Theme: Silent Movies

Silent Movies refer to all films that were made between the first ever film screened in 1895 and the integration of sound with film in 1927. There have been occasional silent films made since then usually as novelties.

Silent Cinema is really the history of the early days of cinema. The films were made in an era where the fundamentals of what film was to become were all laid down. During the period between the 1890s and 1920s, we see film move from novelty items of a few minutes long that were shown in fairgrounds to full-length films released through distribution chains. This period also saw the establishment of Hollywood, located in California because of its temperate weather, which became the world’s film capital and remains such today, along with the establishment of the major studios.

The 1910s saw the introduction of editing – most earlier films are simply staged like a play where the camera sits where the audience is and the only cut comes when the scene ends – and the use of electrical lighting, allowing the building of indoor sets. The 1910s also saw the first movie actors – prior to this, actors remains unnamed – which led to the establishment of the star system where people would watch films for the faces that appeared in them.

Georges Melies did sensational work between 1896 and 1912 and created most of the rudimentary beginnings of special effects. His films were enormously popular and much imitated. This was also the great era of German Expressionism.

Many classic directors such as Fritz Lang, Carl Dreyer, Rene Clair and Alfred Hitchcock had their beginnings in silent movies. Noted silent directors include Walter R. Booth, Segundo de Chomon, Abel Gance, D.W. Griffith, Paul Leni, Georges Melies, F.W. Murnau, Willis O’Brien and Robert Wiene.