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Silent Movies

Talk to people who saw films for the first time when they were silent, and they will tell you the experience was magic. The silent film, with music, had extraordinary powers to draw the audience into the story, and equally potent capacity to make their imagination work. They had to supply the voices and the sound effects, and because their minds were engaged, they appreciated the experience all the more. The audience was the final creative contributor to the process of making a film.

The films have gained a charm and other worldliness with age but, inevitably, they have also lost something. The impression they made when there was no rival to the moving picture was more profound, more intense; compared to the easily accessible pictures of today, it was a blow of a two-handed axe, against the blunt scraping of a tableknife.

The silent period may be known as “The Age of Innocence” but it included years unrivalled for their dedicated viciousness. In Europe, between 1914 and 1918 more men were killed to less purpose than at any other time in history.

In publications of the time, one reads horrified reactions against films showing “life as it is”. You did not leave the problems at home merely to encounter them again at the movies. You paid your money initially, for forgetfulness.

Gradually movie-going altered from relaxation to ritual. In the big cities, you want to massive picture palaces, floating through incense- laden air to the strains of organ music, to warship at the Cathedral of Light. You paid homage to your favourite star; you dutifully communed with the fan magazines. You wore the clothes they wore in the movies; you bought the furniture you saw on the screen.You joined a congregation composed of every strata of society. And you shared your adulation with Shanghai, Sydney and Santiago. For your favourite pastime had become the most powerful cultural influence in the world- exceeding even that of the Press. The silent film was not only a vigorous popular art; it was a universal language- Esperanto for the eyes.

b. Answer the following questions:

1. Why did the audience of silent movies appreciate them so much? 2. What makes the author think that the first movies provided the audience with a sort of escape from reality? Do you agree with this point of view? 3. Why does the author call the first cinema houses Cathedrals of Light”? Do you think that this comparison can be applied to modern cinema houses? 4. Are there many people nowadays for whom cinemas is a favourite pastime? Can we claim that cinema is still the most powerful cultural influence exceeding even the press? 5. Do you think that the advent of sound killed the silent movies?

c. Explain what the author means by the following:

1. The films have gained a charm and other worldliness with age but, inevitably, they have also lost something.

What have the films gained? Are their achievements mainly associated with the progress of science and technology? What have they lost?

2. The impression they made when there was no rival to the moving picture was more profound, more intense compared to the easily accessible pictures of today.

d. There are three main functions of the silent movies singled out by the author in this extract. Pick them out and enlarge on them. Do you think that these functions are performed by modern films as well?

2. Use the Topical Vocabulary in answering the questions:

1.What does a usual cinema showing consist of? 2. How often do you go to the pictures and where do you prefer to sit? 3. What types of films do you know? 4. What films appeal to you most? 5. Do you care for long films? 6. What is a film star? What does the success of a the directing or the camera work? 8. What do we mean when we say that a film has a message to convey? 9. Why does a director trying to interpret a great work of literature on the screen take upon himself a most responsible task? 10. How is the cinema used as an aid of teaching? 11. What do you know about international film festivals?

You are going to read an article about a famous actress. Choose from the list A-G the paragraph which fits each gap(1-5). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning(0).