After a hiatus, the Silent Movie Day Blogathon is back on Silent-ology!
An official, yearly celebration that was kicked off just a few years ago, Silent Movie Day takes place every September 29th. Film lovers from all over the world commemorate this special day by attending film screenings, spreading silent movie love on social media, sharing art projects, and more. As stated on its official site:
Silent Movie Day is an annual celebration of silent movies, a vastly misunderstood and neglected cinematic art form. We believe that silent motion pictures are a vital, beautiful, and often powerful part of film history, and we are united with others in the goal to advocate for their presentation and preservation.
There’s been a lot of interest in this blogathon this year, so you can expect a wide variety of posts from our talented fellow film bloggers. I’m co-hosting this blogathon with Shawn of The Everyday Cinephile and we will be updating our blogathon posts throughout the day, so feel free to drop in periodically to see what’s new!
Bloggers: Please send the link to your post whenever it’s ready. No pressure! Readers: Have fun exploring all the posts! And don’t forget to leave comments–we bloggers love comments like Keystone Cops loved doing pratfalls (very much!).
Everyone loves a good debunked movie myth, especially if that myth is a stubborn one that will never fully die, thus providing lots of future opportunities to pipe up with “Did you know…?” But what if the debunking is too thorough and overlooks some historical context? What if there’s a debunking that might need some reassessment?
Such a debunked myth is none other than the infamous “helpless damsel tied to railroad tracks by a wily villain” trope, which was widely believed to have stemmed from silent movies. Upon closer examination, its use seems to have been limited to a few obvious satires in silent comedies, and not serious dramas. This is what we assume, at any rate.
The most famous of them all.
As other historians have pointed out, the trope apparently originated in Augustin Daly’s popular 1867 stage melodrama Under the Gaslight–rather ancient lore as far as entertainment history goes (and the victim in the play was actually a man). Now, I suppose it’s true that the specific “damsel tied to railroad tracks by mustachioed top-hatted villain” image was not something you really saw in silent films. The closest surviving matches are in comedy shorts like Barney Oldfield’s Race For a Life (1913)–and Ford Sterling didn’t even have a top hat in that one. However, I think spoofs of the Victorian stage are merely part of the equation. Tropes always come from somewhere, and in this case that “somewhere” certainly includes 1900s and early to mid-1910s films.
Artwork for the famous play.
Often when the “damsel” topic gets examined online nowadays there’s an assumption that if the “helpless maiden kidnapped by Snidely Whiplash” scenario didn’t exist exactly as our modern imaginations demand it, nothing similar never existed at all, in any form. And I’m here to tell you that this is simply not true. 1910s film serials in particular abounded with heroes and heroines imperiled by trains, just in more diverse ways than we think.
Hello everyone, I hope you’ve been enjoying the ‘Merica themed posts so far this summer! Let’s kick off August with some happy news–the Silent Movie Day blogathon is coming back! Credit goes to Shawn of The Everyday Cinephile, who asked me: would you like to cohost it this year? Yes, please!
As described on this holiday’s official site:
Silent Movie Day is an annual celebration of silent movies that anyone can take part in. We believe that silent film is a vital, beautiful, and often overlooked part of film history. Our goal is to advocate for its presentation and preservation.
This day provides an opportunity for academics, aficionados, programmers, archivists and enthusiasts to gather around their shared appreciation of this unique period in visual arts and culture. It is also a time to rally around silent film initiatives for preservation and access, as well as raise awareness of the small percentage of film that remains from this period of the motion picture industry.
If this sounds good to you and you’d like to participate, read on!
How: To participate, please choose any silent film-related topic you like. You can cover a specific silent film, a star or director, a silent film-related event, or even just share why you love silent cinema. You can either leave a comment below on this post or at The Everyday Cinephile. Alternatively, you can email meor Shawnwith your topic and blog address. On the day of the blogathon itself, please send the link to your post whenever it’s ready. Easy!
Details:
No more than two posts per participant, please.
New posts only!
Please mention the blogathon in your post with a link to the blogathon home page. (Adding a little info about Silent Movie Day is swell too!)
Participants can also send in videos or alternative forms of media for their submission. Past blogathons here on Silent-ology have included artwork, tribute videos, even a homemade film commentary.
Choose one of Shawn’s wonderful event banners below to spread the word about the blogathon and Silent Movie Day! Aren’t they great?
We’re looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks up and to celebrate Silent Movie Day with you this September!
During the 1900s and 1910s there was one genre of American film that skyrocketed in popularity, becoming more prevalent in those few years than at any other time since. It wasn’t the western, or even the slapstick comedy–but the Civil War film.
The Drummer Girl of Vicksburg (1912).
Created with an eye towards the 50th anniversary of the war, which was commemorated for several years starting in 1911, these 10- to 30-minute films drew on American history from many angles. Some recreated historical battles, others told tales of heroism, some centered around spies, and others showcased grim family tragedies. It’s profound to think that more than a few of the white-haired theater patrons had personal memories of the conflict, and that their children and grandchildren had grown up with exciting stories of gunfire and cannons. Since cinema was such a young art form at the time, those battle stories could finally, for the first time, be portrayed at something close to full scale.
Recently, I finished a piece for my Classic Movie Hub column that was supposed to be pretty straightforward: Civil War films in the silent era. But, like with any silent film topic, not only was there much more to this subject than I’d remembered but one time frame in particular–1911-1915–was uniquely worthy of study in its own right. Currently I’m delving into this bit of history for an impending Silent-ology piece, and until it’s ready why not take a look at this relevant film review?
The Ince feature The Coward, while lesser-known today, is surprisingly riveting. The stakes are high, the actors skilled, and the whole look of the film is like 19th century photographs come to life. It also makes the old, alien mindset of “family honor” much more real for us today. I hope you enjoy this review, leave comments if you wish–and stay tuned!
Wishing all my fellow countrymen a happy America 250!! I can’t tell you how excited I’ve been to get to celebrate a milestone like this, a once-in-a-lifetime event. I hope my fellow Americans celebrate heartily and well this weekend–I know I will! Thanks for reading during this busy time, and Happy Fourth!
Overlooked and underdiscussed, D.W. Griffith’s America (1924) has the rare distinction of being the silent era’s only prominent feature to focus specifically on the American Revolution itself. There were other films set during the Revolutionary War that also boasted big budgets, such as Marion Davies’s Janice Meredith (1924), and there were nicely-produced features that focused on historical figures like Nathan Hale or Betsy Ross. But when it came to lengthy films explicitly about the war itself walking the fine line between drama and docu-drama, America stands alone.
Released as it was in 1924, a time still steeped in post-WWI weariness, it didn’t take off quite the way we’d imagine. And while viewing it today, you might sense that despite some definite highlights Griffith’s America could’ve been–and should’ve been–so much more.
Time to bring this lightly-edited review out of the vaults! This obscure Biograph short not only contains one of Mary Pickford’s earliest film appearances, but it was also my first contribution to a blogathon back in Ye Olde Days of 2014! Yes, the year I started Silent-ology…how time flies. Please note my long-held love of em dashes long before AI was a thing–and enjoy!
Miss Pickford in this rare (clear) still.
Before his streak of famous epics and melodramas like Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, and Way Down East (and, yes, The Birth of a Nation), D.W.Griffith passed the time by making a paltry 500 or so short films for the American Biograph Company. This meager assortment spanned the years 1908-1914 and featured a wealth of dramatic, sentimental, political, and at times even comedic subjects. These films are records of more than just stories and actors, but of the amazingly quick evolution of film techniques and the growing sophistication of filmmaking.
When we examine what types of films were trendy in the silent film days, we’ll find the era well-stocked with Civil War films, WWI propagandistic adventures, tales from the pioneer days, and of course an abundance of Westerns. But what about Revolutionary War films?
D.W. Griffith’s America (1924).
They were curiously few and far between, much like they admittedly still are today. When you consider how much closer in time audiences of the early 20th century were to the American Revolution than we are today, this seems a bit strange. Wrap your mind around this: back in 1925 the events of 1776 were barely turning 150 years old!
There was certainly a reverence at the time for figures like George Washington, and the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution were very well-known organizations. Theater owners happily dressed their lobbies with bunting and American flags for the Fourth of July, and every town, no matter how little, seemed to put on a proud Independence Day parade. So why the disparity? I think there’s more than a few reasons, some involving the close proximity many Americans had with events from our history books, and some that depend on knowing a bit of cinema history.
In the days of nickelodeons and travelling shows when most films were under ten minutes long, audiences were typically treated to whole programs of travelogues, comedies, little dramas, and other early films. These often ran continuously throughout the day and were changed up 2-3 times a week. Just imagine the high demand for new films!
Exhibitors might add a bit of flair to ending a program by showing a lantern slide thanking audiences for their patronage or by showing a short novelty film. The Edison studio’s Three American Beauties (1906), directed by Edwin S. Porter, was one such novelty film. It ran under a minute long and featuring some of the lovely hand-stenciling that was so specific to the era. Take a minute to appreciate its straightforward charm:
…A new Silent-ology project for the summer of 2026. Because why settle for just one usual theme month, when I can spread it out over the whole summer?
2026 is a milestone year for Americans like myself: the 250th anniversary of the United Sates. In honor of this Semiquincentennial (or the Bisesquicentennial or Sestercentennial, if you will), I want to take my time and explore certain questions: how did Americans view patriotism back in the dynamic, fast-changing era of the early 20th century? A time when half the country grew up on farms and many country lanes were simple dirt roads, and also a time when mighty brick factories and skyscrapers were sprouting up in cities throughout the country?
