The Change
1927 may be the most significant year for movies since their invention. It was the year Al Jolson starred in The Jazz Singer, and the switch to sound was inevitable. At that point, silent film had reached its artistic peak--at least we think it did, we'll never know what would have happened next.
By the end of the decade, Hollywood had made the conversion, and not long after the rest of the film world left silence behind.
Let's see what Jesse Walker has to say about this momentous year. Here's his top ten list for 1927. (I get the feeling this will be his last top ten list. Not that there aren't delights from 1917--we've got Chaplin's four best Mutual shorts, and Buster Keaton starting to work with Fatty Arbuckle--but most of the films from that era are either lost or rarely shown.)
2. Metropolis
3. Napoleon
4. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
5. The End of St. Petersburg
6. A Wild Roomer
7. The Kid Brother
8. The Unknown
9. Fluttering Hearts
10. The Lodger: A Tale of the London Fog
I haven't seen Berlin. For that matter, while I've seen most of the silent Soviet classics, I haven't gotten around to The End Of St. Petersburg.
Metropolis is a landmark film that I find fascinating--great, yet overblown and campy. Napoleon is an amazing technical achievement, but I've never found it that entertaining. Sunrise would be either #1 or #2 on my list.
"The Wild Roomer" is a short by the very imaginative Charley Bower, who seems to be a favorite of Jesse. "Fluttering Hearst" is a short starring Charley Chase.
The Kid Brother may be Harold Lloyd's greatest achievement. Either #1 or #2 on my list. The Unknown is pretty good. The Lodger shows Hitchcock was something special right about from the start.
12. Emak-Bakia
13. Combat de Boxe
14. Bed and Sofa
15. Long Pants
16. The Battle of the Century
17. L'Invitation au Voyage
18. Should Second Husbands Come First?
19. Walking from Munich to Berlin
20. The Cat and the Canary
11 and 12 are (weird) shorts. 13 is a sports short. Haven't seen 14. Harry Langdon is not to everyone's taste, but 15 would make my top ten. 16 is a classic Laurel and Hardy short. 17 through 19 are shorts. 20 I haven't seen.
College (even second-best Buster Keaton is pretty good)
The Student Prince In Old Heidelberg
Other films I like:
Running Wild
Two Arabian Knights
Underworld
Other films of note:
PS I was right. The series is over.
posted by LAGuy @ 2:23 AM
5 Comments:
College and Underworld are both good movies. I didn't care for The Student Prince In Old Heidelberg, though—silent-era Lubitsch doesn't do much for me. (After sound comes along, of course, he's one of the best.) I haven't seen your other alternative nominees.
"Fluttering Hearst" is my new favorite typo.
Wasn't Fluttering Hearst Pauline Kael's follow-up to Raising Kane?
What's your beef with shorts?
It's a good enough typo that I'll keep it up.
Shorts and features are different animals, and shouldn't be compared on the same list.
People think The Jazz Singer is the first talkie, but actually it's a silent film with certain section that have sound, mostly for music. His 1928 film The Singing Fool had a lot more sound (though wasn't completely a sound film) and was an even bigger hit that pretty much cemented sound as a thing that would take over.
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