Silent Films 101

A chronological glance at silent film magic

[murderforart]

[vikingfighter-deactivated201909]

If Stuntmen from the old movies don’t have your full respect then I just don’t know what to say to you

[working--on--excellence]

l tried really hard not to reblog this

[nescientes]

Yeah, it is indeed really hard not to reblog a fucking thing.

[humbleegomania]

Dudes, really important note: this is not a stuntman, this is Buster Keaton, the star of all these films. He did all of his own stunts. All of them - well except one in the film “College” because he didn’t have enough time to learn how to fucking pole vault for the scene. He was practically an Olympic-grade athlete and did stunts so dangerous that his cameramen were told to keep rolling the camera unless one of two things happened: Buster yelled “cut!” or if Buster died. That was it. And he nearly died on more than one occasion and got some great shots out of it. The last gif was an accident. He was supposed to make it to the other building, but when he fell and saw the take, he realized he could use it and add more gags to the films. Oh and that makeshift escalator he’s tumbling on? In the first filming of it, he broke his ankle and his doctor said he couldn’t do more crazy stunts until it healed. So he made another short film which included a dance with vigorous hopping on his feet. He also almost drowned in one film and even broke his neck in another - and he didn’t even know it until years later when a doctor saw the healed fracture on an x-ray.

Buster Keaton was a comedic genius, a badass, and basically the unbreakable man. His movies are some of the greatest comedies of the silent era. Everyone should watch him.

[caeric-arclight]

Buster Keaton, ladies and gents.

[snowflake-irl-deactivated201810]

I SALUTE YOU!

[historicallyaccuratesteve]

I absolutely ADORE Buster Keaton, and I highly recommend his films.

The General is fantastic (it’s the one with the trains), and they actually reenacted the bombing of the rail bridge. They had to set up the shot perfectly, because they actually blew it up and caused the train to go off the tracks. They could only afford the one take because trains are expensive and they didn’t have the funds to do it a second time.

Most of Keaton’s filmography is available on Netflix (at least in the US). They’re all silent, I think, but they are so, so good.

[vikingfighter-deactivated201909]

If Stuntmen from the old movies don’t have your full respect then I just don’t know what to say to you

[working--on--excellence]

l tried really hard not to reblog this

[nescientes]

Yeah, it is indeed really hard not to reblog a fucking thing.

[spaceman-v-spiff-deactivated201]

Can we all agree that the man in the first gif is the manliest man in the world?

[jolivet-deactivated20190306]

Are we just going to all silently acknowledge that the last guy is clearly dead and that we just saw him die. 

[antoinetriplett-deactivated2015]

HOLD UP FOR A SECOND

ALL OF THESE GIFS ARE ONE MAN

THE SINGULAR BUSTER KEATON

WHILE FILMING THE GENERAL

HE SNAPPED HIS NECK ON THE RAILROAD TIES AND WENT HOME AND ICED HIS BODY

AND CAME BACK FOR WORK THE NEXT DAY

HE ONCE GOT HIS HIP RIPPED OUT OF ITS SOCKET BY A MALFUNCTIONING ELEVATOR AND WAS DISAPPOINTED WITH HIMSELF FOR BEING INJURED

HE ONCE HAD TO FALL 100 FEET DOWN A WATERFALL INTO A NET

A STUNTMAN TESTED IT AND BROKE BOTH LEGS AND DISLOCATED HIS SHOULDER

BUSTER DID THE STUNT ANYWAY AND LANDED WITHOUT A SCRATCH

IN ‘THE HIGH DIVE’

BUSTER DID A TRICK DIVE THROUGH A CARDBOARD DECK THAT WAS CAMOUFLAGED TO LOOK LIKE THE REAL DECK

ONLY HE COULDN’T TELL FROM 100 FEET UP WHERE THE CARDBOARD STOPPED AND THE REAL DECK STARTED AND THERE WAS ONLY LIKE A THREE FOOT MARGIN FOR ERROR

AND WHEN HE HESITATED A SUDDEN BREEZE LITERALLY KNOCKED HIM OFF THE DIVING BOARD AND HE HAD TO JUMP ANYWAY

AND HE MISSED THE REAL DECK BY LESS THAN A FOOT BUT HE MADE IT

IN THE SECOND GIF HE’S RECREATING SOMETHING THAT THE ACTUAL GENERAL PURSUERS HAD TO DO IN THE CIVIL WAR

IF HE MISSES THAT TIE

THE TRAIN WILL BE DERAILED AND HE WILL DIE IN THE EXPLOSION

IN THE THIRD GIF AN ENTIRE HOUSE IS FALLING HE HAS ONE TAKE AND IF HE HAS NOT DONE THE CALCULATIONS CORRECTLY HE WILL BE CRUSHED

HE HAS AN INCH-WIDE MARGIN ON EACH SIDE

AND THE HOUSE LITERALLY BRUSHES HIS LEFT SHOULDER ON THE WAY DOWN

YOU CAN SEE HIS LEFT ARM JUMP BECAUSE HE’S FLINCHING FROM THE PAIN

THAT LAST GIF

HE WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE THAT JUMP

HE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO FALL AND THEY HADNT PLANNED FOR IT

BUT HE SURVIVED

BUSTER KEATON SURVIVED 100% OF THINGS THAT WOULD HAVE KILLED LESSER MEN INCLUDING WWI, TORNADOS, HOUSEFIRES, ALCOHOLISM, BROKEN NETS, CRUSHING DEPRESSION, THE DEPRESSION ITSELF, THE MCCARTHY WITCHHUNTS, THE END OF SILENT CINEMA, AND ABOUT 900 MORE OF THE STUNTS YOU SEE ABOVE

BUSTER LIVED TO BE 70 YEARS OLD

FATHERED LIKE FOUR KIDS AND EIGHT GRANDKIDS

HE CAME OUT THE OTHER SIDE OF ALL THAT

THINKING THAT LIFE WAS GOOD AND PEOPLE WERE WONDERFUL

BUSTER KEATON IS NOT JUST A STUNTMAN

HE IS A GODDAMN SAINT

[lostsilentfilms]

Lobby card for The Ace of Scotland Yard (1929). Sold here.

[lostsilentfilms]

Lobby card for Little Miss Optimist (1917). Sold here.

[silentfilms101]

Ok so hello. My name is Stephanie. For history we have to do a short silent film. From 1890-1925. Any ideas ?

Hey Stephanie, thanks for the question. It all comes down to whether or not you want to do a 'famous' silent film or a lesser known, but equally good film. For example, if you wanted to go with the big names, you could do 'The Phantom of The Opera' (1925), 'Greed' (1924), if you want to go political 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915), or for one of my personal fav's 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920). If it was me, I would go with the lesser known but super-awesome Lois Weber's 'Suspense' (1913), she was a pioneering filmmaker and invented such techniques as the split screen.

Hope that helps some! :)

-Allysha

[tarantinoappreciation]

Hey everyone! I’ve got some good news, that film of mine, ‘The Last Artist’, has been selected for the Chicago Shorts Festival and will be screened on April 10! To follow the progress of my film into hopefully other film festivals, go here; https://www.facebook.com/thelastartist 

Thanks for your support! :)

-Allysha

[tarantinoappreciation]

Hi guys, my name is Allysha and all I need is two minutes of your time. I’m mid-way through producing a short animated film called ‘The Last Artist’, a film about the last artist on earth, William, and how he comes to terms with his artistic practice away from the judgement of society.

I am in need of help funding this project, and have set-up a indiegogo crowdfunding website here; http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-last-artist/ and would love it if you could donate even a couple of dollars. There are great perks for donating, such as free prints, scripts, dvds and more.

Please take the time to check out the page and donate, it will mean an Australian filmmaker will have her dreams realised. Thanks.

[vintageebonyandivory]

BUSTER.

[sweetlunatik]

[silentfilms101]

Alice in Wonderland - 1902 - Cecil Hepworth 

[norrmanreedus]

Top Favorite Films |Jurassic Park (1993, dir. Steven Spielberg) “God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs…”

[silentfilms101]

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1914), a silent episodic serial, is considered the most famous suspense serial in cinema history. Every two weeks Pauline (Pearl White) evaded attempts on her life. She survives the plots of her dastardly guardian who wants her inherited fortune for himself.

Pauline has often been cited as a famous example of a damsel in distress, although some analyses hold that her character was more resourceful and less helpless than the classic damsel stereotype.

This serial is A LOT of fun to watch. The only surviving version is the 9-chapter version that Pathe released in Europe in 1916, now available on DVD from Grapevine. The print they located is a bit battered, but complete and in a lovely colored print. Go to their website and order one. Watch it with some friends. You won't regret it.

[silentfilms101]

In the Land of the Head Hunters (also called In the Land of the War Canoes) is a 1914 silent film fictionalizing the world of the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) peoples of the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, written and directed by Edward S. Curtis and acted entirely by Kwakwaka'wakw natives. It was selected in 1999 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It was the first feature-length film whose cast was composed entirely of Native North Americans; the second, eight years later, was Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North.

In the Land of the Head Hunters has often been discussed as a flawed documentary: it combines many accurate representations of aspects of Kwakwaka'wakw culture, art, and technology from the era in which it was made with a melodramatic plot based on practices that either dated from long before the first contact of the Kwakwaka'wakw with people of European descent or were entirely fictional. Curtis appears never to have specifically presented the film as a documentary, but he also never specifically called it a work of fiction.

[silentfilms101]

[silentfilms101]

[silentfilms101]

Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 American animated short film by Winsor McCay. Although not the first feature-length animated film, as is sometimes thought, it was the first cartoon to feature a character with an appealing personality. The appearance of a true character distinguished it from earlier animated "trick films", such as those of Blackton and Cohl, and makes it the predecessor to later popular cartoons such as those by Walt Disney.

[silentfilms101]