The above clip from the film adaption to Gaston Lerox 'The Phantom of the Opera" is one of the most popular clips from the film. It is the unmasking of the phantom. Although there is no dialog- a defining moment in cinema pre 1930s was when we witness Lon Chaney's self applied make up. This was applied to create a horrific look in order to shock the audience. It can be suggested that this has influenced Hollywood horror movies today and the likes of Tim Burton seem to have diluted the whole "horror" appeal in order to create a less intimidating look yet still allowing the characters to remain dark and mysterious.
The clip we see here, is very similar to the film as a whole as far as lighting is concerned. Lighting wasn't very advanced and as we can see from this clip its almost done in black and white the lighting is so dull. However this adds to the enigma of the film as a whole.
Birth of a Nation- D.W Griffiths
This, now highly controversial film, released in 1915, is notorious for it's racial storyline and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. This film, based on the the novel The Clansman by Thomas Dixson, was classed as the first Hollywood ' blockbuster.'
It was highly appreciated as it, according to Roger Ebert, 'defined the film language, that taught audiences and filmmakers all over the world the emerging grammar of the shot, the montage and the camera.' This film lasted a total of 159 minutes which is long in comparison to ' The Lights of New York' which lasted just 57 minutes long.
The Battleship Potemkin 1925- Sergei Eisenstein
The Battleship Potemkin- A film released in 1925, directed by Sergei Eisenstein, was deemed so dangerous that it remained banned many years later in some countries. It focused on the usage of certain editing skills, in order to convey some meaning. This idea can sometimes be referred to propaganda- and was adopted by the Nazis later on. Although it inspired negative actions it was a highly successful way of manipulating an audience. This was classed as the 'montage' theory. Propaganda still exists today in order to manipulate the reader of the text therefor this film proves to be a highly influential film of the pre 1930s.
Don Juan 1926- Alan Crosland
Don Juan, released in August 1926 by Warner Brothers was the first feature length film to use Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack. Vitaphone is when the sound of the film is not printed on the film itself but instead created into a record which would be played in-sync to the showing of the film. Warner Brothers tended to use this in a lot of their short films prior to the premier of Don Juan. It is also suggested that the number of kisses in this film was a set record for its time. It has inspired many theatre productions of the film.
The Lights of New York 1928-Bryan Foy
The Lights of New York was released in 1928 by Warner Brothers. This was the first feature length film that contained dialog. There had been films prior to this that were partially dialog ( also released by Warner Brothers.) The success of this film then encouraged more filmmakers to produce all dialog films which were referred to as ‘talkies.’It is strange that dialog films are automatically expected in today’s society, as it has now become the norm for Hollywood films. It was produced by Bryan Foy. It was also the film that created the crime genre. The running time was 57 minutes ( which is classed as a short time in today's films.)
References:
The Internet Movie Database- Lights of NewYork
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