.seo-fallback{max-width:46rem;margin:0 auto;padding:2.5rem 1.25rem 4rem; font:16px/1.6 Inter,system-ui,sans-serif;color:#EDE9F5;background:#0E0A1B} .seo-fallback a{color:#FFCA3A} .seo-fallback h1{font-size:1.75rem;line-height:1.2;margin:.5rem 0 1rem} .seo-fallback h2{font-size:1.05rem;margin:2rem 0 .5rem;color:#9C93B8; text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.08em} .seo-fallback ul{padding-left:1.1rem;margin:.5rem 0} .seo-fallback li{margin:.3rem 0} .seo-fallback .seo-meta{color:#9C93B8;font-size:.9rem} .seo-fallback .seo-note{margin-top:2.5rem;color:#9C93B8;font-size:.85rem; border-top:1px solid #2A2340;padding-top:1rem}

FilmSkool — a free film school

The Silent Era: Crash Course Film History #9

This episode surveys the silent comedy era's biggest stars and techniques, showing how physical performance carried entire films without a word of dialogue. A fun, accessible entry into slapstick history.

CrashCourse · 11 min · Beginner · HIS · Film History · 2016

What you take away

Silent performers had to communicate everything, emotion, comedy, plot, through movement alone.

Watch it

Filed under

More Film History

Buster Keaton - The Art of the Gag — Every Frame a Painting · 7m · Intermediate
7. The Studio Era — MIT OpenCourseWare · 56m · Advanced
The History of Cutting - The Soviet Theory of Montage — Filmmaker IQ · 22m · Advanced
Soviet Montage: Crash Course Film History #8 — CrashCourse · 11m · Intermediate
German Expressionism: Crash Course Film History #7 — CrashCourse · 11m · Intermediate
Experimental and Documentary Films: Crash Course Film History #16 — CrashCourse · 10m · Beginner
The Golden Age of Hollywood: Crash Course Film History #11 — CrashCourse · 11m · Intermediate
Breaking the Silence: Crash Course Film History #10 — CrashCourse · 11m · Intermediate
Georges Melies - Master of Illusion: Crash Course Film History #4 — CrashCourse · 10m · Beginner
Independent Cinema: Crash Course Film History #12 — CrashCourse · 11m · Beginner
World Cinema - Part 1: Crash Course Film History #14 — CrashCourse · 11m · Intermediate
The Language of Film: Crash Course Film History #5 — CrashCourse · 10m · Beginner

This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.