inquiry re- SILENT FILMS

[Guest ariceffron]

I just saw Greta Garbo in a very edited version of joyless street and i was wondering: you know in silent films when they are talking? Is there a distinct storyline/script for all that, like a secret dialogue that no viewer knows, or are they just improving? Silent films really engage the viewer more, because it is up to the individual viewer to think up what they think might be going on. who can help me out here

[JSngry]

Aric, I'm not a hardcore film buff, but I've heard over the years that it varied from picture to picture. Sometimes there was real dialogue going on, and sometimes the actord were just B.S.ing. I've even heard in a few instances that if you read lips, you can pick up steady streams of profanity. Can't prove that by me, but that's what I've heard.

I agree that silents are a most engaing medium in the right hands. A few years ago, I was involved in a project with a "new music" ensemble to improvise live soundtracks to films by Chaplin and Lloyd. We watched the movies several times beforehand so we could get an idea of the various character dynamics and plot curves, and I found myself totally digging how involving those movies were. You can say much the same about the old radio shows too - the listener was required to play an active, not passive, role in order to give the stories their full impact and meaning.

It's a shame, I think, how we as a culture have steadily been evolving towards an ethos of total saturation in our mass entertainments. Oh sure, there's a lot to be said for the all-out sensory assults, they often provide a real and enjoyable rush, but when that gets to be the ONLY sensory input that many people have, I think that a part of the brain, the "critical discernment" part (if there is indeed such a thing...) tends to get beaten into submission and eventually ceases functioning. That CAN'T be a good thing.

Just amature psychology on my part, but I know that when I come across a work in any medium that uses and delights in space, aural or visual, I enjoy it immensely, and the more I get of it, the less attraction I have for that which demands nothing more of me that I sit there and be a passive tool for manipulation. There's a place for both, I think, but it seems to be getting one-sided, and I don't dig that.

Edited July 19, 2003 by JSngry