Studying Early and Silent Cinema

This is a revised edition of Early and Silent Cinema: A Teacher’s Guide. 

Auteur 2014.

I have corrected some [hopefully all] of the mistakes in the first edition.

I have also added some brief profiles of important filmmakers whose work I have now been able to view: either at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto or at Il Cinema Ritrovato. The new profiles include Alice Guy. She was an important pioneer at the Gaumont Studio at the turn of C20th. Then there is Albert Capellani, another French film pioneer. He started filmmaking in 1905 and continued work into the 1920. There is a second woman film pioneer, Lois Weber. She worked in what was becoming Hollywood in the teens and 1920s. She made notable and successful social problem films.

I have also added some additional Study Films. There is Capellani’s L’Arlésienne (1908). A one-reel drama that demonstrates the French skill in the use of location filming. There is Visage D’Enfants (1925) directed by Jacques Feyder. Filmed in the Haut-Valois, this is a beautiful: drama about childhood angst, which also shows off the French skills in less conventional film techniques. And there is Metropolis (1927) restored in 2010 as a seminal addition to the early film canon.

I have added some new resources and the book now has an index provided by the publisher – including filmmakers, film titles and key terms and concepts.