Hi Guys!  ;D

For the longest time, I have been a fan of silent films and most of the stars in them.
I was wondering if anyone else on this part of the board liked silent films stars and if you do, who are some of your faves?

My fave male stars are: Rudolph Valentino (80 years after his death, he is still garnering fans.) Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy, Douglas Fairbanks sr, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin.
My fave female stars are: Janet Gaynor, Anna May Wong, Joan Crawford, Mary Pickford and Clara Bow.

Well share everyone!  ;D

I have never, ever seen a silent movie.  To be fair though, I haven't seen too many of the "talkies" either  :)

The Tramp is my favorite.  My favorite actor is little Jackie Coogan- known to most people as "Uncle Festor" he started out in Silent Films.

I love Lillian Gish but for obvious reasons not a big fan of DW Griffiths work... I know he was a pioneer filmmaker and all but still I detest his films.

edited to add...

I meant to say I really love the films of Oscar Micheaux.  Ever seen any of his stuff?

I liked "Modern Times". It combines Comedy with Drama and Charlie Chaplin sings. "The Great Dictator" had Chaplin talk!

And the best Silent Film (to me) thus far is Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie".

Aww Ladybug. I almost fainted when you said you never saw one.  :o OMG, some of the best films I've seen are silents. (Sunrise, Toll of the Sea, Noseferatu, etc.)

I've seen a BUNCH of Rudy V. movies. I just really appreciate the older things. I think that just because something is a little longer in the tooth, doesn't mean it should be forgotten.

True story... I put myself through college (majoring in film studies)  I had to work 2 jobs...plus I was a research assistant for a prof & taking a full load.  One of my jobs was a graveyard shift at a grocery store. I got off work at 0730 hours... my first class was at 0800 hrs. it was silent film. the lights went down, the music came on and I fell sound asleep.  I actually fell asleep during my midterm!  ;D  Needless to say I failed the class and had to retake it!!!

You didn't answer my question tho...have you seen the films of Oscar Micheaux?

And what do you think about DW Griffith. Have you seen Birth of a Nation... The worst thing about film studies... almost every class showed Birth of a Nation so I saw 8 or 9 times in four years.

i've only seen Salomè with Alla Nazimova, A Fool There Was with Theda Bara, and Queen Kelly with Gloria Swanson all the way through. i think Gloria Swanson was the most interesting of these actresses. i also think she was one of the most beautiful silent film actresses, along with Greta Garbo. i LOVE looking at pictures of her from '10's and '20's when she was a big star. i love all the costumes she wore. this is a fantastic website to go to to see silent film star pictures: http://www.silentladies.com/Ladies.html. i have Swanson's out of print autobiography, but i haven't read it yet.

on another note, i can't see what people saw in Theda Bara AT ALL  :o. to me she is very homely and frightening to look at. she was a huge sex symbol.... ???

http://silentladies.com/Bara/Bara102.jpg

http://silentladies.com/Bara/Bara48.jpg

http://silentladies.com/Bara/Bara42.jpg

Not really into silent films, but actually enjoyed some  Felix the Cat & Oswald Rabbit cartoons

Hi Guys!

@Snoz: Sorry, yes, I have seen a couple of Micheaux films. I had the misfortune of seeing Birth of a Nation. I had known that it was banned, but didn't know why. I watched it--it took up three hours on TCM. It was a mess. If it hasn't been banned again, it should be Yecck!

@Sioux: I don't like Theda Bara too much. She looks scary. But she was a star in the middle of the bootlegging craze. I guess enough White Lightening Whiskey will make anyone look pretty.  ;D

Hey Apollonia,

I've seen quite a few silent films - many with Mary Pickford, Bustor Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert, John Barrymore, Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish, Louise Brooks, etc.

I think one of my faves is called "What Price, Glory?," plus: "City Lights" and the many films that Chaplin and Edna Purviance starred in. 

I'm not a great fan of silent films, although I do enjoy them if I happen to see one on television.

I own only one silent film on DVD: Nosferatu. I bought that because I'm a horror film fan.

My favorite is definitely Mary Pickford.

Nosferatu was a great flick for its time and the Charlie Chaplin movies were always good. My kids saw one the other day and couldn't stop laughing......

Silent films. Don't see many these days. I have a few silents in my DVD library. One collection is of obscure silent film comedies. My favorite is Charley Bower. He was an ok actor but his real skill was directing stop-action animation. Amazing what he achieved with the available technology. "Egged On" is my favorite of his movies. In it there is a great scene in which the hero puts eggs to incubate under the hood of a Model T Ford, and when the eggs hatch, little model t fords hatch out of the shells and stream down and go under the mama Ford who folds her tires/wings and broods over her model t chicks. Amazing.

Then there is Charlie Chaplin who holds up after all these years. Hilarious.
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was a great athlete, and he swashbuckled with the best of any era.
Come to think of it, if you like dazzle--which I obviously do--Houdini made some movies and, while the plots aren't much, the stunts are unbelievable.
Buster Keaton in "Steamboat Willie" and "Sherlock Holmes Junior" is very good. Oh, and Keaton's "The General" is a masterpiece.

Buster was the true master of the day....he ended up as head writer for Red Skelton & Red remade the General.......Buster seemed to marry every leading lady from every film he made! ;D
If IFC or other runs them I always watch them!
Buster ended up living in a trailer on MGM's lot..Drinking & gambling & womanizing .Mayer sent his son down to try to put an end to Busters scocial club but mayers son was also a ring leader with Buster in the nightly Partys........I love the scene in "Our Relations" where the guy standing in the woods starts throwing rocks at the train engineer....The engineer starts throwing wood back at the fella throwing rocks....when the train passes the guy picks up the wood & goes home!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D