Silent Films

[Roboripper]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

The 1920's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde film starring Drew Barrymore's great grandfather, John Barrymore, as both transformations is a silent film I have on DVD and have enjoyed repeated viewing.

The make-up job on Mr. Hyde, which, to me, seemed to be in the tradition of the appearance of 1922's Nosferatu. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is surprisely violent and creepy for its time (for example, Hyde beating someone to death with a lead pipe), and the super-imposed image of a giant spider crawling over the foot of the bed and entering Jekyll's mind was brilliant.

This film is one of my favorite silent films I have ever seen.

Is this film avaliable on Region 2 DVD do you know? I've been wanting to see this for about 11 years and I've never seen it on TV, VHS or DVD.

[j. d. worthington]

I'm not certain about this, but I believe some of the major companies have picked it up and made it so. There are several releases out there of it. Just watch for a restored version, as some of the prints are in pretty poor shape. Kino, I think, has a copy, and theirs should be available in Region 2.

[Foxbat]

You can pick this movie up at www.oldies.com

I believe it is region 0 so should play on any DVD player.

[Foxbat]

I finally received my copy of Call Of The Cthulhu and watched it as soon as it arrived.....what a fantastic little film! I thought the makers did a great job and this movie is a fine example of why we need independent film makers.

A great big well done to the HP Lovecraft Historical Society

[j. d. worthington]

Glad you liked it. Yes, it does indeed show what even a few dedicated people can do with less than a shoestring; makes Hollywood seem pretty tame; better special effects they have; better acting, I have my doubts; better scripts -- oh, come on!!!! Lovely little film, deserves the praise it's been getting.

And, if you liked this, you really should try to track down the H.P. Lovecraft Collection. Each of the main features is a gem in its own right, and several of the shorts are exceptionally good, as well. Even when they're flawed, they seem to have something the big budget films all too often lack -- a feeling of actual love for the art and the original material.

[jackokent]

Sorry if this has been mentioned on this thread but I don't know the film's title.

Does anyone recall a short and extremely creepy silent film about a chap who gets stuck in a telephone box and gets carted to some sort of graveyard / storage hanger where he just gets left.

I remember having nightmares about this film years ago.

[ravenus]

The Ravenus got to watch the Call of Cthulhu film and i heartily concur with the praise that people here have lavished on it. The design of the dream city is incredibly evocative of Lovecraft's descriptions (and a great nod to Expressionist cinema) and when they show the creature at the end it's a moment of real awe. The atmosphere throughout was quite superbly maintained.

[Nesacat]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

I finally received my copy of Call Of The Cthulhu and watched it as soon as it arrived.....what a fantastic little film! I thought the makers did a great job and this movie is a fine example of why we need independent film makers.

A great big well done to the HP Lovecraft Historical Society

Am glad you liked it. It's a wonderful film. Going to try any of the rest? Am trying to track down Dagon myself and give it another chance after having heard j.d.'s take on it.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by ravenus

The design of the dream city is incredibly evocative of Lovecraft's descriptions (and a great nod to Expressionist cinema) ...

You know what the clincher was for me? When the sailor was "swallowed up by an angle of masonry which shouldn't have been there; an angle which was acute, but behaved as if it were obtuse". I'd thought it was a wonderul little film up to that point, and was very taken with it. At that point, I literally yelped for joy -- they did it precisely right! By the way, I'd heard they were working on a couple of other projects as well. One of them may have been a version of "The Unnamable" that I've seen some clips for, which looked quite nice. Another is a documentary, I think, on HPL's ancestry. And there's a new film supposed to be coming out soon with Lovecraftian themes, called "Read Me a Story" I think, with music by Nox Arcana -- the trailer I've seen is very evocative. Perhaps we should set up a thread on Lovecraftian cinema alone -- from the list I've seen, there are going to be enough projects of this sort seeing light soon....

[Foxbat]

Am glad you liked it. It's a wonderful film. Going to try any of the rest?

I've just ordered Volume 1 of the HP Lovecraft collection. If I like it, I'll be getting the rest also.

Perhaps we should set up a thread on Lovecraftian cinema alone -- from the list I've seen, there are going to be enough projects of this sort seeing light soon....

Might not be a bad idea...although I'd leave it up to one more authorative than I to begin such a thread (me being not much better than a Lovecraftian virgin)......although I'd gladly sticky any such thread to keep it in the public eye

On the movie itself.....I definitely agree with Ravenus comment on Expressionist cinema - the angled sets and such like really give it an authentic Twenties feel.

Also, I found the small 'making of' feature much more interesting than most on DVD nowadays. It's always wonderful to learn just how creative you can be with cardboard and glitter

[j. d. worthington]

My only caution about that first volume would be: Cool Air, while retaining quite a lot of HPL's story, does have to stretch things a bit in order to make a bit longer film; however, I think they did very well with it, and showed a enormous respect for the material; and Jack Donner's performance as Doctor Munoz is absolutely superb! He brings several layers to the character that are only hinted at by HPL, but are quite valid. The shorts here, too, are slightly less well-done than on the other volumes, but that's because they were quite literally people getting a camera and doing what they could with very limited resources. Nonetheless, they, too, show an enormous respect for the original material and have a very nice feel to them. (And "The Hapless Antiquarian", with its homage to Edward Gorey, is utterly delightful.)

Vol. 2, with Rough Magik, is an original story and subtly played. Pity the Beeb didn't pick this up as a series, it could have been remarkably good. And the take on The Terrible Old Man is very modern and very nasty, but also very well done.

Vol. 3, with Out of Mind, though, I think is the real gem; I don't know if you folks received the broadcast of this (it was originally done on Canadian television), but it is a superb bit of Lovecraftian film, taking snippets from his stories and his letters and weaving them with a modern person's life, which becomes entwined with both the past and with Lovecraft's life and dreams -- Christopher Heyerdahl as HPL is almost uncanny -- he IS HPL, exactly as one would picture him from reading his letters and the memoirs of him. The special effects are kept to a minimum, and the emphasis is on atmosphere, acting, and a wonderful script and direction, and great use of imagination. I can't wait to see what the next volume will hold (the festival is later this year, so I have high hopes). Suffice to say that even the least deserving of things on these discs makes Hollywood's imagination quotient look pretty poor in comparison.

[Foxbat]

Picked up an interesting book recently - From Caligari To Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film

Although some of it has now been discredited (written in 1947) it makes some interesting observations on early German silent cinema - especially of how and why it evolved the way it did. Caligari in particular is a bit of an eye opener. In a nutshell - the two original script writers protested at the framing of their intended movie with extra storyline at beginning and end. The interesting thing is...take away this framing and you get a movie with a completely different slant that focuses on the insanity of tyranny. Quite prophetic considering the rise of Hitler soon after.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention the book for anybody that might be interested

[j. d. worthington]

Wow. This is a new one on me. Thanks, Foxbat...

[SFAM]

Greetings. For my favorite silent films, probably they'd be in this order:

1. Metropolis (Lang, 1927): It's great to see a cyberpunk film from 55 years prior to what's generally considered the first one. The restored Kino edition is just wonderful. I recently bought Lang's "M" and Die Niebelungen, but I haven't seen these yet.

2. Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928): Falconetti gives us one of the best performances ever on film. And truly, Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light accompanyment is just wonderful.

3. Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922): I'm not as taken with Dreyer's Vampyr as some are, but I LOVE Nosferatu.

4. Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925): while I love most of his stuff, this is my favorite movie of his. Easy Street (1917) is my favorite short of his.

5. Thief of Bagdad (Walsh, 1924): I do like this a lot, although I must confess I like the 1940 version more.

[Foxbat]

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc is a remarkable piece of film. The performances of all concerned were top drawer. And that ending had just an incredibly real feel to it. One of my favourites also