Hindle Wakes

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Audience Member Before I go onto the movie review I would like to say thanks to the BFI national film archive for allowing us to come in and see the process of restoring and rescuing old film wheels. Due to attending this it allowed me to have a greater understanding of how much work went into to the restoring the film which we watched HIndle Wakes. Hindle Wakes was first made in 1927 and has been remade a good couple of times however, we will be talking about the one released in 1927. Hindle Wakes when it was first released was a black and white soundless movie. Meaning since it didn't have sound in it had to be accompanied by music at the side which was which was expertly done on the night of the showing which I attended. To understand Hindle wakes you need to understand the time in which it was made. it was thought to be a very pro-feminist movie at the time as it showed a women out of the norm e.g. shows women making their own choices, this was strange as in 1927 women where only just starting to be seen as equals to men. The plot although clear with what they wanted to get across the way they tried to tell the story got confusing at times as it didn't have much of an explanation on why something happened. I found this quite frustrating at times since it is split into chapters if you miss one part which was important the rest of the chapter didn't make sense. Since it is a silent film the acting had to be spot on or else the whole film would fall apart and I will say it was some of the best acting I had ever seen. The facial expressions worked well with every scene which helped get the expressions of the characters across to us accompanied with the live music to create the get atmosphere help to make it a great film. The camera work in which we see in this movie at the time was good to me their where some parts of the film where we could see the camera man holding onto the camera mainly during the fair scene but I suppose they need some way of holding onto the camera as they wouldn't of had access to the equipment we have today. In total I would say the camera operators did a good job of capturing the emotions of the actors and also at setting the scene. Although, if I had to change one bit of the film It would probably be the texts which come up. At some of the points the information which you need to understand the scene comes up so quickly and goes just as fast leaving you confused about what is happening in the scene e.g. The text where we find out her friend had died. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member When you watch Hindle Wakes, you remember how without sound, silent cinema relies much more on a much more carefully crafted visual composition. Here the importance of light comes out, stressing either happiness or sadness, love or anger. The actors also are stunning, displaying at times more character complexity than most actors today. Without words, only with how they gaze at each other. In love, anger or resentment. One could almost regret those days where nearly every shot can be analyzed like a painting. Furthermore the protagonist is an active young woman of her time, fighting her elders's views and for her right to make her own decision as an adult. She wins, so to speak. The story doesn't put her at fault for what she did, but as a victim of her contemporary morals, instead a hero that doesn't abide by. Surprisingly, I related to Fanny Hawthorne's adventure. When seeing the young adults rushing to Blackpool, fooling around, laughing, kissing, living, I could see myself and my friends. That is truly amazing. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Hindle Wakes

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