Cinema, as we know it today, owes an enormous debt to the pioneering filmmakers of the silent period. Virtually every cinematic style and genre of the last two centuries has artistic roots in the silent era. Whilst it may not be at the forefront of our minds when watching a movie, the impact of the early experiments in cinema endures. Film studies students should consider researching these films for the following reasons.
There are a number of misconceptions about silent movies that perhaps dissuade audiences and students from indulging in their magic. Firstly, ‘silent movie’ is somewhat of a misnomer. Although no sync sound dialogue appears in these films, very often there is a musical component that contributes to the viewing experience. In the early days, live music almost always accompanied the exhibition. Intertitle cards were also used to clarify dialogue and essential plot points.
Secondly, the visual quality appearing primitive by today’s standards may be a concern, yet many silent movies have maintained the highest quality available at the time if the film stock was correctly preserved. The cultural and historical significance of silent movies should not be flouted—they can delight and entertains just as much as contemporary movies!
Many of the founding movements of cinema were sparked in this period including German Expressionism (which would go on to influence horror and film noir), French Impressionism, Italian Neorealism, Soviet Montage, and Classical Hollywood. Europe represented the majority of innovation in moving pictures right up until the interruption of World War I. Such an all-encompassing disruption lead to the flourishing of moving pictures across the pond–the creation of Hollywood.
So, how did it all begin? With a horse and a jockey, to settle a debate. 1878 saw British photographer Eadweard Muybridge change the course of history forever. Muybridge’s ground-breaking work in photographic studies of motion began with, now iconic, The Horse in Motion (1878) in which 11 still photographs were projected at speed to simulate a motion picture. He was hired to do so in order to discover whether all of the horse’s hooves left the ground simultaneously when galloping.
With the pioneering technological inventions of the zoopraxiscope (one of the earliest predecessors to the movie projector), the Kinetoscope, and later the Lumière Brothers Cinematograph, the art of motion pictures grew exponentially. 1895 is generally accepted as the beginning of the silent movie era, with the height of creativity and innovation between 1910 and 1929.
In the early years, the fascination was centered on the technological capabilities of the medium and its ability to visually represent the real world. La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon (The Workers Leaving the Factory, 1895), the Lumière Brothers' first film, is simply a 46-second one-shot film showing workers leaving the Lumière factory. These early slice-of-life films were revolutionary for the time – never had the public seen such realistic representations of the lives they lead.
So realistic in fact, that during the first screening of the Lumière short L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station) in 1986, the audience members were so shocked at the moving image of the life-sized train coming towards them that many screamed and ran to the back of the room. Or so the urban legend goes. These films were the early examples of actualités or actuality films, and prototypes for the creation of the documentary.
On the flip side of the fascination with realism, other filmmakers saw the potential of cinema to tell stories and transport audiences to other worlds. This curiosity birthed what was later coined by film researcher Tom Gunning, the cinema of attraction (Europeana). The likes of Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomón and, most famously, French director George Méliès developed many technical and narrative techniques. They were among the first to utilize special effects in the form of substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color. Widely credited as the first science fiction film ever made, Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon, 1902) by Méliès drew on famous works by H.G. Wells and Jules Verne to depict a spacecraft being launched into the moon.
The vaudeville aesthetic in these films was shared by emerging comedies. The popularity of slapstick comedy sky-rocketed with the likes of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin taking center stage. The General (1924), Safety Last! (1923), and The Kid (1921) are examples of their iconic comedies. This vaudevillian style inspired shock and awe and, most importantly, laughs.
Along with the development of comedy, telling stories with the view to immerse and captivate flourished, bringing with it the emerging language of narrative. Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery (1903) was an early example of this new action-driven narrative. D.W. Griffiths, Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, Alice Guy-Blache, Cecile B. DeMille and so many more contributed greatly to the constitution of the cinematic language. It would be an unadulterated tragedy for the glory of silent cinema to be forgotten. The silent period birthed many facets of the language of cinema we know, and love, today.
If you would like to acquaint yourself with the wonder of silent movies check out our list of the best silent movies and those more obscure examples. You won’t regret it!
To read more about the history of silent movies from the beginning, order Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture by clicking here.
To watch the first films created by the Lumière Brothers, order the Lumiere Brothers First Films DVD by clicking here.