A tantalizing futuristic wonder, Metropolis is a Silent lingering with choreography that makes your eyes wander throughout the tale as a spectacle like no other. Director Fritz Lang pulls out all the stops on what critics claim today as a creative masterpiece, Metropolis becoming an immediate classic in respect where you will never forget this film…

One of the most well-known (dare we say famous!) silent films of all time due to a man dangling from the arm of a clock, Safety Last! anchored Harold Lloyd among the comedic greats of the moving pictures era. Lloyd plays a small-town "Boy" trying to make it in the big city, who finds employment as a department-store clerk. He comes up with a wild p…

The fable-like, poignant story, subtitled A Song of Two Humans, Sunrise is an American silent melodramatic masterpiece by German director F.W. Murnau (In his American film debut) - a beautiful, atmospheric, lyrical and poetic work of art with roots in the German Expressionist movement (from 1914 to 1924). Starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, and …

When Letty Mason (Lillian Gish), an impoverished young woman from Virginia, relocates to West Texas, she finds herself unsettled by the ever-present wind and sand. Arriving at her new home at the ranch of her cousin (Edward Earle) she receives a surprisingly cold welcome from his wife (Dorothy Cumming). With tension in the family building and unwan…

As a party of aristocrats gathers at the Vogelöd family manor house for a hunting weekend, the uninvited arrival of Count Oechst (Lothar Mehnert) interrupts their plans. While rumors persist that the urbane and disdainful Oechst may have murdered his own brother (Paul Hartmann), social discomfort increases further when the Baron (Paul Bildt) and Ba…

Post WW1, F.W. Murnau directs this German-Danish co-production, showcasing some of his best intentions toward future films. Der Gang in die Nacht (Journey into the Night) is derived from a screenplay by the Danish scenarist Harriet Bloch. It’s an example of the “nobility film,” a genre cultivated by the Nordisk studio where Bloch worked. In these s…

In Robert Wiene's final film entry, Wiene proved that he not only had impeccable taste when it came to creating the rococo ambience of the original opera, but was also perceptively tuned into the ironic element which distinguishes Rosenkavalier as one of the major 20th century operas. The film is based on the music of Der Rosenkavalier opera by Ric…

By the director of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this is the Passion embedded in a contemporary story. An anarchist jailed for an attempted assassination is told the Passion story by the prison chaplain, who seeks to convince him that it is better to sacrifice one's own life than take the life of one's enemy. The framing story, taken from a novel, i…

For the viewer who has grown accustomed to Douglas Fairbank's and his similar "themes," films dealing with swashbuckling or youth or joy, The Gaucho is a silent film classic that will strip away any misconceptions about what role Fairbanks will play or which type of character is best identified toward his bustling career. The Gaucho is unique in bo…

"Crime and Punishment," the original story written in twelve monthly installments during 1866 by Dostoevsky, focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg who formulates a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money. Before the killing, Raskolnikov believes that with…

The most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin, City Lights is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street (Virginia Cherrill) and mistakes him fo…

Robert Wiene's Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire follows-up his massively successful 1919 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, using the same writer, production designer, and cinematographer who had worked on the previous film. Genuine (Fern Andra) is not actually a vampire in the film, but rather a vamp (succubus) who uses her powers of seduction to torme…

The most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin, City Lights is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street (Virginia Cherrill) and mistakes him fo…

Part of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock's "9," The Pleasure Garden marks his directorial debut with this British-German wonder. For the Master of Suspense, Hitchcock shows in this film many of the talents he would develop eventually, notably a great mastery of image composition and lighting, with a probable influence of German expressionism in …

With Autumn quickly approaching, WSF takes on another German expressionist silent horror written and directed by Caligari's Robert Wiene. FURCHT (FEAR) is the tale of Count Greven (Bruno Decarli)'s eventual descent into madness and hysteria with his obsession of collecting one too many of the world's greatest treasures. Lured by rumors of a sacred …

We rejoin Diane MacIntyre again this week as we talk about The Thief of Bagdad, starring Douglas Fairbanks. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, and directed by Raoul Walsh, this American silent swashbuckler film tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Baghdad. Featuring Julanne Johnston as the Pr…

When corrupt Governor Alvarado (George Periolat) crushes the poor people of Spanish California under his iron heel, wealthy fop Don Diego Vega (Douglas Fairbanks) sheds his silks, dons a mask and cape and becomes the legendary Zorro, defender of the people. Infuriated by Zorro's meddling, Alvarado dispatches his right-hand man, Captain Ramon (Rober…

In D.W. Griffith's "Masterpiece," Intolerance intercuts between four separate stories about man's inhumanity to man. In Babylon, pacifist Prince Belshazzar is brought down by warring religious factions. In Judea, the last days of Christ are depicted in the style of a Passion play. In France, Catherine de Medici presides over the slaughter of the Hu…

In Buster Keaton's last independent film for United Artists before moving on to MGM, this silent comedy is known for what might be considered Keaton's most famous film stunt: The facade of an entire house falling on top of him as he stands in the perfect spot to pass through the open attic window without being flattened. The story involves the tale…

The Canfield and McKay families have been feuding for so long, no one remembers the reason the feud started in the first place. Twenty years later, Willie McKay (Keaton) receives a letter informing him that his late father's estate is now his. His aunt tells him of the feud, but he decides to return to his Appalachian homestead anyway to claim his …

This clever parody of D. W. Griffith's INTOLERANCE follows Buster's hard-luck romantic adventures in his first independently produced feature film. Teeming with inventive flourishes, Buster tells of love and romance through three historical ages: from the dawn of man in the Stone Age, through the gladiatorial arenas of Ancient Rome, to the city str…

Jilted by her fiance, Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer) returns down south to her roots, and takes a job teaching at the Piney Woods school for black children. With the school facing bankruptcy, Sylvia journeys north to Boston to try to raise funds. After much hardship, she secures the finances from a wealthy philanthropist and returns home in triumph t…

Buster plays a movie projectionist who daydreams himself into the movies he is showing and merges with the figures and the backgrounds on the screen. While dreaming he is Conan Doyle's master detective, he snoops out brilliant discoveries. Buster plays a movie projectionist who daydreams himself into the movies he is showing and merges with the fig…

As new generations discover the magic of silent cinema, Buster Keaton has emerged as one of the era’s most admired and respected artists. Behind the deadpan expression and trademark porkpie hat was a filmmaking genius who conceived and engineered some of the most breathtaking stunts and feats of visual trickery, while never losing sight of slapstic…

As new generations discover the magic of silent cinema, Buster Keaton has emerged as one of the era's most admired and respected artists. Behind the deadpan expression and trademark porkpie hat was a filmmaking genius who conceived and engineered some of the most breathtaking stunts and feats of visual trickery, while never losing sight of slapstic…

As new generations discover the magic of silent cinema, Buster Keaton has emerged as one of the era's most admired and respected artists. Behind the deadpan expression and trademark porkpie hat was a filmmaking genius who conceived and engineered some of the most breathtaking stunts and feats of visual trickery, while never losing sight of slapstic…

Russian auteur Sergei Eisenstein's first full-length feature, set just before the 1905 Bolshevik Revolution, depicts a workers' strike against their oppressive factory bosses. When a worker is accused of stealing a piece of machinery, he commits suicide, and his fellow employees revolt against the Czarist regime controlling the factory. As the stri…

In an unnamed "western state" where women can vote, an all female political party fields a lady lawyer, Clara Madison, to run for superior court judge, which she wins after her husband declines to run against her. A fierce opposition newspaper editor is killed at the hands of bomb throwing Italian anarchists, yet Clara's husband is implicated with …

Few individual artists have exerted as profound an influence upon the evolution of cinema as Alice Guy (later known as Guy-Blaché). With this collection of more than 60 films, culled from the world’s leading archives and carefully mastered, Guy may no longer be seen as a “woman filmmaker.” These films, produced by Guy for Gaumont before she moved t…

A 33-minute religious epic: The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ (1906) based on Tissot's The Life of Christ watercolors in 25 scenes. James Tissot The Life of Christ the complete set: https://amzn.to/3fPMBXj hosted by YiFeng, Lily, Bob Recorded on April 8, 2020

Few individual artists have exerted as profound an influence upon the evolution of cinema as Alice Guy (later known as Guy-Blaché). With this collection of more than 60 films, culled from the world’s leading archives and carefully mastered, Guy may no longer be seen as a “woman filmmaker.” These films, produced by Guy for Gaumont before she moved t…

Edith Hardy uses charity funds for Wall Street investments in hopes of buying some new gowns. She loses all the money and borrows from wealthy oriental Tori. When her husband gives her the amount she borrowed, Tori won't take it back, branding her shoulder with a Japanese sign of his ownership. hosted by Lily Recorded on March 20, 2020…

Terje Vigen lives happily with his wife and little girl on a small island in Norway. ... When he was finally freed in 1814 and can return home, he finds that his wife and daughter have died. He takes up a solitary life in his house overlooking the sea. One night he sees a British yacht in distress in a storm. Referenced in the podcast: The Seventh …

1908 to 1917 was a decade of major change in the film business. Here are a few highlights: American cinema saw an expansion out of New Jersey and New York, into Jacksonville, Florida, for warmer weather; it then took hold in Hollywood, California, between 1909 and 1915. “One-reeler” films (1000ft in length, or about 10 to 12 minutes of runtime) gav…

Dante is barred from entering the hill of salvation by three beasts that bar his path (Avarice, Pride and Lust). Beatrice descends from above and asks the poet Virgil to guide Dante through the Nine Circles of Hell. Virgil leads Dante to a cave where they find the river Acheron, over which Charon ferries the souls of the dead into Hell. They also s…

1908 to 1917 was a decade of major change in the film business. Here are a few highlights: American cinema saw an expansion out of New Jersey and New York, into Jacksonville, Florida, for warmer weather; it then took hold in Hollywood, California, between 1909 and 1915. “One-reeler” films (1000ft in length, or about 10 to 12 minutes of runtime) gav…

1888 is a somewhat arbitrary year to begin this series, but it evens out the decades to finish up 130 years later. Since there was no reliable way to project movies until 1896, most of this post is considered “pre-cinema.” 1896 was also the year that movies were shown outside of Europe and the United States, so as more people used the new medium, i…

The film centres around the 1978 discovery of 533 reels of film in Dawson City. These works had been sealed within a swimming pool. The unearthed reels tell the story of Dawson City, the dawn of 20th century America, and Hollywood in the silent era. hosted by YiFeng, Lily and Bob. referenced links: Ozu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Spring Bill…

The Earl of Huntingdon (Douglas Fairbanks) learns from his beloved Lady Marian Fitzwalter (Enid Bennett) that the throne of King Richard the Lion-Hearted (Wallace Beery) has been usurped by his treacherous brother, Prince John (Sam De Grasse) while the king was off fighting the Crusades. Huntingdon adopts the name Robin Hood and gathers a band of m…

One of the most revered comedies of the silent era, this film finds hapless Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) facing off against Union soldiers during the American Civil War. When Johnny's fiancée, Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), is accidentally taken away while on a train stolen by Northern forces, Gray pursues the soldiers, usin…

When they are fed rancid meat, the sailors on the Potemkin revolt against their harsh conditions. Led by Vakulinchuk (Aleksandr Antonov), the sailors kill the officers of the ship to gain their freedom. Vakulinchuk is also killed, and the people of Odessa honor him as a symbol of revolution. Tsarist soldiers arrive and massacre the civilians to que…

In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the cast…

A hybrid of documentary and fiction, this silent film explores the history of witchcraft, demonology and satanism. It shows representations of evil in a variety of ancient and medieval artworks, offers vignettes illustrating a number of superstitious practices and presents a narrative about the persecution of a woman accused of witchcraft. The film…

YiFeng & Lily discuss In the Hands of Orlac (1924) directed by Robert Wiene Referenced: Maltin on Movies Ken Burns Hands of Orlac book The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells Island of Lost Souls The Man Who Laughs Seven Samurai Recorded October 12th, 2019

YiFeng & Lily discuss The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) directed by Robert Wiene Referenced: The Catcher in the Rye Mise-en-scène Recorded October 5th, 2019

YiFeng & Lily talk about Oscar Micheaux's Body and Soul (1925). Here are the films referenced on this podcast: Kino Lorber box set Pioneers of African-American Cinema (2015) Body & Soul (1925) Criterion version with new musical score composed by trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) The Kid (1921) Recorded September 27th, 2019…

YiFeng & Lily chat about this Lois Weber directorial feature; Recorded September 20th, 2019

YiFeng & Lily chats about Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018) by Pamela B. Green https://benaturalthemovie.com/;Recorded on September 13th, 2019

YiFeng & Lily chats about G.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915); Recorded on September 6th, 2019

YiFeng & Lily wrap up the dawn of cinema by chatting about Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune) from 1902 and Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery from 1903. 00:00 What our podcast is about! ~2:00 Film preservation/restorations ~14:00 Context of Part II ~16:30 Lily's 1st experiences w/silent films ~26:00 YiFeng's 1st ex…