The Artist, now showing in your home!

A quick reminder that today sees the UK release of The Artist on DVD and Blu-Ray.  I trust you've all bought your copies.  Don't get left behind!

Silence is golden for "The Artist"

I never doubted it for a minute, you know.  The Golden Globes hinted at it, the BAFTAs all but confirmed it and last night The Artist rose to the top of the pile and deservedly won five Oscars™ including Best Picture and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin, becoming the first silent film to win the top prize since Wings at the very first Oscars™ ceremony back in 1929.  Eighty-three years is a long time to wait (as long as 82-year-old Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, who should also be congratulated for his Best Supporting Actor award, which makes him the oldest recipient of one of those little statuettes)!

"The Artist" paints golden picture at Oscars

I don't mean to sound like a cracked record but I make no apologies for singing the praises of The Artist loud and long.  This may well be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence and it should be made the most of, particularly by those of us interested in vintage and classic films.  Hopefully it will introduce a whole new audience to the wonders of the old black-and-white silents.

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Oscars 2012: The Artist's win reminds us to protect our film heritage

I went and saw it at the cinema again last week, the first time I've seen the same film twice since 1995, and it was as wonderful as the initial viewing.  I may yet see it a third time, although showings at my local picture house are down to two an evening now.  At the risk of repeating myself, it absolutely warrants viewing on a big screen.  I was surprised but pleased to see the auditoria packed on both occasions I attended although it has to be said that my presence undoubtedly lowered the average age of the audience by a good few years(!).  Still it was great to see such popularity and enjoyment, especially in my neck of the woods - be it curiosity or out-and-out appreciation this is one silent film that has the public talking!

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As an aside, I just bought [via download] the wonderful (and award-winning) soundtrack today, so I can now go about my business with a little bit of black-and-white movie magic music as accompaniment.  Although it's dashed difficult to live out a silent film, with all the noise things make!

The release date for the DVD has also just been announced.  Mark the 7th of May in your diaries, as that's when this little gem makes it on to a distinctly un-vintage format!

The award-winning Artist

Silence is golden as The Artist scoops 7 BAFTAs

This is just to acknowledge and congratulate The Artist on its winning seven BAFTA awards in London last night, including Best Film and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin.  They are all thoroughly well-deserved, every one, and all those involved should be justly proud.  The Oscars™ await, I feel sure.

Silent movie The Artist dominates 65th Baftas

If you haven't seen The Artist yet - what's the matter with you?!  Hurry up; it won't be in cinemas for much longer!  The BAFTA buzz and the Oscar™ hype might keep it out there for a little longer, but already showings are starting to lessen.  If you're still unsure, or have been living under a rock for the past two months and don't know what it's all about - here's my review of it from last month.  It deserves, nay needs, to be seen on the big screen so please do so if you can.


The success of The Artsist in the face of such strong opposition this year should be celebrated by the vintage community and shows that the silent film is by no means a dead genre.  In this modern age it is wonderful to see such an old-fashioned film taken to heart so well.  Perhaps it is the lean times we find ourselves in, perhaps it is the beginnings of a rebellion against sensory-assaulting CGI and 3D but whatever it is I am happy to see it celebrated by its peers, and more than glad to be able to say I saw it on the big screen.

First Oscar winner Wings flies back onto big screen

First Oscar winner Wings flies back onto big screen

With The Artist sweeping all before it (and quite rightly too) with three Golden Globes and twelve - yes, 12 - BAFTA nominations my prediction that 2012 would be the year of the silent film looks to have been correct.  If The Artist can renew interest in silent cinema, as it certainly looks to have done, then it can only be a good thing.

And as The Artist looks a shoo-in for an Oscar or two what better time to re-release the last silent film to receive the Best Picture award, 1927's Wings starring Clara Bow.  Some lucky American cinemagoers will today get the opportunity to experience Wings on the big screen as Paramount Pictures celebrates its 100th anniversary.  Even better the newly-restored footage will be accompanied by a live in-house organ!

Hopefully something similar will take place on this side of the Pond at some point.  With the success of The Artist it is more than likely.  In the meantime, by way of compensation, Wings looks to be available on DVD and Blu-ray from the 24th January.

Jack Powell (Charles Rogers) and Sylvia Lewis (Jobyna Ralston) in Wings.
Image courtesy of IMDb.com

Many people focus on Clara Bow in the film and perhaps rightly so as she was very much a sex-symbol of the time.  I must admit, though, to not being a huge fan of Miss Bow and particularly not in this film which also stars one of my favourite actresses of the 1920s, Jobyna Ralston, who is perhaps best known for starring opposite Harold Lloyd in six of his pictures from 1923 to 1927.  She's one of my vintage crushes, as it happens, and I think she deserves a post all of her own at some point in the future.

In the meantime I shall return to my Harold Lloyd collection and wait excitedly for further developments in the silent film revival that is definitely getting up a head of steam this year.  Hurrah for the silent black-and-white!

The Artist paints a beautiful picture

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Well, the day after it won 3 Golden Globes, I went to watch The Artist at my local cinema (and, for a change, top marks to Empire Cinemas for actually having the good sense to show it and so save me a 30-mile trip to Stratford) and all I can say is if you have even a passing interest in silent films and the 1920s/30s then you simply must see this film.

The craftsmanship and love that went into making The Artist is obvious from the first frame and the highest praise I can think to give it is that, with the odd momentary exception, I felt as though I could have been watching an actual silent film from 1927.  It was that good.  The cinematography (and traditional 1.33:1 screen ratio), the music (one of the winning Globes, and deservedly so), the inter-titles, and perhaps most amazingly the acting itself was top notch - almost as if the last 83 years never happened.



But The Artist is so much more than just a silent film.  The storyline, the characters - they all stand up to scrutiny and really help to make it more than the sum of its parts.  In fact I'm a bit surprised to see it win a Globe for Best Musical or Comedy because, while there were laughs aplenty and cracking musical numbers, there was also real melodrama and romance.

There really was something for everyone (my mother, who has hardly any interest in vintage and usually wouldn't watch any of my silent film collection, let alone go to the cinema to watch one, was particularly taken with the romantic subplot and lead actor Jean Dujardin's matinée idol looks) and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were about a dozen people at the screening.  Perhaps there is some culture in Basildon after all(!).

If I get the chance to see it on the big screen again I shall most certainly take it, otherwise I will impatiently await the DVD release.  From what I saw The Artist fully deserves every award it has garnered, and if it doesn't win something at the Oscars I for one will be very disappointed.  I can't ever recall a film that has been so positively received by the critics, who have had absolutely nothing but praise for it.  Is it as good as they say it is?  YES.

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

The Artist pays homage to Hollywood's silent era

The Artist pays homage to Hollywood's silent era

There is a lot of anticipation surrounding this film in vintage blogdom, and rightly so.  A silent black & white film, set between 1927 and 1932 and filmed in the style of period?  Yes please with knobs on!

This could have been a big risk for French director Michel Hazanavicius but it looks to have paid off handsomely and then some.  Highly acclaimed at its premiere in Cannes, with lead star Jean Dujardin winning the best actor award, it now seems that the Oscars themselves are in this film's sights.  Could this be the first silent film in eighty-three years to win Best Picture?  It would certainly do wonders for it (not to mention the entire genre) if it did.

I've scarcely been able to contain my excitement about The Artist ever since I first heard of it a couple of months ago, but my enthusiasm has always been tempered by how these types of films (which some might call arthouse) have been treated by the large cinema chains and received by moviegoers in general.  When I tried to see film noir homage The Good German back in 2006 I was disheartened to discover that my local cinema was showing it for only one week, once, at midnight.  And that was it.  Then there was the time I had to travel 20 miles to see Flyboys and found myself the only person at the screening!  (OK, perhaps it was fun to have the whole auditorium to myself, but it was also disappointing to see such a low turnout even for the weekday matinée that it was).

So it is with some trepidation that I continue to wonder about the reception this film will receive from wider audiences both here and in the United States.  How will modern filmgoers used to 3D, not to mention colour and dialogue, take to monochrome and inter-titles?  Will it even get a full and proper nationwide release?  With luck and thanks to its success at Cannes, its overwhelmingly positive reviews and possible Oscar presence it may well break into the "mainstream".  We can only hope!

And if it does, it may mark something of a resurgence in popularity for silent movies.  If it can introduce at least one modern viewer to the delights of early cinema, it will have been a success if you ask me.  Plus with the release of Silent Life, a similar film about Rudolph Valentino, also planned for next year, 2012 could well be the year of the silent movie!