You walk into O’Neill, mentally preparing yourself for the long road of studying ahead. Walking into the main entrance, you notice a display of posters for movies you’ve never seen before, and they look old. You keep walking, go to your seat, and promptly forget about the display to focus on other things. What you were forgetting was the O’Neill Silent Film Exhibit, and while you were probably under the impression that the exhibit is too “artsy” for you, you couldn’t be more wrong, for the collection has incredible movies not just for film buffs, but for everyone.
The collection is made up of 11 films, and can be accessed at bit.ly/oneillsilentfilms, with all of the films being accessible via Kanopy, a streaming service that anybody at Boston College can access for absolutely free. Obviously, the main theme of the collection is that these are all silent films, but another theme tying them together is the prestige they share of being some of the most influential and greatest films of all time.
One film that the collection boasts is Battleship Potemkin. Arguably the most important movie ever made, it influenced film editing and completely changed the way that films are thought about and discussed. The collection keeps up this high quality while keeping a great variety. Almost every genre has a film representing it on the list, and these films are critical to the development of the genre they are a part of. Every film’s influence can still be felt in the genre today. The collection is also diverse in terms of the selection of countries represented. America has three films, but alongside these are three films from the USSR and five films from Germany. The films from these countries provide a great perspective of film not just in these countries, but the history of such countries as a whole. This collection contains some of the greatest works of art of all time while providing an incredible deep dive into the history of film and its genres.
For many people who may not be interested in film or film history, calling the collection “prestigious” might make it sound daunting, artsy, or just plain boring. However, this could not be further from the truth; so many of these films are not just valuable because of the context or education they provide the viewer, but because many of them are entertaining. To be clear, some films in the collection, since they were not made for modern audiences, will not be entertaining for some people watching them today. For example, while Man With a Movie Camera is highly regarded and a classic, for someone who is not really interested in movies, they might only see it as confusing or boring, and that is understandable.
While not every film in this list will please you, there is at least one that might, as long as you’re willing to take a chance. Films like The General and City Lights are both comedies and are incredibly easy to sit down and watch. For someone who has never watched a single silent film, I would suggest you watch The General first because not only is it a great comedy, but it also has insane stunts performed by even more insane actors that are on par with the Mission Impossible movies.
Even if you aren’t interested in comedies and are more interested in horror, you have films like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, that deliver tense, frightening moments.
The O’Neill Silent Film Collection is an absolute treasure trove for anyone willing to go out of their way to watch even one of the films included in it. The collection contains some of the greatest movies of all time that have influenced film or their genre in ways still seen today, and many of them influenced not just film, but books, TV, and art. The collection contains masterpieces, but many of these masterpieces are incredibly funny and are so timeless that anyone today can sit down, watch them, and enjoy them similarly to a person who watched them almost a century ago.
The collection has something for anyone willing to try something new, and hopefully, by doing that, you can open up a whole new world of films that you never thought would appeal to you. Most of the films in the list are short, barely over a full hour, and are accessible for absolutely free. So maybe while you’re sitting in your room, doing nothing else, you can pull up one of the films from the collection and experience a part of history that can completely change your perspective.
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