The Artist’s win for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars marks the first time since 1929 that a silent film has won that award. Although The Artist is not available on DVD yet, there are plenty of free silent movies online or in the library to view in the meantime.
To find library DVD’s, search the library catalog for “silent films.” You can also search for popular silent film stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, or Buster Keaton.
Or, you can download silent films from the comfort of home by using the Kentucky Libraries Unbound database, which offers free movies in WMV format. To find these, browse Classic Films under the Video category on the left side of the page.
The website Open Culture is another great source for free movies in various formats. In addition to silent films, the site also links to free classics, comedies, documentaries, Westerns, and more.
Not sure which silent film to watch first? The Guardian has some suggestions here.
No, I’m not talking about 30 Rock’s recent make-believe tradition of Leap Day William. There is, however, an antiquated tradition associated with Leap Day: once every four years, on February 29, women could legally propose marriage to men.
This British isles tradition dates back to 5th century Ireland, when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick in behalf of unhappy nuns who could not propose marriage. (According to The American Book of Days, “Celibacy in religious orders was then based on private vows, not church requirements.”) Patrick granted the nuns the right to propose during Leap Year, “the longest of the lot.” Scottish Parliament even enacted a law in 1288, which stated in part that “…for ilk yeare known as lepe yeare, ilk mayden ladye of bothe highe and lowe estait shall hae liberte to bespeke ye man she likes….” Men who refused a proposal even had to pay a fine.
Looking for a little Leap Day entertainment? Check out the romantic comedy Leap Year with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode for a modern take on this outdated tradition.
The 84th Annual Academy Awards will air this Sunday, February 26th. There’s still time to watch any of the movies that you might have missed. Here’s a list of the Best Picture-nominated films that you can find at JCPL:
Six of the nine films nominated for Best Picture began as books. You can read or listen to all six by borrowing them from the library–though you’ll have to hurry if you want to do it before Sunday!
Forget Twilight. The latest “big thing” to hit young adult literature is the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. From the book cover: “In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before – and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.”
The film adaptation of the first book, The Hunger Games, releases on March 23, 2012. See the trailer below:
If you haven’t read the books in the trilogy, or just can’t get enough of the world of the Hunger Games, check out these titles at JCPL:
And, thanks to film, you can always remember her performances. Click here to see JCPL’s Elizabeth Taylor movies. To view her complete filmography at IMDB.com, click here.
After seeing the movie Winter’s Bone, I didn’t think I’d want to read the book it was based on. Don’t get me wrong. The movie is excellent. The Sundance Film Festival awarded it the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatics and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, and CBS Sunday Morning recently called it “the movie of the year.” But because of its subject matter–the violence and poverty that surround methamphetamine drug culture in the Ozarks–at times the movie is difficult to watch.
However, Daniel Woodrell’s book came across my desk a couple of weeks ago, and I opened to the first page and read this:
“Ree Dolly stood at break of day on her cold front steps and smelled coming flurries and saw meat. Meat hung from trees across the creek. The carcasses hung pale of flesh with a fatty gleam from low limbs of saplings in the side yards. Three halt haggard houses formed a kneeling rank on the far creekside and each had two or more skinned torsos dangling by rope from sagged limbs, venison left to the weather for two nights and three days so the early blossoming of decay might round the flavor, sweeten that meat to the bone.”
After that, I found it pretty hard to put the book down.
The Artist’s win for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars marks the first time since 1929 that a silent film has won that award. Although The Artist is not available on DVD yet, there are plenty of free silent movies online or in the library to view in the meantime.
