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The development of silent film
The development of silent film
Silent movie era filmmaking essay
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City Lights (1931), written and directed by Charlie Chaplin, is a film that imprinted the cinema industry. As the talkies were becoming very trendy at the time, the silent films were starting to be outdated. Charlie Chaplin still decides to go his own way and produce a silent film to project “the great beauty of silence”. City Lights recounts the story of Charlot (Charlie Chaplin) who goes back and forth between a young blind girl’s house and a rich millionaire who he kept from killing himself. Charlie Chaplin made films as metaphors, revealing what he believed to be out of order with society and showed it to his audience; mostly about social allegory. The reception of his 1931 film, City Lights, had substantial talks on what would be illustrated to the viewers. Director Charlie Chaplin portrays the marvelous beauty of silence, even though the silent films start to be outdated due to the highly demand of talking pictures.
No other film before had received that much publicity and expectation. As stated earlier, Chaplin stayed true to silent films and felt the need to keep this type of film ongoing; it was unexpected. Here is what the expectations were about as Paul Rotha noted:
During the thirty odd years for which the cinema has existed as a medium of expression, no other film has received such advance publicity as that accorded City Lights. No film has ever been more eagerly awaited by the general public, the small-witted intelligentsia and the film trade itself. Fanned to a pitch of semi-hysterical anticipation by the press, the cinema going public was prepared to find Chaplin’s new comedy a masterpiece of humor. (Rotha 85)
There were many rumors about this production; many thought it would be a talking picture; which w...
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...s experience as it has another release in 1950. City Lights received good reviews even though silent films were getting obsolete with the rise of the talkies. Charlie Chaplin hod no attention nor enthusiasm to convert his pantomime art into talking pictures, and that is the beauty of City Lights.
Works Cited
Rotha, Paul. Celluloid; the Film To-day. London: Longmans, Green and, 1931. Print.
Hollywood Filmograph, Inc. "Will Charlie Chaplin Bring Back The Silents." Hollywood Filmograph 12 July 1930, 1st ed.: 1. Web..
James Smith, Frederic. "Chaplin's "City Lights" Scores." Review. The New Movie Magazine 1931: n. pag. PN1993 .N4. Web. .
Studios Abused Music, Color Critic Asserts." Motion Picture News [New York] 22 Nov. 1930, 42nd ed.: 827. Print.
However, after the dust settled, it was widely accepted that the blacklist was unjust, which enabled many film workers to pursue the movie studios in civil courts through the 1950’s for unpaid contracts and wages (Lewis, 2008). While the studios were initially impacted by the Paramount decision, the breadth of competition and independent successes of smaller studios gave rise to the advancement of innovative filmmaking that may not have been possible if it were not for the Paramount decision. Filmmaking is one of the riskiest and most profitable ventures in modern day society, and without these events, the studios and the film workers may not share the successes that they do
“There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK!” (Sunset Boulevard). The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder focuses on a struggling screen writer who is hired to rewrite a silent film star’s script leading to a dysfunctional and fatal relationship. Sunset Boulevard is heavily influenced by the history of cinema starting from the 1930s to 1950 when the film was released.
Film noir, by translation alone, means dark film, and by that measurement Sunset Boulevard certainly fits the genre. A gloomy story that follows a jaded and sarcastic protagonist, Joe Gillis from his initial dire circumstances to his untimely death, Sunset Blvd. earns the description “dark” several times over. But there is more to film noir than crushingly depressing plotlines. There are common motifs and icons that are found in most film noirs, such as crime, dark alleys, guns and alcohol. Deeper than this, film noir features certain visual elements, character archetypes, and themes that create a unique style of film. Although some have argued that Sunset Blvd. fails to represent some of these elements, it has become known as one of the most iconic film noirs ever made. Sunset Boulevard (1950), written and directed by Billy Wilder exemplifies the film noir style through its use of visual elements (lighting, shots and angles), memorable characters, themes and overall structure of the film.
An obvious difference in these films is that the 1931 version played to a Depression audience and that the Coppola version played to a modern audience. (I am being extremely careful because, obviously, the 1931 audience was modern in 1931; however, we like to think of ourselves as being more modern than past generations. There are differences in the audiences which viewed the respective versions in their time, and I hope to prove this point as the paper unfolds.)
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
The silent era in film occurred between 1895 through 1929. It had a a major impact on film history, cinematically and musically. In silent films, the dialogue was seen through muted gestures, mime, and title cards from the beginning of the film to the end. The pioneers of the silent era were directors such as, D. W. Griffith, Robert Wiene and Edwin S. Porter. These groundbreaking directors brought films like first horror movie and the first action and western movie. Due to lack of color, the silent films were either black and white or dyed by various shades and hues to signal a mood or represent a time of day. Now, we begin to enter towards the sound era and opposed to the silent era, synchronized sounds were introduced to movies. The classic movie, The Jazz Singer, which was directed by Alan Crosland, was the first feature length film to have synchronized dialogue. This was not only another major impact in film history, but it also played a major part in film technology and where film is right now.
explode in popularity and the introduction of theaters specifically for film. Firstly, amid the circuses, the wild...
Classic film noir originated after World War II. This is the time where post World War II pessimism, anxiety, and suspicion was taking the world by storm. Many films that were released in the U.S. Between 1939s and 1940s were considered propaganda films that were designed for entertainment during the Depression and World War II. During the 1930s many German and Europeans immigrated to the U.S. and helped the American film industry with powerf...
... middle of paper ... ... Larry Ceplair and Englund stated in the book The Inquisition in Hollywood, “The destruction of the motion picture Left not only transformed the political atmosphere in Hollywood, but also adversely affected the kind of product which the studios turned out. “ In the early 20th century Hollywood reframed from producing politically controversial films in fear of becoming a target of McCarthy or the HUAC.
Louis Lumière, The Cinematograph, La Nature, 12 October 1895. In Auguste and Louis Lumière. (Jacques Rittaud-Hutinet, ed.) Letters. London: Faber and Faber, 1995. p.302.
Brownlow, Kevin 1994, ‘Preface’, in Paolo, C, Burning Passions: an introduction to the study of silent film, British Film Institute, London: BFI, pp. 1-3.
The ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ era came about from around the 1960’s when cinema and film making began to change. Big film studios were going out of their comfort zone to produce different, creative and artistic movies. At the time, it was all the public wanted to see. People were astonished at the way these films were put together, the narration, the editing, the shots, and everything in between. No more were the films in similar arrangement and structure. The ‘New Hollywood era’ took the classic Hollywood period and turned it around so that rules were broken and people left stunned.
Most people know of Charlie Chaplin's movies as being the first films in the world,
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
The introduction of sound to film started in the 1920’s. By the 1930’s a vast majority of films were now talkies. ‘If you put a sound consistent to visual image and specifically human voice you make a “talkie”’ (Braun 1985 pg. 97). In 1926 Warner Brothers introduced sound to film but, other competing studios such as FOX, didn’t find it necessary to incorporate sound to their motion pictures production, as they were making enough money through their silent movies. Warner Brothers decided to take what was considered a risky move by adding sound to their motion picture, a risk taken, as they weren’t as successful in the silent movie department. But this risk paid off with the hit release of ‘The Jazz Singer’ in 1927. Though sound in films was then acceptable and successful it wasn’t until the 1950’s that it became feasible to the public as sound was introduced to cinema by the invention of Cinerama by Fred Waller. The Cinerama used 35mm film strip and seven channels of audio.