The Summer of 2004 is soon upon us, and as previously announced, I am following up on my dream of something more worthwhile than Lara Croft 3 or whatever the lackluster summer season will bring us. I want to thank those who have supported me in previous summers, as I sat around and whined about the state of American cinema. I have laid down plans which will help me to not only avoid the problem of the summer, but also help me to dig into the language of film and discover something that will be very new to me.

Many of the films from the silent era weren’t even be meant to be seen again. It is such a privilege for us to have the technology to see them again. We often overlook this. It’s understood, of course, that the movies should be properly seen in the theater… [Why is my mind racing back to Cinema Paradiso all of a sudden?… with it’s crowds of cheering and jeering fans, to whom the movie experience was larger than life, the first masterworks of art they could relate to, whether they agreed with all its principles or not… Yet i digress…] The point being, i’d like to have had the opportunity to be fair to these directors and see the films the way they were made to be seen, but at the same time i can appreciate the technology that enables them to be viewed these 80-or-so years later.

Below is a list that i haven’t fully investigated yet. The list has been compiled from different documentaries i’ve sat down with and it’s taken a few months to put together…It’s quite possible that many of the movies on the list are lost, or out of print. But as things develop i would also appreciate any kind suggestions about what others have seen from this era, anything that stuck with you to recommend. Or perhaps even a book about this era, i should spend some time in study if i am to learn anything at all.

Asterisks (*) on this list are in regard to films I’ve already seen (there aren’t many), but I look forward to experiencing them again soon. Also i believe there are a few below that are technically NOT silents, but i still find them interesting and would hope to someday see.

1919

Passion
Travail
J’Accuse (Gance)

1920

Way Down East (DW Griffith)
Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (Wiene)
The Golem (Wegener)
The Three Musketeers
La Terre

1921

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Ingram)
The Kid (Chaplin)
The Sheik (Melford)

1922

Orphans of the Storm (DW Griffith)
The Burning Soil (Murnau) *
Nosferatu (Murnau) *
Nanook of the North (Flaherty)
Häxan (Christensen)
Crainquebille (Feyder)

1923

The Covered Wagon (Cruze)
Our Hospitality (Buster Keaton & Jack Blystone)
Safety Last (Newmeyer & Taylor)
The Expulsion (Murnau)
La Roue (Gance)

1924

Greed (Eric von Stronheim)
The Iron Horse (John Ford)
The Navigator (Keaton)
Sherlock, Jr. (Keaton)
Siegfried (Lang)
Violettes impériales (Roussel)
Miracle of the Wolves (Bernard)
Kean (Volkoff)

1925

The Big Parade (Vidor)
The Gold Rush (Chaplin)
The Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julian)
Faust (Murnau) *
Ben-Hur (Cohn & Niblo)
Les Misérables (Fescourt)
Visages d'enfants (Feyder)

1926

Son of the Sheik (Fitzmaurice)
The Last Days of Pompeii (Gallone & Palermi)
Torrent (Bell)
The Temptress (Niblo)
Flesh and the Devil (Brown)

1927

The Chess Player (Bernard)
Hindle Wakes (Elvey)
The Somme (M.A. Wetherell)
The General (Keaton)
The Jazz Singer (Crosland)
Metropolis (Lang) *
Sunrise (Murnau) *
Wings (Wellman)
Napoléon (Gance)

1928

The Seashell and The Clergyman (Dulac)
Kitty (Saville)
Blackmail (Hitchcock)
Joan of Arc (Dreyer) *
The Crowd (Vidor)
The Circus (Chaplin)
The Constant Nymph (Brunel & Dean)
The Last Command (Sternberg)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Keaton & Reisner)
The Wind (Seastrom)

1929
L’Argent (Marcel L’Herbier)
City of Play (Clift)
Prix de Beaute (Augusto Genina, written by René Clair)
Au Bon heur Des Dames (Duvivier)
Applause (Mamoulian)
The Broadway Meoldy (Harry Beavmont)
The Cocoanuts (Florey & Santley)
The Virginian (Victor Fleming)

1930
Menschen Am Sontag (Siodmak)

1931

Allo Berlin? Ici Paris! (Duvivier)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Mamoulian)

1932

Vampyr (Dreyer) *
The Blue Light (Béla Balázs & Leni Riefenstahl)

Immediately noticeable as missing from the list is Eisenstein, don't know how i missed him. I've seen Battleship Potemkin, loved it, and will watch that masterpiece again for sure.

-s.

I hope to join in on many of these titles. I have no idea how you plan to track them all down though. I see you only have two Duvivier's on the list. Those are on my holy grail list right now. He and a few other French directors had some pretty popular films out pre-sound. I don't feel versed in French film because I have only seen a bunch of Melies and Lumiere shorts.

There is a great book, The History of Narrative Film that has a section on silent film. It may be a good place to get an historical overview and may have a bibliography that can direct you to other works. I will check on that tonight.

One right off the top of my head that I might add to this list is Charlie Chaplin's City Lights from 1931. Unless you are also including the Avantgarde as well it seems you have an excellent handle on this list.

I would also addM by Fritz Lang (1931) - but I know you have seen that.

There are a couple of books introducing the Silent Era films in historical context. I will try to find those for you.

Some DW Griffith you don't have are The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), and Broken Blossoms (1919). I haven't seen Intolerance (I plan to soon), though my understanding is it's a companion of sorts to Birth. I also recommend Murnau's The Last Laugh (1924).

As for movies you have there, I really like your list, which includes a bunch I haven't seen. I second the mention of City Lights and I also like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari quite a bit as well. I can't wait to start hearing some of your reflections as you get into this project.

A few faves of mine not on your list:

(1902-1905)

• The Mark of Zorro (1920) - Douglas Fairbanks Sr.'s first swashbuckler
  
• Peter Pan (1922) - one of the two best screen versions of the story
  
• Don Q Son of Zorro (1925) - Fairbanks' Zorro sequel is surprisingly complex and well-done, and much better than the name would suggest
  
• The Kid Brother (1927), Harold Lloyd's best feature film
  
• Modern Times (1936), Chaplin's last silent

I didn't list all of the Murnaus most likely because he's the director from the era i'm most familiar with. Seeing all of his films for a second time will definitely be a part of this summer's events. So far i have seen The Burning Soil, Nosferatu, Faust and Sunrise... at home, still to be seen are: Tabu: A Story of the South Seas and Tartuffe, and on it's way from Netflix is The Last Laugh, which has skyrocketed on my "must see" list after DVDBeaver.com called it "Murnau’s greatest film second to none, including Sunrise (1927)..." And Hmmm. That's a tough shoe to fill if you ask me.

-s.

Stef, have you searched Netflix by "Silent Films"? They have tons, at least twice your current list, including Zecca and Nonguet's film on Jesus.

Great list, Stef. You'll definitely need to add Chaplin (esp. City Lights) and Keaton (esp. The General), both of which have many classics to their names.

Knowing of your penchant for horror films, I'll definitely be excited to hear your comments on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, one of the most influential films ever made.

I'll return to this thread as I think of other titles, but some more landmarks I think you'd really enjoy:

I Was Born, But... (Yasujiro Ozu)
A Story of Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu) on DVD in April
The Parson's Widow (Carl Th. Dreyer) on DVD in April
The Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)
Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade)
The Unknown (Tod Browning)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Jean Epstein)
Un chien andalou (Luis Buñuel)
Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang)
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (Fritz Lang)
Destiny (Fritz Lang)
7th Heaven (Frank Borzage)
Foolish Wives (Erich Von Stroheim)
Earth (Alexander Dovzhenko)
The Lodger (Alfred Hitchcock)

Big thumbs up on The Crowd, Nanook, and Greed!

Mamoulian's Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde is a sound film.

I think J. Robert might recommend The Girl With a Hat Box (Boris Barnet)

And what are you waiting for...Tabu is one of the most beautiful films ever made!!!

The Last Laugh is fantastic and highly influential...but I wouldn't place it above Sunrise.

Some of these like The Sheik are REALLY dated. I'd urge you to do all of the Chaplin and Keaton you can. In that regard, look for The Seven Chances. It's my favorite Keaton as the lead is a little out of character for him. Really funny. If you have the patience and actual time, ANYTHING by Eisenstein. I love City Lights and Modern Times.
If you want to enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed, will you really be able to see many of these in a theater? Big difference over a TV. Especially with live accompaniment.

The Detroit Film Institute is showing a silent series in April with live orchestra accompaniment. This is the ONLY way to see a silent film. I have been fortunate enough to have seen City Lights accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Battleship Potemkin accompanied by the Grant Park orchestra.

The schedule for the Detroit series is below, heck maybe a birthday present Stef. It's only a 4-hour drive.

THE GENERAL (restored)
(USA—1926—Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman)
Friday, April 9 at 7:30pm and Sunday April 11 at 3:00pm

DANS LA NUIT
(France—1929—Charles Vanel)
Saturday, April 10 at 7:30pm

SPEEDY
(USA—1928—Harold Lloyd and Ted Wilde)
Sunday, April 11 at 6:00pm

Asher: Where did you find this? I'm thinking of two different places where this might be done with any regularity, but "Detroit Film Institute" draws a blank. Out of curiousity, might it be Detroit Film Theater at the Detroit Institute of Arts?

Stef (and any others): You wanna see this? We got a guest room and various arrangements. I might add that if it is DFT, they've always done a fine job with this sort of thing. PM me.

UPDATE: Indeed it is DFT and "The Alloy Orchestra". New music composed for the occasions. Tix are $10. Accomodations the price of good fellowship. What little info there is at present is at:

www.dis.org/dft/pages/april.html

Scroll down to "The Alloy Orchestra:New Music For Silent Films"

QUOTE

You wanna see this? We got a guest room and various arrangements. I might add that if it is DFT, they've always done a fine job with this sort of thing.

I will PM you. There is no way i can pass this up. Silent Era.com lists The General as the number one silent film of all Time -- and their Top 10 list is pretty impressive. Sunrise is ranked at number two, and Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc at number five. I absolutely adore both of those, so i MUST see The General. And if there's an opportunity to see it in all its glory, well then, "Glory!"

Silent Era also has an absolutely huge list of films currently available on Region 1 DVD. There are many there that i will investigate and add to my list. There's a lot more out than i initially thought. This is becoming more than a "summer project" can handle, i may have to get an early start.

-s.

QUOTE

Asher: Where did you find this? I'm thinking of two different places where this might be done with any regularity, but \"Detroit Film Institute\" draws a blank. Out of curiousity, might it be Detroit Film Theater at the Detroit Institute of Arts? UPDATE: Indeed it is DFT and \"The Alloy Orchestra\". New music composed for the occasions. Tix are $10. Accomodations the price of good fellowship. What little info there is at present is at:

You are correct Rich. It is interesting that it is in Detroit because of the 2 separate websites I visited one said Detroit, IL and the other gave me directions to Detroit, IL. I am glad someone in the Detroit, MI knows what is going on. Unless your location means "metropolitan Detroit" Illinois.

QUOTE

I will PM you.  There is no way i can pass this up.  Silent Era.com lists The General as the number one silent film of all Time -- and their Top 10 list is pretty impressive.  Sunrise is ranked at number two, and Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc at number five.  I absolutely adore both of those, so i MUST see The General.  And if there's an opportunity to see it in all its glory, well then, \"Glory!\" Silent Era also has an absolutely huge list of films currently available on Region 1 DVD.  There are many there that i will investigate and add to my list.  There's a lot more out than i initially thought.  This is becoming more than a \"summer project\" can handle, i may have to get an early start. -s.

Remember Stef, although this list seems to be an excellent ranking system, it is a list that was created based on votes and Sunrise held the top spot for quite a while.

COMMENTS ON THE LATEST UPDATE: For many months Sunrise (1927) held the top slot with authority, but lost it in this latest round of voting to Buster Keaton’s popular The General (1926). Greed (1924) and Nosferatu (1922) have been squeezed out of the Top 10 in a surprise result. Several new films have been nominated and a handful more make their first appearance on the bottom of the list (below 100). Rankings at the bottom of the list are still quite wild, with only 2-3 votes making the difference of a jump of 10 ranks or more.

You know, and I've said this before around here, these things are SOOOO cyclical. I first got into some silents back in the late '70's when a huge collection became public. Until that time, Chaplin was god. This collection contained a bunch of early Chaplin shorts of his own production (after Sennett), but more important, many Keaton features thought to be lost. Well now, all of a sudden Keaton was the great underrated and forgotten genius and Chaplin "declared" too sentimental and not as modern as Keaton in his techniques to boot. I became addicted to both of them myself (heh, DFT showed a ton of these on Sunday nights the summer of '79). Seems like Chaplin gets a bit more respect these days and Ganz' Napoleon was the rage for a while after ITS restoration. The more available these become to the "average" film geek, the better the voting, but the crowd effect will never disappear.

QUOTE

You are correct Rich. It is interesting that it is in Detroit because of the 2 separate websites I visited one said Detroit, IL and the other gave me directions to Detroit, IL. I am glad someone in the Detroit, MI knows what is going on. Unless your location means \"metropolitan Detroit\" Illinois.

Oh no. This is DEFINITELY Michigan. As I said in my previous post, I've seen some of this in certain places around here. What makes this special is the Alloy Orchestra. I missed them last time. This is Easter weekend, but I'm tempted to see the Keaton and the Saturday offering. The last time I saw The General it was with live organ accompaniment.

They showed The General at a nearby theatre accompanied by the original organ to the theatre just a couple of years ago. Next to an orchestra it is an excellent way to see a movie from that era. Unfortnately it takes a while to cycle around through all of the silent films.

It's official. I am going to drive to Detroit and meet Rich for a Good Friday screening of
The General with live orchestra accompaniment. I hear this is the ONLY way to see a silent film. I am dizzy with delight.

I could use company on the drive... Ash Wednesday? Leeeery? Perks? Flickerhead?

-s.

This stinks. I justed check the Silent Era website listings for the U.S.

NOTHING in theaters for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware. So unless I drive to Frederick, Maryland, or the Big Apple, I'm stuck with the DVD releases. (But that place in Frederick looks really cool--they did Dr. Caligari last fall! Maybe I'll move.)

Sigh. At least I can watch the papers for series from time to time.

Wow. The Big Parade is playing at the Siskel Arts Center... 3pm on Sunday June 27th. It will take some finagling, but i am there. Anyone want to join me? It's a lot more achievable than a drive to Detroit. But we'll see if it can be even half as rewarding.

-s.

At the risk of hijacking stef's thread, last night my dad and I caught a screening of Siliva the Zulu, a 1927 film directed by an Italian that is thought to be the first all-black feature film produced in Africa. The film kinda straddles that line between documentary and narrative that you see in other films of the period like Nanook of the North -- the story is pure Western melodrama (boy meets girl, some arguably Christological elements), but the details of Zulu culture are apparently pretty accurate. My father went to university in South Africa and said the film brought back quite a few memories (even though it was made 40 years before he lived there!), FWIW.

The film was introduced by Peter Davis, a specialist in filmic portrayals of South Africa, who apparently found an English-language print of this film in the archives in Pretoria and trimmed it down to its present 60 minutes -- he said he didn't cut any scenes out, but he did tighten up many of the shots (since silent films tended to be paced Very Slowly, and this was no exception). I have no idea if this film will be travelling anywhere, with or without the live musical accompaniment we had last night, but it's worth seeing, if it comes your way.

Hey stef,

What were your previous summer projects?

Well, i think the problem was that i had no projects, at least none film-wise, and that i complained MUCHO about the summer big-budget movies. It was like a cruel joke -- a vicious, circular martyr-like phase that i would go into each year and come out depressed. Well, i'm done with it. No more Lara 3 for me. I am Stef the Silent Guy.

-s.

PS Oh and Peter, thanks for the tip. No, i wouldn't consider that a hijacking. Hopefully this thread can be a place where we can share that kind of info... So thanks again.

Nah...music is movement in time and film is movement in time and space.

Music is most certainly movement in space; it's just invisible...Maybe we can make Stef invisible?

Ha! How ironic. I was just reading the section in Jaques Ellul's The Technological Society about how modern art closed itself off when it become involved in expressing movement in space through the medium of static planes. It was yet another instance of men utilizing technology to the point that the technology began to take over them and actually re-form them.

Brilliant stuff in that book.

But, this made me think back to Maddin's usage of film as a concatenation of fragments that seem to bubble up from the ur-history of film itself. Fragments of movement in time and space from the very same period that Ellul is attacking for its tacit modernism. A modernism of the worst sort, that enjoins us to the celebration of recording movement in time and space as a means of trascendence. It is the actual recording that becomes an end in itself, such forms of art and expression then become the highest orders of meaning and experience.

From Ellul's perspective, there is nothing postmodern about film, and there probably never will be (excepting film in the digital mode which is an entirely different discussion). The very process of recording movement in time and space is at the very base of the modernist enterprise and epistemology. It is the holy grail of the Technological Society.

Stef, I see that you watched The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. I saw some of it years ago, but I don't remember much about it, only that I was quite impressed by the sets. Should I revisit it? And what did you think of the ending?

For 1919? It was fantastic. Whether or not you should revisit it depends on how you're prioritizing your viewing habits these days. I'm reading up on it a little bit, but i've run out of time to post anything except "liked it," which really doesn't do you much good. I'll try to edit something in here tonight or tomorrow morning before i leave for Flickerings.

-s.

No rush. I understand that some people have to hurry off to several days of fun and fellowship, while the rest of us are stuck at our desks, somehow managing to slog through.

But have fun anyway!

And now, I must go contemplate the fact that envy is a sin.

[checking in for all of 5 seconds...]

Y'know Diane, girls are invited too. And if you were to leave today (aren't you from North Carolina or something?) you might just get here by Saturday or so.

Or you could go to the Cornerstones/Flickeringses that are staged down that way...

-s.

Nope. I'm in Alabama. Tons of BBQ here. No Flickerings/Cornerstone.

BUT! Things are looking up. Your Murnau films just arrived—right before a long weekend. What perfect timing.

I suppose i could start a new thread when i come across an outstanding silent in my pursuit of the knowledge of all things 1920s, but wouldn't that make everything less uniform than just keeping it here?

It's all about the organization, man. All about the organization.

King Vidor's The Crowd (1928), which i saw on Saturday night, is the perfect film experience. I highly recommend that if anyone ever has a chance to see it on the big screen, don't let the opportunity pass you by. Highly comparable to last year's In America, with the obvious difference that it is a silent b&w, made close to 80 years ago, it is an emotional, artistic, roller coaster ride in which we root for a small family to achieve, find success, and prosper.

It's interesting to note that Murnau's Sunrise was released one year prior to this. Both films have quite similar acting, and if i were to term its style i might be tempted to call it "post-expressionism." Of course, they're both silent films, so some of the expressionism is naturally going to come out in the acting on that basis alone. But it almost appears that the films from the late-20s -- or at least these two dramas -- took a good hard look at earlier works like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Last Laugh, and decide not to go down the road of over-stylizing the approach to their respective roles.

Simply put -- the acting here is as solid as any current picture i've seen, and quite honestly, even more solid than much of what is out in the theater today (YES i'm talking to you, Raising Helen and Troy!!)

There are two shots worth consideration for perfect filmic moments. The first is a tracking shot which follows a new father into a hospital nursery to see his baby for the first time. The room he enters into is absolutely HUGE, and full of white light, with babies and moms in beds all over the place. It was a gorgeous moment for its imagery alone, but then you're struck with the fact that perhaps the room wasn't really that big after all -- perhaps it would only seem that big to every new dad who walked into it. Regardless, it was a captivating scene, one that i wish we could've lingered on.

The last shot of the film, too, was interesting from the point of view of the story maker. Here we have followed a family thru all their ups and downs, thru many tragedies and hard times of tears, and where do they end up in the final frames of the film? In a movie theater -- laughing at a comedy.

Do you think that Vidor was interested in the healing power, the ointment that is film? It certainly seemed like it in the final moments of this story.

I realize many might not have seen this, but i just wanted to throw it out there and find out if anyone had any comments. Also, i want to encourage everyone to seek this story out. It is beautiful and worth each precious minute of viewing time.

I'm actually tempted to call it my new favorite silent film of all time, but i am going to hold off on that assessment. I'm seeing Sunrise again this month -- this time on the big screen at the Music Box Theater (Chicago) -- and we'll see whether or not it can keep its current #1 position in my heart.

-s.

I just recently saw The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (I fear I have woefully neglected my viewing list, especially now that I've begun watching much less "fluff") -- only the second silent film I've seen in its entirety. The other was Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

I don't have much to say except that I was surprised at how well it held my attention. I usually get bored a few minutes into a silent (as noted, I have only otherwise thus far completed Metropolis), but this one really grabbed me. I was surprised by the ending, although not completely. I had wondered as the story progressed about the odd behavior of Jane in the first scene as she walks by Francis and the old man.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts Stef.

Hey, Stef. You should take some personal days and get your ass back here for this on Monday, Sept. 20 @ 7:30pm.

Piccadilly (UK 1929 E.A.Dupont) Silent

The incredible Anna May Wong is Shosho, the scullery maid at a London nightclub who overnight becomes the toast of the town, as well as the object of the club owner's all-encompassing sexual obsession. The delirious, silent-era spectacle of Jazz Age England was lost and all but forgotten until the triumphant 2003 unveiling of this visually fabulous restoration-complete with color tinting and score-courtesy of the British Film Institute. Wong's sizzling screen presence should come as a revalation to the uninitiated, as will the astonishing set designs of Alfred Junge (Black Narcissus). The cast includes Cyril Ritchard(!) and, in his feature film debut, Charles Laughton(!!) (108 min.)

Anybody seen this or heard of it? Alvy? Matt?

Rich Kennedy wrote:
: Piccadilly (UK 1929 E.A.Dupont) Silent
: Anybody seen this or heard of it? Alvy? Matt?

See my comments, such as they are, in the Anna May Wong thread.

Okay, I'm going to add The Crowd to my must-see list, which I like to refer to as Favorite Films That I've Never Seen. There are some very impressive titles on that list, let me tell you.

Does The Crowd have a tracking shot where the camera moves into a room filled with rows and rows of office desks and workers, finally zooming in on one particlar worker, who I'm assuming is the protagonist? If I'm not confused about the correct film, I believe this is the only part of The Crowd I've ever seen, and this was years ago on a TCM commerical that only ran clips from famous movies. That shot amazed me and has stayed with me to this day.

There was a very similar shot in The Apartment with Jack Lemon where the camera moves into a room full of desks and eventually settles on the main character. It looks like more desks than any office building could hold and there is a very cool stage designers story regarding the idea for the look.

Anyway, I thought the commercial could quite possibly reference that shot.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that bit in The Apartment. That's fascinating, asher, because it sounds like Wilder was paying tribute. I managed to find a pretty interesting site that describes the scene in The Crowd far better than I did (scroll down to the bottom of the page). Hmm, gotta check out the rest of that site.

Ha! I have a copy of the recently restored print of von Stroheim's Greed to work through. Has anyone else here seen this?

Greed was on my original list but it's one of the films i'm having a hard time tracking down. I found an old beat-up VHS copy of it, but when you get down so low on the quality of the viewing, you just refuse to see it until later. Or at least, that's been my habit lately. Which is sad, but i don't want to misrepresent the experience, which is easy to do in silent film.

Other films that fit into this category so far are: J’Accuse and La Roue, which is so, so sad (I mean, Abel Gance, for crying out loud... Am i limited to only Napoléon? Dang!)... And then there's The Golem... And finally Violettes impériales, which just looked remarkable from the few frames i saw on a documentary earlier this year.

In similarly related news it looks like i will not be able to make the screening of Seamen's Wives on Wednesday night, and that's the last screening. But JRobert and i are going to try to make it to Doc Films on Thursday for It. (Then i will probably end up coming home and resurrecting the beautiful people thread. Clara Bow.)

How can i get my hands on your copy of Greed?

-s.

(M), does that restored print of Greed contain additional footage? I've heard about a version that includes almost two extra hours. I watched my library's VHS copy a few months ago and remember something about it being a restored version, but I figure that just meant picture quality because I know it couldn't have been much longer than two hours. Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing the long cut because the biggest complaint I had was that characters' actions and motivations seem to change so rapidly.

If it's the same as what i've heard elsewhere, it's four hours long. Which is still less than half of the film's original length (9 plus hours, yeah, try putting that one past the financial backers).

Diane (and everyone else) -

Turner Classic Movies is having a vote right now to determine which films they will be putting on DVD. On the list is none other than the aforementioned Greed. Everyone, PLEASE go to http://turnerclassicmovies.com/dvddecision and vote for Greed.

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Please vote now.

Rock the vote.

-s.

Done. I also voted for The Search, The Letter, Ivanhoe, and I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gaing. Now if only I had TCM!

stef wrote:
: If it's the same as what i've heard elsewhere, it's four hours long. Which is still
: less than half of the film's original length (9 plus hours, yeah, try putting that one
: past the financial backers).

Well, today, they would call it a mini-series. Or Satantango.