Not the same thing, but the first time I saw District 9 there were no subtitles for the prawns. I didn’t even know there was supposed to be any. I think I liked that version better.
Metropolis - 1927
Docks of New York and The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari are also really cool silent age movies
Not the best, but Koyaanisqatsi is pretty trippy. The music adds a lot to it, but it would still be visually interesting without it.
Star Wars has a silent version released in the 70’s, with descriptive captions and all
https://youtu.be/_zj3ayw-ZtI?si=avF5RxcnMrxdFPdW
This is of Ep. 3 I think but you can find them for all the episodes
That’s pretty neat actually.
Any of the original Indiana Jones films.
They were storyboarded almost like a comic book. I once heard a University professor online talking about how you can watch any of the three original movies in black and white with no sound and still have a perfect understanding of the story; that’s how strong they are . If you ever want an entertaining evening, invite some friends over and do just that.
So, here’s a weird anecdote: Me and my ex were watching The Lighthouse together online (long distance relationship). Neither of us had watched it before. Turns out for some reason, VLC was not able to decode the audio codec properly on my end - I only had some athmospheric parts of ambience and music, but most interestingly no voice at all. Up until the very end, I thought they just went extra-avant-guarde and emulated a silent film in addition to the monochrome aesthetics. Only after we talked about it and she told me something about some dialogue scenes I realised that there was actually supposed to be audible dialogue.
Funnily enough, turns out it was still super enjoyable for me because I love artsy movies and surreal experiences, and I was able to piece together the plot and character interactions pretty accurately.
A movie with lots of space battles - turning of the sound should be more realistic.
The Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon.
I was trying to watch the original Nosferatu but the version I was watching had dogshit Casio keyboard accompaniment. I muted it and had Spotify put on a playlist based on “Danse Macabre.” Much better. That said, a proper silent movie with live accompaniment is fucking fantastic. I saw Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall that way and loved it.
Porno
The Artist (2011)
Can’t say it’s the best but a really good one is Sir Arne’s Treasure. Its a silent film (which is a misnomer because they were always accompanied by live music back in the day). But it’s beautifully shot.
There is some very incredible work in films leading up until the introduction of recorded audio which basically threw cinematography back a good 40 years in development due to the noise they created and how actors had to be blocked to just record their dialog.
Interstella 5555. It’s basically one long music video so there’s no dialog and it’s anime so the visuals are really striking
I mean, it was very clearly designed with the music in mind. Without it, you’ll notice the loops and sped up movements a lot more, and it’ll make less sense without the music.
Yes, all movies with sound typically are. I just mentioned it because I’ve been to bars that had it on TVs while other music was playing and it was really cool to look at
I’m gonna disagree with that first part. In most movies, the music is created to fit the footage. This is a rare feature-length movie where the footage is created to fit the music. As such, the visuals will warp to fit a score that, if you’re watching it silently, isn’t there.
It’ll look cool, but there will be parts that look weird and you won’t be sure why.
It’ll look cool, but there will be parts that look weird and you won’t be sure why
Like most movies designed to be viewed with sound. I think everyone reading this question assumed the asker knew silent movies exist. I offered something with engaging visuals that doesn’t need dialog to explain the premise
Not exactly the same thing, but my wife and I saw Logan at a drive in theater when it came out
Towards the end when he’s all fucked up and near death, the audio started doing all kinds of weird shit, cutting in and out, getting fuzzy and distorted, etc.
We thought it was a pretty cool effect to show the sort of state he was in and we were all about it.
Then we heard some crystal clear audio coming from the cars next to us, turns out it was just my car’s battery dying from running the radio.
Still think it was a cool effect, would watch it again that way if it were an option.
I’ve since picked up a battery powered radio for future drive-ins (we try to go at least once a year)
Hush
This is a good recommendation. I went into the movie thinking it would be silent. Was kind of disappointed that it wasn’t, tbh.
