Expanding Upon TCM’s List: Ten More Influential Silent Films

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has provided a wealth of classic movies for cinephiles to watch, commercial-free, since April 1994. They’re a tremendous resource, offering films 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Part of what makes them so lovable is their dedication to silent cinema. They have a weekly feature called “Silent Sundays” during which they air several hours of silent films beginning at midnight. It’s no surprise that the recent success of The Artist, a modern-day silent film, would grab TCM’s eye. To celebrate the film a few weeks ago, they released their own list of the 10 Most Influential Silent Films. It was an impressive list, and can be found here. I think it’s a tremendous starting place for movie-watchers interested in silent cinema. Having said that, I think it could easily be expanded to include ten more films. Here are ten that I think could be added:

20 Cool Posters for Silent Movies

I get paid to be a graphic designer. Mixed together with my love of movies, it’s only natural that I’d have an appreciation for interesting movie poster art. Each year, studios produce several outstanding posters for their various movies. It’s nothing new. They’ve been doing it for years, going all the way back to the silent era. Here are 20 of my favorite posters for silent films. Much thanks to the IMP Awards website, which houses most of these:

A Fistful of Buster Keaton Mashups

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If I could impart just one aspect of my enthusiasm for movies to my readers, it would be my love of Buster Keaton. I wish I could turn all of my readers into Damfinos- the moniker that hardcore Keaton fans use to refer to themselves. Because there’s no other actor or filmmaker that’s brought me as much hardcore laughter and happiness as Keaton has. One of the best parts of Youtube is that there are a multitude of mashups. Amateur movie editors all over the place have squished their favorite movie clips, music, movie dialogue, and TV clips together. Because of Keaton’s popularity (and since he was a silent comedian whose work was perfect for the addition of sound), there are several mashups involving his films. Here are my five favorites, one for each finger inside of a fist. I didn’t create any of these but I wish I had:

The Chariots of Buster
This clip combines the epic soundtrack from Chariots of Fire with my all-time favorite comedy scene- Keaton’s chase scene from Seven Chances (1927).

Thoughts About Les Vampires (1915)

A few weeks ago while discussing insanely long movies, I mentioned Les Vampires (1915). Over the last week and a half, I’ve successfully managed to wrap it up. I’ll leave the deeper analysis and reviews to film critics and historians. But I did have a handful of observations to share about the ten-episode silent film serial that gobbled up nearly seven hours of my time:

Buster Keaton, Radiohead Style

To celebrate the release of Radiohead’s new album, The King of Limbs, here’s one of my all-time favorite videos from Youtube. I’m not responsible for this, but I wish I was. The choreography between the music and the clips is spot-on. And it’s a great intro to Keaton for the uninitiated. I’ve shown it to a few friends and I love the look on their faces when they realize just how much peril Keaton put himself in all for the sake of making people laugh. Oh, and also, Radiohead is neat too.