Silent London - Rotten Tomatoes

Silent London

Silent London is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Pamela Hutchinson
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
The General (1927)

Pamela Hutchinson

The General is one of the funniest, most ingenious, and gosh-darn exciting films you will ever see in your long and happy life.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
2
Little Veronika (Die kleine Veronika) (1929)

Pamela Hutchinson

I was thoroughly charmed by this film. Von Nagy is gorgeous, of course, but more alive than most ingénues
Posted Apr 21, 2020
3
They Shall Not Grow Old (2019)

Pamela Hutchinson

The soldiers of WWI are here little more than motion-capture figures for Jackson's team to drape with colour and sound and stereoscopy. An army of Gollums: not wearied by age perhaps, but certainly contemned by technology.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
4
Bait (2019)

Pamela Hutchinson

Bait is a fantastic movie, and will intoxicate anyone who loves the art and craft of film. The pacing stumbles a little towards the end, it's true, but I left the cinema enthralled and full of excitement about the medium.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
5
Arctic (2019)

Pamela Hutchinson

Arctic is an engrossing movie and sometimes almost unbearably tense film, shot smartly by debut director Joe Penna.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
6
Journey's End (2018)

Pamela Hutchinson

Dibb's sensitive incorporation of, or tribute to, traces of archive imagery is intriguing and very satisfying.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
7
My Twentieth Century (Az én XX. századom) (2019)

Pamela Hutchinson

Enyedi's film has the capacity to make ideas and inventions that are now familiar seem new again, to imbue them with the sense of wonder and magic that they once held.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
8
Wonderstruck (2017)

Pamela Hutchinson

Haynes is doing something more interesting than reconstruction. His film, carried along by Carter Burwell's brilliantly alive score, creates an almost silent movie -- a wordless communion between two periods of time.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
9
Der Schatz (The Treasure) (1923)

Pamela Hutchinson

While this film doesn't contain the fluid editing style that Pabst's later silents were noted for, it has plenty of visual panache, some intense performances and a carefully sustained atmosphere of mounting hysteria.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
10
Shiraz (1928)

Pamela Hutchinson

This is a film to wallow in. Hat-tip to the illustrious Anglo-German cinematography team of Henry Harris and Emil Schünemann. It takes repeat viewings of Shiraz to satisfy your hunger for those gorgeous landscapes and grand palaces.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
11
Michael (1924)

Pamela Hutchinson

How could it not be a wonderful film, with Dreyer directing, and two other estimable filmmakers in the cast?
Posted Apr 21, 2020
12
Stockholm, My Love (2016)

Pamela Hutchinson

I do appreciate how Cousins's silent camera, how his immersion in an older style of film-making, has created a poignant, provocative new film. Stockholm My Love is a singular and proud City Symphony.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
13
Notfilm (2015)

Pamela Hutchinson

There's plenty here to expand your understanding of Film. And film, too.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
14
Great K & A Train Robbery (1926)

Pamela Hutchinson

Yes, this film relies on a string of outlandish stunts and one incredible hat. But I have a real fondness for films such as this one that embellish a news story into an action rollercoaster.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
15
For Heaven's Sake (1926)

Pamela Hutchinson

Bucketfuls of belly laughs to be had, and I nearly gagged when Lloyd munched on a powder puff soaked in cologne believing it to be a cake baked by his sweetie.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
16
Beau Geste (1926)

Pamela Hutchinson

It's ridiculous, but Herbert Brenon has a winning way with the spectacular set pieces that the story demands. And the scenes are always stolen by the supporting cast.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
17
Les deux timides (Two Timid Souls) (2013)

Pamela Hutchinson

Clair conducts his imagery as if it's music, dividing and combining screens, and cutting with steely precision, to create a symphonic film: elaborate, and beautifully poignant. It's also very, very funny. Froth, but of the very finest kind.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
18
The Inhuman Woman (L'Inhumaine) (1926)

Pamela Hutchinson

There's little sentiment in this story, but there is great style. Even the intertitles glitter... L'Inhumaine is liable to leave you unmoved but agog.
Posted Apr 1, 2020
19
Synthetic Sin (2014)

Pamela Hutchinson

Synthetic Sin is an artifact from a time long gone. That is to say that this film is delightful, glamorous, witty... And they really don't make them like this any more.
Posted Apr 1, 2020
20
The First Film (2016)

Pamela Hutchinson

It's a noble quest, and I applaud Wilkinson for taking it on.
Posted Mar 30, 2020
21
The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Pamela Hutchinson

D.W. Griffith made many other films with old-fashioned, sentimental storylines -- but his best work moves the audience, because it is based on an emotional truth. That emotional truth is missing in this film.
Posted Mar 27, 2020
22
Man With a Movie Camera (1929)

Pamela Hutchinson

This magnificent movie may be a film studies set text, but it defies attempts at explanation, and in fact, it has a unique way of wriggling out of any category you might try to impose on it.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
23
Love Is All: 100 Years of Love & Courtship (2015)

Pamela Hutchinson

It's a wisp of a film, maybe, but a wonderful experiment -- a curiously intimate use of public footage, which is bound to trigger your own imagination, and your most cherished memories too.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
24
Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)

Pamela Hutchinson

From its ease with wordless communication to the exuberant pleasure it takes in runaway vehicles and ludicrous chases, there's no doubt that this film is suffused with the spirit of great silent comedy cinema.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
25
Spione (Spies) (The Spy) (1928)

Pamela Hutchinson

There's not an ounce of fat on this film -- if it's not sexy, dangerous or illegal, Lang won't allow it on screen. And this makes for breathless, disorienting viewing.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
26
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

Pamela Hutchinson

If you can separate the lazy stereotypes and cliches peddled by this "Arabian Nights fantasy" from your appreciation of the inspired movie-making in front of you, you'll enjoy The Thief of Bagdad for what it is: Hollywood spectacle at its most lavish.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
27
Playtime (1973)

Pamela Hutchinson

Playtime, [Jacques Tati's] masterpiece, is a work of brow-furrowing complexity in its design and structure, but a model of narrative clarity.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
28
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) (1920)

Pamela Hutchinson

Herrmann Warm's legendary Caligari sets don't look like the world outside our front doors, but they evoke the nightmares that invade our minds... Caligari creeps into your blood, via your fingernails.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
29
Madame Du Barry (Passion) (1919)

Pamela Hutchinson

Lubitsch's film has the glamour and sweep of a historical drama as well as the intimacy of a romcom. The sets and costumes are gorgeous, the very best that Ufa's ample resources could provide.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
30
Sidewalk Stories (1989)

Pamela Hutchinson

It's funny, it's touching, it's very clever and it has a quite remarkable lightness of touch.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
31
Faust (1926)

Pamela Hutchinson

This is rousing stuff -- and marvellously, the effects in this film, from the "magic carpet ride" to the scenes when Faust first makes his terrible deal with the devil, are up to telling such a bold story.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
32
Ich möchte kein Mann sein (I Don't Want to Be a Man) (2003)

Pamela Hutchinson

When it comes to rebellious on-screen teens, Ossi Oswalda's flirtatious, gender-bending minx feels decidedly modern.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
33
Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Pamela Hutchinson

This is high-camp Hollywood hokum to be sure, but hokum dressed up to the nines. And arguably the sheer gorgeousness of the film, as well as Chaney's chill portrayal of the spectre, lend the entire endeavour an unexpected gravitas.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
34
Napoléon (1929)

Pamela Hutchinson

A magnificent monstrosity, Napoléon offers refined beauty, raw thrills and a thousand and one reasons to adore the cinema.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
35
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens) (Nosferatu the Vampire) (1922)

Pamela Hutchinson

It's remarkable, by contrast with all the films that have appropriated the stair shot, that Murnau's Nosferatu avoids any such shortcuts: turning leafy landscapes into places of horror, playing violence as romance, and romance as violence.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
36
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler - Ein Bild der Zeit) (Dr. Mabuse, King of Crime) (1922)

Pamela Hutchinson

This is pulp mystery fiction with a touch of class; Lang takes a few steps in the direction of his Hollywood film noir future with these slick stories of criminal twists, unexpected turns and moral compromises in a bleak urban setting.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
37
Too Much Johnson (1938)

Pamela Hutchinson

Haphazard, but buoyant, an experiment in pastiching old-fashioned cinematic styles, but with a passion that energises them. Three years before Citizen Kane and here we can see Welles happily at play with his new favourite toy.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
38
All Is Lost (2013)

Pamela Hutchinson

It is a rare sound film that has learned the extraordinary power of silents -- and it's really very special indeed.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
39
The Naked Island (Hadaka no shima) (1960)

Pamela Hutchinson

Director Kaneto Shindô relies on his imagery to craft an engrossing realist drama. This is one of the most sophisticated, and powerful, of modern silent films.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
40
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)

Pamela Hutchinson

This voiceless melodrama, as exotic and strange as it may seem, will slide right under your skin.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
41
Underground (1928)

Pamela Hutchinson

The story of Underground may be simple, but its treatment is unexpectedly dark, stylized, and violent
Posted Mar 26, 2020
42
Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902)

Pamela Hutchinson

This is live-action film, but transformed by Méliès's ingenious in-camera editing and those gorgeous paints to be something more like a cartoon. It's gorgeous, it's ludicrous and it's heaps of fun.
Posted Mar 26, 2020
43
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (Siegfried's Death) (1924)

Pamela Hutchinson

The king of all fantasy epics. Burning palaces, bloody fight scenes, dragons, cloaks of invisibility - this beast has it all, and it's breathtakingly beautiful as well.
Posted Mar 23, 2020
44
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (Kriemhild's Revenge) (1924)

Pamela Hutchinson

Suffers from having a less well-structured, eventful plot than the first... Don't despair though: its flaming finale, and Rudolf Klein-Rogge's grotesque Attila, are well worth putting in the hours for.
Posted Mar 23, 2020
45
The Manxman (1929)

Pamela Hutchinson

It is a sharply beautiful film and Anny Ondra's sleepy-eyed romantic fool gives us a great Hitchcock Blonde before icy Grace Kelly was even born.
Posted Mar 23, 2020
46
Blancanieves (2013)

Pamela Hutchinson

Blancanieves is a strange piece of work, but a precious one, however, so even if it lacks ambition, its integrity and beauty are to be treasured.
Posted Mar 23, 2020
47
Hugo (2011)

Pamela Hutchinson

Hugo has plenty to indulge a silent film aficionado -- or to educate a young film buff.
Posted Mar 23, 2020
48
Louis (2010)

Pamela Hutchinson

The problem with Louis is that it gets distracted from what it does best, and a Chaplin pastiche is no substitute for the real thing.
Posted Mar 18, 2020
49
Lursmani cheqmashi (Nail in the Boot) (2011)

Pamela Hutchinson

While the film is always elegantly composed, the kitchen-sink details of slum life, from watered-down milk and sugar sandwiches to empty shelves and broken furniture are everywhere -- "Shoes" is relentlessly unglamorous.
Posted Mar 18, 2020
50
The First Born (1929)

Pamela Hutchinson

The First Born is a wonderfully well directed film, in fact, eliciting a tremendous, anguished central performance from Carroll.
Posted Mar 18, 2020