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You know, throughout virtually all of human history, right up until the late 1980s, if you would have told a person that they could look into a box and see a hundred years ago......people would have jumped at the chance, they would have gasped in awe and took in every moment, enraptured.
Well, guess what? We are the first generation that can do that! We've been able to do that since the 1990s!
In 1916, movies and the film industry were in a transitional time. We tend to think of the silent era as just one thing, but there were many phases and eras. One hundred years ago, in 1916, feature films had just come into being a mere three years earlier (in the U.S.A, two years earlier). Film vocabulary and how to tell a story - they were just starting to solidify into the language we now recognize and take for granted, be it watching a movie....or a sporting event.
Below are five of my favorite films from 1916....a hundred years ago.
Fatty & Mabel Adrift (released January 8, 1916)
Poor Roscoe (aka Fatty), and poor Mabel. Both of their lives and careers would soon be ruined by scandals that had no basis in fact. But in 1916, they were at the absolute zenith of their fame. And watching this beautiful, hilarious film, "Fatty & Mabel Adrift", you can see why! This was brilliantly directed by Arbuckle himself, a complete comic genius and VERY contemporary. Watch this and see two human beings leap across an entire century, feeling as fresh as ever. The opening sequence with Cupid is beautiful and classic.
His Picture's In The Papers (released February 10, 1916)
To demonstrate how early 1916 was in film history, this here is one of Douglas Fairbanks' earliest roles. History now knows Fairbanks as THE original swashbuckler and adventure/action hero.....but he was a gigantic star before he ever did his first costume picture (four years later in 1920). His early work - all huge hits - was in modern comedies where his jaw-dropping acrobatics were put to spectacular use, this film being one of them.
Hell's Hinges (released March 1916)
Not the first Western, but possibly the first GREAT Western. William S. Hart was one of the first Western stars (he was one of the first stars, period!). The Cowboy with a Moral Conscience prototype is Hart. This brutal movie (only an hour) about a wild town called Hell's Hinges that wants nothing to do with law or religion culminates in a spectacular fire.
Intolerance (released August 5, 1916)
One of the most ambitious movies ever made, even now, DW Griffith followed up his high controversial/disgustingly racist, but indisputably brilliant and influential "Birth Of A Nation" with this indescribable, spectactular mosaic.........Before there was "2001: A Space Odyssey"and "Citizen Kane", there was "Intolerance".
The Count (released Sept 4, 1916)
And to see where Chaplin was at at this point, here's one of his best films of that year. A huge star, of course, he had come onto the scene in 1914. At this point, in 1916, he was just on the cusp at incorporating the pathos he is so famous for, and his "Tramp" was usually a drunk and/or a scoundrel. (full disclosure: I like Chaplin and I love many of his films, but he's not my fave of the era).
****
But wait! What about the person who IS my fave of the era, Gladys Smith aka Mary Pickford? The inventor of naturalistic acting in film!
Mary Pickford was still (and would always remain) the era's first and greatest star; in 1916 she was going through a grind of making a bunch of movies milking her popularity. The entire movie business was practically built around her and they wanted to strike while the iron was hot. But the quality of this "middle period" of Mary's wasn't the best. The following year she seized control of her films and quality control on ALL films went way up.
Well, guess what? We are the first generation that can do that! We've been able to do that since the 1990s!
In 1916, movies and the film industry were in a transitional time. We tend to think of the silent era as just one thing, but there were many phases and eras. One hundred years ago, in 1916, feature films had just come into being a mere three years earlier (in the U.S.A, two years earlier). Film vocabulary and how to tell a story - they were just starting to solidify into the language we now recognize and take for granted, be it watching a movie....or a sporting event.
Below are five of my favorite films from 1916....a hundred years ago.
Fatty & Mabel Adrift (released January 8, 1916)
Poor Roscoe (aka Fatty), and poor Mabel. Both of their lives and careers would soon be ruined by scandals that had no basis in fact. But in 1916, they were at the absolute zenith of their fame. And watching this beautiful, hilarious film, "Fatty & Mabel Adrift", you can see why! This was brilliantly directed by Arbuckle himself, a complete comic genius and VERY contemporary. Watch this and see two human beings leap across an entire century, feeling as fresh as ever. The opening sequence with Cupid is beautiful and classic.
His Picture's In The Papers (released February 10, 1916)
To demonstrate how early 1916 was in film history, this here is one of Douglas Fairbanks' earliest roles. History now knows Fairbanks as THE original swashbuckler and adventure/action hero.....but he was a gigantic star before he ever did his first costume picture (four years later in 1920). His early work - all huge hits - was in modern comedies where his jaw-dropping acrobatics were put to spectacular use, this film being one of them.
Hell's Hinges (released March 1916)
Not the first Western, but possibly the first GREAT Western. William S. Hart was one of the first Western stars (he was one of the first stars, period!). The Cowboy with a Moral Conscience prototype is Hart. This brutal movie (only an hour) about a wild town called Hell's Hinges that wants nothing to do with law or religion culminates in a spectacular fire.
Intolerance (released August 5, 1916)
One of the most ambitious movies ever made, even now, DW Griffith followed up his high controversial/disgustingly racist, but indisputably brilliant and influential "Birth Of A Nation" with this indescribable, spectactular mosaic.........Before there was "2001: A Space Odyssey"and "Citizen Kane", there was "Intolerance".
The Count (released Sept 4, 1916)
And to see where Chaplin was at at this point, here's one of his best films of that year. A huge star, of course, he had come onto the scene in 1914. At this point, in 1916, he was just on the cusp at incorporating the pathos he is so famous for, and his "Tramp" was usually a drunk and/or a scoundrel. (full disclosure: I like Chaplin and I love many of his films, but he's not my fave of the era).
****
But wait! What about the person who IS my fave of the era, Gladys Smith aka Mary Pickford? The inventor of naturalistic acting in film!
Mary Pickford was still (and would always remain) the era's first and greatest star; in 1916 she was going through a grind of making a bunch of movies milking her popularity. The entire movie business was practically built around her and they wanted to strike while the iron was hot. But the quality of this "middle period" of Mary's wasn't the best. The following year she seized control of her films and quality control on ALL films went way up.
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