Silent Films All Day on TCM

[Lord Nepenthean]

Today, April 4th 2005, Turner Classic Movies will have silent films on all day long.  I've been looking forward to this day for quite a while now.  Starting at 6:00 AM Eastern Standard, and running until 4:15 AM on the 5th, TCM will be playing a lot of classic shorts and full-length features.  I know many of you probably would never dream of watching a silent film, but I just thought I'd give the heads-up anyway.  If nothing else, it might be an enducational experience for somebody who has never seen a silent film.

The years of release for the films that will be playing today appear to be from 1913 to 1929, though they may play some older and (very) short films between these.  They don't list any of the films they play that are under about 15 minutes in their schedule, but usually they play them between their longer movies, so who knows?  They may play some of the really old clips that are under a minute or two from before the turn of the century.

A full schedule can be found here:

http://www.turnerclassicm...chedule/Index/0,,,00.html

I'm probably going to try to find a bunch of VHS tapes and see if I can record a lot of these films.  Most (if not all) of them have never had home releases, so it is a rare chance to get to see them.  Too often I have seen great silent films on TCM, and not recorded them.  I may never get to see them again.

Should be a good day for movie watching.

[CatchFiveBats]

I'll probably check it out.  Thanks for the heads up!

[Lord Nepenthean]

Well, anyone who didn't watch really missed out on some great films.  Many of the shorts with Charley Chase and Fatty Arbuckle were good, but once they got to the full-length stuff it was just incredible.  Harold Lloyd was brilliant and absolutely hilarious, especially in The Kid Brother.  Safety Last! was great too.  That one wasn't as funny, but it was very suspenseful.  I didn't realize it yesterday when I first opened this topic, but every one of the films they showed yesterday was a comedy.  It's a theme they have going this month for April Fools.

Oh, and apparently one of the shorts with Charley Chase, I think it was called Fraidy Cat, was the film in which the Little Rascals got their start in film as a group of kids that pestered the main character played by Chase.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Hmmmm. If only i had cable. I never used to like silents, I never got what was so funny about The General and i always thought The Little Rascals were idiots, but then the other day, for some reason, (1.99$) I bought a DVD of The Keystone Cops and Buster Keaton shorts. And they are funny. It's similar stuff to what me and my friends do with camcorders around the neighborhood.

[Lord Nepenthean]

I'm still not a huge fan of the Little Rascals, but there are definitely some great silent films.  Buster Keaton is one of the all-time greats.  I recorded many of the films from today on VHS, so if I ever get around to converting them to DVD, I may be able to hook you up if you are interested.

[pineapplehead2]

did you get to see the movie where the guy has this monkey and the girl on the beach was asved by the guy with the monkey and he goes to the chmist to buy some medicen or some stuff and when he gets back some other guy saved already saved her.
want tell you the ending unless u want me too

i didnt know there was silent movies on  i wish i knew

[thx1138]

Was Birth of a Nation or Metropolis shown?

I've seen both of them.

As a kid, they had Harold Lloyd on Saturday morning t.v altough there was an audio narration to it, which I actually liked. I thought Harold Lloyd was cool.

[Izret101]

I have heard about Metropolis never seen anything but a few clips though.
Looks and sounds like a great film though. I have to be on the look out for that...

[Lord Nepenthean]

Metropolis should be pretty easy to find for $6 or $7 on DVD.  Not everyone will have it, but usually when I see it, it is cheap.

Neither that nor Birth of a Nation was shown that day.  As I said, it turned out that the theme for that day (and most of this month) was comedy, or "April Fools."  So, all of the films shown on that day were comedies.  Very good stuff.

I have seen most of Metropolis, but have not finished it.  I have it and have been meaning to for a while.  I've never seen Birth of a Nation, but definitely want to as soon as I get the chance.  I've heard from several people who don't normally like silent films that it is good, and of course it has received critical acclaim for a long, long time.