

Silent Running

1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
2. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) REVISION
3. True Heart Susie (1919)
4a. Figures de cire (1914) 11min
4b. Easy Street (1917) 27min
4c. The Cure (1917) 20min
4d. Love (1919) 22min

5. So’s Your Old Man (1926) REVISION



This has an amusing premise as W.C. Fields invents an unbreakable glass only for things going awry when he attempts to market it in the city. His glass woes are only a small part of the film though, and viewed for a second time, it feels like the movie would have done better to play up this angle and his troubles on the train ride back home with bungled suicide attempts. What we instead get is half of the film dedicated to an affluent passenger who Fields meets on the train later visiting him and causing townsfolk to see him as a less of a failure, and fun as Fields is as arrogant inventor, satire is not what he does best.

[gunnar]

15-19 - Barrabas (1919) (438 minutes) - 7/10 - A banker named Strélitz is a criminal mastermind who uses lies, blackmail, and intimidation to get what he wants. A lawyer and several others set out to bring him down, but it isn't easy. This is a good crime thriller. It meanders quite a bit early on, but becomes much better and more interesting in the second half. I would put it about on par with Judex, but well below Tih Minh.

20 - Germinal (1913) - 8/10 - Etienne Lantier is fired from his job for standing up to a supervisor. It isn't long before he gets another job as a miner, but there are problems there as well. This leads to the workers going on strike and protesting conditions there. I read and loved the novel back in high school, though it's been nearly 40 years now since I read the book. I enjoyed the film and it seems modern in a number of ways, not just in the 2.5 hour runtime.

21 - The Cossack Whip (1916) - 6.5/10 - Cossacks raid a town looking for revolutionaries. Darya is a girl who evades capture, but her sister isn't so lucky. Darya has some help and manages to escape to London, but later returns as a ballerina bent on revenge. Viola Dana isn't bad in the lead role, but the story is still kind of simple and could stand to be fleshed out more.

22 - The Witness for the Defense (1919) - 7.5/10 - Stella and Dick are in love, but their families each want them to marry someone with better prospects. Stella's selfish father convinces her to make a bad marriage to a captain stationed in India. This was pretty good.

23 - Satan Triumphant (1917) - 6/10 - A strict pastor urges his congregation to resist temptations. However, he finds it hard to resist when Satan shows up at his home and works his 'magic'. In the second part, the pastor's son, Sandro, faces a similar problem. Unfortunately, the ending for each part of the film is lost so they do a quick recap.

This gets me the platinum on the ICM 1910s list. I'm going to take a break from silents to make some progress on the British lists before coming back to work on the ICM 1920s list.

Silent, but deadly

1,2
Mary and Gretel (1916) (7 minutes)
Max's Tragedy (1911) (13 minutes)
The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912) (14 minutes)
Max Takes Tonics (1911) (17 minutes)
Love (1919) (23 minutes)
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) (26 minutes)
The Tramp (1915) (26 minutes)
Daydreams (1915) (37 minutes)

3 - Sjæletyven (1916) - 7/10
4 - Engelein (1914) - 6/10
5 - Victory (1919) - 7.5/10
6 - Behind the Door (1919) - 7.5/10
7 - Filibus (1915) - 8/10
8 - The End of the World (1916) - 7.5/10
9 - The Whispering Chorus (1918) - 7/10
10 - South (1919) - 7.5/10
11 - The Warrior / Maciste alpino (1916) - 7/10
12 - A Trip to Mars (1918) - 6.5/10
13 - Eerie Tales (1919) - 6/10
14 - Atlantis (1913) - 7.5/10

[vortexsurfer]

1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)

[peeptoad]

1.Der Student von Prague (1926)
shorts- 85min
2a. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1915) 22min
2b. Impatience (1928) 36min
2c. Les Mystères du Château du Dé (1929) 27min

[klaus78]

Spoiler

1. Pollyanna (1920) 4/10
2. Maciste alpino (1916) 6/10

Shorts (41')

Pickpock ne craint pas les entraves (1909) 6/10
Le locataire diabolique (1909) 6/10
The Disintegrated Convict (1907) 5/10
Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)
The Little Match Seller (1902) 6/10
Nouvelles luttes extravagantes (1901) 6/10
Le cochon danseur (1907) 3/10
Les résultats du féminisme (1906) 6/10
Le déshabillage impossible (1900) 6/10
Les Kiriki, acrobates japonais (1907) 6/10

3. Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney (1927) 6/10
4. Hamlet (1921) 5/10
5. The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922) 5/10
6. Nani ga kanojo o sô saseta ka (1930) 7/10

[AB537]

What's the cutoff for silent era in the US? I'm thinking specifically about watching City Girl (F.W. Murnau, 1930) and City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931).

[sol]

What's the cutoff for silent era in the US? I'm thinking specifically about watching City Girl (F.W. Murnau, 1930) and City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931).

1931 is fine (there's also Tabu). 1932 would be pushing it.

[AB537]

What's the cutoff for silent era in the US? I'm thinking specifically about watching City Girl (F.W. Murnau, 1930) and City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931).

1931 is fine (there's also Tabu). 1932 would be pushing it.

Sounds good, thanks. 1931 as the latest reasonable date makes sense, especially with two landmark silents from that year and only Modern Times later, which was certainly an outlier.

[jal90]

I started with a Griffith streak I'm expecting to continue:

1. The avenging conscience or 'thou shalt not kill' (1914) - 9/10

An impressive aesthetic achievement for such an early Griffith; if you ask me on the level of his more well-known epics, except here he uses his craft for the intimate and psychological. Great early adaptation of the Poe tale, enthralling visuals and acting and great use of sound without sound, however nonsensical this seems.

2. Hearts of the world (1918) - 9/10

One of Griffith's best. The love story here is absolutely fascinating with Gish and Harron at their most naturally greatest, the war scenes are surprisingly gruesome and gorey?!, and the whole scale of the film, with the real life war still ongoing at the time. It's not in any way or form an antiwar film, but it's one that carries the emotions and fervor of the time beautifully.

3. A romance of Happy Valley (1919) - 6/10

One of Griffith's favorite subgenres: Robert Harron looking naturally like an eternal 15-year-old and becoming a plausible adult by attaching a moustache to his face. A cute romance with some strong scenes particularly during Harron's character's exile, but the pacing is a bit all over the place and there is a long ellipsis that breaks my immersion and makes a lackluster third act.

4. The girl who stayed at home (1919) - 6/10

A story that looks like a reject from Hearts of the world without the emotional stakes of that one. Mainly because the couple is so so boring and lifeless, neither Barthelmess nor Dempster prove to be particularly good or engaging in this one, and they fall every single time behind the side couple of Harron and Seymour, who are so full of life it's a shame they are not the main cast. Also, the movie tries to make a nostalgic Confederate look endearing, but Griffith is not Ford and Adolph Lestina is not Will Rogers.

5. True heart Susie (1919) - 7/10

This one looks great but I have to agree with sol that the narration doesn't really hit hard. Maybe I'm just not that much into Griffith's country girl romance iteration, but regardless of how much good effort the actors put and how beautiful it looks, I also wasn't much of a fan of making this a love triangle story and creating narrative tension by vilifying one of its sides.

6. The fall of Babylon (1919) - 8/10
7. The mother and the law (1919) - 9/10

I put these two together because they are recut, expanded editions of Intolerance chapters. My opinion is not much different than my thoughts on the originals; The mother and the law remains my favorite and one of Griffith's peaks, and the execution scene to me is his absolute dramatic peak; The fall of Babylon looks gorgeous and while the overall narrative is not so engaging it is worth the ride for Constance Talmadge carrying the whole film in her shoulders.

8. Scarlet days (1919) - 6/10

Fun and interesting take on the western genre, but a bit rushed and more engaging for the pure entertainment value of having a lot of things happening at once than for the emotional value of any of them. It was nice but pretty forgettable.

9. The greatest question (1919) - 8/10

Not Griffith's best and particularly not his most cohesive, but looks to me like the ultimate mishmash of all his narrative and aesthetic obsessions. For better or for worse, and most of the time for better. I liked it more than expected and was quite fond particularly of the ghostly elements it introduces.

[sol]

Silent Running

1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
2. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) REVISION
3. True Heart Susie (1919)
4a. Figures de cire (1914) 11min
4b. Easy Street (1917) 27min
4c. The Cure (1917) 20min
4d. Love (1919) 22min
5. So’s Your Old Man (1926) REVISION

6a. The Doll's Revenge (1907) 3min
6b. Behind the Screen (1916) 25min
6c. The Floorwalker (1916) 28min
6d. The Pawnshop (1916) 24min



While a little rough around the edges, The Doll's Revenge looks amazing for a film of its vintage, employing what appears to be a mixture of forced perception, stop motion and dissolve-over effects in order to portray some supernatural and at times downright horrific events involving a doll with a mind of its own. The ending is particularly dark and grisly (while also wildly inventive) for a pre-1910s short film.

As per the title, Behind the Screen has Chaplin inadvertently causing chaos on the set of a movie. Fun bits include him carrying an insane amount of chairs on his back and constantly tipping a fake pillar over, knocking somebody flat in the process. The short quickly descends though into a whole lot of fighting, hitting and dodging hits with the film never feeling anywhere near as electric as Keaton's meta-ish stuff.

The Floorwalker is probably my favourite of the five Chaplin shorts that I have watched so far this month. There is a hilarious way-too-fast escalator (see above) running gag, plus there is a Chaplin lookalike who does the whole Duck Soup mirror routine with him before they decide to exchange places with frenzied results. Some of the frenzy is okay, but it is the scenes with Chaplin and his double that work best.

The Pawnshop has some bright moments as Chaplin keeps knocking everyone over while carrying a ladder (even getting one person stuck in it) and as his attempts to sweep lead to him pulling out chairs so folks collapse on the ground. Many of the skits feel long and dragged out though, most notably his attempts to repair an alarm clock by pulling it to bits (though there is some great animation in this sequence).

[jdidaco]

Thanks for hosting, sol!

(Screenshot from 'Vtoraya zhena'),

1. Kashtanka (Chestnut, Olga Preobrazhenskaya & Ivan Pravov, 1926) 7.5/10
2. Vtoraya zhena (The Second Wife, Mikhail Doronin, 1927) 9/10
3. Dom na vulkane (The House on the Volcano, Amo Bek-Nazaryan, 1929) 8.5/10
4. Chyornaya kozha (Black Skin, Pavel Kolomoytsev, 1930) 8/10

[frbrown]

1. Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922)

[klaus78]

Spoiler

1. Pollyanna (1920) 4/10
2. Maciste alpino (1916) 6/10
3. Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney (1927) 6/10
4. Hamlet (1921) 5/10
5. The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922) 5/10
6. Nani ga kanojo o sô saseta ka (1930) 7/10

Shorts (41')

a. Pickpock ne craint pas les entraves (1909) 6/10
b. Le locataire diabolique (1909) 6/10
c. The Disintegrated Convict (1907) 5/10
d. Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)
e. The Little Match Seller (1902) 6/10
f. Nouvelles luttes extravagantes (1901) 6/10
g. Le cochon danseur (1907) 3/10
h. Les résultats du féminisme (1906) 6/10
i. Le déshabillage impossible (1900) 6/10
j. Les Kiriki, acrobates japonais (1907) 6/10

7. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917) 6/10
8. Keisatsukan (1933) 5/10
9k. Impatience (1928) 7/10
9l. L'étoile de mer (1928) 7/10

[frbrown]

2a. The Adventurer (1917)
2b. Shoulder Arms (1918)
2c. Egged On (1926)


Nice trio of shorts by two Charlies

Spoiler

1. Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922)
2a. The Adventurer (1917)
2b. Shoulder Arms (1918)
2c. Egged On (1926)

[jal90]

Spoiler

1. The avenging conscience or 'thou shalt not kill' (1914) - 9/10
2. Hearts of the world (1918) - 9/10
3. A romance of Happy Valley (1919) - 6/10
4. The girl who stayed at home (1919) - 6/10
5. True heart Susie (1919) - 7/10
6. The fall of Babylon (1919) - 8/10
7. The mother and the law (1919) - 9/10
8. Scarlet days (1919) - 6/10
9. The greatest question (1919) - 8/10

10. The idol dancer (1920) - 3/10

Oh my god, thanks Griffith for this, I was watching too many of your films anyway.

Seriously what an ugly film. I have forgiven casual blackface racism in The greatest question because it had an engaging narrative and characters and even the black character was somewhat nice, but this is just endlessly offensive and embarrassing. And it's not like Griffith is trying here to be the bigoted asshole of The birth of a nation, it is a way more benevolent film than that one, but still his racial portrayals are awfully misguided, cringey and disgusting and his exoticism has grown really stale. To make matters worse the movie is really boring; none of the characters have any sort of lasting impact and the pace feels glacial even with a lot of stuff happening.

If anything it's a pity that this is Clarine Seymour's swan song. She had a strong on-screen personality, and here she and Barthelmess are the only ones who could keep this disaster afloat for a while. But even they end up falling prey to the tedium.

[sol]

Silent Running

1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
2. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) REVISION
3. True Heart Susie (1919)
4a. Figures de cire (1914) 11min
4b. Easy Street (1917) 27min
4c. The Cure (1917) 20min
4d. Love (1919) 22min
5. So’s Your Old Man (1926) REVISION
6a. The Doll's Revenge (1907) 3min
6b. Behind the Screen (1916) 25min
6c. The Floorwalker (1916) 28min
6d. The Pawnshop (1916) 24min

7. Seven Chances (1925) REVISION



The long distance shots of brides chasing after Keaton are great here, especially as they traverse rocky areas, but viewed for a third time, it is uncanny just how late in the piece the chase ignites. All of the action is saved for the final twenty minutes of the movie, and a single rock dodging part aside, most of it is limited to Keaton racing on foot - something far removed from the daredevil stunts that tend to make his silent features so memorable. The pre-chase stuff is not especially funny either with Keaton asking every woman he encounters to marry him - something that feels downright creepy in #MeToo times.

[sol]

Silent Running

1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
2. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) REVISION
3. True Heart Susie (1919)
4a. Figures de cire (1914) 11min
4b. Easy Street (1917) 27min
4c. The Cure (1917) 20min
4d. Love (1919) 22min
5. So’s Your Old Man (1926) REVISION
6a. The Doll's Revenge (1907) 3min
6b. Behind the Screen (1916) 25min
6c. The Floorwalker (1916) 28min
6d. The Pawnshop (1916) 24min
7. Seven Chances (1925) REVISION

8a. A Dog's Life (1918) 35min
8b. Shoulder Arms (1918) 37min
8c. Daisy Doodad's Dial (1914) 9min



A Dog's Life has been compared to The Kid and there are certainly some similarities as the Tramp bonds with a youngster, but in this case a canine. The short boasts some great dog stunts in addition to the usual Chaplin sliding in and around the place routines (see above). I'm not sure if I quite buy the dog's loyalty to him though given that Chaplin keeps the dog stuffed down his pants for large part of the movie (I kid you not).

Shoulder Arms was a relatively amusing look at the Tramp enlisted in the army, his difficulties marching with his iconic duck-like walk and some mischief involving the enemy side. The majority of the short though just feels like one unrelated skit after another and the clichéd ending is very poor (though it might not have been such a cliché back then). Chaplin coping with a flooded trench and dressed as a tree was great though.

Daisy Doodal's Dial revolves around a husband and wife who enter a face-pulling contest and get arrested for "disturbing the peace" when they practise their facial contortions on the bus. There does not seem to be much more to this short. The elastic facial expressions at hand are certainly quite incredible, and the final shot is great, but just imagine calling the cops 109 years later because someone pulled a face at you (!).

[gunnar]

24 - Flirting with Fate (1916) - 7.5/10 - A poor artist falls for a high society woman and tries to woo her. When things are going against him, he gets depressed and hires an 24 to take him out. When fortune turns his way, he becomes frantic to avoid the assassin. The part leading up to hiring the assassin wasn't really all that interesting, but it became much more fun after that.

25 - The Open Road (1926) - 8/10 - An interesting documentary filmed in color. It's a travelogue that was originally shown in 26 short parts, but joined together into a feature length film.

26 - Harbor Drift (1929) 5.5/10 - Greed, poverty, and the search for a stolen pearl necklace. I couldn't get into this one, though others seem to like it.

27
There it Is (1928) (19 minutes)
The Pearl (1929) (34 minutes)
The Fall of Troy (1911) (28 minutes)

Silent, but deadly

1,2
Mary and Gretel (1916) (7 minutes)
Max's Tragedy (1911) (13 minutes)
The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912) (14 minutes)
Max Takes Tonics (1911) (17 minutes)
Love (1919) (23 minutes)
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) (26 minutes)
The Tramp (1915) (26 minutes)
Daydreams (1915) (37 minutes)

3 - Sjæletyven (1916) - 7/10
4 - Engelein (1914) - 6/10
5 - Victory (1919) - 7.5/10
6 - Behind the Door (1919) - 7.5/10
7 - Filibus (1915) - 8/10
8 - The End of the World (1916) - 7.5/10
9 - The Whispering Chorus (1918) - 7/10
10 - South (1919) - 7.5/10
11 - The Warrior / Maciste alpino (1916) - 7/10
12 - A Trip to Mars (1918) - 6.5/10
13 - Eerie Tales (1919) - 6/10
14 - Atlantis (1913) - 7.5/10
15-19 - Barrabas (1919) (438 minutes) - 7/10
20 - Germinal (1913) - 8/10
21 - The Cossack Whip (1916) - 6.5/10
22 - The Witness for the Defense (1919) - 7.5/10
23 - Satan Triumphant (1917) - 6/10

[jal90]

Spoiler

1. The avenging conscience or 'thou shalt not kill' (1914) - 9/10
2. Hearts of the world (1918) - 9/10
3. A romance of Happy Valley (1919) - 6/10
4. The girl who stayed at home (1919) - 6/10
5. True heart Susie (1919) - 7/10
6. The fall of Babylon (1919) - 8/10
7. The mother and the law (1919) - 9/10
8. Scarlet days (1919) - 6/10
9. The greatest question (1919) - 8/10
10. The idol dancer (1920) - 3/10

11. The love flower (1920) - 7/10

The next feature from Griffith made me regain my enthusiasm a little... and it was, for the most part, surprising. This is another one of his "lesser" works, except this time it's good and intriguingly so, because for a Griffith film it ventures in rather dark and amoral territories. There is barely, or nothing at all of the pious, divine-order-of-things approach he puts to his narratives here, which features a rather morally grey main character portrayed by Carol Dempster and her outlaw father.

And this is another shock, Carol Dempster is great in this! Seriously, I don't know why Griffith tried to typecast her as his virginal saint type when her screen presence breathes so well through this dark and scheming portrayal. Leave the immaculate innocence to Lillian Gish and let this woman be shady.


12. Way down East (1920) - 10/10

Now this is a more classic, quintessential Griffith, it even starts with some religious preaching in the first title cards. But it's also his best I've seen so far, and some scenes are truly haunting, with that sequence of Gish's character holding her baby being the highlight of the film, perhaps of his whole career and arguably very high at the top of silent filmmaking, it's just that great. But there's also the breakdown scene, or the storm, or the multiple close shots of Gish in this film. She is amazing in this, the perfect expression of this ideal Griffith wanted to transmit through his body of work.

There are some elements I didn't dig as much -the silly comedy of the townspeople, mainly- and the amount of missing scenes was a surprise to me considering how famous and celebrated this film is (and also a bit disrupting at times), but if I don't give the highest rating to this one I won't give it to any Griffith film. It's the best in his style.

Well, so far. There's another one I'm looking forward a lot in this chronological journey. And who knows, maybe some surprise will come as well.

[klaus78]

Spoiler

1. Pollyanna (1920) 4/10
2. Maciste alpino (1916) 6/10
3. Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney (1927) 6/10
4. Hamlet (1921) 5/10
5. The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922) 5/10
6. Nani ga kanojo o sô saseta ka (1930) 7/10
7. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917) 6/10
8. Keisatsukan (1933) 5/10

9. Shorts

a. Pickpock ne craint pas les entraves (1909) 6/10
b. Le locataire diabolique (1909) 6/10
c. The Disintegrated Convict (1907) 5/10
d. Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)
e. The Little Match Seller (1902) 6/10
f. Nouvelles luttes extravagantes (1901) 6/10
g. Le cochon danseur (1907) 3/10
h. Les résultats du féminisme (1906) 6/10
i. Le déshabillage impossible (1900) 6/10
j. Les Kiriki, acrobates japonais (1907) 6/10
k. Impatience (1928) 7/10
l. L'étoile de mer (1928) 7/10

10. The Open Road (1926) 7/10
11. Jim Shvante (marili svanets) (1930) 6/10
12. Robin Hood (1922) 5/10
a. Images d'Ostende (1929) 8/10