'Not-So-Silent' Films Returning to Franklin Museum in Fall

Silent Films are back, in Franklin.

Of course, the term `silent film’ is a retronym—a term created to retroactively distinguish something from later developments. Early sound films, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were variously referred to as the "talkies", "sound films", or "talking pictures".

Some of the greatest names in film history, not to mention many of the film studios that still dominate the industry, got their start in the so-called Silent Era. But that era wasn’t really so silent. In fact, almost all films were accompanied by music and sometimes even readers to provide a dramatic rendition of the ‘intertititles’ that help narrate action.

On an experimental basis, a `Cinema 80’ film series got its start at the Franklin Historical Museum in January of this year with its “Silent Saturday” program, on Saturday evenings at 6 pm. The series drew a steady and enthusiastic audience. And, in September the fun resumes.

The lineup for the balance of the calendar year, delivered in cooperation with the Franklin Senior Center, includes:

• 9/7, Modern Times (comedy) – created by and starring Charlie Chaplin
• 9/14, Shorts by the tremendously innovative film maker D.W. Griffith
• 9/21, Orochi
  – a 1925 Japanese film that tells the story of a troubled samurai.
• 9/28, Man with a Movie Camera –a 1929 mesmerizing showcase of life in an infant communist country, as told by the Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration
• 10/5, The Black Pirate-Starring that sure-fire action-hero, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in a tale of pirates, vengeance, and love...
• 10/12, The General – Buster Keaton outdoes himself with non-stop action and comedy, loosely based on a real incident in the American Civil War. It has insane chase scenes involving lots of trains, horses, and soldiers and timings that keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
• 10/26, Nosferatu—a timeless classic that tells the tale of a vampire in extra-creepy black and white.
• 11/2, City Lights – The often-comic misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl. Considered by many to be Chaplin’s greatest film.
• 11/9, The Big Parade – With a showing timed for proximity to Veteran’s Day, The Big Parade a 1925 American drama has been praised as one of the best and most realistic films about World War I.

The programs are free (donations always encouraged) and held at the Franklin Historical Museum, 80 West Central Street.