It’s time for another B-Masters’ Roundtable! Drop in throughout the month of August as we celebrate the dawn of cinema, the time when a picture truly was worth a thousand words.
It’s SHHHHHH: A Silent Movie Spectacular
This month at the B-Masters’ Blog!

#1 by Baron Scarpia on August 1, 2008 - 1:18 am
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I’m really, really looking forward to this. And rather curious to know what Mr Begg’s contribution is going to be…
#2 by Turzman on August 1, 2008 - 2:51 am
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Anyone gonna do a write-up on the original “Caligari?” You must, says I!
#3 by Blake Matthews on August 1, 2008 - 10:12 am
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I second the Baron’s second comment. I mean which silent movies have there been that have really scraped the bottom of the barrel? We’ll just have to wait and see.
#4 by Nathan Shumate on August 1, 2008 - 10:00 pm
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I think the problem is, Which silent movies have survived DESPITE scraping the bottom of the barrel? (My own choice will seem obvious once presented.)
#5 by MatthewF on August 2, 2008 - 2:15 am
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Wait, they made silent films? Why would they do that? Was it a french mime type thing?
#6 by Blake Matthews on August 2, 2008 - 7:07 am
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Nathan: Did Charles Band ever do a silent film?
#7 by Songino on August 2, 2008 - 11:14 pm
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I’m pretty sure the only non-Chaplin silent films I’ve seen are The General and Passion of Joan of Arc. It’s not always easy to get a hold of anything else. Well, it’s not easy when you don’t want to spend money. This should be pretty interesting if only to better see what’s out there.
#8 by Tom Meade on August 3, 2008 - 12:32 am
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I hope Keith indulges his taste for epics and does Intolerance.
#9 by Blake Matthews on August 3, 2008 - 6:38 am
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Songino – If you don’t mind watching movies on your computer, go to http://www.archive.org. They have a huge collection of silent films for free download, including Fairbanks movies, Caligari, Nosferatu, Buster Keaton films, Lost World, Thomas Edison’s Frankenstein, A Trip to the Moon, D. W. Griffith’s epics, and a bunch of others.
#10 by Blake Matthews on August 3, 2008 - 2:59 pm
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Nate: I wonder if you’re going to write about a certain film that was remade as a (supposedy) terrible movie starring Patrick Bergen.
#11 by Nathan Shumate on August 3, 2008 - 6:49 pm
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The Bergen movie to which you refer was indeed bad; I only lasted half an hour through it when it came on TV once.
The film I’m planning to cover doesn’t appear to be the direct progenitor to the Bergen one, but you’re pretty warm.
#12 by KeithA on August 4, 2008 - 9:32 am
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I am indulging my taste for epics, but not with Intolerance, though it is being mentioned since I’m doing a film that stars Leni Riefenstahl, and the similarities between her career and that of DW Griffith are striking.