''Thames Silents'' is a series of releases (theatrical, broadcast and home video) of films from the silent era produced by the British ITV contractor

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...

and David Gill were the two main people involved in the project. The collaboration between Brownlow and Gill had begun with the Thames documentary series '' Hollywood'' (1980), a thirteen part exploration of the silent era. It was an enormous success, and generated a degree of renewed interest in silent cinema. Subsequently, Thames screened the team's two subsequent television series, '' Unknown Chaplin'' and '' Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow'', plus the two part '' Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius'' examining silent comedy. In conjunction with several US organisations, the ''Thames Silents'' project restored full-length silent films, often released for limited cinema screenings. These began with Abel Gance's ''

Napoléon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

'' (1927) in 1980, a French epic for which Brownlow has a special affection. Later examples include Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd comedies, and films by other significant figures from the period such as

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...

, Rudolph Valentino, Erich von Stroheim, Rex Ingram, and

D.W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...

. ''Napoleon'' was one of

Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...

's earliest broadcasts, and many of the films were released on home video. The composer

Carl Davis Carl Davis, (born October 28, 1936) is an American-born conductor and composer who has lived in the United Kingdom since 1961. He has written music for more than 100 television programmes, but is best known for creating music to accompany si ...

was commissioned to write new scores for almost all of the releases. ''Thames Silents'' continued, via Brownlow's Photoplay Productions, since 1990; Thames Television lost its ITV franchise in December 1992. It is no longer used as an imprint by

FremantleMedia Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television i ...

, the ultimate owners of Thames.

External links

''Thames Silents''
at Photoplay Productions British documentary television series Documentary films about the cinema of the United Kingdom Silent film British television films {{UK-tv-film-stub