The Ancient World in Silent Cinema

Explores the role of silent cinema in early twentieth-century conceptualizations of the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East.

Pantelis Michelakis (Edited by), Maria Wyke (Edited by)

9781107016101, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 August 2013

407 pages, 86 b/w illus. 19 colour illus.
24.6 x 17 x 2.8 cm, 0.98 kg

'This stellar book is itself a dazzling, exceptional classic. Summing up: essential [for] all readers.' Choice

In the first four decades of cinema, hundreds of films were made that drew their inspiration from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Bible. Few of these films have been studied, and even fewer have received the critical attention they deserve. The films in question, ranging from historical and mythological epics to adaptations of ancient drama, burlesques, cartoons and documentaries, suggest a fascination with the ancient world that competes in intensity and breadth with that of Hollywood's classical era. What contribution did antiquity make to the development of early cinema? How did early cinema's representations affect modern understanding of antiquity? Existing prints as well as ephemera scattered in film archives and libraries around the world constitute an enormous field of research. This extensively illustrated edited collection is a first systematic attempt to focus on the instrumental role of silent cinema in twentieth-century conceptions of the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East.

1. Introduction: silent cinema, antiquity and 'The Exhaustless Urn of Time' Pantelis Michelakis and Maria Wyke
Part I. Theories, Histories, Receptions: 2. The ancient world on silent film – the view from the archive Bryony Dixon
3. On visual cogency: the emergence of an antiquity of moving images Marcus Becker
4. Cinema in the time of the pharaoh Antonia Lant
5. 'Hieroglyphics in motion': representing ancient Egypt and the Middle East in film theory and criticism of the silent period Laura Marcus
6. Architecture and art dance meet in the ancient world David Mayer
7. Ancient Rome in London: classical subjects in the forefront of cinema's expansion after 1910 Ian Christie
8. Gloria Swanson as Venus: silent stardom, antiquity and the classical vernacular Michael Williams
9. Homer in silent cinema Pantelis Michelakis
Part II. Movement, Image, Music, Text: 10. Silent saviours: representations of Jesus' Passion in early cinema Caroline Vander Stichele
11. The Kalem Ben-Hur (1907) Jon Solomon
12. Judith's vampish virtue and its double market appeal Judith Buchanan
13. Competing ancient worlds in early historical film: the example of Cabiria (1914) Annette Dorgerloh
14. Peplum, melodrama and musicality: Giuliano l'Apostata (1919) Giuseppe Pucci
15. 'An orgy Sunday school children can watch': the spectacle of sex and the seduction of spectacle in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1923) David Shepherd
16. Silent laughter and the counter-historical: Buster Keaton's Three Ages (1923) Maria Wyke
17. From Roman history to German nationalism: Arminius and Varus in Die Hermannschlacht (1924) Martin M. Winkler
18. The 1925 Ben-Hur and the 'Hollywood Question' Ruth Scodel
19. Consuming passions: Helen of Troy in the jazz age Margaret Malamud.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], Films, cinema [APF]