We (as in, yours truly) strive to be a Productive Member of Society. We volunteer and recycle, and we try not to block the aisle in the grocery store.
But we do have some unproductive habits, such as being Greatly Distracted by short videos on YouTube.
We’re powerless against these things! A bulldozer runs over a car, a raccoon steals dog food, a man drops a birthday cake – doesn’t matter. Sign us up for more!
We suspect we aren’t alone. How many times have you researched something on YouTube, only to find yourself, an hour later, watching penguin videos?
So when Fritzi at Movies Silently issued a Silent Movie Challenge, we saw our chance to exploit our YouTube habits and look like a film advocate at the same time! Brilliant!
Challenge #1: Watch 5 Films Made In or Before 1905
Fritzi’s Silent Movie Challenge is a two-parter. The first challenge is to watch five films made in or before 1905. Those were the heady pioneer days of filmmaking; folks Wrote The Playbook as they Went Along.
We chose five offbeat films, and each one runs less than a minute. Our picks include a bizarre animal procession and boxing cats. Boxing cats!
Seriously, this stuff is prime gif-making material.
Challenge #2: Watch 5 Films Made Between 1906 and 1914
The second part of the challenge is to watch five films made between 1906 and 1914.
We’ve chosen five comedies for you: The first three run less than 10 minutes each, and the last two are about 12 minutes long. These are one-reel films.
Smarty Pants Tip: A reel holds about 1,000 feet of film, which runs about 10-12 minutes. In the Silent Era, films were often shown at 16 frames per second (fps). When sound film was introduced, 24 fps became the standard. (Some films nowadays are experimenting with higher frame rates, but that’s a discussion for another day.)
We digress. Please enjoy the films below, which feature some of the biggest names in comedy Back In The Day.
(Note: Some of these films have Dutch and French intertitles, but we think you’ll get the gist.)
Great stuff, Ruth. Thanks for the useful resources tips. I also find Oldboy’s site Movies from the Silent Era very valuable: https://backtothepastweb.wordpress.com/
I’m so surprised other film buffs don’t sing the praises of YouTube! You never know what rare movie will pop up on it. Oh, and the sprinkler short was inspirational…I need to try that on my neighbor!
I did the challenge as well, and I was dying to include something with Flora Finch – well, now I know where to find her! Thanks!
Indeed, YouTube is perfect for those short films that are also part of a film education – not those “uneducational” videos without proper research that do more harm than good. It’s wonderful when old and new media can walk hand by hand!
Kisses!
It looks like you had a lot of fun participating in this challenge. You wrote a very nice article about it, and you discovered some very entertaining and amusing silent films. Fritzi thought of a very innovative challenge. Although I wasn’t able to participate, I heard about it.
By the way, I would like to give you another challenge by inviting you to join an event I am hosting on my website, #CleanMovieMonth: https://pureentertainmentpreservationsociety.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/july-is-cleanmoviemonth. Starting on July 1st, it’s a month long celebration of Code films and clean entertainment. All you have to do is watch movies from the greater Breen Era exclusively. Then, in the beginning of August, you can write an article about your thoughts on the experiment. It shouldn’t be hard for you, since I know how much you love old movies. Even if you think you’ll be too busy to write any articles for this event, I would be very grateful if you would read my announcement and consider reposting it on your website. Your articles get so much more traffic than mine do, and I could really use the publicity.
Thank you for all your help and kindness, Ruth. I’m enjoying reading your book!
Thanks for the invite, Tiffany! I’d love to participate, although I will probably be able to watch only one film, due to some travel during July. But I think it will be a perfect chance to write about a feel-good, inspirational film, and I’ll drop by your blog soon to sign up.
I got my ‘boxing cats’ fix today thanks to your post 🙂 YouTube is a treasure trove and I’ve seen a bunch of Chaplin shorts that way. Though I do approach the site with caution as not easy to know what are the official and fan-made cuts. In the case of Htchcock’s The Lodger (1927) I got the dvd from the library to be sure of the correct running time.
I love this blog. It’s the first I found and chose to follow. Old movies are so enchanting. I’m also a fan of the early musicals and the wonderful June Haver, Ray Bolger and all their contemporaries. Thanks for sharing these clips. I look forward to following!
Gosh, you really do know your stuff. It always inspires me when someone displays this level of passion and enthusiasm for their topic. Give me the theme ‘silent films’ and I won’t even be able to come up with such a post, nor compile a list like this. Always a treat to browse through your site, and you’ve been on point since years back.
Also, it’s funny that I’m browsing old posts on a blog about old movies. Hee hee.
Silver Screenings 
Great stuff, Ruth. Thanks for the useful resources tips. I also find Oldboy’s site Movies from the Silent Era very valuable: https://backtothepastweb.wordpress.com/
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Oh right! Yes, I should add Oldboy. He has a good website. Thanks!
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Extra points for including Alice Guy Blaché! The awesome one! 🙂
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Ha! Thanks! I had to include Alice Guy Blanché because, as you know, she’s noteworthy and so SO talented.
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A genius post and advice that will be followed.
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Haha! Thanks very much. Isn’t YouTube is a fabulous thing when it comes to silents – and talkies? It’s the first place I go to when looking up films.
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Keeping the silent era alive!! Good job, YouTube! 🙂 Love the older (Pre-tramp) Chaplin films included here. Well done.
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I love those early Chaplin/Tramp films when he’s teamed up with Mabel Normand. They’re a terrific duo.
And yes, let’s raise a glass to our pal YouTube! *clink!*
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I’m so surprised other film buffs don’t sing the praises of YouTube! You never know what rare movie will pop up on it. Oh, and the sprinkler short was inspirational…I need to try that on my neighbor!
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Haha! I love the Sprinkler short, too.
As for YouTube, I have watched SO many videos & movies there. I could barely classify myself as a classic movie blogger without it!
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I did the challenge as well, and I was dying to include something with Flora Finch – well, now I know where to find her! Thanks!
Indeed, YouTube is perfect for those short films that are also part of a film education – not those “uneducational” videos without proper research that do more harm than good. It’s wonderful when old and new media can walk hand by hand!
Kisses!
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Thanks for dropping by, Le. I have to catch up with all the other bloggers who did the challenge. And I’m glad you found Flora Finch at last! 🙂
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Dear Ruth,
It looks like you had a lot of fun participating in this challenge. You wrote a very nice article about it, and you discovered some very entertaining and amusing silent films. Fritzi thought of a very innovative challenge. Although I wasn’t able to participate, I heard about it.
By the way, I would like to give you another challenge by inviting you to join an event I am hosting on my website, #CleanMovieMonth: https://pureentertainmentpreservationsociety.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/july-is-cleanmoviemonth. Starting on July 1st, it’s a month long celebration of Code films and clean entertainment. All you have to do is watch movies from the greater Breen Era exclusively. Then, in the beginning of August, you can write an article about your thoughts on the experiment. It shouldn’t be hard for you, since I know how much you love old movies. Even if you think you’ll be too busy to write any articles for this event, I would be very grateful if you would read my announcement and consider reposting it on your website. Your articles get so much more traffic than mine do, and I could really use the publicity.
Thank you for all your help and kindness, Ruth. I’m enjoying reading your book!
Yours Hopefully,
Tiffany Brannan
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Thanks for the invite, Tiffany! I’d love to participate, although I will probably be able to watch only one film, due to some travel during July. But I think it will be a perfect chance to write about a feel-good, inspirational film, and I’ll drop by your blog soon to sign up.
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Dear Ruth,
Thank you. That’s wonderful! I look forward to seeing your comment.
Yours Hopefully,
Tiffany Brannan
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Boxing cats! Movies less than half-hour! I feel King Vidor and Ernst Lubitsch would have loved to be alive in the era of YouTube.
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I’d never thought of that before, but I think you’re absolutely right!
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This is awesome!
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Thanks! Some of these really early films are terrific. They show how quickly motion picture technology developed, no?
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We show the kids movies that were popular when we were kids and marvel at how much movies have changed.
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I got my ‘boxing cats’ fix today thanks to your post 🙂 YouTube is a treasure trove and I’ve seen a bunch of Chaplin shorts that way. Though I do approach the site with caution as not easy to know what are the official and fan-made cuts. In the case of Htchcock’s The Lodger (1927) I got the dvd from the library to be sure of the correct running time.
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Ah! An excellent point, one I never thought of. Thanks for bringing it up.
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I love this blog. It’s the first I found and chose to follow. Old movies are so enchanting. I’m also a fan of the early musicals and the wonderful June Haver, Ray Bolger and all their contemporaries. Thanks for sharing these clips. I look forward to following!
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Thanks for the follow, and the kind words. I’m glad to hear you’re a fellow fan of old movies. 🙂
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RE-posted on twitter @trefology
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Thanks!
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Gosh, you really do know your stuff. It always inspires me when someone displays this level of passion and enthusiasm for their topic. Give me the theme ‘silent films’ and I won’t even be able to come up with such a post, nor compile a list like this. Always a treat to browse through your site, and you’ve been on point since years back.
Also, it’s funny that I’m browsing old posts on a blog about old movies. Hee hee.
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Haha! That’s good – old posts about old movies. 😄 Thanks for dropping by, Stuart. I’m curious to see what 2022 has in store for you!
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