Now that BWiFF has successfully completed its first Cinema Centennial event, showcasing films from 1919, I think it’s about time for my first public confessional. So here it goes: I am not exactly what you would call a silent film aficionado. Prior to preparing for this year’s Cinema Centennial, I had in fact seen very little silent film at all. Most of what I had seen were clips or shorts shown in film classes I’d taken in my youth. So when choosing the films for this year’s event, I was just about as intimidated by the task as I was thrilled by the opportunity.
My pride will now step in for a moment to make it clear that I am no stranger to classic film. And no, I am not referring to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Back to the Future as “classic” film because in my mind they are not old enough to be considered a classic. I find it disturbing when I reference a movie from the 1980’s or 1990’s, which has not been remade recently, and get a blank look in return. It is in those moments, the ones where I realize the person I am speaking with wasn’t born when the movie I am referring to was made that I really feel old. Obviously, I am not alone in this. Even Iron man feels the same as I do whenever Peter Parker speaks.
So now that we have established that I not only feel old, but I also feel bad for all the folks in this world that missed out on essential films like Airplane! simply by being born too late; back to what I consider classic film. Or at least the classic film I consider myself well-versed in. I am a devotee of movies made in the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s. My first screen crush at age 10, (after watching the ‘Road Movies’ on AMC), was Bob Hope. Yeah, I am admitting to that in a public forum. Go ahead and judge me. I am also a fan of behind the scenes fun facts. For instance, did you know that John Wayne’s real name was Marion Morrison or that Cary Grant’s real name was Archibald Leach? Cary Grant, now there is a man worthy of a first crush – no offense to Mr. Hope.
Silent films, however, were not something I could really speak to outside of what I had learned from watching Singing in the Rain or Chaplin or from what we covered in those film classes I spoke of earlier.
Admittedly, I initially thought that 1919 was toward the beginning of the silent film era. Shameful! I am embarrassed of my ignorance. In an effort to make up for this lack of foreknowledge, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you what I have learned. In this article, I will be focusing on the films we showcased this year in particular. If you are interested in looking at the bigger picture, (so to speak), I recommend a viewing of PBS’s 10 minute silent era crash course. I found it very entertaining.
I mentioned before that this was our first Cinema Centennial event. The idea being, let’s put something together and see how it goes. Not an outright Mickey and Judy put on a show in the barn kind of spontaneity, since the folks here at Blue Whiskey have been putting together film festivals for years. This material, however, was foreign territory to us all. Even to the in-house classic film know-it-all, otherwise known as myself. In that strange magic of the movies kind of way, our program had a serendipitous theme we were unaware of until I started doing some reading up on the films we had chosen. We only found out afterwards what we had put together was an evening of “firsts.” Also, oddly enough, each of our films somehow has a connection to Superman. That is just weird if you ask me.
