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Tuesday 31 August 2010, 16:05
At a time of year when many a self-respecting film critic is sipping prosecco after a hard day's swanning from glamorous screening room to glamorous screening room at the glamorous film festival held in the deliciously chilly atmosphere of glamorous post-holiday season Venice, I shall be in Shetland, as always, co-curating the annual Screenplay Festival. And this year the Dodge Brothers are coming with me and we shall be lending our strings and a washboard to a silent movie, the 1921 William S Hart Western, White Oak.
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Thursday 26 August 2010, 16:26
Friday 3 September 2010, 11:11
Outspoken, opinionated and never lost for words, Mark is the UK's leading film critic.
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Comment number 1.
simon trott31st August 2010 - 18:09
I saw Dracula and the Kronos Quatet in the Hackney Empire. Some of the effects of the film were dated, and produced laughter rather then horror and the music didn't seem to fit with what I was seeing. I was very aware of it, perhaps because the musicians were actually present and this was a novelty. The film wasn't silent I've just remembered so it doesn't count. Oh well
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Comment number 2.
liquidcow31st August 2010 - 18:52
Mark, you may want to have a read of Rick Altman's book 'Silent Film Sound', in which he refutes the claim that 'silent films were never silent'.
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Comment number 3.
Will Chadwick31st August 2010 - 20:05
You may sneer but I think Venice has a great line up this year. Anyway.
The film which I would have loved to have been attendance in where there was live music accompanyment was not a silent film but for the 20th anniversary of E.T. Where a premiere of the film had John Williams score, conducted by the maestro himself with the Symphony Orchestra. Which would have been truly magical.
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Comment number 4.
Uriah31st August 2010 - 20:35
I'd love to see The General with a good live soundtrack some day. It's one of the best films ever, but the version on archive.org has a terrible soundtrack with inappropriate classical pieces shoved over the top rendering it almost unwatchable. The tracks change mid-scene and switch wildly from dramatic marches to soft ballads in total contrast to what's actually happening.
The version I have on DVD does a similarly uninspired job with Scott Joplin ragtime. It works better, though, and you can appreciate the film a bit more, but to see it in a cinema with acompaniment would be a real treat.
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Comment number 5.
Amber_31st August 2010 - 20:49
Don't forget about the new Metropolis footage that was discovered earlier this year.
I LOVE Fritz Lang's films. I've recently gotten into the habit of recommending and lending out movies to my more trusted co-workers and I actually just handed my Kino release of Metropolis over to my boss about two hours ago to take home. He watches some old movies so I think he'll like it, but I've got my fingers crossed all the same.
I've never had the opportunity to see a film with live accompaniment before. It sounds like a potentially amazing experience, but let's be honest: I would probably take the trip to Venice first. When else would I ever have the opportunity to go?
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Comments 5 of 56