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RE: Sunrise (1927)

Posted by Cosmic Closet on September 13, 2008 at 09:51:01:
Good for you; with Brownlow, you'll be in the hands of one of the great ones (his book 'The Parade's Gone By' is still one of the all-time standards on silent film history.)

For other films, first two of the 'unavoidables':

"Nosferatu" (1922/F. W. Murnau)
"Battleship Potemkin" (1925/Sergei Eisenstein)
You have to see them at least once if you are into silents. They may strike you as overwrought in places, but they both have a permanent place in film history for their techniques and for their use of mood and imagery.

"The Last Laugh" (1924/F. W. Murnau); groundbreaking, tragic tale of an old man's fall from respect. Emil Jannings is superb in the lead.

"Wings" (1927/William Wellman) WW1 spectacle with amazing aerial dog-fight scenes. A silent 'action movie.'

For something really special (if you can come across a good print that shows the film correctly), "Napoleon" (1927/Abel Gance) is a massive epic that broke rules that weren't even invented in 1927. 3-camera widescreen, incredible editing/crosscutting...the list goes on. See it if shown in a theatre.

And finally, one of my all-time favorites:
"The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928/Carl Theodor Dreyer). This one is stylized, severe, and demands every bit of the viewer's attention.
It is also one of the most damning films about man's intolerance towards man ever made, with a truly heartbreaking ending, courtesy of Maria Falconetti's superb acting.

This is just a tiny tip of the iceberg. There's Griffith's 'big ones' "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance", the Italian blockbuster "Cabiria", the silent version of "Ben Hur".....

Have fun at the screening, and I hope you enjoy some of my suggestions.

Best,
CC.