In 1931 only two "major" silent films were released in the United States, both are still considered to be classic films silent or talkie. German Expressionist director F.W. Murnau's "Tabu, a Story of the South Seas," Filmed in Tahiti, the story of love between a fisherman and a woman who has been forbidden to men. Murnau never made another movie, he was definatley anti-talkie. He felt that film should be purely a visual medium. And Chaplin's "City Lights" , filmed at Chaplin's studio in California. 1936 - Chaplin's "Modern Times" could be considered the last "major" silent. There is no real synchronized dialogue, but voices and sounds do emanate from machines and television screens ( the Big Brother screen pre-dates George Orwell's book 1984, written/published in 1949),Chaplin's actual voice singing a nonsense song of gibberish, sound effects and an original musical score composed by Chaplin. Not only is the film a major classic the score is still being performed in concert. Chaplin too was anti-sound but not so much from an "artistic' view, he knew his genius and commercial success was due to his silent pantomime and sight gags. He continued making more or less silent comedies, but none reached the artistic level of even "City LIghts," and certainly not that of "Modern Times.". He didn't make a real talkie until 1940, "The Great Dictator," which some claimed was just more proof of his evil communism since he was so successful in lampooning the anti-communist, Adolf Hitler. He should have kept his mouth shut.
(08/09/05 nmj) goawaynow, may I call you go? Go, I was being ironic (as opposed to Doric or Corinthian). I am a big believer in freedom of speech, which means that I can say whatever I want and you should just keep your snide comments to yourself, otherwise you are inhibiting my form of freedom of expression. ( I am being ironic again, which actually has little to do with true irony. Ironic isn't it?) Ironically, my "last line", which lead to your rating me at 75%, had nothing to do with the original question, but was just a comment about Chaplin's , and other's, troubles with HUAC, and it's chilling effects on freedom of expression. I thought that some might find it amusingly ironic that I recommended that the world's greatest mime, once he did speak on camera, and ironically made more trouble for himself by doing so, "should have kept his mouth shut." I suppose the comment was lost on those with little knowledge of McCarthyism or Chaplinism . Because of the unofficial but effective censorship of the time, Chaplin left the US for a country with official government sanctioned censorship wher he would be free to sp..um, mime his mind, ironic huh? I find it even more ironic that my ironic comment concerning freedom of expression should draw a low rating because it was taken as a comment against freedom of speech from one who,while apparently not knowing the history of freedom of expression in the US, will defend to the death my right to speak , unless it conflicts with that ones opinion, in which case it will, ironically, receive a low rating. Perhaps I should keep my key board un-typed. But then again, Jonathan Swift, the master of literary irony did not let such reactions silence him, (which was just as well as the silent one reel movie had not yet been premiered in his lifetime.) Not that I am comparing myself to the good doctor, I am not worthy to even taste his offspring's toes. It would be ironic, if too much to hope, that these self serving remarks should lead one to research McCarthyism,HUAC, Chaplin's troubles, Swift,irony, or the Great Commie Conspiracy to use the classic westerns, "Shane" and even "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence", to take over the world.
Bytheby, that link to "Big Brother" has got no connection with me and does not link to 1984 at all.( Sheese, we now have a generation who have no idea what "Big Brother" has to do with freedom, much less Chaplin, McCarthy, John Ford, George Orwell, Orson Wells, Orson Bean, John Henry Faulk, Jonathan Swift, or the Alien and Sedition Acts.) Did I mention how ironic it was to get down rated for expressing an opinion by some one who believes in " freedom of expression"?
(02-05-06) OK,Grandma, I'll be satanic and pretend i wrote the entire answer. Goaway removed his comment and low rating so my entire rant is now the ravings of an insane mind.( so what else is new?) To anyone unlucky enough to come across this answer it now appears to be a lot of noise in response to silence. An inadvertant irony.
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Okay, I'll be sardonic. And pretend that I read through the whole answer.
by Grandma Roses - my avatar is my real dog on February 3rd, 2006