Silent Movies

La Roue (English: The Wheel) is a French silent film, directed by Abel Gance, who also directed Napoléon and J'accuse. It was released in 1923. Part 2: https://rumble.com/v6w566a-la-roue-part-2-silent-film-1923-eng-sub.html The film used then-revolutionary lighting techniques, and rapid scene changes and cuts. The original version encompassed 32 reels, which ran for either seven and a half or nine hours (sources disagree). In 1924, Gance edited it down to two and a half hours for general distribution. This is the modern reconstruction from five different versions, nearly four and a half hours long. An almost seven hours long restored version was shown at the 2019 Lumière Film Festival. Janus Films released the restoration in the United States at the 2023 New York Film Festival. Railroad engineer Sisif (Severin-Mars) rescues a small orphan, whose name he learns is Norma (Ivy Close), following a disastrous crash. He raises the little girl as his own, along with his son Elie (Gabriel de Gravone), whose mother died during his birth. Cast & Characters: Séverin-Mars as Sisif Ivy Close as Norma Gabriel de Gravone as Elie Pierre Magnier as Jacques de Hersan Max Maxudian as Le minéralogiste Kalatikascopoulos Georges Térof as Machefer Gil Clary as Dalilah

A Trip to the Moon (French: Le voyage dans la lune)is a 1902 French science-fiction adventure film directed by Georges Méliès. This is the black & white versions with voice over. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon and its 1870 sequel Around the Moon, the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite. Méliès leads an ensemble cast of French theatrical performers as the main character Professor Barbenfouillis, in the overtly theatrical style for which he became famous. A Trip to the Moon was an internationally popular success on its release and was extensively pirated by other studios, especially in the United States. Its unusual length, lavish production values, innovative special effects, and emphasis on storytelling were markedly influential on other filmmakers and ultimately on the development of narrative film as a whole. The film remains Méliès' best known, and the moment in which the capsule lands in the Moon's eye remains one of the most iconic and frequently referenced images in the history of cinema. It is widely regarded as the earliest example of the science fiction film genre and, more generally, as one of the most influential films in cinema history.

Napoléon is a 1927 French silent epic historical film, produced, and directed by Abel Gance that tells the story of Napoleon's early years. It is also the only film to use Polyvision (for the finale). On screen, the title is Napoléon vu par Abel Gance, meaning "Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance". Part 2: https://rumble.com/v45eh88-napolon-by-abel-gance-silent-film-1927-restored-second-epoch-part-2.html The film is recognised as a masterwork of fluid camera motion, produced in a time when most camera shots were static. Many innovative techniques were used to make the film, including fast cutting, extensive close-ups, a wide variety of hand-held camera shots, location shooting, point of view shots, multiple-camera setups, multiple exposure, superimposition, underwater camera, kaleidoscopic images, film tinting, split screen and mosaic shots, multi-screen projection, and other visual effects. The film used the Keller-Dorian cinematography for its color sequences. Gance planned for Napoléon to be the first of six films about Napoleon's career, a chronology of great triumph and defeat ending in Napoleon's death in exile on the island of Saint Helena. After the difficulties encountered in making the first film, Gance realised that the costs involved would make the full project impossible. Primary Cast: Albert Dieudonné as Napoléon Vladimir Roudenko as Napoléon Bonaparte (child) Edmond Van Daële as Maximilien Robespierre Alexandre Koubitzky as Georges Danton Antonin Artaud as Jean-Paul Marat Abel Gance as Louis de Saint-Just Gina Manès as Joséphine de Beauharnais Marguerite Gance as Charlotte Corday Yvette Dieudonné as Élisa Bonaparte Philippe Hériat as Antoine Saliceti Max Maxudian as Barras Annabella as Violine Fleuri Nicolas Koline as Tristan Fleuri Maurice Schutz as Pasquale Paoli Andrée Standart as Thérèse Tallien Suzy Vernon as Madame Récamier Petit Vidal as Phélippeaux Francine Mussey as Lucile Desmoulins Robert Vidalin as Camille Desmoulins Louis Vonelly as Couthon Jean d'Yd as La Bussière René Jeanne as Jean-Charles Pichegru Henri Beaulieu as Beaumarchais

Part 1: https://rumble.com/v45e0of-napoleon-by-abel-gance-silent-film-1927-restored-first-epoch-part-1.html

Die Nibelungen ("The Nibelungs") is a two-part series of silent fantasy films created by Austrian director Fritz Lang in 1924, consisting of Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge. Click on CC for English and Russian subtitles. Part 2. Kriemhild's Revenge: https://rumble.com/v49332c-die-nibelungenthe-nibelungs-by-fritz-lang-kriemhilds-revenge-part-2-eng-and.html The scenarios for both films were co-written by Lang's then-wife Thea von Harbou, based upon the epic poem Nibelungenlied written around AD 1200. The magnificent poetic saga of Siegfried is told through seven cantos. Bold, fearless Siegfried travels to King Gunther's castle. On the way he kills a dragon, and an evil dwarf king, thus gaining a treasure and a magic helmet of invisibility and illusion. In return for permission to marry Gunther's sister Kriemhild, Siegfried agrees to use the helmet to help the weak Gunther win the fierce warrior queen Brunhild by trickery. The two couples are married, but when the furious Brunhild discovers the deception she compels Gunther and his evil vassal Hagen into a conspiracy to murder Siegfried. Kriemhild vows revenge. Cast & Characters: Paul Richter as King Siegfried of Xanten Margarete Schön as Kriemhild of Burgund Hans Adalbert Schlettow as Hagen of Tronje Theodor Loos as King Gunther of Burgund Hanna Ralph as Queen Brunhild of Isenland Rudolf Klein-Rogge as King Etzel Bernhard Goetzke as Volker of Alzey Rudolf Rittner as Margrave Rüdiger of Bechlarn Georg John as Mime the Goldsmith / Alberich the Dwarf / Blaodel (Etzel's brother) Gertrud Arnold as Queen Ute of Burgund, Gunther's mother Hans Carl Müller as Gerenot of Burgund, Gunther's brother Erwin Biswanger as Giselher of Burgund, Gunther's brother Fritz Alberti as Dietrich of Bern Georg August Koch as Hildebrandt, Dietrich's aide Annie Röttgen as Dietlind of Bechlarn Frida Richard as the Runenmagd, wench at the Burgund court Georg Jurowski as the priest at the Burgund court

Part 2. Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (Kriemhild's Revenge) After Siegfried's death Kriemhild marries Etzel (Atilla), the King of the Huns. She gives birth to a child, and invites her brothers for a feast. She tries to persuade Etzel and the other Huns, to kill Hagen, the murderer of Siegfried, but he is protected by her brothers. A fierce battle begins to force her brothers to give Hagen to her.

Background information about the history of the film Aelita by Yakov Protazanov. Audio in Russian with English subtitles. Extras 2: https://rumble.com/v6akb3g-aelita-bonus-feature-2.html

Costume design by Aleksandra Ekster (Slideshow clip).

Aelita, also known as Aelita: Queen of Mars, is a 1924 Soviet silent science fiction film directed by Yakov Protazanov and produced at the Mezhrabpom-Rus film studio. It was based on Alexei Tolstoy's 1923 novel of the same name. Nikolai Tseretelli and Valentina Kuindzhi were cast in leading roles. Though the main focus of the story are the daily lives of a small group of people during the post-civil war Soviet Russia, the film's enduring importance comes from its early sci-fi elements. Russia's first big budget science fiction spectacular. "Aelita, the Queen of Mars" is a fantastic adventure about Los, an engineer living in Moscow who dreams of Aelita and builds a spaceship to take him to her. They fall in love, but Los soon finds himself embroiled in a proletarian uprising to establish a Martian Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In its performances in the cinemas in Leningrad, Dmitri Shostakovich played on the piano the music he provided for the film. In the United States, Aelita was edited and titled by Benjamin De Casseres for release in 1929 as Aelita: Revolt of the Robots. One of the earliest full-length films about space travel, the most notable segment remains its remarkable constructivist Martian sets by Isaac Rabinovich and Victor Simov and costumes designed by Aleksandra Ekster. Their influence can be seen in a number of later films, including the Flash Gordon serials and probably Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Woman in the Moon and the more recent Liquid Sky. Parts of the plot were loosely adapted for the 1951 film Flight to Mars. Cast & Characters: Yuliya Solntseva as Aelita, Queen of Mars Igor Ilyinsky as Kravtsov, Amateur Sleuth Nikolai Tseretelli as Engineer Los / Evgeni Spiridonov Nikolay Batalov as Gusev, Red Army Soldier Vera Orlova as Nurse Masha, Gusev's Wife Valentina Kuindzhi as Natasha, Los' Wife (as Vera Kuindzhi) Pavel Pol as Viktor Erlikh, Sugar Profiteer Konstantin Eggert as Tuskub, Ruler of Mars Yuri Zavadsky as Gol, Radiant Energy Tower Guardian Aleksandra Peregonets as Ikhoshka, Aelita's Maidservant Sofya Levitina as President House Committe This is the American edition, released in October 2002. For the shorter remastered edition follow the link: https://old.bitchute.com/video/1eHPTQSvOlKJ/ Extras 1: https://rumble.com/v6ak3sj-aelita-bonus-feature-1.html

The Phantom Carriage (Swedish: Körkarlen, literally "The Wagoner") is a 1921 Swedish silent film directed by and starring Victor Sjöström, based on the 1912 novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! (Körkarlen) by Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. Audio in Swedish with English subtitles (hardcoded). In the film, Sjöström plays a drunkard named David Holm who, on the night of New Year's Eve, is compelled by the ghostly driver of Death's carriage to reflect on his past mistakes. Alongside Sjöström, the film's cast includes Hilda Borgström, Tore Svennberg, and Astrid Holm. The Phantom Carriage is notable for its special effects, its innovative narrative structure with flashbacks within flashbacks, and for having been a major influence on the works of Ingmar Bergman. It has been characterized as belonging to several genres—it has been called a morality tale, a melodrama, a fantasy film, and a horror film. It is sometimes considered one of the first horror films due to its atmosphere and its impact on later entries in the genre.The film is generally considered to be one of the central works in the history of Swedish cinema. The Phantom Carriage was an influence on the later Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman who also utilised the figure of Death in The Seventh Seal, where the referring to him as a "strict master" is a reference to The Phantom Carriage. Bergman also cast Sjöström in the leading role for Wild Strawberries, which also features references to the film.