What can be? The title of this article is a quotation from the Charlie Chaplin movie Limelight. Ignoring that Limelight is a talking movie I would like to move the topic of silent films. There is beauty and quality in silent films that I fear is overlooked by moviegoers today.
Something that sets silent films apart from modern sound films is the appeal to your emotions that is the center of most silent films. They could not tell their stories verbally so they did what they could to make you feel the story. Chaplin and his City Lights is one of the best examples. Throughout the film you will feel joy, sorrow, desperateness, love, pity and excitement. He makes you feel and that is real.
Silent films are generally known for their physical humor which City Lights also has but Chaplin gives you much more then laughter. The story of the tramp who falls in love with a blind flower girl is moving throughout. It ends with one of the greatest final scenes ever filmed. It is beautifully subtle and not over acted. It is not unheard of for people to be moved to tears by it.
It is probably the greatest example of silent film as well as one of the greatest examples of movie making. It is also a good movie for those who are not familiar with silent film. It is a relatively new movie (1931) and was made several years after sound had become the standard. As a result if feels very modern. It has a synchronized score that Chaplin himself wrote. It has more of that good, old time movie feel rather then the silent short feel. The genius of Chaplin’s direction and him being a perfectionist gave City Lights a flow so smooth it makes the text cards seem unnecessary. Chaplin is a great storyteller and leads you gently through the film. He shows you the story rather then explain it to you through dialogue.
I feel that people may have become inept when it comes to watching and appreciating silent movies. In communication there is what is called “media literacy.” The idea is that we learn how to take in and interpret the media. An example of this would be when the first moving pictures were recorded. The first moving pictures occurred in France. There is a story that at the first public showings of moving pictures the audience was shown film of people walking and traffic in city streets then for a dramatic ending they were shown a clip of a train coming straight towards and then over the camera. The audience freaked, ducked under their chairs and jumped out of the way trying not to be run over. The audience was not yet media literate for moving pictures.
Media literacy also occurs in more subtle ways such as dream sequences and flash backs in film: we have learned to understand the foggy screens. I also believe people can lose some media literacy when they take in changes from what it was. Think of how difficult it can be to read a King James Bible. I feel that this loss of media literacy is true of many people with silent movies. (We, after all, have been watching only sound for almost 80 years.) They are missing out on some great movies. Don’t miss out on these movies yourself. See the movie. You may have to look for it in the rental places. I think Netflix has it. Someone just put it on youtube.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Old Friends
When ever I come across a set of friends that have been together for a lifetime I am amazed and enchanted by the fact of it. I enjoy the stories they have and the way they tell them together. Sometimes you can tell that two people have been friends for their lifetime by observing the way they hold a conversation. You do not have to overhear some piece of information that reveals dates, years or anything like that you just know. When old friends come together it is something special.
They seem to know each other so well and this understanding of each other goes much deeper then with other friendships it seem to go to a place that cannot be described only experienced and witnessed. They are so familiar with each other’s faces that at times they can move each other to laughter or sorrow by exchanging glances. They can read between the lines of each others speech. One can say “remember that time when…” and before he can finish the answer has been given and the conversation is well under way.
Only time passed can make an old friend. Sometimes fast friends can fit this description but it would lack many of the most important qualities of an old friendship. Old friends develop a chemistry together.
An old friend is that friend that seems to be present in the majority of your greatest memories. It does not matter what time or how many years the memories goes back he is there. When you have had this friend long enough it gets to the point where they will always be your old friend even if you eventually lose contact with them. They will always be in those memories they will always have played that part in you life.
The friendships like this seem to be present in the oldest generations most. I am not sure that this is entirely the effect of the need of decades of time together or if this kind of friendship is becoming a real rarity. It may be that modern times have put strains on these friendships. Today people do not stay put the way they used to. The world may be growing too unstable for these kinds of friends. It’s getting harder to trust that the familiarities of today will still exist as we know them in the decades to come. I can only hope that things are noot changing that fast and I see one of my friendships develope into old friends. Old friends, even the phrase itself seems to have a special warmth to it. Endearing. A feeling similiar to that when watching Rick Blaine and Captain Renault walking into the fog at the end of Casablanca.
They seem to know each other so well and this understanding of each other goes much deeper then with other friendships it seem to go to a place that cannot be described only experienced and witnessed. They are so familiar with each other’s faces that at times they can move each other to laughter or sorrow by exchanging glances. They can read between the lines of each others speech. One can say “remember that time when…” and before he can finish the answer has been given and the conversation is well under way.
Only time passed can make an old friend. Sometimes fast friends can fit this description but it would lack many of the most important qualities of an old friendship. Old friends develop a chemistry together.
An old friend is that friend that seems to be present in the majority of your greatest memories. It does not matter what time or how many years the memories goes back he is there. When you have had this friend long enough it gets to the point where they will always be your old friend even if you eventually lose contact with them. They will always be in those memories they will always have played that part in you life.
The friendships like this seem to be present in the oldest generations most. I am not sure that this is entirely the effect of the need of decades of time together or if this kind of friendship is becoming a real rarity. It may be that modern times have put strains on these friendships. Today people do not stay put the way they used to. The world may be growing too unstable for these kinds of friends. It’s getting harder to trust that the familiarities of today will still exist as we know them in the decades to come. I can only hope that things are noot changing that fast and I see one of my friendships develope into old friends. Old friends, even the phrase itself seems to have a special warmth to it. Endearing. A feeling similiar to that when watching Rick Blaine and Captain Renault walking into the fog at the end of Casablanca.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Citizen Kane
According to the American Film Institute and their list of 100 greatest films the greatest movie ever made was made over 60 years ago. The movies being made today do not even seem worthy of comparison. You would expect movies to grow progressively better as film makers grow more experienced and new techniques are developed. I feel that part of the problem is in the emphasis film makers are placing in technology and special effects.
In the golden age of film the focus of film makers was not on special effects but on the script, photography, emotion and acting. These are the points that make a great film. Casablanca used a cardboard plane and midgets as the background for the final and most important scene and is made better then anything with special effects. The original AFI list says only Citizen Kane betters it. (The revised list adds The Godfather.)
In the golden age scripts were written by real writers. The Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film To Have and Have Not was based on a novel by Ernest Hemingway and had a screenplay written by William Faulkner.
It was common practice (especially in film noir) to use adaptations from literature to create scripts. The scripts read like literature because they are literature. (Sunset Boulevard is also a good example of this.)
Scripts today are witty banter at best. From time to time there comes a film that can sit alongside those old beautifully written films. When those films do come they stand out and do not seem to fit among other modern films. The two most recent films in the AFI top ten are Raging Bull (1980) and Schindler’s List (1993) (Raging Bull was just added). Both these movies are so far removed from other modern movies that they are even filmed in black and white.
In the golden age of film the focus of film makers was not on special effects but on the script, photography, emotion and acting. These are the points that make a great film. Casablanca used a cardboard plane and midgets as the background for the final and most important scene and is made better then anything with special effects. The original AFI list says only Citizen Kane betters it. (The revised list adds The Godfather.)
In the golden age scripts were written by real writers. The Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film To Have and Have Not was based on a novel by Ernest Hemingway and had a screenplay written by William Faulkner.
It was common practice (especially in film noir) to use adaptations from literature to create scripts. The scripts read like literature because they are literature. (Sunset Boulevard is also a good example of this.)
Scripts today are witty banter at best. From time to time there comes a film that can sit alongside those old beautifully written films. When those films do come they stand out and do not seem to fit among other modern films. The two most recent films in the AFI top ten are Raging Bull (1980) and Schindler’s List (1993) (Raging Bull was just added). Both these movies are so far removed from other modern movies that they are even filmed in black and white.
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