Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film

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Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film - 04 Hollywood Goes to War

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Күн бұрын

Episode 4 of 13.
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The outbreak of World War I provides Hollywood with a successful source for plots and profits. Peacetime curtails the release of war movies, until the release of King Vidor's The Big Parade in 1925. Wings (1927) earns the first Academy Award for Best Picture. As movies transition to sound, Universal releases Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, showing the German side of the conflict, becoming a powerful statement of war by the generation that fought it. Interviews include Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., King Vidor and Lillian Gish.

Пікірлер: 19

@paulakpacente 3 жыл бұрын

I have to put in my 2 cents here. My grandparents were both immigrants from what is now the Czech Republic. They wound up in Chicago, Illinois, but didn't meet until my grandmother was about 17. My grandfather enlisted in the American Army when he was about 15 years old. He signed up for 1 year, but he wrote a European "1" which was construed as 7 years. He first fought in the Cavalry in the Mexican Expedition, and was sent to Europe in 1917 to fight in WWI. He was a sharpshooter and was wounded which gave him medals. Unfortunately, his medals are lost. My grandmother who arrived in Chicago at the age of 11 taught herself English by watching silent movies. She also learned the words to "I Never Raised My Boy To Be A Soldier", "Over There" and many other WWI songs which she sang until my grandfather died when I was 10 years old. I feel lucky that I had an insight into history from my people who were born so long ago...

@lynettedonovan385 11 ай бұрын

🎉

@boris1932 Жыл бұрын

My grandfather fought in WW1 -- Went over in December of 1917 and got back state side in 1919. He was in 5 major battles (one was Belleau Wood) as part of the 5th Marines. My mom always told me he never went into any details about the war. I can only imagine the "hellish" experiences he endured. I have his honorable discharge certificate.

@bostonblackie9503 2 жыл бұрын

You also have to remember that as Americans were going off to war the Spanish Influencer was starting with a bang. Named 'Spanish' because it was the only country that would admit to the virus, The US president, even though he caught the virus in France, never admitted there was such a thing. Things don't change much!

@veritas6335 3 жыл бұрын

What is the theme song played under the title sequence? (And used throughout the documentary.). It's very evocative of the era.

@airliebird58 2 жыл бұрын

Its called 'Up in Lights' composed by Carl Davies: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qtp5gbWJ0JbUn40.html

@steveweinstein3222 2 ай бұрын

"The atrocities in this film were not committed by the Germans in World War I." Actually, they were.

@jackmorrison7379 Жыл бұрын

Ha, Agnes DeMille if you watch every episode had no love (grudging admiration maybe) for her uncle C.B. She was back then perfect for early 1980's Brit documentary. A smug "artiste " (in her case ballet) of the sophisticated set. The NYC effete salon set. The chattering class, who considered themselves better than the yokels of the rest of America. the other 98 percent. The view of C.B. back then was colored mostly by his politics, his highly unfashionable conservatism, and a bombastic religiosity. Modern consideration is more mixed. He was never a great director but good at massive epics for which he became known. His directing in silent dramatic films with Gloria Swanson is also important, as they were not massive epics but studies of marriage, love and class.

@georgerodriquez7744 3 жыл бұрын

Am all done.cant see anymore

@classiclife7204 3 жыл бұрын

War is like love; you do silly things when you first fall into it. Those snappy and snazzy little outfits that Pickford and DeMille pranced around in - I'd wager both silently cringed at the memory of that in their later years. Well, as for the rest of it, the film industry is never at its best when making propaganda: most of these examples look pretty dreadful. Even "The Big Parade", though made after the War and therefore an advance in the cause of war cinema, is only remembered today to the extent that John Gilbert is remembered. The only justly lasting film featured here is "All Quiet on the Western Front". I note its thoroughly European focus and none of those dreadful George Cohan songs thumping in the background (even ironically).

@veritas6335 3 жыл бұрын

Those "dreadful Cohan songs" were actually very stirring and in keeping with the times and the general feeling and lack of sophistication of the American public. "Over There" was a thrilling melody and lyric and a powerful motivator when it came to inspiring young men to join up. That song and others like "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "You're a Grand Old Flag" thrilled Americans with patriotic fervor and pride in their country and still do. They're played at Fourth of July celebrations every year and drove the James Cagney film Yankee Doodle Dandy, the story of Cohan's life. Your being cynical about them and sneering at them betrays only bitterness and a failure to relate to the spirit, and the people, of the times.

@classiclife7204 3 жыл бұрын

@@veritas6335 Caroline. I just don't like Cohan's music. I'm allowed to do that. You seem a tad excessive. Get a grip.

@veritas6335 3 жыл бұрын

My grip is just fine, thank you. The fact that I do like the Cohan music does not mean I have lost it. As a historian I simply understand the times better than you do.

@classiclife7204 3 жыл бұрын

@@veritas6335 I wasn't referring to your losing your grip because you like the music of Cohan. I was referring to your insults to me personally and your general know-it-all attitude about nothing particularly important. It hardly takes a "historian" to point out that the USA was a more innocent place in 1917, or that George M. Cohan's music was popular during that time. You've said nothing that I didn't already know and have not demonstrated any specialized knowledge about the times, the war, or the movies and music of the era. In my original post, I managed to express my opinion without insulting anyone in particular, except perhaps George M. Cohan. I didn't say, "you fools are all beneath me because you think 'Over There' is great." A key component of the Internet Age is to be able to handle opinions that are different than yours. It seems your love of high-flying flags and whatnot hasn't taught you any manners. Best of luck to you.

@jackmorrison7379 Жыл бұрын

Dissent. It is easy to film a German antiwar novel as an antiwar propaganda film("All Quiet, etc.").They were the losers. The population of the winning nations felt differently. To disparage the sacrifices of "our boys" might get you shot or run out of town or even investigated by the govt. in those days. Most critics view King Vidor's "The Big Parade" with John Gilbert as a mildly antiwar movie and it was. The Gilbert leading character comes home as a rich son missing a leg, and his folks are less than supportive. He goes back to France post-war to meet and live with a French woman he met in the war. There is no dreadful war is glorious nonsense though Vidor clearly makes the Allies the good guys. I disagree that "The Big Parade" is forgotten unless we are limiting our survey to non-Americans and/or Gen Z.