Repost: The Lost World (1925)

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is screening The Lost World today at the Bell Lightbox. Here's my post on that memorable film, from way back in Fall '09:

Silent Volume: The Lost World (1925): "Evolve or perish. It’s a maxim in the movies as it is in nature. Willis O’Brien took these words to heart; we’re fortunate he did so. Like..."

Daily Violence (2010)

I’m not that busy.

Yeah, I’ve got a lot going on, this blog included. I have my obligations, and oh, they do seem to press. But I also have everything I need to meet them. I have food, shelter and ready cash. I have a phone and a computer. I live in one of the world’s safest, most efficient cities. I’m supported by an infrastructure so well-maintained that I cease to think about it at all, except in the rare cases when it fails. And when that happens—when, for example, Toronto’s subway trains halt in their tunnels, I can measure that failure in minutes lost. Not lives lost. In convenience—not quality of life—compromised.

Hungry? Feed.

I've had several requests to provide a feed for Silent Volume.... so bon appetit, faithful readers. A link should appear on the right. If this does not work, please inform me right away. Service is everything.

~Chris

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)

Louise Brooks and director G.W. Pabst collaborated on two films in 1929. The first, Pandora’s Box, centres on an enigmatic prostitute who’s both predator and prey to the misogynistic males around her. The second is Diary of a Lost Girl.

You’ll see the same Louise Brooks in both films—the same iconic body and face, given the same emphasis by Pabst’s dreamy lens. But while Pandora is a philosophical film, asking complex questions about culpability and lust, Diary is merely decorative. Where Pandora uses style to make a point, Diary is satisfied with style itself.

Higher Scores

I’m not a musician, so I can’t fully appreciate the challenges of composing a silent film score. But as someone who watches a lot of silent films, I’m pretty sure those challenges begin well before the first notes are arranged. They begin with a choice of which master to serve.