Silent Film

“Speaking Shadows”: A History of the Voice in the Transition from Silent to Sound Film in the United States

by Jessica Taylor

Published in the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Volume 19 Issue 1 June 2009

In this paper I examine the media discourse surrounding the voice in the silent to sound film transition in American... more In this paper I examine the media discourse surrounding the voice in the silent to sound film transition in American cinema. When the technologies of synchronized sound became widespread in the late 1920s the question of how this new technology would be incorporated into the well-established film culture was of great interest, revealing some of the underlying ideologies of language at the time. These discussions worked to stabilize the new sound cinema around an ideology of the voice, closely tied to an ideology of American society, which became less audible as it became more certain, leaving behind its now naturalized structures of voiced race, class, gender and ethnicity. [voice, technology, cinema, race, gender]

Tog vi ikke afsted for at finde Livets Paradis? Himmelskibet mellem astronomi og åbenbaring

by Thore Bjørnvig

In Gertrud Hvidberg-Hansen og Gertrud Oelsner (eds.) (2011), Himmelgåder: Dansk kunst og astronomi 1780-2010, Toreby and Odense: Fuglsang Kunstmuseum and Forlaget Odense Bys Museer: 197-212

About the religious and pluralistic aspects of the Danish silent movie Himmelskibet (A Trip to Mars). About the religious and pluralistic aspects of the Danish silent movie Himmelskibet (A Trip to Mars).

Woolloomooloo or Wapping? Critical responses to The Sentimental Bloke in 1920s London and the normalization of the inner-city working class

by Stephen Morgan

Published in 'Studies in Australasian Cinema' (Intellect), Volume 5, Issue 3, March 2012.

This article explores the British reception of the first film adaptation of C. J. Dennis' verse poem The Sentimental... more This article explores the British reception of the first film adaptation of C. J. Dennis' verse poem The Sentimental Bloke, and traces the tendency of contemporary London critics to re-align the film's inner-city character 'types' with those much closer to home. Whilst contemporary Australian reviews tended to regard the central characters as typical Australian 'larrikin' types, London critics consistently compared them with – and occasionally even mistook them for – their own inner-city working class types. References to cockneys and costers abound in a process of normalization that saw Sydney's urban working class identities subsumed by that of their more familiar English cousins. Framed by an investigation of themes of 'realism', 'authenticity' and 'universality', this article asks why London critics may have needed to normalize certain aspects of the film and ponders what that process might say about urban identity and broader British notions of Australia and 'Australianness' in the 1920s.

Comicidade e cinema mudo- Dramaturgia de esquetes cômicos

by Marcus Mota

Among achievements of the first movies and genres, we have a huge variety of comedy works. In addition to comic... more Among achievements of the first movies and genres, we have a huge variety of comedy works. In addition to comic effect, these works were organized according to clear dramaturgical procedures that correlate the composition (how the parts are framed and connected) to reception problems. In this article I analyze the comedy film compilation “When Was King”. Big Business, from Laurel and Hardy, receives a more detailed study.
Entre realizações e gêneros do primeiro cinema, temos uma variedade enorme de obras classificadas como cômicas. Além do efeito cômico, tais obras se organizavam em função de claros procedimentos dramatúrgicos, que correlacionam temas de composição (como as partes são elaboradas e conectadas) a problemas de recepção. Neste texto analiso esquetes presentes na coletânea “When Comedy Was King”. E, entre eles, Big Business, de Laurel e Hardy.
TRABALHO apresentado na VI Reunião científica da Abrace, Porto Alegre, 2011.

Word meets image: Racine on silent film

by Kate Tunstall

Louis Feuillade, master of many genres

by Stotropama Mukherjee

“Early Filmmaking at the Lakehead, 1911-1931”

by Michel S Beaulieu

Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society Papers and Records 33 (2005): 42-64.

“The Best Picture Ever Made in Canada? Thunder Bay Films Limited and The Devil Bear”

by Michel S Beaulieu

Revue Canadienne D’Études Cinématographiques / Canadian Journal of Film Studies 14:2 (Automne 2005): 18-37.

Cet article trace la brève mais tumultueuse histoire de la Thunder Bay Film Limited, une compagnie de production... more Cet article trace la brève mais tumultueuse histoire de la Thunder Bay Film Limited, une compagnie de production cinématographique professionnelle établie en 1927 dans la ville qui est aujourd’hui Thunder Bay, en Ontario. On pourrait interpréter la création de cette compagnie soit comme une manigance pour circonvenir au “British Cinematograph Act”, soit comme tentative vaillante mais futile de donner naissance à une industrie locale. Mais ces hypothèses ne rendent pas compte de la ferveur des gens de la région. Les productions de la Thunder Bay Film témoignent en fait d’une croyance régionale dans la modernité.

From Magic Latern Shows to Motion Picture Palaces: The Latern Origin of the Cinema Shows in Constantin Philipsen's Cinemas (1859-1925)

by Jens Ulff-Moller

Normalcy in Jazz-Mad America: Clara Bow in _My Lady of Whims_ (1926)

by Russell Johnson

Screening the Past #32 (2011) [on-line journal]

This article analyzes the 1926 silent feature film My Lady of Whims, starring Clara Bow, in the context of the... more This article analyzes the 1926 silent feature film My Lady of Whims, starring Clara Bow, in the context of the restoration of “normalcy” in the United States during the 1920s. Specifically, the film tackles issues in two important areas. First, it presents two characters who are veterans of the First World War and for whom the readjustment to normal civilian life has not gone smoothly. And second, the film addresses a widely described phenomenon during the decade: the so-called “jazz madness” which many people thought was undermining stable—i.e., normal—family life. In the end, the film resolves the issues raised in both cases by showing that rehabilitation is possible.

Imagining Colonial Space in Regional Queensland: film and governance

by Warwick Mules

Вещь в немом кино / Vešč’ v nemom kino, Evgenij Bauėr i drugie, in: N. Zlydneva (Hg.): Koncept vešči v slavjanskoj kul'ture, St. Peterburg (Aleteja).

by Natascha Drubek

МЕЖДУНАРОДНАЯ КОНФЕРЕНЦИЯ «КОНЦЕПТ ВЕЩИ В СЛАВЯНСКИХ КУЛЬТУРАХ»
(Институт славяноведения РАН, Москва, 21—23 сентября 2010 г.)
- in print

Tags: Georges Méliès, “Le Voyage dans la Lune” (1902), “The Starving Artist, or Realism in Art” (1907), А. Уральский / Н. Ларин: „Треxсотлетие царствования дома Романовыx“ (1913), Пудовкин, Максим Горький, Ханжонков, Бауэр, Bauer, "Сумерки женской души", «Грезы», “После смерти”, Кулешов, Kuleshov, „Проект инженера Прайта“ (R 1918), Лотман, Цивьян, объем, Pastrone "Cabiria", Gregg Toland, "Citizen Kane", Coleridge, Clarence Brown, “A Woman of Affairs” (1929), Борис Барнет, Федор Оцеп, «Мисс Менд» (1926), Родченко, Вещи: Американский / Русский графин, сосиски, перчатка, сумочки,

«...die Dinge tragen meistens, wie schamhafte Frauen, einen Schleier vor dem Gesicht». (Balász)

Contents:

От задника к квази-вещи и настоящему мясу: плоскость и трехмерность в кино 1900-1920
more Contents:

От задника к квази-вещи и настоящему мясу: плоскость и трехмерность в кино 1900-1920

Бюсты-Цари Бауэра

Оживление вещи в 1910-е годы:
Черепки кувшина и жест спинки кресла

«Душа декорации» и диковинки Бауeра в трактовке Кулешова

Вещи в глубинном постранстве

Освобожденная вещь в монтаже

«Убрать неработающие вещи!»

Столетие вещи в кино: От «малеванных» к дигитальным задникам


"Н. Друбек-Майер (Берлин) в докладе «Вещь в немом кино» остановилась на двух подходах к вещи в кинематографе — в символизме и авангарде. Хорошо изучен­ная монтажная вещь авангарда представлена в фильме обычно как крупный план предмета, чередующийся с другими кадрами (чаще всего разных планов). Второй подход — это помещение вещи внутри мизансцены. Такого рода перспектива ха­рактерна для модерна. В символистском кино вещи являются частью эстетиче­ского мира в кадре и обладают таинственной связью с потусторонним (в этом аспекте интересны стеклянные вещи, дублирующие призматический «киноглаз» камеры и обнажающие медиальную специфику вещного мира в фильме). В каче­стве примера технологии репрезентации вещи в немом кино был приведен глу­бинный фокус в фильмах Е. Бауэра, одного из первых режиссеров, задолго до Орсона Уэллса использовавшего этот прием. Вещь здесь находится на переднем плане, что напоминает остраняющие приемы живописного маньеризма, и как бы посредничает между актерами и публикой." Илья Кукуй NLO, НОВОЕ ЛИТЕРАТУРНОЕ ОБОЗРЕНИЕ № 108 (2011) http://www.nlobooks.ru/rus/magazines/nlo/196/2297/2339/

Sylvi

by Hannu Salmi

published in: The Cinema of Scandinavia. Edited by Tytti Soila. Preface by Jacob Neiiendam. London & New York: Wallflower Press 2005: 25-33.

The article deals with the production of the first Finnish full-length feature film Sylvi, based on Minna Canth's... more The article deals with the production of the first Finnish full-length feature film Sylvi, based on Minna Canth's play, filmed in summer 1911 and premiered in 1913. The article can be read through google books, Follow the link below,

"Would You Like to Sin With Elinor Glyn?" Film As a Vehicle of Sensual Education

by Laura Horak

published in Camera Obscura, August 2010

The commercial success of Elinor Glyn's 1927 film It has obscured the fact that, throughout her career until this... more The commercial success of Elinor Glyn's 1927 film It has obscured the fact that, throughout her career until this point, Glyn had promoted a significantly different sexual ideology. In a remarkable array of novels, plays, lectures, interviews, editorials, and advice manuals, Glyn had long promoted an idiosyncratic “philosophy of love.” This philosophy celebrated aristocratic manners, enhanced arousal through restricted physical contact, role plays of dominance and submission, and a eugenic progress through racial hybridity. She emphasized women's physical and emotional satisfaction and criticized the institution of marriage and the “cheapening” of sexual relations under commodity capitalism. Glyn's works entered the spirited debates on sexual comportment that took place during the 1910s and 1920s alongside the works of progressive activists such as Lois Weber and Marie Stopes. While in Hollywood, she exploited the new possibilities of mass media—films, paperbacks, newspapers, and magazines—to simultaneously promote herself and her sexual agenda. Furthermore, she used her films to eroticize cinematic structures of spectatorship.

Don't Change Your Husband With The Golden Chance, and Why Change Your Wife? With Miss Lulu Bett (Review)

by Laura Horak

published in The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring 2009)

Bologna Notebook: Protean Adventures

by Laura Horak

published in Film Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 1, Fall 2010

Review of Bologna's Il Cinema Ritrovato Film Festival, July 2010 Review of Bologna's Il Cinema Ritrovato Film Festival, July 2010

"Melodrama's Afterlife: Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, and The Woman in White from the Victorian Stage to the Silent Screen"

by Karen Laird

PhD Dissertation, The University of Missouri (2010)
Director: Professor Nancy West

Introduction: Early Italian Cinema

by Giorgio Bertellini

Alternate sound tracks: Silent film music for contemporary audiences

by Eleanor McPhee

Screen Sound Journal: Number 2, 2011

Abstract: The Moving Pictures Show is a contemporary Australian ‘silent’ film company that screens films produced in... more Abstract: The Moving Pictures Show is a contemporary Australian ‘silent’ film company that screens films produced in the period from 1912 to 1929, with a 9-piece orchestral accompaniment. This article explores the ways in which music is chosen for the show both to heighten the audience’s aesthetic experience of the film and to abide by historical practice. It also describes the ways in which improvisation can be accommodated within these boundaries. The Moving Pictures Show uses recognisable music from the non-synchronised sound (or ‘silent’ film) era, including ‘classical’ music that is well known to audiences through previous association with the animations of Disney, Warner Bros and Hanna-Barbera studios; mood music that was purpose-composed for the films of the silent era by composers such as John Stepan Zamecnik; and leitmotifs to alert the audience to repeating themes in the narrative. Around these music components, improvisation provides a degree of flexibility of tempo necessary to fit the music with the film and allows the performers the freedom to musically respond to the onscreen action in a spontaneous manner.

Early Shakespeare (2011)

by Laurence Raw

Published in LITERATURE-FILM QUARTERLY Vol. 39 no. 2: 160-1

A review of Judith Buchanan's seminal text on Shakespeare in Silent film, published by Cambridge University Press. A review of Judith Buchanan's seminal text on Shakespeare in Silent film, published by Cambridge University Press.