Silent Films #1 and #2

My first impressions after seeing the two silent films "Child of the Big City" and "The Dying Swan" were very good. Although this wasn't my first experience with a silent film, it was perhaps my first time watching one from start to finish. I was impressed on how they were able to develop very intriguing stories with minimal words. The expressions and emotions of each character really seemed to stand out and create a unique atmosphere. The combination of mute emotions and the added piano accompaniment kept me curiously engaged throughout the film. I enjoyed watching both of these films, as it was much different from what I am used to. 

There are many small aspects of the first film that stood out to me: the first being the sign of the cross gesture. I did not expect to see this in a Russian film, yet it appeared right at the beginning after the mother died. The second thing is small, but it is the constant scenes of characters smoking cigarettes. Perhaps this was common at the time. But what really caught my attention was the murder scene and the scene preceding that. As the man pulled out the gun from his desk, you could tell there was almost a decent into madness. You could feel his jealousy. You felt the suspense of what was to happen, almost like a modern day thriller to some extent. As I watched these scenes, it was almost as if Evgenii Bauer (filmmaker) was trying to romanticize death through dramatic murder and later in the end suicide. Perhaps this was influenced by western films, but this may have been one of the first Russian instances. 

Moving on to the second film "The Dying Swan", there was a lot to observe both similar and different to the previous film. The first observation was the film starting out with a bluish tint. A filter was also added during the middle (purple) and at the end (blue again). 

Another thing I noticed was that in this film, there wasn't just a piano but stringed instruments as well. 

Finally, the 'victim' of the film changed from the first to the second. In the previous film "Child of the Big City", seemed to have been the man at the end who took his life, where in "The Dying Swan" the victim was certainly the girl. The inclusion of the nightmare scene and the flashbacks were really amazing, and added to the horror the girl felt. 

Although these both were somewhat short silent films, there were some amazing scenes for the time in each of these films. It was a great experience watching both of these stories unfold in a way I have never quite experienced before.