Films by Evgeni Bauer
Silent films are an acquired taste. Since most of us grew up having television and movies with sound, its hard to appreciate silent films for what they are worth. However, silent films force the actors to express themselves through means other than utilizing their voices. This could be a disadvantage depending how one looks at it. Sounds can convey more, but the silent films forced actors to work harder to express their feelings through the faces which can be difficult. In the movies we watched today, it was very clear that most of the actors in silent films had dark hair and dark eyebrows. This would allow actors to show more expression. Since the lighting isn't the best, a blonde haired person would have to work twice as hard to show the same expression as someone with darker facial details. Furthermore, in Child of the Big City and The 1002nd Ruse it seems as though Bauer had a firm belief that women only wanted money from men. This is extremely noticeable in Child of the Big City because the Mary took Viktor for everything he was worth and didn't care when he killed himself. She simply walked over the body, which is somewhat disturbing. As for the 1002nd Ruse the wife was cheating on her husband and also wanted jewelry to be happy. He has a similar view of women in both of these films.
Furthermore, silent films allow us to look through a window into an era we have never experienced. Things such as the sewing machine and iron from Child of the Big City and the newspaper from The Dying Swan shows us how things we use now used to be. Moreover, even things such as the horse drawn buggies and old-fashioned cars allow us to appreciate the things we have now. These films can show us how culture has changed from then, to now.
As for the challenges, it sometimes was hard to follow what was going on. We are not completely familar with the era the movie took place during so some things were hard to understand. I feel as though you have to pay closer attention to silent films to follow them then you do to understand a film with sound.