October 21, 2008
Silent films were never really silent.
There was always a musician in the theater to heighten the theatrical
experience by way of plunking out a tune on piano or making a
mighty Wurlitzer roar and fill an auditorium with an awesome, electric
vibe. Nowadays, however, in the age of talking pictures and canned
soundtracks, opportunities to experience silent movies in this manner are
painfully few and far between. I was in high school when I saw my first
silent movie with a live band—it was Nosferatu at
the Byrd Theater
with the Ululating Mummies
in the orchestra pit and I still have my fluorescent orange ticket stub—and
ever since I get ridiculously excited when another similar movie going
opportunity presents itself.
Suffice it to say when I heard about the Devil’s Music Ensemble lending their
groove to the 1929 kung-fu, film Red Heroine at
the Freer Gallery, I was stoked. I was
surprised that the auditorium wasn’t packed to the brim—apparently the film
is difficult to see outside of China and is the only surviving installment of
a thirteen-part serial, so this really was a rare experience.
I adored the Devil’s Music Ensemble’s score
for the film, and watching them perform was great entertainment in and of
itself. There was Tim Nylander on drums, Brendon Wood on electric guitar and
Jonah Rapino who was juggling two violins and a synthesizer—it was
impressive. Blending the sounds of an erhu (you know, that two-stringed Asian
violin) with the electric instruments created a sound that seemed traditional
and perfectly appropriate to a film of that vintage, yet modern, moody and
exciting.
If you missed these guys at the Freer, fear
not, they’re touring the East Coast throughout the fall and can be seen
performing alongside Red Heroine as well as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
(starring John Barrymore, Drew’s granddaddy) and The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari (an early psychological thriller that is essentially the
blueprint for the quirky visual flourishes you see in any given Tim Burton
movie). You can check out their tour dates on their website.
If you enjoy the Devil’s Music Ensemble’s
work, try to track down a copy of the Giorgio Moroder (Flashdance, Cat
People) treatment of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis
released in 1984. Yes, the film has since been restored
and reconstructed beyond our wildest expectations (and reunited with its
original orchestral score),
but at the time, it made silent film palatable to the MTV generation. It also
had film purists the world over breaking out torches and pitchforks. However,
if the work of Moroder and the Devil’s Music Ensemble saves the silents from
being the stuff of college film history courses and attracts a newer, younger
audience, aren’t they doing more good than harm? That’s not a rhetorical
question—let’s discuss in the comments area below!
Also, be sure to check out Glenn Erickson’s
DVD Savant site for DVD reviews and great
golden nuggets of movie history. (We hid a link to him in our posting, but
wanted to give him a forthright shout-out.)
|