"Star" of the Month November 2014: Silent Stars

This month, instead of a traditional Star of the Month, TCM is giving us a festivel of silent movies. The movies are mostly grouped thematically, although one night has several short themes; more on that in a bit. Tonight kicks off with the great actresses of the silent era:

Mary Pickford in Poor Little Rich Girl at 8:00 PM;
Clara Bow in It at 9:30 PM;
Gloria Swanson as Sadie Thompson at 11:00 PM;
Pola Negri in The Wildcat at 12:45 AM;
Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box at 2:15 AM;
Lillian Gish in Way Down East at 4:45 AM;
Marion Davies in Show People at 7:15 AM;
Greta Garbo in Torrent at 8:45 AM; and
Alla Nazimova in Camille at 10:15 AM.

A couple of these movies were remade in the 1930s: Shirley Temple would be the Poor Little Rich Girl in the 1930s;,Joan Crawford would play Sadie Thompson in Rain, and Garbo would go on to play Camille. Way Down East was also remade. That remake is probably less well-known, but it just happens to be listed on the FXM Retro schedule this coming Wednesday (November 5) at 6:00 AM.

Next Monday night will be the great actors of the silent era. November 17 will be a mish-mash: a couple of Oscar-winning movies, a couple of child stars, and the Talmadge sisters. Finally, on November 24, we have the most famous of the comic stars of the silent era.

I have to admit that I don't know silents as well as some people, so I'm certainly going to be watching some of the films I haven't seen before, and very much looking forward to it. For more information, you can read TCM's article on the programming.