Silent Film School

21 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Things

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Movies Silently, Palmer Photoplay Corporation, Screenwriting, Silent film, Writing courses

I told you already about Movies, Silently, my favourite silent film blog.

Now webmistress Fritzi Kramer is trying something new: the Silent Film School. Continue reading →

A Tale of Two (Small) Cities

03 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Stories

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A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, Eugene Mullin, Nickelodeon, Silent film, Vitagraph

Vitagraph was perhaps the most famous amongst the Nickelodeon Era studios, specializing in historical scenes and literary adaptations. Back in the time of one- or two-reel movies, these pioneers adapted for the screen a good deal of Shakespeare and classic novels – the challenge being to tell a complete story in ten or twenty minutes. Continue reading →

A Lot of Silents

30 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by la Clarina in Stories

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Alfred Hitchcock, Auguste and Louis Lumière, Charlie Chaplin, Fritz Lang, Georges Méliès, Open Culture, Sergei Eisenstein, Silent film

I was recently introduced to OpenCulture, a website that boasts “the best free cultural and educational media on the web”.

Well, they certainly list heaps of excellent and very interesting content: ebooks, audiobooks, courses, MOOCs, language lessons, movies, teaching resources… but what really got me is their selection of 101 silent films.

If, like me, you are not wild about Charlie Chaplin, the numer is somewhat smaller – but all the same, the wonders you’ll find on that page! From Fritz Lang to Méliès, from very early Hitchcock to the Lumière Brothers, from Murnau to Eisenstein, to Renoir…

Quite mouth-watering. Oh, to just have time enough and world…

Before The Talkies

26 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by la Clarina in Stories

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Movies Silently, Silent film, Silent Movies

Silent movies are another of those things.

I love silent movies, I’m forever pestering friends about making a toy silent movie, sooner or later – and I’m good at pestering, so perhaps one day…

Meanwhile, I thought I’d share the link to one of my favourite websites on the subject, the wonderful Movies, Silently, a real trove of information about movies, actors, directors, with plenty of reviews, images, articles and bios, a section about lost movies, slightly bizarre and highly fun things like themed months, challenges, animated gifs, lots of links, and a healthy sense of humour.

My predilection goes perhaps to the double reviews of silent and talkie versions of the same title, but there is a wealth of wonders. If you want just one site about the silents, this is the right place to go.