silent movies

New on YouTube: A Christmas Carol (1910)

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It’s that time of year, so I went looking for Christmas-themed silent movies. Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was adapted multiple times. The earliest known version was directed by Walter R. Booth and released in 1901. It survives only in a five-minute fragment. A 1908 treatment is considered lost. That leaves Edison’s 1910 film as the earliest treatment that survives in a reasonably complete form. Marc McDermott is an enjoyable Scrooge, and Charles Ogle, better known as the first actor to portray Frankenstein’s monster on the screen, is Bob Cratchit. This is the film I’ve combined with my accompaniment on YouTube.
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The prosecution of “The Spirit of ’76”   Recently updated !

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The World War I years were the worst in the United States’ history for freedom of speech. Eugene Debs was sentenced to ten years for opposing US participation in the war. Charles T. Schenck got the same for distributing petitions against the military draft, and censorship advocates today applaud Judge Holmes’ equation of his advocacy with “falsely shouting fire in a theatre.” There was also a movie that got its creator a federal prison sentence. What did this film do? It celebrated the American Revolution. That made it anti-British, at a time when Britain was our ally in the war.

Poster for Spirit of 76If that sounds insane, it is. Under the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, the federal and local governments stomped on freedom of expression as never before or since, and the Supreme Court said it was fine. Still, The Spirit of ’76 is a weird case. The film was released on May 28, 1917, the month after the USA entered the war. Chicago censors made him cut some scenes depicting British atrocities. It opened in November in Los Angeles; I don’t know if it was seen anywhere during the intervening time. The Los Angeles showing included the censored scenes.
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Hunchback of Notre Dame and the power of pianissimo

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The showing on October 28 where I accompanied the 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame drew the biggest crowd I’ve had yet for a silent film, and I got lots of compliments afterward. With every movie, I try to improve my technique. The innovations for this show worked, as far as the audience and I were concerned.

There are many approaches to accompanying a movie. Some accompanists try to capture the sheer excitement, fear, and passion in each scene. My style is more introspective. I try to underscore what the characters are thinking and feeling. I go for excitement where it’s called for. In this movie, the siege of the cathedral, with Quasimodo conducting a one-man defense against a vast mob, called for thrilling music. But there are many scenes about what Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Phoebus, and other characters are experiencing. They call for more subtle music: contemplative passages, dynamic contrasts, and sudden accents and dissonances.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Plaistow, October 28

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It’s time for another classic silent movie! On Tuesday, October 28, at 6 PM, I’ll accompany the 1923 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Plaistow, NH Library. Nearly half the available spaces have already been reserved, so be sure to sign up in advance. The film, based on Victor Hugo’s novel Notre-Dame de Paris, highlights Lon Chaney’s makeup skills and his ability to win empathy for a deformed-looking character.

Hugo’s novel has been adapted many times for film. There were at least four before the Lon Chaney film. Charles Laughton, Anthony Quinn, and Anthony Hopkins are among the actors who have played Quasimodo. Disney turned it into a cartoon and compounded the blasphemy with a sequel where Quasimodo and Esmeralda are still alive. The 1923 version is widely considered one of the best adaptations.

Just by the way, I’ve noticed that the emailed version of these posts delivers the text only to the “More” marker and gives no clue that it’s incomplete. From now on, I’ll add an indicator that there’s more to the post, like this:

…….
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Another silent film, another copyright troll

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My latest silent film video on YouTube is Georges Méliès’ Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc), with my original accompaniment. This is quite a nice film for 1900. Ten minutes long, it incorporates a lot of scene changes and makes heavy use of tinting. The quality of the movie as I got it from the Internet Archive isn’t bad for such an early film.
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“A Trip to the Moon” is now available on YouTube

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This morning I saw that my video of Georges Méliès’ Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) is no longer blocked on YouTube. Its status now says “Visibility restrictions are lifted until the dispute is resolved.” That means it could disappear again.

Again, the is the complete version, with a celebration at the end, and the accompaniment is my original, improvised music. I did a better job this time than in my earlier public performances.
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A silent film copyright troll strikes 4

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Yesterday I uploaded a video of the famous 1902 silent film, A Trip to the Moon or La Voyage dans la Lune by Georges Méliès, with my original accompaniment, to YouTube. Today I got a notice that it’s blocked because somebody called “CPR Agency for MK2” claims to own the movie. This is obvious nonsense. I’ve disputed the claim and hope the video will be available before long.
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The General on YouTube

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After figuring out (I hope) what was wrong with the music I provided for Buster Keaton’s 1926 film The General at the Plaistow Library, I did the music over and recorded a new version for YouTube. That means there are no audience sounds, but in this case that’s an advantage. Besides, the music was recorded directly to a computer, so it has better sound quality than the recording I made at the library.

I’ve already discussed the movie here and my approach to accompanying it here, so I’ll just say that I hope you enjoy it.
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A silent movie failure

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I failed terribly last night when showing The General. I don’t know what I did wrong.

As I’ve said before and told the audience before the showing, The General is a complex movie. It’s a comedy, but it’s also a war movie. A train collapses into a gorge. Soldiers die on screen. I expect people to laugh at the funny parts. I don’t expect them to laugh at the deaths. I tried to underscore the mood of each scene, as I always do. It didn’t work.
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Coming to Plaistow July 22: The General

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It’s just two weeks till my next live silent movie show at the Plaistow Library: The General, made by and starring Buster Keaton. I know most of you aren’t local, but if you can spread the word among silent movie fans, it will help. This is the first time I’ll be presenting an evening show, and getting eight sign-ups so early is encouraging.
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