Silent Beauties: Recent Episodes
Miwi
This is a podcast counterpart of Silent Beauties podcast, a blog devoted to silent films.
Although silent films were quite important in the evolution of cinema, they remain virtually forgotten nowadays. Since the best way to understand the present is taking an attentive look at the past, here you have some information about movies, pictures, interviews, etc. on silent cinema. Some occasional material on sound films will also be presented. I hope you enjoy getting to know a bit more about the beauty and sheer fun of these golden oldies.
A relaxing, enjoyable film to see. Recommended if you love romantic comedies full of old Hollywood vibe.
In 2011 the BFI released a Region 2 DVD of the film as a bonus feature on its dual-format edition of An Autumn Afternoon.
A madam works at a brothel in Busan and raises three daughters. She sacrifices herself in hopes of her daughter’s futures, but tragic events occur.
SinopseSon Hak-su (Kim Seung-ho) is a middle school teacher who barely gets by on his income because he's paying off a monthly mortgage for his welfare housing facility sold by the government.
Manuel Acosta Mesa was a journalist and editor of the newspaper El Imparcial who was shot to death on 26 July 1956 at his home in Tijuana. A year later Manuel Duenas was given a six year sentence for his involvement. No other suspect in the case had been publicly named by authorities.
It is an American film noir starring Charles Laughton and Ella Raines, and directed by Robert Siodmak.
This film was produced independently by C.G.K. Productions, and distributed in the United States by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.
This film is about a woman who pretends to fall in love with an assistant district attorney and uses him to escape conviction for the murder of her wealthy aunt.
A film produced and distributed by "Poverty Row" studio Producers Releasing Corporation.
A new pink dress and an umbrella. Two poor people and romance. A common plot that is often silly (in the most positive way) and we can watch something enjoyable and cute with some cool landscape on the background. And rain, lots of rain. This is Love in the Rain (South Korea, 1975). The romanticism of current-day kdramas really had roots in the past.
The film is considered to have Wood's biggest budget ($70,000). Production commenced in 1954 but, due to further financial problems, was not completed until 1955.
This film was based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and indebted to the 1931 movie of the same name.
One father finds life nearly impossible to live as he attempts to raise his nine children on a pitifully small salary.
The movie was originally titled I Wake Up Screaming before its title was changed to Hot Spot and then back to I Wake Up Screaming, although it was released in some markets as Hot Spot.
It is a film produced by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) and directed by Jean Yarborough.
It is an American comedy-mystery film directed by Frank McDonald, starring Bela Lugosi, Jack Haley and Lyle Talbot.
The main character was inspired by a real life alcoholic doctor working unlicensed in the Tokyo black market district that Akira Kurosawa and writing partner and childhood friend Keinosuke Uekusa came across.
While the students, full of vigor at twenties, always make a stand against their parents who regard the date as a sin, they enjoy their springtime of life to the full showing affection in their own way. In the meantime, their parents get to understand them and their children meet their own partner in blessing.
According to IMDB web site, it was the first film by Ozu to get a theatrical release in the United States.
It is considered one of the most influential and extraordinary Chinese films ever made.
This film is also known as "Monster from the Surf". It is a horror and beach party film.
A film starring Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Lowell Gilmore, Myrna Dell, Harry Harvey, Sr. and Addison Richards.
The film is one of Brigitte Bardot's first film roles, at the age of 17 and was controversial for the scanty bikinis worn by the young Bardot in the film, one of the first occasions when a bikini had appeared in film and when the bikini was still widely considered immodest.
A film produced and directed by Roger Corman. It is also known as The Bee Girl and Insect Woman.
It is based on the 1939 novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household and is set in Europe just prior to the Second World War.
This film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, produced by Sam Katzman and starring Bela Lugosi.
It is widely considered to be one of the most influential films of the French New Wave.
Dante's Inferno was Spencer Tracy's final film for Fox before settling in at MGM where his career really took off.
The film uses many props used in carnival haunted houses to generate fear and terror. The film is in the public domain.
This film was released in Brazilian Portuguese with the title "Nós que Aqui Estamos por Vós Esperamos".
Is this film as illogical as it seems or maybe it's fairly logical and structured in its own way?
A certain child actress is in this film, who would be very successful in the future. Her name? Natalie Wood.
This film is also known as Wild Weed; The Devil's Weed; Marijuana, the Devil's Weed; and The Story of Lila Leeds and Her Exposé of the Marijuana Racket.
One of those lesser known classic Japanese films that we do need to know. Delicate and touching.
How I started watching and being involved with silent films? How I started producing content about it to the internet? Why the wish of sharing my cinematic hobbies? Get to know about it here.
In this episode, instead of talking about a single subject related to the silent era, we will have brief introductions to some silent films, which are:
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The Merry Widow (USA, 1925)
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The Furs (USA, 1912)
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His Wedding Night (USA, 1917)
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A Muddy Romance (USA, 1913)
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The Perils of Pauline (USA, 1914) [Serial]
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Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life (USA, 1913)
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Bumping intro Broadway (USA, 1919)
You will not necessarily know those films by heart but all of them are worthy watching. Most of films are comedies, but there are also drama and action films. However, some very famous silent actors acted in those films like Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Al St. John, Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, John Gilbert, Mae Murray, Pearl White, among others. Those films were also reviews in Silent Beauties blog (available at: http://silentbeauties.blogspot.com/)
Are you enthusiastic about a subject and would like to know about it more deeply? Do you want to engage in it as a hobby? In the mood of further develop your tastes/passions? Perhaps this episode can help you to have some insights about how to get more knowledge and organize your methodology for it.
2020 has been a really weird and surprising year. Nobody could expect that the world would stop due to a virus. New practices had to be implemented immediately and all old certainties were lost in a blink of eyes. Public gatherings were suddenly gone and life had to be more internet-oriented. This has definitely included silent film festivals, which had to adapt to the new reality. By doing so, they were also making history because transferring a big cinema festival to an on line environment has been really unprecedented and it's something that will definitely be reminded in the future because it worked so well and it was cozy to still be able to congregate with fellow silent film fans. This episode was published as a review in Silent Beauties blog in October 12th 2020.
Do you know those truly inspirational stories of people who fought all sorts of adversities and succeeded anyway? Who had no other resources besides their own will power and resilience? Who suffered but remained true to their character? This is the life of Clara Bow, who faced lots of difficulties but succeeded due to her undeniable talent, strength of character and friendly personality. Listen to this episode and get inspired.
Mary Pickford's career was so full of accomplishments that it was necessary another episode. She was a real pioneer, not only as an actress but also as a businesswoman, screenwriter, headhunter and even studio mogul. Being a hard worker, she was involved with nearly every aspect of her work and was competent in all of them. Even out of cinema field per se she was active and competent, for instance: In charity, radio programs, book and newspapers columns writing. She even had her own trademark of cosmetics for a while.
The silent era has many competent actors, actresses, directors, etc. Some of them even had inspirational stories. This is the case when it comes to pioneering Mary Pickford and vibrant Clara Bow, both very skilled actresses, who overcame lots of difficulties reached stardom.
Recommendation of an interesting book about history of the cinema, with emphasis on early cinema (1900s - 1910).