Sunday, October 26, 2008

Onelinereview's Film Masterpieces Checklist: 1910s

Six Film Masterpieces from the 1910s:

1. Male and Female (1919/US/d. Cecil B. De Mille/116 mins.) [photo, left]

2. The Oyster Princess (1919/Ger./d. Ernst Lubitsch/60 mins.)

3. Broken Blossoms (1919/US/d. D. W. Griffith/88 mins.)

4. A Tale of Two Cities (1917/US/d. Frank Lloyd/70 mins.)

5. Regeneration (1915/US/d. Raoul Walsh/72 mins.)

6. L'Inferno (1911/It./d. Giuseppe de Liguoro)


Film Masterpieces Checklist: 1910s

1919
Broken Blossoms (US/d. D. W. Griffith)
J'Accuse (Fr./d. Abel Gance) (**)
Male and Female (US/d. Cecil B. DeMille)
The Oyster Princess (Ger./ d. Ernst Lubitsch)
* The Sentimental Bloke (Austral./d. Raymond Longford)

1918
The Blue Bird (US/d. Maurice Tourneur) (** 1/2)
Hearts of the World (US/d. D. W. Griffith) (** 1/2)
The Outlaw and His Wife (Swe./d. Victor Sjostrom) (* 1/2)
Stella Maris (US/d. Marshall Neilan) (**)
* Thomas Graal's First Child (Swe./d. Mauritz Stiller)

1917
* The Dying Swan (Rus./d. Evgeni Bauer)
* Furcht (Ger./d. Robert Wiene)
* A Man There Was (Swe./d. Victor Sjostrom)
A Tale of Two Cities (US/d. Frank Lloyd) (***)
* Thomas Graal's Best Film (Swe./d. Mauritz Stiller)

1916
Civilization (US/d. Raymond B. West, Reginald Barker) (**)
Hell's Hinges (US/d. Charles Swickard, William S. Hart) (** 1/2)
Intolerance (US/d. D. W. Griffith) (* 1/2)
*Night of Revenge (Den./d. Benjamin Christensen)
Queen of Spades (1916/Rus. d. Yakov Protazanov) (BOMB)

1915
*Assunta Spina (It./d. Francesca Bertini, Gustavo Serena)
The Birth of a Nation (US/d. D. W. Griffith) (***)
The Cheat (US/d. Cecil B. DeMille) (**)
A Fool There Was (US/d. Frank Powell)
Regeneration (US/d. Raoul Walsh) (***)

1914
Cabiria (It./d. Giovanni Pastrone)
Judith of Bethulia (US/d. D. W. Griffith) (** 1/2)
* The Mysterious X (Den./d. Benjamin Christensen)
* The Squaw Man (US/d. Cecil B. DeMille, Oscar C. Apfel)
Tillie's Punctured Romance (US/d. Mack Sennett)

1913
* Atlantis (Den./d. August Blom)
David Copperfield (UK/d. Thomas Bentley) (**)
The Last Days of Pompeii (It./d. Mario Caserini)
The Student of Prague (Ger./d. Stellan Rye)
Traffic in Souls (US/d. George Loane Tucker) (**)

1912
Cleopatra (US/d. Charles L. Gaskill) (**)
From the Manger to the Cross (US/d. Sidney Olcott) (** 1/2)
Queen Elizabeth (Fr./d. Louis Mercanton, Henri Desfontaines) (**)
* Quo Vadis? (It./d. Enrico Guazzoni)
Richard III (US/d. Andre Calmettes, James Keane) (* 1/2)

1911
* The Black Dream (Den./d. Urban Gad)
L'Inferno (It./d. Giuseppe de Liguoro)

NOTE: Films that I have not yet seen are indicated with a *. I've rated the ones I have seen (using Leonard Maltin's BOMB and * 1/2 to **** star rating). If a film is listed without a * and without a rating, it means I've seen the movie but wish to re-evaluate it before assigning it a rating.

2 comments:

Jeremy said...

I'm shocked by the *1/2 for "Intolerance". I haven't seen the film myself but heard it being nothing short of a masterpiece. I hope you elaborate on your problems with it, I'm curious to know.

Oneliner said...

I've seen it twice and find it to be so slow and boring so as to be unmoved by it's "spectacle." When the movie did poorly in 1916, Griffith (who invested quite a bit of his own money) released two of the episodes from the film as their own separate features, in 1919: The Fall of Babylon (the Babylonian episode) and The Mother and the Law (the modern episode). These version I believe exist and I'm eager to some day see at least The Fall of Babylon to see if, on its own, I might be able to have the patience and appreciate it more. But I can't see Intolerance a third time to reevaluate-- its just too much: and I have so many modern (and foreign) titles to see. Birth of A Nation, in contrast is very exciting, but I truly can't get past the racism in the second half.