*smalldrumroll*

[glinda]

Hello! I'm glinda and I'll be your host this week. I'm planning on posting about silent cinema tomorrow so I thought I'd garner your thoughts on the subject.

How do you feel about cinemas doing live musical accompaniments to silent film showings? An essential part of the proceedings? Take it or leave it? Utterly pretentious and off-putting?

Also restoration of silent films, which films are you longing to see restored to their former glory and which should have been left to moulder? Should they try to restore the original colour choices (tinting and toning etc) or is early colour experimentation best forgotten in favour for a crisp black and white?

Comments

[laughingrat]

Hi Glinda! *waves*

It's tough to say which movies deserve restoration and which don't. I see a lot of folks saying that, say, silent dramas are objectively horrible, but you know, that all depends on the individual and the aesthetics of their time, right? So Beyond the Rocks might not be my idea of a totally-believable drama, but I'm awful glad they restored it, because it allowed me to see a world I wouldn't have otherwise seen.

We have a great organist who plays live accompaniment for the silent feature each year during our classic movie series here--I've never heard him go wrong. He bases the tunes on the action and on the songs of the day, and it's great stuff. I've also heard less-successful live musical interpretations...but you know, as long as it's done in good faith, with a sincere effort to work with the film, I'm willing to give it a fair hearing. :-D

I love tinting!

What do you think about this stuff? :-D

[onyxlynx]

Musical accompaniment is to be preferred to the audience talking through the movie.

I do hope that as many of them can be restored get restored--there's a lot of history there. So much has already been lost.

I, unfortunately, was first brought to silent movies on television, where they not only had musical accompaniment but narration/commentary, and as a result have only not-slept (in a theater!) through Phantom of the Opera, probably because the companion nudged once or twice.

My loss.

[kareila]

I like live musical accompaniment because that's How It Was Done In The Day. Canned soundtracks are okay too, as long as they're tasteful.

I've only seen two well-known, long-form silents - Metropolis and Battleship Potemkin (both with live performance of the original scores in at least one instance). So I'm really not qualified to opine on what other films should be restored! And I didn't even know about early experiments in color - I thought all colorized classic films were the fault of Ted Turner. :)

[sid]

My parents once upon a time belonged to a Theatre Organ Association, and they took me with them to see Phantom of the Opera. I enjoyed the concert before the movie (although not as much as the true believers did) and was just thrilled watching the movie itself. I frankly can't remember how much the organ music contributed to my enjoyment, it was so long ago. But I do happen to believe that just listening to live music is a treat in itself, so I would definitely vote for "essential."

A few years ago I was startled to discover a 1922 silent starring Anna May Wong that's IN COLOR. A very early color process, obviously, but it isn't just tinting. It's an odd, but lovely thing to experience. 'The Toll of the Sea' at YouTube!