Trailers of Historically Significant Films

June 29, 2006 11:43 AM

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]
posted by kirkaracha (13 comments total)

I stopped reading at 'Air Force One.'
posted by NationalKato at 11:50 AM on June 29, 2006

Loose definition of "trailer" too. Bringing Up Baby was just a long clip.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:52 AM on June 29, 2006

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.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:55 AM on June 29, 2006

The info for 1984 is incorrect—it starred John Hurt and was released in 1984.
posted by disgruntled at 11:59 AM on June 29, 2006

Not that it isn't a cool resource - just not quite as advertised.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:59 AM on June 29, 2006

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.
posted by zsazsa at 1:37 PM on June 29, 2006

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.
posted by schoolgirl report at 1:53 PM on June 29, 2006

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!
posted by languagehat at 2:12 PM on June 29, 2006

City Slickers?????
posted by tomplus2 at 3:39 PM on June 29, 2006

High School High!?! You've got to be joking me.

Rob Schneider is . . . "The Carrot".
(Sorry, needed to make a South Park reference)
posted by galimatias at 5:19 PM on June 29, 2006

God, that 2001 trailer is crap.
posted by Decani at 5:25 PM on June 29, 2006

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
posted by cdadog at 7:26 PM on June 29, 2006

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.
posted by slimepuppy at 5:23 AM on June 30, 2006