Reactions to Balladeer’s Blog’s reviews of silent movies have been positive enough that I’d like to offer a quick take on a few multi-part documentary series on the subject. Both were from British Film Historian Kevin Brownlow, who did a better job of depicting the Age of Silent Movies than any Americans ever did.
Brownlow secured interviews with as many survivors of the era as possible, given their VERY advanced age. These are only a few of Brownlow’s documentaries, he also did a series on European Silent Films as well, plus several restored versions of silent classics. I plan to cover more of those in the future.
BUSTER KEATON: A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW (1987)
PART ONE – From Vaudeville to Movies: Brownlow and his colleagues scoured the best available footage remaining from Buster Keaton’s silent comedies. (For newbies to silent film history I’ll mention that countless movies from that period are lost forever due to decomposition prior to efforts to preserve them.)
Excellent selections of still photos are also featured, along with brief excerpts of interviews with stars, directors and others who worked with Keaton decades earlier.
This opening installment sets the pattern – the emphasis is on footage of Buster’s silent comedy classics accompanying the narration. Keaton’s career as a child performer in vaudeville is covered, followed by his drift into silent comedy shorts, at first backing up his mentor and longtime friend Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.
Buster’s genius shone through and he was soon heading up his own unit writing and directing his comedy shorts and later features. In addition, the Great Stone Face did his own stunts, thus suffering many injuries over the years. Continue reading
METROPOLIS – Volumes have been written about Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent movie sci-fi masterpiece. I love the film myself but rather than write the 9,899,974th glowing review of the 1927 original I will instead take a look at the 1984 re-issue, produced by Giorgio Moroder, who also did soundtracks for movies like Scarface, Midnight Express, and later Top Gun.
Rather than have the usual classical or similar music play as accompaniment to a silent movie, composer Giorgio Moroder wrote a rock and pop music score to attract a generation of filmgoers who might otherwise have never sat through a silent movie in their lives. Freddie Mercury, Pat Benatar, Adam Ant and Billy Squier were among those performing Moroder’s score.
Not only 1984 audiences but all subsequent generations of viewers which were drawn to silent movies in general thanks to airings of Metropolis (1984) may never have brought the new blood and passion to the early cinematic artform if not for Moroder. 
Balladeer’s Blog takes another look at the films of a silent movie star. This time I’m reviewing some of the films featuring trained animal star Teddy the Great Dane aka Teddy the Dog aka Keystone Teddy. From 1915 to 1924 Teddy starred or otherwise appeared in silent shorts as well as feature-length movies. 
TEDDY AT THE THROTTLE (1917) – This Mack Sennett short at Keystone Studios was one of two films in which Teddy actually got his name in the title. In this light-hearted affair the Great Dane plays the pet of THE Gloria Swanson. 
Beery’s villain character is embezzling money from the romantic leads Gloria Swanson and Bobby Vernon. Teddy, the REAL star, is cute and lively, plus he bravely saves Gloria’s life in the end when Beery ties her to railroad tracks after his villainy is exposed.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925) – Lon Chaney Senior’s makeup and performance as the title character were envelope-pushing for 1925 audiences. To me this is the ULTIMATE silent horror film. It may sound odd, but in my opinion this movie is the very best cinematic adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel. 
NUMBER THIRTEEN (1922) – This film marked the first time that Hitchcock worked as a director on a movie, but was the thirteenth film project he had worked on in some capacity, hence the title. The production went unfinished from lack of funds and the original title may have been Mrs. Peabody but even that is uncertain. 
ALWAYS TELL YOUR WIFE (1923) – Hitchcock started out as a co-director of this 20-minute comedy short but had to step into the top spot when the original director quit over creative differences with the studio. Though Alfred’s previous directing effort had gone unfinished, this comedy short was completed but he was not credited since he had not directed the entire film. 
THE PLEASURE GARDEN (1925) – The third time was almost the charm as this 75-minute movie was not only completed, but Hitchcock was credited as the director! 
THE MASTER MYSTERY (1918-1919) – The first film footage of Harry Houdini performing his stage act dates to 1907, but it wasn’t until this 15-part serial that he hit the big screen in a series of adventures. Chapter One of The Master Mystery debuted on November 18th, 1918 and starred Houdini as a federal agent named Quentin Locke. 
Every cliffhanger ending for the chapters of the serials involves a deathtrap which Houdini escapes from at the start of the following installment. 
A MODERN MUSKETEER (1917) – This 68-minute film was released on December 30th, 1917, when Douglas Fairbanks was known for his comedies rather than for his later success as cinema’s first swashbuckling superstar. 
I’m not exaggerating when I say that that opening segment provides almost as many thrills and spectacular stunts as the entirety of Doug’s 1921 serious turn as D’Artagnan in 
THE MYSTERY OF THE LEAPING FISH (1916) – Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog may remember that I’m a geek for Silent Movies. Last week’s look at 
The short’s comedic approach to cocaine, opium and more demonstrates the “anything goes” attitude before film codes were implemented to ban certain content from the big screen. In the pre-internet years, The Mystery of the Leaping Fish was a film that people refused to believe existed until you had them sit down and watch it with you.
THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920) – Douglas Fairbanks digs into his comedic AND acrobatic skills in this first screen adaptation of Johnston McCully’s masked hero of 1820s California (The Curse of Capistrano had just been published the year before and Fairbanks bought the film rights for United Artists.) 
Excellent fight choreography, heroic opposition to tyranny and the rousing, marathon chase and fight scene near the film’s finale make The Mark of Zorro an absolute must-see for anyone curious about silent movies. Nearly every frame of the film is a portrait.
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog may remember that I’m a silent movie geek, and have reviewed some of them in the past. Today, I decided to post this beautiful silent era movie poster for Douglas Fairbanks’ forerunner of modern-day special effects blockbusters – his 1924 version of The Thief of Bagdad.
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