You should watch Sunrise.
What?
You should watch Sunrise.
What, the morning show, are you serious?
No, don’t be stupid. It’s a film. I saw it in the video shop a while ago and it said on the jacket that it was widely acclaimed as the best silent film ever made. Anyway, today I noticed that the BFI released an updated list of the top 50 films ever made and its number five.
What’s number one?
Vertigo.
Vertigo, that’s ridiculous.
Yes well it is totally bizarre that Vertigo would be the number one of all time. I don’t see how Mulholland Drive could be the only film from the twenty first century either. Number two, Citizen Kane is certainly not one of my favorite films either; I always thought Casablanca was much better…
What’s so good about this film?
Well, I don’t know, it’s full of beautiful intricate images. It flows – very cleverly made.
Isn’t it dated?
Something doesn’t have to be realistic to be artistic. Mary Pickford used to say, right at the time when everyone was saying how amazing the talkies were, that if things were logical then talkies would precede silent film.
Do you have a top five film list that you would recommend?
No I haven’t got a top five list off the top of my head I’ll have to think about it.
Not ‘Tootsie?’ Not ‘Apocalypse Now.’
No why would they be in the top five list I don’t like either of them.
Do you think cinema today has lost something?
Yeah I think it’s lost something that silent film has done better. That’s why Mary Pickford was on the mark. I don’t like the way films today control your emotions through music. They make you think this is dramatic, listen to the music. This is suspenseful, listen to the music.
Didn’t silent films do that?
They didn’t overpower you the way these ones do so you can’t escape the sound. Psycho and the shower scene – every blow of the knife is that stupid sound.
But I would have thought silent films would do this more?
It’s more subtle. It develops in the background. There is far too much emphasis on effects. Special effects control. Films were better when they didn’t have special effects. They don’t understand that murder and ghosts and things are better depicted by innuendo not goriness.
Do you think anyone is making good films?
I’m not saying there are not good films being made. I just don’t like the way actions and special effects are taking over, as a general rule.
Interesting.
Yes it’s fascinating to have someone on tap with an innate understanding of the industry
Oh Yes, true.
Anyway I have to go now. They are putting Avatar on TV and I haven’t seen it yet.
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