Safety Last! Is The Sort Of Film That Puts A Grin On Your Face And Makes You Love Movies

Safety Last! is not just a movie I thoroughly enjoyed (to put it gently), but also one that cemented my feeling that the silent movie comedy is one of my cinematic subgenres. It's such an enjoyable corner of filmmaking, charming, humorous and showing a remarkable amount of craft on the part of the filmmakers and the actors who are working with a medium of storytelling that was still in its most nascent stage. Without sound or color by their side, the guys and gals behind these classic silent movie comedies managed to create wonders with the limited amount of tools at their disposal, demonstrating an incredible amount of artistic ingenuity.

The Movies Begin: A Treasury Of Old Cinema | 1894-1913 (feat. Eadweard Muybridge & Thomas Edison Short Films, The Great Train Robbery, A Trip To The Moon) Review

Reviewing this Kino Lorber DVD collection of some of the earliest pieces of cinema was a total accident, I'll freely admit. While browsing the shelves at my college's library, I stumbled upon The Movies Begin: A Treasury Of Old Cinema | 1894-1913, without having either heard of this The Movies Begin series of DVD's, let alone this specific entry in the franchise. Upon discovering it, of course, I couldn't pass it up, especially since I had seen none of the numerous incredibly important shorts it contained within. It really is true how sometimes truly awesome experiences emerge from spontaneity.

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc Reveals The Humanity Of A Brave Historical Figure

Sight & Sound Voyage Entry #13
Placement On Sight & Sound Top 50 Movies List: #9

As I've mentioned many times before how one of the best parts of Hamilton is the way it zeroes in on the humanity of larger than life historical figures. You get to fully understand the likes of George Washington, Aaron Burr (sir!) or Alexander Hamilton in a way that reminds you these were just human beings, like you or me, trapped in larger-than-life scenarios. Director Carl Theodore Dryer takes this same approach for his 1928 French film The Passion of Joan of Arc, which applies this style of storytelling to, as the title indicates, the real life figure of Joan of Arc, an individual with a story more than ripe for being told in the format of a feature film.