Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film - 13 End of a Era

Episode 13 of 13.
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Silent films had universal appeal, simply by replacing intertitles and dialogue cards for the foreign markets. Sound film was experimented with in many forms since the 1890s, but did not become commercially successful until The Jazz Singer in 1927. Hollywood movie making was transformed and ultimately shattered, taking the careers of many silent film stars, directors and producers with it, victims of the emerging technology. Interviews include Lillian Gish, Mary Astor, Janet Gaynor, George Cukor and Frank Capra, Sr.

[@bostonblackie9503]

All those people who appeared in this documentary are now gone. They got them just in time to give their oral history of the silent era.

[@Terry-te1ij]

You're dead

[@bigbandsrock1]

Have thought of that often! I’m so very grateful they were able to secure their input before it was too late. ❤️🙌

[@robertmartinez4174]

too bad that Garbo wasn't in the lineup.

[@ysgol3]

Indeed, which is great - I wish though that they'd made the series 10 years or so earlier, when so many more of these wonderful people were still around.

[@elwoodpdowd-bp3mt]

Amazing to see and hear people like Hrnry Hathaway, William Wyler, George Folsey and Louise Brooks on film. What a treat.

[@standemain]

I saw the series in 1980, Now again in 2023, 43 years later. Hope I can be around to see it 2066, but i doubt it. What a terrific series. Thank you! Added in 2024: I read this just now without looking at the author! I thought gee, I did too. Then I saw it was me! Fogot all about posting this. And I am going to watch the series again soon! I forget fast. James Mason's voice is amazing.

[@paulakpacente]

I can't believe that more people didn't like or watch this series. I believe I've seen it about 5 times, and I was fascinated EVERY time I've watched it. Thank you Joao Antonio Franz for posting it!

[@edcampion3998]

totally agree i personally think this should be shown at film schools and treasured.All those greats have passed on now and their thoughts and experiences in the early days of film is movie gold.

[@janetcarbone4213]

👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@dodgeymike]

Best series ever about the golden age of silent movies

[@paulakpacente]

@@dodgeymike- YES!

[@larryaldrich4351]

Watching The Jazz Singer in 1927 must have been like seeing the first CGI dinosaur in Jurassic Park.

[@garryferrington811]

Bigger than that. More like seeing your first movie.

[@cinderelladevil1687]

No matter the talkies took over. The silent movies were gems which set much of the cinema base. And I can spend hours watching and amazed by their creativity and genius.

[@JohnMGilbert]

I felt the same sadness Fairbanks felt as I shut down the film projector for the last time and watched as the engineer turned on the digital video projector. Now instead of the clattering film, the booth was silent with a TV picture on the screen. I left the booth. The sign on the lobby door read "New Digital Projection!" I was no longer needed and went home.

[@dennman6]

Hopefully over the last eight years you did not end up like the John Gilbert profiled in this series.

[@shereerihari2691]

I can remember watching this as a teenager in New Zealand in the early '80s. Loved it ten, love it now. Thank you for uploading this.

[@williamboiczuk1233]

This underscoring at the end is breath-taking. Carl Davis is a true genius.

[@harlow743]

The silent film era has been largely forgotten.....you can't even talk about it ...and people think your weird.....But the silent film was it's own special art form....it's actually more relaxing to watch.....as you don't have to listen to a sea of words.....It was also an international language....this was lost with sound.....and in just 20 short years gave birth to a whole set of excellent and unique artists the likes of which will never be seen again...Mabel Normand.....Roscoe Arbuckle .....Lon Chaney......Douglas Fairbanks.......Mary Pickford....Lillian Gish.......Charles Chaplin......Harold Lloyd......Rudolph Valentino.....Gloria Swanson......Buster Keaton.......John Gilbert......Clara Bow......Just to name a few...

[@jrcadet4]

I love this series, recorded it off a PBS station in the early 1980s....and lost the tapes in a chaotic house move. Seeing it again is wonderful.

[@malhaxton1267]

What a wonderful series! I remember loving it all - including the score by Carl Davis - when it was aired in the UK in 1980. I know that to buy a copy now is hugely expensive so I am enormously indebted to you, Joao Antonio Franz, for bringing it to us. I hope it's there for all of us for a very long time - and time for the younger generations to appreciate both the series and the extraordinary era of the silent movie.

[@afaceinthecrowd3652]

Watched it in Canada at the same time.

[@renee8437]

Great series. I watched every one and its fasinating. Loved the Silent film era!

[@ysgol3]

The ending is so beautifully done, and so so sad.

[@holydiver73]

I remember watching this series with my mum and dad in the early 80’s when I was about 7 or 8 and I was fascinated and also surprised that no one ever spoke in the films. My love of silent film started with this series. When done right, there’s no experience like it. It such a shame that the silent movies you can find on KZbin haven’t been done right. There’s no purpose written score to accentuate dramatic/action/romance scenes, just library music on loop and the quality of most must be about 10th generation copies. Restore them all and give them their own composed music.

[@osborn.illustration]

I wish there were more documentaries about silent films / pre-code Hollywood. This is such a fantastic series! I've watched the entire series several times. Thanks to this channel for the upload!

[@afaceinthecrowd3652]

Turner Classic Movies shows Sunday Night Silents at 10 p.m. E.S.T. with intros and outros by Prof. Jacquelyn Stewart. Lots of good information and old gems to view.

[@osborn.illustration]

@@afaceinthecrowd3652 Thanks for the tip! I'll check it out - I love documentary type content about pre-Code Hollywood 💜

[@johnhastings7841]

It was very ironic that Douglas Fairbanks was not keen on talkies because he had considerable stage experience and thus had a pleasant speaking voice.

[@jasonnstegall]

Equally ironic that Lillian Gish, considered the First Lady of the silent era, spent the majority of the rest of her career on stage, only occasionally appearing in post-silent films (notably the Charles Laughton-directed Robert Mitchum film The Night Of The Hunter [1955]).

[@MariaGomez-zt5rf]

I just found this this week and watched all the way through it in about 3 days. I love love loved it! What a rare opportunity to see some of the great pioneers of this industry who have all been long gone. So good!

[@stevefrayne]

If you enjoy this series you may enjoy a silent film festival. The KANSAS SILENT FILM FESTIVAL in Topeka every February is FREE and very enjoyable. There are many major differences between seeing a film there and seeing it on Blu-Ray. The biggest two are… 1. The live orchestra makes a huge difference. 2. The audience is all there to see silent films. That is an environment I cannot describe. The audience skews older but there are plenty of young people there. If you think you might like it… you will. Also there is an optional 1920s-style dinner with everyone dressed in period costumes.

[@ojacobsen3727]

I wonder how much inspiration was taken from this series for the movie 'Babylon'. The framing of the episode on John Gilbert and Clara Bow feels very similar to Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie's characters in that movie. And also here arrival of the dictatorial sound men. Just a thought. This is a great series. Thanks so much for the upload. Today it feels so unimaginable that films could ever have remained silent, even if there was so much to cherish about that constraint. It could never have lasted, but I think it's certainly true that the best things in movies are often the things they could already do in silent film. But sound technology at least allows us to capture these stories for posterity, told by pioneers of the art form, now long since gone. To me the early 80's isn't even distant past, but what a difference a few decades make.

[@mdtanenbaum]

This is such a magnificent series about early Hollywood cinema. I am thrilled to finally have the opportunity to view it again after first seeing it on Turner Classic Movies in the late 1990s. Thank you for posting it. This, along with Cinema Europe, Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's more recent series on European silent cinema, are my two favorite film documentaries.

[@CarlDuke]

This was a remarkable series and the music by Carl Davis is just superb. Thanks for posting this series. And Jolson was the most original and emotive entertainer who ever lived.

[@williamboiczuk1233]

Yes. Davis' underscoring is a masterpiece.

[@outofthisworldpictures]

I say this as a metaphor and I am not being facetious but I am truly speechless. What a marvellous series and to think that such massive movies were created before the likes of todays epic stories, the true film era is undoubtedly the silent age of films. Thank you João Antonio Franz Dos Santos for bringing this series to all the fans of film making. Today they can release fantastic movies with the help of computers but back on those days, they actually made films. What was filmed on the camera was what the audience saw..........refreshing. 10 out of 10.

[@williamboiczuk1233]

I totally agree with you.

[@terrygibbs1147]

Thank you so very much for providing these videos of what is still the finest documentary series on Hollywood that has ever been made. I saw it when first shown on ITV in 1980 and have seen it again since. It gave me an interest in what many people still wrongly regard as non-movies and I have loved reading about and seeing silent films and studying them ever since then.And all those wonderful actors, directors, stuntmen all now no longer with us but capturing their memories of their glory days. This series will be watched again for sure.

[@Warped9]

This series needs to be cleaned up and released on DVD or BluRay.

[@ysgol3]

It was going to be, but some ridiculous rights issue over one (or more) long forgotten silent film stopped it. I'd love to see the full interviews with these amazing people, most of what they'd said was never shown, surely the footage still exists.

[@richardmcleod1930]

The History of Hollywood by Kevin Brownlow is exceptional. Not only the production standards and its' accuracy to history, but the interviews with Adela Rogers St. Johns, Agnes DeMille, Viola Dana, Allan Dwan, Bessie Love, Ben Lyon, Mary Astor and do many others, one can never tire in watching this series on the History of Hollywood. The music by Carl Davis only adds to the beauty of this series. This series was once only available on Laser Disc and probably stilll is if you can find them and a player, then on nothing. I was able to get a privately well-made series of the complete series on DVD, which I prize!

[@rudolphvalentinoconnection8298]

Down the street from Don Juan was the NY premiere of The Son of the Sheik.....before he died, Valentino was preparing to film "Cellini" that fall. Of course, he died....but the script was reworked and in 1934 it became a sound picture with Frederic March in the lead.....Fairbanks, as a trained stage actor, did make sound films but he finally left...without the success he had in silents...And, I recently discovered that my great uncle ran a movie theater in Slidell, Louisiana circa 1919!!!!!

[@bigbandsrock1]

I reverence these actors and all the silent artists from every discipline from the silent era, and will love & appreciate and thoroughly enjoy this enchanting medium, always. ❤️💐😔

[@paulakpacente]

I find it fascinating that the film industry denied the use of sound films for so long. I understand that not every person on earth spoke English, but then somebody used subtitles for every language. My grandmother (1899-1975) was brought to Chicago in 1911 by her father from what is now the Czech Republic. She had only finished the 5th grade in Europe but learned English by watching silent movies and reading newspapers. She also taught herself to write in English. Folks like her didn't have it easy... The other thing that kills me is that SO many people had accents from numerous countries, that it shouldn't have made any difference.

[@susan-oc9cb]

Thank-you for this upload. ❤

[@xris109]

Great series and a historical trip with priceless interviews with surviving stars, directors and the supporting technicians. I reckon Gloria Swanson looked better in 1980 at 81 than she did in 1950 in Sunset Boulevard. A must watch series for any film buff. 11 out of 10

[@susanst.82]

Not only did Silents end, but at and around the same time, so did vaudeville. Vaudeville gave many early silent film actors another outlet to ply their craft. Only the legitimate stage was able to survive beyond silent and vaudeville.

[@JeffryHeise]

One of the greatest series ever produced!

[@rahmmason2159]

I have SHOW BOAT (Harry Pollard, 1929) in that Complete Show Boat boxed laserdisc set. My film instructor had no access to it, so he could not double-check my paper! I bought the Criterion blu-ray of SHOW BOAT (James Whale, 1936) as an emergency purchase in 2020, but the 1929 version is shorter, alas.

[@jaycekama2086]

I love Colleen Moore she was such a great storyteller.

[@j.w.2391]

She certainly is...not quite so "PC" in her Ethnic accent...lol ...but I adore her. Moore's unnamed elocution coach was famous Shakespearean coach Constance Collier, who later coached Katharine Hepburn.

[@janetcarbone4213]

This was a great series!

[@moldyoldie7888]

Bravo!

[@dbo4852]

A great history of silent films!

[@dismith73]

Carl Davis October 28, 1936 - August 3, 2023

[@JavierValverde-dw7cy]

Oh no!!!! Horrible that he died!!!!

[@mrmethane10]

I remember watching this series in 1980. I also remember being thoroughly disappointed with the minimal inclusion of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. To me, those two WERE Hollywood and deserved far more air time than a 2 minute excerpt from "Big Business".

[@murrayhumphreys3724]

Very little mention of Lon Chaney too.

[@Kevin-yi8fd]

Great series i wish it was available on DVD i have the last episode which i recorded when it was last on British TV but i would love the others i even have the book and Carl Davis music on LP Hollywood it's still nice to see it on KZbin 😅😅😅

[@michaelcoleman7143]

85 percent of Silent Films are Gone Forever! Enjoy what you can

[@blossom1643]

Wonderful Era in American History!!❤

[@secretariatgirl4249]

This series is so poignant as I can imagine my mom and dad living through this era...

[@cjmacq-vg8um]

movies are like people. once you give them the chance to talk you can't shut them up.

[@findingnino]

I Love it

[@deliarodriquez7129]

We all should be happy that they didnt stop in making or giving sound.all those pioneer u thank you.for not we would not have all these wonderful times.thats why if you have a ideas go for it and never stop trying.

[@shortyblackwellll]

at 3:08 he states "the sound has been lost" but it's been found, and restored.

[@alecwilliams7111]

Bravo!!!!!!!!!

[@Veypurr1]

This was a good video

[@veritas6335]

I'd love to know if the marvelous theme music was an original composition or if it's an old tune re-recorded for this documentary.It sounds familiar. It's so plaintive and sad and at the same time sweeping and majestic and very evocative of the silent era, the times, and the fact that it's all gone now. It's surprising that no music credits are given, other than the name of a musical director. These days, they have to credit every song, its composer as well as the recording artist. I wish the documentarian would post information about this.

[@hadge9628]

The music was an original composition by Carl Davis. Back around the 1980's, I recall a film composer (and I think it was Davis) explain how they took inspiration from the words of the programme title. Try singing "Hollywood" to the three principal notes of the main theme and the work takes on the character of a wordless song. Davis has done a marvellous job in providing scores for revived silent films missing their original music. I suspect his modern realisations are probably superior to the lost compositions.

[@garryferrington811]

Eastman Kodak came out with negative duplicating film in 1929. Before that, multiple negatives were filmed. What a nightmare that must have been in the early sound era!

[@harryg1974]

What a talented duck 🦆 should of been a star

[@hectorsalcido4106]

I wonder if Bela Lugosi took a voice test, can you imagine Dracula saying ; " I vant to suck your blood " , just a thought.

[@steverhodesvideos6244]

Unfortunately he never said those words in any film. The closest he came was, "I never drink wine." Just sayin'.

[@steveweinstein3222]

$12,500 a week was more than major CEOs were getting.

[@rodneypodesta6087]

I was llead to bleave the jazz singer was the first movie with sound

[@michaelboese6069]

It was the first movie with some dialog, but not the first with sound.

[@lindabranigan2460]

Is there anyone better than James Mason's elocution? Wait a minute. How about Ricard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Peter Finch, Albert Finney, Rex Harrison, Claude Rains, Stewart Granger, Errol Flynn, Ben Lyon( silent talking and executive producer of film) Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and lastly Laurence Olivier. All are equally eloquent and all are equally Brutish. Ironic, is it not?

[@martynnotman3467]

Flynn was actually Australian!

[@steverhodesvideos6244]

Kind of disappointed that there was no mention in this series of Theda Bara, aka "The Vamp."

[@loopshackr]

Could be that clips were hard to find. Bara quit films before the end of the silents. A disastrous 1937 fire in Fox's nitrate film vaults destroyed most of the studio's silent film archive. Only six of Bara's forty films survive (per IMDb).

[@martynnotman3467]

​@@loopshackryep and those survivors were hard to find before dvds came along, none were issued on tape in 1980 when this was made.

[@andypatterson3817]

Does anyone know the name of the music at 42:40? It's beautiful.

[@gunterangel]

It's a very condensed version of the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony Nr.6, "Pathétique".

[@andypatterson3817]

​@@gunterangelThanks! Carl Davis did an amazing job on this soundtrack.

[@gunterangel]

@@andypatterson3817 Indeed, he did ! 👍 His new scores for several of the silent classics are really excellent. Especially that one for the silent "Ben Hur" (1925). You can hear his music for the chariot race towards the end of episode Nr.11 of this series. It's a great example of Davis' accomplished use of Wagnerian leitmotifs throughout the entire movie, each character has one: Ben Hur, Messala, Tirza and, of course, Christ, in the simple yet so beautiful form of an uprising diatonic scale. During the race we can literally hear Ben-Hur's and Messala's leitmotifs fighting against each other, so marvelously done. Each time Ben-Hur is in the frame, we hear his, each time we see Messala, we hear his leitmotif. I own a CD of the score. It stands on its own as grandiose and beautiful music even without watching the movie. Highly recommended !

[@SaraiSantana-ei8vq]

Who is the girl who dances next to the man with the hat at minute 0:44

[@wilfred508]

Beatrice Dominguez. Man w/hat is Rudolph Valentino.

[@robertmartinez4174]

why in the world did they name that film "The Jazz Singer" ? a true jazz singer would have been Louis Armstrong.

[@j.w.2391]

Al Jolson is one the most grotesque instances of Cultural / Racial Appropriation. But to be "fair", Jolson was doing this stuff slightly before Louis even entered the recording studio in 1923.

[@dumbbo1]

Singing In The Rain accurately depicted how ridiculous Silent acting could become when the lines were spoken. The early talky gangster film shown in this episode sounds boring and hoaky. “You mean…?” “We’re gonna take him…for a ride!” 😆 Thankfully, the writers and actors learned how to get snappy. James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart and Chester Morris could make or break any other hood they came across with just a few words spoken at the right tempo.

[@jilltagmorris]

❤🎉😊🎉❤

[@lindabranigan2460]

P. S. Correction: one American, with a unique voice. Ironic, is it not. Does anyone in Holloywoodland know who it is ?

[@kathrynmcelroy5658]

yes the industry does not have any passion under the color of pure greed.