#silentmovies

[the-gothic-darkness]

The superb international burlesque star, performance artist and illusionist Vicky Butterfly @mlle_vicky_butterfly wearing an amazing 1920s-inspired gothic web robe.

Photographed in 2013 by Maria S. Varela @mariasvarelaphoto backstage at a theater in Germany after a performance of Vicky Butterfly’s “A Spider’s Kiss”.

This outstanding photo has been occasionally mentioned online as a 1920s image of Louise Brooks.

In 2016 Vicky Butterfly posted an informative video discussing Louise Brooks and how she inspired her.

Art Deco Joe (@artdeco.joe) • Instagram photos and videos

[busterkeatonsociety]

This Day in Buster…November 17, 1925 The Toronto Star makes the comparison between Buster Keaton meeting Brown Eyes in “Go West” & George Bernard Shaw’s Androcles & the Lion…

[megan-the-artoonist]

The two most iconic timepieces of twentieth century film have become one at last.

[itsmenotye]

Boris Karloff as Satanic cult leader Hjalmar Poelzig in a promotional still for the 1934 silent, pre-Code Universal horror film THE BLACK CAT, which also starred Bela Lugosi.

[victorianchap]

🔸 1919 Olive Thomas and her Russian wolfhound, by Hartsook Studios. She was a silent movie actress and one of the original jazz era flappers who sadly died a year later in 1920. She swallowed a bottle of corrosive bichloride mercury in a hotel bathroom in Paris Ritz: an “accidental” death apparently. Source: talesofamadcapheiress.com. #victorianchaps #oldphoto #hollywood #actress #beauty #oldphoto #goodolddays #silentmovies #flapper #jazzera #pastlives #retro #1910s #nostalgia #dog https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpz1y1XDYYt/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thawne1942]

The Lodger 1927

[jasinskiart]

Charlie ChaPenguin

70/100 days of block penguins

The Little Tramp, anyone?

[cladriteradio]

Here are 10 things you should know about Maude Eburne, born 148 years ago today. She enjoyed success as a character actress on the Broadway stage and in motion pictures.

[nifwatch]

Watched Der letzte Mann, which is a 1920-something black-and-white German silent film. It was... interesting and so, so boring. But nice cinematography. Loved the ”a very rich man died in his arms and THEN left him his entire fortune” ending.

[ilearnedthistodaysblog]

#1153 Was the transition from silent movies to talkies difficult?

Was the transition from silent movies to talkies difficult? Yes, the transition from silent movies to talkies was difficult, not just technologically, but also for the actors. Movies began to appear alongside the invention of photography. Early photographs took hours to take, but once it became possible to take photographs instantly, movies were the next logical step. After all, a movie is only a lot of photographs taken very quickly one after the other. Movies rapidly became popular, and movie theaters sprang up in most towns. Movies were short and movie companies tried to make as many movies as they could. People would pay to go to the movie theater and watch more than one movie. A lot of these silent film stars became household names. Some of them most people would still know, but not a lot. A lot of silent films haven’t stood the test of time either, primarily because they were filmed on celluloid, which is highly flammable. Incidentally, silent movies were not called “silent movies” until talking pictures took off because they were just movies. Giving a name to something after the fact is called a retronym. By the 1920s, movies with sound had become technically possible. Ernst Ruhmer had come up with a way to record sound the sound onto a film by translating the sound into light. The first real talking movies were released in 1927 and the last silent movie was “The Poor Millionaire” released in 1930, but once talkies had appeared, there was no real hope for silent movies. Charlie Chaplain made two silent movies in the 1930s, but they were only released because of his star power. The studios had stopped making them. So, was the transition from silent movies to talkies difficult? There were several difficulties that arose. The first were technical. Recording sound onto the film was not easy because the quality of mics and sound recording devices was low. Mics had to be set in specific places and the actors needed to stand very still underneath them and direct their voices at the mic or the mic wouldn’t pick. It couldn’t record sounds that were too loud, too quiet, too high, or too low. They had a lot of trouble recording women’s voices. The mic would also pick up all of the other noise in the studio, so everything needed to be kept soundproof. Cameras at the time worked by rotating the film through the camera as each frame was shot, which was a very noisy process. The cameras needed to be sealed up in soundproof booths as well. Managing to pick up all of the sound was a very taxing job. Replaying the sound in the movie theater was not easy as well. As all movies were silent at the time, no movie theater was wired for sound. They slowly transitioned, but it was not an easy process. In the beginning, it was difficult to amplify the sound, making it hard to hear. Even when movie theaters were wired for sound, the sound and the picture weren’t always in sync. The technical problems were overcome fairly quickly, as is the way with most new technology. The effects for the actors were longer lasting and sometimes career ending. The first problem was the style of acting. Silent movie stars had to express everything with their body language and their facial expression. They had exaggerated movements and the scenes were shot in a way that made them as easy to understand as possible. When sound came along, these actors had to recite their lines, but they were too used to over exaggerating. Talkies required a different type of acting skill. A lot of the new actors that became big in the talkies had come up from theater or musicals, where they were used to talking as a part of acting. A second problem was that some silent movie actors didn’t have voices that matched the characters that had become famous for portraying. Their voice, or what they were saying, could ruin the image and then the studios didn’t want to use them. A heavy foreign accent was no problem in a silent movie but many actors lost their jobs because of it when talkies came about. The directors and the screenwriters also had to adapt. This who new way of acting required new scripts and new methods of directing, but that didn’t come easily. Scripts were unnatural, poorly paced, and far too stilted. It took a while for the directors to get the hang of the new style. However, just as with the technology, there were a lot of problems, but it didn’t take too many years to overcome them. By the early 1930s, the quality of talkies was rising and a whole new raft of stars became famous. Some silent stars that did manage to make the transition that we will have heard of were Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Lauren and Hardy. And this is what I learned today. Enjoyed this? Try these: - #673 When did silent movies end? - #777 What are “Spaghetti Westerns”? - #189 Why does our voice change when we inhale helium? - #594 Why do we lose our voice when we are sick? - #606 Why do cameras have mirrors? Sources https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/108qt35/why_was_it_so_hard_for_so_many_actors_to_make_the/ https://collider.com/babylon-true-story https://www.centralcasting.com/how-talkies-changed-the-film-industry https://ilearnedthistoday.com/index.php/2023/08/07/when-did-silent-movies-end/ https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/silent-film-actors-transitioned-talkies-6882 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_film https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueFilm/comments/75z49j/chaplin_and_the_emergence_of_talkies/ Image By Metro Pictures Corporation (still) - File:Sheet_music_cover_-_JULIO_-_OF_THE_ARGENTINA_(1921).jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45462406 Read the full article

[retromoviess]

"The Martyrs of the Alamo" (1915) - Silent movie about TEXAS independenc...

[blue-vabis]

AI generated image of Greta Garbo.

[carolacostaart]

Portrait of Buster Keaton; when he was not breaking his bones, he could be this elegant and beautiful.

Staedler mechanical pencil on Royal Talens sketchbook paper, A4 size.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolacosta.artist/

[kommunic8]

Lo scenario è quello solito: cosa guardiamo stanotte? E da qui che abbiamo trovato qualcosa che mette d'accordo tutti, è ormai ora di andare a dormire. Ma da oggi ho in mano una nuova arma: i codici segreti di netflix che mi permettono di andare a stanare le cose che mi piacciono usando i loro codici segreti! Il link ai codici lo trovate in fondo alla pagina, intanto ascoltate come funziona e quali categorie ho trovato. TRASCRIZIONE [ENG translation below] Allora lo scenario credo che sia presente a tutti: dopocena, televisione, cosa guardiamo? Oggi non si va più nemmeno nei canali della televisione in chiaro, si va direttamente, almeno noi andiamo direttamente immediatamente nei canali a pagamento e lì comincia. Se c'è qualche serie in sospeso che stiamo guardando, allora va beh, si va direttamente lì, adesso ogni venerdì so che esce la nuova puntata di Ted Lasso e di Hello Tomorrow! e so che comunque ho due puntate nuove da guardare, però quando non c'è niente in sospeso è sempre la solita storia: impieghiamo le ore a cercare qualcosa che ci piaccia guardare e che accontenti tutti. Magari si comincia, per non andare sempre su Netflix, che poi si finisce sempre su Netflix, vediamo se c'è qualcosa su Apple TV, oppure su Prime, però poi, come ho detto, si finisce sempre su Netflix, ma anche lì ci vengono proposte sempre le stesse cose. Fino ad oggi. Perché oggi ho trovato nella mia inbox delle e-mail una newsletter di Wired, Wired Italia, che parla dei codici segreti di Netflix. Allora, siccome in questo articolo citava solo pochissimi codici, allora ho fatto le mie ricerche e ho trovato un altro articolo in lingua inglese, dove invece ce ne sono qualche centinaio. Di che cosa si tratta? A quanto pare, e questo io non lo sapevo, già all'epoca quando Netflix è nata, penso una, boh una ventina di anni fa, quando non era un servizio via cavo, ma dava in prestito, in affitto dei dvd coi film, aveva tutta una serie di codici per catalogare i suoi film. Questi codici sono rimasti anche adesso che Netflix è quella che tutti conosciamo e amiamo, o odiamo, oppure odio, amore? Boh, vedete un po voi. Sono dei codici che descrivono delle categorie di film che non trovate da nessun'altra parte. Ripeto, ho trovato questo articolo in inglese dove c'è un po più di un centinaio e mi hanno fatto venire l'acquolina in bocca. Pensate un po' potete cercare i film in base alla nazionalità, quindi africani, inglesi, cinesi, olandesi, francesi, eccetera. Musical, commedie cult, commedie satiriche, commedie dell'orrore, film basati su libri. Vi metto comunque il link nelle note del programma. Ma la chicca che mi ha veramente fatto strabuzzare gli occhi trovare una categoria di film muti, dove ci sono perle come La vedova del pastore; Nanà, Tabarin di lusso; Lo scozzese volante; La moglie del fattore; La piccola fiammiferaia, e sono film degli anni venti, una cosa incredibile. Ora non vedo l'ora di andare a farmi una scorpacciata di film muti e mi raccomando, guardate le note del programma perché vi metto il link e auguro anche a voi buona scorpacciata di cose che non sapevate di voler vedere. TRANSLATION OK the scenario I think is clear to everyone: after dinner, television, what do we watch? Nowadays you don't even go to the free-to-air television channels anymore, you go directly, at least we go directly, immediately to the pay channels and there it starts. If there is some outstanding series that we are watching, then it goes well, we go directly there, now every Friday I know that comes out the new episode of Ted Lasso and Hello Tomorrow! and I know that anyway I have two new episodes to watch, but when there is nothing pending it is always the same story: we spend hours looking for something that we like to watch and that will please everyone. Maybe at the beginning, to avoid always watching Netflix, but then you always end up on Netflix, you see if there is anything on Apple TV, or on Prime, anyway, then, as I said, you always end up on Netflix, but even there we always get the same old things. Up until today. Because today I found in my inbox a newsletter from Wired, Wired Italia, that talks about Netflix's secret codes. So, since in this article it mentioned only a very few codes, then I did my research and found another English-language article where there are a few hundred instead. What is it all about? Apparently, and I didn't know this, back when Netflix was born, I think boh about twenty years ago, when it was not a cable service, but it was lending, renting dvds with movies, it had a whole set of codes to catalog its movies. And these codes remained even now that Netflix is the one we all know and love, or hate, or love-hate. IDK, see for yourself. They are codes that describe categories of films that you won't find anywhere else. As I said, I found this article in English where there is a little over a hundred and they made my mouth water. Think of it, you can search for movies by nationality, like African, English, Chinese, Dutch, French, and so on. Musicals, cult comedies, satirical comedies, horror comedies, movies based on books. As I said, I will put the link in the program notes. But the treat that really made me squint my eyes was to find a category of silent movies, where there are such gems as The Shepherd's Widow; Nanà; Lux Tabarin; The Flying Scotsman; The Farmer's Wife; The Little Match Girl, and they are movies from the 1920s, just incredible. Now I can't wait to go to binge on silent movies, and be sure to watch the program notes because I'll put the link and I wish you, too, good binging on things you didn't know you wanted to see. LINK L'articolo su Wired [con le istruzioni su come usare i codici] L'articolo in lingua inglese con un centinaio di codici

[itsmenotye]

Musidora as Irma Vep from Les Vampires 1915 #silentfilm #silentmovie #silentera #silverscreen #silverscreenstar #musidora #precodefilms #precode #vampire #vintagevamp #lesvampires #frenchfilm #silentmovies #classicfilm #1915 https://www.instagram.com/p/CpWlBO8rlJR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[paulbielatowicz]

Just set up for tonight's show at Honesdale Golf Club. Our final show in PA this tour - tickets still available on the door! 🧛‍♂️ #honesdalepa #nosferatu #silentmovies #silentmovie #progrock #progressiverock #livesoundtrack https://www.instagram.com/p/CpD-Q4pv6GQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=