Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film (1980)

Leave it to the wonderful Cinephilia and Beyond to find this gem: “Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film”.

Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film (1980) is the definitive documentary about the American silent film industry. The series consists of thirteen fifty-minute episodes, with each episode dealing with a specific aspect of Hollywood history. The actor James Mason, an enthusiast of the period, supplied the narration; a lilting score was contributed by Carl Davis. In North America, the series was released in 1990 by HBO Video on VHS and LaserDisc. Attempts to release the series on DVD in the United Kingdom in 2006 were met with legal entanglements of copyright issues and clip clearances, due to the overwhelming number of participants and film clips involved in the series; it was briefly available in a few online stores in the UK before being quickly pulled.

Here is Episode 1:

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Some of the greatest movies of all time are silent films including The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Wings (1927), City Lights (1927), Metropolis (1927), Sunrise (1927), and The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). Silent films remind us of the power of visual storytelling.

For all 13 episodes of the documentary series, go here.

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Twitter: @LaFamiliaFilm.