By Madeleine Swann
I’ve written about strange silent films before, including A Page of Madness by art collective Shinkankakuha (School of New Perceptions) and The Seashell and the Clergymen by Germaine Dulac (technically the first surrealist film no matter how much Dalí insisted his was). However, I’d like to show you a few lesser-known, very fun ones today.
Eleven PM (1928) by Richard Maurice
If you want a film that never gets boring, you can’t go wrong here. I mean, look at the poster:
A guy asks a friend to raise his son and keep him on the straight and narrow when he dies, and the friend does such a shockingly poor job that he doesn’t notice the boy’s joined a gang not five minutes later.
The lad grows up and decides to rob the friend, Sundaisy, of his girl as well as his possessions. Then, when Sundaisy’s daughter grows up and is played by the same actress, he decides to rob Sundaisy of her, too. Enraged, Sundaisy goes to attack him, but dies instead. Then follows the reason this is one of my favourite silent films; his soul enters a dog, which momentarily possesses a human head. Also, it keeps changing breed. Also, it might all be a dream.
I don’t really understand what it’s trying to teach and it’s all pretty much by one independent bloke, which tells me that he put his heart and soul into it, and you have to love that.
The Night Before Christmas (1913) by Ladislas Starevich
I expected this to be an adaptation of the famous poem, instead, it was a story by Russian absurdist Gogol. Which probably explains why I didn’t have a clue why anything was happening and I really enjoyed it.
It’s a quick, almost farcical tale of a demon visiting a village before Christmas and riding on a broom with a witch, who then decides to hide him and several drunken Cossacks in bags. Meanwhile, a young man proposes to a woman, and she tells him he must find her an extremely fancy pair of shoes first (relatable).
He temporarily abandons the shoe idea when he finds the bags, probably not expecting them to contain several drunken Cossacks and one demon, and tries to carry them to his place, abandoning them one by one until he’s only left with, of course, the demon. It’s fun, it’s lively, everyone looks like they had a great time, and it’s seasonal!
The Panicky Picnic (1909) by Camille de Morlon with help from Segundo de Chamón
In an anxiety dream on film, a group of friends try to have a lovely picnic with all the accouterment (blanket, basket), only to find everything going to shit. Bugs infest the food, eggs become mice and, to top it off, it rains.
It’s the stop-motion segment that’s really special though. After everyone gives up and goes home, they’re engulfed in a fever dream trip of mustachioed pots with faces, shadow cities on walls, and a weird, long… thing with a face growing from the well. It’s quite incredible and artistic. Most silent films were tinted with colour rather than straight black and white, and it’s such a shame we don’t have that version.
There we have it! A few of my faves to enjoy during the winter season, which you can watch secretly during any conversational lulls. Happy New Year!
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