▲ 2 r/silentfilm
San Francisco (1906), the NYC subway (1905), and New York streets (1911) — restored real footage, no CGI, no reenactments
youtu.beu/Party_Tennis_128 — 3 hours ago
Charlie Chaplin's Mutual comedies (1916–1917) — his funniest scenes from One A.M., The Rink, Easy Street & The Cure
youtu.beu/Party_Tennis_128 — 2 days ago
▲ 23 r/silentfilm
The Cameraman's Revenge (1912) — a story of infidelity acted entirely by real dead beetles, posed frame by frame by Ladislas Starevich
youtu.beu/Party_Tennis_128 — 8 days ago
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) — the fairground sleepwalker Cesare is woken to foretell a stranger's death "by dawn"
youtu.beu/Party_Tennis_128 — 9 days ago
Keaton refused to fake the falling-wall gag in Steamboat Bill, Jr. — he really stood there
In Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), the entire front of a house falls on Buster Keaton, and he survives only because he's standing exactly where an open attic window passes over him. The clearance was a couple of inches at his shoulders. Several crew members reportedly looked away during the take, and Keaton — going through a rough patch in his personal life at the time — later said he wasn't sure he cared if it hit him.
No trick, no cut, no net. Just marks on the ground and nerve. For me it's the single most nerve-wracking moment in all of silent comedy.
What's the silent-era stunt or effect that still makes you hold your breath?
u/Party_Tennis_128 — 10 days ago
▲ 24 r/silentfilm
The Lumière brothers called cinema "an invention with no future" — then went on to invent color photography
I've been going down a rabbit hole on the Lumière brothers lately. After they basically invented movies in 1895, Louis famously dismissed it as "an invention without a future" and wouldn't even sell their camera to other filmmakers.
But here's what gets me — they didn't stop inventing. In 1907 they patented the Autochrome, the first practical color photography. So the men who supposedly gave up on cinema went on to give the world its first real color images.
Their early Paris "actualités" are some of my favorite films ever — Notre-Dame, the 1900 World's Fair, the Eiffel Tower, all caught as everyday life. Anyone else have a favorite Lumière actualité?
u/Party_Tennis_128 — 12 days ago
▲ 8 r/silentfilm
Tokyo in 1928 — a recently restored home movie of the city, three years before the Showa era began
youtube.comu/Party_Tennis_128 — 15 days ago
▲ 18 r/silentfilm
A Trip Down Market Street (1906) — filmed just 4 days before the earthquake that destroyed San Francisco
u/Party_Tennis_128 — 17 days ago
The Roundhay Garden Scene (1888) — the oldest surviving film in the world. Its maker, Louis Le Prince, vanished from a train two years later and was never found.
The oldest surviving film in the world, shot by Louis Le Prince in a garden in Leeds in 1888. Two years later he boarded a train in France and was never seen again — his body was never found. Here's a short version of the surviving footage: https://youtube.com/shorts/omy-rb0akFM
u/Party_Tennis_128 — 14 days ago
▲ 33 r/silentfilm
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) — Lon Chaney designed and applied his own makeup, and kept it hidden so the unmasking scene would genuinely shock audiences
Chaney used hidden wires to pull his nose upward and pins to distort his nostrils — all self-applied, with no special effects. The studio reportedly kept his face out of all promotional material before release, so the unmasking scene was a real surprise. 100 years later it still holds up.
u/Party_Tennis_128 — 20 days ago