Silent Films facts

While investigating facts about Silent Films 1920s and Silent Films On Netflix, I found out little known, but curios details like:

In 1916, a silent comedy film was made about "Coke Ennyday" a detective with a fondness for cocaine made as a parody of Sherlock Holmes. He wears a bandolier carrying syringes filled with the drug and frequently injects himself with massive amounts of cocaine to solve crimes.

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Jackie Coogan, the silent film child actor who was famously exploited by his parents for his earnings, found renewed screen success later in life playing Uncle Fester on the Addams Family

What silent films lack?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what are silent films. Here are 50 of the best facts about Silent Films History and Silent Films Stars I managed to collect.

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The term "Cut to the chase" originated from the American film industry's silent movies of the 1920's. These were often laden with obligatory romantic plot-lines that young audiences would find boring, but ended with exciting car or boat chase scenes.
The silent horror film "The Unknown" (1927) was missing for many years in the archives of Cinematheque Francaise because they had hundreds of film cans marked "unknown".
An estimated 90% of silent films are completely lost.
The first ever 3D movie was The Power Of Love, a silent film released in 1922. It was also the first film to have an alternative ending, and the viewer could choose between the happy and sad endings (both shot in 2D) by closing one eye or the other.
During the filming of Eastern Promises, Viggo Mortensen's Russian Mafia tattoos were so realistic that when he walked into a Russian Diner in London, everyone fell silent out of fear.
About 90% of ALL American silent films have been permanently lost as well as about half of all American sound films made before 1950.
Catalina Island (a small island of the coast of L.A.) has non-native buffalo that were brought over for a silent film after the movie was over they left the buffalo and after nearly a century the population has grown to 150.
Silent film comedian Buster Keaton got his start in his father's vaudeville act at the age of 3. His act would be to goad his father into throwing him across the stage, and he became so good at falling that he rarely got bruises. He was eventually billed as "The Little Boy Who Can't Be Damaged."
Charlie Chaplin made his first sound film in 1940, which was 13 years after the emergence of talkies. His silent films in this time were still very popular.
World famous mime Marcel Marceau appears in the 1976 Mel Books film "Silent Movie". He has the only speaking role.

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Why silent films are better?

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The phrase "Cut to the chase" comes from silent movies which often ended with a chase scene. When the film had boring, or to much dialogue executives would say this to the directors.

During initial showings of a scene in the 1903 film "The Great Train Robbery" where a character fires a gun straight at the camera, it is said audience members ducked and put their fingers in their ears, despite the film being silent; some are even said to have fired back at the screen. - source

In 1978, over 500 silent films were discovered buried in the Yukon permafrost, including footage of the scandalous 1919 World Series. - source

Silent movie actors were initially not given on-screen credit for their films, as studio bosses feared it would make the performers too popular, and able to demand higher wages. Actress Florence Lorence was the first to get one in 1910

About Sessue Hayakawa, a Japanese-born actor who became a major Hollywood star in the early silent film period of the 1910's, and noted for his status as a sex symbol, with "his most rabid fan base [being] white women." - source

When did silent films end?

A long lost 1926 Japanese silent horror film was rediscovered 45 years later, when its director found a print in his own storehouse in 1971. Nearly a third of it is still missing.

How silent films started?

Manoel de Oliveira, at 106 years old, is the oldest active film director. He began making films during the silent era and continues to produce about one film per year.

The KKK didn't originally burn crosses. It wasn't until they were portrayed doing so in the 1915 silent film "Birth of a Nation" that the real KKK actually started doing it.

Charlie Chaplin, the actor best remembered for his silent film roles, won the Oscar for Best Original Dramatic Score in 1973 for his film Limelight.

106-year-old Manoel de Oliveira was the oldest active film director until 2015. He began making movies during the silent era.

When were silent films made?

Charlie Chaplin created approximately one short silent film each week in 1914 after the success of Caught in the Rain.

Charlie Chaplin soon created his famous character "the Tramp" and appeared in the silent films Kid Auto Races at Venice, and Mabel's Strange Predicament.

A short, silent documentary film from 1903, "The Cheese Mites" was uploaded to YouTube. It came to the attention of the British Film Institute who then acquired it, as previously only a partial copy was known to exist.

Drummers in the 1920s foley artists became important for silent film makers. The drummer was the individual hired to create the sound effects for the films such as galloping horses, trains arriving, gun shots, and flying planes.

During the silent film era in the early 20th century monsters were popular characters. They included Frankenstein, vampires, werewolves, and lizard-like creatures.

How many silent films are lost?

A silent movie about the dangers of atheism, called The Godless Girl, was a failure in the U.S., but became a hit in Russia after Soviet film censors edited out the main character’s conversion to Christianity

about the bizarre death of silent film star Olive Thomas. She died in 1920, age just 25, of kidney failure after she mistakenly drank the mercury-based topical medicine her husband used for his syphilis sores.

The practice of celebrities putting their foot and handprints in cement in front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood began when Norma Talmadge, a silent film actress, accidentally stepped in wet cement in front of the theater in 1927.

During the silent film era pipe organs were commonly found in theatres to accompany the film.

Thomas Edison took a video of Mark Twain in 1909. The silent film shows Twain walking around his Connecticut property in his signature white suit, smoking a cigar, and having tea with his daughters. It is the only existing footage of him and was taken a year before he died.

In Japanese cinemas, performers known as benshi provided live narration for silent films. They would introduce the story to the audience and often provide voices for the characters. They also provided auditory translations for American films so that subtitles were not necessary.

The term, video "footage", originated from early 35mm silent film which was measured in literal feet and frames.

The stereotypical silent-movie cliché of a woman tied to railroad tracks by a dastardly moustache-twirling villain in a top hat is a complete myth. The first depiction of this trope in a silent film actually comes from a spoof home movie made by a group of comedians in the 1920s.

Quimby was a screenwriter and seven of her screenplays were make into silent films directed by D.W.Griffith.

Most of the silent films made by Fox were lost in a fire in 1937, including the entire filmography of some actors

One of the most famous actresses of the silent film era in the US was Alla Nazimova, originally from Russia. She had romantic affairs with a number of other actresses and coined the use of the phrase "sewing circle" to refer to closeted lesbian or bisexual actresses of her day.

The music video for Tonight Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins is based on a French Silent Film from 1902 called "Le Voyage dans la Lune", which is widely considered to be the first Science Fiction film ever made.

In 1978, over 500 silent-era films from the early 20th century were discovered preserved in the permafrost in the subarctic town of Dawson City, Yukon.

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