The Lonely Villa (1909)

Why it's included:
You may have noticed a large gap in years between our last film, The Great Train Robbery (1903) and this one. There's a reason. Although a key point in our project was to watch cinema through time, slowly noticing how things changed around us, it is also important to win your family's trust by not unduly trying their patience with the earliest, choppiest, least developed silents. You don't want to poison them against the amazing silents that are coming up in the 1920s! In any case, for my family it was time to advance a few years. 

This film was chosen to see Mary Pickford -- perhaps the most famous and beloved of all silent actors -- in an early role (credited only as 'one of the children') and because it was directed by D.W. Griffith who is the most acclaimed director of this very early era.

Specs:
Short - just 8 minutes; black and white, silent and easily available online in the public domain.

Our family's average rating (on a scale of 1-10):

5.5

More about the film and our response to it:

Like The Great Train Robbery, this one is tense and involves pretty scary bad guys. A family is barricaded inside their home when robbers start to menace them after dad has left the house for the day. Luckily, phones had been invented at this time! (yay) and the family is able to call up dad and tell him to get his sorry self home. Which he does, before any serious mayhem can ensue.

This is a good film. It is entertaining and even rather tense, but don't expect it to blow you or your kids away. On the other hand, its only 8 minutes long! A pretty small investment of energy.  How much your family enjoys films like this will depend heavily on how much they're willing to throw themselves in to the experience. We noticed that, already, the "art" of film-making had advanced considerably since 1902, with stiller cameras, better sets, and more coherent acting and plot-lines. Even so, the house set is very basic, just a couple of walls thrown together. Location shots are better and really quite pretty.

As with other old films, it is compelling to note the technology and conveniences that people lived with. Its fun to notice whether the people -had phones? were driving cars? riding horses? Or to  notice what their clothes and hairstyles looked like. We look for things like sidewalks, radios, stores, iceboxes, anything that helps place the film in its period context is fun. One way to keep interest strong in this unfamiliar territory is to think of the film as a living time capsule. The power of seeing a movie that is so old is, for some odd reason, heady. This seems especially true when you see young children in a movie from 1909 and imagine that everyone on screen is almost certainly dead now.

Iconic shot:

The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Why it's included:
Often hailed as the first film to employ the narrative structure -- i.e. using the medium of film to tell a complete story -- The Great Train Robbery, like A Trip to the Moon, is so often referenced in pop culture that it is simply a good film to be familiar with.

Specs:
Just 12 minutes long, black and white, with occasional use of hand-drawn color to highlight certain effects. It is easily found online in the public domain.

Our family average rating (on a scale of 1-10):
6.5

More about the film and our response to it:
This is a pretty entertaining film. It features a real, period train and that is a valueable viewing experience in itself. It also sets the bar a good notch higher than "Moon" in terms of being watchable and entertaining to a modern audience.

In addition to the film telling a story, it is notable for its early (first?) use of cross-cut editing between scenes and filming on-location outdoors. There is a realistic effect at the end of the film where the actor who plays one of the bandits points his gun directly at the audience and shoots. This was said to have occasioned panic in the unsophisticated viewers of 1903. Whether or not that story is true, I can at least attest that the moment plays out powerfully.

Note that, even though it is very old, the film is actually rather intense and involves gunfighting, train robbery (duh), and pretty mean looking bad guys. And in families with young or sensitive children, it might warrant a pre-watch. We really enjoyed this film.

Iconic shot:

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Why it's included:
An iconic movie directed by Georges Méliès, that all film goers must watch at some point in their lives. It might as well be now.

Specs: 
Short (at about 10 minutes long) and easy to find online. Of course it's black and white and silent (as all will be for another 25 years).

Our family's average rating (on a scale of 1-10):
5.38

More about the film and our response to it:
The film is on the list primarily for the iconic and cultural experience. People interested in exploring film through time could not do better than to start here because it provides a great benchmark of what cinema was (and could be) in these very early days. Chances are this film will feel odd, even jarring, to you. Filmmakers have not yet perfected how to tell a story with a camera, the acting is not yet fluid, and there is a jumble of activity that makes the plot and action hard to follow. Neophyte viewers aren't likely to love it, but you are bound to find it amusing. And the special effects may even impress you. The film has a certain charm if you allow yourself to relax and enjoy what it has to offer.

As you start your festival, with this, or any other seriously old picture, it's important to set aside a time to start when everybody is on board with the project and in the right mood. Set yourself up for success!

One of the coolest things about watching very old movies is using that experience as a springboard into conversations about what was going on in the world (or hadn't happened yet) at this period in time. For instance, it is great to note that this film pre-dates the moon landing by 67 years! How much of Méliès vision is for comedic effect? and how much is based on complete lack of understanding about the nature of the moon?  It can be an amazing experience to watch a film that was made in 1902 and think how cinema has preserved this moment in time forever.

Iconic shot: