tobias
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Post by tobias on Mar 18, 2017 6:18:32 GMT
You decide yourself what qualifies.
So here go mine (all of these should be easily found on the web):
The acclaimed but not seen:
-7th Heaven (1927) - watched this just yesterday and I'm really baffled that I've never seen anyone talk about it. I've known about it for years but never felt much incentive to watch it. This seems to be the general consensus because the movie isn't necesarily unknown, it got major stars and a semi-major director and it's among the most acclaimed silent films. Still noone seems to watch it. It got like 2.2k votes on IMDB... But I assure you, this is the shit. I had to think about Les Miserables all the time even though I really have no idea about Les Miserables. The film is directed in a somewhat ferocious manner (echoing the violence of the poor), something constantly happens but still the atmosphere is extremely contained (perhaps underlining how they maintain self-controll to pursue their dream). Bravo Borzage (and also bravo Gaynor)!
-The Docks of New York (1930) - The best of Sternberg's silent films and another love story but this time a very rough one.
-The Wedding March (1928) - Another relatively well known film that few people seem to have felt like watching... To be fair, like 7th Heaven I've also put it off for a very long time. But I assure you, it's absoutely worth it.
-People on Sunday (1930) - A really sweet and chilled film. Two couples (non-actors) on a beautiful summer day. If you don't like it you're probably a mean old man (no offence towards mean old men).
-Underworld (1927) - One of the very first gangster films. Very good.
-City Girl (1930) - Despite being Murnau's follow up to Sunrise (well among the non lost films) interest in this seems rather low. there's really no reason for that, it's pretty great. Especially the scene in the wheat is one for the ages. The ending is admittedly a little drawn out.
The unknown:
-The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) - If you have any taste in romantic fairy tales you should love this. It's the major rediscovery in Lubitsch's oeuvre (usually his 2 big silents were Marriage Circle & Lady Windermere's Fan but this is picking up a lot of heat).
-Regen (1929) - A beautiful portrait of rain that contrasts the permanence of rain against the impermanence of humans. Very melancholic. It might not have intended to be but today it's a different film.
-True Heart Susie (1919) - Technically this got major acclaim but really, it's terribly unknown. It's my favorite Griffith film. Rohmer and Rivette were also big fans (listing it among their 10 choices for S&S in '62).
-Brumes d'automne (1929) - Only with Miguel Cordeiro's beautiful score (it's only 11 min., common guys you want it too):
-Terje Vigen (1917) - Very simple, yet very visually vivid. A violent family drama told in only a few tableaus.
-Die Puppe (1919) - Another major Lubitsch recommendation. This film is especially notable for the incredible effect work, the gay exressionism and the pure fantasy.
-The Mysterious Lady (1928) - The spy story is average but the romance scenes with Garbo are to die for.
-The Marriage Circle (1924) - Very, very unusual and sophisticated silent comedy from Lubitsch.
-Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002) - Did you ever wonder what Dracula would look like as a ballet? Me neither but it's still great.
-Seven Years Bad Luck (1921) - If you like Chaplin and Keaton (and maybe Lloyd) you should give the man who inspired them all a try (particularly Chaplin saw himself as Linder's disciple). This is usually said to be his best.
-L'Inferno (1911) - You should watch this primarily because such mad visual oppulence couldn't be made anymore today because of cencorship. Noone would want to fund a film that would more or less automatically get an NC-17 rating (it is an adaptation of Italy's greatest literary classic though). Kind of sad but we have this at least and the special effects are amazing. It's hard to come by an earlier feature film (unsure if any still exist in feature length form).
-The Burning Soil (1923) - Very notable for the stark and vast visuals. Not Murnau's best but it oozes with greed and maddnes from a long forgotten past.
Your turn!
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Post by idioticbunny on Mar 18, 2017 9:47:45 GMT
I'll be sure to put a lot of these on my list. Whether I get around to them or not any time soon though is completely up in the air.
I will say though I've seen The Marriage Circle recently and it's a pretty nice film. I wouldn't say it does anything more than what Cecil B. DeMille has done within that same decade, but it's decent. The dialogue bites, and the whole acting ensemble is terrific, but it wasn't too memorable for me sadly.
As far as what I've seen, some underrated (or at least under-discussed) ones I'd add to the bunch are (and these are ranked):
01. The Monastery of Sendomir (1920, dir. Victor Sjostrom) - Almost on par with the brilliance on display in his renowned work, The Phantom Carriage (which is my personal favorite of the 1920s so far), and a thrilling, chilling story.
02. The Saphead (dir. Herbert Blache & Winchell Smith) - A fantastic early dramedy that works like a witty stage play and features Buster Keaton at his absolute best.
03. The Burning Brazier (1923, dir. Ivan Mozzhukhin) - I found this one by complete luck, but it's full of ambition and vision well beyond its years. The fact that it's so under-seen is a crime. It's witty, funny, moving, and inventive all in one.
04. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921, dir. Rex Ingram) - Almost like D.W. Griffith-lite in terms of its sprawling, heroic, religious story, but it leaves out all the ignorance and features an incredible cast, lead by Rudolph Valentino at his best.
05. The Hell Ship (1923, dir. Victor Sjostrom) - Another shout-out to my favorite director of the '20s. A stunning work of art once again. Maybe not as great as the other two mentioned here, but the acting is phenomenal and the story is both thrilling and incredibly moving - as he does so well.
06. A Sailor-Made Man (1921, dir. Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor) - Probably my favorite Harold Lloyd film thus far. It had me laughing out loud and features Harold Lloyd at some of his most physically impressive and a hilarious supporting turn from frequent Lloyd collaborator Noah Young.
These are the best I can recommend that aren't already pretty well-discussed or acclaimed. But I hope to find some more golden nuggets soon. Almost done with 1924 (just have The Hands of Orlac left) then onto 1925. Excited to finally dig into some Sergei Eisenstein.
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tobias
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Post by tobias on Mar 18, 2017 17:55:09 GMT
I'll be sure to put a lot of these on my list. Whether I get around to them or not any time soon though is completely up in the air. I will say though I've seen The Marriage Circle recently and it's a pretty nice film. I wouldn't say it does anything more than what Cecil B. DeMille has done within that same decade, but it's decent. The dialogue bites, and the whole acting ensemble is terrific, but it wasn't too memorable for me sadly. As far as what I've seen, some underrated (or at least under-discussed) ones I'd add to the bunch are (and these are ranked): 01. The Monastery of Sendomir (1920, dir. Victor Sjostrom) - Almost on par with the brilliance on display in his renowned work, The Phantom Carriage (which is my personal favorite of the 1920s so far), and a thrilling, chilling story. 02. The Saphead (dir. Herbert Blache & Winchell Smith) - A fantastic early dramedy that works like a witty stage play and features Buster Keaton at his absolute best. 03. The Burning Brazier (1923, dir. Ivan Mozzhukhin) - I found this one by complete luck, but it's full of ambition and vision well beyond its years. The fact that it's so under-seen is a crime. It's witty, funny, moving, and inventive all in one. 04. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921, dir. Rex Ingram) - Almost like D.W. Griffith-lite in terms of its sprawling, heroic, religious story, but it leaves out all the ignorance and features an incredible cast, lead by Rudolph Valentino at his best. 05. The Hell Ship (1923, dir. Victor Sjostrom) - Another shout-out to my favorite director of the '20s. A stunning work of art once again. Maybe not as great as the other two mentioned here, but the acting is phenomenal and the story is both thrilling and incredibly moving - as he does so well. 06. A Sailor-Made Man (1921, dir. Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor) - Probably my favorite Harold Lloyd film thus far. It had me laughing out loud and features Harold Lloyd at some of his most physically impressive and a hilarious supporting turn from frequent Lloyd collaborator Noah Young. These are the best I can recommend that aren't already pretty well-discussed or acclaimed. But I hope to find some more golden nuggets soon. Almost done with 1924 (just have The Hands of Orlac left) then onto 1925. Excited to finally dig into some Sergei Eisenstein. I must confess that the only DeMille film I've seen is his last one but there are a lot of his films from around 1920 that I'd really like to see. I didn't realize he made so many comedies, I always thought it was mostly dramas. But seeing as he adapted Affairs of Anatol (which is probably the one I'm most excited about seeing) from Schnitzler, I assume he might have taken a similar direction as Lubitsch. Is there any of his films in particular you would recommend? I absolutely have to see both of the Sjöström's along with some of his others (Ingeborg Holm in particular). He's one of my favorite silent film director's. I liked everything I've seen so far. Most of all I would wish that they would recover The Divine Woman. Currently there is only a 7 minute segment in existence (the world is cruel). Tower of Lies I would also love to watch but it's lost aswell. The Burning Brazier & The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse also look very good and I love Keaton and like Lloyd so I might consider the other 2 (although there are so many other Lloyd films I've not seen aswell). |
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Post by idioticbunny on Mar 18, 2017 21:15:29 GMT
I'll be sure to put a lot of these on my list. Whether I get around to them or not any time soon though is completely up in the air. I will say though I've seen The Marriage Circle recently and it's a pretty nice film. I wouldn't say it does anything more than what Cecil B. DeMille has done within that same decade, but it's decent. The dialogue bites, and the whole acting ensemble is terrific, but it wasn't too memorable for me sadly. As far as what I've seen, some underrated (or at least under-discussed) ones I'd add to the bunch are (and these are ranked): 01. The Monastery of Sendomir (1920, dir. Victor Sjostrom) - Almost on par with the brilliance on display in his renowned work, The Phantom Carriage (which is my personal favorite of the 1920s so far), and a thrilling, chilling story. 02. The Saphead (dir. Herbert Blache & Winchell Smith) - A fantastic early dramedy that works like a witty stage play and features Buster Keaton at his absolute best. 03. The Burning Brazier (1923, dir. Ivan Mozzhukhin) - I found this one by complete luck, but it's full of ambition and vision well beyond its years. The fact that it's so under-seen is a crime. It's witty, funny, moving, and inventive all in one. 04. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921, dir. Rex Ingram) - Almost like D.W. Griffith-lite in terms of its sprawling, heroic, religious story, but it leaves out all the ignorance and features an incredible cast, lead by Rudolph Valentino at his best. 05. The Hell Ship (1923, dir. Victor Sjostrom) - Another shout-out to my favorite director of the '20s. A stunning work of art once again. Maybe not as great as the other two mentioned here, but the acting is phenomenal and the story is both thrilling and incredibly moving - as he does so well. 06. A Sailor-Made Man (1921, dir. Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor) - Probably my favorite Harold Lloyd film thus far. It had me laughing out loud and features Harold Lloyd at some of his most physically impressive and a hilarious supporting turn from frequent Lloyd collaborator Noah Young. These are the best I can recommend that aren't already pretty well-discussed or acclaimed. But I hope to find some more golden nuggets soon. Almost done with 1924 (just have The Hands of Orlac left) then onto 1925. Excited to finally dig into some Sergei Eisenstein. I must confess that the only DeMille film I've seen is his last one but there are a lot of his films from around 1920 that I'd really like to see. I didn't realize he made so many comedies, I always thought it was mostly dramas. But seeing as he adapted Affairs of Anatol (which is probably the one I'm most excited about seeing) from Schnitzler, I assume he might have taken a similar direction as Lubitsch. Is there any of his films in particular you would recommend? I absolutely have to see both of the Sjöström's along with some of his others (Ingeborg Holm in particular). He's one of my favorite silent film director's. I liked everything I've seen so far. Most of all I would wish that they would recover The Divine Woman. Currently there is only a 7 minute segment in existence (the world is cruel). Tower of Lies I would also love to watch but it's lost aswell. The Burning Brazier & The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse also look very good and I love Keaton and like Lloyd so I might consider the other 2 (although there are so many other Lloyd films I've not seen aswell). I wouldn't say I'm particularly a fan of DeMille. He does nice work, but it's so dated to a point where it's hard to really get into the material. But his work with Gloria Swanson is fantastic, particularly Why Change Your Wife? and the one you mentioned, Affairs of Anatol. The ensemble acting in particular for the latter is fantastic. I'm not sure which director did it first, I just know that his style is very similar. I, too, still need to see Ingeborg Holm and I'm very excited to one day. I'd love to see The Tower of Lies also. I didn't realize until trying to find it today that it was a lost film, which is a shame. I thought he and Chaney made a great pair in He Who Gets Slapped, even if I felt the film was a step down in quality of Sjostrom's previous works. Definitely get on The Burning Brazier at least. I'd love to see another opinion of it. As for Keaton and Lloyd, I try to make it a point to watch at least one of each of their films every year (the great thing is they have so many to choose from). I recently watched Girl Shy with Harold Lloyd and it's Lloyd at his most Keaton-esque. There's this fifteen-twenty minute chase scene at the end that's on par with some of Keaton's best stunt work. Obviously, Safety Last! is a must, even if I still find A Sailor-Made Man to be much funnier and emotionally richer. |
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Post by Joaquim on Mar 18, 2017 22:53:06 GMT
Lots of good stuff from the 10s and 20s that are underseen and they're all on YouTube.
The Queen of Spades (1916)
The Student of Prague (1913)
Dante's Inferno (1911)
Regeneration (1915)
Atlantis (1913)
The End of the World (1916)
The Avenging Conscience (1914)
Seven Years Bad Luck (1921)
The Golem (1920)
Wasn't a huge fan of these but still want to throw them out there if anyone wants to check them out:
A Romance of Happy Valley (1919)
Cleopatra (1912)
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Post by stephen on Mar 19, 2017 0:25:24 GMT
Here are some essentials from 1915-1919, some of which might fall under the banner of underrated, but certainly all are underseen by the metric of this forum:
• Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915)
• The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915)
• Regeneration (Raoul Walsh, 1915)
• The Tramp (Charles Chaplin, 1915)
• Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (D.W. Griffith, 1916)
• The Battle of the Somme (Charles Urban & Geoffrey H. Malins, 1916)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Stuart Paton, 1916)
• The End of the World (August Blom, 1916)
• Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1916)
• Hell’s Hinges (Charles Swickard, 1916)
• The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (Christy Cabanne, 1916)
• The Pawnshop (Charles Chaplin, 1916)
• Blind Justice (Benjamin Christensen, 1916)
• A Man There Was (Victor Sjöström, 1917)
• One A.M. (Charles Chaplin, 1916)
• The Immigrant (Charles Chaplin, 1917)
• The Poor Little Rich Girl (Maurice Tourneur, 1917)
• Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Marshall Neilan, 1917)
• Easy Street (Charles Chaplin, 1917)
• The Bell Boy (Fatty Arbuckle, 1918)
• Shoulder Arms (Charles Chaplin, 1918)
• The Outlaw and His Wife (Victor Sjöström, 1918)
• The Sinking of the Lusitania (Winsor McKay, 1918)
• The Whispering Chorus (Cecil B. DeMille, 1918)
• Hearts of the World (D.W. Griffith, 1918)
• Stella Maris (Marshall Neilan, 1918)
• J’Accuse! (Abel Gance, 1919)
• Daddy-Long-Legs (Marshall Neilan, 1919)
• Broken Blossoms (D.W. Griffith, 1919)
• The Dragon Painter (William Worthington, 1919)
• When the Clouds Roll By (Victor Fleming, 1919)
• The Treasure of Arne (Mauritz Stiller, 1919)
• The Spiders (Fritz Lang, 1919)
• Madame Du Barry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919)
• True Heart Susie (D.W. Griffith, 1919)
• Blind Husbands (Erich von Stroheim, 1919)
• The Oyster Princess (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919)
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Post by countjohn on Mar 19, 2017 2:50:52 GMT
I'll second Docks of New York and add Man With a Movie Camera, Haxan, and The Wind
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Post by idioticbunny on Mar 19, 2017 8:20:22 GMT
Lots of good stuff from the 10s and 20s that are underseen and they're all on YouTube. The Queen of Spades (1916) The Student of Prague (1913) Dante's Inferno (1911) Regeneration (1915) Atlantis (1913) The End of the World (1916) The Avenging Conscience (1914) Seven Years Bad Luck (1921) The Golem (1920) Wasn't a huge fan of these but still want to throw them out there if anyone wants to check them out: A Romance of Happy Valley (1919) Cleopatra (1912) Good call on Seven Years Bad Luck. Even if I'm not big on Max Linder, it's worth checking out one of his three remaining feature films to see his influence on Chaplin, Keaton, etc. |
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Post by MsMovieStar on Mar 19, 2017 13:54:14 GMT
Blancanieves (2012) is a masterpiece. So much better than The Artist.
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Post by Mattsby on Oct 14, 2019 21:00:03 GMT
 By the Law (Lev Kuleshov) - 1926. This has 843 votes on IMDb, that's it - a crime. A significant early example of the psychological drama - predating Polanski and Bergman who I'd imagine would love this movie. Brilliantly shot - detailed - and very haunting. It's around on Youtube.... |
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