This round's theme is: Silent Films
Time to venture back into the very beginning of cinema. Before sound, before color, when title cards ruled the day. But don't be too suspicious of the silent era. There are many films that are perfectly enjoyable still.
Submit one movie per comment please, and make a case for why we should watch it. Plenty to choose from!
Quasi silent and contemporary: All is Lost. Truer to the format: Man With a Movie Camera. Let's get Soviet.
Welp since we've gotten no votes, I'm going to also nominate: City Lights - One of the most revered Charlie Chaplin films. Haven't seen this. Have only seen The Kid and The Great Dictator. Always good to watch some Chaplin,
More activity now at least. Got a lot of good recommendations. Silent films can be hard so it's understandable. We're not used to absolutely no sound.
I've had two friends who have done a re-score of this movie. Both very different. One of them we screened by building an ad hoc outdoor cinema in a parking lot in downtown Burien. Big screen, big sound system, everyone bring a chair and your drink of choice in an appropriately anonymous container. Then a couple of people brought BBQs, and those portable gas fires, and about 30 of us sat around, ate well, and watched our friend live remix the entire soundtrack with a modern electronic vibe. Seriously cool.
Well one, Metropolis is the shit. And two, holy crap that looks and sounds so awesome.
I'm going to nominate: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. A two hour silent film that follows a couple's struggle to find their love after a woman seduces the husband into considering abandoning the family. I've actually never watched it so that's me trying to pitch it from the synopsis. I've been meaning to watch this film for a while. It's consistently cited as one of the greatest movies of all time and one of the best of the silent era. Roger Ebert listed it was one of his great movies
Blah. There's a tie, and I don't know which one to pick because I want to see all three of them. Gonna do the tie breaker but if shout outs don't work, I'll just pick at random.
b_b, humanodon, ButterflyEffect, OftenBen, roysexton, iammyownrushmore, blackbootz,_refugee_, mk, Ave, camarillobrillo, havires, kleinbl00, ecib, insomniasexx, elizabeth, nowaypablo, pigeon, StJohn, Mindwolf, Meriadoc, beezneez, longstocking, theadvancedapes, ghostoffuffle, T-Dog, coffeesp00ns, bfv, cgod, mike, thenewgreen, zebra2, Zurangatang, InkBubble, Scorpio, enjoyablethings, edricarica, subduedit, protorobot, War, Formerly_Me, steve, rinx, Merlin, zonk, chooter, stumblechuckle, galen
The General. Directed, produced, written and starring Buster Keaton. 93% on Rotton Tomatoes. 100% by Roger Ebert. He wrote: "The General” is an epic of silent comedy, one of the most expensive films of its time, including an accurate historical recreation of a Civil War episode, hundreds of extras, dangerous stunt sequences, and an actual locomotive falling from a burning bridge into a gorge far below. It was inspired by a real event; the screenplay was based on the book "The Great Locomotive Chase,” written by William Pittenger, the engineer who was involved. The AFI voted it the 18th greatest American film of all time. The BFI voted it in as the 34th greatest film of all time. It is historically important, funny and has tons of stunts. Plus includes the most expensive scene ever recorded up to that time.
I love The General! It's hilarious and just so well done. Plus it's pretty short! I think everyone should watch it once whether we pick it here or not.
I'ma recommend Grass. It's worth seeing what a documentary looks like in 1925, particularly from the guys that made King Kong just a few years later. It also shows you just how baller the Bakhtiari were. Ya gotta watch that at least until the barefoot mutherfuckers start pickaxeing a path up the glacier...
b_b, humanodon, ButterflyEffect, OftenBen, roysexton, iammyownrushmore, blackbootz,_refugee_, mk, Ave, camarillobrillo, havires, kleinbl00, ecib, insomniasexx, elizabeth, nowaypablo, pigeon, StJohn, Mindwolf, Meriadoc, beezneez, longstocking, theadvancedapes, ghostoffuffle, T-Dog, coffeesp00ns, bfv, cgod, mike, thenewgreen, zebra2, Zurangatang, InkBubble, Scorpio, enjoyablethings, edricarica, subduedit, protorobot, War, Formerly_Me, steve, rinx, Merlin, zonk, chooter, stumblechuckle, galen