Complete Metropolis

New York Times article on the newly newly restored Metropolis.

"The restoration, overseen by the F.W. Murnau Foundation in Germany, is a marvel of craft, though there are, inevitably, some visible seams and imperfections. The 16-millimeter images are blurrier, smaller and less pristine than the rest of the film, which makes it easy for viewers who have seen earlier versions to identify the newly inserted shots and scenes, even though the overall visual experience is a bit bumpy. Still, much of what you see is remarkable, and this more complete “Metropolis” clarifies Lang’s sprawling, complicated story and italicizes its central themes. It also offers precious glimpses of his genius as a maker of sublime and witty pictures.

"The sublimity is familiar to anyone who remembers the factory maw swallowing and disgorging workers, or the apotheosis of Maria, the robot-idol-prophet-sex-symbol played bythe Weimar bombshell Brigitte Helm. Lang’s wit is less often remarked upon, but it is vividly present in a newly added scene in which two characters grapple in front of a bank of elevators traveling up and down behind them, with the doors open and their passengers caught in poses of studied nonchalance."

Wilhelm scream

Futurist experiments with film

Corra's account of his early experimental work with cinema.

Oye Como Va

From Alex:

Alex Clarke's second blog post

I have always found Chaplin to be extremely irritating even though his brilliance cannot be denied. His routines have always gone on just that little bit too long, but I guess a lot of that was an era thing as well; he was after all the first of his kind.

When I first watched the Great Dictator I expected just another Chaplin movie, but I became more and more engaged as it went along, this was obviously written as an anti war movie and would have been a difficult balancing act.

I had to check the date the film was made, the world would have been aware of what was happening in Germany at the time, but I think had Chaplin been aware of the extent to which Hitler was to go, the film would have been treated somewhat differently. On the other hand it is the lighter moments that actually get the message across. The sequence with the world balloon is nothing short of amazing even today. I still found the humour a bit confronting; the scene where his lieutenant comes and says that he has perfected the gas is shocking. But that is probably because we are watching with hindsight. I have to check what serious movies he’s made........ I think I’ve changed my opinion about him.

Metropolis rescore

Here's a section of the rescore done by the New Pollutants for Metropolis. I saw this performed live at the Opera House and thought it was spot-on. One half of the New Pollutants, Benjamin Speed, has uploaded the whole thing on YouTube.

Oz Film Festival

The Oz Silent Film Festival is currently on. Click here for the program.

Alex Clarke's first blog post

[Posted here due to technical issues--Rod.]

It is interesting to note the differences between early American and European cinema.

In comparing the films of Thomas Edison to the films of Georges Melies, or the Lumiere brothers, we find Edisons’ to be voyeuristic and crass. There is very little plot in his films, instead, he uses violence and shock to gain the viewers attention. He steps outside the everyday bounds of morality and uses the thrill element to stimulate the viewer, this still holds true today as we have a morbid fascination for things that shock. His work is very different from the theatricality, and technique of, for example, George Melies’ Black Imp. Even further from Edison is quiet beauty of The Weavers of Avdela by Yannakis and Militiadis Manaki.

Without wanting to generalize, we tend to find even in modern cinema that the Europeans are less obviously sensational, American cinema still wants to appeal to the mass audience and in certain genres is becoming more and more shocking. It rather reminds me of the Roman Games, how far will they have to go to achieve a reaction as the public becomes more and more inured to the slash movies of today ?

We have 3D, and virtual movies, what new medium would affect us today as cinema did then? Are we at the end of surprises and what new visual sense stimulation would affect us like cinema did so long ago ?

Kodachrome Test film

Here's that film of very early colour motion pictures I mentioned in class.

I'd like to know what you all think. The arbitrary choice of music gives it this ethereal quality, but what about the quality of the black in the image? The colour film, I think, gives the black a new depth. Where colourism in black and white motion pictures comes with tonality and grades of shading that can micro-shift in the movement of 24 fps, the introduction of colour, at least in this instance, removes the internal tonal complexity of black and turns it into a kind of void. In what space (that is, "whence") do these coloured figures exist?

Keaton :: Chaplin

I was thinking on the difference between Chaplin and Keaton and it occurred to me that I've never seen Keaton dance. Chaplin, on the other hand, is always on the verge of breaking out into dance. In the two clips from Modern Times, for example, he "humans" the machine by moving at a rhythm that messes with that of the machines--a break-flow system, if you will (think of the squirts of oil). In the song he performs, the first time the Tramp is heard, dance is used as a delaying tactic when the words go flying off his wrists, than as a kind of gestural augmentation to his nonsense ("nonsensuous"?) vocal acrobatics.

And then it occurred to me that I have seen Keaton dance. I don't think this counts, however (about 42 secs in):

From Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)

And here are two other very famous dance sequences from Chaplin:

1) From The Great Dictator (1940)

2) From The Gold Rush (1925)

The Cinematic Orchestra - Man with a Movie Camera

Lucas suggested this as a must-see-hear; I agree.