An Introduction to Silent Cinema

In the late twenties silent cinema was all but killed off with the invention of the ‘talkies’. It is difficult to think of an another art form that has been completely wiped out via the progression of technology. Saying this, a silent film is now the bookies favourite to win Best Picture at this year’s Oscars. If The Artist can claim this award it will become only the second silent film ever to win in the entire history of the Oscars. The critical and popular appeal of The Artist has given silent films a mini rebirth; a rebirth that may lead some film fans to seek out some of the silent gems from the past. Here is a very short introduction to silent cinema.

In America, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton made some of the most recognisable silent films, Chaplin with his on screen tramp persona and Keaton with that great stone face. Both were masters of physical and visual comedy, often partaking in life threatening stunts to show a gag. These two should be remembered as much for their comedy as they should for their film innovation. In Keaton’s Sherlock Jr for example, Keaton’s character literally steps outside himself in order to illustrate a dream sequence. For the time this sort of invention was ground breaking.

Meanwhile outside of Hollywood, the Soviet Union nationalised its film industry. Consequently, many of these films such as Aleksandr Dovzhenko’s Arsenal and Sergei Eisenstein’s The Battleship Potemkin are heavily laced with Soviet propaganda. Neither of these films for example have a central protagonist; the depicted heroes of these films appear to be social classes not individuals. Despite this propaganda, these films are still aesthetically interesting today. The famous Odessa steps sequence (shown below) from The Battleship Potemkin cuts quickly from close ups of the peasants to the marching boots and firing rifles of the soldiers. What’s perhaps most remarkable about these films is their ability to represent complicated ideas through a purely visual medium.

Filmmakers in Europe sort to artistically push cinema forward, whilst in the process creating some of the new genres in film. Fritz Lang made the remarkable sci-fi epic Metropolis, a film that showed the full capabilities of cinema like no sci-fi before it. Some of the first horror films came out of Germany at this period. Films such as Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari more than make up for their lack of dialogue with their exaggerated shadows and fragmented set design. These films now known as German Expressionist films would become hugely influential to film noir in later decades.

Personally, I hope The Artist does win Best Picture at this year’s Oscars. Besides being fully deserving of this honour, it could potentially help rekindle our love for silent films.

Carl Theodor Dryer’s classic silent horror Vampyr will be shown on City Screen on Saturday. To accompany the film, Steven Severin (Siouxsie and the Banshees) will perform his new score of the film. For more information, click here

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