The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

Oliver Gaycken, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, has a particular interest in early cinema and popular science. That perspective is brought to bear on most of his five picks, including both fiction and nonfiction films. Oliver is the author of Devices of Curiosity: Early Cinema and Popular Science . His articles have appeared in Historical Journal of Film, Radio, an...

Mario Slugan, Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, has literally written the book on fiction in early cinema . With that background and research in mind, he selects four films that may fit into what we consider narrative before turning to a standout “nonfiction” film that looms large for 1906. Mario has written three other monographs, including the upcoming Taking Fiction Film Serio...

Carl Bennett, publisher and editor of silentera.com , has run the crucial resource covering the first decades of film since 1999. He selects five films reflecting the growing trend of narrativization of cinema, with one notable exception in his conclusion. Carl’s site provides information about silent motion pictures, silent era people, the era’s theatres, documentation and reviews of home video e...

From changes in distribution and exhibition to formal firsts (with caveats), 1906 carries just a few pieces of oft-cited film history. But this season, on a year that is still very much part of cinema's earliest growth spurts, illustrates the heterogenous landscape of global filmmaking at the time and the thrills it can still offer today. Films mentioned: The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - Charl...

While the “nickelodeon boom” began in the United States and the global film industry was standardizing certain production elements, many of the conversations for this 1905 season turned to how wide the modes of moviemaking still were, resulting in strange yet beautiful experiments. As this year’s five guests have shown, cinema in even in an apparently obscure period such as the mid-1900s can still...

Film historian and author Mary Mallory has written five books about cinematic yesteryear. With her research of past traditions and underappreciated figures in mind, Mary selects some films that reflect the intermediality of early film and its basis in stage tricks, poetry, and even postcards, while others demonstrate new cinematic inventions. Mary’s most recent book is First Women of Hollywood: Fe...

Chris O’Rourke, Associate Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, explores the early history of film acting, stardom and fandom in Britain up to the end of the silent era in his book Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars . While film acting wasn’t quite a specific discipline in 1905, that distinction would arise sooner than one mig...

Scott Curtis, associate professor of radio/film/television and communication at Northwestern University, has published extensively on the use of moving images in scientific and medical research, education, and communication. That particular interest certainly informs most of his picks, but the conversation also includes the spectacle of sound and fantasy. Scott is the author of The Shape of Specta...

Shawn Hall brings his love of silent films to new audiences through his Shawn Toks Silents TikTok account, where he is currently working his way through reviewing each movie on Silent Era’s Top 100 Silent Movies List . He stretches back a little bit further than most silent film enthusiasts, however, by exploring 1905 through films of “serious” topics and advancing forms of comedy and feel-good st...

Dan Willard’s interest in film was fostered by a viewing of Eraserhead in 1977 and a number of UCLA film classes. In more recent years and reflecting the depths of his cinephilia, that has manifested in his extensive Films by the Year site and YouTube channel , which have been linked to many times in this very show’s notes (in this case, ranging from comedy and the féerie to “message films” and na...

The year 1905 pops up early in many film histories to address the start of the "nickelodeon era." As past seasons have shown, the Harris brothers' Pittsburgh storefront wasn't truly the first space dedicated to showing movies, but it and others shifted the needle in forming the activity of moviegoing. This season and its guests address the unification of the global "trade" of filmmaking and the ch...

This season’s conversations about film in 1904 often turned to the “awkwardness” of finding standout titles and defining the most representative developments in the art, business, and reception of cinema. Nevertheless, this year’s five guests presented exciting threads of potential futures that, in many ways, were resolved into the narrative model one expects a few years later. Films mentioned: Co...

Film preservationist Céline Ruivo brings an eye for color and pre-cinema to her five early cinema picks for 1904. From scientific intent to fantasy, and industrialism and modernity in between, she demonstrates how an apparently unmemorable year like 1904 can still provide great insight into the art and technology of cinema at the time. Céline holds a doctorate in cinema and teaches film preservati...

Martin L. Johnson, film historian and Associate Professor in English and Comparative Literature at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has literally written the book on local films in the United States . While most of his picks fit into that definition, he also brings comic chases and early filmic nudity into the conversation. Martin is also co-president of Domitor, the international soci...

Dimitrios Latsis, Associate Professor in Digital and Audiovisual Preservation at the University of Alabama, has worked extensively in the fields of American visual culture, early cinema, archival studies, and digital humanities. These interests are brought into the conversation about his five eclectic picks, in addition to some “runner-ups” that paint a fuller picture of cinema in 1904. Dimitrios...

George Willeman has been the Nitrate Film Vault Leader at the Library of Congress for 41 years. Having been in love with movies as far back as he can remember, George is still constantly amazed at the discoveries found within the Library’s nitrate film collection, and his picks reflect the enthusiasm and intrigue that occur at least weekly in his role. At a young age, George got hooked on 8mm rele...

Film historian Steve Massa is a particular expert on silent film comedy. His five choices for 1904 certainly reflect that interest, as they feature premises and gags that can still rouse surprise, chuckles, and laughs today. Steve is the author of Lames Brains and Lunatics: The Good, the Bad, and the Forgotten of Silent Comedy and its sequel as well as many other books. He also co-hosts Silent Com...

While 1904 doesn't have an iconic film like the past two seasons have each featured, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its share of worthwhile films and intriguing aspects of film history to explore. From the eve of the nickelodeon boom to expanding narrative ambitions, this season will explore both returning and new threads of the cinematic discourse of the early cinema period, from its time to n...

While one particular film was explored in-depth this season, every guest (whether they selected The Great Train Robbery or not) explored lesser known or at least lesser appreciated arenas of cinema in 1903. The myth busting, amateur spotlighting, and spectacle showcasing elements of this season's conversations make the case for the expansion of the art form in this calendar year, which may indeed...

Colin Williamson, Assistant Professor in Cinema Studies at University of Oregon, has wide-ranging interests, including animation, special effects, and media archaeology. With these angles and more in mind, he brings a unique perspective and some myth busting to his standout films of 1903. Colin is the author of Hidden in Plain Sight: An Archaeology of Magic and the Cinema and the forthcoming Drawn...

Film archivist and historian Rob Stone has always been interested in silent film. With his five picks, he charts evolving storytelling capabilities in the medium’s earliest days and the darker side of the fading actuality, mostly as represented by one filmmaker! Rob’s publishing company Split Reel specializes in books and other media highlighting lesser-known aspects of the entertainment industry,...

Pordenone Silent Film Festival director Jay Weissberg has facilitated an array of programs that expand the canonical ideas about what was made in the silent era and what can be appreciated now. With his picks (which he stretches a bit past five with two more must-sees), he showcases international, amateur, and aesthetic ambitions in 1903. Jay also worked as a film critic for 18 years with Variety...

Silent film historian Bruce Calvert has been collecting silent film memorabilia for 30 years, showcased on his site The Silent Film Still Archive . He shares his story of how he came to develop this interest and addresses how supporting materials can help us understand how incomplete, missing, and even fully surviving movies were made, seen, and received. Bruce is also a moderator of the classic f...

Neil Brand has been a silent film accompanist for nearly 40 years. He shares his musical expertise, which also includes composing new scores for silent film re-releases, while exploring exciting threads of fantasy, comedy, and violence in his five picks. Neil regularly plays at the Barbican and BFI National Film Theatres in London and film festivals around the world. His scores include Blackmail (...

The law (at least in America) had a significant effect on the development of film genres, aesthetics, production, and viewing practices from 1903 on. The world over, tightly run studios were becoming more and more prevalent, shifting story films further and further into the spotlight, and dedicated filmviewing spaces were cropping up. It's difficult to define any one calendar year as fundamentally...