The Power of Silent Movies, with The Artist Director Michel Hazanavicius

When The Artist won the top Oscar on Sun­day night, crit­ic Roger Ebert com­pared it to an episode of The Twi­light Zone. “The Acad­e­my Award for best pic­ture went to a silent film in black and white,” he wrote. “Its vic­to­ry will send Hol­ly­wood back to its think tanks.”

In this short film by Joe LaMat­ti­na of Last Call With Car­son Daly, the writer and direc­tor of The Artist, Michel Haz­anavi­cius, talks about the chal­lenge of hold­ing an audi­ence’s atten­tion with­out dia­logue, and the mag­ic that hap­pens when it’s done right. “There’s a very inter­est­ing process with silent movies,” Haz­anavi­cius says. “The black and white and the lack of sound cre­ates a mys­tery.”

The Artist has taught audi­ences in the 21st cen­tu­ry that silent films can be a delight. If you would like to explore some of the great films from the gold­en age of silent cin­e­ma, vis­it our col­lec­tion of 100 Free Silent Films: The Great Clas­sics, which includes works by Char­lie Chap­lin, Buster Keaton, Fritz Lang, F.W. Mur­nau, G.W. Pab­st and many more. They’re all part of our big­ger meta col­lec­tion of Free Movies.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

The Gen­er­al, “Per­haps the Great­est Film Ever Made,” and 20 Oth­er Buster Keaton Clas­sics Free Online

65 Free Char­lie Chap­lin Films Online

Watch 10 of the Great­est Silent Films of All Time, All Free Online

 


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  • jaune! says:

    In France Haz­anavi­cius became cult in the 90’s with a nev­er pub­lished movie, which can only be seen now through the web. The Rea­son: it’s a mashup from clas­sic hol­ly­wood films, and clean­ing the rights would be impos­si­ble.
    It can be seen here (but it’s in french lan­guage): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PRtFewFDz4

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