Silents Are Golden

With the success of Hugoand The Artist, it's the perfect time to look back at the silent film era. Although to some it may seem irrelevant and just too "old" to be entertaining, tonight's lecture will demonstrate that silent cinema can do some things that movies with sound cannot. We'll view clips from films featured in Hugo, including Georges Melies' Trip to the Moon, and Harold Lloyd's Safety First, as well as Robin Hood and Queen Kelly. We'll also talk about other must-see silent films, like Wings, the only silent film (besides The Artist), to win an Oscar, and classic comedies by Chaplin and Buster Keaton, that demonstrate how classic methods of storytelling continue to charm and entertain audiences today.