Think Silent Films Are Boring? Watch Them Like This.

Maybe (like me), you have a hard time watching old-timey silent films. Here's a solution that's authentic to the era.

[nicholashogg]

I'm the trombone player in this video. Glad you enjoyed the unique experience, Austin! OH and great video!!

[JetADR]

Have you ever watched Tom & Jerry Cartoons? It's basically a silent cartoon because there is little to no Dialogue but we will never call it a 'silent film'. Cartoons even with dialogue is heavily dependant on the sound track and sound effects to present the performance to the audience.

[davidle]

Thanks for sharing! I'm the flutist/piccoloist with the group in the video. Glad you enjoyed the show!

[MCO]

If you have a proper sound system and a large screen, silent films can be easily enjoyed at home if they are accompanied by an appropriate soundtrack. I recently watched the restored HD version of Metropolis and watching it with surround sound was an awesome experience. I felt like a 1920s moviegoer.

[-Faris-]

So THIS is why cinemas are called Movie “theatres”

[Emiliapocalypse]

Ha! I didn’t think anybody actually thought silent movies were meant to be watched entirely silent? My friend’s grandfather who just died in his 90’s used to play the piano for the movie theater here in town. Pretty cool stuff.

[alexgabel]

Additionally, early film theorists differentiate film from theatre by writing that the audience is supposed to talk during the showing. Back in the day people would just walk into a movie theatre halfway through the film and sit through the first half of the next showing until they saw the scene that was playing when they walked in

[tenletters]

So silent films are basically live music videos, neat

[sistahmels]

When I was a kid my parents would take me to a pizza place called the Organ Grinder. This was back in the 60's and 70's. They would play silent movies with, you guessed it, an old, humungous organ, with sound effects. It made the experience so much fun. We would watch movies of Charlie Chaplin and Keystone Cops. It was wonderful! Such nice memories and it also gave me an appreciation for silent movies. I agree, to experience the true magic of silent movies you must have live music to go along with the show. Sadly the place closed years ago, derelict, run down then demolished. My memories of family, good pizza and fun times live on within me forever...

[jeremykonor]

Your thumbnail looks like your vid is from Vox

[TomMilleyMusic]

"a piano player would sit off to the side"

*shows piano player smack dab in the middle*

[jerry]

Silent films used to just be called films.

[marlonlernmark]

In the future, people will be like "I don't like 2D movies. I don't get it. Now I know there's big stars like..."

[cassies.]

My great grandparents were silent film pianists and I never really understood how talented they were and I really loved this video, thank you so much!

[lakamokolaka]

Nothing more nostalgic than THX making my ears bleed

[PracticalInspiration]

This was great. Never knew this about silent films, puts them in a whole new light

[protonjones]

In Britain some screenings of Interstellar had full orchestras conducted by Hans Zimmer himself. They were playing the soundtrack live while Interstellar was playing, and it was awesome. That's the only modern movie I can think of which combined a film and orchestra in one performance :(

Edit: people from the comments say there are still many venues that perform live soundtracks while a movie is playing, like at the Hollywood Bowl. I need to check some out one of these days :)

[Phoebehunniexox]

Seeing and hearing people still laughing at these films literally warms my heart like nothing else. Absolutely timeless

[pigeonz]

I'm genuinely surprised that this isn't common knowledge. My secondary school taught us this in pretty much the very first term of year seven, and then we had to act out our own plays in the same style!

[tylermai]

Why do I get a Vox vibe from the thumbnail