Comments on: Trailers of Historically Significant Films

Trailers of Historically Significant Films

kirkaracha — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:43:59 -0800

Trailers of Historically Significant Films Digital History has trailers (Windows Media) for a ton of movies from 1919 to 2004 (sorted by year of release) using a very loose definition of "historically significant." [via MonkeyFilter]

By: NationalKato

NationalKato — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:50:39 -0800

I stopped reading at 'Air Force One.'

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:52:59 -0800

Loose definition of "trailer" too. Bringing Up Baby was just a long clip.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:55:50 -0800

CL beat me to it. "The 39 Steps" was the same. Plus, many of these trailers appear to be for re-issues...or even DVD issues. Would've been more interesting if these had been the original theatrical trailers for the first-run.

By: disgruntled

disgruntled — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:59:23 -0800

The info for 1984 is incorrect—it starred John Hurt and was released in 1984.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:59:38 -0800

Not that it isn't a cool resource - just not quite as advertised.

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:37:35 -0800

If I had a faster connection, I'd use this site to try and pinpoint the moment when trailers got the super-slick, more-produced-than-the-movie-it's-advertising look that they have now. In my mind it seems to be around 1985-1990. It seems that before then, trailers were poorly-edited afterthoughts with cheesy voiceovers, especially compared to the exceptionally well-made movies they promoted. Of course, that may be colored by the fact that most of the trailers we see now on DVDs or online for those movies are rescued from a crummy old 16mm reel or VHS tape that's been sitting in a janitor's closet for 20 years.

By: schoolgirl report

schoolgirl report — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:53:56 -0800

I don't know if the movie is historically significant, but the trailer sure scared the poo out of me when I was a kid.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:12:13 -0800

Jeez, tough crowd. Who cares if they're technically "trailers"? This is great stuff—the minute-and-a-half from Broken Blossoms was riveting. Thanks, kirkaracha!

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:39:47 -0800

City Slickers?????

By: galimatias

galimatias — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:19:07 -0800

High School High!?! You've got to be joking me. Rob Schneider is . . . "The Carrot". (Sorry, needed to make a South Park reference)

By: Decani

Decani — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:25:49 -0800

God, that 2001 trailer is crap.

By: cdadog

cdadog — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 19:26:10 -0800

FYI Disgruntled, The John Hurt 1984 was actually the 2nd theatrical version. The first did star O'Brien and Sterling and was released in the '50's. Here's the link: 1984

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 05:23:42 -0800

For shame! They don't have a single Kieslowski film in the list. (The Three Colours: Blue trailer is ace.) Also, to name a few, the list is sorely missing Fellini, Tarkovsky, Herzog, Fassbinder and Eisenstein for fuck's sake... Other than that, it's quite a cool selection of trailers.