His longstanding fascinating with monsters and horror quickly established, he also proved himself quite adept at film analysis and film history as he moved through a handful of silent horror films, discussing their use of shadows and angles, the acting and make up involved, and the prominent figures in the silent horror film genre.
His presentation was entertaining and informative, and I immediately made a note to convince him to come to my Film class next semester or in fall. He used longish clips from the following silent horror films. The links will take you to the complete film on YouTube:
If you get the chance, I highly recommend watching this films. I was lucky enough to be able to watch Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the big screen at a local theatre this past Thursday night. The Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra played while the silent film played, offering a unique experience for contemporary film goers. The film itself is fantastic with John Barrymore giving a superb performance as the twisted and tortured Jekyll and Hyde, but you combine that with live music and I'm really getting my geek on.
I offered extra credit to my students for attending the performance. Only a handful showed up, but the ones who did make it, said they really loved it and admitted they were really, really surprised they liked it. I had to admit to them that I was worried. Asking a generation of ADDed, fast-paced, entertain-me-now-now-now kids to watch a silent film from the 1920s, which requires actual mental activity to understand, is scary. I am thrilled they liked it!
You can watch the whole films on youtube???? Wow! I definitely need to see Jekyll and Hyde, and I've been wanting to rewatch Phantom lately so that's great too!
ReplyDeleteHow cool that you can watch the whole film on YouTube!! Sounds like a neat way to celebrate Halloween on the cheap.
ReplyDeleteThose are classics! The original Nosferatu is chilling.
ReplyDeleteOk, that second picture will totally give me nightmares tonight.
ReplyDeleteStudents are so lame, huh? We used to have extra credit assignments when I taught freshman English and so so few actually participated. Ah well.
That second picture is seriously disturbing! *LOL*
ReplyDeleteI think we tend to underestimate students in this generation and how capable they are of tackling challenging things that require time and thought. On the other hand, maybe I'm just saying that because I am ridiculously ADD, so today's kids seem normal to *me.* :-P
I've shown silent movies to my students several times. They enjoy The Gold Rush and Sherlock Jr. the two I usually show. I like show them because I usually get to say, "Be quiet please; this is a silent movie" at some point, which puzzles them and then makes them laugh.
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