I’ve put up a crossover fan fiction story, “The Cabinet of Dr. Oz.” (Not about Dr. Oz of the Cabinet!) The inspiration was a blog post suggesting The Wonderful Wizard of Oz should be done as a German expressionist film. Enjoy!
I’ve put up a seasonal silent film with my accompaniment: Le Rêve de Noël, a short 1900 film from Georges Méliès. Just a bit of holiday fun with assorted Christmas scenes. The viewing speed is slowed down a bit from the Internet Archive version which I downloaded; even so, it’s barely over five minutes with start and end titles.
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Gertie the Dinosaur, released by Winsor McCay in 1914, featured the first animated character with a personality. Presented here with my accompaniment.
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My main interest in silent films is accompanying them, preferably for a live audience. The combination of film and live music provides a sense of involvement which is missing from modern movies. In the process, I’ve also found them to be a source of history. They show how people thought a century ago. The stories behind the movies are often as instructive as the movies themselves.
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Ben Model is probably the best-known silent film accompanist in the Northeast. He has undertaken many projects to get obscure films out to the public. His recent release of Roland West’s The Bat is a striking example.
The visual quality is excellent for a nearly-lost 1926 movie. The UCLA Film & Television Archive scanned a 35 mm nitrate print, and Model’s Undercrank Productions converted it to a 2K digital version. He added his accompaniment to the film, capturing the moods and adding to the suspense.
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