Weekends in Tinseltown, Part I

[tealin]

Told you there was a Part I.


A little over a month ago, on the internal Disney Animation website, someone posted information about a concert at UCLA where the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra would accompany a silent film, and for which Disney employees got a rather generous discount. It had been quite some time since I'd been to a concert, and the discounted tickets as well as the novelty of seeing a silent film with live orchestra convinced my sister and me that this could be worth taking time out for. We decided to make a day of it, and take advantage of the commute to do a Hollywood Heritage Tour, taking pre-freeway surface streets all the way from the studio district of Burbank through the hills, into Hollywood, then down the famous stretch of Sunset Blvd (past what would be 10086, if such an address existed) to UCLA, where we wandered around for a while gawping at the fantastic architecture, taking photos in the golden light of the setting sun, and looking for a bathroom that was open after 6 on a Saturday. When the auditorium's doors finally opened we found our seats and generally settled in for an evening of culture just like any other concert we'd been to, with the slight exception that one of the speakers introducing the event was Dustin Hoffman. The lights went down, the orchestra tuned up, the projector started ...

Now, I've been told since starting animation school that you have to watch silent films. I'd seen bits and pieces here and there, we watched some Chaplin in class and I once caught a documentary on Mary Pickford on The Knowledge Network*, but while they were entertaining and excellent examples of pantomime, I never took more than a professional interest in them. I wasn't one of those people who professed that all the best films were made before 1930: the acting was stilted, the film sped up, the dialogue cards too intrusive and plentiful, the stories and gags intended for an unsophisticated audience** and it was all accompanied by some canned honky tonk piano music that tinkled on irrespective of what was happening onscreen – not my idea of entertainment.
*Last remaining bastion of integrity in educational television since PBS started making shows intended for resale to the Discovery Channel. Only in Canada, you say? Pity.
**as explained by my Animation History teacher when questioned as to why old cartoons were timed oddly slowly and not terribly funny.

That was all changed by THIS MAN.

The film we had come to watch was Speedy, starring Harold Lloyd. It was his last silent movie, made in 1928, and shot largely in New York, including Coney Island, the last horse-drawn trolley car, and Babe Ruth (really!). It was fantastic. The print had been restored, it was running at its proper speed, the orchestra was playing a score that had been written for the movie (quite well, I might add, and not some ghastly modern-sounding thing intended to 'update' it, either), and it was absolutely enthralling. The story was simple but solid, the characters engaging, their complications frustrating, the action exciting, the gags plentiful and imaginative, but not distracting, and funnier than anything I've seen in recent memory. And the dialogue was surprisingly judicious – most of the time, you knew what they were saying without it being blatantly stated, so cards were only used when delivering a specific gag line or important exposition. How flattering, for a moviemaker to trust the audience's imagination instead of assuming they need everything spelled out for them.

On top of that, the whole audience was incredibly involved in the film. I don't know if it was the setting, or the lack of an overpowering sound system, or the fact that you actually had to pay attention to the movie to get anything out of it, but there was much more audible reaction – genuine, unconscious, instant reaction – to what was going on onscreen than I've ever heard before. There was one moment at the very height of the climax where something goes suddenly wrong and the audience, as one, let out a tremendous gasp. It was amazing.

I left the theatre giddy, and with joy discovered that there was a wealth of Harold Lloyd material on YouTube as well as a 5-DVD set of restored films with new scores (most by the same composer as Speedy) which happened to be at the Burbank public library. I decided to wait to post about all this until I'd found a good clip to share, but with work and all, my trawling of the archives was rather slow. I finally decided I had to post sooner than later and just link to the best of the clips I'd found so far, but upon searching YouTube this morning it appears all the good ones have been taken down. Curse you, copyright holders! How are you supposed to entice people to buy your DVD if you don't give them an appetizer? Anyway, if you have access to a library and that library is blessed enough to have any of the new DVDs (released 2005, I believe), I highly recommend you check them out. Speedy is still my favourite but Safety Last is probably the most famous and is surprisingly gripping while still being funny – it had me literally on the edge of my seat and actually physically tense, the first time a movie's done that to me since Return of the King. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't at least expose yourself to these movies, no matter how much you think you don't like silent film. Just make sure you give them your full attention; that'll be the most rewarding. Take it from a convert. If nothing else, marvel at how a movie can be both funny and charmingly sincere, the art of which seems to have been mostly lost in the quagmire of snarky dialogue and post-modern self-referencing.

Comments

[jesskat.livejournal.com]

I saw a documentary on Harold Lloyd sometime last year and instantly became a little smitten. I should mention that this very rarely happens to me with movie stars/celebrities of any kind. It's fun to see other people of my age (or thereabouts) giving him some recognition. I'm the same as you when it comes to silent films, but the documentary helped me gain a new perspective on the time when his films were made and what made them so special to the audience then.

I wish I could've been there and shared the experience, it sounds like a blast.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it almost never happens to me, so the surprise was part of the fun. Eat your heart out, Daniel Radcliffe! :)

Silents

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

Noodlemommy and I saw many silents when we were first dating, many to the piano accompaniment of our friend Charles Hoffman, who was at one time Music Director of the Film Department of some big museum in New York. Charles was an ethnomuicologist and film historian as well in addition to being author of "Sounds for Silents." Charles had lots of films in his personal collection. "Sunrise" by F. W. Murnau is fantastic. "Wings" the first picture to win the Academy Award for best picture was also very good. "Metropolis" is pretty good too, and "Intolerance" is a great film as well.

"Way Down East" with Mary Pickford has got some incredible stunts performed by the actual stars on actual ice floes on an actual river going over actual rapids. Of the comedies, I liked "Gold Rush" a lot and a few of the other Chaplin features, like "Modern Times" "City Lights" and others.

[fani.livejournal.com]

How are you supposed to entice people to buy your DVD if you don't give them an appetizer?

Funny you should say that. My fiance, me and our roomate bought Avatar, Futurama and other wonderful TV series because we watch samples of it on Youtube.

[lomara.livejournal.com]

3 or 4 years ago, I had the good fortune to see a screening of the silent 1929 version of Phantom of the Opera at the AMPAS building on Sunset. I had only seen clips of it prior to the screening, but I had seen other films at AMPAS so I knew it would be a special thing. I wasn't disappointed. We got the Alloy Orchestra as our musical accompaniment and it was fantastic. (http://www.alloyorchestra.com/) I think if they ever screen any Harold Lloyd at AMPAS, I would probably be the first to buy a ticket :D

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I've heard clips of their score and it sounded pretty cool – that's fantastic you got to see them accompany it live. I tried to watch Phantom once on DVD but it had some strange synth rock soundtrack which didn't do it any favours. Rumours abound of theatres around town that play silent movies occasionally so I'll have to investigate once the work situation settles down a little.

AMPAS is screening Master & Commander, though! SO excited to see it on the big screen again!

[lomara.livejournal.com]

The Alloy Orchestra and their self-described "rack of junk" were wonderful. Their website says they are currently touring the east coast and have a few Phantom screenings coming up. I am certain if I'd seen Phantom with anything else, I'd have walked away disappointed.

LOOK! The Alloy Orchestra is accompanying a screening of Speedy in Brooklyn NY! They gotta do it here too!

August 6
Brooklyn NY
BAM Cinematek (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
SPEEDY
http://www.bam.org/events/bamcinematek

I totally should go see Master & Commander at AMPAS. There are a string of great films coming up in their Great to be Nominated series.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Oh dude, I hope we haven't missed it! That would be awesome!

[meganphntmgrl.livejournal.com]

You mean the 1925 version.

(Corrections courtesy of a Phantom fan who's into more than just the musical.)

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I've seen both dates attached to it, even in the same mention. According to IMDb:

The print restored by the Kino company is a 1929 re-release version that was re-edited, eliminating some scenes and inserting new material shot after the 1925 version was finished. These included a sound sequence with opera star Mary Fabian singing in the role of Carlotta. In the re-edited version, Virginia Pearson, who played Carlotta in the silent 1925 version, is credited and referred to as "Carlotta's Mother" instead.

[lomara.livejournal.com]

This is the screening I attended. The version is the 1929 version, without the sound, and with the tinting directions from the 1925 version used. I should have listed the link in my earlier comment, as I didn't realise there would be some confusion about the two versions.

This is the screening I attended:
http://www3.oscars.org/events/past/2005/phantomoftheopera/index.html

[lomara.livejournal.com]

Actually, no. I saw the 1929 version, but without the sound, and with the tinting directions used for the 1925 version.

This is the screening I attended:
http://www3.oscars.org/events/past/2005/phantomoftheopera/index.html

Note:

The newly made print to be shown at the Academy is from the 1929 sound version but with the original Technicolor Bal Masque sequence and numerous color tinted sequences, made by following the exact tinting directions used for the 1925 release. The film will once again be silent, but the Alloy’s new score is sure to be a fitting accompaniment to the screams of the audience. The Phantom of the Opera concludes the “Silent Horror” series being presented by the UCLA Film and Television Archive (http://www3.oscars.org/events/past/2005/phantomoftheopera/index_ucla.html); please see this additional page for the full schedule and ticket information.

[trutitipudlian.livejournal.com]

Ah, join the club. He is quite the charmer, isn't he? My sister and fell for him in previews for that huge DVD collection in some old movie that we'd gotten. Needless to say we went out and bought the collection straight after.

Those hanging off buildings, and lengthy chase scenes are the worst things though because off the involvement in them; I have tell myself to ignore the fact that I'm a girl, and be a man and not walk out to be sick, whenever I watch "Safety Last." It goes on forever, and while it is funny one can't help but fear for his safety. Yes, you know it's going to have a happy ending (because that is how it ought to be, and you know it because you've seen before), but still the oddly ill feeling in the stomach worry for Harold is still there. Now that I say that it's like a return to one of the odder beliefs I had a as a very young child. When watching movies on the old VHS player, I seemed to be under the impression that we were watching a live performance of it, either that or I thought it was magic, and those were people living in that video tape (I wouldn't put that idea past me). But anyway what ever the cause, I wondered how the story always came out the same, there were oh so many things that I could see that would happen differently and effect the outcome. I don't know if I should be proud that at that young age I understood the delicacy of plots, however, I am pleased that I had the good sense to voice those weird ideas; my parents would have worried about me more.

I did a little searching, and one one of my favorite movies of his is online "Girl Shy" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YI95xr4SYs . A utterly charming character piece (though it does have many good gags, and a fairly long and gut-wrenching "OH no!" scene towards the end. The coloring (if that is the word) also really very wonderful, it changes depending on the setting with the more traditional Black-and-White for the daylight outdoors scenes, a sort of blueish for night, and a sepia for gaslit interiors.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Wow, that one's still up! Thanks so much! It didn't turn up when I searched 'Harold Lloyd' earlier, I guess his name isn't on the file anywhere. Sweet!

Speedy had some coloured scenes too ... apparently it was common practise back then. Clever.

And YES, gut-wrenching. Holy crap. Such simple, simple scenes, no CG or crazy Peter Jackson camera moves, just a nice guy in plain straightforward peril, which is somehow all the more engrossing for just being able to sit there and watch it (and cringe), not be distracted by superfluous movie stuff. And even though you know it's all camera tricks, it's harrowing to watch. Genius!

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

Dustin Hoffman?? No! I simply would have exploded with hormones! Augh! *runs away to put 'All the President's Men' on repeat until the desires subside - which, of course, they do not*

I have always love silent films. But, aside from Chaplin, I have kept mostly to drama - that might explain why my interest held longer.

[anathelen.livejournal.com]

I was introduced to the wonders of silent movies through The Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/details/feature_films), where you can watch silent movies in the public domain legally and for free! My favorite is Charlie Chaplin's The Kid: http://www.archive.org/details/TheKid

[beckychan.livejournal.com]

This makes me want to watch them with you. Nothing is ever done better than when done with a fan.

[(Anonymous)]

WOW! I JUST saw that movie, at an Auto Museum where we attend silent movies very regularly. They have a grand Wurlitzer Organ, which most people love (although orchestra is definitely my preference), and it's pretty cool to see someone play such a complex instrument. I loved Speedy! That was my first exposure to Harold Lloyd too. And the brawl at the end was tremendous! They do both talkies and silents at the museum and sometimes they get permission to show things that are privately owned prints, that you can't find commercially available, so that's neat.

I saw Douglas Fairbanks in 'The Mark of Zorro' there recently as well, and I would recommend that one as pretty cool too. And also Lon Chaney in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.

Er . . .

[lastimagination.livejournal.com]

This is random and not at all related to this post, but I remember months back you made a post with a picture from a Doctor Who thing comparing him to Moist. But I can't find it. :(

Re: Er . . .

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Doctor ... Moist ... OH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q16PNjCSwRM

You can find it on the DVD of the very very first season of Dr. Who if you want a better image...