Tag: black & white

Film, Summer

Stockholm, Sharp & Silent

We’ve reached the final silent summer film in the Criterion Olympic Films collection, (LW: thank goodness) and it happens to be the very first one, from Stockholm 1912. We’ve already discussed a few of these silent editions (here, here, here), and by and large there’s no significant deviation from the format here. However, there are […]

Film, Summer

Melbourne via Stockholm and Algiers

The Olympics appeared for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere at the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, Australia. It was the first Games to take place in two different countries, because Australian quarantine laws prevented equestrian horses from making the trip. Stockholm, Sweden stepped up to host a week of equestrian events. What this […]

Film, Summer

The Dutch Narrative

As discussed last time, there are two official films associated with the 1928 Amsterdam Games. Aside from documenting sporting achievements, together this pair of silent films seems to represent an important split between recording and storytelling in sports documentaries. Until now the genre seemed mostly concerned with archive creation. The Olympic Games, Amsterdam 1928 1928192 […]

Film, Summer

An Amsterdam Marathon

The IX Olympiad in Amsterdam // AMSTERDAM 1928 The IX Olympiad in Amsterdam 1928251 MINUTES, BLACK & WHITE, SILENTDirector unknown This week we’re discussing The IX Olympiad in Amsterdam, the film of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games. This is actually one of two official films produced. Without getting too deep into the details, this film […]