Ask me about what film won “Best Picture” this year or what is currently playing at the movie house and I couldn’t give you answers to either.
Ask me what Greta Garbo’s first film produced in the United States was, what early 1920s D.W. Griffith film experimented with sound, or what Charlie Chaplin feature from 1923 caused some controversy because his “Tramp” character doesn’t appear in it, and I can totally converse with you. (FYI — Torrent, Dream Street, and A Woman of Paris)
Many of them have not aged well for various reasons but some “silent movies” are still cinematic art.
Did you know that the popular 1956 The Ten Commandments is actually a remake of a 1923 silent version? The original production has an interesting modern-day plot line that goes with the special effects laden scenes set in ancient Egypt?
Or, have you heard of The Passion of Joan of Arc? It’s a 1928 film with details based on the actual record of the trial of said saint. Renée Jeanne Falconetti’s performance as Joan has been hailed as one of the best ever on film.
For those of you who have moved on to a different page, or said to yourself “get on with it!” we’ll shall do the latter.
I know not everyone is going to enjoy these films, circa 1889 to 1929, but for those willing to be a little adventurous, there are some faith lessons we can learn from them, both in their plot lines and their techniques.
Quiet on the set of life
Until the words “wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet” were uttered on screen by Mr. Jolson in October of 1927, not a word of dialogue had ever been needed to get the point across in a motion picture.
(Lest any film nerds come after me, I know about the 1923 Phonofilm shorts and other early examples but we’re using the Jazz Singer mythology for storytelling purposes here.)
Valentino, Gilbert, and Fairbanks never said anything on screen during the silent era, but audiences knew exactly what was going on.
The only words they got were the intertitles — the screens with words that said things like “Yes, I do” after the actor’s lips moved for about 10 to 30 seconds straight.
What’s the lesson? Fewer words can be just as effective, if not more, as many words.
Do we talk too much? Do we know people who talk too much? The answer to both of these is “yes” but we can probably only fix our part.
I’m not suggesting that we walk around with a hat and cane or look like Mary Pickford but we could discern and pray about how to get our messages across using as few words as possible.
Praying twice?
Most silent films, as they were shown in their original time, had live orchestra accompaniment or some sort of live keyboard to go with it.
Home video now usually has some pre-recorded music to it.
Much like movies and TV and other similar media now, the music can enhance the experience, especially in lieu of dialogue.
By talking too much and ignoring beauty around us, we miss out on God’s soundtrack music for us — art and nature.
It could be the birds chirping or the wind blowing. It could be someone playing beautiful music or the sounds of music and singing at Mass.
The less we distract ourselves with words, both from our own mouths, and those of others — in real life and electronically — the more we can hear aural gifts from God.
Our lives might be a silent movie and we don’t realize it.
Don’t do bad things
I realize that many of the consequences to people’s actions seen on screen were more the consequences of the Hays Code trying to keep Hollywood clean, rather than an accurate portrayal of sin and its effects, but its not worth ignoring completely.
Cheating on one’s spouse might not really cause someone to almost die in a fit of spontaneous drowning but it’s not a good idea to do that anyway.
The dangers associated with someone’s bad acts were exaggerated to give the audience something to watch but can one really exaggerate when it comes to the state of one’s soul?
We never see in the physical world the tumult that we put our souls through.
Until we get right with God, through the Sacrament of Confession and all of the additional blessings the Church gives us, our souls are pretty much underwater, on fire, being shot at, being trampled, blasted into outer space unsafely, and (for the introverts out there), at a loud and raucous party that we don’t want to be at anymore but can’t seem to leave.
The 1920s were not a perfect time to be alive if perfect morality was what you were seeking in life but we learn important lessons from a variety of avenues.
So, read your Bible or watch some silent movies and learn. You might find a lot of similarities between them.
Salvation history loves those strong and silent types.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.