Tweet Announcing the 1st Annual "Watch That Movie" Night

[Mike Gebert]

We've all got them—movies that we were excited to own, thrilled when they came in the mail, yet that we've never gotten around to watching. There they sit, the noble work of filmmakers, restorationists, musicians and love-over-money distributors... unwatched after all these years, silently (no pun intended) radiating guilt from our Ikea shelving.

Well, this year we're going to do something about it! This year, during the dog days of winter, we're going to sit down and watch at least one of them and post about it on NitrateVille. Well, at least I am, and I hope you will too. Because to give a little extra encouragement, if you...

1. Pick a classic era movie that's been in your collection for at least a year, unwatched. (DVD, VHS, 16mm, 9.5mm, whatever you have.)

2. Announce your choice in this thread.

3. Watch it on (or around) Friday, January 30th.

4. And post something, anything about it in this thread by midnight, Monday February 2nd...

...You'll be eligible for a drawing to win a copy of Kino on Video's wonderful new ultimate 2-disc DVD version of The General, with a stunning new HD transfer from 35mm and scores by Carl Davis and Lee Erwin, courtesy of our good friends at Kino. (Sorry, US and Canada posters only for the prize, but we'll be happy to hear from everybody all the same.)

So please join me in taking the "Watch That Movie!" Night pledge and announcing your choice over the coming days. Then be prepared for a great movie you might never have watched otherwise, and lots of interesting posts from NitrateVillains. If you've lurked but never posted before, what better way to make your first post than by joining in today!

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So what's my "Watch That Movie!" movie choice? It's...

HINDLE WAKES
I first read about this surprisingly feminist British film when it played Cinecon. Like I'll ever get to see that, I thought, but sure enough soon it was announced, I preordered it... and there it's been on my shelf ever since. Finally, I'll find out what they knew about women in 1929.

Now, what will yours be?

Luckily for me I dont have the attention span to sit and watch silents sometimes (I like to multitask) so I have a few to pick from :p. Mine will be Gloria Swanson's "Sadie Thompson"...I've been meaning to for awhile now LOL!

Gee, Mike, I'd like to oblige, but if I buy a film -- on dvd for me, since there aren't that many issued on tape these days that aren't also offered on dvd -- it's because I want to look at it, so, unless I get in a lot of them, they don't sit around for more than a few days. So I don't have any on hand that I haven't looked at. My apologies for being such a bad Nitratevillain.

Bob

Luckily for me I dont have the attention span to sit and watch silents sometimes (I like to multitask) so I have a few to pick from :p. Mine will be Gloria Swanson's "Sadie Thompson"...I've been meaning to for awhile now LOL!

Does Season Two of The Tudors count? No? Darn.

I have Orphans of the Storm sitting on my emphatically not Ikea shelves (sniff), so maybe I'll watch/review that. But no promises. You never know when a something featuring good codpieces will hit number one on your Netflix queue.

Fred

I'm going to pick "The Iron Horse" -- I've had the John Ford set since last Xmas.

[silentfilm]

If I'm at home, and not traveling for work, it will be an still-wrapped Paramount VHS tape of W.C. Fields in Running Wild (1927). I still have one VCR/TV combo still in the house, but we got rid of the other VCRs a year or two ago. Since this film has never been released on DVD, it is probably my only chance to see it!

If I'm working out of the country, I'm stuck with the DVD player on my laptop. I've had DVDs of Intolerance, Les Vampires, and Some Like It Hot for over two years and have not watched them, so it will be one of those. I've seen Intolerance and Some Like It Hot, but it's been 10-15 years since I've seen them.

[Danny Burk]

OK, I'll play.......I'll make it LOVE PARADE since I've had it for ages (on tape for years and years before the recent DVD came out) and have still never seen it.

I'll give it a try. It'll be either EROTIKON, CRAINQUEBILLE or QUEEN OF ATLANTIS

For me it'll be FOOLISH WIVES. The French Ciné-Club DVD has been sitting on my (Ikea-!) shelves for more than two years now.

Shockingly, I've never got around to fully seeing 'A Woman of Paris', so this seems like a good excuse to set aside some time and do just that. Yes, my shelves are Ikea also....

Shockingly, I've never got around to fully seeing 'A Woman of Paris', so this seems like a good excuse to set aside some time and do just that. Yes, my shelves are Ikea also....

Don't feel bad - neither have I. I know I taped it off of TCM some time ago. Now to track it down...

I'll have to look a the shelves - of course I got a lot of Pickford silenst I've missed (Sparrows, etc.) for Christmas, but I guess they won't count.

Hmmm...

We've all got them—movies [...] ... unwatched after all these years [...]

Tst, tst, tst... that's an easy silent film request for this German count, if you keep in your youngsters minds that this Teutonic aristocrat, due to his old age, has seen all silent film prémieres since the beggining of such odd invention, for that reason, unfortunately there will be no new silent discovery for this Herr Graf... anyway, it will be a decadent pleasure for this Herr Von to watch again Herr Dreyer's "Prästänkan".

Ah!!!... This Herr Graf remembers quite well that silent cold prémiere night in Sweden!!... fortunately this time and thanks to the excellent modern disc edition released by "Image" in which Herr David Shepard done an excellent work, this Herr Graf finally will know what happens in the movie...

[...] from our Ikea shelving [...]

Sorry???.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien
http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

I'll pull out the DVD copy of "Spione" that's been sitting unwatched in my Fritz Lang box set for well over a year. I've never actually seen this one, no idea why I didn't watch it shortly after picking the set up.

Hmmm, I guess I will do Lonesome or The Wedding March or The Wonderful Chance. Perhaps one of the Borzage films via Netflix. Better check the queue for silents and see what I come up with there, I'm sure there is something in there I've not seen yet.

I guess it time to pull the DVD of BLOOD & SAND from my homemade, but Ikea-style, bookcase.

I'll give my attention to THE DRAGON PAINTER.

I've watched all the silents in the Ford at Fox box except FOUR SONS. So I'll watch that.

(To those who said they're going to watch THE LOVE PARADE and RUNNING WILD: You're gonna have fun!)

I've got a copy of Cenere that I've not watched yet, since it's in Italian. But it's not long, so shouldn't take too much to translate with the help of Babelfish and an Italian-English dictionary. I'll watch it.

Other option would be one of a couple De Mille films I've recorded off TCM but haven't watched, but I'd rather not. I've honestly never seen a De Mille film I've liked and I doubt The Godless Girl or whatever the other one was will be any different.

The one that's been sitting on my shelf for over two years is a talkie, Rene Clair's LE MILLION. If that doesn't count I'll watch PANDORA'S BOX. Any excuse to watch Brooksie.

Well - I totally missed one of the points in this exercise about the selected film being in your collection for a year, so instead of SAND (which did arrive in time) I'll go with Quality Street (the bonus feature on the Marion Davies documentary DVD from quite a while back!

And I may make it a double feature and give some comments on SAND anyway!

Luckily for me I dont have the attention span to sit and watch silents sometimes (I like to multitask) so I have a few to pick from :p. Mine will be Gloria Swanson's "Sadie Thompson"...I've been meaning to for awhile now LOL!

Hey misspicky, I have that one too, unopened, just sitting on my shelf!! (not ikea however) Now there are at least two of us that will watch 'Sadie Thompson'.
Have you read Gloria's autobio 'Swanson on Swanson'? That was a damn good read.

BobLipton, your line 'My apologies for being such a bad Nitratevillain' made me laugh out loud.

For me it was PERDON VIEJITA. I could have rented it in a single store in Buenos Aires more than ten years ago.

And the reason to watch it was both curiosity and and to try to find a way to use the original Vitaphone recording for its 1932 reissue in order to compile a soundtrack.

After sifting through an embarrassingly large number of DVD titles, we've settled on DeMille's MANSLAUGHTER.

Well even though I just got in another 9.5mm Specto that I am dying to take for a spin it probably won't be ready in time so I think it is time to finally watch the 16mm print of HOMECOMING (1928) that has been sitting around my home for some time now. Hope the wife is ready for some good ole Ufa-ction.

I'll join in, with my pick of SCARAMOUCHE (1923), which is next on my list of Ingrams that I've taped over the years but not watched yet.

I've been sifting through some still-unopened DeMille silents, and settled on the double feature of OLD WIVES FOR NEW and THE WHISPERING CHORUS. (My DVD shelves came from BMG Music Service.)

Well, I'm working the late shift till 9pm that night and will have out-of-town relatives staying with me. How about if I try to watch as much of the Langdon set as possible?

[Christopher Jacobs]

I've got over a couple dozen sound films on DVD that I've never gotten around to watching (finally plan to see John Ford's TOBACCO ROAD for the first time tonight), and lots of silent films I've already seen but have never watched the DVD versions all the way through yet (such as the Ford and Borzage Fox sets, Kino's Griffith sets, and many others I've seen on film at conventions or also own on 16mm).

The only silent film I have on DVD that I have not yet seen in any form is I WAS BORN BUT... (1932) from the silent Ozu set, so I guess that is the one I'll need to watch this Friday night. I'm looking foward to it, as I enjoyed the other two quite a bit.

--Christopher Jacobs
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs

[Mike Gebert]

Two days till... great list of signups! And it will be a great series of posts if everybody follows through even with just a few short lines about the movie they watch-- or longer, if you're like me and Mark ("I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time") Twain.

There's still time to sign up and be eligible for our fabulous prize, courtesy of Kino. So look over your stack of DVDs, your fireproof vault full of nitrate, or whatever you have, and sign up today.

I've noticed I haven't looked at 7th HEAVEN and LUCKY STAR on the Borzage sets. Since I haven't seen them in, oh, 15 years, I'll give them a look.

Bob