One Week, One Year

Just like in 2020, going to the movies was a big bummer in 1918 because of a pandemic. But let's not focus on that because the movies were (mostly) fun! We look at some classic slapstick comedy shorts, early animation, stop-motion dinosaurs, ladies refusing to be told what to do, and Scandinavian trips to Mars! 

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

You can check out our Instagram, Twitter, and other social media crap here: http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can watch and form your own opinions from our 1918 Films Discussed playlist right here!

-- One Week, One Reel --

Take A Chance

The Cook

A Dog's Life

Shoulder Arms

The Sinking of the Lusitania

The Ghost of Slumber Mountain

I Don't Want To Be A Man

-- Our Feature Presentation --

The Outlaw and His Wife

Himmelskibet (A Trip To Mars)

Mickey

See you next year!

Time to get the ball rolling again with new episodes! We're gonna put them out as quick as we can, but maybe this whole "one week" thing was a terrible naming blunder on my account. Anyway, time for some Content! This year we've got one of the most famous Chaplin shorts, a DeMille/Pickford propaganda joint, and a movie about the troubles of showbiz. Sure to win best picture at how much quote unquote "Hollywood" is featured, despite it being New Jersey. On with the films!

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

You can check out our Instagram, Twitter, and other social media crap here: http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can watch and form your own opinions from our 1917 Films Discussed playlist right here!

--- One Week, One Reel ---

The Immigrant

The Butcher Boy

--- Our Feature Presentation ---

Straight Shooting

The Little American

A Man There Was

A Girl's Folly

See you next year!

WE HAVE RETURNED! This week: D.W. Griffith's attempt (maybe) to convince the world he wasn't a bigot, actually. Plus, a whole lotta' talk about the film serial "Les Vampires" which contains (checks notes) zero actual vampires. Take it up with Louis Feuillade, it was his call.

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

You can check out our Instagram, Twitter, and other social media crap here: http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can watch and form your own opinions from our 1916 Films Discussed playlist right here! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbjWmIpd1Wtp2mJz1acdNcxay6a--Rn4W

See you next year!

CW for this episode: Rape, suicide, and racial violence

Well if that content warning doesn’t tell you what you need to know, it’s time for the not all it’s cracked up to be and as racist and more than it’s cracked up to be, The Birth of a Nation. We’re excited to have done all the first hand research and leg work to tell you that it is not the revelation in filmic style and form that its reputation has it be. Regardless, there’s a lot to talk about with it, from the specifics of its heinous racial politics to the the things that it reveals about D.W. Griffith as a person. Plus we’ve got a stone cold classic Chaplin, a proto-noir, a well put together art film, and stop-motion dinosaurs!

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

You can check out our Instagram, Twitter, and other social media crap here: http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can watch and form your own opinions from our 1915 Films Discussed playlist right here!

--- One Week, One Reel ---

The Tramp

Pool Sharks

The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy

Two Knights of Vaudeville

--- The Serial Bowl ---

Les Vampires Episode 1: The Severed Head

Les Vampires Episode 2: The Ring that Kills

Les Vampires Episode 3: The Red Cryptogram

--- Our Feature Presentation ---

The Birth of a Nation

Hypocrites

The Cheat

See you next year!

It’s the beginning of Charlie Chaplin and the end of the world! (not related). That’s right, World War I is breaking out and everything is falling apart in Europe. As we hear in the news segment, the Italian Socialist Party thinks this is a bourgeois war and I would tend to agree. What exactly was the point of all this?? On the other hand Charlie Chaplin is just killing it right out of the gate, he’s a screen presence like nothing we’ve seen before. Something we have seen before in our film classes is Gertie the Dinosaur, which is a lesser McCay from a visual standpoint, but a formal and technical leap!

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

--- The Serial Bowl ---

--- One Week, One Reel ---

--- Our Feature Presentation ---

Cris’ favorite: Fantômas vs. Fantômas

See you next year!

As we move through into new eras of film, time to move into new eras of the podcast! To wit, we're introducing our new format, broken up into serials, shorts, and a handful of features, plus we've got our first guest on the line, so welcome to Marco Rummo! In this episode we see our favorite adaptation of many of At the Telephone, with some really daring cinematography and deft direction by America's first female director, Lois Weber! We also delve into the first 3 episodes of Fantômas, a super good serialized crime thriller from our pal Louis Feuillade (I recommend the Kino restoration on Blu-ray!). Plus other stuff! Hey, podcast time!

You can catch up with what Marco is up to here:

https://twitter.com/fleetwoodmarco

https://www.instagram.com/fleetwoodmarco/

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

You can check out our Instagram, Twitter, and other social media crap here: http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can watch and form your own opinions from our 1913 Films Discussed playlist right here!

--- The Serial Bowl ---

Fantômas Episodes 1-3 with Marco Rummo:

Fantômas in the Shadow of the Guillotine

Juve vs. Fantômas

The Murderous Corpse

--- One Week, One Reel ---

Suspense

The Rosary

The Bangville Police

Matrimony’s Speed Limit

A House Divided

Edison Kinetophone Experiments

Gaumont Color Experiments

D.W. Griffith’s Newspaper Ad

The episode of Karina Longworth’s “You Must Remember This” on D.W. Griffith

--- Our Feature Presentation ---

Well folks, it's finally time to say goodbye to our boi, our main man, and the legend himself, Papa Georges Méliès. This year Pathé angles him out of house and home and soon he burns all his films he owns in a rebellious rage. :(

Meanwhile, feature films are getting started, including the earliest surviving American one, filmed in Westchestah! We also have the first narrative film with an all-Black cast, a fun one too! Listen along, folks! Also I hope you all appreciate my Joe's Apartment reference.

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

You can check out our Instagram, Twitter, and other social media crap here: http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can watch and form your own opinions from our 1912 Films Discussed playlist right here!

--- Shipwreck Disasters and Shakespearian Features ---

Saved From the Titanic (lost, link to the wiki page)

In Nacht und Eis

The Obsession

Richard III

--- Glen’s Filmic Forbearers and The Beginning of Keystone ---

Jekyll and Hyde

The Curious Case of Jekyll and Hyde (2006, Dir. Glen Covell)

The Vox video, “Hollywood almost lost to this city”

At Coney Island

Mabel’s Adventures

--- Hello Dolly! (In and Out) ---

Andalusian Superstition

The Passer-By

The Cameraman’s Revenge

The other Vox film history video, “How stop-motion animation began”

--- Cute Kids and the Booming Studio Solax! ---

The Land Beyond the Sunset

The Detective’s Dog

Falling Leaves

Making an American Citizen

A Fool and His Money

Algie the Miner

The Sewer<

Lots of movies this time! Also what do you think of the alternate title A Morally Bankrupt Giving Tree? D.W. Griffith creates a lot of fodder for shady episode titles. We've got our introduction of Winsor McCay, some grand scale Italian and Russian historicals and mythologicals, and some steampunk that can take the place of the lost Aerial Anarchists! Listen along!

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

You can check out our Instagram, Twitter and other social media crap here: http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can watch and form your own opinions from our 1911 Films Discussed playlist right here!

--- A Penultimate Méliès Check-in ---

--- D.W. Griffith Does More Civil War Nonsense And Also Some Not Awful Stuff ---

--- Alice Guy returns at Solax and Louis Feuillade takes her place at Pathé ---

--- The Italian Epics ---

--- Potpourri ---

Well now DW Griffith is beginning to "show his power level" as modern day people of his ilk call it, beginning his fascination with the Civil War. We also have some startlingly mature camera work in the Max Linder films and confident, emotionally complex, and deep storytelling in the Danish debut of Asta Nielsen, The Abyss! (unrelated to James Cameron).

You can watch along with our video version of the episode here on Youtube!

You can check out our Instagram, Twitter and other social media crap here: http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can watch and form your own opinions from our 1910 Films Discussed playlist right here!

--- DW Griffith’s Civil War Films ---

In the Border States

The Fugitive

The House with Closed Shutters

--- Various Other Americana And Also Frankenstein ---

The Unchanging Sea

Ramona

White Fawn’s Devotion

Frankenstein

--- Max Linder Films Being Casually Excellent ---

Max Takes a Bath

Max’s Film Debut

--- Danish Erotic Melodramas ---

The Abyss

The White Slave Trade

--- Potpourri ---

Police in the Year 2000

Aerial Submarine

The Birth of a Flower

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Cris’s Favorite: The Abyss

Glen’s Favorite: Aerial Submarine

The F. Percy Smith Article

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/f-percy-smith-nature-films

See you next year!

Time for a decade in review show! Thought it would be about time to check in on the developments and trends over the course of the first 10 years of the 20th century! A bit of a looser, hangout episode with a juicy Top 10 at the end that you can spoil if you scroll down! We also talk about two movies about this era of film! Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018) and Hugo (2011). See you in 1910!

You can check out our socials and our youtube version where you can watch along at http://linktr.ee/1w1y

And you can check out our Top 10s of the decade playlists here for Glen and here for Cris

--- General takeaways from our journey so far ---

How early color and sound have appeared

Going on a film pilgrimage would be lovely

The complexity and technique evolved very quickly over this decade

The changes in favored genres and how Méliès couldn’t keep up

We have talked about over 300 films so far on the podcast!

What Glen’s taken away as a filmmaker

France is early cinema’s MVP

What we’re looking forward to in the next decade

Public domain, the need for preservation, and the dearth of high quality material

--- Contemporary movies about this era of film ---

38:30 Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018)

46:40 Hugo (2011)

The Extraordinary Voyage

--- Our Top 10s of the decade ---

Cris’ Top 10

1 A Trip to the Moon

2 Legend of a Ghost

3 On the Barricade

4 The Great Train Robbery

5 Kingdom of the Fairies

6 Spring

7 A Voyage to Jupiter

8 The Teddy Bears

9 The Hen that Laid the Golden Eggs

10 Life and Passion of Jesus Christ

Glen’s Top 10

1 A Trip to the Moon

2 Kingdom of the Fairies

3 Legend of a Ghost

4 The Magic Sword

5 History of a Crime

6 The Great Train Robbery

7 The Spring Fairy

8 The Drunken Mattress and The Race for the Sausage

9 On The Barricade

10 Mary Jane’s Mishap

See you next year!