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The Silent Film Thread — Page 6

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What do you think is the worst silent film ever and the best? I’m interested to hear your opinions. Of course, you are still free to talk about other stuff in this thread, but they must be related to silent film. 😃

When’s something gonna happen?

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There’s a silent version of The Wizard of Oz from 1925 that’s MST3K worthy. It barely resembles the source material at all. Some of the Oz silents made by L. Frank Baum himself are a bit of a tough slog.

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Where were you in '77?

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Wait, Baum made it himself and it still barely resembles the source material?

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suspiciouscoffee said:

Wait, Baum made it himself and it still barely resembles the source material?

I believe he meant to say there’s a 1925 version which barely resembles the source material and there’re shorts made by Baum himself.

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You are correct, sir. As Baum died in 1919, making a movie six years later would be an impressive feat. 😃

All the Oz silents were on one of the bonus discs of the first Blu-Ray set of the MGM version.

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Where were you in '77?

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The IMDB trivia for Trip to the Moon says that the hand colored copy was discovered in a barn in France. But the wikipedia page says it was found in 1993 in the Filmoteca de Catalunya. What is the reason for this?

When’s something gonna happen?

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Is Intolerance good? I want to watch it since it was such an important film in the history of cinema, but at the same time I don’t want to subject myself to a horribly boring 3.5 hours.

The Person in Question

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moviefreakedmind said:

Is Intolerance good? I want to watch it since it was such an important film in the history of cinema, but at the same time I don’t want to subject myself to a horribly boring 3.5 hours.

Intolerance is good, though you might need to overlay historical perspective.
Meaning, what was jaw-dropping 100 years ago is creaky now.
The sections about the Huguenots seem to contribute little and I wish Griffith had cut them.
Intolerance also does not have the uncomfortable baggage that Birth Of A Nation does.
I prefer Griffith’s Biograph shorts, and try to watch several every year.

Spuffure said:

What do you think is the worst silent film ever …

Not the worst, but I really struggled with Brand Upon The Brain! (2006) by Maddin.
His fanbase goes gaga over this one, but I found it tedious.
When I watched, it was well after midnight, perhaps I was tired.
I have enjoyed / appreciated some of his other works.
I first heard of Maddin after a review of his “Dracula,”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrnSrhKG-XU

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Brand Upon the Brain! is my favourite Maddin film, so I absolutely can’t agree with you on that count.

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My Maddin go-to is The Forbidden Room (2015), which I must confess has poorer ratings than Brand Upon The Brain!
(I’m sure I have a review for the former. Will try to post in a day or two.)
Maddin is one of those guys I always want to see what he is doing.
Jarmusch is another, although I generally do not care for his films.
Hmmm, better not get too off-topic here, in case Spuffure returns.