Make You Own Film Festival (Short Films Box Set)

November 5, 2:45 PMWilmington Movie ExaminerBernardo Villela

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Lois Weber's Suspense (1913)

Short films are another way to have your own film festival and it's perfect for those with a very short attention span. The easiest and most long-lasting way to have a shorts festival is to get a box set of them. While they're not the most abundant in the world they are easier to find than other methods.

Recently, this critic has had two shorts fests one of box set and another off On Demand, which will be featured later. The set used in this fest was called Saved from the Flames: 54 Rare and Restored Films 1896-1944. This is a tremendous collection by Flicker Alley. It features introductions and facts necessary to the complete understanding of the content and context of the films on these discs. The title cards that frequently accompany these shorts are emulated within the booklet.

The makers of the DVD also split the films into distinctive programs.

New Beginnings

Features some of the earlier experiments in the history of film. Some of the selections by the Lumiere brothers, others tinted, one 1900 attempt to produce a scene from Cyrano de Bergerac was not only tinted but also had sound on cylinder and then in 1907 an actor singing "The Marseillaise" with sound coming from the projector these lost gems prove to us, lest we forget, that sound and color were always desired just not always practical.

Magical Movies

These feature some of the earliest tricksters and special effects wizards. Fittingly Georges Méliès has the first selection with a little tale about a magician. In 1901 having an actor disappear on screen must've absolutely floored people. It's an old hat trick by now but this was the man who invented many of these things we now take for granted. There is also a Pathe ripoff of Méliès Voyage to the Moon which is quite similar and interesting case of copyright not having hit the world of cinema because it was most definitely infringed upon. Lastly the very clever stop-motion The Automatic Moving Company.

Seeing the World

Displays the early power of film as an art form. What likely established its importance of the form first was documentary footage. It was news men who powered the documentary and women behind the scenes and on camera that powered the narrative form in its early days. These films feature footage of the Seine flooding, a California road race, in informational travel film, a dirigible flight, street urchins, pygmies and more.

Laughing Like We Used To

Features many early comedies including The Dancing Pig, a clever use of puppetry, and early car race short by Charles Chaplin, an early silent featuring Stan Laurel without Hardy and a Mack Sennett caper.

Drawings and Models

Features a brief history of lost animation. It starts with the absolutely stunning 1908 masterpiece by Emil Cohl, Fantasmagorie, featuring the kind of metamorphic montage that would later become a Disney staple. It also includes two early and bizarre works by master animators Balloonland by Ub Iwerks and Play Safe by Max Fleisher both hallucinogenic, creepy to an extent whether intentionally or not, and funny at times.

Grace Notes

Features many lost or rare musical performances. These aren't music videos either these are veritable mini-sets. Duke Ellington playing with his band is 19 minutes long. There's a live performance of Louis Armstrong in Copenhagen and a rare thought lost recording of French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

Persuade Me

A fascinating collection which proves that yesteryear art could be found even in propaganda. This section includes California Election News #2 a covert MGM produced piece of Republican propaganda intended to disrupt Upton Sinclair's candidacy for governor in 1934. There is a triad of ads starring French icons the most notable is Fernandel's cigarette commercial. There is a French dubbed MGM reel starring Laurel & Hardy featuring the 1936 releases of the studio. A nearly silent making of a car at the Chevrolet plant and a brilliant piece of stop-motion animation by the legendary George Pal. A hilarious yet absolutely politically incorrect WW II jingle sung by William Frawley before his I Love Lucy days and then Chuck Jones's Hell-Bent for Election which managed to be entertaining and persuasive and inoffensive at the same time. More evidence of Jones's genius.  

Tell Me a Story

Three tales from when the narrative form had just gained its foothold. First, a D.W. Griffith tale called For His Son, probably the most melodramatic, moralistic tripe taken to a humorous extent that this critic has ever seen. Granted it's making a decent point about when soft drink makers included cocaine in their formulae but the interpretation of addiction, the fiendishness of the acting depicting it and the plot twists were just wild. Griffith is an icon but this is not what he is remembered for. That's followed by Lois Weber's Suspense and that is a magnificent work that lives up to its title and is some of the earliest split-screen witnessed and great crosscutting. It too is a somewhat dated but genius for being ahead of its time. Then comes the forgettable Heart of an Indian by a good filmmaker of the era Thomas Ince.

One for the Road

There is a very sweet, cherry on top addition to this fascinating collection which makes it all worthwhile. You will only get a hint as to what the contents of this three-and-a-half minute short are. The clue is: The short will be familiar to fans of Cinema Paradiso as it is the real life version of one of the scenes.

Many silent film collections exist as the feature film was an invention of the teens and at first no one thought they would ever catch on so much of early cinema is short and available in collections that will allow you to make your own festival too.

For more info: this set can be purchased at Amazon.