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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
 Posted - 10/23/2010 : 12:53:09 PM
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AMC showed the 1931 Dracula today and to my dismay, it was given background music!
Some of you are saying "so what"; well, I'll tell you "so what".
In my oppinion, it was distracting and at times sounded like a circus caliopie . Plus, it went on and on and on only letting up for a couple of seconds at a time. Then there was the awful fact that some of the ORIGONAL sound was cut off; for instance, durring the concert when Dracula meets his new neighbors, the concert is supposed to resume, yet we hear nothing as the characters suddenly look off-camera.
Blame red Ted Turner for "colorizing" movies, he started it.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2010 : 5:49:59 PM
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I'm afraid it's not unheard of. Some time ago there were people who had nothing else to do than to write music for films of the 20s and 30s which already had original music. Even David Bowie and Giorgio Moroder wrote a new score for "Metropolis", for some reason.
Like 15 years ago I got a VHS of "Nosferatu" from some obscure retailer from the UK. It had to become the object of my study for a college essay. My History of cinema teacher couldn't identify nor the source (it was a mutilated copy with English texts) nor whoever wrote the new score, because it also had been substituted.
EDIT: My teacher should have checked IMDB:
"There is a version that circulated on Redemption video in the UK in the early 1990s that was heavily reduced in length. It featured the 'American' intertitles but although the sleeve listed a paltry 60 minute running time, it was hacked down to 48 minutes actual footage! It missed out great chunks of story that wasn't 'essential' to the story of Nosferatu, such as the Knock scenes."
That's the one. I imagine they had to bring a new musician because of the many cuts. |
Edited by - Neville on 10/23/2010 5:53:02 PM |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2010 : 10:23:06 PM
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| Hornet, was it the Philip Glass score? I actually liked that version of Dracula. Actually, it'd be nice (if a bit repetitive) if some movie channel showed the original version, sans music, the version with the Glass score, and the Spanish-language version (much better technically than the Lugosi version, and its version of Mina was seriously hot... but Carlos Villarias is a joke, especially compared to Bela) back to back. |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 10/24/2010 : 7:31:51 PM
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BradH812
I didn't notice who did the music, but I doubt the "good" part. Nostalgia Video wrote new music for silents they distribute, but they tried to get close to (But not exactly copy) the old 10s + 20s style and I have no problem with it.
Neville
I saw two versions of Metropolis, one must have been the Bowie/Moroder version because it had a "rock" sounding score that was just out of place. My other complaint about that one was that they included a scene where the worker young Fredder replaces goes to a whore house (who cares? It means nothing to the plot) and worse, the earlier scene where Herr Fredder fires his secritary for a minor infraction. The scene goes like this:
NEW
Secretary is fired and walks out sadly. Young Fredder Pops his eyes out at his father, waving his hands and runs out to talk to the secretary.
OLD
Secretary walks out sadly and young Fredder says to his father "Don't you know what it means to be dismissed by you?". His father seems to ponder this for a second then takes a "what's done is done" attitude. Young Fredder runs out in time to prevent the secretary from shooting himself.
Why was this removed and the worker-finds-a-whore scene (That was origonaly rejected) restored?
I don't know, I only watch movies, I don't MAKE them.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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Bobby-G
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
904 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2010 : 1:09:59 PM
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The DVD I've got of DRACULA (1931) has the option of having the Glass score on or off (I choose "off", but I know some poeple who like it) as well as the Spanish language version.
Some years ago (decades?), I bought a VHS of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA that had a "NEW!" score by one of the guys from Yes (I think); I recall one sequence having a chorus singing "PHANTOM..of... the... OP-ER-A!" over and over. I just turned off the sound.
Rob |
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The Bog Man
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
45 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2010 : 3:36:19 PM
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Yeah, I have to agree with Greenhornet. As much as I like Glass' work on the Candyman score, the Dracula soundtrack is incredibly jarring. (I wonder if that has more to do with the Kronos Quartet, I'm not familiar with their work.) Modern folk tend to dismiss Browning's Dracula as being stagebound, but I have to say that the lack of soundtrack creates a very lucid-dreamlike effect for me.
That re-cut Nosferatu could have been worse; that wasn't the one with the goth-metal soundtrack, was it? (Bleach, in either case.)
www.hauntedbog.com
That is not dead which can eternal lie, I'm just not a morning person. |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2010 : 04:56:29 AM
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| No, it wasn't. That would have been the final insult. |
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