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This is a critique of the silent films Alice in Wonderland and The Phantom of the Opera from my Film Critic class. If anyone has time, could they edit it? Thank you! 😁
The Silent Film Era Seen Through Two Films
The silent film era is a valuable part of film history, having immense amounts of growth in its thirty-seven years. Two films from the time are Alice in Wonderland (1915) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). There are many aspects of silent films that make it possible to tell a story without audio. Title cards have dialogue and explain the action. Music plays an instrumental part in conveying emotions and adding suspense to the movie. The most important part, perhaps, is the actors who have to portray their characters and emotions without uttering any sounds or words to convey their thoughts.
Alice in Wonderland was directed by W. W. Young and produced by Nonpareil Feature Film Corp. It follows Lewis Carol’s novel almost exactly. Viola Savoy premiered as Alice in the film and had only been in one other after (“IMDB”). The film tells the story of young Alice when she falls into a rabbit hole into the incredible Wonderland. The story is well-known and has been made into many more adaptations since then. It is also especially important because it was the first Alice in Wonderland film made.
The Phantom of the Opera (directed by Rupert Julian and produced by Universal Pictures) is iconic as both a silent film and a horror. It tells the story, written by Gaston Leroux, of Erik, the man living under the opera house, who was cast away by people because of his appearance, and the consequences of that. Above his home are the lovers Christene Daae, an opera singer that the Phantom taught, and Raoul de Chagny, her fiance. The Phantom (Erik) is played by Lon Chanley, ‘the Man of a Thousand Faces’, one of the most well-known and prominent silent film actors.
The actors in silent films have an important and sometimes hard role. They have to portray their emotions through only body language. Although their expressions may seem overdramatic now, it is necessary to tell the story without sound. This was especially hard for many of the actors in Alice in Wonderland who were in full-body costumes, eliminating their ability to use facial expressions as well. Some of the actors from Alice in Wonderland are even not known because of the masks and lack of records. Many actors in The Phantom of the Opera on the other hand are well-known in the world of silent films. Lon Chanley, who played the Phantom or Erik, and Mary Philbin, who played Christene, are both popular silent film actors and actresses. They were especially expressive and portrayed their characters without the need for words and sounds.
Music also adds emotion to silent films. “Silent films helped emphasize the use of sound and silence to tell a story” (“The Importance…”). Music was played in the theatre throughout the showing of the film to accentuate emotion and action. Like a score to a film with sound, the silent film soundtrack used music to go along with the story. The music seemed to play a bigger part in The Phantom of the Opera than in Alice in Wonderland as it used its strength as a story-teller more. Another important piece of a silent film is the title cards. Title cards explain the action and give the characters occasional dialogue when necessary. Sometimes they are used more, like in The Phantom of the Opera, and sometimes they are only used lightly, like in Alice in Wonderland. Although title cards give information that is usually important to the story, they are also extradiegetic and can take the viewer away from the world they are watching.
Alice in Wonderland holds important historical value as a silent film and the first movie adaptation of Lewis Carol’s novel. Alone, however, the film is mildly forgettable. Many of the actors are unknown or lost in history because of the costumes and lack of records for the movie. The costumes also contributed to the actors not being able to convey as much emotion and thus caused their acting to be much less impactful. The music, however, was well used to convey any emotions that could not be told through acting or dialogue. The film is also an almost word-for-word adaptation of the novel, not having much creativity or originality. In spite of this, it is interesting and inspiring to see the techniques and effects used by the early filmmakers to create the fantasy.
The primary downfall of Rupert Julian’s The Phantom of the Opera is its lack of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway soundtrack. But since it was made over two decades before he was born, it will have to be let go. The Phantom of the Opera is a stellar example of the silent film era, replacing sound with other means of telling the story. The film uses the shadow of the Phantom to add suspense. It also sometimes uses objects; when Christene wakes up beneath the opera she sees many things she would need and even a mirror with her name on it, telling her and the viewers that the Phantom had been planning for a while. The actors are expressive and the music does its own part in the story-telling. Although not every detail of the story can be told in the old film, it uses the many ways it has to give the watchers a suspenseful film filled with emotion.
The best silent films successfully get past the drawback of having no sound by replacing it with expressive acting, emotional music, title cards, and story-telling objects. The lack of sound forces directors to focus on only what they most want to be told. (“The Importance…”). Alice in Wonderland used these other means of telling the story well enough to get the basic plot across, but much of the passion is hidden by the costumes and the small number of title cards. On the other hand, The Phantom of the Opera told the basic plot and more by using those same story-telling techniques along with symbolic objects and dramatic music. Although one gets past the limitation of a silent film better than the other, both are important to the era.Works Cited
Alice in Wonderland. Directed by W.W. Young, Nonpareil Feature Film Corp., 1915.
“The Importance of Silent Movies,” Discovering Chaplin. https://discoveringchaplin.com/the- importance-of-silent-movies/. Accessed 29 September 2022.
The Phantom of the Opera. Directed by Rupert Julian, with performances by Lon Chanley, Mary Philbin, and Norman Kelly, Universal Picture, 1925.- Rank: Chosen One
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@theloonyone. Considering I need to improve my grammar DRASTICALLY, can’t say I can really help. xD
But best of luck to you, girl! 😉
I liked it and felt that it flowed well. I don’t know if I’m the best person to edit as when I edit things I mostly look at plot, character and story related stuff also I have never taken film studies (although Patrick sometimes tells me and Kavi what he’s learning about in film studies during AP compsci). Sorry if that wasn’t too helpful but at least from what I saw it seemed to be very good.
@freedomwriter76. @folith-feolin.
Thank you! I have grammarly so the grammar isn’t my biggest concern. It’s more how it flows (which you said it did) and if it makes sense. Don’t worry, you were helpful. I was just looking for some extra reads and edits.
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