So, I started reading, or re-reading, World Cinema by Sklar. It is a general overview of Cinema from it's beginnings with the Lumieres and Edison. It brings up the earliest stars and artists of Cinema. I just read the chapter about the 1910 to 1920 period. D.W. Griffith features large in the story. As does Cabiria an epic Italian production which influenced Griffith to make his opus Intolerance. I've seen both films. I can't remember how many years ago it was, four or five. I originally read World Cinema while taking a summer course in Media Art at the state school I live by. It was a basic class. After it was over I read the book from the end of WWII to the end of the book which is in the early 2000s. I've taken it upon myself to read the book from the very beginning to the end. A companion piece is Mark Cousin's The Story of Film. I've seen that one twice and started to watch it again last month. I've fallen behind on my schedule to watch that one again. I even start to anticipate what happens next in the film. I also started to re-watch Martin Scorsese's Journey Through American Films. I've also watched his Voyage to Italy. It's great to learn about some of the filmmakers who have influenced Scorsese. Documentary films usually provide some detail and theoretical ideas, but books seem to be best for that. At least the two Sklar books I've read; World Cinema and another one about American Movies.
Reading the World Cinema book turns me on to early Cinema again. The book references Carl Theodor Dryer who I really like even if he is on the dark side. His film about Joan of Arc is incredible. And I watched Dreyers' Days of Wrath too, which was also great. Anyway the book mentions Dreyers Book of Satan. Dreyer was so influenced by DW Griffith's Intolerance that he made a film like Intolerance. According to the book it has three story lines all concerning aspects of religious tolerance. I'm going to give the film a look. I'm sure it won't disappoint.
The other direction the World Cinema book pulled me was to Charlie Chaplin. Now that I consider it Chaplin and Dreyer are about as different as night and day. Dreyer deals with the occult and human sufferering while Chaplin is comic and satirical. I've seen one or two Chaplin films. Regrettably I haven't seen The Great Dictator. Only parts of it. Looks funny though. I have seen Chaplin the Richard Attenborough film starring Robert Downey, Jr.. That film is great. If I were to teach an American Film class I would like to screen Chaplin. He was such a complicated person and his life story is so remarkable. It's too bad there isn't a more authoritative biography on Chaplin. I've come across a few books that were not bad, but nothing that is deserving of Chaplin's stature in World Cinema. He was the first mega star reaching continents and countries like no actor had done before.
There is a rather short book about Chaplin that I might read. I've decided that I'm going to read a biography of DW Griffith first. Then, I was thinking Orson Welles. I don't know where the World Cinema book will lead me, but I'm interested to find out.
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