The MoFo Top 50 Pre-1930 Countdown: The List

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So I'm guessing these will be the top twenty:

Metropolis
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Battleship Potemkin
Nosferatu
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Pandora's Box
Un Chien Andalou
The General
The Kid
Sherlock, Jr.
Faust
A Trip to the Moon
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
The Phantom of the Opera
Greed
The Gold Rush
Napolean
Man With a Movie Camera
The Jazz Singer(?)
Safety Last
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Wings was a really good film and definitely made my list. I was a little disturbed that it beat Sunrise in that Silent Hall of Fame, but I still consider it a very worthy entry.

Intolerance is one of my most looked forward to films that I haven't seen yet.



Wings won the Silent Era HoF and is my number 2 on my voting list.

I wrote a rather detailed review of Wings...

Wings (William Wellman, 1927)

Director: William A. Wellman
Cast: Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen, Clara Bow

About: Two friends who both love the same woman and go off to become fighter pilots in World War I.

Review: I watched the official, restored DVD of Wings. The first thing I notice is that the film tint is a light yellow and I'm thinking, 'what's going on here?' On my last viewing the film was black and white with no tint. I knew that some old silent films were monochrome tinted. But I didn't think Wings was one of them. Then I watched the DVD extras and learned Wings had premiered as a Road Show release. Road Show releases were special limited viewing engagements, where the movie was shown at only a handful of premier theaters in large cities. These Road Show pictures often came with little extras and in the case of Wings the extras were single color tinting and hand drawn animated flames and machine gun fire, along with an intermission during the movie.

I believe that photo of the old movie theater is from a Road Show of Wings as the theater is decked out for the occasion. If you watch Wings on the restored DVD you'll have two choices for soundtrack:

A pipe organ score by Gaylord Carter, and a new orchestration of the film’s original score by JS Zamecnik. The fact that the Zamecnik score incorporates the sound effects of the airplanes and gun fire helps remind us that Wings was made at the very tail-end of the silent era, just as the art was reaching its apotheosis.
Tip...watch Wings with the orchestral score!

My favorite sequence is the Paris bistro scene..that's the one with the 'bubbles' scene and the topless scene with Clara Bow, blink and you'll miss it.



I love this gif of the opening tracking shot of the Paris bistro 'bubbles' scene. Both the technical side of this opening shot, and the story each of the couples tell at the 5 tables in the foreground is amazing.




My gawd! it's the silent era and William Wellman the director actually shows us a real view of what it would be like to fly a plane into enemy territory strafing enemy soldiers. All of the battle scenes are huge! There's no way anything like this would be made today, unless is was CG

William Wellman was a fighter pilot in World War I and the first American to join the French Lafayette Flying Corps, just like the two friends in Wings were.

I love this film! Buddy Rogers the dark haired pilot is amazing in this, he seems so personable which makes this film seem so real. Of course I liked the other pilot Richard Arlene too. Their last scene together is very touching...And I liked Clara Bow in this and there's even a brief cameo by Gary Cooper, this is the film that launched his career.



But it's 'Wild Bill' William Wellman the director, who I admire most of all. In his films and in his life he goes all out and lives life on the edge and his films reflect that gusto for life.




Two more enjoyable entries in The Lodger and The Phantom Of The Opera, both decent tales which create some nice atmosphere but sadly neither managed to make my list.

Seen: 32/32
My list:
7. Intolerance - Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (D.W. Griffith, 1916) [#21]
19. Häxan (Benjamin Christensen, 1922) [#25]
20. Broken Blossoms (D.W. Griffith, 1919) [#34]
25. Helen Of Four Gates (Cecil M. Hepworth, 1920) [1-ptr]



Interesting so, already one of my guessed top twenty is out. I’ve seen neither but I’m assuming The Jazz Singer won’t make it then.



Update on my list:

Seen: Seen: 11/32

My List:
8. It (#27)
13. 3 Bad Men (#30)
14. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (#26)
19. He Who Gets Slapped (#23)
22. 7th Heaven (#32)
23. The Man Who Laughs (#48)
25. The Unknown (#28)



Interesting so, already one of my guessed top twenty is out. I’ve seen neither but I’m assuming The Jazz Singer won’t make it then.
I think you're right. I was surprised that during the preliminary watch period for this countdown that no one mentioned The Jazz Singer (at least I don't remember it being mentioned). I watched The Jazz Singer years ago and was surprised (again) at how emotional the film was.

I'm not sure why it appears it's become unpopular to like The Jazz Singer? Or maybe people thought of it as a talkie so didn't bother with it?

Maybe it will still be on the countdown but I doubt it.



I watched The Lodger with Sean and Raul in their Director's Dissection thread. I miss that thread and wish I could have participated more...ahh the good old days!

I almost nominated The Phantom Of The Opera for one of the Pre 30s HoF. I love the way it shifts to 2 strip color for the dance of the Red Death, or whatever the scene is called. But neither made me list.



I think you're right. I was surprised that during the preliminary watch period for this countdown that no one mentioned The Jazz Singer (at least I don't remember it being mentioned).
I watched it .... but then I watched a shed load of pre-1930 fillums so I'd not blame anyone for either tuning me out or missing one or more of my 'snippets' in the RTLMYS thread



I watched it .... but then I watched a shed load of pre-1930 fillums so I'd not blame anyone for either tuning me out or missing one or more of my 'snippets' in the RTLMYS thread
Ha...I do read your post when I see them, but have mostly given up on looking at the RTLMYS thread. Probably because the thread title is so unwieldy.



I was planning on watching The Jazz Singer until I realized the ratings for it weren't that good. I still would have if there weren't a time limit but I thought there were more important films to get in.



I was planning on watching The Jazz Singer until I realized the ratings for it weren't that good. I still would have if there weren't a time limit but I thought there were more important films to get in.
The ratings are probably low because Al Jolson sings Mama in black face.