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May Irwin Kiss. Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1896.
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James Steffen
Film Studies and Media Librarian
Phone: (404) 727-8107
E-mail: jsteffe@emory.edu |
This is the first installment of an ongoing series of web pages devoted to aspects of the Music and Media Library's media collection. Most of the DVD titles mentioned below have DVD-LEND copies that qualified library users may take out overnight. For more information on the Lending Collection, click here.
Introduction
Early Cinema in the Lending Collection Selected Titles :
Other Related Videos in the Music and Media Library
For Further Reading
Web Resources
One byproduct of the DVD format’s remarkable popularity has been a relative proliferation of early cinema on home video. By “early cinema” I mean from the mid-1890s (when film as we know it was invented) up to the early 1910s, when the first feature films appeared in the United States and Europe. For decades, many of these early films could be seen only in archives or in grainy 16mm classroom rental prints that were several generations removed from the original.
Specialty DVD distributors, working in association with film historians, have taken great care not only to locate the best surviving print elements, but also to give the modern viewer at home an approximate sense of how these films were shown when they were released. David Shepard of Blackhawk Films/Film Preservation Associates is particularly active in this regard.
One important historical factor to consider is projection speed. While the standard for sound films is 24 frames per second, silent films were shot and projected at a wide range of speeds. (See the Kevin Brownlow essay listed in the For Further Reading section at the bottom of this page.) Using the modern sound speed of 24 fps to transfer a 2-reel D. W. Griffith Biograph melodrama, which typically would have been projected at roughly 16 fps, would spoil its mood and pacing. Some silent films were even shot faster than 24 fps.
Also, while films of that period are generally thought of as “silent” and “black and white,” from the earliest days of cinema engineers attempted to wed sound and color to the moving image. Not only were silent films accompanied by music performances or off-screen narrations by live speakers, but filmmakers used tinting, toning, hand-coloring and stencil color processes to apply color to black-and-white film stock before photographic color processes became technologically and commercially viable in the early 1920s. All of these DVDs have musical scores or narration, and many also use original colored prints or recreate the original effects using video technology.
For those interested in early cinema, these DVDs provide an invaluable set of basic study materials. Early films may have been produced in a different historical and cultural context, and they may use a different filmmaking style from today, but they can also be quite entertaining to watch. After all, in keeping with film's origin as a popular medium, filmmakers resorted to sex, violence, voyeurism, comedy, special effects, and daredevil stunts to attract audiences. For today's viewers, these same films also offer poignant images of life in a bygone era.
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| Early Cinema in the Lending Collection: Selected Titles |
Edison: The Invention of the Movies. The Museum of Modern Art in cooperation with the Library of Congress. Produced for video by Brett Wood. New York, NY : Kino on Video, 2005. 4 discs.
DVD 4230
Edison: The Invention of the Movies contains 140 works produced by the Thomas Edison Manufacturing Co. between 1891 and 1918. Each disc includes extensive written notes and video essays by film scholars such as Charles Musser, a leading authority on the Thomas Edison Manufacturing Co.’s film productions.
Many of the films on this DVD are preserved solely through paper prints that the Edison Company deposited at the Library of Congress for copyright purposes. Because films were not covered by copyright law at the time, Edison had paper contact prints made of every film frame. Long after the original film elements have become lost or deteriorated, preservationists are able to make new copies of the films off of the surviving paper prints.
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The Movies Begin: a Treasury of Early Cinema, 1894-1914. Produced by Film Preservation Associates and The British Film Institute; produced for video by David Shepard. Program notes by Charles Musser. New York, NY : Kino on Video, 2002. 5 discs.
DVD 1747 PT. 1 - 5
Vol. 1: The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works.
Vol. 2: The European Pioneers.
Vol. 3: Experimentation and Discovery.
Vol. 4: The Cinema Magic of Georges Méliès.
Vol. 5: Comedy, Spectacle, and New Horizons.
This anthology is a must for any film studies collection. Among other things, it includes: motion studies by Eadweard Muybridge; shorts by filmmakers such as Louis and Auguste Lumière, Georges Méliès, Edwin S. Porter, and Alice Guy Blaché, the first major woman director.
Among the highlights of the set include a hand-colored print of Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903) and a version of Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902) using a voice-over reading of the text that was originally written for the film to explain the action onscreen, since it lacked title cards. For those who think that gratuitous cinematic violence is a relatively recent phenomenon, be sure to see the British film producer/director Cecil Hepworth’s How it Feels to be Run Over (1900) and Explosion of a Motor Car (1900) on Disc 3.
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Méliès the Magician. Produced by Arte Video with the support of the Centre Nationale de la Cinematographie. Chicago, IL: Facets Video, 2001.
DVD 5992
It is entirely fitting that Georges Méliès (1861-1938), a pioneer in early narrative films and the first great special effects wizard, first made his name as a stage magician. The influence of his instantly recognizable style and imagery has cropped up in everything from the works of the Soviet film director Sergei Parajanov to Smashing Pumpkins music videos and Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge (2001). This disc inclues a feature-length documentary by Jacques Mény and beautiful prints of 15 Méliès films.
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Before Hollywood There Was Fort Lee, NJ. Produced by David Shepard in cooperation with the Fort Lee Film Commission. Chatsworth, CA: Image Entertainment, 2003.
DVD 5362
Directed by Thomas Hanlon in 1964, this documentary traces the history of film production in Fort Lee, the major center of film production during the first decades of the American film industry. Includes generous film excerpts and an essay by film historian Richard Kozarski. Also included on this DVD is the The Wishing Ring (1914) a feature film by the leading silent director Maurice Tourneur.
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D. W. Griffith's Biograph Shorts. Produced for video by David Shepard. New York: Kino on Video, 2002. 2 discs.
DVD 2834
Between 1908 and 1913, D. W. Griffith directed over 400 one and two-reel films for the American Biograph Company. During this time he refined the use of editing techniques such as the close-up, crosscutting, and the flashback for narrative purposes, thus contributing immensely to the development of continuity editing as a whole. At the same time his films grew longer and more complex, culminating in the medium-length film Judith of Bethulia (1914) and the controversial and groundbreaking epic The Birth of a Nation (1915). This two-disc set contains 23 of his best-known Biograph films.
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Winsor McCay: The Master Edition. Presented by La Cinémathèque Québecoise and Milestone Film & Video. Chatsworth, CA: Image Entertainiment, 2004.
DVD 6010.
Although the revered comic strip artist and animator Winsor McCay (1867?-1934) hardly invented the animated film, as is sometimes claimed, he certainly brought a high level of artistry to it. The disc includes: the famed Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), an important early example of character animation which McCay exhibited as part of a stage act; animated renderings of his surrealistic comic strip Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend (1904-1913); The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), a remarkable early example of cel animation; and various animated fragments.
The disc also includes audio commentary by John Canemaker, a featurette entitled "Remembering Winsor McCay," and a stills gallery with reproductions of McCay's artworks.
Recently, the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library acquired exceptionally rare original drawings from McCay's first comic strip series, Tales of the Jungle Imps (1903).
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The Slapstick Encyclopedia. Curated by Joe Adamson and David Shepard. Chatsworth, CA: Image Entertainment, 2002. 5 discs.
DVD 1870 PT. 1-5.
Disc 1
Volume 1: In the beginning: Film Comedy Pioneers. a survey of films depicting stage actors and vaudeville and novelty acts. | Volume 2: Keystone Tonight!: Mack Sennett Comedies. Mack Sennett (1880-1960) pioneered in the slapstick comedy genre and helped launch the career of silent comedy greats such as Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
Disc 2
Volume 3: Sennett in the Twenties. Charts the evolution of Sennett's style and the influence of producer-star Harry Langdon. | Volume 4: Funny Girls: Genders and their Benders. Showcases female comic stars such as Alice Howell, Dorothy Devore, Fay Tincher and Gale Henry.
Disc 3
Volume 5: Keaton, Arbuckle and St. John. One of the most popular screen comics before his fall from public grace in 1921 due to a sex scandal (of which he was eventually cleared), Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle worked with such talented co-stars as Buster Keaten, Mabel Normand and Al St. John. | Volume 6: Hal Roach's All-Star Comedians. During the Twenties, the Hal E. Roach Studios became known for its sophisticated narratives and stars such as Stan Laurel, Harold Lloyd ane Charley Chase.
Disc 4
Volume 7: Hal Roach: The Lot of Fun. More Hal Roach shorts, this time starring Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang and Harry "Snub" Pollard. | Volume 8: Chaplin and the Music Hall Tradition. These Charlie Chaplin films are adapted from stage routines he developed while working under Fred Karno, a Music Hall impressario in England.
Disc 5
Volume 9: The Race is On. Four comedies focusing on elaborate stunts and chase sequences. | Volume 10: Tons of Fun: the Anarchic Fringe. Features "six particularly chaotic comedies" starring Larry Semon, Charley Bowers, Ben Turpin, and Billy Bletcher.
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Laugh With Max Linder. Produced for DVD by David Shepard. Chatsworth, CA. Image Entertainment, 2003.
DVD 2603
Before Chaplin, Max Linder (1883-1925) created the first widely recognizable comic screen persona in "Max," an urbane and well-to-do gentleman who typically wore a silk top hat and displayed a pronounced weakness for women. At one point he was the highest paid actor in the world. However, his career was interrupted by World War I and his later Hollywood-produced films didn't prove as popular as hoped. Suffering from depression, he eventually committed suicide together with his wife.
This disc features four of Linder's pre-World War I French shorts and a later American feature, Seven Years Bad Luck (1921).
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| Other Related Films in the Music and Media Library |
Before the Nickelodeon: the Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter. Produced, directed and edited by Charles Musser. New York: Kino on Video, 1998.
A 1982 documentary narrated by silent film star Blanche Sweet.
V.CASS. VHS 4269
Cinema Europe: the Other Hollywood. Produced and directed by Kevin Brownlow & David Gill. A Photoplay production in association with BBC, ZDF/Arte and D.L. Taffner (UK). New York, NY: DLT Entertainment, 1998. 3 videocassettes.
Using stunning archival film clips, film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill trace the history of film production in Europe from the earliest days to the introduction of sound. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh.
V.CASS. VHS 4555 PT.1-3
D. W. Griffith: Years of Discovery, 1909-1913. Produced by David Shepard. Chatsworth, California: Image Entertainment, 2002. 2 discs.
An alternate edition of Griffith's Biograph shorts featuring audio commentary by film historian Russell Merritt.
DVD 2419
Early Russian Cinema. Films from the collection of Gosfilmofond; video transfers supplied by the British Film Institute. New York: Milestone Film & Video, 1992. 10 volumes.
An anthology of restored Russian films dating between 1908 and 1918, with title translations by Julian Graffy, piano scores by Neil Brand, and notes by Ian Christie.
V.CASS. VHS 2037 V.1-10
Film Before Film: the ancestors of time. Directed by Werner Nekes. New York: Kino on Video, 1990.
English-dubbed version of 1985 German documentary on pre-cinematic moving image technologies such as the magic langern, Zoetrope, and zoopraxiscope.
V.CASS. VHS 2240
Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film. Written, produced and directed by David Gill and Kevin Brownlow. New York: HBO Video, 1980.
This 13-part documentary series, originally broadcast on Thames Television, traces the history of American silent film production in Hollywood, using extensive film clips and interviews with surviving film industry professionals and actors.
V.CASS. VHS 8751 PT. 1-13
The Lumière Brothers' First Films. Commentary in English by Bertrand Tavernier. Edited by Thierry Fremaux; musical accompaniment by Stuart Oderman. New York: Kino on Video, 1998.
Based on a popular touring program, the disc contains a selection of early Lumière films based on the best surviving materials from the Centre national de la cinématographie in France. Bertrand Tavernier narrates on the Lumière brothers as filmmakers and offers witty and informative commentary on individual films.
DVD 1180
Origins of Film. New York, N.Y.: Unapix Entertainment; Chatsworth, CA: Image Entertainment, 2000. 3 discs.
A collection of early feature and short films held by the Library of Congress's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division that illustrate the history of film from 1900-1926.
DVD 804 PT.1-3
Les premiers pas du cinéma: à la recherche du son. [Cinema's first steps: in search of sound.] Produced by Serge Bromberg and directed by Eric Lange. Paris: Lobster Films, 2004. PAL, Region 0.
A documentary on early sound film technology and a selection of films made in various sound processes. Includes optional English-language soundrack.
DVD 5327
Les premiers pas du cinéma: un rêve en couleur. [Cinema's first steps: a dream in color.] Produced by Serge Bromberg and directed by Eric Lange. Paris: Lobster Films, 2004. PAL, Region 0.
A documentary on early color film technology and a selection of films made in various color processes. Includes optional English-language soundrack.
DVD 5328
Silent Shakespeare. Produced by the British Film Institute's National Film and Television Archive. Original score by Laura Rossi. Milestone Film and Video, 2000.
A collection of early one and two-reel Shakespeare adaptations dating from 1899 to 1911. Transferred from 35mm nitrate materials, including some with hand-stenciled color.
DVD 357
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Altman, Rick. Silent Film Sound. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
PN1995.75 .A46 2004
Bowser, Eileen. The Transformation of the Cinema, 1907-1915. History of the American Cinema, Vol. 2. New York: Scribner, 1990.
PN 1993.5 .U6 H55 1990 Vol. 2
Brownlow, Kevin. "Silent Films: What Was the Right Speed?" Sight and Sound, (Summer 1980), pp. 164-167. Available online here.
Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. Fourth Edition. New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 2004.
PN1993.5 .A1 C65 2004
Elsaesser, Thomas, ed with Adam Barker. Early Cinema: Space-Frame-Narrative. London: BFI Publishing, 1990.
PN 1993.5 .A1 E37 1990
Gunning, Tom. D.W. Griffith and the Origins of American Narrative Film: the Early Years at Biograph. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
PN 1998.3 .G76 G8 1991
Hertogs, Daan and Nico de Klerk, eds. Disorderly Order: Colours in Silent Film. Amsterdam: Stichting Nederlands Filmmuseum, 1996. [Published conference proceedings.]
TR853 .A47 1996
Musser, Charles. Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
PN1998.3 .P67 M87 1991
Musser, Charles. The Emergence of Cinema: the American Screen to 1907. History of the American Cinema, Vol. 1. New York: Scribner, 1990.
PN1993.5 .U6 H55 V.1
Slide, Anthony. The Silent Feminists: America's First Women Directors. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2996.
PN. 1998.2 .S548 1996
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American WideScreen Museum
This fascinating website includes detailed technical explanations and histories of various color and sound technologies.
Il Cinema Ritrovato
Though not devoted exclusively to silent cinema, this annual film festival sponsored by La Cineteca di Bologna typically includes screenings of many rare silent films. English-language version of website available. This year will mark its 20th anniversary.
Conversation with David Shepard. Conducted by Mark Zimmer for digitallyOBSESSED in December 2000.
Inventing Entertainment: the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies
A Library of Congress website devoted to its extraordinary collection of Edison-related holdings, including literally hundreds of films and sound recordings that you can access online.
Motion Picture and Television Reading Room. Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress.
National Film Preservation Board
Pordenone Silent Film Festival / Le Giornate del Cinema Muto
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, this annual silent film festival hosted by La Cineteca del Friuili in Italy features resdiscoveries, restrospectives and restorations from film archives around the world. A major resource for silent film scholars. English-language version of website available.
Silent DVD
A commercial website that reviews recent releases of silent films on DVD.
The Silent Era
A good resource for information on silent films, including press releases, DVD reviews, bibliographies, and filmographies.
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