I wanted to share a couple links - both those that have inspired me and ones I find inspiring.

The first is for Dzrt Grls. They inspired me to begin a love affair with the desert. I could spend DAYS looking at their pictures and reading their trip reports. And months trying to decipher where some of the locations are. Anyway, linkage to the Girls site: Dzrt Grls

Next, to finish a thought from my last entry, silent films! TCM (on tv) plays silent films and that's the only channel I know to check. But! I found two web sites that show silent films! Or at least have them available for download. Since silent films are so old, the rights have mostly all passed to public use.
First and foremost would be Archive.org. TONS of silent films (and other public domain films, music, books, etc) are available. Silent Films search. Search for The General to get yourself addicted to silent films.

The second web site was UBUWEB. They have many films that aren't silent but they do have one that ranks rather high on the must see list. Backing way up in the story.... many years ago Sean and I were watching tv and it was one of those nights that "nothing is on". So we tuned in to PBS and saw a movie was about to start. It was in Spanish and neither of us know Spanish. We were going to turn it off but decided to give it a try. It had subtitles after all. It was called "The Avenging Angel". I wish that one was public domain! I would watch it again in a heart beat. Anyway, this movie stuck with us, it was so weird, all these years. Oftentimes we'll bring it up and end off the topic lamely, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Well, on UBUWEB they have a copy of this man's (Luis Brunuel) first film. It's called The Andalusian Dog. Or more properly "Un chien andalou" made in 1929. It was cowritten by Salvador Dali. WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING!!! This film is NOT for the feint of heart!!! It is surreal and follows a dream like process - nightmares I would consider them. It starts with a horrifying image. It's a flow of consciousness type film. But it is immensely important in both silent film and film in general. That all being said, linkage to UBU's "Un chien andalou" and to UBUWEB

A last thought - one with no links. I have just about OD'd on Rudolf Valentino. I recorded a bunch of his films on the DVR and have been going through and watching them. I still have about four left, and no the ones I wanted to see! But that's good because I still have those to hunt down. Most notably "Blood and Sand", The Sheik, The Son of the Sheik. *ahem* But that's not what I meant to write about. What I *did* mean to write about were the women's shawls!! I recently watched "The Birth of a Nation" (oh my, what a movie that one was but I'll hold off commentary on this one for a bit) and along with all the others, I DROOL over the hand knit fine shawls the women wore! These articles of clothing are priceless now. And I soooo wish there were close up's of just those shawls so I could attempt to copy them. I was re-inspired last night to knit an heirloom shawl.

Posted by Khiori at 07:35 AM | Permalink

I am so close to being done with the Top 100 AFI Films list (and top comedies and top action films - I haven't discussed those yet) that I thought I would look for the top 100 silent films. My first brush with silent films was on Buster Keaton's 100th birthday. There was a tribute program on TV. Probably TCM. Then they showed a dozen or so of his films - including The General (which remains, by far, my most favorite silent film and possibly most favorite film at all)

Here is the list. It was put together by Silent Era ( http://www.silentera.com/info/top100.html )

1. The General 1926 Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman USA
2. Metropolis 1927 Fritz Lang Germany
3. Sunrise 1927 F.W. Murnau USA
4. City Lights 1931 Charles Chaplin USA
5. Nosferatu 1922 F.W. Murnau Germany
6. The Gold Rush 1925 Charles Chaplin USA
7. La Passion et la Mort de Jeanne d’Arc [The Passion of Joan of Arc] 1928 Carl Theodor Dreyer France
8. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari [The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari] 1920 Robert Wiene Germany
9. Bronenosets ‘Potyomkin’ [The Battleship Potemkin] 1925 Sergei M. Eisenstein USSR
10. Greed 1924 Erich von Stroheim USA
11. Die Büchse der Pandora [Pandora’s Box] 1929 G.W. Pabst Germany
12. The Crowd 1928 King Vidor USA
13. The Wind 1928 Victor Sjöström USA
14. Napoléon 1927 Abel Gance France
15. The Birth of a Nation 1915 D.W. Griffith USA
16. Intolerance 1916 D.W. Griffith USA
17. Sherlock, Jr. 1924 Buster Keaton USA
18. The Big Parade 1925 King Vidor USA
19. Safety Last 1923 Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor USA
20. The Phantom of the Opera 1925 Rupert Julian USA
21. Broken Blossoms 1919 D.W. Griffith USA
22. Der letzte Mann [The Last Laugh] 1924 F.W. Murnau Germany
23. The Kid 1921 Charles Chaplin USA
24. Steamboat Bill, Jr. 1928 Charles F. Reisner USA
25. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ 1925 Fred Niblo USA
26. The Thief of Bagdad 1924 Raoul Walsh USA
27. Flesh and the Devil 1927 Clarence Brown USA
28. Our Hospitality 1923 Buster Keaton and John G. Blystone USA
29. Wings 1927 William Wellman USA
30. Chelovek s kinoapparatom [Man with a Movie Camera] 1929 Dziga Vertov USSR
31. Nanook of the North 1922 Robert J. Flaherty USA
32. Faust 1926 F.W. Murnau Germany
33. Way Down East 1920 D.W. Griffith USA
34. Häxan [Witchcraft Through the Ages] 1922 Benjamin Christensen Sweden
35. Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen [The Diary of a Lost Girl] 1929 G.W. Pabst Germany
36. The Unknown 1927 Tod Browning USA
37. The Cameraman 1928 Edward Sedgwick USA
38. The Circus 1928 Charles Chaplin USA
39. Show People 1928 King Vidor USA
40. Un Chien Andalou [The Andalusian Dog] 1928 Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali France
41. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923 Wallace Worsley USA
42. Dr. Mabuse: Der Spieler [Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler] 1922 Fritz Lang USA
43. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 1921 Rex Ingram USA
44. The Sheik 1921 George Melford USA
45. Die Nibelungen (including Siegfried and Kriemhilds Rache [Kriemhild’s Revenge]) 1924 Fritz Lang Germany
46. The Freshman 1925 Sam Taylor and Fred Newmeyer USA
47. The Mark of Zorro 1920 Fred Niblo USA
48. Tol’able David 1921 Henry King USA
49. HE Who Gets Slapped 1924 Victor Sjöström USA
50. Girl Shy 1924 Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor USA
51. The Wedding March 1928 Erich von Stroheim USA
52. The Man Who Laughs 1928 Paul Leni USA
53. The Lodger 1926 Alfred Hitchcock England
54. Seven Chances 1925 Buster Keaton USA
55. The Last Command 1928 Josef von Sternberg USA
56. Foolish Wives 1922 Erich von Stroheim USA
57. Orphans of the Storm 1921 D.W. Griffith USA
58. Sparrows 1926 William Beaudine USA
59. The Navigator 1924 Buster Keaton and Donald Crisp USA
60. Zemlya [Earth] 1930 Alexander Dovzhenko USSR
61. Tabu 1931 F.W. Murnau and Robert J. Flaherty USA
62. Les Vampires 1915-16 Louis Feuillade France
63. The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg 1927 Ernst Lubitsch USA
64. Beggars of Life 1928 William Wellman USA
65. My Best Girl 1927 Sam Taylor USA
66. Cops 1922 Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline USA
67. Der Golem [The Golem] 1920 Paul Wegener USA
68. Le Voyage dans la lune [A Trip to the Moon] 1902 Georges Méliès France
69. The Son of the Sheik 1926 George Fitzmaurice USA
70. 7th Heaven 1927 Frank Borzage USA
71. It 1927 Clarence Badger USA
72. The Lost World 1925 Harry O. Hoyt USA
73. The Kid Brother 1927 Ted Wilde and J.A. Howe USA
74. The Immigrant 1917 Charles Chaplin USA
75. Queen Kelly 1928 Erich von Stroheim USA
76. Oktiabr [October] 1928 Sergei M. Eisenstein USSR
77. Cabiria 1914 Giovanni Pastrone Italy
78. Robin Hood 1922 Allan Dwan USA
79. The Docks of New York 1928 Josef von Sternberg USA
80. Stachka [Strike] 1924 Sergei M. Eisenstein USSR
81. The Great Train Robbery 1903 Edwin S. Porter USA
82. Der müde Tod [Destiny] 1921 Fritz Lang Germany
83. Speedy 1928 Ted Wilde USA
84. Sadie Thompson 1928 Raoul Walsh USA
85. Tess of the Storm Country 1922 John S. Robertson USA
86. A Woman of Paris 1923 Charles Chaplin USA
87. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1920 John S. Robertson USA
88. The Last of the Mohicans 1920 Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown USA
89. The Unholy Three 1925 Tod Browning USA
90. Mat [Mother] 1926 Vsevolod I. Pudovkin USSR
91. The Cheat 1915 Cecil B. DeMille USA
92. Variété [Variety] 1925 E.A. Dupont Germany
93. Die Freudlose Gasse [The Joyless Street] 1924 G.W. Pabst Germany
94. Big Business 1929 James W. Horne USA
95. The Iron Mask 1929 Allan Dwan USA
96. The King of Kings 1927 Cecil B. DeMille USA
97. The Iron Horse 1924 John Ford USA
98. The Penalty 1920 Wallace Worsley USA
99. Stella Maris 1918 Marshall Neilan USA
100. Underworld 1927 Josef von Sternberg USA

More about this in my next posting. I found something quite wonderful online that will help in viewing these films - or at least a portion of them.

Posted by Khiori at 07:47 AM | Permalink

I updated my 101 list and here is the new list for the top 100 movies:

1. The Birth of a Nation
2. A Streetcar Named Desire
3. Rebel Without a Cause
4. The Manchurian Candidate
5. City Lights
6. The Deer Hunter
7. The Wild Bunch
8. Giant

Posted by Khiori at 09:45 AM | Permalink