Early wintry films (looking for more)

[Curtis, baby]

I'm looking for some short wintry films from the early days of cinema. Say, pre-1914 for sure, but more like pre-1910 ideally. Things like Snowball Fight (1897), The Christmas Dream (1900), and Kørsel med Grønlandske hunde (1897) are freaking perfect. If anything comes to mind, please let me know

Still looking, if anyone knows anything. Suggested by Lencho, rischka, sally and greennui on the old board:

Max Learns to Skate (1907)
Moscow Clad in Snow (1909)
Wolf Hunting in Russia (1910)
The First Sleigh Ride (1897)
Santa Claus (1898)
The Death Of Poor Joe (1901)
The Little Match Seller (1902)
The Night Before Christmas (1905)
A Winter Straw Ride (1906)
A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe In Santa Claus (1907)

[Curtis, baby]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Watched the first three last night.

Max Learns to Skate was amazing. I've gotta say, if you time the moment Max stands up with his skates on (about 90 seconds into the video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q07fMubGhGw

with the beginning of this audio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W12c5KYnAUE

God damn! That is some perfectly wintry, Christmas-season, December-ass shit going on right there. Freaking perfect! Was this 4/4 if I watched it silently? Don't even kid yourself. But I DIDN'T watch it silently. 4/4


Moscow Clad in Snow was some surreal shit. Makes me realise I'll need to go to Northeastern Europe one day, probably in the winter, and see that for myself. Just gorgeous. I wish those people in Russia in 1909 knew how dear and wonderful it is that I can get in the winter spirit by tasting brief moments of their own wintry lives from so long ago. I love cinema so much. 3.5/4


Wolf Hunting in Russia was disturbing, obviously, but I listened to Monarchs by Holocaust while I was watching it, so it was actually pretty damn fire in a way. Double-bills nicely with MCiS. 2.5/4

[Curtis, baby]

Lencho, you've got such an encyclopedic knowledge of early cinema. I'm "up to" 1901 in my crash course of early silents, but I'd missed both The First Sleigh-Ride and The Death of Poor Joe. Thanks! The latter made a great double-bill with The Little Match Seller.

[Curtis, baby]

Okay, another request, team. I'm looking for early--but not super-early--silent footage of snow. Heavy on the snow. I'm talking stuff like The Great White Silence (1924), South (1919), Epic of Everest (1924), etc. Doesn't have to be feature-length but the closer to that the better.

[sally]

well, they're not feature length, they're earlyish, so not what you really wanted, but there IS lots of snow (both docs tho)

home of the blizzard (1913)
and
the snows of many years (1917)
https://www.filmpreservation.org/preser ... years-1917#

also later there's buster in the frozen north, but he goes a little psychotic.
then there's lubitsch's romeo & juliet in the snow, michael curtiz's avalanche, the chechahcos, tentacles of the north, laila....

[Curtis, baby]

thanks sally

docs are actually ideal. The three examples I gave are actually docs! The Snows of Many Years looks perfect, but Home of the Blizzard... where is this? on imdb it's Dr. Mawson in the Antarctic. But I can't find either of those streaming or available for DL anywhere, including KG. Do you have a copy?

I've seen the Buster. It's not my favourite Buster...

I will DEFINITELY watch Romeo and Juliet in the Snow... holy crap. That's probably my second favourite play ever

[Lencho of the Apes]

The Holy Mountain (and other Fancks) (but yuck)
By The Law (Kuleshov)
Way Down East
The Trail Of 98

...probably lots of the Storm Over Asia type of ethnic Soviet exotic regional cinemas...

[Curtis, baby]

Seen By the Law (which is good) and Way Down East (which is effing amazing), but I'd never heard of The Trail of 98 or Storm Over Asia.... but two things I've been meaning to bring into my life for a while now are some silent Clarence Brown and some more Pudovkin, so thank you!

[sally]

not sure if this isn't too late (1929, but it's silent) - just watched molander's hjärtats triumf and there is TONS of snow. (plus, it's gorgeous)



in fact there's so much snow that even when this charming young man takes his shirt off, he's still got snow on him

[sally]

oh and as for home of the blizzard - i was hoping it was on kg or something....i remember reading about it when one of the bfi ones came out (probably great white silence) where it was regarded as some kind of australian national treasure. i guess they treasure it so much no one can see it....there's a few clips on youtube tho, so someone's seen it....

[rischka]

you've seen sir arne's treasure i assume bure

[Curtis, baby]

holy eff Hjartats Triumf looks freshhhhhhhhh. Downloading...

Never even heard of Sir Arne's Treasure! I'll look into it...

Now that exams are done I can watch some more wintry films and I'm gonna get to very many of these before Christmas!

[rischka]

the outlaw and his wife is a favorite of mine too. and laila

[Curtis, baby]

Oh yeah, The Outlaw and his Wife is utterly fantastic, probably my second favourite Sjostrom... Laila looks fantastic, except.... 165 minutes! My lord! I don't think I have the attention span for that right now.

I'm going to bang out a couple of wintry shorts and watch this Romeo and Juliet in the Snow... 45 minutes! That I can handle

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Wintry, snowy shorts is a good idea. I'll try to check out some of these recommendations too.

Some further recommendations:
— Skating In Montreal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHadpEikKLM
— Skiing Scene in Quebec http://footage.framepool.com/en/shot/37 ... he-century
— Back to God's Country https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd-kzSUDgdE

[Curtis, baby]

Oooooh, some canuckerousness! Skating in Montreal and Skiing Scene in Quebec were great stuff! I'll have to check out this feature, too. I don't think I've seen any Canadian features that old.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

It's probably the best regarded Canadian film of the silent era. But then there aren't many other widely available contenders. Outside of the Nell Shipman productions, Carry On, Sergeant! (1928) is the only alternative choice I know of that's available online. It's a Great War film though, so no snowfall.

Another silent winter flick I'd recommend is À la Conquête du Pôle, a late Méliès production I just watched. Scientists (and suffragettes!) journey to the North Pole. To my mind, a real joy.

[Curtis, baby]

Watched those two Edwin S. Porters--The Night Before Christmas last night and A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus today--and they were both fucking dope.

Gonna watch Back to God's Country later today

[Lencho of the Apes]

It's mot as early as you're asking for, but The Fatal Glass Of Beer (1932) is essential snowcore.

[sally]

more (astonishingly amoral) snowcore

bergenstoget plyndret i natt (krafft, 1928)

there was people and stuff but also things i've never seen before in a film: moving trains with foot-long icicles, a snow plough-train, a posse on skis...and some weird reference to the creepy silent character tom mix.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Thanks for the recommendation, twodeadmagpies. This looks like something I'll want to see this January.

[Umbugbene]

Forbidden Quest (1993) by Peter Delpeut (Netherlands) is a fictional story of an Antarctic expedition using found footage from early silent cinema, including a lot of nitrate film in varying stages of decay. Most of its sources are probably unnamed films that aren't completely preserved.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Found an essential brrrr film for you bure: The Olympic Games Held at Chamonix in 1924, silent documentary on the first ever Winter Olympics. Includes a championship hockey match with Canada vs. USA, slow motion, and lots of folks in the snow.

[Curtis, baby]

Thanks! I've got it downloading