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I'll try and participate a bit more from this point on (although my number one for the 1920s will likely not change from being Man With A Movie Camera!), but I wanted to add a couple of extra films to lubitsch's list:

The Great Gabbo, a talking ventriloquist's dummy/spiral into madness picture starring Erich von Stroheim which could be seen as the progenitor of the dummy sequence in Dead of Night, but actually feels a lot more related to the much later Richard Attenborough film Magic. It is apparently out on a Kino DVD but I cannot say anything about quality of that since I'm working from an off air TV recording instead.

The Alexandre Volkoff adaptation of Casanova from 1927 - probably the only adaptation of the story that I really like, perhaps because this is truly a visual romantic spectacle (sort of The Wedding March without all the dark irony!) The leads are somewhat callow but work to balance out some of the comically broader scene-stealing acting, such as that by Rudolph Klein-Rogge (the year after he was in Metropolis). There is also an early appearance by Michel Simon (even a year before he briefly crops up in Passion of Joan of Arc!)

If just for the last scene on that stage Great Gabbo will probably be on my list. The Kino disc is very good with the only 'problem' being completely out of their hands. My favorite von Stroheim though has to be The Merry Widow. I know that anyone who hasn't seen it yet probably won't be able to, but it is completely worth the effort. The art design is just perfect (the castle stands on the clouds like some sort of fantasia), but the story is also really good. I'm not a real big fan of the original play, but von Stroheim adds to it in a darkening way. These tools of melodrama become real people.
While Vertov will always be my favorite of the Soviets, I have to say Aelita deserves a lot more recognition. A lot of people will call it a sci-fi, or more accurately space opera, but that's really short selling it much like calling Stalker a sci-fi. It's really more of an analogy as drama. The politics and treatment of history are easily the most intelligent and complex of the entire period/ area.

Also are the silent talking discs worth the fifty bucks?

Dr Amicus wrote:I've already reserved my No. 50 slot for Gus Visser and His Singing Duck, 90 seconds of genius that can be found on the second Treasures set. I think just about everybody who has been round to my house has this inflicted on shown to them - and their reactions are (if you've seen the film) as you might expect.

That's just the sort of film the fiftieth slot was designed for. I have to confess I've imposed this imposing masterpiece on many an unwary guest as well. You might as well be showing them your holiday camcorder footage from Mars.

Oh, why keep it to ourselves: Gus Visser and his Amazing Vanishing Hand.

That guy singing an 'oriental' 'Yes, Sir, That's My Baby!' plumbs similar depths of WTF-ness.

zedz wrote: That's just the sort of film the fiftieth slot was designed for.

Hehe... I don't know this particular film, but from the beginning I reserved the 50th slot in the pre-20s list for Abel Gance's "La Folie du Docteur Tube". 10 minutes of utter madness in every respect.

I'm so glad you guys are continuing this project. I hope you get more participants for this time period, and I'm sure the greater availability of films from the period will help. I am going to sit out, however, until we get around to the 1930s again. And then I will force everyone to put The Mad Miss Manton on their list. Actually, it probably won't even end up on my list, there are just too many great films in the 1930s.

Ok,
after seeing some of my favorites in the pre1920s way down the list, I'll try some advertisement here for films which might be overlooked.
Charles Chaplin. Just a reminder that he made films in the 20s. Pretty good ones in fact. After the last list I'm fearing the worst.
Harold Lloyd. He chose the wrong films for his posterior fame. Safety Last is fine, The Freshman badly dated, Lloyd is best when playing tender love stories as in Girl Shy and The Kid Brother.
Charley Bowers' There it is is the most bizarre comedy of the decade and a must see whtever you may think of it in the end.
Josef von Sternberg's The Docks of New York is a visual treat and an interesting story.
D. W. Griffith' Isn’t life Wonderful. Why oh why are so many mediocre Griffith' films like America on DVD, but this semi-neorealist film not? Try to find it.
Maurice Tourneur's Last of the Mohicans is a surprisingly powerful and unsurprisingly beautiful film.
Frank Borzage's masterpiece is arguably the fragment of The River, daringly sensuos and intimate. Of the late features my favorite was always Street Angel which out-Murnaus Murnau at the beginning and the end while being more intelligent than the more famous 7th Heaven.
Paul Fejös Lonesome is arguably the US silent in most dire need of a release beyond the Warner films and The Wedding March from Criterion. Minuscule likeable story, full weight of late silent visual power. Must see.
Next decade, next attempt for Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Fairbanks' arguably best adventure feature is the lean energetic Mark of Zorro and Mary Pickford made with Suds a powerful film which tested the limits of her star persona.
H2O by Ralph Steiner set the mark for many, many later and similar films, but it is a true, pure beauty on the border between reality and abstraction. The more narrative oriented Fall of the House of Usher by Watson/Webber and Telltale Heart by Charles F. Klein look very, very impressive.
Ernst Lubitsch's Die Bergkatze is pleasently nutty and silly and one of the most stunningly designed films of the decade regarding the set design and the zillions of different picture frames.
G.W. Pabst's Abwege is slowly gaining recognition since the 1997 Berlin retro which completely eluded the film when it was premiered. It's in fact one of the most typical films of the director with an icy look at the relationship of a couple.
I have a great weakness for the two early chamber dramas Hintertreppe by Jessner/Leni and Scherben by Lupu Pick. Slow moving, brooding films, told in long takes, heavily underestimated as being backward regarding film language.
Arnold Fanck's mountain films represent the most Germanic film genre imaginable. Try to pick one of these incredibly majestetic dramas with their insanely daring cinematography.
Leo Mittler's Jenseits der Straße floats around in the backchannels and manages to merge expressive camera angles and lighting, fast cutting and social commentary.
Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna by Hanns Schwarz is arguably the most gloriously filmed silent of them all. This doesn't mean it's the most spectacularily filmed, it's just a perfectly flowing romance, sumptuosly shot, intelligently told.
Der lebende Leichnam by Fedor Ozep is a progressively gloomy, relentless and dark drama worth exploring.
Adventures of Prince Achmed by Lotte Reiniger is the loveliest of all silent features, made with an endless amount of patience and love, it's a supreme illustration of the word craftsmanship in its details, its different angles and the depth of the animated picture.
The German set with the Germaine Dulac films is a must buy and Invitation au Voyage has no intertitles anyway. It's pure poetry and a voyage into the mind of a woman. Like Lois Weber Dulac is a major silent director, not merely a major female director.
Visages d’enfants by Jacques Feyder is the first sensitive and intelligent treatment of children in film, shot on location it's miles and years ahead of most of the melodramatic stuff of the decade.
Jean Gremillon's Maldone is a daringly avantgardistic feature film starting like Renoir's Fille de l'eau but moving fast in other territories. However the masterpiece on the intersection of avantgarde and narrative film is the much and often praised Menilmontant by Dmitri Kirsanoff which manages incredibly to launch a full scale avantgarde visual attack and at the same time create some incredibly tender scenes like the one on the park bench. Must see.
I hope House on Trubnaya by Boris Barnet will finally be released by Edition Filmmuseum. This is a truly funny, constantly inventive comedy with no ideological baggage the other Russian films have. Abram Room's Bed and Sofa is another tip which might be easily overlooked though it has deservedly attracted attention for its unusual menage a trois, its wit, the documentary passages and the visual inventiveness.
Alfred Hitchcock's silents are often checked as hints of things to come, but take a look at The Manxman, an intelligent, sensitive triangle drama shot in impressive deep focus compositions.
Anthony Asquith' Cottage on Dartmoor will probably my number 1. the Dvd cover nicely tells us that this film out-Hitchocks Hitchcock and that's certainly true. Tense, fluently and brilliantly shot this film makes you feel sorry that the silent era didn't last a few years longer.
Maurice Elvey's Hindle Wakes is an intelligent theater drama with a stunning prelude of weekend activities, some of the shots like the top shot on the dancing hall are breathtaking.
Len Lye's Tusalava is a completely unique piece of avantgarde film, not related to anything made in the experimental genre around this time, a kind of Aborigine drawing coming to life and destroying itself. Must see.
Mauritz Stiller's Johan is likely to get a bit lost because the German disc has no English subs which would be a shame because it's a powerful triangle drama shot beautufully on location and far superior to the ponderous Gösta Berling.
Czech DVDs are cheap and Gustav Machaty's Erotikon would be a good starting point. The subbed DVD presents a loosely structured, atmospheric drama with a great leading lady, Ita Rina.
I'm not a fan of the films of Charles Dekeukeleire and it's rather zedz job to drum up some support for them, but they are certainly the most radical avantgarde films of their time.
Finally Teinosuke Kinugasa's film Kurutta ippeji is the silent film in most dire need of a decent copy not to speak of a DVD release. The film taking place in a madhouse is one of the most daring and disturbing narrative films of the decade and absolutely incomparable with its static story and abstract design.

lubitsch wrote: Josef von Sternberg's is a visual treat and an interesting story.

As this goes for almost all Sternbergs, which one do you have in mind?

lubitsch wrote: Ernst Lubitsch's is pleasently nutty and silly and one of the most stunningly designed films of the decade regarding the set design and the zillions of different picture frames.

"Die Bergkatze"?

lubitsch wrote: I have a great weakness for the two early chamber dramas Hintertreppe by Jessner/Leni and Scherben by Lupu Pick. Slow moving, brooding films, told in long takes, heavily underestimated as being backward regarding film language.

I still haven't seen "Hintertreppe" (shame on me), but I second the praise for "Scherben". An incredibly intense film, visually and performance-wise stunning, so I can't see how it should have been considered 'backward'. One of the first films everyone should check out in the back channels. There's a fine-looking TV recording floating around.

lubitsch wrote: Arnold Fanck's mountain films represent the most Germanic film genre imaginable. Try to pick one of these incredibly majestetic dramas with their insanely daring cinematography.

And their equally daring editing, though this might be more true for his 30s films. Please see my avatar not only in the easily accessible "Der Heilige Berg", but also in the perhaps even better comedy "Der grosse Sprung". That one might also change your ideas about Leni Riefenstahl; I was genuinely surprised how funny she could be.

lubitsch wrote: Leo Mittler's Jenseits der Straße floats around in the backchannels and manages to merge expressive camera angles and lighting, fast cutting and social commentary.

This film should grace a forthcoming (hopefully) fourth installment of Kino's Avant-Garde series. Absolutely amazing in every respect. I already know that this will be among my Top 20s, if not Top 10s. Also a good one for foot fetishists...

lubitsch wrote: Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna by Hanns Schwarz is arguably the most gloriously filmed silent of them all.

I'm somewhat surprised to hear that from you, but it's a very pleasant surprise. I'll sing the praises of this film later in much more detail, but I can only advise anyone who hasn't seen it: RUN DON'T WALK and make sure you see it as soon as you can. Definitely Top 5 material.

lubitsch wrote: Menilmontant by Dmitri Kirsanoff which manages incredibly to launch a full scale avantgarde visual attack and at the same time create some incredibly tender scenes like the one on the park bench. Must see.

Enter Herr Schreck, I'd say. But my brief words about the Schwarz apply here, too.

lubitsch wrote: Maurice Elvey's Hindle Wakes is an intelligent theater drama with a stunning prelude of weekend activities, some of the shots like the top shot on the dancing hall are breathtaking.

Not to forget the rollercoaster ride. I absolutely love this film, and as we've been briefly talking about In The Nursery: they made the soundtrack for this one, too. And it's every way as wonderful as their efforts for "Man with a Camera" and "Electric Edwardians". And the same goes for their soundtrack for Kinugasa's "A page of madness". Get the film somewhere and put on the cd (it almost runs synchronously), and you're in for a real treat.

Personally I prefer The Thief of Bagdad to Zoro. They're both great films worthy of inclusion, but for me Thief manages to prove and provide so much in so many areas. I'm always surprised in Thief just how excellent of an actor Fairbanks was. I can't think of many more action stars with so much talent. Add that a carefully constructed story and beautiful direction by Walsh and I'm never not blown away.

I think Jean Renoir's (and Albert Dieudonné's?) Une vie sans joie should be considered (AKA Catherine or Backbiters). I'm aware that some consider it minor, but I think it deserves a look and consideration for this list (it's my favorite of his 20s stuff). It has an interesting visual style and a very Renoir sense of timing and humor.

I would also add Lasislav Starewicz's The Mascot for consideration! It's on youtube here. It would be worth watching any and all Starewicz from the 20s, actually, but this one especially. edit: nevermind about The Mascot.

The Mascot is 1933. His Roman de Renard will likely be on a 30s list of mine.

I also think my favorite Renoir from the 20s is Une Vie sans joie, but that isn't saying much, as I don't like much any of his silent films, it feels like I get nothing out of them. I'd rate Nana a bit better than the rest though. I'm only missing Le Tournoi dans la cité and Le Bled, excluding his lost one. I'd watch them for completion, but I wonder if they're anywhere to be found.

Can anybody point me out worthwhile all-talking pictures from the 20s? I guess that won't make a big list, but I'm curious about them. I've seen Hallelujah, The Love Parade, Blackmail, the very surprising Applause, and The Lights of New-York (I found it funny in the wrong way and not a borefest, so I'll say it's worth a look ... heh). I'll try to get my hands on The Great Gabbo, since it was mentioned a few times.

Thanks for the correction, Saturnome. Still check out the 20s Starewicz though! Like The Frog Who Wanted A King

Tommaso wrote:

lubitsch wrote: Josef von Sternberg's is a visual treat and an interesting story.

As this goes for almost all Sternbergs, which one do you have in mind?

lubitsch wrote: Ernst Lubitsch's is pleasently nutty and silly and one of the most stunningly designed films of the decade regarding the set design and the zillions of different picture frames.

"Die Bergkatze"?

That's what you get when you write posts way past midnight, the Docks of New York and Die Bergkatze are the right answers for my unintentional quiz.
I haven't yet corrected all the missing short films in my initial post, will do it on monday.

knives wrote:Personally I prefer The Thief of Bagdad to Zoro. They're both great films worthy of inclusion, but for me Thief manages to prove and provide so much in so many areas. I'm always surprised in Thief just how excellent of an actor Fairbanks was. I can't think of many more action stars with so much talent. Add that a carefully constructed story and beautiful direction by Walsh and I'm never not blown away.

I see where you're coming from, both points of view seem pretty much valid to, Thief is a tad ponderous with its running time, Pickford and Fairbanks moved into longer and slower features, some like Everson miss the zing of the earlier films which were a lot faster indeed.

Saturnome wrote:Can anybody point me out worthwhile all-talking pictures from the 20s? I guess that won't make a big list, but I'm curious about them.

My suggestion would be the first all-talking picture from UFA, "Melodie des Herzens" (1929) by Hanns Schwarz. It is floating around in the backchannels in a copy that even I find abysmal, but what can be made out from that blurry picture is that the film is a visual treat and has a very touching story, as summarized by imdb:

"A young maid from the country looses her job as maid in k.u.k. Budapest, when she stays out too long with her beau, a soldier, who's saving money to buy a horse to open a transport company. After being unemployed for quite a while and her rent is long overdue, the landlady offers her a better job in a nightclub. Meanwhile the soldiers family has decided that her son should marry the daughter of a rich farmer. The soldier finds out about his girl friends profession, and accepts after struggling with himself the match his parents have made. At the day of his engagement his girl friend comes to his hometown with enough money to buy a horse, which leads to a conflict between her, the fiancee, her family, himself and his parent."

Wonderful location photography of Budapest, and a great performance by Dita Parlo aided by the young Willy Fritsch. Almost a companion piece to "Nina Petrowna", I'd say. And if anyone can find a better-looking copy, I'd be eternally thankful....

An excellent sound film from 1929 is Walter Ruttmann's Melody of the World. It's a globe spanning documentary of people's daily lives. No dialogue, just intercut moments and impressions. creating different illusions of time and place.

Tommaso wrote:Melodie des Herzens" (1929) by Hanns Schwarz.

If it's anything like this clip this is not bad, but I guess it's worse

Thanks Steven H, I completely forgot Melody of the World. That's one I should watch soon.

between 4-8 A.m. (pacific time) on Aug 24th on TCM they'll be showing He Who Gets Slapped and von Stroheim's The Merry Widow. Be there. :-$

Saturnome wrote:If it's anything like this clip this is not bad, but I guess it's worse

Though the clip isn't exactly a beauty either, I have to say that sadly it's much worse (though probably from the same source).

Is anyone who owns the Korean THE CROWD dvd able to comment on the PQ? I'm not expecting much, but it would be nice to know whether it was awful or not. Also are the korean subtitles removable?

Is anyone who owns the Korean THE CROWD dvd able to comment on the PQ? I'm not expecting much, but it would be nice to know whether it was awful or not. Also are the korean subtitles removable?

I have the Chinese DVD and it's sourced from the VHS, the image is a bit soft but very watchable. I'm going to assume the Korean one is from the same source.

For those unable to find the VHS for The Wedding March, in my opinion von Stroheim's second best, it seems to be avaliable in its entirety on google. The only problem is that there are yellow Spanish subtitles throughout.

Just watched The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrowna. Very impressive, my initial response is that I admired it more than enjoyed it (I had a similar response to L'Argent), though that may change. The camerawork is superb, with that floating camera that I love so much in late era silents, the sets are lavish, and all the performances are strong. Obviously a key work of the period. I'm eager to check out Melodie des Herzens now.

lubitsch wrote:Harold Lloyd. He chose the wrong films for his posterior fame. Safety Last is fine, The Freshman badly dated, Lloyd is best when playing tender love stories as in Girl Shy and The Kid Brother.

I know many call The Kid Brother Lloyd's best, and it certainly has its inspired moments of charm, but I find the third act to be an unbearable slog that only emphasizes how generally unfunny and generic Lloyd is in it. Even when I watched it in the Castro, where the magic of any film is emphasized, it didn't do it for me.

The '20s is my favorite decade for cinema. Rarely have so many different regions and movements been bursting with such unbridled creative joy. So many filmmakers were being so ecstatically adventurous in so many different ways.

Regardless of what you think of Vidor's other silents, make sure you beg, borrow, cheat, steal, prostitute yourself or kill to see The Crowd before you finalize your list.

I've yet to find a film of any decade to top Sherlock, Jr.

lubitsch wrote:The biggest Asian film industry is naturally Japan’s, but ist output has been lamentably bad preserved. The by far most famous director is Teinosuke Kinugasa whose Kurutta Ippeji you have to try to see even if the available copies look crappy, there’s also his Jujiro floating around in a subbed state as are the others mentioned here.

Do try to track down these two Teinosuke Kinugasa films. I've yet to see a good-looking transfer of A Crazy Page/A Page of Madness. I was tempted to smuggle a camcorder into a theater to videotape a 35mm projection, as even those poor circumstances would beat the decayed VHS transfer floating around. I saw a gorgeous print of Jujiro with ball-shrinkingly brilliant accompaniment by Stephen Horne, but unfortunately I don't know if it's ever been recorded.

nsps wrote:Regardless of what you think of Vidor's other silents, make sure you beg, borrow, cheat, steal, prostitute yourself or kill to see The Crowd before you finalize your list.

I'd be willing to send off a couple copies of the Bo Ying ("public domain") edition of The Crowd, provided people will arrange to circulate them around to other posters.

I've had the disc for years and still haven't watched it, always assuming that a better release would come around soon enough.
I'll have to head down to one of the few legitimate Dvd sellers and make sure that it is still available, but would expect so, since it has been here steadily for the past 5+ years.

I may be making too many suggestions, but I will say that Jean Epstein's Finis Terrae (1929) is taking my number 1 spot (last time Sunrise had it). The unnerving performances (reminding me of Golding's Lord of the Flies), the pacing, the subtle use of titles, and the bleak and consistently stark unforgettable imagery stays with you, burned into your brain. I think the film is endlessly rewatchable, though it may seem odd to silent fans that I would rank this higher than other Epstein silents (I don't know what's come over me.)