Topic: The World 100 years ago as captured through film.

[Ratty]

Talking with my friend Odile Kuronuma earlier the subject of history came up. This helped remind me how important an understanding of the past is to those who wish to not repeat it. But I don't want to dwell on the atrocities of bygone days just now, but some of the happier days of the past. A look back before mankind was ravaged and, ultimately, set back by two World Wars.

Barcelona 1908
Here we see a tramcar ride through the city of Barcelona over a century ago. It's so bittersweet to know all those young smiling people would be gone before most of us here today were even born. How many died in one of the two world wars? I would rather not think about that.


Charlie Chaplin - Kid Auto Races at Venice Beach HQ
100 years ago movies were still something of a novelty, as you can clearly see in the fascinated faces of the people in the crowds in both these films.
In this, his first appearance as soon-to-be-iconic character of "The Tramp" (a sort of wondering homeless but optimistic everyman) legendary comedian Charlie Chaplin played a camera hog, though the audience at this 1914 race were not in on the joke. A sort of prototypical candid camera gag.

It is all very fascinating to me, maybe to you to. Though I love the present with all it's flaws, and would not be born in any other time given the choice, it's good to look back and see what's behind you sometimes.

[crisis]

Le cochon danseur - el cerdo bailarín - dancing pig

[Lashen]

That was beautifully put, Ratty.

...and Jesus Christ, that dancing pig is nightmare fuel.

[X]

100 years ago movies were still something of a novelty, as you can clearly see in the fascinated faces of the people in the crowds in both these films.

I really do wish that the Hollywood mentality would go back to it's infancy and drop the whole bulls**t act they're doing now. Back then anyone could make a movie. There were no restrictions on who made a film nor about what type of story you wanted to tell. It was 'see-all' and 'tell-all' to your heart's content.

[TheouAegis]

Was she blowing Porky at the end?! 

And don't sugarcoat things too much. Life back then was crap too. If life was so grand at the turn of the last century, then why were humans so eager to advance and progress out of that life? And the World Wars weren't anything special from a human standpoint. From a technological standpoint, they were history-makers, but as far as sociological history is concerned, they were just another occurrence of humans mass killing humans. The only reason they were "world wars" was alliances were much larger thanks to advances in communications. Had Temujin begun his invasion 700 years later, he would have met stronger resistance on all fronts as well. A thousand years later, the Vikings may have never been able to expand beyond Scandinavia. Before advances in technology, the world was just as brutal and animalistic, but everything was restricted to the local level.

[Flame]

I had film class once, and the teacher showed us some Chaplin films, and honestly, i found it sad that I felt like I was the only one enjoying and finding it funny, whereas others kinda had this blank expression like "what is this..? Is this supposed to be funny..?"

I really do wish that the Hollywood mentality would go back to it's infancy and drop the whole bulls**t act they're doing now. Back then anyone could make a movie. There were no restrictions on who made a film nor about what type of story you wanted to tell. It was 'see-all' and 'tell-all' to your heart's content.

You still can. Thats what independent film directors do. Yknow, someone like you or me wants to make a movie we can.

The issue is that as far as studio movies go, quality and technology has advanced so far, that the average person really cant afford all the nice toys and gadgets and stuff that the studios can. And the standard has been set very high by people who watch those movies.

[Ratty]

I really do wish that the Hollywood mentality would go back to it's infancy and drop the whole bulls**t act they're doing now. Back then anyone could make a movie. There were no restrictions on who made a film nor about what type of story you wanted to tell. It was 'see-all' and 'tell-all' to your heart's content.

"All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl." - Charlie Chaplin

Don't be fooled into thinking his movies were purely simplistic though. Chaplin got into trouble more than once for putting social criticism and commentary into his films. Such as in "The Immigrant" which pointedly touched on dehumanizing and inhumane treatment given to immigrants arriving in America.
Charlie Chaplin in "The Immigrant" (1917)
The hottest water he ever got into though was with "The Great Dictator" in which he spoofed Hitler before America joined World War 2. At a time when many of the wealthy and elite in America sympathized with the Nazis and even more people advocated complete America-first isolationism. Chaplin played a double role as both the Hitler-dictator and an identical Jewish barber (the Tramp character in his only speaking role) who gets confused for the Hitler character at the end of the film. The final speech of "The Great Dictator" is not funny, but is in my estimation his greatest work.
Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator - final speech
Because of the calls for unity and the fact that the Nazis and the Italian fascists were notoriously brutal on communists and socialists* Chaplin was accused of being a Communist, though he always maintained he was merely a humanist. Reguardless FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover ever afterward suspected Chaplin of being communist and would years later block Chaplin's reeintry into America so that the actor would spend most of the rest of his days effectively in exile.


*Indeed this was one reason why Fascist regimes in Germany and Italy were initially well liked by the British and Americans, because they were seen as tramping down socialism. As Winston Churchill wrote approvingly of Fascist Italy in 1927 "If I had been an Italian, I am sure I should have been whole-heartedly with you from the start to finish in your triumphant struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism." Despite the Nazis putting "socialist" in their name as a sort of pacifying and popularizing but ultimately meaningless gesture.

And don't sugarcoat things too much. Life back then was crap too. If life was so grand at the turn of the last century, then why were humans so eager to advance and progress out of that life? And the World Wars weren't anything special from a human standpoint. From a technological standpoint, they were history-makers, but as far as sociological history is concerned, they were just another occurrence of humans mass killing humans. The only reason they were "world wars" was alliances were much larger thanks to advances in communications. Had Temujin begun his invasion 700 years later, he would have met stronger resistance on all fronts as well. A thousand years later, the Vikings may have never been able to expand beyond Scandinavia. Before advances in technology, the world was just as brutal and animalistic, but everything was restricted to the local level.

Oh it was never my intention to sugarcoat, as I said I would rather live today with modern medicine, communication, social advancement and plain creature comforts than any other time in history. However I must disagree with you that the World Wars were not significant, the first one saw bloodshed on a protracted and grand scale not really possible before the industrial revolution and the advent of the machine gun. (Said invention leading to unexpected ammunition shortages and casualty numbers for a few nations even though they'd been preparing for years.) The second one gave us the nuclear bomb and with it the ability to wipe out our entire species for the first time. They also left large parts of Europe and Asia effectively crippled for many many decades, leading the way for the rest of the 20th Century to be dominated by the United States economically and (consequently) culturally. I would say the effect these two major conflicts have had on our species are simply incalculable.

[X]

And don't forget the most important thing the Great War (WW1) was known for; Breaking the rules of war as the world knew them and introducing humanity to a whole new level of conflict that remains to this day. No-longer will you see troops marching in row by row as they would be easily cut down with modern weaponry. No-longer can you huddle in mass in trenches without the enemy tossing mustard gas at you. No-longer can you use barbed wire to halt the enemy advancement as the first tanks easily rode over them while providing protection for the troops. And no-longer can you fight a war without the airplane bombing you from above. WW1 changed everything we once knew for thousands of years as war. Changed it forever.

[TheouAegis]

Again, all just technology. Humans routinely kill more and more as technology improves. The rifle musket was invented, so people started shooting each other in droves. Entire civilizations were driven out because of the musket rifle. Then we got the tank and the military airplane, which escalated the extent to which people could kill each other even further. Now we have guns that can shoot around corners! The atom bomb was significant sociologically, yes. But the rest of WWII was nothing in the grand scheme of things. The bombs ushered in the Cold War, but Hitler and his Holocaust were just another chapter in the story of human nature.

And the "rules of warfare" was an invention. Vietnamese didn't give a rat's ass about rules of warfare. Not all Japanese even believed in "conventional warfare" and the samurai learned the hard way that it was a fool's errand.

Airplanes with bombs was no different than a trebuchet or cannon. You think a confederate foot soldier thought a rifled Howitzer was a fair fight?

[Bloodreign]

Chaplin's films were genuinely funny, I noticed the first film linked in this topic was from Keystone films, I'm thinking the film company responsible for the Keystone Kops (Fatt Arbuckle was a member of the group, he had a tragic life towards the end, died young, but that's not the tragic part). Chaplin also got a certain kid star a start in films, that kid was Jackie Coogan, later to be well known as Uncle Fester from the Addam's Family TV series. That era later spawned us even more great comedians such as the 3 Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and the Marx Bros. Yesterday was Groucho's 122nd birthday if he were still alive, but sadly those legends are all gone, but forever alive on film.

[Phoenix7786]

but sadly those legends are all gone, but forever alive on film.

Seriously we are so lucky to live in an age of technology where things can be recorded like that. I've been watching from Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee movies (granted Sir Lee is still live), but I realized how fortunate we are to see acting legends (past and present) be preserved through a medium that can be re-watched.

[Bloodreign]

The Kid [HD]

The Kid with Chaplin and Coogan.

[Odile Kuronuma]

Oh nice thread.I was looking for a film about my country 100 years ago, this is what I found:
Morocco, 1930s
What's amazing about it is a lot of things didn't change. The architecture is pretty much the same in some places and some pieces of  clothing(djellabas) are still used to this day.

[Flame]

Chaplin's role in The Great Dictator isn't actually The Tramp. Chaplin insisted that The Tramp REMAIN silent, and thus retired the character when the era of the Silent movie had passed. His ONLY vocal scene was in Modern Times, as part of a gibberish song.

Charlie chaplin's famous song

Modern Times was the last movie to feature the character.

[Ratty]

Oh nice thread.I was looking for a film about my country 100 years ago, this is what I found:
Morocco, 1930s
What's amazing about it is a lot of things didn't change. The architecture is pretty much the same in some places and some pieces of  clothing(djellabas) are still used to this day.

Very cool it's nice to see some footage from the period from outside America and Europe, especially unimpeded by the prejudices of the time by way of a story.

Chaplin's role in The Great Dictator isn't actually The Tramp. Chaplin insisted that The Tramp REMAIN silent, and thus retired the character when the era of the Silent movie had passed. His ONLY vocal scene was in Modern Times, as part of a gibberish song.

Charlie chaplin's famous song

Modern Times was the last movie to feature the character.

Oh so? I was not aware of the official distinction. But it's quite true he was adamant that the character of the tramp remain silent. My memory isn't what it has been but I thought I read that the barber was another incarnation of the tramp in "The Films of Charlie Chaplin". (One of the better flea market finds I've made at $2!) I've bought his autobiography and been meaning to read it for a while, guess I might do that soon. Unfortunately the DVDs of his feature films (public domain ones aside) can get very expensive so I've only got Shoulder Arms, The Circus, Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Kid, and a few collections of his public domain shorts. But I've seen many of his other films years ago when they had a month long celebration on Turner Classic Movies.