Stavi Rants About: Silent Films

In this day and age, silent films are merely a small footnote in the grand history of cinema. If you ask anyone about silent films you might get some people mentioning people like Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, maybe even knowing a George Méliès film though probably not by name.  If you ask someone with a little bit more knowledge of film they might be aware of a few of the famous German silent films, being Nosferatu or Metropolis. If they say Nosferatu that might just be because of Spongebob though, depending on how old the person is of course. Then there are a whole bunch of nerds, such as myself, who have taken a deep dive through film history and are actual fans of the silent era. I'm going to talk about my personal history with silent films and why I enjoy them so much, especially in comparison to a lot of modern films.

Like most I've always been vaguely aware of silent films, and like most the idea never quite interested me. How could one enjoy a movie without any sound? Then at some point I was informed of the fact that they had music, but I still was not that interested. I think most people share a similar thought of, "How could these ancient movies compare in any way to what we can produce now? We have such better technology and movies have developed so much that there is no way these movies could actually be any good!" This was certainly a frame of reference that I had probably thought of whenever silent films were brought up. They weren't really something that I had ever actively thought about though, only whenever the subject was brought up which was basically never. 

I ended up getting into silent films in a rather odd way. I have a feeling most got into them through delving deep into film history, or perhaps they were lucky enough to be somewhere with a theater that had an organ in it to play alongside silent films. I discovered silent films through a meme. Specifically this one, where someone had recreated the "Steamed Hams" bit from the Simpsons as a German Expressionist film. Just from the title alone I was very intrigued. I hadn't heard of Expressionism before, although I could figure out what it was based on the name. I was unaware that there was a German movement for it and I was also unaware that this applied to films to begin with. Things like Expressionism or Impressionism I had always heard applied to art forms like paintings, never to film. Based on this, and the fact that I do think "Steamed Hams" is funny, I had to watch this video. Seeing these distorted visuals, and finding out that a German Expressionist film is a silent film just furthered my curiosity. I went straight to the internet to do more research. I was quite surprised when I had actually heard of one of these movies, that being Nosferatu, of course having learned of it through Spongebob Squarepants as I assume most of my generation has. 

The first silent film I ever saw was Nosferatu, mostly due to my familiarity with it. I sat in front of my computer late one night, watching it, slowly becoming more engrossed in the film, and even being scared by it. The last part was something that surprised me the most, I never expected that a horror film so old could actually fill me with a sense of fear and dread. It left such an impact on me that I was having trouble with the dark for a couple days! I thought the film was fantastic. It was scary and it looked amazing. There are so many iconic shots in it for me, even besides the 2 well known shots of Count Orlok. It was safe to say that I was going to be watching more silent films. 

To date I have seen 18 silent films, those being:

• Nosferatu
• The Golem
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
• The Phantom
• Die Niebelungen (both parts)
• Battleship Potemkin 
• Faust
• Pandora's Box
• A Trip to the Moon (Among other works by Méliès but almost all of those were shorts)
• The Big Parade
• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
• The Last Laugh
• Passion of Joan of Arc
• The Hands of Orlac
• Metropolis 
• Häxan
• The General
• The Mystic 

I won't be talking about all of these movies, but I want to highlight several that I think are significant or I just really enjoy.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a film directed by Robert Wiene released in 1920. This is up there for one of the most visually unique films I've ever seen. The way that the sets are distorted to fit with the nature of the story and the mental state of the main character is so beautiful. The story is also interesting, about a somnambulist at a fair and a murder. It is fairly easy to get into it, which makes it almost always one of the first silent films I show anyone. A supreme example of the German Expressionist movement I was talking about earlier and the main influence on the "Steamed Hams" short that introduced me to the subject.

Faust is an adaptation of the German tale/parts of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play directed by F. W. Murnau, who also directed Nosferatu, released in 1926. The film is an example of the true excellence that silent films could offer, as all the actors do a fantastic job representing everything visually. It also looks excellent, as all the sets look magnificent using a little bit of the Expressionist style to fit the mood. The film has some fantastic special effects, like this amazing scene where the text on a page burst out from fire. As of right now, it is my favorite film by Murnau. 

Pandora's Box is an adaptation of the Lulu plays directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst released in 1929. It was rather late in the grand scheme of silent films, as probably a year or two later they were no longer the main form of film. As a result it showcases a very matured film, as this style of film making had been around for quite some time. Louise Brooks does a fantastic job as the main character Lulu. She always has this look on her face that just gives this feeling that she does and doesn't know what she is doing at the same time. The plot is an absolute rollercoaster which had me flabbergasted the entire time. Just an extremely solid film.

The Big Parade is a film directed by King Vidor released in 1925. Something that you might have noticed about the films I've talked about so far is that they are all European, and so far specifically German. To me, the best serious films were made in Europe. The dramas and films of similar genres in the United States do not quite have the quality and experimentation that the European ones did, so I tend not to watch a ton of American silent films. The Big Parade is a major exception. This is probably my favorite war movie of all time. The extreme tone switch that happens midway through the film as the Americans make it to the front lines works so well when watching it. The first half is this lovey dove romance thing, which felt very typical of the films coming from America at the time, only for the audience to be slapped in the face with the horrors of World War 1. I can only imagine how it felt watching it when it first came out, with the war only ending 7 years prior. 

The Last Laugh is a film directed by F. W. Murnau released in 1924. This is a film that tries to communicate everything completely through visual storytelling, only having 1 intertitle through the entire film. It makes the film quite compelling to watch, as it isn't being interrupted and forces the actors to really put on their best performance. But not only are the actors the ones having to perform as the film makes use of some experimentation with the cinematography and editing that would've been very experimental and new at the time. While I like other Murnau films better, there is no better example of how he was pushing the medium of silent cinema forward.

The Passion of Joan of Arc is a film directed by Carl Dreyer released in 1928. This is a historical drama using the record of Joan of Arc's actual trial as the basis. The main thing of interest with this film is Renée Jeanne Falconetti's performance as Joan of Arc. The emotion she is able to express on her face is just fantastic. She famously doesn't wear any makeup in this movie and the film is well known for its use of closeup shots on her face, which just makes it feel a little more real. It is just a super unique film in comparison to films from the time and films in general.

Lastly, Metropolis is a film directed by Fritz Lang released in 1927. This is probably one of the most famous silent films, and for good reason. Being one of the early science fiction films, its visuals have become very important to the look of the genre.The Maschinenmensch is an iconic robot design which has even gone on to influence the likes of Star Wars. The striking visuals stick in my mind so much, and it is up there for one of my favorite sci-fi aesthetics. While perhaps the ending kind makes the film end a little flat, I think the film overall has a very engaging plot.

There are many silent films that I haven't seen. Some of them I just haven't had a chance to see. For example, I've been meaning to watch both versions of The Student of Prague, but I just haven't gotten around to it. With some, I just don't have a good copy of the film. I like watching these movies in high quality as close to how they were meant to be shown as possible. This would go for films like Napoleon (which I am waiting to find the English subtitles for the intertiles) or From Morn To Midnight which I have struggled to find a good restoration of online that also has music. People need to want to see the film and the film itself needs to be put in good hands, so for a lesser known film like the latter it makes sense that one doesn't exist readily available. There exists a tragic third category of silent films I haven't seen, those being ones that I cannot see. These are films lost to time which we have no known copy of. For me these would be the various lost F. W. Murnau and Robert Wiene films and the infamous Cleopatra film from 1917. It's truly sad to me that these are films that I will likely never see. There are varying statistics as to how many silent films are lost, but it is safe to say it is a large amount of them. Back then, film was made out of nitrate which is very flammable. If it wasn't stored in the proper conditions the film could literally spontaneously combust. Several large film vault fires occurred because of this very fact. I'm very thankful for the films that do still exist. 

All of this begs the question, why do I take such interest in silent films? To be quite honest, it is hard to really put it into words. The inherent nature of the films are just so completely different to modern ones. The way they do everything is just different. The stories are different. The way they tell stories are different. The visuals are different. It's all different! I've become so dissatisfied with the state of modern film making that different captures my attention so strongly. Silent films have the bonus of being an old form of a still-existing medium, which is something I always love. Being able to do all this research and investigations about how the film was made is very fun to me. It is very similar to reading old books or listening to old music; All the components that we know exist, but they are arranged in different ways than we are used to. There are also just so many fantastic experiences you can have with silent films that you can't really with modern films. For example, how many modern films can you say you've seen with live organ accompaniment? The medium just presents itself differently, and I cannot help but love it for that. If you haven't seen a single silent film, you should go watch one. Make some popcorn and go watch one! Many are public domain so you can watch them without needing a specific streaming service, but if you have access to a service like Kanopy you get a good selection of the most up to date restorations of many films. Perhaps you could even go to a local theater and see one with some accompaniment! Just go and watch one!