Movies Silently

Thomas Meighan during the Babylon flashback in MALE AND FEMALE. Who among us?

Over the weekend, someone on Bluesky told me they "find it hard to believe" that a white supremacist talking point (claims of BIRTH OF A NATION's art and innovation were manufactured to push it into the mainstream) would be accepted and believed for decades... And I am honestly still not over it.

It doesn't help that the film's setup would have Bertie Wooster remarking on what a sap the hero is. Still, it does have Sally Rand and Franklin Pangborn in supporting roles, so that's fun

GETTING GERTIE'S GARTER (1927) is a film that sounds spicy out of context-- a man tries to get a garter with his photo inside from his showgirl ex-- but the stage play was panned for being timid, mild, and decidedly unsexy. The film tries but it's all safe as milk.

Monty Banks in FLYING LUCK demonstrating the cultural advantage wielded by Italians in silent film

June's theme is... Vampires! In the silent era, they tended to be metaphorical.

Seeta Devi in the German-produced Indian film A THROW OF DICE (1929)

Buel loved his doors and windows. This take-us-back-in-time shot from THE MYSTERY OF THE SLEEPING DEATH, for example.

There are some beautiful shots in the film, including this extended scene of Pryce bolting out the window and being fired upon as the siblings watch. There is debate as to whether this film was directed by George Melford or Kenean Buel. This shot screams Buel.

British Person: CAN THEY MAKE 1900s CANNIBAL COMEDIES AGAIN, WE LIKE CANNIBAL COMEDIES This British person is correct!

People expect comedies to be hits with 1900s plots and they don't even choose the really unique plots. Remake THE ? MOTORIST in which a motoring couple run over a traffic cop and escape into outer space

Linder's comedy was fresh and sparkling 118 years ago. Maybe we could try some new plots in new movies and just enjoy Linder, who probably did it better anyway.

Max Linder in the comedy TROUBLES OF A GRASS WIDOWER (1908). When a husband quarrels with his wife, she goes home to mother and leaves him to keep house for himself. Humorous struggles ensue. (This is a BREADWINNER subtweet)

Well, I simply must share HEART OF WETONA

Pre-1915 and particularly pre-1910 movies can be a hard sell because the star system had not yet been established and it's sometimes hard to attract interest without big names. But there are so many other delights.

My conclusion from all of this is that we need to watch a lot more pre-1915 films.

Nobody, absolutely nobody, is immune to propaganda and people who think they are are foolish. Movie propaganda is frequently harmless (I simply had to see Doune Castle because of Monty Python) but there are many cases where it is not. "I just won't let it affect me!" is incredibly naive.

A lot (and I mean A LOT) of self-proclaimed liberals and progressives and general "not a racist bone in my body" declare that they can look past the racism of BIRTH OF A NATION to see the art because they are immune to propaganda. While parroting debunked propaganda about what the film "invented"

Good lord people, you do not have to hand it to BIRTH OF A NATION, you do understand that, right?

The film is clunky, melodramatic, overacted and quite sloppy in places in an apples to apples comparison with other features and epics of the period. The problem is that very very few people watch 1912-1915 features and epics. Or BOAN itself, in many cases. It's a Blue Stone of Galveston situation.

Post an actor or actress that starts with the letter W (First or Last) William S Hart

Liedtke was wasted in dramatic roles. His great talent was aristocratic, debauched and slightly tipsy charm and it was a shame to cast him in anything but bedroom farces.

Harry Liedtke awakens in a strange bed in THE OYSTER PRINCESS "These are not my pants"

Marty Feldman in SILENT MOVIE (he would never make it on Bluesky)

Ford Sterling shoots the Keystone Cops and then comically chokes himself. Mind you, I can post a serious murder from the same era and not hear a peep

THINK OF THE CHILDREN

I posted GIFs that were far, far more violent with absolutely no issues