"Duck Soup," by The Marx Brothers

          

         Given the fact that Duck Soup was one of the first ‘talky’ films, we can see an incredible step back in terms of camera, acting, and story telling. First of all, the camera is extremely static: most shots are long and wide. Acting, on the other hand, is extremely expository and extravagant. The actors and screenwriters felt the need to talk through and explain every bit of emotion instead of showing it. Nevertheless, it was interesting that, in the beginning of the film, the main character talks directly into the camera. Not only he brakes the forth wall by talking directly to the audience, but he also makes the camera visible. We are suddenly aware that there is a recording instrument in the living room.

In terms of sound, the Four Marx Brothers, like Chaplin, played with the use of accents and modes of speech to differentiate society’s stratus and ridicule the upper classes. The rich people are the only ones who burst into absurd sequences of musicals when needing to express a sentiment. It seems like the Four Marx Brothers tried to use every single excuse to integrate unnecessary sounds to the film. For example, there are trumpets that follow the main character which are unmotivated. This film is a great example to showcase the beauty behind controlling and restricting the instruments our disposal. The fact that they created scenes and characters only because of their sonic qualities, do not have a rooted enough motivation. Therefore, these scenes become extremely annoying and unwatchable. 

"The Great Train Robbery," by Edwin S. Porter

In the case of The Great Train Robbery, Edwin S. Porter makes a commentary about society with a  serious and paternalistic approach. By precluding the audiences from a heroic figure, Porter creates in the audience a starving desire for an authoritarian figure. Another interesting aspect about The Great Train Robbery is that this film was a pioneer in many aspects: camera movement, editing, acting, and story. In terms of camera movements and editing, Porter used continuity editing, parallel editing, and camera movements such as panning. In terms of acting and story telling, there is no introduction or exposition of the facts. The audience is taken right away in the middle of the action. In addition, not only this was the first film in which a man looks right into the camera and shoots ‘at the audience,’ but it was also the first film in which people die in front of the camera. I would be very interested to know how the audiences reacted to such a film. 

'The Immigrant,' and 'The Pawnshop,' by Charlie Chaplin

In the films The Immigrant and The Pawnshop, Chaplin works in the other end of the spectrum by interpreting the role of a man who is part of the lower classes. In both of these movies, the camera is truthful to Chaplin’s point of view, creating a disputable empathy with the main character. The audience cheers for him to find the way of paying the bill, getting the girl, and saving the day. In addition, these stories create kinetic satisfaction for the audiences. Finally, the low stratus of society is the smartest one: they are the ones fooling authority and saving the day.