80 Years, 80 Movies: The Project

How eclectic are you in your movie-watching?

How familiar are you with the distinctive styles of each respective decade that characterized the movie-making of the times?

What’s *really* your favorite movie-making period? Do you have one?

You can answer these question for yourself by considering all the movies you can remember ever seeing and when they were made. And, from there, list one movie per year, and you will begin to discern just how historical your viewing habits are.

NOTE: Because there are so few Silent-era films available for viewing, start your list at 1930—-the first year of all “talkies”.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 80 years, 80 movies PROJECT:

1. Make a list numbered from 1 to 80 (and from 1930 to 2010)

2. See which years are missing movies, watch movies for those and fill-in-the-blanks.

3. Once your list is full, share it with your friends,

3a post trivia about one film a day, starting from 1930 onward. You can post on Facebook, your blog, anywhere!

3b To get the trivia, visit IMDb or other movie sites, like TCM.

4. Once you reach 2010 again, you will have taught yourself and others a wonderful lesson in cinema, covering 80 years in less than 2 months!

So, let’s get started! Re-blog this, to inspire your friends to get started too!

[Look for my own posts for the project, beginning later this week.]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc346ihvScI?wmode=transparent&autohide=1&egm=0&hd=1&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&showsearch=0&w=500&h=375]

Intimate little details of an industry that was new, young, and excitingly innocent of its mighty potential for scandal!

HOLLYWOOD: A CELEBRATION OF THE AMERICAN SILENT FILM (1980)

“The art of arousing the audience without arousing the censor, Hollywood’s self-censorship would last over 40 years.”
—— James Mason, narrator.

“Censorship makes you think…well, all it does is make you guard your language, makes you express yourself in a wee bit different way, makes you smart enough to bypass this and let the audience see *it* without actually seeing *it*…”
—- Henry King, silent film director.

[quotes from episode 3—-Single Beds & Double Standards]

I don’t know about you, folks, but I think this 13 episode mini-series should be required viewing for all those getting an education in film-studies!

I have just been getting into this, and I have 10 more episodes to go! Each episode focuses on a different aspect of the film industry in that era—-from star-treatment, to directing, to lighting, acting, etc. 5 out of 5 stars for it’s epic depth rarely seen in a television production. This is a treasure-trove of rare interviews with the people who were actually there at the time—-from big stars like Gloria Swanson, to lessor-known, like Colleen Moore, to big directors, like Henry King, all offering their personal memories and intimate little details of the industry that was new, young, wild, and lovely as a stallion. An industry that was excitingly innocent of it’s mighty potential for trouble—- as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It was a time of jovial bravery, as in that time perhaps more than in any other, Hollywood was playing by its own rules.

Highly recommended, WONDERFUL documentary!

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)