Tweet The Artist (2011) a contemporary silent

BEST PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How absolutely wonderful that for the first time since 1929 - a silent picture has won an academy award. I am chuffed.

"The Artist" also won
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEST MUSICAL SCORE
BEST ACTOR - JEAN DUJARDIN

This is going to do wonders for the art of silent film

I'm glad it won. I'm not expecting any big renaissance of silent film-making, but it's still exciting.

I watched the show and was thrilled. THE ARTIST Just kept winning. And HUGO scored big too. Now maybe Warner's will finally release FOUR HORSEMEN, THE BIG PARADE, OLD HEIDELBERG, THE CROWD, and SHOW PEOPLE.

And what about Paramount taking a gander at FORBIDDEN PARADISE, STAGE STRUCK, A KISS FOR CINDERELLA, BEAU GESTE, OLD IRONSIDES, BARBED WIRE, and BEGGARS OF LIFE, among others.

"This is going to do wonders for the art of silent film."

Quite possibly, or it might scattershot and do wonders
for the (specified) genre film: 1930's musical, 1950's
western, a 1970's blow-dryed romance.....etc.

Congratulations to The Artist!! Very nice wins tonight.

And to Hugo and to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

BEST PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How absolutely wonderful that for the first time since 1929 - a silent picture has won an academy award. I am chuffed.

"The Artist" also won
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEST MUSICAL SCORE
BEST ACTOR - JEAN DUJARDIN

This is going to do wonders for the art of silent film

And BEST DIRECTOR TOO!!!

"Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons, and necking in the parlor."

Is there anyone here who thinks that THE ARTIST is better than SHOW PEOPLE?

Who cares? It's the Best Picture of the year!

I am flabbergasted!

THE ARTIST is the first time since 1929 that a silent picture has won an academy award for best picture.

That and HUGO are my favorites of 2011 and both swept the Oscars. Both centered around early cinema.

I've never had such a great time watching the telecast. Saw it in a big condo on a big screen TV to boot.

Billy Crystal did a very classy, and tastefully job hosting the ceremony. The whole show ran smoothly.

Jean Dujardin did a tap dance after his acceptance speech and was trying to steal the thunder with Uggie while the other cast and crew was on stage accepting the Oscar for best picture.

Pure Hollywood magic. Something that I haven't seen in an award show in decades.

Not to mention the SECOND all silent film that won. "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" inspired by Buster Keaton. It won "Best Short Film, Animated".

I wasn't able to actually watch the telecast this year. Uggie was in the show after all?

I wasn't able to actually watch the telecast this year. Uggie was in the show after all?

Yep! All should be on Youtube later today.

Isn't everybody getting a little carried away here?

Do you not think that THE ARTIST is just a novelty? it's not going to kick-start a resurgence in silent film production now, is it?

Incidentally, winning an Oscar for BP has never meant that the film in question is the actual best film made that year.

I haven't seen the film and I'm sure it's a nice movie an' all, but....come on, settle down folks.

When I started this thread last March, I never thought this little film would go that far. The awards yesterday were even more remarkable if you consider that it is the first time a French film has won the Best Film award. It's also the first time that a French director won Best Director. On top, it's also the first time a French actor won Best Actor... even more remarkable, he doesn't even speak English. It proves that silent cinema can abolish the language barrier. Long live Silent Film!

Now that The Artist has cleaned up at the Oscars, isn't it time silent movie fans launched some sort of campaign to get HOLLYWOOD (Brownlow/Gill) finally released on dvd? I know there are rights issues etc, but surely this is the time when the series has the best chance of attracting sales? Anyone out there have any ideas? I am desperate to see it released and given a new audience!!

Yes Hollywood would be great though I'll believe when I see it, the issue I believe has always been the rights holders to all the clips. I'm pleased about The Artist only because it hopefully does mean more silents on DVD and Blu-ray. I mean this appears the perfect time to release three of the greatest silents ever - Greed, The Big Parade and The Crowd on DVD and Blu-ray and not in cheap DVD-rs from Warner Archive. When I see that happen I'll consider this a big moment in the appreciation of silent film. The next few months will reveal if there is in any kind of Artist effect on this.

Gagman is right in comparing The Artist with Show People that was the silent which came to mind when I saw it. It is an Ok movie but to me no masterpiece or what I would call a Best Picture but then neither IMO was The Hurt Locker a couple of years ago and I certainly prefer it to that.

[silentfilm]

One of these days I'll learn how to embed videos. In the meantime, here's my take on the amazing success of The Artist at the Oscars last night.... from some people who also had a modicum of success.



Bob

The Artist is a fun, entertaining movie that features no explosions or carnage and isn't based on a board game or comic book. Of course it's a novelty. I don't think anyone would suggest silent-film production is suddenly going to happen on a large scale or anything. Heck, Sony Pictures spent $275 million on the board-game adaptation BATTLESHIP with Liam Neeson.

No, what the attention may do is get younger people involved in the interest of silent film and film preservation. That's the only effect that honestly matters to me.

The Artist isn't the Best Picture of 2011 just like the vast majority of Best Picture Oscar winners are not the best pictures of their respective years, and while I don't think we're suddenly going to see THE BIG PARADE and BEAU GESTE suddenly appear on Blu-Ray in beautiful restored editions, at least more people might be interested to know they exist.

Silent film had vanished from the public consciousness and now it exists again. I teach an introductory film school class for a local college, and out of my 16 students, only one has even seen RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

I'm sure Mel Brooks was chagrined, thinking "Hey, I made SILENT MOVIE in 1976!"

I'm sure Mel Brooks was chagrined, thinking "Hey, I made SILENT MOVIE in 1976!"

That wasn't a silent. That loudmouth Marcel Marceau wouldn't shut up.

Bob

I'm sure Mel Brooks was chagrined, thinking "Hey, I made SILENT MOVIE in 1976!"

Yes, Marceau notwithstanding.


Silent era movies speak to us from, and are a reflection of, that particular era. Therein lies part of their beauty. Nothing made in 2012 can do that.

It does say something that it's a period picture. People like period pictures (Downton Abbey) and I doubt that you're going to see a silent feature set in the contemporary era any time soon.

The Artist was here and gone so fast I didn't have time to see it. I think it played for a week. Too intellectual, esoteric, being silent and black and white for mid-america, my tastes not considered.

Hmmm... I think I'll wow the Academy this year by making a talking picture.

Isn't everybody getting a little carried away here?

Do you not think that THE ARTIST is just a novelty? it's not going to kick-start a resurgence in silent film production now, is it?

Incidentally, winning an Oscar for BP has never meant that the film in question is the actual best film made that year.

I haven't seen the film and I'm sure it's a nice movie an' all, but....come on, settle down folks.

You've got a short memory; we've already set you straight on that score, you know, the importance of awards of this stature to the awareness and preservation of silent film technique and the films themselves, etc. And, as you've haven't seen it, and apparently don't really have a desire to, according to your past posts, well...I think that pretty much ends that.

Isn't everybody getting a little carried away here?

Do you not think that THE ARTIST is just a novelty? it's not going to kick-start a resurgence in silent film production now, is it?

Incidentally, winning an Oscar for BP has never meant that the film in question is the actual best film made that year.

I haven't seen the film and I'm sure it's a nice movie an' all, but....come on, settle down folks.

You've got a short memory; we've already set you straight on that score, you know, the importance of awards of this stature to the awareness and preservation of silent film technique and the films themselves, etc. And, as you've haven't seen it, and apparently don't really have a desire to, according to your past posts, well...I think that pretty much ends that.

My memory's fine and you've set me "straight" on nothing.

My opinion is that the film was a one-off and will not affect silent film production, preservation, awareness..or anything else. This time next year it'll be forgotten about. HOWEVER, perhaps my opinion will prove to have been the wrong one to hold...we'll see.

Because I haven't seen it and am not in any particular rush to do so, well...I think that pretty much ends nothing at all.

Sheesh! Don't be such a Frump! The point is, if people like THE ARTIST, they will love SHOW PEOPLE. Or for that matter STAGE STUCK. Heck, even ELLA CINDERS, if a complete print exists someplace. Apparently, it doesn't. But I would love to find out otherwise. All these titles have similar themes. Even Kevin Brownlow publicly compared THE ARTIST with a Colleen Moore movie. So he must have felt the same way I do.

Hey, Here's an idea, contact those stubborn Howard Hughes Heir's again and see if they will finally let Flicker Alley release TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS, THE RACKET, and THE MATING CALL which they been sitting on for the better part of a decade. This would be the perfect timing to finally get those films out there at last.

Geez, an opinion is obviously not welcome 'round here if it's not what everyone wants to hear.
Frump indeed

Geez, an opinion is obviously not welcome 'round here if it's not what everyone wants to hear.
Frump indeed

Nope, we pretty much insist upon lockstep agreement in all things. You know that.

Geez, an opinion is obviously not welcome 'round here if it's not what everyone wants to hear.
Frump indeed

Ah, but is that not the way every forum works?

Anyway, I don't see the big studios releasing any silents either; we'll still be getting big-budget CGI extravaganzas (not that I have a problem with those-- some can be very entertaining and even the infamous Transformers movies are tolerable IMO) because those are more likely to turn a huge profit, even if The Artist was a financial success. But it will hopefully promote awareness and appreciation for the silent era (even if it's not on a large scale, some is better than none).

If the right films were available there would be a good deal more appreciation. By and large they are not. Allot of the best stuff that is available is not that easy to find either. You have to know where to look.