One book I love to read through is "1001 Movies to see before you die." I am slowly trying to see them all. In order to get you guys all started, I've posted links to the first two "films" you must see before you die.
The first is a 1902 french silent film about mans' trip to the moon. It is surreal. The animation is quite revolutionary, but the footage is in such terrible condition. The narration is in English, which I'm sure the original wouldn't be in. Not sure if it even would have had narration back than, but I guess if you can produce a score to these silent films, I don't see why you couldn't narrate. It only runs about 12 minutes.
"Le Voyage dans la Luna"
The second is much more familiar. It is a 1903 American silent film about a train robbery. The music is haunting and the direction is quite good for the time. I find this to be more the birth of film and it's conventions than "A Trip to the Moon." It runs about 11 minutes.
"The Great Train Robbery"
Number three on the list is DW Griffith's three hour epic "Birth of a Nation." I've seen it and man it is so damn racist, but that was a different time. Also very hard to sit through a three hour silent film. But you can clearly see what an impact this film had on cinema forever. But you will have to rent it and see it for yourself.
2 comments:
Yeah, haven't seen either of these before, so thank you Chachi for posting these. I'll definitely have to get on watching them sometime this week.
I as well want to try to hit the entire "1001 Movies to See Before You Die" at some point. I don't have the book, but I have the list and a whole lot of films that I need to catch up on.
So thanks again, and I'll post reactions after I watch them (probably in a day or two).
I was watching the second episode of "Futurama" which is the one where the gang goes to the amusement park on the moon.
When they first enter the park, a "mascot" for the park comes up to Bender. The mascot has a giant moon for a head. After an exchange of words, Bender proceeds to jam his broken beer bottle into the eye of the "moon." The mascot turns forward to show his face, which looks just like th moon pictured in this post. It is a clear homage to "Le Voyage dans la Luna."
Even todays modern animators know that it was this film that started it all.
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