Time to wrap up my mini series of silent era blog posts with a general summary of why I love it so much and films and stars I would recommend to anybody. The era was so interesting because there was such a diverse range of genres to look at; comedy, drama, horror, romance, action etc. Most of these were made by fine people, then there were some films made by utterly abhorrent people (but I won't go into that!).
Films I would recommend to anybody are:
The General starring Buster Keaton, one of Keaton's finest films, I also recommend his shorts with stars such as Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.
The Shriek Of Araby starring Ben Turpin and Kathryn McGuire. It's absolutely hilarious, from start to finish and the cinematography was amazing, keep your eyes peeled on Ben's run ins with a lion and an ostrich!
The Big Parade starring John Gilbert and Renee Adoree. An utterly emotional film, with fine performances by Gilbert, Adoree and the rather underrated Karl Dane.
If you're a fan of early animation, please check out Winsor McCay's work, his 'Little Nemo' and 'Gertie The Dinosaur' pieces are absolutely stunning to look at and were really revolutionary in the early age of animation.
There are some silent gems from around the world too, from Russia to France, talking of France, if you haven't seen Georges Melies' fantastic films, DO!! His most famous work is 'A Trip To The Moon' which is gorgeous in itself, but 'The Devil's Castle' is a great short to watch too.
Actors and actresses I recommend:
Rudolph Valentino
Pola Negri
John Gilbert
Mabel Normand
Ben Turpin
Dorothy Gish
Roscoe Arbuckle
Betty Bronson
Lon Chaney
Mary Pickford
Douglas Fairbanks
So many more I could recommend but it'd take me months to reel them all off! Anyway, that's my mini series on the silent era wrapped up, next stop, the 1930's!
Thank you for reading this and the next mini series on the 1930's will be coming soon!
Photo of Rudolph Valentino from Wikimedia Foundation/Pinterest.
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