Originally posted to Facebook on 2/27/2016
Ben, Alli, and I are ten weeks into our chronological movie viewing, watching four films a year for every year since 1898, and a few films prior. Because of the short running time of films in the earliest era we have already covered up through 1911. By the time we hit 1913 we will be watching true features, and so our progress will slow, and we won't hit 1920 until the fall.
I thought this was a good time to list some of the films that we enjoyed the most from the first decade of the twentieth century. The dominant figure during this period for us was Méliès, with D.W. Griffith starting to appear near the end. A few other groups or directors made multiple appearances as well, including the Edison corporation. Among Méliès' films, A Trip to the Moon (1902) lived up to its reputation. It wasn't the only Méliès film that had an extended narrative and multiple sets, but it was one of the earliest and most cohesive. Many of Méliès' films, however, were not in this vein. They took place mainly in a single set, and were basically showpieces for a variety of camera tricks. A late but polished example of this kind of film was The Devilish Tenant (1909). An early example was The Astronomer's Dream (1898).
Moving on from Méliès, but somewhat in the same vein, we liked Dream of A Rarebit Fiend (1906), directed by Edwin Porter for Edison. It was a little more broad and earthy, but had the same kind of parade-of-camera-tricks approach to its story. Another short but entertaining film was The Thieving Hand (1908) for Vitagraph.
A film closer in spirit to the longer narrative style of Melies was Aladdin and His Wonder Lamp (1906) directed by Albert Capellani for Pathe. It featured its own collection of visual effects, as well as the first camera pan that we've noticed.
Lastly, we liked The Sealed Room (1909) by D.W. Griffith. It is not the most representative of his films, in that it is more theatrical than normal, and is set indoors, but we enjoyed it.
All of these films are in the public domain, and are furthermore rather short, so they can all be watched on YouTube relatively easily. I've included the links below for anyone that is interested.
The Astronomer's Dream (1898)
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Dream of A Rarebit Fiend (1906)
Aladdin and His Wonder Lamp (1906)
The Thieving Hand (1908)
The Devilish Tenant (1909)
The Sealed Room (1909)
Showing posts with label 1908. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1908. Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Movies 1907 - 1908
Originally posted to Facebook on 2/2/2016
This week we watched films from 1907 and 1908. They were:
The Golden Beetle
The Red Spectre
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
Ben Hur
The Thieving Hand
The Electric Hotel
Troubles of a Grass Widower
The Adventures of Dollie
George Melies had only one film represented this week (The Eclipse), while Segundo de Chomón had three: The Golden Beetle, The Red Spectre, and The Electric Hotel. We also saw the first film by D.W. Griffith this week. We watched all of the films on Saturday, but took a break between the four from 1907 and the four from 1908. At initial glance the films chosen for 1907 seemed to be a bit of a regression from last week. The two Segundo de Chomon were very reminiscent of early Melies films: single sets, various camera tricks, and no particular narrative. The actual George Melies film (The Eclipse) was more typical of his later work, in that it had a narrative and multiple scenes, though still stagebound. The last and longest of the 1907 films was Ben Hur. This is not the famous silent version of Ben Hur from 1925, but an earlier version which lasts 15 minutes. It does seem like a certain fraction of early silent films relied upon the audience being familiar with the plot ahead of time, and this may have been one of those cases. I am only dimly aware of the plot of Ben Hur, so I found parts a little mystifying. The famous chariot race is present though, and had several four-horse teams galloping past the fixed-in-place camera.
When we came back and watched the 1908 films, we had somewhat better luck. Segundo de Chomón’s film from this year (The Electric Hotel) was more interesting than his 1907 films. It mixed stop motion and live action. I have no idea if this was unprecedented or not, but it was certainly the earliest film in which I’ve seen the effect. Both The Thieving Hand and Troubles of a Grass Widower were comedies, but with coherent narratives. The latter starred Max Linder, who apparently was an influence on Charlie Chaplin. The plot revolved around him having to live without his wife for a few days, and failing at common household chores. It didn’t strike me as particularly amusing, but Linder did have a certain charisma. The Thieving Hand was stranger and a little funnier. It involved a one-armed man buying a replacement arm with a mind of its own at a strange body-parts store.
The last film we saw was The Adventures of Dollie, which was the first film directed by D.W. Griffith. The plot involved the kidnapping of a girl, and her eventual return to her parents. It was not the most gripping of stories, but was clearly told, and didn’t rely upon any significant background knowledge.
Next week we finish up the first decade of the twentieth century, watching films from 1909 and 1910. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT. I’ve added films through the end of March, which takes us through 1913, and into the first real feature length films.
This week we watched films from 1907 and 1908. They were:
The Golden Beetle
The Red Spectre
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
Ben Hur
The Thieving Hand
The Electric Hotel
Troubles of a Grass Widower
The Adventures of Dollie
George Melies had only one film represented this week (The Eclipse), while Segundo de Chomón had three: The Golden Beetle, The Red Spectre, and The Electric Hotel. We also saw the first film by D.W. Griffith this week. We watched all of the films on Saturday, but took a break between the four from 1907 and the four from 1908. At initial glance the films chosen for 1907 seemed to be a bit of a regression from last week. The two Segundo de Chomon were very reminiscent of early Melies films: single sets, various camera tricks, and no particular narrative. The actual George Melies film (The Eclipse) was more typical of his later work, in that it had a narrative and multiple scenes, though still stagebound. The last and longest of the 1907 films was Ben Hur. This is not the famous silent version of Ben Hur from 1925, but an earlier version which lasts 15 minutes. It does seem like a certain fraction of early silent films relied upon the audience being familiar with the plot ahead of time, and this may have been one of those cases. I am only dimly aware of the plot of Ben Hur, so I found parts a little mystifying. The famous chariot race is present though, and had several four-horse teams galloping past the fixed-in-place camera.
When we came back and watched the 1908 films, we had somewhat better luck. Segundo de Chomón’s film from this year (The Electric Hotel) was more interesting than his 1907 films. It mixed stop motion and live action. I have no idea if this was unprecedented or not, but it was certainly the earliest film in which I’ve seen the effect. Both The Thieving Hand and Troubles of a Grass Widower were comedies, but with coherent narratives. The latter starred Max Linder, who apparently was an influence on Charlie Chaplin. The plot revolved around him having to live without his wife for a few days, and failing at common household chores. It didn’t strike me as particularly amusing, but Linder did have a certain charisma. The Thieving Hand was stranger and a little funnier. It involved a one-armed man buying a replacement arm with a mind of its own at a strange body-parts store.
The last film we saw was The Adventures of Dollie, which was the first film directed by D.W. Griffith. The plot involved the kidnapping of a girl, and her eventual return to her parents. It was not the most gripping of stories, but was clearly told, and didn’t rely upon any significant background knowledge.
Next week we finish up the first decade of the twentieth century, watching films from 1909 and 1910. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT. I’ve added films through the end of March, which takes us through 1913, and into the first real feature length films.
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