Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)

Love this post guys! The1920s has many sophisticated films and effects. Way Down East 1920 begins the '20s. During the climax to the story they combine real ice floe rivers footage of falls (actors actually had Ice on them and near frost bite) with studio river sets to complete one whale of a rescue sequence; Orphans of the Storm (created streets and acres of buildings to represent Paris, France circa 1789 with terrifying guillotine sequences and last minute rescues;  Safety Last 1923; The Thief Of Bagdad (film spelling) 1924 also boast a dragon like sequence, underwater sets, castle sets and large ancient city set for long shot views; The Lost World 1925 first large scale usage of stop-motion dinosaurs in a lavish jungle, plateau setting; The Big Parade 1925 stunning action and battle sequences; Ben-Hur 1925/26 (galley scenes, chariot races, city streets); The Black Pirate 1926 Technicolor and perfected action effects with Doug Fairbanks who was a graceful top acrobat;  Metropolis 1927 futuristic feel by using large miniatures with moving streets and combination of live footage to create the whole. The film climaxes in a grand finale showing the flooding of the workers underground city and hundreds of children rescued in a suspenseful sequences worth of Alfred Hitchcock; Wings 1927 boasted some of the most daring effects sequences every put on film. Cameras attached to bi planes to film close-ups of actors flying high in actual period planes and also for aerial shots to give many different views to the action making viewers feel as if they were in the film! Basically unprecedented film work here! Bar sequence has one the all time great tracking shots too. Some amazing stuff in Wings! The Viking 1928 two tone Technicolor; Noah's Ark (ancient prologue and in some modern sequences too. 'Noah's Ark' flood effects are tons of water for many shots, except for Dunning process, and were very dangerous); This is only the tip of the iceberg from the decade that brought us some of the first sophisticated effects not only through miniatures, stop-motion, large puppetry, huge expensive sets, costuming, some early Technicolor, (most films had tinting and toning they were very rarely in the B&W we know) and dangerous stunts not only involving professionals but many times involving many extras as in 1928's Noah's Ark (with talking scenes and synchronized sound effects) Nevertheless, Siegfried from 1924 is one of my favorite films and I love the German expressionist films from 1919 to the late 1920s. When Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau came to Hollywood their story and filming techniques first entered Silent Hollywood (films were never shown silent) using lighting in cinematography to literally carve out three dimensional effects, think Gustave Doré, (by 1926 panchromatic film now became cheaper and extensively used and gave the complete tonal quality to B&W pictures and combining tinting and toning on silver nitrate film gave sparking effects the likes that have not been seen in safety film in 1950/51. Also, three strip Technicolor was brilliant as projected to the screen and akin to seeing the masters' works in person and not as in photographs or prints. That's why Televising nor streaming and give you the full complete visuals unless the actual film is projected onto the literally silver screens of the 1920s to 1940s. George Eastman House screens many of these films to audiences wanting to experience the same effects as those first audiences experienced. I'm so sorry for this but when I see a silent masterpiece restored or given appreciation I tend to also share what little knowledge I have of the period. This is the best YouTube video I've seen in a very long time! Thank you so very much. Doug

@douglasswicegood4420 13

I was not aware of Fritz Lang’s work, but it is very cool and innovative especially for the time period. I liked the human bridge supports in in the river, talk about being a lowly surf. The shape changing is pretty sophisticated for a 20s flick, impressive to say the least

@bobsmoot8454 6

Wow, It is 100 years old!

@cosmofelix8320 2