Charlie Chaplin – Breaking the Fourth Wall
Posts about Charlie Chaplin written by cacb3995
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Breaking the Fourth Wall
Usually on this blog I keep my focus on feature length films, with the exceptions being when I talk about film festivals (sometimes). Yet, there are whole aspects of the filmmaking world that go well beyond features, and to claim that the real cinematic art lies purely on over an hour long movies that would be an utter farce. That’s why today I want to talk about short films and their place in film history. These ten shorts are not only great and acclaimed world wide, but they have the very special honour of being very influential to the history of movies, more so than many well beloved feature length films. Unlike my other lists, where I usually rank the movies in question in order of how I personally appreciate them, today I’ll list these shorts chronologically, since we’re focusing on their degree of influence and not necessarily their quality (though all of them very well deserve to be considered among the best that cinematic art has to offer). So here they are: 10 historically influential short films.

1. A Trip to the Moon (George Méliès, 1902)

Everybody knows this one, and for good reason. It wasn’t Méliès first film, but it is definitely his most well known, even today after more than a century has passed. Inspired by Jules Verne novel “From the Earth to the Moon”, Méliès timeless classic is widely considered to be the very first science fiction film of all time. In the very best spirit of the early period known as cinema of attractions, Méliès employs all his experience and power as an on-stage magician to create illusions with moving images, bringing an almost surrealistic world to life like it had never been seen before and thus creating the very first classic in film history.

2. The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)

While Georges Méliès was making the very first science fiction film in history, american Edwin S. Porter was creating the very first western. Many consider this to be the first truly narrative film in history (since “A Trip to the Moon” is more in the vein of attactions cinema): it tells the simple story of a group of bandits as they attempt to rob a train. Still, the film pioneered many techniques still used today such as cross-cutting, constant camera movement and in-location shooting. Such techniques have been further developed in the years after, but needless to say, this short helped establish one of the most important genres in film history.

3. The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin, 1915)

Chaplin’s character the Tramp is undoubtly one of the most recognizable and important figures of the medium, appearing in well over a dozen films of Chaplin’s filmography, including some of his most reknowned such as “The Kid” (1921), “The Gold Rush” (1925), “The Circus” (1928), “City Lights” (1931) and “Modern Times” (1936). The character made his debut in 1915 with the eponymous film, where in the space of 30 minutes he works in a farm, falls in love with a girl, helps defend the farm from bandits, and after realizing he doesn’t belong he takes off in the search of new adventures. An unforgettable character, just as sincere in his first outing as he would always be.

4. Steamboat Willie (Walt Disney, 1928)

Speaking of iconic characters, there’s no way that Mickey Mouse’s first ever screen appereance would be left out of this list. Even though it wasn’t the first ever short to feature Disney’s icon to be produced, it was the first ever to be distributed to the public. Notable here is also the use of sound in the film (presumably the very first animated film to use it): Mickey’s crazy musical adventures on this short helped creat the term “mickey mousing”, used to describe when image and sound are fully synchronized. So there are two main reasons why this film is influential: it is Mickey Mouse’s debut and for its clever and revolutionary use of sound.

5. Un Chien Andalou (Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, 1929)

Probably one of the most acclaimed short films ever made, this was legendary director Luis Buñuel’s first ever cinematic endeavor. Pairing up with fellow surrealist Salvador Dalí, the two created a film that goes beyond simple comprehension. Dream-like sequences, a messed-up chronology, no discernible plot whatsoever and a series of unsettling and suggestive images build up the core of what is probably the most important cinematic entry of the surrealist movement. Over the years it has inspired countless artists and filmmakers, who weren’t able however to replicate the brilliance of Buñuel’s and Dalí’s original.

6. Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)

Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” is widely regarded to be one of the building blocks of the american avant-garde film movement of the late 40s, 50s and early 60s. With an unconventional narrative and a vertical concept of time as Deren herself puts it in her essay “Cinematography: the Creative Use of Reality”, the film repeats images and motifs that somehow add to a bigger picture even if a wider sense of reality gets muddier time and time again. In regards to experimental and avant-garde cinema, Deren’s works (especially Meshes) has been cited as an inspiration, including the films of a certain David Lynch, not to mention the whole movement that blossomed out of it.

7. La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)

Keeping up with the experimental spirit (and we still have a few other entries to go), we’ll now be looking at Chris Marker’s sci fi short “La Jetée”: told entirely through still fotos and with a voice over narration, it focuses on a time travel experiment in the aftermath of World War III. Marker, a member of the Left Bank group of filmmakers, a movement parallel to the French New Wave, created a unique film that explores deep ideas such as free will and our relation to the past. A number of hugely popular modern films have credited “La Jetée” as an influence, such as “Terminator” (James Cameron, 1984), “Back to the Future” (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) and “12 Monkeys” (Terry Gilliam, 1995), and its not difficult to see why.

8. Mothlight (Stan Brakhage, 1963)

As far as influence on mainstream cinema goes, this one may not appear to be the most obvious choice. However, it does have a right to be considered as influential for one of the most experimental types of cinema: the one that dispenses of the camera. With “Mothlight”, Brakhage, a central figure of the american avant-garde, took several moth limbs and flower petals and compressed them between two strips of 16mm splicing tape. The result is a collage film of sorts, rapidly edited, displaying a variety of everyday objects that we’re quick to disregard. It may not seem like the most glamorous project, but as far as experimental films go this one has the highest spirit.

9. Lucifer Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1972)

Kenneth Anger, another prominent figure of the american avant-garde movement and a precursor to queer cinema, directs this hellish tale about the summoning of the devil by a group of egyptian gods. Accompanied by a mystical soundtrack with rock n’ roll moments by Bobby Beausoleil, we see rituals and odd indivuals juxtaposed with images of nature, both beautiful and terrifying. Anger’s film boasts with several experimental techniques and visceral satanic imagery, something that would be replicated by both experimental and horror filmmakers as well as for music videos in the years since.

10. Luxo Jr. (John Lasseter, 1984)

Returning now to more “normal” cinema, I saved the last entry for the very first short of one of today’s biggest animation empire, Pixar. “Luxo Jr.” presents two desk lamps, a big one and a small one, as they play with an inflatable ball. These lamps would become Pixar’s own icon. Owned by LucasFilms at the time, it wasn’t the first short they produced, but it was the first to ever be released theatrically, and every year the theatrical runs for each Pixar film makes a big splash at the box office and award season. As a first of a long series of great cinematic outings and first building brick of the powerhouse that Pixar is today, “Luxo Jr.” earns its place on this list.

And that’s that, 10 influential short films that have carved their place in film history. Do you agree with this list or are there any others that you feel have been left out? Do leave a comment telling me what you think, and if you could share this post with your friends and family it would be of great help. In the meantime I just wanna say thanks for reading and I hope you liked it. Until next time!