I’ve got a new video up of a classic silent film with my accompaniment: Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life (1913). It’s a Mack Sennett sendup of already old melodrama clichés, complete with a damsel being tied to a railroad track. Real-life auto racing star Barney Oldfield outdistances a train to rescue her. Improvising music to go with it was a lot of fun.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The 1916 film
The latest in my series of accompanied silent films on YouTube is an early Universal picture: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It mixes two Jules Verne novels: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island. It’s a breakthrough movie on a technical level and an exciting tale, though the plot is a mess. Be warned there are spoilers below the cut.
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