Dear TCM Silent Sunday Nights,
Thank you. Without your weekly (and sometimes more) viewings of silent movies, one of the greatest era's of movie making history would be lost forever. I tip my hat to your efforts in keeping these gems available to the masses. I only wish there was some way that more people could not only discover this forgotten art form, but to also realize that the silent era produced films and performances that are often times as good and in some cases even better than what is being produced today.
As a kid growing up in the late 1960's and early '70's, those of us with old 8mm movie projectors could go to our local library and check out many of the short silent films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. We would contently watch these films for hours with no musical accompaniment unless you counted the loud overbearing sound of the projector itself. Of course, only the short films, and not often the best ones of just a handful of silent stars were available to us film lovers, and I grew up believing that those selected movies available at my local library represented all the stars and films of the silent era.
Now, thanks to your efforts at TCM, I know that to be untrue. Thank you for helping me discover the talents of, just to name a few, John Gilbert, Maria Falconetti, Lillian Gish, Harold Lloyd, Douglas Fairbanks, William Haines, Greta Garbo, Jackie Coogan and of course Lon Chaney, who because of your many viewings of his works, I now know that his talents went far beyond The Phantom of the Opera.
It's not just the stars, though, it's the movies themselves. Especially the ones produced towards the end of the silent era that have me convinced that the 1920's is the only decade to rival the 1970's for the best movies ever produced. And this myth about 1939 being the greatest year in the history of film - well I would argue that 1928 has it beat.
Thanks again TCM Silent Sunday Nights for what you do. And thank you for introducing me to such wonderful films like, Man with a Movie Camera, The Phantom Carriage, Within Our Gates, Flesh and the Devil, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Crowd, Tell it to the Marines, and so many other deserving films which have led me to not only check out the other works of many of these before-their-time directors, but also the stars and co-stars of these films as well. All of this has expanded my knowledge, love and appreciation of the silent era, and to you I am eternally grateful.
Mike Trippiedi
Thank you. Without your weekly (and sometimes more) viewings of silent movies, one of the greatest era's of movie making history would be lost forever. I tip my hat to your efforts in keeping these gems available to the masses. I only wish there was some way that more people could not only discover this forgotten art form, but to also realize that the silent era produced films and performances that are often times as good and in some cases even better than what is being produced today.
As a kid growing up in the late 1960's and early '70's, those of us with old 8mm movie projectors could go to our local library and check out many of the short silent films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. We would contently watch these films for hours with no musical accompaniment unless you counted the loud overbearing sound of the projector itself. Of course, only the short films, and not often the best ones of just a handful of silent stars were available to us film lovers, and I grew up believing that those selected movies available at my local library represented all the stars and films of the silent era.
Now, thanks to your efforts at TCM, I know that to be untrue. Thank you for helping me discover the talents of, just to name a few, John Gilbert, Maria Falconetti, Lillian Gish, Harold Lloyd, Douglas Fairbanks, William Haines, Greta Garbo, Jackie Coogan and of course Lon Chaney, who because of your many viewings of his works, I now know that his talents went far beyond The Phantom of the Opera.
It's not just the stars, though, it's the movies themselves. Especially the ones produced towards the end of the silent era that have me convinced that the 1920's is the only decade to rival the 1970's for the best movies ever produced. And this myth about 1939 being the greatest year in the history of film - well I would argue that 1928 has it beat.
Thanks again TCM Silent Sunday Nights for what you do. And thank you for introducing me to such wonderful films like, Man with a Movie Camera, The Phantom Carriage, Within Our Gates, Flesh and the Devil, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Crowd, Tell it to the Marines, and so many other deserving films which have led me to not only check out the other works of many of these before-their-time directors, but also the stars and co-stars of these films as well. All of this has expanded my knowledge, love and appreciation of the silent era, and to you I am eternally grateful.
Mike Trippiedi
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