Silent Movies

Talk to people who saw films for the first time when they were silent, and they will tell you the experience was magic. The silent film, with music, had extraordinary powers to draw an audience into the story, and an equally potent могущественную capacity to make their imagination work игру воображения. They had to supply the voices and the sound effects, and be­cause their minds души were engaged увлечены, they appreciated the experience all the more тем более. The audience was the final creative творческий contributor помощник to the pro­cess of making a film.

The films have gained a charm and other worldliness обмирщение (упадок духовности) with age but, inevitably неизбежно, they have also lost something. The impression they made when there was no rival не было равных to the moving picture was more profound, more intense насыщенное; compared to the easily accessible общедоступному pictures of today, it was the blow of a two-handed axe удару топора о двух рукоятках, against the blunt притупленный scraping царапание of a tableknife.

The silent period may be known as "The Age of Innocence простодушия" but it included years unrivalled не имеющих равных for their dedicated преданной viciousness порочность. In Eu-

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rope, between 1914 and 1918 more men were killed to less purpose than at any other time in history.

In publications of the time, one reads horrified reactions against films showing "life as it is". You did not leave the problems at home merely to encounter сталкиваться them again at the movies. You paid your mon­ey initially, for forgetfulness.

Gradually мало-помалу movie-going altered превратилось from relaxation to ritual . In the big cities, you went to massive picture palaces, floating through incense-laden окуренный ладаном air to the strains напряжению of organ music, to worship благоговеть at the Cathedral of Light. You paid homage почтение to your favourite star; you dutifully послушно com­muned пообщались with the fan magazines. You wore the clothes they wore in the movies; you bought the furniture you saw on the screen. You joined a congregation сходку composed of every strata уровни of society. And you shared your adulation низкопоклонство with Shanghai [ˏʃæƞ′haɪ], Sydney [′sɪdnɪ] and Santiago [ˏsæntɪ′ɑ:gəu]. For your favou­rite pastime времяпрепровождение had become the most powerful cultural influence in the world — exceeding превышая even that of the Press. The silent film was not only a vigorous сильное popular art; it was a universal language — Esperanto for the eyes.

(From: "Hollywood, The Pioneers" by Kevin Brownlow. Abridged.)

b) Answer the following questions:

1. Why did the audiences of silent movies appreciate them so much? 2. What makes the author think that the first movies provided the audi­ences with a sort of escape from reality? Do you agree with this point of view? 3. Why does the author call the first cinema-houses "Cathedrals of Light"? Do you think that this comparison can be applied to modern cinema-houses? 4. Are there many people nowadays for whom cinema is a favourite pastime? Can we claim that cinema is still the most pow­erful cultural influence exceeding even the press? 5. Do you think that the advent of sound killed the silent movies?

c) Explain what the author means by the following:

1. The films have gained a charm and other worldliness with age but, inevitably неизбежно, they have also lost something.

What have the films gained? Are their achievements mainly as­sociated with the progress of science and technology? What have they lost?

2. The impression they made when there was no rival не было равных to the mov­ing picture was more profound, more intense compared to the easi­ly accessible pictures of today.

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D) There are three main functions of the first silent movies singled out by the author in this extract. Pick them out and enlarge on them. Do you think that these functions are performed by modern films as well?

2. In the text below the author illustrates a very important statement: the in­terdependence between the development of the society and cinema.

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