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Course description
Detailed history of film from its origins to early sound films. Among the major topics to be addressed are: pre-cinematic devices and early cinema; the rise of the feature film; the tradition of silent comedy; the rise of the studio and star systems; European movements and their influence; the coming of sound. Prerequisite to the major in Film and Media Studies. Open to all classes.
[Source: ORC/Catalog, 09/16/2022]; DIST: ART; WCult:W
Please note: If you are looking at the history of cinema for a specific country, look at the National Cinemas guide also.
Defining silent cinema
1. In common usage, the period in which cinema first appeared and developed, from the mid 1890s through to the introduction of synchronized sound in the late 1920s; films produced during this time did not have a soundtrack, though, in fact, they were rarely shown in silence.
2. In film studies, silent cinema (films made from around 1904 until the late 1920s) is usually considered as a period of film history that follows early cinema (films made from the mid 1890s until around 1904).
In practice, the silent era is not fully distinct from the early cinema period, with a transitional cinema shaping film production between 1908 and 1917. It is in this period that a number of key changes shift the cinema of attractions towards a feature film-driven standard. Above all, World War I had a damaging effect on the film industries of France, Italy, and Denmark; this, combined with the rise of a vertically integrated studio system in the US, shifted the balance of power in the world’s film industries, with filmmaking conventions associated with the emergence of classical Hollywood cinema becoming increasingly prominent worldwide from 1916. In this period, the multi-reel feature film, increasingly screened in dedicated cinema spaces, or picture palaces, became dominant (see exhibition). The career of D.W. Griffith is indicative: Griffith’s early films, including The Lonedale Operator (1911), make increasingly sophisticated use of editing, narrative/narration, and continuity techniques; and in 1915, The Birth of a Nation brought together intertitles (see subtitle), an original orchestral score, location shooting, elaborate costuming, iris effects (see mask), unusual and innovative camera placements and angles, extensive use of colour tinting, dollying and panning camera shots, closeups to reveal intimate expressions, dissolves to blend images or switch from one image to another, high-angle shots, panoramic long shots (see shot size), and extensive parallel editing. Griffith also cultivated a naturalistic acting style, in contrast to the histrionic acting associated with early cinema. Griffith’s work functioned as a showcase for the filmmaking techniques associated with a truly ‘international style’ emerging in the major film-producing nations, as, for example, in the work of Abel Gance (Napoleon (France, 1927)), Alexsandr Dovzhenko (Zvenigora, (USSR, 1928)), Carl Theodor Dreyer (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc/The Passion of Joan of Arc (France, 1928)), and Fritz Lang (Metropolis (Germany, 1927)) (see France, film in; Germany, film in; USSR, film in). This period of filmmaking is widely celebrated as an influential era of great artistic flourishing (see canon). ...
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Silent cinema. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2 Jun. 2023
In the Library's collections
Locating Library Resources for Early Films
The Jones Media Center has a collection of early films for viewing. To find them, you can do a subject search for "silent films" and limiting the search to "videos." If you have a title in mind, you can search the catalog for the title. You might look at books that talk about early sound films and use those as your guide for finding other titles.
We also have Silent Film Online which is a database of only silent films.
You can use one of these subject headings to start your research in the library's online catalog:
- silent filmsCall number range PN 1993 through PN 1998 on Baker Level 4.
- silent filmsThis search finds actual silent films in our collections. Titles are on videotape, DVDs and streaming.
Introductory reading(s)
100 silent films by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781844573080100 Silent Films provides an authoritative and accessible history of silent cinema through one hundred of its most interesting and significant films. Silent cinema is not a genre; it is the first 35 years of film history, a complex negotiation between art and commerce and a union of creativity and technology. At its most grand - on the big screen with a full orchestral accompaniment - it is magnificent, permitting a depth of emotional engagement rarely found in other fields of cinema. ...
A companion to early cinema by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781118274453An authoritative and much-needed overview of the main issues in the field of early cinema from over 30 leading international scholars in the field. ...
Encyclopedia of early cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.45 .E53 2010ISBN: 9780415778565The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema is a unique one-volume reference work which explores the first 25 years of cinema's development, from the early 1890s to the mid-1910s. These early years of the history of cinema have lately been the subject of resurgent interest and a growing body of scholarship, and have come to be recognized as an extraordinarily diverse period, when moving pictures were quite unlike the kind of cinema that later emerged as the dominant norm. This encyclopedia covers all aspects of scholarship on early cinema, both traditional and revisionist. It contains articles on the technological and industrial developments, the techniques of film production, the actors and filmmakers of the time, and on the changing modes of representation and narration, as well as the social and cultural contexts within which early films circulated, including topics such as distribution, exhibition and audience. ...
An encyclopedic dictionary of women in early American films: 1895-1930 by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780789018434An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 is an A-to-Z reference guide that dispels the myth that men dominated the film industry during its formative years. Denise Lowe presents a rich collection that profiles many of the women who were crucial to the development of cinema as an industry--and as an art form. ...
Silent cinema: a guide to study, research and curatorship by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.75 .C4613 2019ISBN: 9781844575282Publication Date: 3rd ed.Paolo Cherchi Usai provides a comprehensive introduction to the study, research and preservation of silent cinema from its heyday in the early 20th century to its present day flourishing. He traces the history of the moving image in its formative years, from Edison's and Lumière's first experiments to the dawn of 'talkies'; provides a clear guide to the basics of silent film technology; introduces the technical and creative roles involved in its production, and presents silent cinema as a performance event, rather than a passive viewing experience. ...
Silent cinema: an introduction by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.75 .C4613 2000ISBN: 9780851707464Publication Date: Rev. and expanded ed.This revised guide to silent film studies contains two new chapters that present an analysis of color technology and aesthetics. They look at how silent films are saved, restored and made accessible via archives.
Silent film: a very short introduction by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780190852528Encompassing the thirty-five year span between the initial development of film technology in the mid-1890s and the adoption of synchronized sound in the late 1920s, the cinema's silent era is both one of the most important epochs of film history and one of the most misunderstood within the popular imagination. In this brief and readable account, these formative decades come vividly to life. ...
Selected book title(s)
Beyond the screen: institutions, networks and publics of early cinema by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780861967032The visionaries of early motion pictures thought that movies could do more than just entertain. They imagined the medium had the potential to educate and motivate the audience. In national and local contexts from Europe, North America, and around the world, early filmmakers entered the domains of science and health education, social and religious uplift, labor organizing and political campaigning.
Cinema's conversion to sound: technology and film style in France and the U.S. by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780253344632The conversion to sound cinema is routinely portrayed as a homogenizing process that significantly reduced the cinema's diversity of film styles and practices. Cinema's Conversion to Sound offers an alternative assessment of synchronous sound's impact on world cinema through a shift in critical focus: in contrast to film studies' traditional exclusive concern with the film image, the book investigates national differences in sound-image practice in a revised account of the global changeover from silent to sound cinema. ...
A feminist reader in early cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .W6 F467 2002ISBN: 9780822329992A Feminist Reader in Early Cinema marks a new era of feminist film scholarship. The twenty essays collected here demonstrate how feminist historiographies at once alter and enrich ongoing debates over visuality and identification, authorship, stardom, and nationalist ideologies in cinema and media studies. Drawing extensively on archival research, the collection yields startling accounts of women's multiple roles as early producers, directors, writers, stars, and viewers. It also engages urgent questions about cinema's capacity for presenting a stable visual field, often at the expense of racially, sexually, or class-marked bodies. ...
Lois Weber in early Hollywood by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780520284463Among early Hollywood's most renowned filmmakers, Lois Weber was considered one of the era's "three great minds" alongside D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille. Despite her accomplishments, Weber has been marginalized in relation to her contemporaries, who have long been recognized as fathers of American cinema. Drawing on a range of materials untapped by previous historians, Shelley Stamp offers the first comprehensive study of Weber's remarkable career as director, screenwriter, and actress. Lois Weber in Early Hollywood provides compelling evidence of the extraordinary role that women played in shaping American movie culture. ...
New silent cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995 .N389 2016ISBN: 9780415735278With the success of Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' (2011) and Michel Hazanavicius's 'The Artist' (2011) nothing seems more contemporary in recent film than the styles, forms, and histories of early and silent cinemas. This collection considers the latest return to silent film alongside the larger historical field of visual repetitions and affective currents that wind their way through 20th and 21st century visual cultures.
Passions and deceptions: the early films of Ernst Lubitsch by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1998.3 .L83 H35 1992ISBN: 9780691008783A collaborator with Warner Brothers and Paramount in the early days of sound film, the German film director Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947) is famous for his sense of ironic detachment and for the eroticism he infused into such comedies as So This Is Paris and Trouble in Paradise. In a general introduction to his silent and early sound films (1914-1932) and in close readings of his comedies, Sabine Hake focuses on the visual strategies Lubitsch used to convey irony and analyzes his contribution to the rise of classical narrative cinema. ...
The silent cinema in song, 1896-1929: an illustrated history and catalog of songs inspired by the movies and stars, with a list of recordings by Call Number: ML 128 .M7 W58 2009ISBN: 9780786438044Musical accompaniment was an important feature of the early moviegoing experience. The quality of a musical score could easily make or break silent films, and the songs sometimes became more popular than the films. At the same time, interestingly, the silent cinema became itself a major subject in popular music, inspiring a flood of songs about the films, the stars and the experience of going to the movies. Today, few of these songs are remembered. This study begins the documentation of the lost history of songs of the silent cinema. ...
Silent movies: the birth of film and the triumph of movie culture by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.75 .K63 2007ISBN: 9780316117913Drawing on the extraordinary collection of The Library of Congress, one of the greatest repositories for silent film and memorabilia, Peter Kobel has created the definitive visual history of silent film. From its birth in the 1890s, with the earliest narrative shorts, through the brilliant full-length features of the 1920s, Silent Movies captures the greatest directors and actors and their immortal films. Silent Movies also looks at the technology of early film, the use of color photography, and the restoration work being spearheaded by some of Hollywood's most important directors, such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. ...
Uncanny bodies: the coming of sound film and the origins of the horror genre by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780520251229In 1931 Universal Pictures released Dracula and Frankenstein, two films that inaugurated the horror genre in Hollywood cinema. These films appeared directly on the heels of Hollywood's transition to sound film. Uncanny Bodies argues that the coming of sound inspired more in these massively influential horror movies than screams, creaking doors, and howling wolves. A close examination of the historical reception of films of the transition period reveals that sound films could seem to their earliest viewers unreal and ghostly. ...
The transformation of cinema, 1907-1915 by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780684184142Chronicles the history of the American film business from the days of the little store-show nickelodeon to the premiere of D. W. Griffith's The Birth of A Nation, looking at the imbalance of the "Griffith did it all" cliché by discussing the efforts of countless lesser-known figures who also helped to create Hollywood and shape the growing American film industry. The effect of the surroundings are all examined for their impact on the film-going experience. ...
Other library resource(s)
American cinema, 1895 - 1915 from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286The study of early American cinema was both the beneficiary and the instigator of a wave of revisionist historiography that gained momentum from the mid-1970s onward. While previous accounts of American cinema prior to the advent of features had concentrated on those artistic achievements that led “inevitably” to the mature work of the Hollywood studio system, isolating the contributions of Porter, Ince, and Griffith, the first wave of revisionist efforts, ushered in largely by the findings of scholars still in graduate school, redefined the early cinema landscape.
Slapstick encyclopedia by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #2642 discs 1-5A collection of originally silent films with new music soundtracks, English inter-titles and introductory essays. All were originally produced as separate silent motion pictures, 1909-1929.- Silent film from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286The era of silent film encompasses the thirty-five-year span between the initial development of film technology around 1894 and the widespread adoption of synchronized sound around 1929. It was a vitally important period in film history, both for the artistry of the films it produced and for the societal impact of the various institutions that developed to produce and display those films. Numerous films from the silent era are regarded as landmarks of world cinema, just as some of the stars and filmmakers that dominated the period remain among the most beloved and influential in film history.
The story of film: an odyssey by Call Number: Streaming videoFive years in the making, The Story of Film: An Odyssey covers six continents and 12 decades, showing how film-makers are influenced both by the historical events of their times, and by each other. It provides worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made; an epic tale that starts in nickelodeons and ends as a multi-billion dollar globalised digital industry. Described as a 'love letter' to the movies, Cousins visits the key sites in the history of cinemal from Hollywood to Mumbai; from Hitchcock's London to the village where Pather Panchali was shot, and features interviews with legendary filmmakers and actors including Stanley Donen, Kyoko Kagawa, Gus van Sant, Lars Von Trier, Claire Denis, Bernardo Bertolucci, Robert Towne, Jane Campion and Claudia Cardinale.- Women and the silent screen from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286Research on women and the silent screen examines the role gender plays onscreen and behind the scenes in early film cultures worldwide. This vibrant sub-field emerged in the 1990s in response to the rise of scholarship on early cinema that began after the Brighton conference in 1978 and the emergence of feminist film theory earlier in that decade. Scholars of women and silent cinema add a historical perspective to feminist film theory, while demonstrating the formative role that gender and sexuality played in early film-making, film-going, and film culture. ...
Selected silent film title(s) & collections
Find more silent films in our collection, or search for a specific title in the online catalog.
Silent film online by Call Number: Streaming videoSilent Film Online contains more than 1,000 streaming online titles. These films represent the foundation of modern cinematic technique and film theory.
Digitalia film library. Silent filmsCall Number: Streaming video serviceThis subset of the Digitalia Film Library includes silent films.
The Battleship Potemkin = Bronenosets Potemkin by Call Number: Streaming videoPotemkin recreates the 1905 mutiny on the battleship "Prince Potemkin." It focuses on a mutiny by the battleship's crew and the subsequent massacre of civilians - that reflects the spirit of the times.
Intolerance: love's struggle throughout the ages by Call Number: Streaming videoSwitches back and forth between four separate stories from Babylonian times to the twentieth century to show humanity's inhumanity and intolerance through the ages. The Babylonian story deals with the fall of Babylon in 538 B.C. The Judean story treats the life of Christ. The French story centers on the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day in 1572. The modern story is set in an American mill town and the slum area of an American city.
Finding scholarly articles & journal title(s)
You can find scholarly literature for film history in a variety of journals. However, if you want to do targeted searching, you can use a subject specific database such as Film & Television Literature Index. You can also use the search box at the top of the page.
Nineteenth century theatre and film by Call Number: Electronic journalThe journal welcomes discussion on any topic within the wide variety of theatrical arts that emerged from the Age of Revolution to the advent of sound motion pictures, as well as all ‘pre-cinema’ optical and narrative forms, ‘silent’ motion pictures and illusions. ...- The silent pictureCall Number: Jones Media Micro film #3646R no.1-19 1968/69-1973
Early cinema collection by Call Number: Electronic resource... The highlight of our Early Cinema collection is the 1907 to 1927 run of the Moving Picture World, one of the earliest trade papers of the motion picture industry. The heyday of the Moving Picture World was during the 1910s and the period that film historians have called cinema's "transitional era" (lasting roughly from 1908 to 1917). ...
Media history digital library by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe Media History Digital Library digitizes collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access. The project is supported by owners of materials who loan them for scanning, and donors who contribute funds to cover the cost of scanning.
The Collection feature extensive runs of several important trade papers and fan magazines.
AFI CatalogCall Number: Electronic resourceThe Catalog covers the history of American cinema from 1893 to the present with full or short records. Every feature-length film produced in America or financed by American production companies is indexed here.
Film index internationalCall Number: Electronic resourceFilm Index International provides in-depth indexing of over 125,000 films - from the first silent movies to the latest blockbusters - and biographical information for more than 800,000 personalities. Its rich content also includes coverage of international film awards and prizes as well as searchable plot summaries and full cast and crew lists.
Screen studies collection by Call Number: Electronic resourceA comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside detailed filmographies. This collection includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database and the detailed and complementary filmographies created by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the British Film Institute.
Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceUse this index to find articles about film history.
Web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Silent film societies
- Louise Brooks SocietyThis web site is dedicated to the life & times of the silent film star Louise Brooks (1906 - 1985).
- San Francisco Silent Film FestivalThe San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting and exhibiting the art form of silent film.
- Silent Film Society of ChicagoThis society is dedicated to the preservation and proper presentation of silent films.
- Silent Society from the Hollywood HeritageThe Silent Society is dedicated to preserving and presenting the heritage of Hollywood's Silent Film past.
Internet resource(s)
- Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP)The Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP) is a digital publication and resource that advances research on the hundreds of women who worked behind the scenes during the silent film era. WFPP publishes original scholarship on women who worked all around the world as directors, producers, screenwriters, editors, and more. ...
Citing and Tracking Your Bibliographic References
Use this guide to help you learn how to correctly cite and keep track of the references you find for your research.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.