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The Silent Film Thread — Page 2

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Spuffure said:

Y’know, It just doesn’t really feel right for rock music to be the scores for silent films, I like symphonic scores better. Just wondering, why are rock music sometimes the scores?

Simply a modern interpretation. I think there’s a heavy metal sounding score for Nosferatu out there. The majority of Morders Metropolis is a synthesizer score. Some scenes have only sound effects. Very few of the songs would be considered hard rock and roll. There’s even a love ballad. Even those who took issue with the modern score appreciated Moroder’s efforts at restoring scenes that were considered forever lost back in the '80’s.

I read somewhere David Bowie was also pursuing Metropolis at one point. I wonder if he ever wrote any music for it?

Turner Classic Movies has had an annual competition for several years to find new talent to score silent films in their library.

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Even then, the official score may be lost, so who the hell knows what kind of music goes to it.

Seeing a silent film accompanied by a period-accurate organ in a period-accurate theater is still the best movie-going experience I’ve ever had.

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Yeah, I would like to experience a silent film that way someday.

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Some movies never even had official scores. I know The Passion of Joan of Arc didn’t, and the oldest score on the Criterion disc was written in the 90s I think.

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There’s a theater in New York called ‘Film Forum’ that sometimes plays Buster Keaton movies, with live piano accompaniment. When I was young my dad took me there to see Our Hospitality, which was preceded by three of the short films. It was absolutely a formative childhood experience for me.

(Many years later I also got to see an original and unfaded print of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service there.)

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 (Edited)

Has anyone noticed the iconic shot of the Man in the Moon seen in Georges Méliès’ Trip to the Moon is slightly different than the popular image? If so, why is it different?

When’s something gonna happen?

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Spuffure said:

Has anyone noticed the iconic shot of the Man in the Moon seen in Georges Méliès’ Trip to the Moon is slightly different than the popular image? If so, why is it different? (The image seen in my avatar is the actual one seen in the film)

Never noticed.

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suspiciouscoffee said:

Some movies never even had official scores. I know The Passion of Joan of Arc didn’t, and the oldest score on the Criterion disc was written in the 90s I think.

That film was intended to be played without music whatsoever.

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Spuffure said:

Has anyone noticed the iconic shot of the Man in the Moon seen in Georges Méliès’ Trip to the Moon is slightly different than the popular image? If so, why is it different? (The image seen in my avatar is the actual one seen in the film)

The actual shot is kind of gory. Stuff is running out of the Moon’s pierced eyeball! I don’t think that’s cheese…

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SilverWook said:

Spuffure said:

Has anyone noticed the iconic shot of the Man in the Moon seen in Georges Méliès’ Trip to the Moon is slightly different than the popular image? If so, why is it different? (The image seen in my avatar is the actual one seen in the film)

The actual shot is kind of gory. Stuff is running out of the Moon’s pierced eyeball! I don’t think that’s cheese…

Confirmed by the color version:

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Ewww!

Silent movies and other things where the copyright expires next year, unless Disney drives a truck full of money up to Congress again. 😉
https://youtu.be/m96abQSkEa0

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SilverWook said:

Ewww!

What, it’s not a Ted Turner color, it was hand-painted in 1902 and-- OOOOooooooo you mean the image itself because it’s blood!

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Melies was way ahead of any horror filmmaker. 😉

Was the hand tinted version lost for any period of time? All I ever saw was a black and white version over the years.

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SilverWook said:

Melies was way ahead of any horror filmmaker. 😉

Was the hand tinted version lost for any period of time? All I ever saw was a black and white version over the years.

I think it was only found in the 90s.

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suspiciouscoffee said:

SilverWook said:

Spuffure said:

Has anyone noticed the iconic shot of the Man in the Moon seen in Georges Méliès’ Trip to the Moon is slightly different than the popular image? If so, why is it different? (The image seen in my avatar is the actual one seen in the film)

The actual shot is kind of gory. Stuff is running out of the Moon’s pierced eyeball! I don’t think that’s cheese…

Confirmed by the color version:

Compare that shot to this

His face is slightly different, his lips are different, and the blood is not really pouring, but rather splattered. Anyone have an explanation for this?

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Could be a different frame, a different take, a still from the set, or just a different image used because, as Wook said, the version in the movie itself is rather gory.

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Hmmm… But the Wikipedia image says screenshot, but it’s rather doubtful it’s a different frame. Not to mention there are stars visible in the frame. Also, regarding “a still from the set” I don’t think BTS photos were taken back then. Keep in mind this is 1902. And if it was simply a different image, where did it come from?

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It could be a makeup test or a publicity still. Alternate takes were probably not unusual even in the earliest days. Some silents were shot with two cameras side by side. Apparently done so two negatives of the film would be created. Work has been done to try and create a 3-D version of Phantom Of The Opera from the dual camera footage.

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SilverWook said:

It could be a makeup test or a publicity still. Alternate takes were probably not unusual even in the earliest days. Some silents were shot with two cameras side by side. Apparently done so two negatives of the film would be created. Work has been done to try and create a 3-D version of Phantom Of The Opera from the dual camera footage.

That is plausible

When’s something gonna happen?

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DuracellEnergizer said:

My favourite silent film’s probably Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera.

Ending’s a tad weak, but Chaney’s brilliantly unnerving. And I just love the two-colour Technicolor sequences.

If I were to watch this, which version should I seek out?

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DominicCobb said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

My favourite silent film’s probably Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera.

Ending’s a tad weak, but Chaney’s brilliantly unnerving. And I just love the two-colour Technicolor sequences.

If I were to watch this, which version should I seek out?

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the Kino set. We don’t really have any version that’s not a combination of a few other versions, and that set presents the two main ones.