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A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen
334 Page,Year by Year pictoriaj History of the Silent Screen.
334 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1953
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 16, 2016
I discovered this book at a faded movie star's house two years ago. The movie star, who shall remain unnamed, was having a birthday party, and I didn't know anybody there, so I focused on the bookshelf, took down this book, and sat staring at it until I finally forced myself to mingle a little. There's some text, but the book is mostly pictures, as the title says, and I found myself fascinated by all these faces, a few of them photographed in the nineteenth century, so that, wanting to know more about them, I googled a lot of names while reading.
Above, for instance, is the ravishing Renée Adorée. I'd seen her in King Vidor's The Big Parade, though I didn't remember it. She came from a circus family and died of tuberculosis at 35, only a few years after making The Big Parade.
Valda Valkyrien, an Icelandic ballerina who married a Danish nobleman, began her silent-movie career in Denmark, only to move to Hollywood and die there in 1956, long after she retired from acting.
Elmer Clifton appeared in D. W. Griffith's landmark The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, and soon moved to the other side of the camera, second-unit directing on Griffith's Way Down East and performing some of the perilous stunts in that movie's famous "rescue on the ice" sequence. Clifton's directing career was derailed when the star of The Warrens of Virginia, a film he was shooting in Texas, was badly burned on the set and died. Clifton wasn't at fault, but his career never fully recovered.
Antonio Moreno's career began to falter with the advent of the talkies, due to his heavy Spanish accent. He moved to Mexico, where, like Elmer Clifton, he began a directing career, and later established himself as a Hollywood character actor, with parts in The Creature from the Black Lagoon and John Ford's The Searchers.
Blanche Sweet's career also faltered when the talkies were born. She made just three sound movies and moved on to stage and radio work. When that, too, dried up, she worked in a department store. She died at 90 in New York City.
Matty Kemp died at 92 in Los Angeles. His career began in 1926, the year before the first talkie, and he continued to act in small parts until the forties. Then he switched gears, becoming a producer and working as an executive for Mary Pickford's production company.
Vivian Martin left movies in 1921 and returned to her first love, the stage. Like Matty Kemp and Blanche Sweet, she lived a long life, dying at 93 in New York City, where she was a benefactress to young performers.
None of these stories can be found in A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen, but the faces can be, and there are many more, no less photogenic, awaiting rediscovery.
Above, for instance, is the ravishing Renée Adorée. I'd seen her in King Vidor's The Big Parade, though I didn't remember it. She came from a circus family and died of tuberculosis at 35, only a few years after making The Big Parade.
Valda Valkyrien, an Icelandic ballerina who married a Danish nobleman, began her silent-movie career in Denmark, only to move to Hollywood and die there in 1956, long after she retired from acting.
Elmer Clifton appeared in D. W. Griffith's landmark The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, and soon moved to the other side of the camera, second-unit directing on Griffith's Way Down East and performing some of the perilous stunts in that movie's famous "rescue on the ice" sequence. Clifton's directing career was derailed when the star of The Warrens of Virginia, a film he was shooting in Texas, was badly burned on the set and died. Clifton wasn't at fault, but his career never fully recovered.
Antonio Moreno's career began to falter with the advent of the talkies, due to his heavy Spanish accent. He moved to Mexico, where, like Elmer Clifton, he began a directing career, and later established himself as a Hollywood character actor, with parts in The Creature from the Black Lagoon and John Ford's The Searchers.
Blanche Sweet's career also faltered when the talkies were born. She made just three sound movies and moved on to stage and radio work. When that, too, dried up, she worked in a department store. She died at 90 in New York City.
Matty Kemp died at 92 in Los Angeles. His career began in 1926, the year before the first talkie, and he continued to act in small parts until the forties. Then he switched gears, becoming a producer and working as an executive for Mary Pickford's production company.
Vivian Martin left movies in 1921 and returned to her first love, the stage. Like Matty Kemp and Blanche Sweet, she lived a long life, dying at 93 in New York City, where she was a benefactress to young performers.
None of these stories can be found in A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen, but the faces can be, and there are many more, no less photogenic, awaiting rediscovery.
August 25, 2020
First published 65 years ago, this Daniel Blum extravaganza is an entertaining and indispensable guide to the Silent Screen.
With 3000 rare and unique film stills and portraits of everybody that was anybody in the grand old days before the movies "lost their way" and became talkies.
Mr. Blum, the founder and editor of all the early Theatre World and Screen World annuals has also provided a year by year informative history of this pioneering period of cinema.
The pictorial scope of this volume has never been equaled and is one no fan of the movies should be without.
One of my first and still favorite books in my collection. A real treasure trove and one film book that doesn't need updating!
If film historians were awarded Oscars, Daniel Blum (1899-1965) would easily be first in line.
334 large sized pages.
With 3000 rare and unique film stills and portraits of everybody that was anybody in the grand old days before the movies "lost their way" and became talkies.
Mr. Blum, the founder and editor of all the early Theatre World and Screen World annuals has also provided a year by year informative history of this pioneering period of cinema.
The pictorial scope of this volume has never been equaled and is one no fan of the movies should be without.
One of my first and still favorite books in my collection. A real treasure trove and one film book that doesn't need updating!
If film historians were awarded Oscars, Daniel Blum (1899-1965) would easily be first in line.
334 large sized pages.
November 25, 2009
My all time favorite silent film book. Not much text, but an enormous number of pictures. They are usually quite small, but are still a treasure trove. I think this was the book that most influenced me in my fascination for silent films. All those wonderful faces made me curious to see more. It's been wonderful through the years to finally see many of the films and discover the personalities that go along with the faces.
August 27, 2008
An invaluable reference. The best collection of film stills ever assembled in one book. While the book does contain some text, this is mainly eye-candy. It also underscores just how much of our film heritage is missing by all the pictures of films we'll probably never see.
August 19, 2018
I acquired the sequel to this, on the early talkies, for a steal of a price, but later found out the silent era was more pertinent to my research needs. This book is an absolute treasure for anyone interested in the early era of film. It is organized by year. Text is minimal, just enough to provide each year with some context about the major films or flops, ascending actors, or other intriguing info. The book is all about pictures, really. Each page is covered with arrays of photographs of actors and actresses and information on the film and company. At a glance, a reader can see trends in historical set pieces and flapper hairstyles and little Fairbanks mustaches. Many of these films and actors have virtually no presence online--in many cases, the movies are outright lost--which makes an old fashioned paper book like this all the more important.
July 8, 2018
1916 “The price of two dollars a seat for a motion picture, which Triangle had inaugurated, was now becoming an established price for films that were shown in legitimate theaters around the country.”
February 25, 2022
The layout of this history is a bit like a scrapbook or a magazine, with lots of pictures and blocks of text included here and there.
I might have rated this five stars if not for the substandard picture quality. This may be down to my downloading a free PDF copy from Open Library, as the pages are all scanned by what looks like someone in a rush. By that I mean numerous pages have one edge or the other missing, while other pages are anything but straight.
Many photos were faint or blurry, and in some instances people's faces are white over, devoid of eyes, nose, and mouth, though this may also be down specifically to my scanned copy. I'd like to think that if anyone bought a hard copy that the photos would be of a better standard. Most of the bigger photos, particularly those that fill an entire page, are clear and of good quality.
Text-wise, the writing is simple and to the point. It's an easy read, but owing to lack of space, nothing goes into great detail, but then you wouldn't expect it to, it being a pictorial history.
I'm a fan of several stars featured in this book, such Mary Pickford, Janet Gaynor, and Harold Lloyd, but it also introduced me to a lot of people I've never heard of. It's sad, really, that so many famous actors and actresses are now remembered by so few.
I might have rated this five stars if not for the substandard picture quality. This may be down to my downloading a free PDF copy from Open Library, as the pages are all scanned by what looks like someone in a rush. By that I mean numerous pages have one edge or the other missing, while other pages are anything but straight.
Many photos were faint or blurry, and in some instances people's faces are white over, devoid of eyes, nose, and mouth, though this may also be down specifically to my scanned copy. I'd like to think that if anyone bought a hard copy that the photos would be of a better standard. Most of the bigger photos, particularly those that fill an entire page, are clear and of good quality.
Text-wise, the writing is simple and to the point. It's an easy read, but owing to lack of space, nothing goes into great detail, but then you wouldn't expect it to, it being a pictorial history.
I'm a fan of several stars featured in this book, such Mary Pickford, Janet Gaynor, and Harold Lloyd, but it also introduced me to a lot of people I've never heard of. It's sad, really, that so many famous actors and actresses are now remembered by so few.
May 7, 2018
Three stars because the content was totally there, but the layout was horrible, horrible, horrible. Awful.
February 25, 2020
An awesome book for silent fans
August 9, 2015
An amazing, and sad, fact about silent movies is that, beginning with the nickelodeons in 1908 until 1930--for twenty-two years, the silent movie industry was a ground-breaking, world-changing phenomenon. Yet from almost the moment sound emerged in movies, the silents were forgotten and have since been basically unseen. Yet much passion and effort and life force went into them.
This book provides a detailed--even if it still must be faint--image-- of what those years may have been like. It begins with Edison, moves to probably the first "star"--the Biograph Girl Florence Lawrence, proceeds through the years as D. W. Griffith makes more and more expansive movies, and Mary Pickford and--to a lesser extent her brother Jack--enter the field. Mary moves from supporting player husband Owen Moore to leading man Douglas Fairbanks, Theda Bara rises and falls, Rudolph Valentino rises and dies, Gloria Swanson poses as a bathing beauty in what we would today call a clown costume.
And then there are the stills from all those movies--classics made and remade, sometimes twice in one year. So much laughter and emotion in rags to gowns from hovels to palaces--all pretty much hidden to us today.
This book provides a detailed--even if it still must be faint--image-- of what those years may have been like. It begins with Edison, moves to probably the first "star"--the Biograph Girl Florence Lawrence, proceeds through the years as D. W. Griffith makes more and more expansive movies, and Mary Pickford and--to a lesser extent her brother Jack--enter the field. Mary moves from supporting player husband Owen Moore to leading man Douglas Fairbanks, Theda Bara rises and falls, Rudolph Valentino rises and dies, Gloria Swanson poses as a bathing beauty in what we would today call a clown costume.
And then there are the stills from all those movies--classics made and remade, sometimes twice in one year. So much laughter and emotion in rags to gowns from hovels to palaces--all pretty much hidden to us today.
May 28, 2008
hundreds of words but many, many thousands pictures. another one i devoured when other kids were trading baseball cards.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews