DISQUS

nicefishfilms · 12 months ago

Jandy,

Love your passion for great film. Watching silent films reminds me to pay more attention to the frame. Sunrise broke many conventions of cinema including angles, pace and shocking transitions. I wonder if there would have been a Citizen Kane without ground breakers like Murnau? I'm particularly fond of his Faust. He led the way in freeing the camera from stiff shots. Murnau was a master of movement.

Thank you for this wonderful post. Please keep sharing your cinematic discoveries with us.

Jandy · 12 months ago

Thanks for the kind comment!

Murnau definitely moved cinematic artistry forward by leaps and bounds. I found myself gasping at the beauty of so many of the shots - you're right about paying more attention to the framing, composition, etc. when watching silent film. And then the city was so kinetic, so frantic; such a marked contrast to the languidness of the farm and marshes.

I haven't seen his Faust. Trying to think what else of his I've seen - Nosferatu, I guess, is his. That's probably it. I'll have to work on that.