local: Wednesday silent movie

[mellowtigger]

On Wednesday evening, I will be leaving Bear Coffee early in order to travel a few blocks down the road to the Heights Theater.

They'll be showing the black-and-white movie "Vampyr" (1932) at 7:30pm.  Although there is technically some sound and dialog in the movie, live accompaniment will be provided by a local group called Dreamland Faces.

See ya there!

Comments

[otterlover01.livejournal.com]

Iam rather envious again now, I have only seen the Youtube version in parts, to see it at a real theatre must be a much better experience, and the accompaniment must add some of the original true athmosphere to the exhibit. Enjoy my dear friend and I hope to read your comments. Hugs, Luis.

[mellowtigger]

They showed the "silent movie" version of the film tonight, since they had a group providing the accompanying music. It was a very strange movie. I can see why it wasn't a success at the time.

In its favor, the early part of the film had some very good special effects with shadow characters. The main character sees a shadow figure in a lake surface reflection, but no person walks the shoreline to match it. He follows the shadow and sees it climb through a window, climb up a ladder, and rejoin a man frozen inside. It was really very well done. I was impressed even by today's standards.

Everything else, though... not so good. I couldn't follow much of the plot. It relied too much on narration (text showing on the screen) to establish mood or scenario. For example, with maybe some exaggeration, "No, I haven't shown you a reason to be scared. Trust me, though, this guy is really scared!"

Worth seeing just for historical value, but I don't really get the sense that it's a "classic" movie for the usual good reasons. Except the early shadow characters. That was good. :)