Andrey Tarkovsky - Stalker (1979) - one of the best films ever.
Aleksey German - Hard to Be a God (2013) - definitely silent but not exactly well detailed.
Both films were made according to brothers Strugatskys' novels.
+100 for "City Lights". I used to not really consider myself much of a silent film fan, except for a few Harold Lloyd comedies. "City Lights" converted me. Truly a masterpiece of filmmaking.
I watched Murnau's Faust movie some years ago, accompanied by a live music performance, which was great. I liked the staging and the set design.
It's available on YouTube with subtitles.
Highly recommend a short movie “Meshes of the Afternoon” (1943). Watched it in a local cinema right after Mulholland Drive, that was quite an experience :)
Yesterday my parents were visiting and while we were discussing after dinner, the TV was on though muted. It showed a movie (Max Manus) and we happened to see all of it but with sound off. Discussing what happened on screen, commenting and so on. Sometimes discussing other things, then turning back attention to the movie. It was actually quite nice. It worked because it was subtitled.
If you get the chance, it can be quite the experience to watch a screening of a silent movie where the music is played live, like they did back in the day. Sometimes they are played with newly-composed scores.
Some directors/movies that can be worth checking out are:
I remember watching Intolerance (1916) by D.W. Griffith at the Avignon festival as a teenager in 1986, with a score interpreted by a live symphonic orchestra (https://festival-avignon.com/fr/edition-1986/programmation/i...). The movie in itself is definitively a masterpiece for its ambitious structure, innovative editing and grandiose production design (it was a flop at the box office in 1916.)
(Warning: Intolerance was Griffith's response to the widespread criticism of his earlier work, The Birth of a Nation (1915), considered "the most controversial film ever made in the United States" and "the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history" - so we're stepping into controversial territory here).
Definitely an early entry in the “cancel culture is out of control” genre. The subtext is essentially “can’t even cause a revival of a racist paramilitary organization anymore, because of woke”
I remain haunted by the new score that Gabriel Thibaudeau created for the 2010 restoration of Metropolis. I saw it performed live in Toronto and I'm still desperate to hear it again someday, but there's never been any home media release (official or unofficial) so far as I know.
71 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 151 ms ] threadBoth films were made according to brothers Strugatskys' novels.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019646/
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzspLWK9FEc
1 o’clock in the morning with Charlie Chaplin. Also his: the Gold Rush, the Kid, the Great Dictator.
Babies movie (1 hour documentary) is about 4 newborns in different locations of the world, again colored, beautiful shots and without any narrative.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushpaka_Vimana_(1987_film)
[1] https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0770802/ [2] https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11564468/
The Man Who Laughs
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
The Lodger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film)
The Passion of St Joan of Arc (1928)
Some directors/movies that can be worth checking out are:
Victor Sjöström – The Phantom Carriage
Mauritz Stiller – The Saga of Gösta Berling
Charlie Chaplin – The Kid
Fritz Lang – The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
(Warning: Intolerance was Griffith's response to the widespread criticism of his earlier work, The Birth of a Nation (1915), considered "the most controversial film ever made in the United States" and "the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history" - so we're stepping into controversial territory here).